Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Blood pressure lowering efficacy of alpha blockers for primary hypertension.

BACKGROUND Alpha blockers are occasionally prescribed for hypertension so it is important to determine and compare their effects on blood pressure (BP), heart rate and withdrawals due to adverse effects (WDAE). OBJECTIVES To quantify the dose-related systolic and/or diastolic BP lowering efficacy of alpha blockers versus placebo in the treatment of primary hypertension. SEARCH STRATEGY We searched CENTRAL (The Cochrane Library 2009, Issue 1), MEDLINE (1950 to April 2009), EMBASE (1980 to April 2009) and reference lists of articles. SELECTION CRITERIA Double-blind, randomized, controlled trials evaluating the BP lowering efficacy of fixed-dose monotherapy with an alpha blocker compared with placebo for a duration of 3 to 12 weeks in patients with primary hypertension. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS Two authors independently assessed the risk of bias and extracted data. Study authors were contacted for additional information. WDAE information was collected from the trials. MAIN RESULTS Only 10 trials evaluated the dose-related trough BP lowering efficacy of 4 different alpha blockers in 1175 participants with a baseline BP of 155/101 mm Hg. The data do not suggest that any one alpha blocker is better or worse at lowering BP. The best but unsatisfactory estimate of the trough BP lowering efficacy for alpha blockers is -8/-5 mmHg. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS Based on the limited number of published RCTs, the BP lowering effect of alpha blockers is modest; the estimate of the magnitude of trough BP lowering of -8/-5 mmHg is likely an overestimate. There are no clinically meaningful BP lowering differences between different alpha blockers. The review did not provide a good estimate of the incidence of harms associated with alpha blockers because of the short duration of the trials and the lack of reporting of adverse effects in many of the trials.
Systematic Review of Ossicular Chain Anatomy: Strategic Planning for Development of Novel Middle Ear Prostheses

Objective To systematically review the anatomy of the ossicular chain. Data Sources Google Scholar, PubMed, and otologic textbooks. Review Methods A systematic literature search was performed on January 26, 2015. Search terms used to discover articles consisted of combinations of 2 keywords. One keyword from both groups was used: [ossicular, ossicle, malleus, incus, stapes] and [morphology, morphometric, anatomy, variation, physiology], yielding more than 50,000 hits. Articles were then screened by title and abstract if they did not contain information relevant to human ossicular chain anatomy. In addition to this search, references of selected articles were studied as well as suggested relevant articles from publication databases. Standard otologic textbooks were screened using the search criteria. Results Thirty-three sources were selected for use in this review. From these studies, data on the composition, physiology, morphology, and morphometrics were acquired. In addition, any correlations or lack of correlations between features of the ossicular chain and other features of the ossicular chain or patient were noted, with bilateral symmetry between ossicles being the only important correlation reported. Conclusion There was significant variation in all dimensions of each ossicle between individuals, given that degree of variation, custom fitting, or custom manufacturing of prostheses for each patient could optimize prosthesis fit. From published data, an accurate 3-dimensional model of the malleus, incus, and stapes can be created, which can then be further modified for each patient’s individual anatomy.
Improving Logging Prediction on Imbalanced Datasets: A Case Study on Open Source Java Projects

Logging is an important yet tough decision for OSS developers. Machine-learning models are useful in improving several steps of OSS development, including logging. Several recent studies propose machine-learning models to predict logged code construct. The prediction performances of these models are limited due to the class-imbalance problem since the number of logged code constructs is small as compared to non-logged code constructs. No previous study analyzes the class-imbalance problem for logged code construct prediction. The authors first analyze the performances of J48, RF, and SVM classifiers for catch-blocks and if-blocks logged code constructs prediction on imbalanced datasets. Second, the authors propose LogIm, an ensemble and threshold-based machine-learning model. Third, the authors evaluate the performance of LogIm on three open-source projects. On average, LogIm model improves the performance of baseline classifiers, J48, RF, and SVM, by 7.38%, 9.24%, and 4.6% for catch-blocks, and 12.11%, 14.95%, and 19.13% for if-blocks logging prediction.
Dissecting the Chemistry of Nicotinic Receptor-Ligand Interactions with Infrared Difference Spectroscopy*

The physical interactions that occur between the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor from Torpedo and the agonists carbamylcholine and tetramethylamine have been studied using both conventional infrared difference spectroscopy and a novel double-ligand difference technique. The latter was developed to isolate vibrational bands from residues in a membrane receptor that interact with individual functional groups on a small molecule ligand. The binding of either agonist leads to an increase in vibrational intensity at frequencies centered near 1663, 1655, 1547, 1430, and 1059 cm−1 indicating that both induce a conformational change from the resting to the desensitized state. Vibrational shifts near 1580, 1516, 1455, 1334, and between 1300 and 1400 cm−1 are assigned to structural perturbations of tyrosine and possibly both tryptophan and charged carboxylic acid residues upon the formation of receptor-quaternary amine interactions, with the relatively intense feature near 1516 cm−1 indicating a key role for tyrosine. Other vibrational bands suggest the involvement of additional side chains in agonist binding. Two side-chain vibrational shifts from 1668 and 1605 cm−1 to 1690 and 1620 cm−1, respectively, could reflect the formation of a hydrogen bond between the ester carbonyl of carbamylcholine and an arginine residue. The results demonstrate the potential of the double-ligand difference technique for dissecting the chemistry of membrane receptor-ligand interactions and provide new insight into the nature of nicotinic receptor-agonist interactions.
Selenium upregulates CD 4 + CD 25 + regulatory T cells in iodine-induced autoimmune thyroiditis model of NOD . H-2 h 4 mice

Selenium (Se) is required for thyroid hormone synthesis and metabolism. Se treatment reduces serum thyroidspecific antibody titers in patients with autoimmune thyroiditis (AIT), but the exact mechanism is not clear. We investigated the effects of Se treatment on CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ regulatory T cells (Treg) in a iodine-induced autoimmune thyroiditis model. NOD.H-2h4 mice were randomly divided into control, AIT untreated, and AIT with Se treatment groups. Mice were fed with 0.005% sodium iodine (NaI) water for 8 weeks to induce AIT. Se-treated mice received 0.3 mg/L sodium selenite in drinking water. The AIT mice had fewer Treg cells and reduced Foxp3 mRNA expression in splenocytes compared with the controls (p < 0.01). The percentage of Treg cells and expression of Foxp3 mRNA were increased by Se treatment (as compared with untreated AIT mice, p < 0.05). Mice that received Se supplementation also had lower serum thyroglobulin antibody (TgAb) titers and reduced lymphocytic infiltration in thyroids than untreated AIT mice. These data suggest that CD4+CD25+ T cells play an important role in the development of AIT. Se supplementation may restore normal levels of CD4+CD25+ T cells by upregulating the expression of Foxp3 mRNA in mice with AIT.
Age-related gene expression changes, and transcriptome wide association study of physical and cognitive aging traits, in the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936

Gene expression is influenced by both genetic variants and the environment. As individuals age, changes in gene expression may be associated with decline in physical and cognitive abilities. We measured transcriptome-wide expression levels in lymphoblastoid cell lines derived from members of the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 at mean ages 70 and 76 years. Changes in gene expression levels were identified for 1,741 transcripts in 434 individuals. Gene Ontology enrichment analysis indicated an enrichment of biological processes involved in the immune system. Transcriptome-wide association analysis was performed for eleven cognitive, fitness, and biomedical aging-related traits at age 70 years (N=665 to 781) and with mortality. Transcripts for genes (F2RL3, EMILIN1 and CDC42BPA) previously identified as being differentially methylated or expressed in smoking or smoking-related cancers were overexpressed in smokers compared to non-smokers and the expression of transcripts for genes (HERPUD1, GAB2, FAM167A and GLS) previously associated with stress response, autoimmune disease and cancer were associated with telomere length. No associations between expression levels and other traits, or mortality were identified.
Characterization of domestic onion wastes and bulb (Allium cepa L.): fatty acids and metal contents.

Different parts of onion bulb that constitute to waste were characterized for their nutritive value using standard methods. Proximate analysis of the samples revealed that protein (8.76%) and ash (11.46%) was highest in top-bottom part, carbohydrate (66.12%) in outer scale, fat (15.71%) and fiber (26.84%) was highest in outer scale part while highest amount of moisture (9.21%) was reported in top-bottom part. X-ray spectrometry revealed that the outer scale had the highest level of calcium (3.05%) followed by the onion bulb (2.98%) and least in the top-bottom part (2.08%). Gas chromatographic analysis of the extracted oil revealed that the oil from the outer scale part has the highest percentage of linoleic acid, 52.87%. The iodine value of the bulb oil, top-bottom oil and the outer scale oil were 143.35, 142.08 and 189.52 respectively. The properties of different parts of onion that go to waste revealed that they could be dietary sources of nutritive elements and essential fatty acids.
Roles of mothers and fathers in supporting child physical activity: a cross-sectional mixed-methods study

Objectives Examine the extent that parent gender is associated with supporting children’s physical activity. Design Cross-sectional mixed-methods study. Setting 47 primary schools located in Bristol (UK). Participants 944 children aged 8–9 years and one of their parents provided quantitative data; 51 parents (20 fathers) were interviewed. Methods Children wore an accelerometer, and mean minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) per day, counts per minute (CPM) and achievement of national MVPA guidelines were derived. Parents reported who leads in supporting child activity during the week and weekend. Linear and logistic regression examined the association between gender of parent who supports child activity and child physical activity. For the semistructured telephone interviews, inductive and deductive content analyses were used to explore the role of gender in how parents support child activity. Results Parents appeared to have a stronger role in supporting boys to be more active, than girls, and the strongest associations were when they reported that both parents had equal roles in supporting their child. For example, compared with the reference of female/mother support, equal contribution from both parents during the week was associated with boys doing 5.9 (95% CI 1.2 to 10.6) more minutes of MVPA per day and more CPM when both parents support on weekday and weekends (55.1 (14.3 to 95.9) and 52.8 (1.8 to 103.7), respectively). Associations in girls were weaker and sometimes in the opposite direction, but there was no strong statistical evidence for gender interactions. Themes emerged from the qualitative data, specifically; parents proactively supporting physical activity equally, mothers supporting during the week, families getting together at weekends, families doing activities separately due to preferences and parents using activities to bond one-to-one with children. Conclusions Mothers primarily support child activity during the week. Children, possibly more so boys, are more active if both parents share the supporting role.
Standard assessment scales for elderly people. Recommendations of the Royal College of Physicians of London and the British Geriatrics Society.

Sir,-In 1989 the Research Unit of the Royal College of Physicians initiated a workshop to consider scales that could be recommended for the assessment of elderly people in geriatric medicine services. At the outset, the main motive behind this initiative was to provide the tools for part of a minimum dataset in geriatric medicine. The workshop was convened in association with the British Geriatrics Society and included participants drawn from associated professions. At the workshops, precirculated expert papers were presented briefly and discussed in detail. Topics included the individual assessment domains , the science of assessment, the interface with primary care, and the ethics of assessment. The assessment domains that were considered comprised activities of daily living, communication, mood, cognitive function, social status, and quality of life. Between the workshops, each domain was the subject of consideration in much greater detail by smaller working groups drawn from among workshop participants. The background papers, minutes of workshop discussions, results of the deliberations of the small working groups, and other miscellaneous comments were incorporated into a report which was published this year. ' The report includes background comments on standard assessments and provides the rationale for assessment in each domain. A standard scale is recommended for each domain (table) and potential areas for future research are highlighted. The report reproduces the individual scales along with any instructions for the ones that are available. In general, the scales recommended are simple and well established. For activities of daily living, the Barthel ADL Index probably reflects existing informal assessments and formalises existing activities, while the scale for cognitive impairment-the Abbreviated Mental Test-is probably in widespread use already. The mood and morale scales are probably less familiar although recognising depression is clearly good practice. Particular difficulty was encountered in recommending a scale for measuring social status, Recommended assessments scales for elderly people. Primary ADL Memory Communication Mood Morale Social status partly because social status has so many different aspects. Instead, a simple social checklist has been proposed. The workshops and report have been accompanied by a parallel research project-the SAFE (standard assessment for the elderly) study. This consisted of a multicentre evaluation of the use of the recommended scales in the real world. Data are currently being analysed and reports should be available later this year. Participants in this study, which was cofunded by seed money from the Research Unit of the Royal College of Physicians …
Horizontal Differentiation and the survival of Train and Coach modes in medium range passenger transport, a welfare analysis comprising economies of scope and scale

The Portuguese transport system as a whole suffers from the dominance of personal transportation, this being generally less efficient. Coaches and trains struggle to stay in the business. This model explains the markets’ performance beyond price differentials, bundling the transport modes’ appeal in one index for each. The differentiated transport cost approach accounts for product differentiation, economies of scope accruing to the consumer, and allows for economies of scale, in the form of fixed costs, to be weighted in, as well as tax policies towards motoring. It goes further by building a general welfare function that permits all factors and competition regimes to be properly compared. These are a monopoly by cars, duopolies with cars and each of the public transports, and oligopolies with public transports either competing or colluding. Simulations are carried out, and discussed in light of swings in market share and changes in welfare, with a reasonable claim to plausibility. Both public transports make the public better off by staying in the market, although the coaches’ contribution is more decisive. Trains results are weighted down by heavy fixed costs, and the far reaching coach network of destinations offers the second best service (behind that of cars). Collusion in the public transports is a price worth paying, when compared with the car monopoly emerging from bankrupt operators.
Composite Neural Dynamic Surface Control of a Class of Uncertain Nonlinear Systems in Strict-Feedback Form

This paper studies the composite adaptive tracking control for a class of uncertain nonlinear systems in strict-feedback form. Dynamic surface control technique is incorporated into radial-basis-function neural networks (NNs)-based control framework to eliminate the problem of explosion of complexity. To avoid the analytic computation, the command filter is employed to produce the command signals and their derivatives. Different from directly toward the asymptotic tracking, the accuracy of the identified neural models is taken into consideration. The prediction error between system state and serial-parallel estimation model is combined with compensated tracking error to construct the composite laws for NN weights updating. The uniformly ultimate boundedness stability is established using Lyapunov method. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate that the proposed method achieves smoother parameter adaption, better accuracy, and improved performance.
Using high-content screening technology for studying drug-induced hepatotoxicity in preclinical studies

ABSTRACT Introduction: The need for alternatives to animal experimentation and traditional testing methods has been widely discussed in recent years. This has led scientists and regulatory authorities to investigate alternative methods for toxicity testing. High-content screening (HCS) has emerged as a powerful tool in predictive toxicology since it permits molecular, cellular and tissue-based toxicity assessments. HCS allows automated image acquisition and analysis, and provides information on multiple properties of individual cells loaded simultaneously with fluorescent dyes, which is used for drug safety evaluations. Areas covered: Herein, the authors review the principles of HCS technology and some of the most widely used HCS assays for studying drug-induced hepatotoxicity in preclinical studies in general and in the pharmaceutical industry in particular. Expert opinion: The widespread acceptation of HCS by pharmaceutical companies and academic researchers highlights the potential usefulness of this technology as a prioritization tool in drug development. The improvement of different key points such as fluorescent probes or bioinformatics tools will consolidate HCS in drug discovery.
Characterization of the interaction between annexin I and profilin.

Annexin I belongs to a family of calcium-dependent phospholipid-binding and membrane-binding proteins. Although many of the biochemical properties and the three-dimensional structure of this protein are known, its true physiological roles have yet to be thoroughly defined. Its putative functions include participation in the regulation of actin microfilaments dynamics, proposed after the discovery of an interaction with actin. In accordance with this hypothesis, we found that annexin I can also interact with profilin. We used different methods, overlay and surface plasmon resonance (BIAcore), to measure the parameters of the association equilibrium, i.e. k(on), k(off) and k(d). The affinity of annexin I for profilin was between 10(7) M and 10(8) M. High concentrations of KCl did not prevent the interaction, although a slight decrease in affinity was observed. Calcium, a modulator of annexin I functions interfered only marginally with the association, in a manner comparable to magnesium. Proteins or compounds known to interact with annexin I or profilin were found to inhibit the annexin-I--profilin interaction when added in the reaction medium. Recombinant profilin exhibited a slightly lower affinity than natural platelet protein when measured with BIAcore. Due to the submembrane localisation of annexin I and the regulatory activity of profilin on the cytoskeleton, an interaction between annexin I and profilin may therefore be implicated in the regulation of some cellular functions, particularly those governing membrane-cytoskeleton dynamic organization.
A quantitative, multi-national and multi-stakeholder assessment of barriers to the adoption of cell therapies

Cellular therapies, such as stem cell–based treatments, have been widely researched and numerous products and treatments have been developed. Despite this, there has been relatively limited use of these technologies in the healthcare sector. This study sought to investigate the perceived barriers to this more widespread adoption. An anonymous online questionnaire was developed, based on the findings of a pilot study. This was distributed to an audience of clinicians, researchers and commercial experts in 13 countries. The results were analysed for all respondents, and also sub-grouped by geographical region, and by profession of respondents. The results of the study showed that the most significant barrier was manufacturing, with other factors such as efficacy, regulation and cost-effectiveness being identified by the different groups. This study further demonstrates the need for these important issues to be addressed during the development of cellular therapies to enable more widespread adoption of these treatments.
Moving-Object Detection From Consecutive Stereo Pairs Using Slanted Plane Smoothing

Detecting moving objects is of great importance for autonomous unmanned vehicle systems, and a challenging task especially in complex dynamic environments. This paper proposes a novel approach for the detection of moving objects and the estimation of their motion states using consecutive stereo image pairs on mobile platforms. First, we use a variant of the semi-global matching algorithm to compute initial disparity maps. Second, assisted by the initial disparities, boundaries in the image segmentation produced by simple linear iterative clustering are classified into coplanar, hinge, and occlusion. Moving points are obtained during ego-motion estimation by a modified random sample consensus) algorithm without resorting to time-consuming dense optical flow. Finally, the moving objects are extracted by merging superpixels according to the boundary types and their movements. The proposed method is accelerated on the GPU at 20 frames per second. The data which we use for testing and benchmarking is released, thus completing similar data sets. It includes 812 image pairs and 924 moving objects with ground truth for better algorithms evaluation. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves competitive results in terms of moving-object detection and their motion state estimation in challenging urban scenarios.