Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On the effects of signal processing on sample entropy for postural control

Sample entropy, a measure of time series regularity, has become increasingly popular in postural control research. We are developing a virtual reality assessment of sensory integration for postural control in people with vestibular dysfunction and wished to apply sample entropy as an outcome measure. However, despite the common use of sample entropy to quantify postural sway, we found lack of consistency in the literature regarding center-of-pressure signal manipulations prior to the computation of sample entropy. We therefore wished to investigate the effect of parameters choice and signal processing on participants’ sample entropy outcome. For that purpose, we compared center-of-pressure sample entropy data between patients with vestibular dysfunction and age-matched controls. Within our assessment, participants observed virtual reality scenes, while standing on floor or a compliant surface. We then analyzed the effect of: modification of the radius of similarity (r) and the embedding dimension (m); down-sampling or filtering and differencing or detrending. When analyzing the raw center-of-pressure data, we found a significant main effect of surface in medio-lateral and anterior-posterior directions across r’s and m’s. We also found a significant interaction group × surface in the medio-lateral direction when r was 0.05 or 0.1 with a monotonic increase in p value with increasing r in both m’s. These effects were maintained with down-sampling by 2, 3, and 4 and with detrending but not with filtering and differencing. Based on these findings, we suggest that for sample entropy to be compared across postural control studies, there needs to be increased consistency, particularly of signal handling prior to the calculation of sample entropy. Procedures such as filtering, differencing or detrending affect sample entropy values and could artificially alter the time series pattern. Therefore, if such procedures are performed they should be well justified.
Combined Computational Systems Biology and Computational Neuroscience Approaches Help Develop of Future “Cognitive Developmental Robotics”

Understanding cognitive functions and mechanisms of development in animals is essential for the future generation of more intelligent systems (Hirel et al., 2011; Hassabis et al., 2017). In traditional robotics the robots perform predefined tasks in a fixed environment. However, the field of modern robotics is seeking approaches to develop artificial systems to execute tasks in less predefined dynamic environments. Such robotic systems should learn from information extracted from the environment to demonstrate actions like natural intelligence (Matarić, 1998). However, such capabilities cannot be achieved sufficiently with classical control approaches (Christaller, 1999; Hassabis et al., 2017). Bio-inspired robots are usually developed using general network architectures of biological neural systems (Meyer andGuillot, 2008), synaptic plasticity (Grinke et al., 2015), correlation-based learning rule with synaptic scaling (Tetzlaff et al., 2011). Recent progresses in cognitive sciences and developmental neurobiology have promoted a new branch of robotics named “Cognitive Developmental Robotics (CDR)” (Asada et al., 2009; Asada, 2013; Min et al., 2016). Such robots behave in response to a dynamic environment by Spiking Neural Networks based controllers. CDR has emerged as a scientific field of research aiming to develop robots with abilities to effectively interact with dynamic environments and show brain-like cognitive abilities such as memory and learning. CDR has just started and its design principles and methodology have not been established (Wang et al., 2002). To construct a software of a CDR system, a computational model of agent-environment interaction that define dynamical response of the CDR executed by a SNN with a sufficient architecture is required. Briefly, it is done as follows (Asada et al., 2009; Asada, 2013; Xu et al., 2014):
Advanced Metrics for Assessing Holistic Care: The “Epidaurus 2” Project

In response to the challenge of military traumatic brain injury and posttraumatic stress disorder, the US military developed a wide range of holistic care modalities at the new Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, MD, from 2001 to 2017, guided by civilian expert consultation via the Epidaurus Project. These projects spanned a range from healing buildings to wellness initiatives and healing through nature, spirituality, and the arts. The next challenge was to develop whole-body metrics to guide the use of these therapies in clinical care. Under the “Epidaurus 2” Project, a national search produced 5 advanced metrics for measuring whole-body therapeutic effects: genomics, integrated stress biomarkers, language analysis, machine learning, and “Star Glyphs. ” This article describes the metrics, their current use in guiding holistic care at Walter Reed, and their potential for operationalizing personalized care, patient self-management, and the improvement of public health. Development of these metrics allows the scientific integration of holistic therapies with organ-system-based care, expanding the powers of medicine.
A Survey of Research into Mixed Criticality Systems

This survey covers research into mixed criticality systems that has been published since Vestal’s seminal paper in 2007, up until the end of 2016. The survey is organised along the lines of the major research areas within this topic. These include single processor analysis (including fixed priority and Earliest Deadline First (EDF) scheduling, shared resources, and static and synchronous scheduling), multiprocessor analysis, realistic models, and systems issues. The survey also explores the relationship between research into mixed criticality systems and other topics such as hard and soft time constraints, fault tolerant scheduling, hierarchical scheduling, cyber physical systems, probabilistic real-time systems, and industrial safety standards.
The Beneficial Effects of ETS-GS, a Novel Vitamin E Derivative, on a Rat Model of Crush Injury

ABSTRACT Crush syndrome is a devastating condition leading to multiple organ failure. The mechanisms by which local traumatic injuries affect distant organs remain unknown. ETS-GS is a novel water-soluble, stable anti-oxidative agent composed of vitamin E derivative. Given that one of the main pathophysiological effects in crush syndrome is massive ischemia-reperfusion, reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated from the injured extremities would be systemically involved in distant organ damage. We investigated whether ETS-GS could suppress inflammatory response and improve mortality in a rat model of crush injury. Crush injury was induced by compression of bilateral hindlimbs for 6 h followed by release of compression. Seven-day survival was significantly improved by ETS-GS treatment. To estimate anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory effects of ETS-GS, serum was collected 6 and 20 h after the injury. ETS-GS treatment significantly dampened the up-regulation of malondialdehyde and reduction of superoxide dismutase in the serum, which were induced by crush injury. Serum levels of interleukin 6 and high mobility group box 1 were significantly decreased in the ETS-GS group compared with those in the control group. Lung damage shown by hematoxylin-eosin staining at 20 h after the injury was ameliorated by the treatment. Ex vivo imaging confirmed that ETS-GS treatment reduced ROS generation in both the lung and the muscle following crush injury. The administration of ETS-GS could suppress ROS generation, systemic inflammation, and the subsequent organ damage, thus improving survival in a rat model of crush injury. These findings suggest that ETS-GS can become a novel therapeutic agent against crush injury.
Wave-equation-based travel-time seismic tomography – Part 2: Application to the 1992 Landers earthquake ( M w 7.3) area

Abstract. High-resolution 3-D P and S wave crustal velocity and Poisson's ratio models of the 1992 Landers earthquake (Mw 7.3) area are determined iteratively by a wave-equation-based travel-time seismic tomography (WETST) technique. The details of data selection, synthetic arrival-time determination, and trade-off analysis of damping and smoothing parameters are presented to show the performance of this new tomographic inversion method. A total of 78 523 P wave and 46 999 S wave high-quality arrival-time data from 2041 local earthquakes recorded by 275 stations during the period of 1992–2013 are used to obtain the final tomographic models, which cost around 10 000 CPU hours. Checkerboard resolution tests are conducted to verify the reliability of inversion results for the chosen seismic data and the wave-equation-based travel-time seismic tomography method. Significant structural heterogeneities are revealed in the crust of the 1992 Landers earthquake area which may be closely related to the local seismic activities. Strong variations of velocity and Poisson's ratio exist in the source regions of the Landers and three other nearby strong earthquakes. Most seismicity occurs in areas with high-velocity and low Poisson's ratio, which may be associated with the seismogenic layer. Pronounced low-velocity anomalies revealed in the lower crust along the Elsinore, the San Jacinto, and the San Andreas faults may reflect the existence of fluids in the lower crust. The recovery of these strong heterogeneous structures is facilitated by the use of full wave equation solvers and WETST and verifies their ability in generating high-resolution tomographic models.
The effect of long-term feeding of soya-bean flour diets on pancreatic growth in the rat

1. Pancreatic growth was measured in rats by changes in pancreatic weight, nucleic acid content and protein content after feeding diets of heated soya-bean flour (HSF), raw soya-bean flour (RSF), 200 g raw soya-bean flour+800 g heated soya-bean flour/kg (80 HSF) and 400 g raw soya-bean flour+600 g heated soya-bean flour/kg (60 HSF) for periodsup to 36 weeks. Control rats of comparable age to soya-bean flour-fed rats were continuedon rat cubes during the 36-week study. 2. Cube-fed rats remained significantly heavier than rats fed on soya-bean flour diets. Analysis of variance showed rats fed on HSF were significantly heavier than RSF-fed rats and rats fed on 80 HSF significantly heavier than those fed on 60 RSF. 3. Pancreatic indices in HSF-fed rats were similar to comparable control rats. 4. Hypertrophy was found in rats fed on the RSF-containing diets with the extent of enlargement corresponding to the RSF content. Hyperplasia was also found in rats fed on RSFand 60 HSF. 5. The greatest pancreatic growth was seen in RSF-fed rats with all the indices peaking at 8 weeks followed by a decline and then a rise again at 36 weeks. 6. The fall in pancreatic indices in rats fed on RSF for 12 and 24 weeks is most likely an effect of general malnutrition due to the multiple deficiences in amino acids which occur in animals fed on RSF. The rise at 36 weeks may reflect increased body growth or the beginning of adenornatous changes.
Complex Relationships Among Masculine Norms and Health/Well-Being Outcomes: Correlation Patterns of the Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory Subscales

The Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory (CMNI) is a widely used multidimensional scale. Studies using the CMNI most often report only total scale scores, which are predominantly associated with negative outcomes. Various studies since the CMNI’s inception in 2003 using subscales have reported both positive and negative outcomes. The current content analysis examined studies (N = 17) correlating the 11 subscales with 63 criterion variables across 7 categories. Most findings were consistent with past research using total scale scores that reported negative outcomes. For example, conformity to masculine norms has been inversely related to help-seeking and positively correlated with concerning health variables, such as substance use. Nonetheless, past reliance on total scores has obscured the complexity of associations with the CMNI in that 30% of the findings in the present study reflected positive outcomes, particularly for health promotion. Subscales differed in their relationships with various outcomes: for one subscale they were predominantly positive, but six others were mostly negative. The situational and contextual implications of conformity to masculine norms and their relationships to positive and negative outcomes are discussed.
Probability Diffused Particle Swarm Optimization

Premature convergence is a major problem of Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). Although many strategies have been proposed, there is still some work needed to do in high-dimensional cases. To overcome this shortcoming, a diffused velocity update equation is designed aiming to improve the population diversity with a probability threshold. Simulation results show the performance of this new variant is superior to other two previous modifications when dealing with multi-modal high-dimensional benchmark functions.
Alirocumab vs usual lipid‐lowering care as add‐on to statin therapy in individuals with type 2 diabetes and mixed dyslipidaemia: The ODYSSEY DM‐DYSLIPIDEMIA randomized trial

To compare alirocumab, a proprotein convertase subtilisin‐kexin type 9 inhibitor, with usual care (UC) in individuals with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and mixed dyslipidaemia not optimally managed by maximally tolerated statins in the ODYSSEY DM‐DYSLIPIDEMIA trial (NCT02642159).
Genome expression profiling predicts the molecular mechanism of peripheral myelination

The present study aimed to explore the molecular mechanism of myelination in the peripheral nervous system (PNS) based on genome expression profiles. Microarray data (GSE60345) was acquired from the Gene Expression Omnibus database. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were integrated and subsequently subjected to pathway and term enrichment analysis. A protein-protein interaction network was constructed and the top 200 DEGs according to their degree value were further subjected to pathway enrichment analysis. A microRNA (miR)-target gene regulatory network was constructed to explore the role of miRs associated with PNS myelination. A total of 783 upregulated genes and 307 downregulated genes were identified. The upregulated DEGs were significantly enriched in the biological function of complement and coagulation cascades, cytokine-cytokine receptor interactions and cell adhesion molecules. Pathways significantly enriched by the downregulated DEGs included the cell cycle, oocyte meiosis and the p53 signaling pathway. In addition, the upregulated DEGs among the top 200 DEGs were significantly enriched in natural killer (NK) cell mediated cytotoxicity and the B cell receptor (BCR) signaling pathway, in which Fc γ receptor (FCGR), ras-related C3 botulinum toxin substrate 2 (RAC2) and 1-phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate phosphodiesterase γ-2 (PLCG2) were involved. miR-339-5p, miR-10a-5p and miR-10b-5p were identified as having a high degree value and may regulate the target genes TOX high mobility group box family member 4 (Tox4), DNA repair protein XRCC2 (Xrcc2) and C5a anaphylatoxin chemotactic receptor C5a2 (C5ar2). NK cell mediated cytotoxicity and the BCR pathway may be involved in peripheral myelination by targeting FCGR, RAC2 and PLCG2. The downregulation of oocyte meiosis, the cell cycle and the cellular tumor antigen p53 signaling pathway suggests decreasing schwann cell proliferation following the initiation of myelination. miR-339-5p, miR-10a-5p and miR-10b-5p may play important roles in PNS myelination by regulating Tox4, Xrcc2 and C5ar2.
A Fully Distributed TDMA based MAC Protocol for Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks

—The Vehicular Ad-Hoc NETwork (VANET) consists of a set of vehicles moving on roads which can communicate with each other through ad hoc wireless devices. VANET has attracted a lot of attention in the research community in recent years with the main focus on its safety applications. One of the challenges for vehicular network is the design of an efficient Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol due to the hidden node problem, the high speed of the nodes, the frequent changes in topology, the lack of an infrastructure, and various QoS requirements. Motivated by this observation, we design a fully distributed and location-based TDMA scheduling scheme for VANETs networks, named DTMAC. The main goal of this work is to propose a MAC protocol that can provide fairness in accessing the transmission medium, as well as reduce access collision and merging collision under various conditions of vehicular density without having to use expensive spectrum and complex mechanisms such as CDMA or OFDMA. An analytical model of the average access collision probability and throughput are derived which can be used to evaluate the performance of DTMAC protocol as well as to validate the simulation results under different traffic conditions.
No association between donor age and recipient outcomes: transfusion of plasma in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting surgery

Recent animal studies suggest that transfusion of plasma from young donors reverses age‐related neurologic and cardiac changes in older recipients. Associations between age of blood product donors and corresponding outcomes in recipients have not been studied in humans. Therefore, our primary objective was to examine this relationship between donor age and recipient outcomes among patients that received plasma during and after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery.
Design of mannosylated oral amphotericin B nanoformulation: efficacy and safety in visceral leishmaniasis

Abstract The aim of this study was to evaluate mannose-anchored thiolated chitosan (MTC) based nanocarriers (NCs) for enhanced permeability, improved oral bioavailability and anti-parasitic potential of amphotericin B (AmB). Transgenic Leishmania donovani parasites expressing red fluorescent protein DsRed2 and imaging-flow cytometry was used to investigate parasitic burdens inside bone marrow-derived macrophages ex vivo. Cytokine estimation revealed that MTC nanocarriers activated the macrophages to impart an explicit immune response by higher production of TNF-α and IL-12 as compared to control. Cells treated with MTC NCs showed a significantly higher magnitude of nitrite and propidium iodide (PI) fluorescence intensity in contrast to cells treated with AmB. Concerning to apparent permeability coefficient (P app) results, the MTC NCs formulation displayed more specific permeation across the Caco-2 cell monolayer as compared to AmB. The half-life of MTC NCs was about 3.3-fold persistent than oral AmB used as positive control. Also, t oral bioavailability of AmB was increased to 6.4-fold for MTC NCs compared to AmB for positive control. Acute oral evaluation indicated that MTC NCs were significantly less toxic compared to the AmB. Based on these findings, MTC NCs seems to be promising for significant oral absorption and improved oral bioavailability of AmB in leishmaniasis chemotherapy. Graphical Abstract
Preparation of CaO-stabilized ZrO_2 Nanometer-sized Powder and Research on its Sintering Property

CaO stabilized ZrO 2 nanometer sized powder was prepared using Gel supercritical fluid drying(SCFD) method,and its structural properties and sinterability were studied.It was shown that the ultrafine powders had small particle size and large surface area,which led to high sinterability.Besides,the content of CaO might has great influnce on the properties of ZrO 2 based powders.
Electronic gap reduction in co-doped (Cu-N) anatase TiO 2 semiconductor: A DFT study

TiO2 doped with metal atoms shows better photoconversion efficiency compared with undoped TiO2. In this work, we have calculated the electronic structure of monodoped and co-doped anatase TiO2. The calculations were carried out using Quantum ESPRESSO package which implements density functional theory and pseudopotential method. Our results show that band gap reduction in doped anatase titania and it is compared with the previous work. The chosen GGA and ultrasoft pseudopotential provides better band gap reduction. In dopant case, Cu creates acceptor levels just above the valence band and shifts conduction band to 1.9eV from 2.05eV and N substitution creates donor level just below to the conduction band. The PDOS explains the impurity states created by dopants.
Rationale and design of the 500-patient, 3-year, and prospective Vigilant ObservatIon of GlIadeL WAfer ImplaNT registry

Implantation of biodegradable wafers impregnated with carmustine (BCNU) is one of the few chemotherapeutic modalities that have been evaluated in Phase III trials and approved by the US FDA for treatment of newly diagnosed high-grade glioma and recurrent glioblastoma. Enrolling up to 500 patients for 3-year follow-up at over 30 sites, the prospective Vigilant ObservatIon of GlIadeL WAfer ImplaNT (VIGILANT) registry (NCT02684838) will evaluate BCNU wafers for treatment of CNS malignancies in contemporary practice and in the new era of molecular tumor analysis. Subgroup analyses will include tumor type, molecular marker status, and treatment combinations. Interim analyses from the VIGILANT registry will be reported until complete results are available in 2024.
Algebraic Foundations for Information Theoretical, Probabilistic and Guessability measures of Information Flow

Several mathematical ideas have been investigated for Quantitative Information Flow. Information theory, probability, guessability are the main ideas in most proposals. They aim to quantify how much information is leaked, how likely is to guess the secret and how long does it take to guess the secret respectively. In this paper, we show how the Lattice of Information provides a valuable foundation for all these approaches; not only it provides an elegant algebraic framework for the ideas, but also to investigate their relationship. In particular we will use this lattice to prove some results establishing order relation correspondences between the different quantitative approaches. The implications of these results w.r. t. recent work in the community is also investigated. While this work concentrates on the foundational importance of the Lattice of Information its practical relevance has been recently proven, notably with the quantitative analysis of Linux kernel vulnerabilities. Overall we believe these works set the case for establishing the Lattice of Information as one of the main reference structure for Quantitative Information Flow.