Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
3D Printed Tubular Guides for Pedicle Screw Placement: The Answer for the Need of a Greater Accuracy in Spinal Stabilization

Recently, many different systems have been developed in order to help the spinal surgeon in the placement of pedicle screws, and to reduce the incidence of misplacement. The most used system is surely the neuronavigator [8]. Widely known and applied in oncologic brain surgery, its use is increasingly widespread also in spine surgery. A preoperative surgical planning is performed on the basis of a thin slice CT scan, with a margin of error starting from 0.5 mm.
Matemática borrosa: algunas aplicaciones en las ciencias económicas, administrativas y contables

la revision del estado actual del conocimiento de la matematica borrosa y su utilizacion en varios modelos, para diferentes casos de aplicacion en las ciencias economicas y administrativas, permiten senalar la importancia que cobra, para efectos de mejorar el tratamiento y la calidad de la informacion contable y financiera al igual que los procesos de toma de decisiones, la incorporacion de variables como la subjetividad, la borrosidad y la imprecision, en la construccion, diseno y estudio de dinamicas asociables a los sistemas de informacion.
Characterization of a Functional Bacterial Homologue of Sodium-dependent Neurotransmitter Transporters*

The tnaT gene ofSymbiobacterium thermophilum encodes a protein homologous to sodium-dependent neurotransmitter transporters. Expression of the tnaT gene product inEscherichia coli conferred the ability to accumulate tryptophan from the medium and the ability to grow on tryptophan as a sole source of carbon. Transport was Na+-dependent and highly selective. TheK m for tryptophan was ∼145 nm, and tryptophan transport was unchanged in the presence of 100 μm concentrations of other amino acids. Tryptamine and serotonin were weak inhibitors with K I values of 200 and 440 μm, respectively. By using a T7 promoter-based system, TnaT with an N-terminal His6 tag was expressed at high levels in the membrane and was purified to near-homogeneity in high yield.
A Comparison between Anatomy-Based and Data-Driven Tree Models for Human Pose Estimation

Tree structures are commonly used to model relationships between body parts for articulated Human Pose Estimation (HPE). Tree structures can be used to model relationships among feature maps of joints in a structured learning framework using Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs). This paper proposes new data-driven tree models for HPE. The data-driven tree structures were obtained using the Chow-Liu Recursive Grouping (CLRG) algorithm, representing the joint distribution of human body joints and tested using the Leeds Sports Pose (LSP) dataset. The paper analyzes the effect of the variation of the number of nodes on the accuracy of the HPE. Experimental results showed that the data-driven tree model obtained 1% higher HPE accuracy compared to the traditional anatomy-based model. A further improvement of 0.5% was obtained by optimizing the number of nodes in the traditional anatomy-based model.
NO EVOLUTION IN THE IR–RADIO RELATION FOR IR-LUMINOUS GALAXIES AT z < 2 IN THE COSMOS FIELD

Previous observational studies of the infrared (IR)–radio relation out to high redshift employed any detectable star-forming systems at a given redshift within the restricted area of cosmological survey fields. Consequently, the evolution inferred relies on a comparison between the average IR/radio properties of (1) very IR-luminous high-z sources and (2) more heterogeneous low(er)-z samples that often lack the strongest IR emitters. In this Letter, we consider populations of objects with comparable luminosities over the last 10 Gyr by taking advantage of deep IR (especially Spitzer 24 μm) and Very Large Array 1.4 GHz observations of the COSMOS field. Consistent with recent model predictions, both Ultra Luminous Infrared Galaxies and galaxies on the bright end of the evolving IR luminosity function do not display any change in their average IR/radio ratios out to z ∼ 2 when corrected for bias. Uncorrected data suggested ∼0.3 dex of positive evolution.
Cell-Cell Influences on Bacterial Community Development in Aquatic Biofilms

ABSTRACT Dialysis tubing containing spent culture media, when placed in a lake, was colonized by a low diversity of bacteria, whereas abiotic controls had considerable diversity. Changes were seen in the presence and absence of acylated homoserine lactones, suggesting that these molecules and other factors may influence adherent-population composition.
Uncertainty-Sensitive Reasoning over the Web of Data

Dans cette these, nous etudions plusieurs approches destinees a aider les utilisateurs a trouver des informations utiles et fiables dans le Web de donnees, en utilisant les technologies du Web semantique. Nous abordons pour cela deux themes de recherche: le liage de donnees dans le Linked-Data et la confiance dans les reseaux P2P semantiques. Nous modelisons le probleme de liage dans le Web de donnees comme un probleme de raisonnement sur des donnees incompletes, qu'il s'agit d'enrichir en interrogeant de facon precise et pertinente le cloud du Linked Data. Nous avons concu et implemente un nouvel algorithme qui, a partir d'une requete de liage (du type et d'une base de regles modelisant de maniere uniforme diverses connaissances du domaine (contraintes du schema, axiomes d'inclusion ou d'exclusion d'une ontologie, regles expertes, mappings), construit iterativement des requetes SPARQL pour importer des sources externes pertinentes du Linked Data les donnees utiles pour repondre a la requete de liage. Les experimentations que nous avons menees sur des donnees reelles ont demontre la faisabilite de cette approche et son utilite dans la pratique pour le liage de donnees et la resolution d'homonymie. En outre, nous proposons une adaptation de cette approche pour prendre en compte des donnees et des connaissances eventuellement incertaines, avec en resultat l'inference de liens ‘sameAs' et ‘differentFrom' associes a des poids de probabilite. Dans cette adaptation nous modelisons l'incertitude comme des valeurs de probabilite. Nos experimentations ont montre que notre approche passe a l'echelle pour des bases de connaissances constituees de plusieurs millions de faits RDF et produit des poids probabilistes fiables. Concernant la confiance, nous introduisons un mecanisme de confiance permettant de guider le processus de reponse aux requetes dans des Reseaux P2P semantiques. Les differents pairs dans les reseaux P2P semantiques organisent leur information en utilisant des ontologies distinctes et d ependent d'alignements entre ontologies pour traduire leurs requetes. La notion de confiance dans un tel contexte est subjective ; elle estime la probabilite qu'un pair apportera des reponses satisfaisantes pour les requetes specifiques dans les interactions futures. Le mecanisme propose de calcul de valeurs de confiance combine les informations fournies par les alignements avec celles provenant des interactions passees entre pairs. Les valeurs de confiances calculees sont affinees progressivement a chaque cycle de requete/reponse en utilisant l'inference bayesienne. Pour l'evaluation de notre mecanisme, nous avons construit un systeme P2P de partage de signets semantiques (TrustMe) dans lequel il est possible de faire varier differents parametres quantitatifs et qualitatifs. Les resultats experimentaux montrent la convergence des valeurs de confiance ;. ils mettent egalement en evidence le gain en terme de qualite des reponses des pairs - mesurees selon la precision et le rappel- lorsque le processus de reponse aux requetes est guide par notre mecanisme de confiance.
The Differential Brauer Group

Let $A$ be a ring equipped with a derivation $\delta $. We study differential Azumaya $A$ algebras, that is, Azumaya $A$ algebras equipped with a derivation that extends $\delta $. We calculate the differential automorphism group of the trivial differential algebra, $M_{n}(A)$ with coordinatewise differentiation. We introduce the $\delta$-flat Grothendieck topology to show that any differential Azumaya $A$ algebra is locally isomorphic to a trivial one and then construct, as in the non-differential setting, the embedding of the differential Brauer group into $H^{2}(A_{\delta-pl},G_{m,\delta}) $. We conclude by showing that the differential Brauer group coincides with the usual Brauer group in the affine setting.
Redox regulation by the human thioredoxin system

We cloned human thioredoxin as adult T cell leukaemia (ATL)-derived factor (ADF), an inducer of IL-2R/alpha produced by human T cell leukaemia virus type-I (HTLV-I)-transformed cells [18,21]. Thioredoxin (Trx) was originally reported as a hydrogen donor to ribonucleotide reductase, an essential enzyme for DNA sysnthesis in Escherichia coli. Trx has an active site with two cysteine residues; -Cys-Gly-Pro-Cyswhich are well conserved from eukaryotes to prokaryotes. Reduced Trx has dithiols and oxidized Trx has a disulfide bond in this active site. Oxidized Trx is reduced by NADPH and thioredoxin reductase [5]. Recent studies have shown that reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated by a variety of oxidative stresses are not only harmful to the cells but also important in signal transductions of cellular activation and cell death. Therefore, we have proposed that the redox (reduction/oxidation) status balanced by generated ROS and endogenous antioxidants plays a crucial role in the regulation of signal transduction in biological responses. The Trx system composed by Trx reductase, Trx and peroxiredoxin is imoportant in regulating the redox balance (Fig. 1). There is growing evidence that redox regulation by the Trx system as well as the GSH system plays crucial roles in biological responses against oxidative stresses.
The neurobiology of saccadic eye movements.

Prologue. I. Saccadic Eye Movements as a Control System. I. History and Methodology (G. Westheimer). 2. Metrics (W. Becker). 3. Models (J.A.M. van Gisbergen and J. van Opstal). II. The Neural Structures for Saccadic Eye Movements. 4. Brainstem (K. Hepp, V. Henn, T. Vilis and B. Cohen). 5. Deep Layers of the Superior Colliculus (D.L. Sparks and R. Hartwich-Young). 6. Basal Ganglia (O. Hikosaka and R.H. Wurtz). 7. Visual and Frontal Cortices (M.E. Goldberg and M.A. Segraves). 8. Posterior Parietal Cortex (R.A. Andersen and J.W. Gnadt). 9. Visual Superior Colliculus and Pulvinar (D.L. Robinson and J. W. McClurkin). 10. Central Thalamus (M. Schlag-Rey and J. Schlag). 11. Cerebellum (E.L. Keller). Epilogue.
Efficiency calculation of single junction silicon solar cell at different doping concentrations

In this fast growing era of modern technology, the human race suffers the problem of rapid depletion of natural resources to generate as a power source. Hence to find a sublime solution of this phenomenon is a must. Solar cells are eventually proved very fruitful for this daunting task. One obstacle that hinders its potentiality is its efficiency. Low efficient solar cells will not fulfill the desired requirements. This paper handles different doping concentrations to be implemented with, in silicon based solar cell, and observes the highest possible efficiency that can be attained. For this task, TCAD device simulator has been used to create a virtual model of silicon based single junction solar cell. Therefore, we can so monitor the best outcome, how the device will behave, due to several types of concentration with the help of their efficiency and fill factor.
Feature Based Modeling and Mapping of Tree Trunks and Natural Terrain Using 3D Laser Scanner Measurement System

Abstract This paper presents a novel approach to measure tree trunks and to model the ground using a 3D laser scanner. The 3D scanner, self-build using two 2D Sick scanners on a rotating base, measures each scan line approximately at 45° angle towards the ground and the trees. Single scan lines are segmented to find ground and tree returns. 3D point clouds from the surrounding forest are recorded while the measuring vehicle is moving. Sequential scan lines are joined together as the pose changes are reduced from the older buffered measurements. Laser odometry and inertial measurements are used to measure the pose changes. The ground is modeled by fitting a 1m grid to 3D point cloud extracted using a ground return detector. Tree trunks are searched from the 3D point cloud using a histogram approach to segment measurements into separate point clouds for each tree trunk. Tree trunks are modeled using ten circle features one on the other using the extracted point cloud. Instead of using the whole point cloud, mapping is done only for the extracted features and the travelled path to save computation time. Our method can detect nearly all tree trunks and measure them on short ranges of less than 8m with errors less than 4cm in diameter.
Object Exploration with a Humanoid Robot - Using Tactile and Kinesthetic Feedback

This work deals with the reactive and autonomous exploration of objects with a humanoid robot using only tactile and kinesthetic sensor feedback. To coordinate the flow of the exploration, a novel hierarchical exploration system is introduced. The lowest level extracts contacts points and elementary features based on the direct contact with the object. It furthermore provides elementary movement primitives. The intermediate level consists of different controlling behaviors to generate exploration movements according to the sensor feedback. This level enables the robot to explore an object pointwisely or continously. The highest level evaluates the process of the exploration and determinates the reactive behavior of the underlying components. The evaluation scenario comprises the exploration of edges, which are arbitrarily located in space. The evaluation platform consists of a robot arm, a force-torque sensor, and a tactile sensor matrix. The proposed approach is evaluated and the different reactive behaviors as well as the used sensor modalities are compared.
Evaluation of intravenous hydrocortisone in reducing headache after spinal anesthesia: a double blind controlled clinical study [corrected].

BACKGROUND Headache after spinal anesthesia is a common complication is patients undergoing this procedure. In this study we evaluated the efficacy of intravenous hydrocortisone in the treatment of headache after spinal anesthesia in women who have undergone cesarean section. METHODS Sixty patients with headache after spinal anesthesia were included. Patients randomly allocated into two groups, 30 patients received only conventional therapy (complete bed rest, hydration, acetaminophen and pethidine). Other 30 patients received conventional therapy plus intravenous hydrocortisone (200 mg first, then 100 mg TID for 48 hours). Mean (+/- SD) of headache intensity at 0, 6, 24, and 48 hours after beginning of treatment was measured using visual analog scale. RESULTS There was no significant difference in headache intensity between two groups before beginning of treatment. After 6 hours, the mean of headache intensity in 30 patients treated conventionally was 6.63 (+/- 1.35) while it was 2.77 (+/- 1.07) in other patients received intravenous hydrocortisone too (p <0.001). After 24 hours, mean headache intensity was 3.87 (+/- 1.63) in conventionally treated group versus 0.73 (+/- 0.74) in hydrocortisone group (p <0.001). After 48 hours, mean headache intensity was 1.87 (+/- 0.93) in conventionally treated group versus 0.63 (+/- 0.61) in hydrocortisone group (p = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS This study showed the therapeutic effects of intravenous hydrocortisone in reducing headache after spinal anesthesia in women who underwent cesarean section. Its mechanism of action is yet to be determined.
Differential phosphorylation of the phosphoinositide 3-phosphatase MTMR2 regulates its association with early endosomal subtypes

Summary Myotubularin-related 2 (MTMR2) is a 3-phosphoinositide lipid phosphatase with specificity towards the D-3 position of phosphoinositol 3-phosphate [PI(3)P] and phosphoinositol 3,5-bisphosphate lipids enriched on endosomal structures. Recently, we have shown that phosphorylation of MTMR2 on Ser58 is responsible for its cytoplasmic sequestration and that a phosphorylation-deficient variant (S58A) targets MTMR2 to Rab5-positive endosomes resulting in PI(3)P depletion and an increase in endosomal signaling, including a significant increase in ERK1/2 activation. Using in vitro kinase assays, cellular MAPK inhibitors, siRNA knockdown and a phosphospecific-Ser58 antibody, we now provide evidence that ERK1/2 is the kinase responsible for phosphorylating MTMR2 at position Ser58, which suggests that the endosomal targeting of MTMR2 is regulated through an ERK1/2 negative feedback mechanism. Surprisingly, treatment with multiple MAPK inhibitors resulted in a MTMR2 localization shift from Rab5-positive endosomes to the more proximal APPL1-positive endosomes. This MTMR2 localization shift was recapitulated when a double phosphorylation-deficient mutant (MTMR2 S58A/S631A) was characterized. Moreover, expression of this double phosphorylation-deficient MTMR2 variant led to a more sustained and pronounced increase in ERK1/2 activation compared with MTMR2 S58A. Further analysis of combinatorial phospho-mimetic mutants demonstrated that it is the phosphorylation status of Ser58 that regulates general endosomal binding and that the phosphorylation status of Ser631 mediates the endosomal shuttling between Rab5 and APPL1 subtypes. Taken together, these results reveal that MTMR2 compartmentalization and potential subsequent effects on endosome maturation and endosome signaling are dynamically regulated through MAPK-mediated differential phosphorylation events.
Prevalence of haemoglobin variants among the Ika ethnic nationality of Delta state

Background : Haemoglobin genotype is an important blood component that determines haemoglobinopathies. Distribution of haemoglobin variants was investigated among the Ika ethnic nationality of Delta State, Nigeria. Aim: The resent study was conducted to determine the prevalence of haemoglobin variants and also to provide information for instituting genetic counseling services to reduce haemoglobinopathies between couples. Methods : A total of 600 subjects were screened for haemoglobin genotypes using paper electrophoresis. Results : The prevalence of HbAA, HbAS, HbAC and HbSS were 78%, 19.5%, 0.5% and 2% respectively. There was no relationship (P˃0.05) between sex and haemoglobin variants. There was a low prevalence of abnormal haemoglobin variants observed which is consistent with previous studies. Conclusion : The sickle cell trait (HbAS) is the largest variant in this population; we therefore advocate mandatory haemglobin genotype screening for all intending couples in order to reduce the sickling gene pool. Keywords : Haemoglobin variant; haemoglobinopathies; prevalence; genotype; deoxyribonucleic acid; electrophoresis
β-Amyloid precursor protein transgenic mice that harbor diffuse Aβ deposits but do not form plaques show increased ischemic vulnerability: Role of inflammation

β-amyloid (Aβ), derived form the β-amyloid precursor protein (APP), is important for the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD), which is characterized by progressive decline of cognitive functions, formation of Aβ plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, and loss of neurons. However, introducing a human wild-type or mutant APP gene to rodent models of AD does not result in clear neurodegeneration, suggesting that contributory factors lowering the threshold of neuronal death may be present in AD. Because brain ischemia has recently been recognized to contribute to the pathogenesis of AD, we studied the effect of focal brain ischemia in 8- and 20-month-old mice overexpressing the 751-amino acid isoform of human APP. We found that APP751 mice have higher activity of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38 MAPK) in microglia, the main immune effector cells within the brain, and increased vulnerability to brain ischemia when compared with age-matched wild-type mice. These characteristics are associated with enhanced microglial activation and inflammation but not with altered regulation of cerebral blood flow, as assessed by MRI and laser Doppler flowmetry. Suppression of inflammation with aspirin or inhibition of p38 MAPK with a selective inhibitor, SD-282, abolishes the increased neuronal vulnerability in APP751 transgenic mice. SD-282 also suppresses the expression of inducible nitric-oxide synthase and the binding activity of activator protein 1. These findings elucidate molecular mechanisms of neuronal injury in AD and suggest that antiinflammatory compounds preventing activation of p38 MAPK in microglia may reduce neuronal vulnerability in AD.
Virus Attenuation after Deletion of the Cytomegalovirus Fc Receptor Gene Is Not due to Antibody Control

ABSTRACT The murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) fcr-1 gene codes for a glycoprotein located at the surface of infected cells which strongly binds the Fc fragment of murine immunoglobulin G. To determine the biological significance of the fcr-1 gene during viral infection, we constructed MCMV fcr-1 deletion mutants and revertants. The fcr-1 gene was disrupted by insertion of the Escherichia coli lacZ gene. In another mutant, the marker gene was also deleted, by recombinase cre. As expected for its hypothetical role in immunoevasion, the infection of mice with fcr-1 deletion mutants resulted in significantly restricted replication in comparison with wild-type MCMV and revertant virus. In mutant mice lacking antibodies, however, thefcr-1 deletion mutants also replicated poorly. This demonstrated that the cell surface-expressed viral glycoprotein with FcR activity strongly modulates the virus-host interaction but that this biological function is not caused by the immunoglobulin binding property.
Impact of nonlocal response on metallodielectric multilayers and optical patch antennas

We analyze the impact of nonlocality on the waveguide modes of metallo-dielectric multilayers and optical patch antennas, the latter formed from metal strips closely spaced above a metallic plane. We model both the nonlocal effects associated with the conduction electrons of the metal, as well as the previously overlooked response of bound electrons. We show that the fundamental mode of a metal-dielectric-metal waveguide, sometimes called the gap-plasmon, is very sensitive to nonlocality when the insulating, dielectric layers are thinner than 5 nm. We suggest that optical patch antennas, which can easily be fabricated with controlled dielectric spacer layers and can be interrogated using far-field scattering, can enable the measurement of nonlocality in metals with good accuracy.
Chapter 5:Pure Nanodiamonds Produced by Laser-assisted Technique

Nanodiamond powder, first discovered in 1963 in the Soviet Union, has recently become one of the most promising and well-studied nanomaterials applied in various fields of science, technology and medicine. However, in spite of the unique properties of nanodiamonds, developed applications and the scaled manufacturing process, the nanodiamond global market still remains in its initial stage. The main factor limiting the extensive use of nanodiamonds in industry is the lack of consistency with regards to quality and there is wide variability in their performance in diverse technological processes. This is caused mainly by the uncontrolled character of the existing technology for nanodiamond fabrication, which is based on detonation in a closed chamber. Therefore, the development of alternative technologies, enabling control of the synthesis process, is important as it can provide high quality nanodiamonds for electronics, optics, energy and pharmacology. This chapter reports on a controlled green technology for the synthesis of nanodiamonds by the treatment of specially prepared hydrocarbon targets. Characterization of the nanodiamonds is performed by modern technology and some of the technological opportunities are discussed with regards to nanodiamond applications.