Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of Botulinum Toxin Injection on Nocturnal Bruxism: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Lee SJ, McCall WD, Jr., Kim YK, Chung SC, Chung JW: Effect of botulinum toxin injection on nocturnal bruxism: A randomized controlled trial. Objective:To evaluate the effect of botulinum toxin type A on nocturnal bruxism. Design:Twelve subjects reporting nocturnal bruxism were recruited for a double-blind, randomized clinical trial. Six bruxers were injected with botulinum toxin in both masseters, and six with saline. Nocturnal electromyographic activity was recorded in the subject's natural sleeping environment from masseter and temporalis muscles before injection, and 4, 8, and 12 wks after injection and then used to calculate bruxism events. Bruxism symptoms were investigated using questionnaires. Results:Bruxism events in the masseter muscle decreased significantly in the botulinum toxin injection group (P = 0.027). In the temporalis muscle, bruxism events did not differ between groups or among times. Subjective bruxism symptoms decreased in both groups after injection (P < 0.001). Conclusions:Our results suggest that botulinum toxin injection reduced the number of bruxism events, most likely mediated its effect through a decrease in muscle activity rather than the central nervous system. We controlled for placebo effects by randomizing the interventions between groups, obtaining subjective and objective outcome measures, using the temporalis muscle as a control, and collecting data at three postinjection times. Our controlled study supports the use of botulinum toxin injection as an effective treatment for nocturnal bruxism.
High Dynamic Range Spectral Imaging Pipeline For Multispectral Filter Array Cameras

Spectral filter arrays imaging exhibits a strong similarity with color filter arrays. This permits us to embed this technology in practical vision systems with little adaptation of the existing solutions. In this communication, we define an imaging pipeline that permits high dynamic range (HDR)-spectral imaging, which is extended from color filter arrays. We propose an implementation of this pipeline on a prototype sensor and evaluate the quality of our implementation results on real data with objective metrics and visual examples. We demonstrate that we reduce noise, and, in particular we solve the problem of noise generated by the lack of energy balance. Data are provided to the community in an image database for further research.
Cardiac Progenitors Induced from Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells with Cardiogenic Small Molecule Effectively Regenerate Infarcted Hearts and Attenuate Fibrosis

ABSTRACT Cardiac progenitor cells (CPCs) being multipotent offer a promising source for cardiac repair due to their ability to proliferate and multiply into cardiac lineage cells. Here, we explored a novel strategy for human CPCs generation from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) using a cardiogenic small molecule, isoxazole (ISX-9) and their ability to grow in the scar tissue for functional improvement in the infarcted myocardium. CPCs were induced from hiPSCs with ISX-9. CPCs were characterized by immunocytochemistry and RT-PCR. The CPC survival and differentiation in the infarcted hearts were determined by in vivo transplantation in immunodeficient mice following left anterior descending artery ligation and their effects were determined on fibrosis and functional improvement. ISX-9 simultaneously induced expression of cardiac transcription factors, NK2 homeobox 5, islet-1, GATA binding protein 4, myocyte enhancer factor-2 in hiPSCs within 3 days of treatment and successfully differentiated into three cardiac lineages in vitro. Messenger RNA and microRNA-sequencing results showed that ISX-9 targeted multiple cardiac differentiation, proliferation signaling pathways and upregulated myogenesis and cardiac hypertrophy related-microRNA. ISX-9 activated multiple pathways including transforming growth factor &bgr; induced epithelial–mesenchymal transition signaling, canonical, and non-canonical Wnt signaling at different stages of cardiac differentiation. CPCs transplantation promoted myoangiogenesis, attenuated fibrosis, and led to functional improvement in treated mice.
The Impact of Foster Parent Training on Parenting Skills and Child Disruptive Behavior

Children in foster care are at risk for behavioral and emotional problems that require higher levels of care than other children. To meet these needs and reduce placement disruptions, foster parents require effective parenting skills. Although a number of training models have been evaluated, the findings on the efficacy of foster parent training (FPT) are mixed. We conducted a meta-analysis of the FPT outcome research from 1984 to 2014 to develop a clearer understanding of the impact of such trainings. Fifteen samples (16 studies) were identified that investigated the impact of FPT on self-reported parenting skills and knowledge and child problem behaviors. The mean effect size for child disruptive behavior using a random effects model was small but significant at −. 20 (95% confidence interval [CI] = [−.39, −.01], Z = 2.05, p < .05), suggesting that, on average, foster parents who were involved in the trainings reported fewer child behavior problems than parents who did not receive the training. The mean effect size for parenting was moderate and significant at . 52 (95% CI = [.22, .82], Z = 3.38, p < .05), indicating that, on average, parents in the treatment groups reported higher levels of skills and knowledge following training than did those in the control group. While these results are promising, more research is necessary to investigate the inconsistency in effect sizes across studies.
An assessment of algorithms to estimate respiratory rate from the electrocardiogram and photoplethysmogram

Over 100 algorithms have been proposed to estimate respiratory rate (RR) from the electrocardiogram (ECG) and photoplethysmogram (PPG). As they have never been compared systematically it is unclear which algorithm performs the best. Our primary aim was to determine how closely algorithms agreed with a gold standard RR measure when operating under ideal conditions. Secondary aims were: (i) to compare algorithm performance with IP, the clinical standard for continuous respiratory rate measurement in spontaneously breathing patients; (ii) to compare algorithm performance when using ECG and PPG; and (iii) to provide a toolbox of algorithms and data to allow future researchers to conduct reproducible comparisons of algorithms. Algorithms were divided into three stages: extraction of respiratory signals, estimation of RR, and fusion of estimates. Several interchangeable techniques were implemented for each stage. Algorithms were assembled using all possible combinations of techniques, many of which were novel. After verification on simulated data, algorithms were tested on data from healthy participants. RRs derived from ECG, PPG and IP were compared to reference RRs obtained using a nasal-oral pressure sensor using the limits of agreement (LOA) technique. 314 algorithms were assessed. Of these, 270 could operate on either ECG or PPG, and 44 on only ECG. The best algorithm had 95% LOAs of −4.7 to 4.7 bpm and a bias of 0.0 bpm when using the ECG, and −5.1 to 7.2 bpm and 1.0 bpm when using PPG. IP had 95% LOAs of −5.6 to 5.2 bpm and a bias of −0.2 bpm. Four algorithms operating on ECG performed better than IP. All high-performing algorithms consisted of novel combinations of time domain RR estimation and modulation fusion techniques. Algorithms performed better when using ECG than PPG. The toolbox of algorithms and data used in this study are publicly available.
Orbital angular momentum of photons and the entanglement of Laguerre–Gaussian modes

The identification of orbital angular momentum (OAM) as a fundamental property of a beam of light nearly 25 years ago has led to an extensive body of research around this topic. The possibility that single photons can carry OAM has made this degree of freedom an ideal candidate for the investigation of complex quantum phenomena and their applications. Research in this direction has ranged from experiments on complex forms of quantum entanglement to the interaction between light and quantum states of matter. Furthermore, the use of OAM in quantum information has generated a lot of excitement, as it allows for encoding large amounts of information on a single photon. Here, we explain the intuition that led to the first quantum experiment with OAM 15 years ago. We continue by reviewing some key experiments investigating fundamental questions on photonic OAM and the first steps to applying these properties in novel quantum protocols. At the end, we identify several interesting open questions that could form the subject of future investigations with OAM. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Optical orbital angular momentum’.
Models and detection of spontaneous recurrent seizures in laboratory rodents

Epilepsy, characterized by spontaneous recurrent seizures (SRS), is a serious and common neurological disorder afflicting an estimated 1% of the population worldwide. Animal experiments, especially those utilizing small laboratory rodents, remain essential to understanding the fundamental mechanisms underlying epilepsy and to prevent, diagnose, and treat this disease. While much attention has been focused on epileptogenesis in animal models of epilepsy, there is little discussion on SRS, the hallmark of epilepsy. This is in part due to the technical difficulties of rigorous SRS detection. In this review, we comprehensively summarize both genetic and acquired models of SRS and discuss the methodology used to monitor and detect SRS in mice and rats.
Pempheris gasparinii, a new species of sweeper fish from Trindade Island, southwestern Atlantic (Teleostei, Pempheridae)

Abstract Pempheris gasparinii sp. n. is described from five specimens, 59.1–68.0 mm in standard length. It is only known to occur in the shallow reefs of Trindade Island, 1200 km east of the Brazilian coast, in the southwestern Atlantic. Pempheris gasparinii is the third recognized species of Pempheris in the Atlantic Ocean. This new species is morphologically similar to its close relative, Pempheris poeyi, differing by the number of lateral-line scales (51–54 in Pempheris gasparinii vs. 47–49 in Pempheris poeyi), scales below lateral line (10–11 vs. 9), circumpeduncular scales (11–12 vs. 13), head and caudal peduncle lengths (2.7–3.3 vs 3.5–4.0 in head length). Moreover, Pempheris gasparinii shows a 4% genetic divergence from Pempheris poeyi at the cytochrome oxidase I locus (COI), consistent with a lineage split at the beginning of the Pleistocene. This new species represents the 12th endemic fish species from Trindade Island.
Characterisation of Corrosion Initiation on 2024 Aluminium Alloy by Atomic Force Microscopy

Corrosion initiation phenomena on four laboratory tempers (naturally aged or underaged, fast quench or slow quench) of 2024 alloy were characterised using atomic force microscopy. The sub-nanometre resolution depth profiles of corrosion initiation events thus obtained were correlated with the results of more conventional characterisations: optical and scanning electron microscopy of the corroded surfaces, and transmission electron microscopy of the bulk microstructural features. Three types of attack were quantified: initiation in the vicinity of grain boundaries, around intermetallic precipitates, and at seemingly random positions with respect to the underlying metallurgy. The first type of attack was considerably more marked for the underaged samples, the other two types of attack occurred apparently independently of temper. The depth profiles of the attack are coherent with an analysis based on the microstructures observed and the published electrochemical characteristics of the phases in presence.
swSpTRSV: a fast sparse triangular solve with sparse level tile layout on sunway architectures

Sparse triangular solve (SpTRSV) is one of the most important kernels in many real-world applications. Currently, much research on parallel SpTRSV focuses on level-set construction for reducing the number of inter-level synchronizations. However, the out-of-control data reuse and high cost for global memory or shared cache access in inter-level synchronization have been largely neglected in existing work. In this paper, we propose a novel data layout called Sparse Level Tile to make all data reuse under control, and design a Producer-Consumer pairing method to make any inter-level synchronization only happen in very fast register communication. We implement our data layout and algorithms on an SW26010 many-core processor, which is the main building-block of the current world fastest supercomputer Sunway Taihulight. The experimental results of testing all 2057 square matrices from the Florida Matrix Collection show that our method achieves an average speedup of 6.9 and the best speedup of 38.5 over parallel level-set method. Our method also outperforms the latest methods on a KNC many-core processor in 1856 matrices and the latest methods on a K80 GPU in 1672 matrices, respectively.
Disulfide bonds, their stereospecific environment and conservation in protein structures.

We studied the specificity of the non-bonded interaction in the environment of 572 disulfide bonds in 247 polypeptide chains selected from the Protein Data Bank. The preferred geometry of interaction of peptide oxygen atoms is along the back of the two covalent bonds at the sulfur atom of half cystine. With aromatic residues the geometries that direct one of the sulfur lone pair of electrons into the aromatic pi-system are avoided; an orientation in which the sulfide plane is normal or inclined to the aromatic plane and on top of its edge is normally preferred. The importance of the S.aromatic interaction is manifested in the high degree of its conservation across members in homologous protein families. These interactions, while providing extra overall stability to the native fold and reducing the accessibility of the disulfide bond and thereby preventing exchange reactions, also set the orientation of the conserved aromatic rings for further interactions and binding to another molecule. The conformational features and the mode of interactions of disulfide bridges should be useful for molecular design and protein engineering experiments.
A Bootstrap Prediction Confidence Band for QMRA Beta-Poisson Dose-Response Models

microbial risks associated with food, water, and wastewater use in agriculture (e.g., [1, 3, 5]). The core part of the QMRA framework is the dose-response analysis which models the mathematical characterization of the relationship between the dose administered and the probability of adverse effect (typically, the probability of infection) in the exposed population [1, 2, 6]. Among different microbial dose-response models proposed in the literature, the beta-Poisson models remain the most popular plausible models in practice [1, 2, 7]. The beta-Poisson dose-response model and its special case, the exponential doseresponse model have been well studied and widely employed to characterize infectivity of various viral, bacterial, and protozoan pathogens since the 1980s [1, 2, 7, 8]. Because a beta-Poisson model has two parameters, a confidence band about the doseresponse curve cannot be calculated directly from the confidence intervals of the parameter estimates. It is well accepted in QMRA practice to employ a parametric bootstrap algorithm [9] to construct a confidence band for the dose-response curve[1, 2, 8, 10]. The upper limit of the estimated confidence band is used as the worst case scenario in risk assessment.
Resistance and virulence factors in Escherichia coli from meat and milk

This study focused on the comparison and characterisation of Escherichia coli (E. coli) isolates obtained from the meat of slaughtered animals (n = 34) and from raw cow’s milk (n = 33). Resistance to important antimicrobial substances and the presence of virulence factors were determined. Resistance to antimicrobials was tested using a disk diffusion method, while a polymerase chain reaction was used for the detection of selected genes encoding virulence – eaeA, hly, stx1, stx2. More than half the isolates of meat origin were resistant to at least one antimicrobial substance (67.7%). Resistance to ampicillin (50%) and tetracycline (41%) was found most frequently. Of 34 isolates from meat, 13 (38.2%) were multi-resistant. No stx1, hly or eaeA genes were detected in any of the E. coli isolates from meat. The stx2 gene was detected in one isolate. Only 4 (12.1%) isolates of milk origin were resistant to at least one antimicrobial substance – resistance to tetracycline was found in all cases. No virulence genes were detected in milk isolates. The results of our study indicate that resistance to antimicrobial substances is more common in isolates from meat than in isolates from milk. The only virulence gene stx2 detected in our study was found in an E. coli isolate of meat origin. Escherichia coli, resistance, virulence genes, meat, milk
Vaginal birth after a cesarean delivery for arrest of descent*

Abstract Objective: The objective of this study is to determine vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) success rates for patients with a prior cesarean delivery (CD) for arrest of descent, as well as determine any predictors for success. Study design: This was a retrospective cohort study of all patients delivered by a single MFM practice from 2005 to 2017 with a singleton pregnancy and one prior CD for arrest of descent. We estimated the rate and associated risk factors for successful VBAC. Results: We included 208 patients with one prior CD for arrest of descent, 100 (48.1%) of whom attempted a trial of labor after cesarean (TOLAC) with a VBAC success rate was 84/100 (84%, 95% CI 76–90%). Among the women who attempted TOLAC, women with a prior vaginal delivery >24 weeks’ had a significantly higher VBAC success rate (91.8% versus 71.8%, p = .01). Maternal age, body mass index, estimated fetal weight, induction of labor, and cervical dilation were not associated with a higher VBAC success rate. Conclusions: For women with a prior CD for arrest of descent, VBAC success rates are high. This suggests that arrest of descent is mostly dependent on factors unique to each pregnancy and not due to an inadequate pelvis or recurring conditions. Women with a prior CD for arrest of descent should not be discouraged from attempting TOLAC in a subsequent pregnancy due to concerns about the likelihood of success.
Jointly Decoded Raptor Codes: Analysis and Design for the BIAWGN Channel

We are interested in the analysis and optimization of Raptor codes under a joint decoding framework, that is, when the precode and the fountain code exchange soft information iteratively. We develop an analytical asymptotic convergence analysis of the joint decoder, derive an optimization method for the design of efficient output degree distributions, and show that the new optimized distributions outperform the existing ones, both at long and moderate lengths. We also show that jointly decoded Raptor codes are robust to channel variation: they perform reasonably well over a wide range of channel capacities. This robustness property was already known for the erasure channel but not for the Gaussian channel. Finally, we discuss some finite length code design issues. Contrary to what is commonly believed, we show by simulations that using a relatively low rate for the precode, we can improve greatly the error floor performance of the Raptor code.
LiveTree: An Integrated Workbench for Discourse Processing

In this paper, we introduce LiveTree, a core component of LIDAS, the Linguistic Discourse Analysis System for automatic discourse parsing with the Unified Linguistic Discourse Model (U-LDM) (X et al, 2004). LiveTree is an integrated workbench for supervised and unsupervised creation, storage and manipulation of the discourse structure of text documents under the U-LDM. The LiveTree environment provides tools for manual and automatic U-LDM segmentation and discourse parsing. Document management, grammar testing, manipulation of discourse structures and creation and editing of discourse relations are also supported.
Bidirectional manipulation of mTOR signaling disrupts socially mediated vocal learning in juvenile songbirds

Significance We investigated the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling cascade, which is commonly implicated in neurodevelopmental autism spectrum disorders but is almost never studied in juveniles. We demonstrated that experience-dependent activation of mTOR has functional consequences for complex learned behavior using a songbird model that has strong developmental, social, behavioral, neural, and genomic parallels with human vocal communication. Our results highlight the value of investigations that integrate age and experience to understand molecular mechanisms and behavioral outcomes of neurodevelopmental disorders and typical neural development. Early life experiences can have long-lasting behavioral consequences because they are encoded when the brain is most malleable. The mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling cascade modulates experience-dependent synaptic plasticity, among other processes. mTOR has been almost exclusively examined in adult rodent learning models, but may be especially important in organizing neural circuits required for developmental acquisition of meaningful complex behaviors. It is among the most commonly implicated factors in neurodevelopmental autism spectrum disorders (ASD), characterized, in part, by distinct social and communication phenotypes. Here, we investigated mTOR in juvenile zebra finch songbirds. Much as children learn language, young male zebra finches need to interact socially with an adult tutor to learn a meaningful song. The memory of the tutor’s song structure guides the juvenile’s own song, which it uses to communicate for the rest of its life. We hypothesized that mTOR is required for juveniles to learn song. To this end, we first discovered that hearing song activates mTOR signaling in a brain area required for tutor song memorization in males old enough to copy song but not in younger males or females, who cannot sing. We then showed that both inhibition and constitutive activation of mTOR during tutor experiences significantly diminished tutor song copying. Finally, we found that constitutive mTOR activation lowered a behavioral measure of the juvenile’s social engagement during tutor experiences, mirroring the relationship in humans. These studies therefore advance understanding about the effects of experience in the context of neurodevelopmental disorders and typical neural development.