Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lack of Replication of the GRIN2A-by-Coffee Interaction in Parkinson Disease

Overview The etiology of Parkinson disease (PD) involves both genetic susceptibility and environmental exposures. In particular, coffee consumption is inversely associated with PD but the mechanisms underlying this intriguing association are unknown. According to a recent genome-wide gene–environment interaction study, the inverse coffee–PD association was two times stronger among carriers of the T allele of SNP rs4998386 in gene GRIN2A than in homozygotes for the C allele. We attempted to replicate this result in a similarly sized pooled analysis of 2,289 cases and 2,809 controls from four independent studies (Denmark, France, Seattle-United States (US), and Rochester-US) with detailed caffeinated coffee consumption data and rs4998386 genotypes. Using a variety of definitions of coffee drinking and statistical modeling techniques , we failed to replicate this interaction. Notably, whereas in the original study there was an association between rs4998386 and coffee consumption among controls, but not among cases, none of the datasets analyzed here indicated an association between rs4998386 and coffee consumption among controls. Based on large, well-characterized datasets independent from the original study, our results are not in favor of an interaction between caffeinated coffee consumption and rs4998386 for PD risk and suggest that the original finding may have been driven by an association of coffee consumption with rs4998386 in controls. The next years will likely see an increasing number of papers examining gene–environment interactions at the genome-wide level, which poses important methodological challenges. Our findings underline the need for a careful assessment of the findings of such studies.
An alternative approach to design conductive hybrid cover yarns for efficient electromagnetic shielding fabrics

E-Textiles have gained enormous attention due to their specific characteristics in various non-conventional applications such as electromagnetic shielding materials. With the advent of various high frequency-driven devices, the need to restrict the non-ionizing radiations from their undesired effects became imperative. Due to the ease of production, better electrical conductivity and durability, the conductive hybrid cover yarns with continuous metallic filaments have earned its place as the most convenient form of yarns to develop E-textiles. However, controlling the amount of conducting material in yarns poses a challenge as the increase in size of the metallic filaments are associated with reduced electromagnetic shielding effectiveness due to increased stiffness of yarns, which resists in proper interlacement and hence causes openness in fabrics. The proposed design of conductive hybrid cover yarns is proven to have better tensile properties and modulus, therefore this design is more suitable to produced fabrics with higher cover factors. The amount of conducting material in the proposed design increased significantly without changing the size of the continuous filaments. Moreover, 99.9% shielding effectiveness is achieved with this increased metal content in fabrics in S-band and partly C-band microwave frequencies.
Acute Effects of Whole-Body Vibration on the Motor Function of Patients with Stroke: A Randomized Clinical Trial

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to investigate the acute effects of whole-body vibration on the motor function of patients with stroke. DesignThe present investigation was a randomized clinical trial studying 43 individuals with hemiparesis after stroke, with 33 subjects allocated to the intervention group and 10 subjects allocated to the control group. The intervention group was subjected to one session of vibration therapy (frequency of 50 Hz and amplitude of 2 mm) comprising four 1-min series with 1-min rest intervals between series in three body positions: bipedal stances with the knees flexed to 30 degrees and 90 degrees and a unipedal stance on the paretic limb. The analytical tests were as follows: simultaneous electromyography of the affected and unaffected tibialis anterior and rectus femoris muscles bilaterally in voluntary isometric contraction; the Six-Minute Walk Test; the Stair-Climb Test; and the Timed Get-Up-and-Go Test. The data were analyzed by independent and paired t tests and by analysis of covariance. ResultsThere was no evidence of effects on the group and time interaction relative to variables affected side rectus femoris, unaffected side rectus femoris, affected side tibialis anterior, unaffected side tibialis anterior, and the Stair-Climb Test (P > 0.05). There was evidence of effects on the group interaction relative to variables Six-Minute Walk Test and Timed Get-Up-and-Go Test (P < 0.05). ConclusionsWhole-body vibration contributed little to improve the functional levels of stroke patients.
Building a table tennis game for three players

Physical leisure activities such as table tennis provide healthy exercise and can offer a means to connect with others socially; however, players have to be in the same physical location to play. Networked computer games support players in geographically distant locations, but their communication channel is often limited to text or audio only. Furthermore, recent input devices that encourage exertion often do not support adequate force-feedback. We have developed a networked table tennis-like game that is played with a real paddle and ball, augmented with a large-scale videoconference. Similar to networked computer games, this concept can support more than two locations, while simultaneously aiming to provide similar benefits known from traditional physical leisure activity such as exercise, enjoyment and bringing people together to socialize.
Set-based multiobjective fitness landscapes: a preliminary study

Fitness landscape analysis aims to understand the geometry of a given optimization problem in order to design more efficient search algorithms. However, there is a very little knowledge on the landscape of multiobjective problems. In this work, following a recent proposal by Zitzler et al. (2010), we consider multiobjective optimization as a set problem. Then, we give a general definition of set-based multiobjective fitness landscapes. An experimental set-based fitness landscape analysis is conducted on the multiobjective NK-landscapes with objective correlation. The aim is to adapt and to enhance the comprehensive design of set-based multiobjective search approaches, motivated by an a priori analysis of the corresponding set problem properties.
Effects of sulfur nutrition on expression of the soybean seed storage protein genes in transgenic petunia.

The 7S seed storage protein (beta-conglycinin) of soybean (Glycine max [L]. Merr.) has three major subunits; alpha, alpha', and beta. Accumulation of the beta-subunit, but not the alpha- and alpha'-subunits, has been shown to be repressed by exogenously applied methionine to the immature cotyledon culture system (LP Holowach, JF Thompson, JT Madison [1984] Plant Physiol 74: 576-583) and to be enhanced under sulfate deficiency in soybean plants (KR Gayler, GE Sykes [1985] Plant Physiol 78: 582-585). Transgenic petunia (Petunia hybrida) harboring either the alpha'- or beta-subunit gene were constructed to test whether the patterns of differential expression were retained in petunia. Petunia regulates these genes in a similar way as soybean in response to sulfur nutritional stimuli, i.e. (a) expression of the beta-subunit gene is repressed by exogenous methionine in in vitro cultured seeds, whereas the alpha'-subunit gene expression is not affected; and (b) accumulation of the beta-subunit is enhanced by sulfur deficiency. The pattern of accumulation of major seed storage protein of petunia was not affected by these treatments. These results indicate that this mechanism of gene regulation in response to sulfur nutrition is conserved in petunia even though it is not used to regulate its own major seed storage proteins.
A Pattern-Mixture Model with Nonfuture Dependence and Shift in Current Missing Values

For incomplete continuous longitudinal data with a monotone pattern, we study a pattern-mixture model which assumes that missingness only depends on observed data and the current missing value, and that the conditional distribution of the current missing value differ from that of the observed patterns by location and scale shifts. The shift parameters measure the departure from the missing at random mechanism. We show that a numerical or Monte Carlo approximation is needed to obtain the posterior draw of the mean at the final time point as a function of the posterior draw of the observed data model parameters and shift parameters, and that scale shifts have negligible impact on the estimated mean at the final time point. We use multiple imputation to avoid numerical integration and demonstrate that the usual multiple imputation variance estimator is valid for the estimated mean at the final time point when scale shifts are not considered. The multiple imputation method is applied to a clinical study of major depressive disorders.
A European initiative to develop procedures and instrumentation for worker's electromagnetic safety (WEMS)

A project is described that is developing procedures and instrumentation to demonstrate compliance with EU Directive 2004/40/EC. In 2012, the directive will pose new requirements on employers in the European Union to evaluate the exposure of workers to electromagnetic fields (EMF). Implementation of these requirements is a significant challenge to employers, many of whom lack the resources and expertise required to demonstrate compliance with EMF limits. Some industries that use high-current or high-voltage equipment in the workplace are particularly affected, such as the automotive, railway and metal fabrication industries. Simple and reliable tools are necessary for employers in these industries.
Discrimination of EEG-Based Motor Imagery Tasks by Means of a Simple Phase Information Method

We propose an off-line analysis method in order to discriminate between motor imagery tasks manipulated in a brain computer interface system. A measure of large-scale synchronization based on phase locking value is established. The results indicate that it can take advantage of the phase synchrony between scalp-recorded EEG activity in the supplementary motor area and in sezorimotor area, computing the differences between the active and the relaxation states. Phase locking value features are more discriminative in s rhythm than in µ rhythm. The proposed method is simple, computationally efficient and proves good results on EEG Motor Movement/Imagery Dataset available from PhysioNet research resource for physiologic signals.
Use of acetazolamide-challenge xenon CT in the assessment of cerebral blood flow dynamics in patients with arteriovenous malformations.

Arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) may cause symptoms related to a reduction of cerebral blood flow (CBF) to surrounding brain parenchyma. To evaluate this compromise of hemodynamic reserve (commonly referred to as steal phenomenon), we used acetazolamide challenge and stable-xenon CT (Xe/CT). Baseline Xe/CT studies in 13 patients with AVMs were followed by an acetazolamide challenge to the vascular reserve. Blood flow maps were quantitated by using region-of-interest (ROI) software. ROI findings were categorized into four groups on the basis of the presence or absence of normal baseline CBF and presence or absence of normal augmentation of CBF. ROIs were designated as near site (within the vascular territory supplying the AVM) or far site (outside the vascular territory supplying the AVM). One patient had a normal baseline and normal augmentation of CBF (group 1). The other patients had a combination of one or more of the other three categories. Ten patients had parenchymal areas that exhibited either a normal or low baseline CBF with decreased augmentation; both conditions were interpreted as decreased vascular reserve (groups 2 and 3). Eleven patients had parenchymal areas that showed a low baseline CBF and normal augmentation with acetazolamide (group 4), interpreted as having a decreased demand for CBF but having a normal vascular reserve. Decreased vascular reserve was found in 27% of the nearsite areas and 17% of the far-site areas. No patients had only far-site abnormal vascular reserve. We believe that compromised vascular reserve can best be evaluated with a challenge study, such as this acetazolamide-challenge Xe/CT study. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Components of the Metabolic Syndrome and Carotid Atherosclerosis: Role of Elevated Blood Pressure

Elevated blood pressure is among the factors that contribute to the metabolic syndrome (MetS). It is not known whether subjects with MetS and elevated blood pressure are at the same cardiovascular risk as subjects with MetS but without elevated blood pressure. To clarify this point, we have evaluated the prevalence of carotid atherosclerosis in subjects with MetS with or without elevated blood pressure. A large population was examined (842 women and 1011 men). Blood pressure, lipids, glucose, and waist were measured by routine methods. Carotid atherosclerosis was evaluated by echo Doppler examination. The prevalence of MetS was 24.4% in women and 28.7% in men. The prevalence of carotid atherosclerosis was 35.1% in women and 37.3% in men (p=NS), and increased with increasing number of MetS components. Age, smoking, and systolic blood pressure (SBP) were associated with the presence of carotid atherosclerosis (logistic model), whereas age, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and SBP were associated with the extent of atherosclerosis (linear model). When comparing subjects with an equal number of MetS components, the prevalence of carotid atherosclerosis was significantly higher in subjects with elevated blood pressure than in those without. No difference in carotid atherosclerosis prevalence was found in subjects bearing or not bearing components of the syndrome other than elevated blood pressure. The present findings demonstrate that subjects with MetS and elevated blood pressure have increased carotid atherosclerosis compared with subjects with MetS but without elevated blood pressure. The diagnosis of MetS per se might not adequately identify subjects at elevated cardiovascular risk.
An automated tool for detecting ESD design errors

In this paper, we report the development of a unique software program that can detect ESD design and layout errors. The novel features of this tool include detection of sensitive spacing requirements to prevent parasitic current paths, compatibility of the protection devices to the circuits being protected, and critical bus resistance limits for protection efficiency. This tool has been successfully applied in ASIC designs.
Projector-Based Location Discovery and Tracking

While a number of projects within the computer graphics, computer vision, and human-computer interaction community have explored the powerful ability for projected light to create illusions that can reshape our perception and interaction with surfaces in the environment, very few of these systems have had success in terms of commercial and consumer adoption. Often these systems require expert knowledge to perform system setup and calibration between the projected images and the physical surfaces to make these illusions effective. In this thesis work, I present a technique for inherently adding object location discovery and tracking capabilities to commercial projectors. This is accomplished by introducing light sensors into the projection area and then spatially encoding the image area using a series of structured light patterns. This delivers a unique pattern of light to every pixel in the projector’s screen space directly encoding the location data using the projector itself. I present three evolutionary prototype systems of increasing capability and demonstrate the applications enabled and simplified during each stage of development. By unifying the image projection and location tracking technology into a single device I can greatly simplify the implementation of previous systems and enable interaction capabilities which are difficult or impossible using alternative approaches.
Multi-Robot Swarm for Cooperative Scalar Field Mapping

In this chapter, autonomous mobile robots are deployed to measure an unknown scalar field and build its map. The development of a cooperative sensing and control method is presented for multi-robot swarming to build the scalar field map. The proposed method consists of two parts. First, the development of a distributed sensor fusion algorithm is obtained by integrating two different distributed consensus filters to achieve cooperative sensing among robots. This fusion algorithm has two phases. In the first phase, the weighted average consensus filter is developed which allows each robot to find an estimate of the value of the scalar field. In the second phase, the average consensus filter is used to allow each robot to find a confidence of the estimate. The final estimate of the value of the scalar field is iteratively updated during the movement of the robot via a weighted average protocol. Second, the distributed control algorithm is developed to control the mobile robots to form a network and cover the field. Experimental results are provided to demonstrate the proposed algorithms.
Stability analysis of two coupled pre-shaped beams in parallel

Parallel bistable mechanism rather than single bistable beam is preferred in micro devices like relays and resonators due to its higher stability in insensitive axis and higher robustness to fabrication errors. Its stability characteristics including nonlinearity and bistability or snap-through, however, rarely appear in current publications. The coupled mechanism constructed by two pre-shaped beams in parallel is investigated analytically and numerically in this paper. Based on the quasi-linearization of the problem and analytical equation of force and displacement, the dimension combinations of coupled beams are categorized into three types according to the apex amplitudes of cosine-shaped beams. It is concluded that the appearance of snap-through behaviors in parallel coupled mechanism is sustained by both arranging two bistable beams and making the apex difference meet condition of Fmin < 0. The smallest values of minimum force only appears when the apexes are equal to each other, and any efforts to increase or decrease the apex of single beam will lead the nonlinear phenomenon from snap-through to constrained-snap-through and further to no snap-through. The numerical method is also introduced to observe the stability of coupled mechanism and shows a good agreement with analytical methods proposed by this paper.
Conditioning Thermal Stability and Dose Effects of Commercially Available Phytase Preparations on Performance and Tibia Mineralization of Young Broiler Chickens

Conditioning Thermal Stability and Dose Effects of Commercially Available Phytase Preparations on Performance and Tibia Mineralization of Young Broiler Chickens Victoria Homan Phytases have become a vital part of broiler diets due to their ability to decrease feed cost and potential environmental pollution caused by the use of excessive phosphorus. The objective of the first study was to compare the effects of various inclusions of a Transgenic Phytase Corn (TPC) to a Granulated Bacteria Phytase (GBP) on 21-d broiler performance and tibia mineralization. Treatments varied in non-phytate phosphorus (Negative control (NC) = 0.2, positive control (PC) = 0.4, 0.3, and 0.35), phytase product (TPC or GBP), and phytase dose (500-3000 FTU/kg). A 2x2 factorial analysis was performed with the main effects phytase activity and phytase product. The inclusion of granulated bacterial phytase resulted in increased broiler performance and tibia mineralization compared to the inclusion of transgenic phytase corn. This may be attributed to variations in dispersion of enzyme within the diet or the general efficacy of the expressed enzyme. The inclusion of a commercial phytase at 3,000 FTU/kg increased broiler performance and tibia mineralization compared to inclusion at 500 FTU/kg. These results may be due to a greater reduction of phytate, alleviating anti-nutrient effects. The objective of the second study was to evaluate the effects three commercial 6-phytase products with a phosphorus deficient diet subjected to increased steam conditioning temperatures on broiler performance and tibia mineralization. Treatments included a negative control, and a negative control with the addition of a Buttiauxella phytase expressed in Trichoderma reesei (B Trich), an E. coli phytase expressed in Pichia pastoris (E Pichia), or an E. coli phytase expressed in Trichoderma reesei (E Trich), steam conditioned at 82, 88, or 93°C, for a total of twelve treatments. Broiler performance and tibia mineralization were analyzed using a 4 x 3 factorial with the main effects of product and conditioning temperature. The commercial phytase products demonstrated differences in supporting the phosphorus requirement in broilers. Increasing conditioning temperatures had a detrimental effect on broiler performance and tibia mineralization. The increased conditioning temperatures may have decreased nutrient availability, denatured phytase products, or both of these events may have influenced the results.
DISTEMPER-LIKE DISEASE AND ENCEPHALITOZOONOSIS IN WILD DOGS (LYCAON PICTUS)

Clinical signs of a fatal disease resembling those of canine distemper were observed in two groups of captive wild dog (Lycaon pictus) pups 13 days after vaccination with a commercially available combination vaccine for dogs which contained a live attenuated strain of canine distemper virus. Histopathological examination of tissues revealed the presence of intranuclear inclusion bodies in neurons and lesions resembling canine distemper as well as colonies of an Encephalitozoon sp. in the central nervous system and kidneys. Lesions were observed in both organs which resembled those described in other species infected with Encephalitozoon cuniculi.
Outage probability analysis of cooperative spatial modulation systems

The capacity analysis of the spatial modulation (SM) scheme is different than that of the multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems. Since the information is conveyed not only through the M-ary constellation domain but also through the antenna domain, the capacity of SM is expressed as the sum of the capacities of these two domains. Due to this summation, the outage probability of SM differs from the conventional systems. A detailed analysis of the outage probability of SM has not been given in the literature yet. In this work, first, we derive the outage probability performance of the classical SM system and second, we extend the results to the cooperative scenarios under fixed, selective and incremental relaying techniques. It is shown that SM and cooperative SM systems provide better performance compared to conventional modulation systems in terms of outage probability.