Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Timed Up-and-Go phase segmentation in Parkinson's disease patients using unobtrusive inertial sensors

A widely accepted functional motor test for measuring basic mobility capabilities is the `Timed Up-and-Go' (TUG) test. Although several basic mobility tasks are included, only the total time is used as outcome parameter. It has been shown that timings of sub-phases can be used as relevant clinical parameters for the assessment of Parkinson's disease patients. A variety of systems and methods have been proposed for instrumenting the TUG test, but only limited information has been published regarding phase classification. In this paper an automated TUG phase classification methodology is proposed and validated in a study with 16 Parkinson's disease patients. Statistical, signal energy, chronological and gait features were extracted from acceleration and orientation signals of shoe mounted inertial measurement units. The phases `sit to walk', `walking', `first turn', `second turn' and `turn to sit' were segmented in a two stage classifier approach. Strides were used for a separation of the walking phase and classifiers like NaiveBayes, k-Nearest-Neighbor, Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Random Forest for the final phase segmentation. SVM performed best with a mean sensitivity of 81.80 % over all phases. Additionally, the impact of UPDRS and Hoehn & Yahr ratings on the phase times was assessed. The proposed methodology could be used to analyze gait parameters of sub-phases like stride length, stride time, foot clearance, heel-strike or toe-off angle for an improved assessment of Parkinson's disease patients.
The role of muscarinic receptors and intracellular Ca2+ in the spectral reflectivity changes of squid iridophores

SUMMARY In this paper we describe changes in spectral reflectivity of the light reflectors (iridophores) of the squid Alloteuthis subulata. The spectral changes that can be seen in living squid, can also be brought about by superfusing whole skin preparations with acetylcholine (ACh) (20 μmol l-1) and muscarine (30 μmol l-1) but not nicotine (up to 50 mmol l-1), suggesting that cholinergic muscarinic receptors are involved. Changing the osmolarity of the external solution had no effect on spectral reflectivity. To study the iridophores at the cellular level, iridophores were isolated enzymatically. Lucifer Yellow filled the iridophores uniformly, showing cellular individuality. Isolated iridophore cells were loaded with Fura-2 AM and cytoplasmic Ca2+ was recorded ratiometrically. Intracellular Ca2+ (resting concentration at 66.16 nmol l-1) increased transiently after addition of ACh (50 μmol l-1), muscarine (25 μmol l-1), but not nicotine (up to 5 mmol l-1). Ca2+ also increased when superfused with potassium chloride (10 mmol l-1) and caffeine (2.5 mmol l-1). Hypo- and hyperosmotic solutions had no effects on the cytoplasmic Ca2+. By presenting direct evidence that iridophores are polarised cellular structures containing Ca2+ stores and that they are activated via cholinergic muscarinic receptors, we demonstrate that Ca2+ is involved in the reflectivity changes of the iridophores of A. subulata. Specimens were prepared for transmission electron microscopy. It was found that the orientations of the plates with respect to the skin surface are in good agreement with the expected orientations based on the prediction that the iridophores act as multilayer reflectors.
Random FEA and reliability analysis for combustor case

In this paper, a random FEA (Finite Element Analysis) based reliability analysis method is developed for a new engine combustor design. This method is intended to solve the reliability evaluation problem exhibited in early product design when there is no previous reliability data. It can be implemented to reliability evaluation of structural components of aircraft engines. It consists of four major steps: 1) identification of structural failure modes and definition of failure criteria, 2) randomness analysis of design parameters, 3) execution of random FEA, and 4) reliability computation. The benefit is reliability can be assessed in early design phase, so that potential risks and key design parameters can be identified. A numerical example on the Combustor Case was presented to demonstrate the feasibility and applicability of the proposed approach.
Prognostic value of chromogranin A at admission in critically ill patients: a cohort study in a medical intensive care unit.

BACKGROUND Risk assessments of patients should be based on objective variables, such as biological markers that can be measured routinely. The acute response to stress causes the release of catecholamines from the adrenal medulla accompanied by chromogranin A (CGA). To date, no study has evaluated the prognostic value of CGA in critically ill intensive care unit patients. METHODS We conducted a prospective study of intensive care unit patients by measuring serum procalcitonin (PCT), C-reactive protein (CRP), and CGA at the time of admission. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to evaluate the ability of these biomarkers to predict mortality. RESULTS In 120 consecutive patients, we found positive correlations between CGA and the following: CRP (r(2) = 0.216; P = 0.02), PCT (r(2) = 0.396; P < 0.001), Simplified Acute Physiologic Score II (SAPS II) (r(2) = 0.438; P < 0.001), and the Logistic Organ Dysfunction System (LODS) score (r(2) = 0.374; P < 0.001). Nonsurvivors had significantly higher CGA and PCT concentrations than survivors [median (interquartile range): 293.0 microg/L (163.5-699.5 microg/L) vs 86.0 microg/L (53.8-175.3 microg/L) for CGA, and 6.78 microg/L (2.39-22.92 microg/L) vs 0.54 microg/L (0.16-6.28 microg/L) for PCT; P < 0.001 for both comparisons]. In a multivariable linear regression analysis, creatinine (P < 0.001), age (P < 0.001), and SAPS II (P = 0.002) were the only significant independent variables predicting CGA concentration (r(2) = 0.352). A multivariate Cox regression analysis identified 3 independent factors predicting death: log-normalized CGA concentration [hazard ratio (HR), 7.248; 95% confidence interval (CI), 3.004-17.487], SAPS II (HR, 1.046; 95% CI, 1.026-1.067), and cardiogenic shock (HR, 3.920; 95% CI, 1.731-8.880). CONCLUSIONS CGA is a strong and independent indicator of prognosis in critically ill nonsurgical patients.
Inflammatory Responses of Bovine Polymorphonuclear Neutrophils Induced by Staphylococcal Enterotoxin C via Stimulation of Mononuclear Cells

ABSTRACT To elucidate the pathological roles of staphylococcal enterotoxin C (SEC) in bovine staphylococcal mastitis, a histopathological analysis of SEC-inoculated mammary glands was performed. SEC-inoculated mammary glands exhibited interstitial inflammation, and the leukocytes that migrated into the gland were predominantly polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN). In the gland cistern tissues dissected from SEC-inoculated mammary glands, epithelial cellular degeneration was observed. We also investigated the physiological effects of SEC on PMN in vitro. PMN migration was induced by culture supernatant of SEC-stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (S-PBMC sup) but not by that of nonstimulated PBMC (N-PBMC sup). The concentration of interleukin-8 was significantly (P < 0.05) higher in S-PBMC sup than N-PBMC sup, and a significantly (P < 0.05) higher mRNA expression of growth-regulated oncogenes was detected in SEC-stimulated PBMC than in nonstimulated PBMC. Milk PMN collected from SEC-inoculated mammary glands produced more than 2 times the amount of superoxide at 1 day postinoculation (dpi) than at 0 dpi in the presence of phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA). PMN cultured with S-PBMC sup for 24 h also produced significantly (P < 0.05) larger amounts of superoxide than those cultured with N-PBMC sup in the presence of PMA. Moreover, S-PBMC sup induced the long-time survival of PMN. These results indicate that SEC induces the activation of PMN via the stimulation of mononuclear cells.
Brain-Computer Interfaces: Principles and Practice

Contributors PART I: INTRODUCTION 1. Brain-Computer Interfaces: Something New under the Sun Jonathan R. Wolpaw and Elizabeth Winter Wolpaw PART II: BRAIN SIGNALS FOR BCIs 2. Neuronal Activity in Motor Cortex and Related Areas Lee E. Miller and Nicholas Hatsopoulos 3. Electric and Magnetic Fields Produced by the Brain Paul L. Nunez 4. Signals Reflecting Brain Metabolic Activity Nick F. Ramsey PART III: BCI DESIGN, IMPLEMENTATION, AND OPERATION 5. Acquiring Brain Signals from Within the Brain Kevin Otto, Kip A. Ludwig, Daryl R. Kipke 6. Acquiring Brain Signals from Outside the Brain Ramesh Srinivasan 7. BCI Signal Processing: Feature Extraction Dean J. Krusienski, Dennis J. McFarland, and Jose C. Principe 8. BCI Signal Processing: Feature Translation Dennis J. McFarland and Dean J. Krusienski 9. BCI Hardware and Software J. Adam Wilson, Christoph Guger, and Gerwin Schalk 10. BCI Operating Protocols Steven G. Mason, Brendan Z. Allison, and Jonathan R. Wolpaw 11. BCI Applications Jane E. Huggins and Debra Zeitlin PART IV: EXISTING BCIs 12. BCIs that Use P300 Event-Related Potentials Eric W. Sellers, Yael Arbel, and Emanuel Donchin 13. BCIs that Use Sensorimotor Rhythms Gert Pfurtscheller and Dennis J. McFarland 14. BCIs that Use Steady-State Visual Evoked Potentials or Slow Cortical Potentials Brendan Z. Allison, Josef Faller, and Christa Neuper 15. BCIs that Use Electrocorticographic (ECoG) Activity Gerwin Schalk 16. BCIs that Use Signals Recorded in Motor Cortex John P. Donoghue 17. BCIs that Use Signals Recorded in Parietal or Premotor Cortex Hansjorg Scherberger 18. BCIs that Use Brain Metabolic Signals Ranganatha Sitaram, Sangkyung Lee, and Niels Birbaumer PART V: USING BCIs 19. BCI Users and Their Needs Leigh R. Hochberg and Kim D. Anderson 20. Clinical Evaluation of BCIs Theresa M. Vaughan, Eric W. Sellers, and Jonathan R. Wolpaw 21. Dissemination: Getting BCIs to the People Who Need Them Frances J.R. Richmond and Gerald E. Loeb 22. BCI Therapeutic Applications for Improving Brain Function Janis J. Daly and Ranganatha Sitaram 23. BCI Applications for the General Population Benjamin Blankertz, Michael Tangermann, and Klaus-Robert Mu? ller 24. Ethical Issues in BCI Research Mary-Jane Schneider, Joseph J. Fins, and Jonathan R. Wolpaw PART VI: CONCLUSION 25. The Future of BCIs: Meeting the Expectations Jonathan R. Wolpaw and Elizabeth Winter Wolpaw Index
Editorial: Chemicals in the Environment and Brain Development: Importance of Neuroendocrinological Approaches

In the past three decades, a sharp increase in the number of children diagnosed with neurodevelopmental disorders has been observed; the reason for this is not well-explained (Weintraub, 2011). The human genome does not change rapidly; this suggests that non-genetic factors are the driving forces of this dramatic surge. Several reports, including epidemiological studies, have found an association between in utero and childhood exposure to certain environmental chemicals and children's brain development. Yet, the mechanisms by which these chemicals impair brain development and function are not fully understood. In addition, how these chemicals enter and accumulate in the brain are still unknown. Experimental approaches are essential to understand how those harmful chemicals enter children's brain and pose discrete effects on specific brain sites. These approaches include the following: improvement of technologies for the detection and measurement of neuroendocrinological and behavioral changes in animal models: development of analytical methods for the identification and quantification of chemicals and their metabolites in the brain; development of in vitro cell line assays; and imaging technologies to illustrate cellular functions. In this Research Topic, we collected articles that provide state-of-the-art science and technologies that can help us identify environmental chemicals that influence brain development. We also included articles that lead to a better understanding of the actions and dynamics of these chemicals. As summarized in the review by Fujiwara et al. certain chemical exposures such as atmospherically released chemicals (volatile organic chemicals and pesticides), metals, endocrine disruptors, and psychoactive pharmaceuticals are associated with an increased risk of autism spectrum disorder, a neurodevelopmental disorder. Thus, we especially encouraged researchers to submit their works that are related to fetal and early childhood (i.e., early-life) exposure to these chemicals. Among volatile organic chemicals, Win-Shwe et al. revealed that early-life exposure to secondary organic aerosol, a component of particulate matter (PM), especially PM 2.5 , impairs social memory in adulthood; this was demonstrated using the murine three-chamber test. As for pesticides,
Star formation in Perseus: II. SEDs, classification and lifetimes

Working with the submillimetre continuum map of the Perseus molecular cloud (Hatchell et al. 2005), we aimed to determine the evolutionary stage of each submm core in Perseus, and investigate the lifetimes of these phases. We compile spectral energy distributions (SEDs) from 2MASS, Spitzer IRAC, Michelle, IRAS, SCUBA and Bolocam data. Sources are classified starless/protostellar on the basis of infrared and/or outflow detections and Class I/Class 0 on the basis of Tbol, Lbol/Lsmm and F_{3.6}/F_{850}. In order to investigate the dependence of these evolutionary indicators on mass, we construct radiative transfer models of Class 0 sources. Of the submm cores, 56/103 (54%) are confirmed protostars on the basis of infrared emission or molecular outflows. Of these, 22 are classified Class 1 on the basis of three evolutionary indicators, 34 are Class 0, and the remaining 47 are assumed starless. Perseus contains a much greater fraction of Class 0 sources than either Taurus or Rho Oph. Comparing the protostellar with the T Tauri population, the lifetime of the protostellar phase in Perseus is 0.25-0.67 Myr (95% confidence limits). The relative lifetime of the Class 0 and Class 1 phases are similar. We find that for the same source geometry but different masses, evolutionary indicators such as Tbol vary their value. It is therefore not always appropriate to use a fixed threshold to separate Class 0 and Class I sources. More modelling is required to determine the observational characteristics of the Class 0/Class I boundary over a range of masses.
Experimental Results from a Rational Reconstruction of MINSTREL

This paper presents results from a rational reconstruction project that is aimed at exploring the creative potential of Scott Turner’s 1993 MINSTREL system. In particular, we investigate the properties of Turner’s original system of Transform-Recall-Adapt Methods (TRAMs) and analyze the performance of an alternate TRAM application strategy. In order to estimate the creativity of our reconstructed system under various conditions, we measure both the variance of the output space and the ratio of sensible to nonsensical results (as determined by hand-labeling). Together, these metrics give us insight into the creativity of the algorithm as originally constructed, and allow us to measure the changes that our modifications induce.
Usefulness of the platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio in predicting long-term cardiovascular mortality in patients with peripheral arterial occlusive disease

Introduction Inflammation and increased platelet activation play a crucial role in the initiation and progression of atherosclerosis. Platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) has recently been reported as a new independent predictor for major adverse cardiovascular events in cardiovascular diseases. Aim To investigate the relation between PLR and cardiovascular mortality in patients with intermittent claudication or critical limb ischemia (CLI) or both. Material and methods In our retrospective study, 602 consecutive patients who were admitted to a large tertiary hospital with the diagnosis of symptomatic peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD) were included. Patients were divided into two groups according to their PLR as follows: high PLR (PLR > 142) and low PLR (PLR ≤ 142) groups. Results During the follow-up period (median: 33.8 months (interquartile range: 21–45)), 131 deaths occurred out of 602 (21.8%) patients. Cardiovascular mortality was found to be significantly higher in the high PLR group compared to the low PLR group (31.6% vs. 17.2 %; p < 0.001). Even after adjustment for various risk factors, PLR > 142 and age were found to be independent predictors of long-term cardiovascular mortality in Cox regression analysis (hazard ratios (95% confidence interval): 1.03 (1.01–1.04) and 1.04 (1.02–1.06), p < 0.001 and p < 0.001, respectively). Conclusions Platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio, which is one of the parameters of routine complete blood count, reflects increased inflammatory status, platelet activation and aggregation. PLR is a cheap and readily available marker that has the ability to improve risk stratification provided by conventional risk scores in predicting long-term cardiovascular mortality in PAOD.
A Study of Residue Correlation within Protein Sequences and Its Application to Sequence Classification

We investigate methods of estimating residue correlation within protein sequences. We begin by using mutual information (MI) of adjacent residues, and improve our methodology by defining the mutual information vector (MIV) to estimate long range correlations between nonadjacent residues. We also consider correlation based on residue hydropathy rather than protein-specific interactions. Finally, in experiments of family classification tests, the modeling power of MIV was shown to be significantly better than the classic MI method, reaching the level where proteins can be classified without alignment information.
LIFE-CYCLE ANALYSIS OF WOOD PRODUCTS: CRADLE-TO-GATE LCI OF RESIDENTIAL WOOD BUILDING MATERIALS

This study compares the cradle-to-gate total energy and major emissions for the extraction of raw materials, production, and transportation of the common wood building materials from the CORRIM 2004 reports. A life-cycle inventory produced the raw materials, including fuel resources and emission to air, water, and land for glued-laminated timbers, kiln-dried and green softwood lumber, laminated veneer lumber, softwood plywood, and oriented strandboard. Major findings from these comparisons were that the production of wood products, by the nature of the industry, uses a third of their energy consumption from renewable resources and the remainder from fossil-based, non-renewable resources when the system boundaries consider forest regeneration and harvesting, wood products and resin production, and transportation life-cycle stages. When the system boundaries are reduced to a gate-to-gate (manufacturing life-cycle stage) model for the wood products, the biomass component of the manufacturing energy increases to nearly 50% for most products and as high as 78% for lumber production from the Southeast. The manufacturing life-cycle stage consumed the most energy over all the products when resin is considered part of the production process. Extraction of log resources and transportation of raw materials for production had the least environmental impact.
UTILIZAÇÃO DE SITUAÇÃO DE ESTUDO COMO FORMA ALTERNATIVA PARA O ENSINO DE FÍSICA

Este trabalho apresenta resultados decorrentes de uma vivencia didatico-pedagogica numa escola publica que utilizou o modelo de Ensino por Investigacao/Pesquisa atraves da metodologia de situacao de estudo relevante aos estudantes. Teve como objetivos identificar a potencialidade de situacoes de estudo para o processo de ensino-aprendizagem das Ciencias, em especial da Fisica, perceber se essa metodologia favorece acoes interdisciplinares e se e capaz de motivar os alunos. A pesquisa foi realizada no Centro de Ensino Experimental Ginasio Pernambucano, localizado em Recife / PE, durante o periodo de fevereiro/abril de 2004, com estudantes da primeira serie do Ensino Medio. As etapas de desenvolvimento do trabalho foram realizadas em duas fases: I - levantamento das concepcoes previas dos estudantes, utilizando como instrumento, um questionario: II - aulas disciplinares, que utilizou demonstracoes, e atividades experimentais em laboratorio. A situacao de estudo favoreceu a construcao e a vivencia da proposta contextualizada no meio ambiente (visitas), sala de aula e no laboratorio. Alem de favorecer uma maior articulacao com as disciplinas quimica e biologia do curriculo da escola e motivar os alunos para o estudo das Ciencias, em especial a Fisica. Podemos sugerir que a metodologia das situacoes de estudo apresenta avancos para o processo de ensino-aprendizagem das Ciencias e da Fisica.
Traumatic Brain Injury Assessment: Sensitivity and Specificity with Inclusion of QEEG Parameters

Addressing issues with sensitivity and specificity in TBI assessment this study compared the performance on neuropsychological tests and results from qEEG assessment between a heterogeneous TBI (N=20) group and a matched normal control group (N=20). The TBI group was performed worse on all measures. Significant differences in performance were found in the domains of information processing speed and executive function. Effect sizes of these differences were large. This was also true for the amplitude of the qEEG parameter P3NoGo along with P3Go latency and theta power in the temporal and frontal lobes. Binary logistic regression revealed higher sensitivity and specificity when combining neuropsychological tests and qEEG parameters, suggesting qEEG parameters in combination with neuropsychological tests to be good assets in TBI assessment.
Improved Memory-Bounded Dynamic Programming for Decentralized POMDPs

Memory-Bounded Dynamic Programming (MBDP) has proved extremely effective in solving decentralized POMDPs with large horizons. We generalize the algorithm and improve its scalability by reducing the complexity with respect to the number of observations from exponential to polynomial. We derive error bounds on solution quality with respect to this new approximation and analyze the convergence behavior. To evaluate the effectiveness of the improvements, we introduce a new, larger benchmark problem. Experimental results show that despite the high complexity of decentralized POMDPs, scalable solution techniques such as MBDP perform surprisingly well.