Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Complete nucleotide sequence of the rabbit beta-like globin gene cluster. Analysis of intergenic sequences and comparison with the human beta-like globin gene cluster.

The nucleotide sequence of the entire beta-like globin gene cluster of rabbits has been determined. This sequence of a continuous stretch of 44.5 x 10(3) base-pairs (bp) starts about 6 x 10(3) bp upstream from epsilon (the 5'-most gene) and ends about 12 x 10(3) bp downstream from beta (the 3'-most gene). Analysis of the sequence reveals that: (1) the sequence is relatively A + T rich (about 60%); (2) regions with high G + C content are associated with OcC repeats, a short interspersed repeated DNA in rabbits; (3) the distribution of polypurines, polypyrimidines and alternating purine/pyrimidine tracts is not random within the cluster; (4) most open reading frames are associated with known globin coding regions, OcC repeats or long interspersed repeats (L1 repeats); (5) the most prominent open reading frames are found in the L1 repeats; (6) different strand asymmetries in base composition are associated with embyronic and adult genes as well as the tandem L1 repeats at the 3' end of the cluster; and (7) essentially all the repeats appear to have been inserted by a transposon mechanism. A comparison of the sequence with itself by a dot-plot analysis has revealed nine new members of the OcC family of repeats in addition to the six previously reported. The OcC repeats tend to be clustered, particularly in the epsilon-gamma and gamma-psi delta intergenic regions. Dot-plot comparisons between the rabbit and the human clusters have revealed extensive sequence matches. Homology starts about 6 x 10(3) bp 5' to epsilon or as far upstream as the rabbit sequence is available. It continues throughout the entire cluster and stops about 0.7 x 10(3) bp 3' to beta, at which point several repeats have inserted in both rabbits and humans. Throughout the gene cluster, the homology is interrupted mainly by insertions or deletions in either the rabbit or the human genome. Almost all of the insertions are of known short or long repeated DNAs. The positions of the insertions are different in the two gene clusters, which indicates that both short and long repeats have been transposing throughout the genome for the time since the mammalian radiation. An alignment of rabbit and human sequences allows the calculation of the substitution rate around epsilon. Sequences far removed from the gene are evolving at a rate equivalent to the pseudogene rate, although some short regions show an apparently higher rate. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Multiscale edge-guided demosaicking algorithm

Recently, most digital capture devices have the single image sensor such as CCD and CMOS sensor with a color filter array (CFA), which is Bayer pattern. To reconstruct a full color image, missing elements for each channel are estimated from neighboring pixels in inter, intra, or both channels. This processing is called interpolation or demosaicing (Demosaicking). In this paper, we presents the improved demosaicking method based on the multi-scale edge-directed filter. Specially, this method correct the demosaicking error in the refinement step. We demonstrated the good demosaicking performance in experimental results.
Conformational Changes in the Endosomal Sorting Complex Required for the Transport III Subunit Ist1 Lead to Distinct Modes of ATPase Vps4 Regulation*

Intralumenal vesicle formation of the multivesicular body is a critical step in the delivery of endocytic cargoes to the lysosome for degradation. Endosomal sorting complex required for transport III (ESCRT-III) subunits polymerize on endosomal membranes to facilitate membrane budding away from the cytoplasm to generate these intralumenal vesicles. The ATPase Vps4 remodels and disassembles ESCRT-III, but the manner in which Vps4 activity is coordinated with ESCRT-III function remains unclear. Ist1 is structurally homologous to ESCRT-III subunits and has been reported to inhibit Vps4 function despite the presence of a microtubule-interacting and trafficking domain-interacting motif (MIM) capable of stimulating Vps4 in the context of other ESCRT-III subunits. Here we report that Ist1 inhibition of Vps4 ATPase activity involves two elements in Ist1: the MIM itself and a surface containing a conserved ELYC sequence. In contrast, the MIM interaction, in concert with a more open conformation of the Ist1 core, resulted in stimulation of Vps4. Addition of the ESCRT-III subunit binding partner of Ist1, Did2, also converted Ist1 from an inhibitor to a stimulator of Vps4 ATPase activity. Finally, distinct regulation of Vps4 by Ist1 corresponded with altered ESCRT-III disassembly in vitro. Together, these data support a model in which Ist1-Did2 interactions during ESCRT-III polymerization coordinate Vps4 activity with the timing of ESCRT-III disassembly.
Exercise fails to improve neurocognition in depressed middle-aged and older adults.

PURPOSE Although cross-sectional studies have demonstrated an association between higher levels of aerobic fitness and improved neurocognitive function, there have been relatively few interventional studies investigating this relationship, and results have been inconsistent. We assessed the effects of aerobic exercise on neurocognitive function in a randomized controlled trial of patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). METHODS Two-hundred and two sedentary men (n = 49) and women (n = 153), aged 40 yr and over and who met diagnostic criteria for MDD, were randomly assigned to the following: a) supervised exercise, b) home-based exercise, c) sertraline, or d) placebo pill. Before and after 4 months of treatment, participants completed measures of: Executive Function (Trail Making Test B-A difference score, Stroop Color-Word, Ruff 2 & 7 Test, Digit Symbol), Verbal Memory (Logical Memory, Verbal Paired Associates), and Verbal Fluency/Working Memory (Animal Naming, Controlled Oral Word Association Test, Digit Span). Multivariate analyses of covariance were performed to test the effects of treatment on posttreatment neuropsychological test scores, with baseline neuropsychological test scores, age, education, and change in depression scores entered as covariates. RESULTS The performance of exercise participants was no better than participants receiving placebo across all neuropsychological tests. Exercise participants performed better than participants receiving sertraline on tests of executive function but not on tests of verbal memory or verbal fluency/working memory. CONCLUSIONS We found little evidence to support the benefits of an aerobic exercise intervention on neurocognitive performance in patients with MDD.
Chronic treatment in vivo with β‐adrenoceptor agonists induces dysfunction of airway β2‐adrenoceptors and exacerbates lung inflammation in mice

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Inhalation of a β‐adrenoceptor agonist (β‐agonist) is first‐line asthma therapy, used for both prophylaxis against, and acute relief of, bronchoconstriction. However, repeated clinical use of β‐agonists leads to impaired bronchoprotection and, in some cases, adverse patient outcomes. Mechanisms underlying this β2‐adrenoceptor dysfunction are not well understood, due largely to the lack of a comprehensive animal model and the uncertainty as to whether or not bronchorelaxation in mice is mediated by β2‐adrenoceptors. Thus, we aimed to develop a mouse model that demonstrated functional β‐agonist‐induced β2‐adrenoceptor desensitization in the context of allergic inflammatory airway disease.
Evaluation of PERCLOS based current fatigue monitoring technologies

In an overnight driving simulation study three commercially available devices of fatigue monitoring technologies (FMT) were applied to test their accuracy. 16 volunteers performed driving tasks during eight sessions (40 min each) separated by 15 minutes breaks. The main output variable of FMT devices, which is the percentage of eye closure (PERCLOS), the driving performance (standard deviation of lateral position in lane, SDL), the electroencephalogram (EEG) and electrooculogram (EOG) were recorded during driving. In addition, the subjective self-rated Karolinska sleepiness scale (KSS) was assessed every 2 min. As expected, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient (PMCC) yielded significant linear dependence between KSS and PERCLOS as well as between SDL and PERCLOS. However, if PMCC was estimated within smaller data segments (3 min) as well as without averaging across subjects then strongly decreased correlation coefficients resulted. To further validate PERCLOS at higher temporal resolution its ability to discriminate between mild and strong fatigue was investigated and compared to the results of the same analysis for EEG/EOG. Spectral-domain features of both types of signals were classified using Support-Vector Machines (SVM). Results suggest that EEG/EOG indicate driver fatigue much better than PERCLOS. Therefore, current FMT devices perform acceptably if temporal resolution is low (> 20 min). But, even under laboratory conditions large errors have to be expected if fatigue is estimated on an individual level and with high temporal resolution.
Comparing FB and PS scheduling policies

In this paper we obtain new results concerning the expected response time of the foreground-background (FB) scheduling discipline and its comparison with processor sharing (PS). Some results previously derived for job sizes with finite second moment or bounded sizes, are extended to infinite second moments. New bounds and asymptotic results are also derived. We show that for job sizes with infinite second moment large jobs may benefit from the FB scheduling discipline although this discipline favors short jobs. For certain distributions all jobs sizes may even benefit from FB with respect to PS showing that the performance benefits obtained by some job sizes need not be obtained at the expense of others.
Clinical Evaluation of a Frozen Commercially Prepared Microdilution Panel for Antifungal Susceptibility Testing of Seven Antifungal Agents, Including the New Triazoles Posaconazole, Ravuconazole, and Voriconazole

ABSTRACT A commercially prepared frozen broth microdilution panel (Trek Diagnostic Systems, Westlake, Ohio) was compared with a reference microdilution panel for antifungal susceptibility testing of two quality control (QC) strains and 99 clinical isolates of Candida spp. The antifungal agents tested included amphotericin B, flucytosine, fluconazole, itraconazole, posaconazole, ravuconazole, and voriconazole. Microdilution testing was performed according to NCCLS recommendations. MIC endpoints were read visually after 48 h of incubation and were assessed independently for each microdilution panel. The MICs for the QC strains were within published limits for both the reference and Trek microdilution panels. Discrepancies among MIC endpoints of no more than 2 dilutions were used to calculate the percent agreement. Acceptable levels of agreement between the Trek and reference panels were observed for all antifungal agents tested against the 99 clinical isolates. The overall agreement for each antifungal agent ranged from 96% for ravuconazole to 100% for amphotericin B. The Trek microdilution panel appears to be a viable alternative to frozen microdilution panels prepared in-house.
Discovering dynamic visemes

Abstract This thesis introduces a set of new, dynamic units of visual speech which are learnt using computer vision and machine learning techniques. Rather than clustering phoneme labels as is done traditionally, the visible articulators of a speaker are tracked and automatically segmented into short, visually intuitive speech gestures based on the dynamics of the articulators. The segmented gestures are clustered into dynamic visemes, such that movements relating to the same visual function appear within the same cluster. Speech animation can then be generated on any facial model by mapping a phoneme sequence to a sequence of dynamic visemes, and stitching together an example of each viseme in the sequence. Dynamic visemes model coarticulation and maintain the dynamics of the original speech, so simple blending at the concatenation boundaries ensures a smooth transition. The efficacy of dynamic visemes for computer animation is formally evaluated both objectively and subjectively, and compared with traditional phoneme to static lip-pose interpolation.
Fast view-based pose estimation of industrial objects in point clouds using a particle filter with an ICP-based motion model

The registration of an observed point set to a known model to estimate its 3D pose is a common task for the autonomous manipulation of objects. Especially in industrial environments, robotic systems need to accurately estimate the pose of objects in order to successfully perform picking, placing or assembly tasks. However, the characteristics of industrial objects often cause difficulties for classical pose estimation algorithms, especially when using IR depth sensors. In this work, we propose to solve ambiguities of the pose estimate by representing the it as a virtual view on a reference model within an adapted particle filter system. Therefore, a simple but fast method to cast views from the reference model is presented, making a training phase obsolete while increasing the accuracy of the estimate. The view-based approach increases the robustness of the registration process and reformulates the pose estimation as a problem of determining the most likely view using a particle filter. By incorporating a local optimizer (ICP) into the dynamics model of the particle filter, the proposed method directs the search in the 6-dimensional pose space, thereby reducing the amount of needed particles to about 50 while decreasing the convergence time to a minimum and therefore making it viable for real-time pose estimation. In contrast to other pose estimation methods, this approach explores the possibilities of sequential pose estimation by only using plain point clouds without additional features.
Extensive Keratinized Tissue Augmentation During Implant Rehabilitation After Le Fort I Osteotomy: Using a New Porcine Collagen Membrane (Mucoderm)

AbstractThe aim of this study was to test a new collagen matrix (Mucoderm) positioned during oral implant abutment connection. A patient previously treated with Le Fort I for bone augmentation and 8 implants showing minimal amount of keratinized tissue was selected for an extensive keratinized tissue augmentation and deepening of the oral vestibule by apically positioning a split palatal flap and palatal grafting with Mucoderm.Clinical data at 9 and 14 days and 1 and 2 months showed resorption of the collagen graft, augmentation of the keratinized tissue around the implants, and deepening of the vestibule, with minimal morbidity and reduced surgical treatment time. However, some vestibular keratinized tissue contraction was evident. The new collagen matrix may be a promising material as a substitute for an autologous gingival/connective tissue graft.Despite the preliminary results of this innovative article, before drawing any general conclusion, the benefit of the procedure should be further evaluated by prospective clinical trials.
Discovery of New Small Molecules Targeting the Vitronectin-Binding Site of the Urokinase Receptor That Block Cancer Cell Invasion

Besides focusing urokinase (uPA) proteolytic activity on the cell membrane, the uPA receptor (uPAR) is able to bind vitronectin, via a direct binding site. Furthermore, uPAR interacts with other cell surface receptors, such as integrins, receptor tyrosine kinases, and chemotaxis receptors, triggering cell-signaling pathways that promote tumor progression. The ability of uPAR to coordinate binding and degradation of extracellular matrix (ECM) and cell signaling makes it an attractive therapeutic target in cancer. We used structure-based virtual screening (SB-VS) to search for small molecules targeting the uPAR-binding site for vitronectin. Forty-one compounds were identified and tested on uPAR-negative HEK-293 epithelial cells transfected with uPAR (uPAR-293 cells), using the parental cell line transfected with the empty vector (V-293 cells) as a control. Compounds 6 and 37 selectively inhibited uPAR-293 cell adhesion to vitronectin and the resulting changes in cell morphology and signal transduction, without exerting any effect on V-293 cells. Compounds 6 and 37 inhibited uPAR-293 cell binding to vitronectin with IC50 values of 3.6 and 1.2 μmol/L, respectively. Compounds 6 and 37 targeted S88 and R91, key residues for uPAR binding to vitronectin but also for uPAR interaction with the fMLF family of chemotaxis receptors (fMLF-Rs). As a consequence, compounds 6 and 37 impaired uPAR-293 cell migration toward fetal calf serum (FCS), uPA, and fMLF, likely by inhibiting the interaction between uPAR and FPR1, the high affinity fMLF-R. Both compounds blocked in vitro ECM invasion of several cancer cell types, thus representing new promising leads for pharmaceuticals in cancer. Mol Cancer Ther; 12(8); 1402–16. ©2013 AACR.
Mental disorders and distress: Associations with demographics, remoteness and socioeconomic deprivation of area of residence across Australia

Objectives: Australian policy-making needs better information on socio-geographical associations with needs for mental health care. We explored two national surveys for information on disparities in rates of mental disorders and psychological distress. Methods: Secondary data analysis using the 2011/2012 National Health Survey and 2007 National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing. Key data were the Kessler 10 scores in adults in the National Health Survey (n = 12,332) and the National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing (n = 6558) and interview-assessed disorder rates in the National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing. Estimation of prevalence of distress and disorders for sub-populations defined by geographic and socioeconomic status of area was followed by investigation of area effects adjusting for age and gender. Results: Overall, approximately one person in 10 reported recent psychological distress at high/very-high level, this finding varying more than twofold depending on socioeconomic status of area with 16.1%, 13.3%, 12.0%, 8.4% and 6.9% affected in the most to least disadvantaged quintiles, respectively, across Australia in 2011/2012. In the most disadvantaged quintile, the percentage (24.4%) with mental disorders was 50% higher than that in the least disadvantaged quintile (16.9%) in 2007, so this trend was less strong than for Kessler10 distress. Conclusion: These results suggest that disparities in mental health status in Australia based on socioeconomic characteristics of area are substantial and persisting. Whether considering 1-year mental disorders or 30-day psychological distress, these occur more commonly in areas with socioeconomic disadvantage. The association is stronger for Kessler10 scores suggesting that Kessler10 scores behaved more like a complex composite indicator of the presence of mental and subthreshold disorders, inadequate treatment and other responses to stressors linked to socioeconomic disadvantage. To reduce the observed disparities, what might be characterised as a ‘Whole of Government’ approach is needed, addressing elements of socioeconomic disadvantage and the demonstrable and significant inequities in treatment provision.
Evidence for the use of dry needling and physiotherapy in the management of cervicogenic or tension-type headache: A systematic review

Background: There is good evidence in the literature supporting physiotherapy in the management of some forms of headache. Dry needling of myofascial trigger points is becoming an increasingly common approach despite a paucity of research evidence supporting its use. The purpose of this review was to determine the evidence supporting the use of dry needling in addition to conventional physiotherapy in the management of tension-type and cervicogenic headache. Methods: Ten databases were searched for evidence of the effect of dry needling on the severity and frequency of tension and cervicogenic headache based ICHD classifications. Results: Three relevant studies were identified and all three showed statistically significant improvements following dry needling, but no significant differences between groups. Only one study reported on headache frequency or intensity, reporting a 45 mm improvement in VAS score following the addition of dry needling to conventional physiotherapy. Two studies showed significant improvements with dry needling over 4–5 weeks of treatment. No adverse events were reported. Conclusions: The literature suggests that while there is insufficient evidence to strongly advocate for the use of dry needling, it may be a useful addition to conventional physiotherapy in headache management. Further research with a stronger methodological design is required.
Network Public Comments Sentiment Analysis Based on Multilayer Convolutional Neural Network

With the rapid development of the Internet, network review information shows explosive growth. How to make an accurate analysis of these web comments has become an important issue in the research of network public opinion. In this work, a traditional dictionary based algorithm is adopted to analyze text sentiment of these comments. A deep learning method is proposed to analyze the network public sentiment of these comments due to the inherent defects of the traditional method itself. Firstly a convolutional neural network(CNN) model is constructed as sentiment classifier, Secondly the words are translated into a space vector with the aid of Word2Vec. Hence the sentences are converted into a two-dimensional matrix as input of the classifier. Finally the deep learning method and the dictionary method are compared and analyzed. Experimental results show that the proposed deep learning approach is more accurate than the dictionary approach in analyzing the text sentiment of network public comments.
Noise-robust and stress-free visualization of pronunciation diversity of World Englishes using a learner's self-centered viewpoint

The term of “World Englishes” describes the current and real state of English and one of their main characteristics is a large diversity of pronunciation, called accents. We have developed two techniques of individual-based clustering of the diversity [1, 2] and educationally-effective visualization of the diversity [3]. Accent clustering requires a technique to quantify the accent gap between any speaker pair and visualization requires a technique of stress-free plotting of the speakers. In the above studies, however, we developed and assessed these two techniques independently and in this paper, we assess our technique of automatic accept gap prediction when it is used for our stress-free visualization. Further, since CALL applications today are not always used in a quiet environment, we introduce a feature enhancement (denoising) technique to improve noise-robustness of accent gap prediction. Results show that our accent gap prediction shows correlation of 0.77 to IPA-based manually-defined accent gaps and that, by applying feature enhancement to noisy input utterances, our technique can predict the accent gap that could be obtained in a clean condition, when the SNR is larger than 10 [dB].