Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Measurement of absolute latency for video see through augmented reality

Latency is a key property of video see through AR systems since users' performance is strongly related to it. However, there is no standard way of latency measurement of an AR system in the literature. We have created a stable and comparable way of estimating the latency in a video see through AR system. The latency is estimated by encoding the time in the image and decoding the time after camera feedback. We have encoded the time as a translation of a circle in the image. The cross ratio has been used as an image feature that is preserved in a projective transformation. The encoding allows for a simple but accurate way of decoding. We show that this way of encoding has an adequate accuracy for latency measurements. As the method allows for a series of automatic measurements we propose to visualize the measurements in a histogram. This histogram reveals meaningful information about the system other than the mean value and standard deviation of the latency. The method has been tested on four different AR systems that use different camera technology, resolution and frame rates.
Development of LC‐QTOF‐MS method for human lung tissue fingerprinting. A preliminary application to nonsmall cell lung cancer

The major histologic subtypes of non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) include adenocarcinoma (ADC), squamous cell lung carcinoma (SCC), and large‐cell carcinoma (LCC). Clinical trials of targeted agents and newer chemotherapy agents yielded differences in outcomes according to histologic subgroups providing a rationale for histology‐based treatment in NSCLC. Currently, NSCLC subtyping is performed based on histopathological examinations and immunohistochemistry. However available methods leave about 10% of NSCLC cases as not otherwise specified. The purpose of this study was development of an LC‐QTOF‐MS method for human lung tissue metabolic fingerprinting that could discriminate NSCLC histological subtypes and propose biomarkers candidates that could support proper NSCLC diagnosis. Metabolites were extracted with acetonitrile or methanol/ethanol and different chromatographic conditions were tested. In the final method 10 mg of lung tissue was homogenized with 50% methanol and metabolites were extracted with acetonitrile. Metabolites were separated on C8‐RP and HILIC columns. About 3500 and 2000 of metabolic features (in both ion modes) were detected with good repeatability (CV < 20%) by RP and HILIC methods, respectively. Lung tumor and control tissue samples obtained from NSCLC patients were analyzed with developed methodology. Acylcarnitines, fatty acids, phospholipids, and amino acids were found more abundant in tumor as compared to control tissue. Acylcarnitines, lysophospholipids, creatinine, creatine, and alanine were identified as potential targets enabling classification of NSCLC subtypes.
CALL FOR PAPERS Integrative and Translational Physiology: Inflammation and Immunity in Organ System Physiology Differential effects of endurance training and weight loss on plasma adiponectin multimers and adipose tissue macrophages in younger, moderately overweight men

Differential effects of endurance training and weight loss on plasma adiponectin multimers and adipose tissue macrophages in younger, moderately overweight men. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 305: R490–R498, 2013. First individuals are characterized by low circulating adiponectin concentrations and an increased number of macrophages in adipose tissue, which is believed to be causally associated with chronic low-grade inﬂammation and insulin resistance. Regular physical exercise decreases overall morbidity in obese subjects, which may be due to modulations of inﬂammatory pathways. In this randomized clinical trial we investigated the separate effects of endurance training-in-duced weight loss, diet-induced weight loss, and endurance training per se (without weight loss) on plasma adiponectin multimer composition (Western blotting) and adipose tissue macrophage content (immunohistochemistry) in young, moderately overweight men. Weight loss and endurance training per se decreased whole body fat percentage in an additive manner. No intervention-induced changes were observed for plasma total adiponectin. Surprisingly, endurance training, irrespectively of any associated weight loss, shifted the adiponectin multimer distribution toward a lower molecular weight (21% decrease in HMW/LMW, P (cid:1) 0.015), whereas diet-induced weight loss shifted the distribution toward a higher molecular weight (42% increase in HMW/MMW, P (cid:2) 0.001). Furthermore, endurance training per se increased the number of anti-inﬂammatory CD163 (cid:3) macrophages [from 12.7 (cid:4) 2.1 (means (cid:4) SE) to 16.1 (cid:4) 3.1 CD163 (cid:3) cells/100 adipocytes, P (cid:1) 0.013], whereas diet-induced weight loss tended to decrease CD68 (cid:3) macrophages in subcutaneous abdominal adipose tissue. Thus regular physical exercise inﬂuences systemic and adipose tissue inﬂammatory pathways differently than diet-induced weight loss in younger, moderately overweight men. Our data suggest that some of the health beneﬁts of a physically active lifestyle may occur through modulations of anti- rather than pro-inﬂammatory pathways in young, overweight men.
Impacts of the minimum legal drinking age legislation on in-patient morbidity in Canada, 1997-2007: a regression-discontinuity approach.

AIMS To provide novel, population-based estimates of the influence of minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) legislation on target in-patient hospital events in Canada. DESIGN Regression-discontinuity analyses on rates of Canadian in-patient admissions. SETTING All in-patient hospitalizations in Canada (except Québec) between 1 April 1997 and 31 March 2007. PARTICIPANTS Individuals aged 15-22 years admitted to hospital. MEASUREMENTS International Classification of Diseases-9/10 codes for alcohol-use disorders/poisoning, injury, suicide, assault and motor vehicle accidents were considered as target morbidity conditions. FINDINGS Compared with the baseline hospitalization rate just prior to the MLDA, admissions at the MLDA rose significantly (P ≤ 0.001) for alcohol-use disorders/poisoning for males (17.3%) and females (21.1%), as well as for suicide events for the combined sample (9.6%, P = 0.029). Among males, there was a significant 4.4% increase (P = 0.001) in a broad class of injuries, including a 9.2% jump (P = 0.020) in admissions for motor vehicle accidents compared with the baseline hospitalization rate just prior to the MLDA. CONCLUSION Removal of minimum legal drinking age restrictions is associated with significant population-level increases in hospital admissions among young adults in Canada for alcohol-use disorders/poisoning, as well as for other serious injuries, especially among males. Current international minimum legal drinking age policy discussions should account for the impact of the minimum legal drinking age on severe morbidity outcomes.
DNA Microarray Analysis of the Heat Shock Transcriptome of the Obligate Intracytoplasmic Pathogen Rickettsia prowazekii

ABSTRACT Here we present the first oligonucleotide DNA microarray analysis of global gene expression changes in the obligate intracytoplasmic pathogen Rickettsia prowazekii using temperature upshift as a model stress condition, and we describe a methodology for isolating highly purified rickettsial RNA. In toto, 23 transcripts were significantly increased by temperature upshift (≥2.0-fold; P < 0.05), and no transcripts demonstrated reproducible decreases. Array results for three heat shock-inducible mRNAs were confirmed using quantitative reverse transcription-PCR.
SNP Data Consulting Program

In the post genome era, considerable effort has been put into genetic association study with single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to investigate genes affecting traits, for example diseases and response to drugs. Although various software tools for SNP association study read plain text files as input data, their formats is not standardized. Manual data conversion may cause incorrect input. In addition, validity of analysis may be lost by experimental fault and by data not under assumption of analysis method. To detect various errors in input data, we implemented 19 rules as SNP data consulting program. The program can also infer first cause of error and then suggest how user should correct it. We demonstrate the program is effective not only for in-house data but also for published data where errors are expected to have been removed. With this program, biologist would be able to perform intended and valid analysis
Locating L2 English Writing Centers in German Universities

As L2 English writing support services, including writing centers, expand into different linguistic and national contexts, it becomes imperative for literacy brokers (Lillis and Curry 2006) and literacy managers (Brauer 2012) to reflect on the uses and limitations of existing writing support models and teaching approaches. This paper presents the findings from a project that tracked the growth of L2 English writing centers in German universities from 2013-2015, locating their emergence within changes in the German academic landscape. Using data taken from questionnaires and interviews, this paper locates and explores ten L2 English writing centers in Germany, focusing on their aims; organizational models and teaching approaches; staffing and funding; key university partnerships; offers; and reflections on the future. It is hoped that these collated experiences could be of interest to other L2 English centers developing in different countries and language contexts.
How good is the evidence to support primary care practice?

Our goal was to determine the extent to which recommendations for primary care practice are informed by high-quality research-based evidence, and the extent to which they are based on evidence of improved health outcomes (patient-oriented evidence). As a substrate for study, we used Essential Evidence, an online, evidence-based, medical reference for generalists. Each of the 721 chapters makes overall recommendations for practice that are graded A, B or C using the Strength of Recommendations Taxonomy (SORT). SORT A represents consistent and good quality patient-oriented evidence; SORT B is inconsistent or limited quality patient-oriented evidence and SORT C is expert opinion, usual practice or recommendations relying on surrogate or intermediate outcomes. Pairs of researchers abstracted the evidence ratings for each chapter in tandem, with discrepancies resolved by the lead author. Of 3251 overall recommendations, 18% were graded ‘A’, 34% were ‘B’ and 49% were ‘C’. Clinical categories with the most ‘A’ recommendations were pregnancy and childbirth, cardiovascular, and psychiatric; those with the least were haematological, musculoskeletal and rheumatological, and poisoning and toxicity. ‘A’ level recommendations were most common for therapy and least common for diagnosis. Only 51% of recommendations are based on studies reporting patient-oriented outcomes, such as morbidity, mortality, quality of life or symptom reduction. In conclusion, approximately half of the recommendations for primary care practice are based on patient-oriented evidence, but only 18% are based on patient-oriented evidence from consistent, high-quality studies.
Fast and Accurate Hashing Via Iterative Nearest Neighbors Expansion

Recently, the hashing techniques have been widely applied to approximate the nearest neighbor search problem in many real applications. The basic idea of these approaches is to generate binary codes for data points which can preserve the similarity between any two of them. Given a query, instead of performing a linear scan of the entire data base, the hashing method can perform a linear scan of the points whose hamming distance to the query is not greater than rh, where rh is a constant. However, in order to find the true nearest neighbors, both the locating time and the linear scan time are proportional to O(Σi=0rh (ic )) (c is the code length), which increase exponentially as rh increases. To address this limitation, we propose a novel algorithm named iterative expanding hashing in this paper, which builds an auxiliary index based on an offline constructed nearest neighbor table to avoid large rh. This auxiliary index can be easily combined with all the traditional hashing methods. Extensive experimental results over various real large-scale datasets demonstrate the superiority of the proposed approach.
Mutated epitopes of hepatitis B surface antigen fused to the core antigen of the virus induce antibodies that react with the native surface antigen

Fusion of peptide epitopes to the core antigen (HBcAg) of hepatitis B virus (HBV) enhances their immunogenicity, both quantitatively and qualitatively. In a number of vaccine‐induced mutants of HBV, glycine145 of the surface antigen S polypeptide (HBsAg) has been replaced by arginine, resulting in loss of cross‐reactivity with antibodies to normal (wild‐type) HBsAg. HBcAg fusion proteins carrying the immunodominant epitope of HBsAg, in which glycine145 was replaced by arginine, glutamic acid, or lysine, were produced in Escherichia coli and formed particles that displayed HBc antigenicity and immunogenicity similar to that of HBcAg itself. The fusion proteins also elicited T‐cell‐proliferative responsiveness to HBcAg and HBsAg. Fusions carrying either wild‐type or mutated epitopes of HBsAg showed HBs antigenicity in immunoblot analysis and antigen‐capture immunoradiometric assay, but both mutant and wild‐type derivatives induced antibodies that cross‐reacted with wild‐type HBsAg. The results emphasise the potential for HBcAg fusion proteins in vaccines by broadening the antibody response in a way that could confer protection against both wild‐type and variant forms of HBV. J. Med. Virol. 51:159–166, 1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A Boolean Model for a Class of Discrete Event Systems

A Boolean matrix equation model is obtained for a class of discrete event systems in which the state change associated with each event occurrence is deterministic, and in which all entities are permanent. The Boolean matrix equations are quite compact and can be efficiently programmed on a digital computer. A conveyor system is used as an example. The model can be investigated for determinacy, zero states, and cycles. Algorithms are presented that determine whether transient events interact, and whether transient cycles exist. The zero states of a model are shown to be solutions of a simple Boolean matrix equation.
Characterization of murine monoclonal antibodies to Escherichia coli J5

Twenty-eight independently derived monoclonal antibodies (MAb) directed against Escherichia coli J5 endotoxin were produced and characterized. Each MAb exhibited a specific titer by both radioimmunoassay and passive hemagglutination assay. Most of the MAb were of the immunoglobulin G isotype; however, several immunoglobulin M antibodies and one immunoglobulin A antibody were produced. When characterized for their capacity to cross-react with purified endotoxin preparations from several gram-negative bacteria, 22 MAb exhibited no cross-reactivity; 6 demonstrated a limited capacity to cross-react with other endotoxin preparations. When characterized for their capacity to react with the intact organism instead of the purified endotoxin the pattern of cross-reactivity was quite different. Most of the MAb were able to react with Salmonella minnesota Re595. Eighteen were able to react with E. coli O111:B4 (the parent strain of E. coli J5), 13 MAb reacted weakly with Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and 3 reacted weakly with Klebsiella pneumonia. The data imply that MAb generated against E. coli J5 endotoxin demonstrate greater cross-reactivity when assayed against the whole bacterium than when assayed against the corresponding purified endotoxin. We were unable to demonstrate that any of the 28 MAb could passively protect mice against lethal endotoxin challenge.
Overexpressed GM1 Suppresses Nerve Growth Factor (NGF) Signals by Modulating the Intracellular Localization of NGF Receptors and Membrane Fluidity in PC12 Cells*

Ganglioside GM1 has been considered to have a neurotrophic factor-like activity. To analyze the effects of endogenously generated GM1, the rat pheochromocytoma cell line PC12 was transfected with the GM1/GD1b/GA1 synthase gene and showed increased expression levels of GM1. To our surprise, GM1+-transfectant cells (GM1+ cells) showed no neurite formation after stimulation with nerve growth factor (NGF). Autophosphorylation of NGF receptor TrkA and activation of ERK1/2 after NGF treatment were scarcely detected in GM1+ cells. Binding of 125I-NGF to PC12 cells was almost equivalent between GM1+ cells and controls. However, dimer formation of TrkA upon NGF treatment was markedly suppressed in GM1+ cells in both cross-linking analysis with Bis(sulfosuccinimidyl)suberate 3 and 125I-NGF binding assay. The sucrose density gradient fractionation of the cell lysate revealed that TrkA primarily located in the lipid raft fraction moved to the non-raft fraction in GM1+ cells. p75NTR and Ras also moved from the raft to non-raft fraction in GM1+ cells, whereas flotillin and GM1 persistently resided in the lipid raft. TrkA kinase activity was differentially regulated when GM1 was added to the kinase assay system in vitro, suggesting suppressive/enhancing effects of GM1 on NGF signals based on the concentration. Measurement of fluorescence recovery after photobleaching revealed that the membrane fluidity was reduced in GM1+ cells. These results suggested that overexpressed GM1 suppresses the differentiation signals mediated by NGF/TrkA by modulating the properties of the lipid raft and the intracellular localization of NGF receptors and relevant signaling molecules.
Theory of mind and pragmatic abilities in dementia.

OBJECTIVE "Theory of Mind" (ToM) is the capacity to attribute mental states to oneself and to others and to interpret behavior in terms of mental states. Deficits in both ToM and pragmatic abilities have been described in patients with neurologic disorders, such as frontal lobe lesions and right hemisphere strokes, but have not been assessed in demented patients. METHODS This study examined ToM and pragmatic abilities in a consecutive series of 34 patients with probable Alzheimer disease (AD) using a second-order false belief story, 11 short stories assessing understanding of social situations, and a test of pragmatic abilities assessing both indirect requests and-conversational implications. RESULTS Sixty-five percent of AD patients with mild dementia could not pass a second-order false belief task, whereas no failures were found in a group of 10 age-comparable healthy controls. AD patients who did not pass the second-order false belief task had more severe deficits on tests of verbal anterograde memory, verbal comprehension, abstract thinking, and naming, as compared with AD patients who passed the task. AD patients also showed significantly more severe pragmatic deficits than age-comparable healthy controls, and there was a significant association between ToM and pragmatic deficits. On the other hand, there were no significant associations between ToM or pragmatic deficits, and behavioral problems frequently reported in AD such as depression, delusions, apathy, and irritability. CONCLUSIONS This initial exploratory investigation demonstrated significant deficits in both ToM and pragmatic abilities in a consecutive series of AD patients with mild dementia.
Openness and ECOWAS Regional Trade: A Panel Cointegration Analysis Using a Gravity Model

This paper investigates the general effect of ECOWAS regional integration agreements on trade among its members, as well as the level of openness across ECOWAS. The panel dataset consists of bilateral flows of export from 15 ECOWAS countries for the period of 1983–2013, the cointegration method was used for estimation under the gravity model. Comparing the results, a negative and significant coefficient was discovered for the ECOWAS dummy variable, trade openness and financial openness, under pool ordinary least squares (POLS) estimators. Under dynamic ordinary least squares methods the coefficient of the ECOWAS dummy variable remained positive, but not significant. Trade openness was negative and significant under DOLS, while the variable remained positive and not significant under DLSDV. The financial openness variable was both negatively and positively insignificant under both. The empirical evidence indicates that there is a long term relationship inside ECOWAS, and thus, the level of openness among members impedes the level of trade flows on integration. However, the results reveal the fundamental significance of appropriate accounting for endogeneity when assessing trade policies.
Plant phosphoproteomics: A long road ahead

Phosphoproteomics can be defined as the comprehensive study of protein phosphorylation by identification of the phosphoproteins, exact mapping of the phosphorylation sites, quantification of phosphorylation, and eventually, revealing their biological function. Its place in today's research is vitally important to address the most fundamental question – how the phosphorylation events control most, if not all, of the cellular processes in a given organism? Despite the immense importance of phosphorylation, the analysis of phosphoproteins on a proteome‐wide scale remains a formidable challenge. Nevertheless, several technologies have been developed, mostly in yeast and mammals, to conduct a large‐scale phosphoproteomic study. Some of these technologies have been successfully applied to plants with a few modifications, resulting in documentation of phosphoproteins, phosphorylation site mapping, identification of protein kinase substrates, etc. at the global level. In this review, we summarize in vitro and in vivo approaches for detection and analysis of phosphoproteins including protein kinases and we discuss the importance of phosphoproteomics in understanding plant biology. These approaches along with bioinformatics will help plant researchers to design and apply suitable phosphoproteomic strategies in helping to find answers to their biological questions.
Fast 3-D Tomographic Microwave Imaging for Breast Cancer Detection

Microwave breast imaging (using electromagnetic waves of frequencies around 1 GHz) has mostly remained at the research level for the past decade, gaining little clinical acceptance. The major hurdles limiting patient use are both at the hardware level (challenges in collecting accurate and noncorrupted data) and software level (often plagued by unrealistic reconstruction times in the tens of hours). In this paper we report improvements that address both issues. First, the hardware is able to measure signals down to levels compatible with sub-centimeter image resolution while keeping an exam time under 2 min. Second, the software overcomes the enormous time burden and produces similarly accurate images in less than 20 min. The combination of the new hardware and software allows us to produce and report here the first clinical 3-D microwave tomographic images of the breast. Two clinical examples are selected out of 400+ exams conducted at the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (Lebanon, NH). The first example demonstrates the potential usefulness of our system for breast cancer screening while the second example focuses on therapy monitoring.