Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Algorithm for Symptom Attribution and Classification Following Possible Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

Objective:To present a heuristic model of a symptom attribution and classification algorithm (SACA) for mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). Setting: VA Polytrauma sites. Participants: 422 Veterans. Design: Cross-sectional. Main Measures: SACA, Comprehensive TBI Evaluation (CTBIE), Structured TBI Diagnostic Interview, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2-RF), Letter Memory Test, Validity-10. Results: SACA and CTBIE diagnoses differ significantly (P < .01). The CTBIE, compared with SACA, attributes 16% to 500% more symptoms to mTBI, behavioral health (BH), mTBI + BH and symptom resolution. Altering SACA criteria indicate that (1) CTBIE determination of cognitive impairment yields 27% to 110% more mTBI, mTBI + BH and symptom resolution diagnoses, (2) ignoring timing of symptom onset yields 32% to 76% more mTBI, mTBI + BH and Other Condition diagnoses, (3) Proportion of sample having questionably valid profiles using structured TBI diagnostic interview and MMPI-2-RF and Letter Memory Test is 26% whereas with CTBIE item number 23 and Validity-10 is 6% to 26%, (4) MMPI-2-RF F-scale is the only measure identifying Veterans with posttraumatic amnesia for more than 24 hours as having questionably valid profiles. Conclusions: Symptom attribution–based diagnoses differ when using status quo versus the SACA. The MMPI-2-RF F-scale, compared with the Validity-10 and Letter Memory Test, may be more precise in identifying questionably valid profiles for mTBI + BH. The SACA provides a framework to inform clinical practice, resource allocation, and future research.
Relationships between craniocervical posture and pain-related disability in patients with cervico-craniofacial pain

Objectives This cross-sectional correlation study explored the relationships between craniocervical posture and pain-related disability in patients with chronic cervico-craniofacial pain (CCFP). Moreover, we investigated the test–retest intrarater reliability of two craniocervical posture measurements: head posture (HP) and the sternomental distance (SMD). Methods Fifty-three asymptomatic subjects and 60 CCFP patients were recruited. One rater measured HP and the SMD using a cervical range of motion device and a digital caliper, respectively. The Spanish versions of the neck disability index and the craniofacial pain and disability inventory were used to assess pain-related disability (neck disability and craniofacial disability, respectively). Results We found no statistically significant correlations between craniocervical posture and pain-related disability variables (HP and neck disability [r=0.105; P>0.05]; HP and craniofacial disability [r=0.132; P>0.05]; SMD and neck disability [r=0.126; P>0.05]; SMD and craniofacial disability [r=0.195; P>0.05]). A moderate positive correlation was observed between HP and SMD for both groups (asymptomatic subjects, r=0.447; CCFP patients, r=0.52). Neck disability was strongly positively correlated with craniofacial disability (r=0.79; P<0.001). The test–retest intrarater reliability of the HP measurement was high for asymptomatic subjects and CCFP patients (intraclass correlation coefficients =0.93 and 0.81, respectively) and for SMD (intra-class correlation coefficient range between 0.76 and 0.99); the test–retest intrarater reliability remained high when evaluated 9 days later. The HP standard error of measurement range was 0.54–0.75 cm, and the minimal detectable change was 1.27–1.74 cm. The SMD standard error of measurement was 2.75–6.24 mm, and the minimal detectable change was 6.42–14.55 mm. Independent t-tests showed statistically significant differences between the asymptomatic individuals and CCFP patients for measures of craniocervical posture, but these differences were very small (mean difference =1.44 cm for HP; 6.24 mm for SMD). The effect sizes reached by these values were estimated to be small for SMD (d=0.38) and medium for HP (d=0.76). Conclusion The results showed no statistically significant correlations between craniocervical posture and variables of pain-related disability, but a strong correlation between the two variables of disability was found. Our findings suggest that small differences between CCFP patients and asymptomatic subjects exist with respect to the two measurements used to assess craniocervical posture (HP and SMD), and these measures demonstrated high test–retest intrarater reliability for both CCFP patients and asymptomatic subjects.
Estimating Performance of a Ray-Tracing ASIC Design

Recursive ray tracing is a powerful rendering technique used to compute realistic images by simulating the global light transport in a scene. Algorithmic improvements and FPGA-based hardware implementations of ray tracing have demonstrated realtime performance but hardware that achieves performance levels comparable to commodity rasterization graphics chips is still not available. This paper describes the architecture and ASIC implementations of the DRPU design (dynamic ray processing unit) that closes this performance gap. The DRPU supports fully programmable shading and most kinds of dynamic scenes and thus provides similar capabilities as current GPUs. It achieves high efficiency due to SIMD processing of floating point vectors, massive multithreading, synchronous execution of packets of threads, and careful management of caches for scene data. To support dynamic scenes B-KD trees are used as spatial index structures that are processed by a custom traversal and intersection unit and modified by an update processor on scene changes. The DRPU architecture is specified as a high-level structural description in a functional language and mapped to both FPGA and ASIC implementations. Our FPGA prototype clocked at 66 MHz achieves higher ray tracing performance than CPU-based ray tracers even on a modern multi-GHz CPU. We provide performance results for two 130 nm ASIC versions and estimate what performance would be using a 90 nm CMOS process. For a 90nm version with a 196 mm2 die we conservatively estimate clock rates of 400 MHz and ray tracing performance of 80 to 290 fps at 1024times768 resolution in our test scenes. This estimated performance is 70 times faster than what is achievable with standard multi-GHz desktop CPUs
Early bird sampling: A short-paths free error detection-correction strategy for data-driven VOS

Razor is a milestone in the field of Error Detection&Correction strategies for low-power operation. Despite the impressive level of maturity, its application on circuits other than pipelined processors still remains an open issue. Firstly, the error detection mechanism relies on special flip-flops (FFs), the Razor-FFs, whose use imposes heavy hold-time fixing and large circuit area/power overheads; secondly, the error correction is performed through instruction replay, a practice that is not available (or very expensive to implement) in generic circuits. This work introduces Early Bird Sampling (EBS), a Razor variant that applies to low-power sequential circuits. The EBS allows to (i) solve the problem of short-path races bypassing tedious holdtime fixing design stages, (ii) reduce design overhead exploiting a local logic-masking mechanism for error correction. As a key feature, EBS enables Data-Driven Voltage Over-Scaling (DD-VOS), an aggressive dynamic voltage scaling strategy particularly suited for ultra-low power error-resilient applications. Simulation runs on a representative set of circuits provide a fair comparison with a standard Razor strategy. The collected results show EBS reduces area overheads (3.6% against 71.6% for Razor) and improves the voltage scaling profile achieving lower energy-per-operation (savings w.r.t. Razor range from 19.1% to 53.1%).
Machine learning 2.0 : Engineering Data Driven AI Products

ML 2.0: In this paper, we propose a paradigm shift from the current practice of creating machine learning models - which requires months-long discovery, exploration and "feasibility report" generation, followed by re-engineering for deployment - in favor of a rapid, 8-week process of development, understanding, validation and deployment that can executed by developers or subject matter experts (non-ML experts) using reusable APIs. This accomplishes what we call a "minimum viable data-driven model," delivering a ready-to-use machine learning model for problems that haven't been solved before using machine learning. We provide provisions for the refinement and adaptation of the "model," with strict enforcement and adherence to both the scaffolding/abstractions and the process. We imagine that this will bring forth the second phase in machine learning, in which discovery is subsumed by more targeted goals of delivery and impact.
The relationship between spatial ability, cerebral blood flow and learning with dynamic images: A transcranial Doppler ultrasonography study

Abstract Determining the effect of dynamic images on learning is often limited to performance measures. This study explores the impact from the perspective of cerebral blood flow in the brain during learning. Performance and neurophysiological response in high and low spatial ability were compared during learning with dynamic images. Individuals with high spatial ability appear to be better suited to learn with complex images such as dynamic images that move in time and space. The results presented here suggest that spatial ability can help to determine the effectiveness of the media we use for teaching.
Underlay cognitive radio networks with cooperative non-orthogonal multiple access

In this study, a cooperative non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) scheme is investigated in an underlay cognitive radio network. With this aim, a number of secondary users are concerned in the cooperative NOMA, in which a user with strong channel gains is properly selected (to act as a relay) by a multi-antenna base station ( B S ) for assisting another user with poor channel gains in the presence of a primary network. Closed-form expressions for the outage probability of the secondary network are derived, based on which the asymptotic outage behaviours of each secondary user assuming various realistic cases are discussed. Our analytical results clearly reveal that an outage floor may exist in the outage probability of the secondary users, being determined by the interference constraint and the number of antennas at the B S . The impact of the multiple antennas and the number of cooperative NOMA users on the system performance is examined, and it shows that the cell-edge user under poor channel gains can benefit from both the cooperative NOMA and opportunistic relay transmission.
Association of Severity of Coronary Artery Aneurysms in Patients With Kawasaki Disease and Risk of Later Coronary Events

Importance Few studies with sufficient statistical power have shown the association of the z score of the coronary arterial internal diameter with coronary events (CE) in patients with Kawasaki disease (KD) with coronary artery aneurysms (CAA). Objective To clarify the association of the z score with time-dependent CE occurrence in patients with KD with CAA. Design, Setting, and Participants This multicenter, collaborative retrospective cohort study of 44 participating institutions included 1006 patients with KD younger than 19 years who received a coronary angiography between 1992 and 2011. Main Outcomes and Measures The time-dependent occurrence of CE, including thrombosis, stenosis, obstruction, acute ischemic events, and coronary interventions, was analyzed for small (z score, <5), medium (z score, ≥5 to <10; actual internal diameter, <8 mm), and large (z score, ≥10 or ≥8 mm) CAA by the Kaplan-Meier method. The Cox proportional hazard regression model was used to identify risk factors for CE after adjusting for age, sex, size, morphology, number of CAA, resistance to initial intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) therapy, and antithrombotic medications. Results Of 1006 patients, 714 (71%) were male, 341 (34%) received a diagnosis before age 1 year, 501 (50%) received a diagnosis between age 1 and 5 years, and 157 (16%) received a diagnosis at age 5 years or older. The 10-year event-free survival rate for CE was 100%, 94%, and 52% in men (P < .001) and 100%, 100%, and 75% in women (P < .001) for small, medium, and large CAA, respectively. The CE-free rate was 100%, 96%, and 79% in patients who were not resistant to IVIG therapy (P < .001) and 100%, 96%, and 51% in patients who were resistant to IVIG therapy (P < .001), respectively. Cox regression analysis revealed that large CAA (hazard ratio, 8.9; 95% CI, 5.1–15.4), male sex (hazard ratio, 2.8; 95% CI, 1.7–4.8), and resistance to IVIG therapy (hazard ratio, 2.2; 95% CI, 1.4–3.6) were significantly associated with CE. Conclusions and Relevance Classification using the internal diameter z score is useful for assessing the severity of CAA in relation to the time-dependent occurrence of CE and associated factors in patients with KD. Careful management of CE is necessary for all patients with KD with CAA, especially men and IVIG-resistant patients with a large CAA.
Endogenous annexin A1 (AnxA1) modulates early‐phase gestation and offspring sex‐ratio skewing

Annexin A1 (AnxA1) is a glucocorticoid‐regulated anti‐inflammatory protein secreted by phagocytes and other specialised cells. In the endocrine system, AnxA1 controls secretion of steroid hormones and it is abundantly expressed in the testis, ovaries, placenta and seminal fluid, yet its potential modulation of fertility has not been described. Here, we observed that AnxA1 knockout (KO) mice delivered a higher number of pups, with a higher percentage of female offsprings. This profile was not dependent on the male features, as sperm from KO male mice did not present functional alterations, and had an equal proportion of Y and X chromosomes, comparable to wild type (WT) male mice. Furthermore, mismatched matings of male WT mice with female KO yielded a higher percentage of female pups per litter, a phenomenon which was not observed when male KO mice mated with female WT animals. Indeed, AnxA1 KO female mice displayed several differences in parameters related to gestation including (i) an arrested estrous cycle at proestrus phase; (ii) increased sites of implantation; (iii) reduced pre‐ and post‐implantation losses; (iv) exacerbated features of the inflammatory reaction in the uterine fluid during implantation phase; and (v) enhanced plasma progesterone in the beginning of pregnancy. In summary, herein we highlight that AnxA1 pathway as a novel determinant of fundamental non‐redundant regulatory functions during early pregnancy.
Feasible and Reliable Ab initio Atomistic Modeling for Nuclear Waste Management

The studies in this PhD dissertation focus on finding a computationally feasible ab initio methodology which would make the reliable first principle atomistic modeling of nuclear materials possible. Here we tested the performance of the different DFT functionals and the DFT-based methods that explicitly account for the electronic correlations, such as the DFT+U approach, for prediction of structural and thermochemical properties of lanthanideand actinide-bearing materials. In the previous studies, the value of the Hubbard U parameter, required by the DFT+U method, was often guessed or empirically derived. We applied and extensively tested the recently developed ab initio methods such as the constrained local density approximation (cLDA) and the constrained random phase approximation (cRPA), to compute the Hubbard U parameter values from first principles, thus making the DFT+U method a real ab inito parameter free approach. Our successful benchmarking studies of the parameter-free DFT+U method, for prediction of the structures and the reaction enthalpies of actinideand lanthanidebearing molecular compounds and solids indicate, that the linear response method (cLDA) provides a very good, and consistent with the cRPA prediction, estimate of the Hubbard U parameter. In particular, we found that the Hubbard U parameter value, which describes the strength of the on-site Coulomb repulsion between f -electrons, depends strongly on the oxidation state of the f -element, its local bonding environment and crystalline structure of the materials, which has never been considered in such detail before. We have shown, that the applied computational approach substantially, if not dramatically, reduces the error of the predicted reaction enthalpies making the accuracy of the prediction comparable with the uncertainty of the computational unfeasible, higher order methods of quantum chemistry, and experiments. The derived methodology resulted in various, already published, successful modeling of the important, from the long-term stability point of view, thermochemical and thermodynamical properties of the prospective nuclear waste forms, such as monaziteand pyrochlore-
Negative Regulation of Ectoine Uptake and Catabolism in Sinorhizobium meliloti: Characterization of the EhuR Gene

ABSTRACT Ectoine has osmoprotective effects on Sinorhizobium meliloti that differ from its effects in other bacteria. Ectoine does not accumulate in S. meliloti cells; instead, it is degraded. The products of the ehuABCD-eutABCDE operon were previously discovered to be responsible for the uptake and catabolism of ectoine in S. meliloti. However, the mechanism by which ectoine is involved in the regulation of the ehuABCD-eutABCDE operon remains unclear. The ehuR gene, which is upstream of and oriented in the same direction as the ehuABCD-eutABCDE operon, encodes a member of the MocR/GntR family of transcriptional regulators. Quantitative reverse transcription-PCR and promoter-lacZ reporter fusion experiments revealed that EhuR represses transcription of the ehuABCD-eutABCDE operon, but this repression is inhibited in the presence of ectoine. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays and DNase I footprinting assays revealed that EhuR bound specifically to the DNA regions overlapping the −35 region of the ehuA promoter and the +1 region of the ehuR promoter. Surface plasmon resonance assays further demonstrated direct interactions between EhuR and the two promoters, although EhuR was found to have higher affinity for the ehuA promoter than for the ehuR promoter. In vitro, DNA binding by EhuR could be directly inhibited by a degradation product of ectoine. Our work demonstrates that EhuR is an important negative transcriptional regulator involved in the regulation of ectoine uptake and catabolism and is likely regulated by one or more end products of ectoine catabolism. IMPORTANCE Sinorhizobium meliloti is an important soil bacterium that displays symbiotic interactions with legume hosts. Ectoine serves as a key osmoprotectant for S. meliloti. However, ectoine does not accumulate in the cells; rather, it is degraded. In this study, we characterized the transcriptional regulation of the operon responsible for ectoine uptake and catabolism in S. meliloti. We identified and characterized the transcription repressor EhuR, which is the first MocR/GntR family member found to be involved in the regulation of compatible solute uptake and catabolism. More importantly, we demonstrated for the first time that an ectoine catabolic end product could modulate EhuR DNA-binding activity. Therefore, this work provides new insights into the unique mechanism of ectoine-induced osmoprotection in S. meliloti.
SDHC Promoter Methylation, a Novel Pathogenic Mechanism in Parasympathetic Paragangliomas

Context Germline mutations in the succinate dehydrogenase A, B, C, and D genes (collectively, SDHx) predispose to the development of paragangliomas (PGLs) arising at the parasympathetic or sympathetic neuroendocrine systems. SDHx mutations cause absence of tumoral immunostaining for SDHB. However, negative SDHB immunostaining has also been found in a subset of PGLs that lack SDHx mutations. Settings Here, we report the comprehensive molecular characterization of one such a tumor of parasympathetic origin compared with healthy paraganglia and other PGLs with or without SDHx mutations. Results Integration of multiplatform data revealed somatic SDHC methylation and loss of the 1q23.3 region containing the SDHC gene. This correlated with decreased SDHC messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein levels. Furthermore, another genetic event found affected the VHL gene, which showed a decreased DNA copy number, associated with low VHL mRNA levels, and an absence of VHL protein detected by immunohistochemistry. In addition, the tumor displayed a pseudohypoxic phenotype consisting in overexpression of the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1α and miR-210, as well as downregulation of the iron-sulfur cluster assembly enzyme (ISCU) involved in SDHB maturation. This profile resembles that of SDHx- or VHL-mutated PGLs but not of PGLs with decreased VHL copy number, pointing to SDHC rather than VHL as the pathogenic driver. Conclusions Collectively, these findings demonstrate the potential importance of both the SDHC epigenomic event and the activation of the HIF-1α/miR-210/ISCU axis in the pathogenesis of SDHx wild-type/SDHB-negative PGLs. To our knowledge, this is the first case of a sporadic parasympathetic PGL that carries silencing of SDHC, fulfilling the two-hit Knudson's model for tumorigenesis.
The Effect of Conventional and Transparent Surgical Masks on Speech Understanding in Individuals with and without Hearing Loss

Abstract Background: It is generally well known that speech perception is often improved with integrated audiovisual input whether in quiet or in noise. In many health-care environments, however, conventional surgical masks block visual access to the mouth and obscure other potential facial cues. In addition, these environments can be noisy. Although these masks may not alter the acoustic properties, the presence of noise in addition to the lack of visual input can have a deleterious effect on speech understanding. A transparent (“see-through”) surgical mask may help to overcome this issue. Purpose: To compare the effect of noise and various visual input conditions on speech understanding for listeners with normal hearing (NH) and hearing impairment using different surgical masks. Research Design: Participants were assigned to one of three groups based on hearing sensitivity in this quasi-experimental, cross-sectional study. Study Sample: A total of 31 adults participated in this study: one talker, ten listeners with NH, ten listeners with moderate sensorineural hearing loss, and ten listeners with severe-to-profound hearing loss. Data Collection and Analysis: Selected lists from the Connected Speech Test were digitally recorded with and without surgical masks and then presented to the listeners at 65 dB HL in five conditions against a background of four-talker babble (+10 dB SNR): without a mask (auditory only), without a mask (auditory and visual), with a transparent mask (auditory only), with a transparent mask (auditory and visual), and with a paper mask (auditory only). Results: A significant difference was found in the spectral analyses of the speech stimuli with and without the masks; however, no more than ∼2 dB root mean square. Listeners with NH performed consistently well across all conditions. Both groups of listeners with hearing impairment benefitted from visual input from the transparent mask. The magnitude of improvement in speech perception in noise was greatest for the severe-to-profound group. Conclusions: Findings confirm improved speech perception performance in noise for listeners with hearing impairment when visual input is provided using a transparent surgical mask. Most importantly, the use of the transparent mask did not negatively affect speech perception performance in noise.