Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
3D RECONSTRUCTION FROM MULTI-VIEW MEDICAL X-RAY IMAGES – REVIEW AND EVALUATION OF EXISTING METHODS

The 3D concept is extremely important in clinical studies of human body. Accurate 3D models of bony structures are currently required in clinical routine for diagnosis, patient follow-up, surgical planning, computer assisted surgery and biomechanical applications. However, 3D conventional medical imaging techniques such as computed tomography (CT) scan and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have serious limitations such as using in non-weight-bearing positions, costs and high radiation dose(for CT). Therefore, 3D reconstruction methods from biplanar X-ray images have been taken into consideration as reliable alternative methods in order to achieve accurate 3D models with low dose radiation in weight-bearing positions. Different methods have been offered for 3D reconstruction from X-ray images using photogrammetry which should be assessed. In this paper, after demonstrating the principles of 3D reconstruction from X-ray images, different existing methods of 3D reconstruction of bony structures from radiographs are classified and evaluated with various metrics and their advantages and disadvantages are mentioned. Finally, a comparison has been done on the presented methods with respect to several metrics such as accuracy, reconstruction time and their applications. With regards to the research, each method has several advantages and disadvantages which should be considered for a specific application.
The multimodal approach to cognitive rehabilitation.

In the past two decades, researchers and practitioners have developed many procedures to improve cognitive functioning. Most of these procedures attempt to produce a change in a client's cognitive processes. For example, clients may be trained in how to pay attention, perceive, rehearse, remember, or think through a problem. Recently, several researchers and practitioners have sought an eclectic approach to treating practical problems of cognition. Clients are not only trained in mental strategies to enhance cognition, they are also equipped with mental prostheses, counseled on how to cope with the stress of cognitive tasks, directed to consume foods and vitamins conducive to good brain chemistry, and taught social skills that augment cognitive performance. This article presents a model that provides a theoretical backdrop for the eclectic approach to cognitive rehabilitation. This approach is rooted in the theoretical assumption that cognitive performance can be influenced by other modes of psychological processing (e.g., physiological, perceptual, emotional, motivational, social, and responses to the physical environment). According to this approach, cognitive rehabilitation achieves the greatest improvement in a client's cognitive functioning (1) by training better thought processes, and (2) by interventions that enhance two or more other modes of processing. The article demonstrates that this multimodal model of cognitive rehabilitation accounts for a wide variety of findings in basic research and clinical research, as well as being consistent with clinical judgment.
TRANSPORT BY COHERENT BAROTROPIC VORTICES

▪ Abstract This article reviews the transport properties of coherent vortices in rotating barotropic flows. It is shown that vortices induce regular Lagrangian motion inside their cores and are highly impermeable to inward and outward particle fluxes. Passive tracers can be trapped inside vortex cores for long times and are transported by the vortex motion over large distances. Absolute dispersion in vortex-dominated flows is discussed by studying particle dynamics in 2D turbulence, point-vortex systems, and subsurface float trajectories in the ocean. Finally, it is shown that anticyclonic coherent vortices in cyclonically rotating reference frames can concentrate heavy impurities (e.g. dust grains) in their cores. This process may play an important role in the formation of planetesimals in the early solar nebula.
Object groups and group communication in a distributed object-oriented programming

Groups and group communication are powerful abstractions that offer many benefits to programmers in distributed computing environments. Nevertheless only a few object-oriented programming languages or systems support these kinds of abstractions. In this paper we introduce a framework into DOOCE for handling multiple number of objects as a group and accessing it with group communication. DOOCE is our distributed computing environment which aims to integrate an object-oriented programming language and a distributed computing environment. With DOOCE, programmers can utilize object groups briefly and effectively in a program. Groups can be represented by object lists or Group classes which are added to DOOCE to use abstractions of groups. All messages to groups are transmitted by group communication. To hide consistency problems among group messages from the programmer DOOCE runtime system indivisibly delivers these messages, and messages can also be delivered atomically DOOCE also provides some methods to receive multiple replies from a group in order to ease description for acceptance of replies.
Adaptive error control scheme for high speed data transmission through a fading channel

In intergrated communications system capable of providing data and image (facsimile) has to be built to enhance the existing Cellular Telephone System which has offered autio service alone. Problem is that high speed data communications through radio propagation path is susceptible to a large number of brust like errors due to fading, man made noise caused by ignition noise and shadowing caused by electronic disturbance by a building. The latest achievement of effective data transfer rate has bearly reached a 300 bit/s level. This paper deals with an experiment employing the adaptive error control scheme which adaptively selects error correcting codes while monitoring the condition of the fading channel. The simulation test under the proposed control scheme resulted in a data transfer rate of 4800 bit/s and average transmission efficiency of 64.74%.
Measures of genotoxicity in Gulf war I veterans exposed to depleted uranium

Exposure to depleted uranium (DU), an alpha‐emitting heavy metal, has prompted the inclusion of markers of genotoxicity in the long‐term medical surveillance of a cohort of DU‐exposed Gulf War veterans followed since 1994. Using urine U (uU) concentration as the measure of U body burden, the cohort has been stratified into low‐u (<0.10 μg U/g creatinine) and high‐u groups (≥0.10 μg U/g creatinine). Surveillance outcomes for this cohort have historically included markers of mutagenicity and clastogenicity, with past results showing generally nonsignificant differences between low‐ vs. high‐U groups. However, mean hypoxanthine‐guanine phosphoribosyl transferase (HPRT) mutant frequencies (MFs) have been almost 50% higher in the high‐U group. We report here results of a more comprehensive protocol performed in a 2009 evaluation of a subgroup (N = 35) of this cohort. Four biomarkers of genotoxicity [micronuclei (MN), chromosome aberrations, and MFs of HPRT and PIGA] were examined. There were no statistically significant differences in any outcome measure when results were compared between the low‐ vs. high‐U groups. However, modeling of the HPRT MF results suggests a possible threshold effect for MFs occurring in the highest U exposed cohort members. Mutational spectral analysis of HPRT mutations is underway to clarify a potential clonal vs. a threshold uU effect to explain this observation. This study provides a comprehensive evaluation of a human population chronically exposed to DU and demonstrates a relatively weak genotoxic effect of the DU exposure. These results may explain the lack of clear epidemiologic evidence for U carcinogenicity in humans. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. , 2011. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Rural Ruins in America’s Climate Change Story: Photojournalism, Perception, and Agency in Shishmaref, Alaska

This article provides a visual analysis of a set of peopleless photographs taken in 2006 of a falling home erosion in the village of Shishmaref, Alaska, that have been widely circulated in reporting about the relocation of the village due to climate change. It asks whether the visual contract between spectator and absent climate change victim extends beyond an empathetic response to action toward restoring the lost home. The article explores the relationship of contemporary scholarship on postmodern ruination in U.S. Rust Belt cities and the Shishmaref fallen home photograph as a means to analyze the work done by rural ruination.
Prevalence and risk factors of hyperuricemia: results of the Kailuan cohort study

Abstract Objective: The objective of this study is to determine the serum uric acid (SUA) level and the prevalence of hyperuricemia (HUA) in Chinese population. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study among 100,226 employees (79.9% male) of the Kailuan Group using physical examination data in 2006–2007. HUA was defined as SUA >356.9 μmol/L (6.0 mg/dL) for women and SUA >416.4 μmol/L (7.0 mg/dL) for men. We investigated crude and age adjusted HUA prevalence and compared characteristics of subjects with and without HUA in men and women using multivariate logistic regression. Results: SUA levels were 244.9 ± 71.5 μmol/L in women and 302.0 ± 83.5 μmol/L in men. About 8290 (8.27%) subjects were diagnosed with HUA. Age-adjusted prevalence of HUA was 8.02% in the total sample (6.87% in women and 8.57% in men). The SUA level and HUA prevalence showed U-shaped or J-shaped associations with age. Multivariate logistic regression revealed age, waist circumference, total cholesterol, triglyceride, hypertension and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease history, prolonged sitting, alcohol consumption, and oral diuretics were independent risk factors of HUA, while long sleep duration was protective against HUA. Conclusions: The prevalence of HUA is 6.87% and 8.57% in Chinese women and men. HUA is likely related with life style and metabolic disorders.
Resonant Body Transistors in IBM's 32 nm SOI CMOS Technology

This paper presents unreleased CMOS-integrated MEMS resonators fabricated at the transistor level of IBM's 32SOI technology and realized without the need for any postprocessing or packaging. In this technology, resonant body transistors (RBTs) are driven capacitively and sensed piezoresistively using an n-channel field effect transistor (FET). Acoustic Bragg Reflectors (ABRs) are used to localize acoustic vibrations in the unreleased resonators completely buried under the CMOS metal stack and surrounded by low-κ dielectric. FET sensing is analytically compared with alternative active and passive sensing mechanisms to benchmark CMOS-MEMS resonator performance with frequency scaling. Experimental results from the first generation hybrid CMOS-MEMS RBTs show RBTs operating above 11 GHz with Qs of 24-30 and footprints of 5 × 3 μm. Comparative behavior of devices with design variations is used to demonstrate the effect of ABRs on spurious mode suppression. In addition, the performance of the RBTs is compared with passive electrostatic resonators, which show no discernible peak. Finally, temperature stability of <;3 ppm/K due to complimentary materials in the CMOS stack is analytically and experimentally verified.
Gene targeting in the Ig kappa locus: efficient generation of lambda chain‐expressing B cells, independent of gene rearrangements in Ig kappa.

The production of lambda chain‐expressing B cells was studied in mice in which either the gene encoding the constant region of the kappa chain (C kappa) or the intron enhancer in the Ig kappa locus was inactivated by insertion of a neomycin resistance gene. The two mutants have similar phenotypes: in heterozygous mutant mice the fraction of lambda chain‐bearing B cells is twice that in the wildtype. Homozygous mutants produce approximately 7 times more lambda‐expressing B cells (and about 2.3 times fewer total B cells) in the bone marrow than their normal counterparts, suggesting that B cell progenitors can differentiate into either kappa‐ or lambda‐producing cells and do the latter in the mutants. Whereas gene rearrangements in the Ig kappa locus are blocked in the case of enhancer inactivation, they still occur in that of the C kappa mutant, although in this mutant RS rearrangement is lower than in the wildtype. This indicates that gene rearrangements in the Ig lambda locus can occur in the absence of a putative positive signal resulting from gene rearrangements in Ig kappa, including RS recombination. Complementing these results, we also present data indicating that in normal B cell development kappa chain rearrangement can be preceded by lambda chain rearrangement and that the frequency of kappa/lambda double producers is small and insufficient to explain the massive production of lambda chain‐expressing B cells in the mutants.
Imaging Ultrasound imaging for the rheumatologist XXI . Role of ultrasound imaging in early arthritis

1Cattedra di Reumatologia, IRCCS Policlinico S. Matteo, Università di Pavia, Pavia, Italy. 2Antrim Hospital, Antrim, United Kingdom; 3Unità Operativa di Reumatologia, Università di Pisa, Pisa, Italy; 4Cattedra di Reumatologia, Sapienza Università di Roma, Roma, Italy; 5Cattedra di Reumatologia, Università, Politecnica delle Marche, Jesi, Italy. Please address correspondence to: Dr Carlo Alberto Scirè, Laboratorio di Reumatologia, Cattedra e Unità Operativa di Reumatologia, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, Piazzale Golgi 2, 27100 Pavia, Italy. E-mail: labreum@smatteo.pv. it Received and accepted on June 22, 2009. Clin Exp Rheumatol 2009; 27: 391-394. © Copyright CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL RHEUMATOLOGY 2009.
Option-Implied Equity Premia and the Predictability of Stock Market Returns

This paper proposes a novel approach to extracting option-implied equity premia, and empirically examines the information content of these risk premia for forecasting the stock market return. Our approach does not require specifying the functional form of the pricing kernel, and does not impose any restrictions on investors' preferences. We only assume the existence of put and call options which complete the market, and show that the equity premium can be inferred from expected excess returns on a portfolio of options. An empirical investigation of SP (ii) the implied equity premium consistently outperforms variables commonly used in the forecasting literature both in- and out-of-sample; (iii) at the cross-sectional level, stocks that are more sensitive to the implied equity premium have higher returns on average.
Correlation of neuropsychological, morphological and functional (regional cerebral blood flow and glucose utilization) findings in cerebral microangiopathy.

UNLABELLED Cerebral microangiopathy, indicated in MRI by lacunar infarctions (LIs) and deep white matter lesions (DWMLs), is said to be accompanied by vascular dementia, which is reportedly caused by LI and DWML. METHODS To confirm this assumption, 57 patients with cerebral microangiopathy were assessed for changes in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) and glucose utilization (rMRGlu) in both white matter and cortex, and these findings were correlated to the results of extensive neuropsychological testing (cognitive, mnestic and attentiveness tests), as well as to MRI findings. A special head holder ensured reproducibility of positioning during measurement of rCBF (99mTc-HMPAO SPECT) and rMRGlu (18F-FDG PET) and MRI. White matter and cortex were quantified with regions of interest defined on MRI and superimposed to corresponding PET/SPECT slices. The rMRGlu was calculated according to Sokoloff, and rCBF was determined from normalization to the cerebellum. LI and DWML were graded by number and extent. Brain atrophy was classified as no to slight inner and/or outer atrophy (Group A) or moderate-to-severe inner and outer atrophy (Group B). RESULTS Even in severe DWMLs and in multiple LIs, rCBFs and rMRGlu values were not reduced. Analysis of variance identified atrophy and neuropsychological deficits as the main determinants for reduced rCBF and rMRGlu values (p < 0.05). However, 60% of patients (19 of 31) with neuropsychological deficits in attentiveness tests and 61% of patients (23 of 38) with mnestic deficits belonged to Group A and revealed decreased rCBF and rMRGlu values. Neuropsychological deficits correlated well with decreased rCBF and rMRGlu, whereas MRI patterns, such as LI and DWML, did not. CONCLUSION We conclude that LI and DWML are epiphenomena that morphologically characterize cerebral microangiopathy. Dementia or neuropsychological deficits, however, are exclusively reflected by functional criteria (rCBF and rMRGlu), as long as cerebral atrophy does not occur.
Prevalence of Hypertension in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

AbstractWe aimed to obtain overall and regional estimates of hypertension prevalence, and to examine the pattern of this disease condition across different socio-demographic characteristics in low-and middle-income countries.We searched electronic databases from inception to August 2015. We included population-based studies that reported hypertension prevalence using the current definition of blood pressure ≥140/90 mm Hg or self-reported use of antihypertensive medication. We used random-effects meta-analyses to pool prevalence estimates of hypertension, overall, by World Bank region and country income group. Meta-regression analyses were performed to explore sources of heterogeneity across the included studies.A total of 242 studies, comprising data on 1,494,609 adults from 45 countries, met our inclusion criteria. The overall prevalence of hypertension was 32.3% (95% confidence interval [CI] 29.4–35.3), with the Latin America and Caribbean region reporting the highest estimates (39.1%, 95% CI 33.1–45.2). Pooled prevalence estimate was also highest across upper middle income countries (37.8%, 95% CI 35.0–40.6) and lowest across low-income countries (23.1%, 95% CI 20.1–26.2). Prevalence estimates were significantly higher in the elderly (≥65 years) compared with younger adults (<65 years) overall and across the geographical regions; however, there was no significant sex-difference in hypertension prevalence (31.9% vs 30.8%, P = 0.6). Persons without formal education (49.0% vs 24.9%, P < 0.00001), overweight/obese (46.4% vs 26.3%, P < 0.00001), and urban settlers (32.7% vs 25.2%, P = 0.0005) were also more likely to be hypertensive, compared with those who were educated, normal weight, and rural settlers respectively.This study provides contemporary and up-to-date estimates that reflect the significant burden of hypertension in low- and middle-income countries, as well as evidence that hypertension remains a major public health issue across the various socio-demographic subgroups. On average, about 1 in 3 adults in the developing world is hypertensive. The findings of this study will be useful for the design of hypertension screening and treatment programmes in low- and middle-income countries.
Rejection of Impassable Substrates by Yersinia Type III Secretion Machines

ABSTRACT Type III machines of pathogenic Yersinia spp. transport Yop proteins across the bacterial envelope into host cells. Translational fusions of yopE to the dihydrofolate reductase gene (dhfr) or the β-galactosidase gene (lacZ) generate hybrid proteins that block type III injection of Yop proteins into host cells, consistent with the canonical view that impassable DHFR and LacZ hybrids jam secretion machines. Mutations in repressors of posttranscriptional gene regulation, Yersinia enterocolitica yscM1 and yscM2 as well as Yersinia pestis lcrQ, relieve the YopE-DHFR-imposed blockade and restore type III injection into host cells. Genetic suppression of the type III blockade does not, however, promote YopE-DHFR secretion. A model is proposed whereby rejection of YopE-DHFR from the secretion pathway inhibits type III gene expression.
Gene-expression profiling of different arms of lymphatic vasculature identifies candidates for manipulation of cell traffic

Significance This paper elucidates one of the enigmas in immunology: What determines the discriminative traffic via afferent and efferent lymphatics? We report so far unrecognized and vastly distinct molecular profiles of lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs) in the afferent and efferent arms of the lymphatic system in the lymph nodes. Moreover, the work takes three of the hit molecules to more detailed analyses regarding their expression and function, and presents a previously unknown function in regulation of the lymphocyte traffic for macrophage scavenger receptor on LECs of the subcapsular sinus. Importantly, the findings of this work may potentially be exploitable in drug design when searching for new targets to manipulate immune response or cancer spread. Afferent lymphatic vessels bring antigens and diverse populations of leukocytes to draining lymph nodes, whereas efferent lymphatics allow only lymphocytes and antigens to leave the nodes. Despite the fundamental importance of afferent vs. efferent lymphatics in immune response and cancer spread, the molecular characteristics of these different arms of the lymphatic vasculature are largely unknown. The objective of this work was to explore molecular differences behind the distinct functions of afferent and efferent lymphatic vessels, and find possible molecules mediating lymphocyte traffic. We used laser-capture microdissection and cell sorting to isolate lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs) from the subcapsular sinus (SS, afferent) and lymphatic sinus (LS, efferent) for transcriptional analyses. The results reveal marked differences between afferent and efferent LECs and identify molecules on lymphatic vessels. Further characterizations of Siglec-1 (CD169) and macrophage scavenger receptor 1 (MSR1/CD204), show that they are discriminatively expressed on lymphatic endothelium of the SS but not on lymphatic vasculature of the LS. In contrast, endomucin (EMCN) is present on the LS endothelium and not on lymphatic endothelium of the SS. Moreover, both murine and human MSR1 on lymphatic endothelium of the SS bind lymphocytes and in in vivo studies MSR1 regulates entrance of lymphocytes from the SS to the lymph node parenchyma. In conclusion, this paper reports surprisingly distinct molecular profiles for afferent and efferent lymphatics and a function for MSR1. These results may open avenues to explore some of the now-identified molecules as targets to manipulate the function of lymphatic vessels.
Making Fiscal Policy Flexibly Independent of Government

The art of good government is to constantly review practices to see where improvements can be made. The guiding principles should be to design systems that make it clear what the medium-term goals are, to choose goals that can be communicated easily to the public and accepted as being reasonable, and to ensure that the system is transparent so that people can judge whether policy changes are consistent with the goals. (Ian Macfarlane, Governor of the Reserve Bank Australia, 1996)