Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Changes in structural integrity are correlated with motor and functional recovery after post-stroke rehabilitation.

PURPOSE Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) studies indicate the structural integrity of the ipsilesional corticospinal tract (CST) and the transcallosal motor tract, which are closely linked to stroke recovery. However, the individual contribution of these 2 fibers on different levels of outcomes remains unclear. Here, we used DTI tractography to investigate whether structural changes of the ipsilesional CST and the transcallosal motor tracts associate with motor and functional recovery after stroke rehabilitation. METHODS Ten participants with post-acute stroke underwent the Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA), the Wolf Motor Function Test (WMFT), the Functional Independence Measure (FIM), and DTI before and after bilateral robotic training. RESULTS All participants had marked improvements in motor performance, functional use of the affected arm, and independence in daily activities. Increased fractional anisotropy (FA) in the ipsilesional CST and the transcallosal motor tracts was noted from pre-treatment to the end of treatment. Participants with higher pre-to-post differences in FA values of the transcallosal motor tracts had greater gains in the WMFT and the FIM scores. A greater improvement on the FMA was coupled with increased FA changes along the ipsilesional CST. CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest 2 different structural indicators for post-stroke recovery separately at the impairment-based and function-based levels.
Simple adaptive control using neural networks with offset error reduction for SISO nonlinear systems

This paper presents a simple adaptive control (SAC) using neural networks with offset error reduction for SISO nonlinear systems. This method aims for reducing the offset error caused by a parallel feedforward compensator (PFC) required to achieve the almost strictly positive real (ASPR) condition. The real plant together with the PFC will form an augmented plant that satisfies the ASPR condition. In this proposed method, the control input for the nonlinear plant is given by the sum of the output of a simple adaptive controller and the output of neural networks, while only a part of control input produced by SAC is fed to the PFC. The role of neural networks is to compensate the nonlinearities in the control system by using backpropagation learning algorithm. The role of simple adaptive controller is to perform the model matching for the linear system with unknown structures to a given linear reference model. Since only part of the SAC control input is fed to the PFC, the offset error will be reduced by the control system. Thus, both of the augmented plant output and the real plant output can follow significantly close to the output of the reference model. Finally, the effectiveness of this method is confirmed through computer simulations.
Methods of Multisensor Tracking

Multisensor multitarget tracking is a complex problem that has only recently received much attention. Several approaches for combining information between sensors may be taken, consisting of various association and fusion architectures. This paper examines measurement and track association and fusion, and the inherent advantages and disadvantages, and concludes that track association techniques combined with measurement fusion are very promising but need significant further research to gain the maximum advantage of the multisensor capability.
Distress in couples approached for genetic counseling and BRCA1/2 testing during adjuvant radiotherapy

Objective: Breast cancer patients mostly rely on their partners for support in dealing with their cancer diagnosis and treatment. Genetic counseling and BRCA1/2 testing during primary treatment may add to demands made on their partners. This study aimed to gain insight into the extent of psychological distress in partners of recently diagnosed patients and to find factors to help identify couples vulnerable to high psychological distress after an active approach for genetic counseling.
High consumption of vegetable and fruit colour groups is inversely associated with the risk of colorectal cancer: a case–control study

The colour of the edible portion of vegetables and fruit reflects the presence of specific micronutrients and phytochemicals. No existing studies have examined the relationship between the intake of vegetable and fruit colour groups and the risk of colorectal cancer. The present study, therefore, aimed to investigate these associations in a Chinese population. A case–control study was conducted between July 2010 and July 2014 in Guangzhou, China, in which 1057 consecutively recruited cases of colorectal cancer were frequency-matched to 1057 controls by age (5-year interval), sex and residence (rural/urban). A validated FFQ was used to collect dietary information during face-to-face interviews. Vegetables and fruit were classified into four groups according to the colour of their primarily edible parts: green; orange/yellow; red/purple; white. Unconditional logistic regression models were used to estimate the OR and 95 % CI. A higher consumption of orange/yellow, red/purple and white vegetables and fruit was inversely associated with the risk of colorectal cancer, with adjusted OR of 0·16 (95 % CI 0·12, 0·22) for orange/yellow, 0·23 (95 % CI 0·17, 0·31) for red/purple and 0·53 (95 % CI 0·40, 0·70) for white vegetables and fruit when the highest and lowest quartiles were compared. Total vegetable intake and total fruit intake have also been found to be inversely associated with colorectal cancer risk. However, the intake of green vegetable and fruit was not associated with colorectal cancer risk. The results of the present study, therefore, suggest that a greater intake of orange/yellow, red/purple and white vegetables and fruit is inversely associated with the risk of colorectal cancer.
Recent system developments for multi-actuator vibration control

This article discusses recent developments in multi-input multi-output (MIMO) vibration control systems and their applications to vibration testing. Highlights of some of the issues discussed are: 1) the proper control of singularities that exist in the system-under-test's frequency response matrix (FRM); 2) the benefits provided by a patented adaptive-control method; and 3) the advantages of characterizing the system-under-test with the simultaneous excitation from multiple actuators. These advanced methods provide the control-system user a better understanding of the system-under-test's dynamic characteristics and more realism during the test process. To illustrate this point, test results - those obtained during MIMO random, swept-sine and transient waveform control - will be presented. The test results will also be used to illustrate how the discussed advancements solve many of the MIMO-control problems associated with multi-actuator testing.
Nanoparticle Formulation of a Poorly Soluble Cannabinoid Receptor 1 Antagonist Improves Absorption by Rat and Human Intestine

The inclusion of nanoparticles dispersed in a hydrophilic matrix is one of the formulation strategies to improve the bioavailability of orally administered Biopharmaceutics Classification System (BCS) class II and IV drugs by increasing their dissolution rate in the intestine. To confirm that the increased dissolution rate results in increased bioavailability, in vitro and in vivo animal experiments are performed, however, translation to the human situation is hazardous. In this study, we used a range of in vitro and ex vivo methods, including methods applying human tissue, to predict the in vivo oral bioavailability of a model BCS class II CB-1 antagonist, formulated as a nanoparticle solid dispersion. The enhanced dissolution rate from the nanoparticle formulation resulted in an increased metabolite formation in both rat and human precision-cut intestinal slices, suggesting increased uptake and intracellular drug concentration in the enterocytes. In Ussing chamber experiments with human tissue, both the metabolite formation and apical efflux of the metabolite were increased for the nanoparticulate solid dispersion compared with a physical mixture, in line with the results in intestinal slices. The pharmacokinetics of the different formulations was studied in rats in vivo. The nanoparticle formulation indeed improved the absorption of the cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB-1) antagonist and the delivery into the brain compared with the physical mixture. In conclusion, the combined approach provides a valuable set of tools to investigate the effects of formulation on the absorption of poorly soluble compounds in human intestine and may provide relevant information on the oral bioavailability in humans early in the development process.
Endodermal/ectodermal interfaces during pharyngeal segmentation in vertebrates

A key event in the formation of the pharyngeal arches is the outpocketing of the endodermal pharyngeal pouches and the establishment of contact with the overlying ectoderm. However, relatively little is known about how the endoderm and ectoderm relate to each other at these points of contact and the extent to which this differs between the pouches. We have therefore detailed the interactions between the pharyngeal pouches and ectoderm in the chick embryo. Unlike the other pouches, the first pouch does not sustain direct contact with the ectoderm but separates after initial contact. Contrastingly, a perforation is formed between the second pouch and cleft that creates an external opening into the pharynx. Finally, the third and fourth pouch endoderm can be seen to bulge outwards through the ectoderm, although external openings to the pharyngeal lumen are not established. To understand whether these behaviours represent derived or ancestral features, we characterised the pharyngeal ectodermal–endodermal interfaces in the shark embryo. We found that the pouches of the posterior gill‐bearing arches in this species also displayed the outward bulging of the endoderm into the ectoderm, although openings were established. We further used genetic tools to detail unambiguously the relationship between the endoderm and ectoderm in zebrafish and mouse embryos and again found that the posterior pouches break through the ectoderm. Thus different pharyngeal pouches establish different topological relationships with the overlying ectoderm and the posterior pouches initiate the developmental programme for the formation of gills, be they amniotes or anamniotes.
Removing dissolved organic contaminants from water.

The review is not exhaustive, but rather it focuses on four processes that appear to offer the greatest potential for general application in the water supply and wastewater treatment industries. These processes are chemical oxidation, a transformation process; air stripping, a liquid-gas separation process; two variants of a liquid-solid separation process, carbon adsorption and ion exchange adsorption; and two membrane separation processes, reverse osmosis and ultrafiltration. Figures 1 and 2 illustrate typical applications of these processes for water supply and wastewater treatment (4,5). The discussion of each process is complemented by a diagram and an example of typical application. Associated design considerations and features are presented in sidebars, each of which presents a set of equations that comprise a mathematical description, or model, of the process in question. 59 references, 6 figures.
Incremental Adaptation Strategies for Neural Network Language Models

It is today acknowledged that neural network language models outperform backoff language models in applications like speech recognition or statistical machine translation. However, training these models on large amounts of data can take several days. We present efficient techniques to adapt a neural network language model to new data. Instead of training a completely new model or relying on mixture approaches, we propose two new methods: continued training on resampled data or insertion of adaptation layers. We present experimental results in an CAT environment where the post-edits of professional translators are used to improve an SMT system. Both methods are very fast and achieve significant improvements without overfitting the small adaptation data.
A robust protocol for building superpeer overlay topologies

The concept of superpeer has been introduced to improve the performance of popular file-sharing applications. A superpeer is a node in a P2P network that operates as a server for a set of clients, and as an equal w.r. t. other superpeers. By exploiting heterogeneity, the superpeer paradigm allows P2P networks to run more efficiently, without compromising their decentralized nature. This paper describes SG-1, a novel generic mechanism for the construction and the maintenance of overlay topologies based on superpeers. SG-1 is based on the well-known gossip paradigm, with nodes exchanging information with randomly selected peers and re-arranging the topology according to the requirements of the particular P2P application. The resulting protocol is extremely efficient and robust, capable to deal with a continuous flow of nodes joining and leaving the system, as well as to repair a network where up to 100% of the existing super-peers have been removed.
Estimated GFR decline as a surrogate end point for kidney failure: a post hoc analysis from the Reduction of End Points in Non-Insulin-Dependent Diabetes With the Angiotensin II Antagonist Losartan (RENAAL) study and Irbesartan Diabetic Nephropathy Trial (IDNT).

BACKGROUND A doubling of serum creatinine value, corresponding to a 57% decline in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), is used frequently as a component of a composite kidney end point in clinical trials in type 2 diabetes. The aim of this study was to determine whether alternative end points defined by smaller declines in eGFR would improve the statistical power of these clinical trials. STUDY DESIGN Post hoc analyses of 2 multinational randomized controlled trials (Reduction of End Points in Non-Insulin-Dependent Diabetes With the Angiotensin II Antagonist Losartan [RENAAL] and Irbesartan Diabetic Nephropathy Trial [IDNT]) that assessed the treatment effect of the angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) losartan and irbesartan. SETTING & PARTICIPANTS 1,513 (RENAAL) and 1,715 (IDNT) adult patients with type 2 diabetes and nephropathy. PREDICTOR Established versus alternative end points defined as a confirmed doubling of serum creatinine level versus confirmed eGFR decline of 57%, 40%, 30%, or 20% as a component of a composite end point of end-stage renal disease or eGFR < 15mL/min/1.73m(2). OUTCOMES Numbers of patients reaching end points, precision (standard error), and significance (z score) of ARB treatment effect (HR) during follow-up. RESULTS Lesser eGFR declines resulted in a greater number of patients reaching end points in both treatment groups and lower standard error of the HR, but the effect on z score was counterbalanced by attenuation of the HR. When calculating the eGFR decline from month 3, attenuation of the HR was less pronounced. LIMITATIONS Post hoc analysis. CONCLUSIONS Despite increases in precision of the treatment effect, eGFR declines less than a doubling of serum creatinine value did not consistently improve statistical power of the clinical trials due to attenuation of the treatment effect. Attenuation of the treatment effect appears to be due in part to acute effects of ARBs on eGFR. These findings should be taken into account when using lesser eGFR declines as alternative end points for clinical trials.
Rapamycin inhibits hepatic fibrosis in rats by attenuating multiple profibrogenic pathways

Hepatic stellate cell transdifferentiation, epithelial‐mesenchymal cell transition, and the ductular reaction each contribute to the development of hepatic fibrosis in cholestatic liver diseases. Inhibitors of mammalian target of rapamycin have antifibrotic properties. We evaluated the hypothesis that the antifibrotic action of rapamycin is due to attenuated myofibroblast proliferation in addition to an inhibitory effect on epithelial‐mesenchymal transition and the ductular reaction. Hepatic fibrosis was induced by bile duct ligation, and rodents received 1.5 mg/kg/day rapamycin by subcutaneous infusion for 21 days. The expression of various markers of hepatic fibrosis, stellate cell transactivation, epithelial‐mesenchymal transition, and the ductular reaction was compared between treated and untreated animals. Hepatic fibrosis, hepatic procollagen type 1 messenger RNA, and alpha‐smooth muscle actin expression were significantly reduced in treated animals. Hepatic stellate cell procollagen expression and proliferation were also reduced by rapamycin. The following markers of epithelial‐mesenchymal transition—vimentin protein expression, S100 calcium binding protein A4 and transforming growth factor beta 1 messenger RNA, and the mothers against decapentaplegic homolog signaling pathway—were all reduced after rapamycin treatment. The intensity of the ductular reaction was reduced by rapamycin as assessed by histopathological scoring and by reduced cytokeratin 19 expression. Rapamycin caused a reduction in hepatic progenitor cell proliferation. Together, these data show that multiple profibrogenic pathways are activated in an animal model of cholestasis and that rapamycin attenuates epithelial‐mesenchymal transition and the ductular reaction as well as hepatic stellate cell activation. Liver Transpl 15:1315–1324, 2009. © 2009 AASLD.
The roles of pathogen small RNAs

Regulatory small RNAs (sRNAs), also known as non‐coding RNA, are not translated into proteins and widespread in prokaryotes and eukaryotes. sRNAs involve in multiple fundamental cellular events. They are emerging regulatory elements that are gaining momentum. Knowledge of sRNA largely originates from eukaryotes. Prokaryotic sRNAs, particularly those of pathogen are only recently explored. The main types, function, and methodology to predict pathogen sRNAs are summarized in this review. Special focus is sRNAs regulating pathogen gene expression, particularly that of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which is hitherto the most successful pathogen afflicting mankind. J. Cell. Physiol. 226: 968–973, 2011. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
NFX1-123 and Human Papillomavirus 16E6 Increase Notch Expression in Keratinocytes

ABSTRACT The high-risk human papillomavirus (HR HPV) E6 oncoprotein binds host cell proteins to dysregulate multiple regulatory pathways, including apoptosis and senescence. HR HPV16 E6 (16E6) interacts with the cellular protein NFX1-123, and together they posttranscriptionally increase hTERT expression, the catalytic subunit of telomerase. NFX1-123 interacts with hTERT mRNA and stabilizes it, leading to greater telomerase activity and the avoidance of cellular senescence. Little is known regarding what other transcripts are dependent on or augmented by the association of NFX1-123 with 16E6. Microarray analysis revealed enhanced expression of Notch1 mRNA in 16E6-expressing keratinocytes when NFX1-123 was overexpressed. A moderate increase in Notch1 mRNA was seen with overexpression of NFX1-123 alone, but with 16E6 coexpression the increase in Notch1 was enhanced. The PAM2 motif and R3H protein domains in NFX1-123, which were important for increased hTERT expression, were also important in the augmentation of Notch1 expression by 16E6. These findings identify a second gene coregulated by 16E6 and NFX1-123 and the protein motifs in NFX1-123 that are important for this effect.
Argonaute2, a Link Between Genetic and Biochemical Analyses of RNAi

Double-stranded RNA induces potent and specific gene silencing through a process referred to as RNA interference (RNAi) or posttranscriptional gene silencing (PTGS). RNAi is mediated by RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC), a sequence-specific, multicomponent nuclease that destroys messenger RNAs homologous to the silencing trigger. RISC is known to contain short RNAs (∼22 nucleotides) derived from the double-stranded RNA trigger, but the protein components of this activity are unknown. Here, we report the biochemical purification of the RNAi effector nuclease from culturedDrosophila cells. The active fraction contains a ribonucleoprotein complex of ∼500 kilodaltons. Protein microsequencing reveals that one constituent of this complex is a member of the Argonaute family of proteins, which are essential for gene silencing in Caenorhabditis elegans,Neurospora, and Arabidopsis. This observation begins the process of forging links between genetic analysis of RNAi from diverse organisms and the biochemical model of RNAi that is emerging from Drosophila in vitro systems.
Modeling naturalistic argumentation in research literatures: Representation and interaction design issues

This article characterizes key weaknesses in the ability of current digital libraries to support scholarly inquiry, and as a way to address these, proposes computational services grounded in semiformal models of the naturalistic argumentation commonly found in research literatures. It is argued that a design priority is to balance formal expressiveness with usability, making it critical to coevolve the modeling scheme with appropriate user interfaces for argument construction and analysis. We specify the requirements for an argument modeling scheme for use by untrained researchers and describe the resulting ontology, contrasting it with other domain modeling and semantic web approaches, before discussing passive and intelligent user interfaces designed to support analysts in the construction, navigation, and analysis of scholarly argument structures in a Web‐based environment. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Int Syst 22: 17–47, 2007.