Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: Squaring the Circle

The World Health Organization (WHO) has recently released a new classification and diagnostic criteria for hyperglycemia first diagnosed in pregnancy (1). These new criteria are an update of the 1999 WHO criteria, which defined gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) as diabetes or impaired glucose tolerance with onset or first recognition in pregnancy. This definition was not based on a review of the evidence, but took into account the already recognized negative effect of uncontrolled diabetes on pregnancy outcome and a suspicion that milder hyperglycemia in pregnancy could also have a negative effect on maternal and child outcomes (2). The ad hoc expert group convened for the update accepted the reasoning of the International Association of the Diabetes and Pregnancy Study Groups (IADPSG) (3) and decided to endorse the separation of diabetes and GDM. The WHO has accepted the same glucose diagnostic thresholds for GDM as proposed by IADPSG. Globally, there is general agreement over how to diagnose diabetes in nonpregnant individuals, based on the relationship between glycemia and microvascular complications specific for diabetes. Such is …
A cost-sensitive cascaded method for automatic mass detection

Mass detection in mammograms is a challenging problem. In this paper, we propose a cost-sensitive cascaded method for automatic mass detection, which employs machine learning techniques to detect region of interests (ROI). In detail, we divide the original mammograms into overlapped squared sub-images. For each sub-image, intensity features based on gray histogram, texture features based on spatial gray-level co-occurrence matrix (SGLDM) and texture features based on local binary patterns (LBP) are extracted and input to a cost-sensitive cascaded classifier. Simple threshold segmentation and neural network are used to further reduce false positives. Experimental results show that the proposed method is effective in mass detection.
Accurate distance measurement with a wideband high resolution pseudo noise coded radar

A wideband radar concept with a bandwidth of 3,2 GHz is investigated for automotive application. The wideband direct sequence spread spectrum concept at 24 GHz enables a high resolution with distance cells of less than 0.1 m and an accuracy in the mm-range, a high immunity against interferers and a strong channel separation. A laboratory demonstrator is realised and the feasibility of the concept is shown by way of measured results.
Combined transoral robotic surgery and endoscopic endonasal approach for the resection of extensive malignancies of the skull base

Oncologic resection of the clivus, nasopharynx, craniovertebral junction, and infratemporal fossa is a challenging endeavor because of their complex and protected anatomy. Our goals were to design a cadaveric model and identify advantages and limitations of combining the transoral robotic surgery (TORS) and endoscopic endonasal approach (EEA) techniques.
Distribution of amphibians in terrestrial habitat surrounding wetlands

Estimating the distribution of amphibians in terrestrial habitats surrounding wetlands is essential for determining how much habitat is required to maintain viable amphibian populations and how much habitat may be allocated to other land use practices. We apply univariate kernel estimation in a new manner to determine the distribution of amphibians during the non-breeding season. We summarized data from 13 radio telemetry studies that reported net maximum distance traveled from the breeding site for each individual (n = 404 individuals), and calculated a univariate kernel density estimate for all data combined. Kernel density estimation provides a function for the probability of an amphibian being present at a given distance from the breeding site and bootstrap methods allow for error estimates of isopleth values. Amphibians generally occurred at a short distance from the wetland (50% isopleth was at 93 m) and declined at greater distances (95% isopleth was at 664 m); however, use of habitat immediately adjacent (e.g., < 30 m) to the breeding site was lower than the peak for all species. The shape of the distribution was consistent for frogs and salamanders; however, the 95% kernel isopleth for the salamander estimate (245 m) was less than half the distance of the frog estimate (703 m), indicating that frogs distributed themselves at much greater distances from the breeding site than salamanders. Kernel estimates for the two western species, Rana luteiventris and Bufo boreas, did not peak near the breeding site as in the other species, suggesting that non-breeding habitat for these species is not located near breeding sites. We were unable to detect a statistical difference between sexes, but females tend to use habitat at greater distances from the wetland than males. Our results revealed that amphibians are not uniformly distributed in terrestrial habitats surrounding wetlands.
Left-Right Dimensions of Canadian Federal Party Identification: A Discriminant Analysis

Les différences entre l'élite et la masse dans 1'identification aux partis fédéraux canadiens: une analyse discriminatoire Dans la littérature sur les partis politiques canadiens, on ne s'entend pas sur la possibilité de différencier I'idéologie des partis sur un continuum droite-gauche. Cette étude cherche à résoudre partiellement cette question en examinant deux aspects du problème: l'orientation idéologique du parti et le soutien que le parti attire. Deux séries de données sont examinées, toutes deux provenant de Winnipeg et de Vancouver. La première série est basée sur un échantillon de l'électorat, la seconde étant tirée d'un échantillon de dirigeants des partis. L'analyse discriminatoire est utilisée afin de faire ressortir les plus grandes différences entre les partis libéral, conservateur, créditiste et néo-démocrate; et ce à partir de quatre ensembles de variables: le milieu familial, le statut actuel, et deux sèries de variables basèes sur le comportement. Les rèsultats dèmontrent de manière convaincante que pour ce qui est des deux premières variables (statut familial et actuel), les plus grands écarts sont révélés par une division entre parti majeur et mineur. Pour ce qui est des variables concernant le comportement, la dichotomie entre partis de gauche et partis de droite est très peu éclairante. Malgré cela cependant, les résultats démontrent que les différences entre les partis sont multidimensionnelles et que toute analyse qui réduit ces différences à une seule dimension pourrait induire en erreur. De plus, des comparaisons de type « masse-elite » basées sur des variables de comportement font ressortir la présence de faibles liens de causalité dans ce domaine.
Structural dynamics of a single-stranded RNA–helix junction using NMR

Regulatory RNAs often contain long single-stranded RNA (ssRNA) regions that are typically found linked to helices and hairpins in what are sometimes referred to as ssRNA–helix junctions. This study uses NMR spectroscopy to study the dynamic properties of a 12-nucleotide (nt) ssRNA tail derived from the prequeuosine riboswitch linked to the 3′ end of a 48-nt hairpin. Despite substantial internal motions, the first two residues in the ssRNA tail stack onto the adjacent helix and assume an ordered conformation, and the ssRNA adopts, on average, an A-form helical conformation that is coaxial with the helix. Our results reveal a surprising degree of structural and dynamic complexity at the ssRNA–helix junction, which involves a fine balance between order and disorder that may facilitate efficient pseudoknot formation on ligand recognition.
Effects of lipid mediator antagonists on predominant mediator-controlled asthmatic reactions in passively sensitized guinea pigs.

The role of cysteinyl leukotrienes (cys-LTs) and thromboxane A(2) (TXA(2)) in guinea pig models of aspects of bronchial asthma was investigated. In a novel antigen (BSA)-induced asthmatic model using passively sensitized guinea pigs, pretreatment with varying doses of indomethacin controlled the ratio of followed lipid mediators, LTC(4)/D(4)/E(4) and TXB(2), in lungs of challenged guinea pigs. The predominant mediator in indomethacin-untreated asthma was TXA(2), and complete inhibition of cyclooxygenase by i.v. injection of 5-mg/kg indomethacin-induced cys-LTs mainly mediated asthmatic response. Furthermore, a 1-mg/kg indomethacin dose induced an asthmatic state where both cys-LTs and TXA(2) equally participated. Either LTD(4) or TXA(2) receptor antagonists given alone inhibited the asthmatic response in conditions where the corresponding mediator plays a predominant role. The combination of LTD(4) and TXA(2) receptor antagonists exhibited significant effects irrespective of the condition used. Under conditions where both mediators equally participate, a combination of both receptor antagonists showed additive inhibition. YM158, a newly synthesized and orally active dual antagonist for LTD(4) and TXA(2) receptors, showed the same antiasthmatic effect as a combinated LTD(4) receptor antagonist and a TXA(2) receptor antagonist mixture. Therefore, broad-acting compounds such as YM158 are expected to have antiasthmatic efficacies in a broader class of asthmatic patients than single-acting drugs.
Complex Interactions between Fungal Avirulence Genes and Their Corresponding Plant Resistance Genes and Consequences for Disease Resistance Management

During infection, pathogens secrete an arsenal of molecules, collectively called effectors, key elements of pathogenesis which modulate innate immunity of the plant and facilitate infection. Some of these effectors can be recognized directly or indirectly by resistance (R) proteins from the plant and are then called avirulence (AVR) proteins. This recognition usually triggers defense responses including the hypersensitive response and results in resistance of the plant. R—AVR gene interactions are frequently exploited in the field to control diseases. Recently, the availability of fungal genomes has accelerated the identification of AVR genes in plant pathogenic fungi, including in fungi infecting agronomically important crops. While single AVR genes recognized by their corresponding R gene were identified, more and more complex interactions between AVR and R genes are reported (e.g., AVR genes recognized by several R genes, R genes recognizing several AVR genes in distinct organisms, one AVR gene suppressing recognition of another AVR gene by its corresponding R gene, two cooperating R genes both necessary to recognize an AVR gene). These complex interactions were particularly reported in pathosystems showing a long co-evolution with their host plant but could also result from the way agronomic crops were obtained and improved (e.g., through interspecific hybridization or introgression of resistance genes from wild related species into cultivated crops). In this review, we describe some complex R—AVR interactions between plants and fungi that were recently reported and discuss their implications for AVR gene evolution and R gene management.
Real-time detection of line segments using the line Hough transform

We describe a compact circuit for real-time detection of line segments using the line Hough transform (LHT). The LHT is a technique to find out lines in an image. The LHT is robust to noises, but requires long computation time. The circuit calculates: (1) r and /spl theta/ of lines (r is the distance from the origin to a line and /spl theta/ is the angle of the line) by the LHT units in parallel; and (2) start and end points of the lines by the other units which are completely pipelined with the LHT units. With this parallel and pipeline processing, the circuit can detect more than 16384 lines (/spl pi//512 angle steps) in a large size image (640 /spl times/ 480) in real-time. The size of the circuit is 19% of XC2V6000, which makes it possible to implement other circuits for higher level processing of object recognition on the same chip, or the performance can be improved up to four times by using four times of the hardware resources.
A 16/24-bit DSP-ASIC coprocessor for AC motor modelling

A discrete-time computational AC motor model is derived and analyzed for the purpose of advanced motor control. The starting point is a continuous-time model defined by a pair of simultaneous complex-coefficient differential equations. The discrete-time model is derived using the forward-difference (FD) approximation. The exact dependence between stability and the minimum sampling rate in the FD approach is shown. An efficient implementation architecture is given, based on DSP techniques. A 16/24-bit DSP-ASIC coprocessor prototype implementing the AC motor model is introduced. <<ETX>>
Design and Synthesis of Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Antagonists and their Effect on Cognitive Impairment

Structure modification of a lead compound (NSC13378) was accomplished in the present work by an in silico target‐based design aimed at ligands acting on the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) for neurodegenerative diseases. A 187‐compound focused library derived from the scaffold of the lead compound was screened against acetylcholine‐binding proteins (AChBPs). Six compounds were identified and synthesized for binding and biological evaluations. Five compounds were found to bind with AChBPs. Among these compounds, QN1 and BZ1 showed the highest affinity binding with AChBP, with Kd values of 260 and 10 nm, respectively. Functional assays on isolated cell lines containing ligand‐gated ion channels revealed that QN1 and BZ1 are α4β2‐nAChR antagonists. QN1 and BZ1 significantly alleviated the memory impairment caused by the muscarinic cholinergic antagonist scopolamine (p < 0.05) in mice. Our findings demonstrate the potential of nAChR antagonists in drug development for cognitive impairments.
Using Distributed Wearable Sensors to Measure and Evaluate Human Lower Limb Motions

This paper presents a wearable sensor approach to motion measurements of human lower limbs, in which subjects perform specified walking trials at self-administered speeds so that their level walking and stair ascent capacity can be effectively evaluated. After an initial sensor alignment with the reduced error, quaternion is used to represent 3-D orientation and an optimized gradient descent algorithm is deployed to calculate the quaternion derivative. Sensors on the shank offer additional information to accurately determine the instances of both swing and stance phases. The Denavit-Hartenberg convention is used to set up the kinematic chains when the foot stays stationary on the ground, producing state constraints to minimize the estimation error of knee position. The reliability of this system, from the measurement point of view, has been validated by means of the results obtained from a commercial motion tracking system, namely, Vicon, on healthy subjects. The step size error and the position estimation accuracy change are studied. The experimental results demonstrated that the extensively existed sensor misplacement and sensor drift problems can be well solved. The proposed self-contained and environment-independent system is capable of providing consistent tracking of human lower limbs without significant drift.
Inhibition of Inducible Nitric-oxide Synthase by Activators of AMP-activated Protein Kinase

AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), an energy-sensing enzyme that is activated in response to cellular stress, is a critical signaling molecule for the regulation of multiple metabolic processes. AMPK has recently emerged as an attractive novel target for the treatment of obesity and type 2 diabetes because its activation increases fatty acid oxidation and improves glucose homeostasis. Here we show that pharmacological activation of AMPK by insulin-sensitizing drugs markedly inhibits inducible nitric-oxide synthase (iNOS), a proinflammatory mediator in endotoxic shock and in chronic inflammatory states including obesity-linked diabetes. AMPK-mediated iNOS inhibition was observed in several cell types (myocytes, adipocytes, macrophages) and primarily resulted from post-transcriptional regulation of the iNOS protein. AMPK activation in vivo also blunted iNOS induction in muscle and adipose tissues of endotoxin-challenged rats. Reduction of AMPK expression by small interfering RNA reversed the inhibitory effects of AMPK activators on iNOS expression and nitric oxide production in myocytes. These results indicate that AMPK is a novel anti-inflammatory signaling pathway and thus represents a promising therapeutic target for immune-inflammatory disorders.
Chromosome numbers in Hypericum and related genera

New or confirmatory chromosome counts for 16 taxa ofHypericum in Britain, one of northwest Africa, and 24 of North and Central America are reported. First records for any member of the genusVisma (n = 10) are also included. The counts are discussed with respect to those previously reported forHypericum and related genera. Some of this chromosomal information is incorporated in a diagram showing suggested evolutionary trends withinHypericum. There appears to be a descending series of basic numbers (x = 12, 10, 9, 8, 7), of which all but the last have been recorded in polyploid, as well as diploid, form. Observations of chromosome morphology suggest thatHypericum is cytologically relatively unspecialized. Studies of chromosome morphology, therefore, are not likely to yield much information about the evolutionary history of the genus. It is suggested that the basic number forAllanblackia andPentadesma is 7 or 14, whereas inCalophyllum andMesua it is probably 8 or 16. Known gametic chromosome numbers inMammea (n = 16, 18) andGarcinia (n = 24, ca. 27, ca. 29, ca. 38, ca. 40, and 48) do not indicate an obvious basic number for these genera, although x = 8, 9, and 16 might be involved. Ring-formation of theOenothera-type, possibly indicative of structural hybridity, is reported for the first time inHypericum mitchellianum Rydb. , a close relative ofHypericum punctatum Lam. , which was previously shown to possess this anomalous chromo some condition.
Peptide Dose, MHC Affinity, and Target Self-Antigen Expression Are Critical for Effective Immunotherapy of Nonobese Diabetic Mouse Prediabetes1

Cross-reactive T cells that recognize both Tep69 (dominant nonobese diabetic (NOD) T cell epitope in ICA69 (islet cell autoantigen of 69 kDa)) and ABBOS (dominant NOD T cell epitope in BSA) are routinely generated during human and NOD mouse prediabetes. Here we analyzed how systemic administration of these mimicry peptides affects progressive autoimmunity in adoptively transferred and cyclophosphamide-accelerated NOD mouse diabetes. These models were chosen to approximate mid to late stage prediabetes, the typical status of probands in human intervention trials. Unexpectedly, high dose (100 μg) i.v. ABBOS prevented, while Tep69 exacerbated, disease in both study models. Peptide effects required cognate recognition of endogenous self-Ag, because both treatments were ineffective in ICA69null NOD congenic mice adoptively transferred with wild-type, diabetic splenocytes. The affinity of ABBOS for NOD I-Ag7 was orders of magnitude higher than that of Tep69. This explained 1) the expansion of the mimicry T cell pool following i.v. Tep69, 2) the long-term unresponsiveness of these cells after i.v. ABBOS, and 3) precipitation of the disease after low dose i.v. ABBOS. Disease precipitation and prevention in mid to late stage prediabetes are thus governed by affinity profiles and doses of therapeutic peptides. ABBOS or ABBOS analogues with even higher MHC affinity may be candidates for experimental intervention strategies in human prediabetes, but the dose translation from NOD mice to humans requires caution.
Improvement in quality of life with omalizumab in patients with severe allergic asthma

ABSTRACT Background: Patients with severe persistent asthma experience daily symptoms and frequent serious exacerbations that contribute to a significant impairment of health-related quality of life (QoL). Methods: A pooled analysis was completed of six controlled clinical trials that evaluated the effect of add-on omalizumab on asthma-related QoL in patients with severe persistent allergic (IgE-mediated) asthma. Asthma-related QoL was assessed at baseline and treatment endpoint using the well-validated Juniper Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (AQLQ). Change from baseline in AQLQ total score was compared between treatments using analysis of covariance methods. The percentage of patients who achieved a clinically meaningful (≥ 0.5-point) improvement in AQLQ total score was compared using the Mantel–Haenszel Chi-square test. Results: The pooled patient population comprised 2548 patients (omalizumab, n = 1342; control, n = 1206), of whom 96% had severe persistent asthma according to the GINA 2002 classification. Omalizumab produced significantly greater improvements in AQLQ total score vs the control group (mean increases of 1.01 and 0.61 points, respectively; p < 0.001). In addition, significantly more omalizumab-treated patients achieved a clinically meaningful improvement in AQLQ total score than patients in the control group (66.3% vs 52.4%; p < 0.001). Conclusions: Add-on therapy with omalizumab improves QoL to a significant and clinically meaningful level in patients with severe persistent allergic asthma.
Typical balance exercises or exergames for balance improvement?

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Balance training is an effective intervention to improve static postural sway and balance. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effectiveness of the Nintendo Wii Fit Plus exercises for improving balance ability in healthy collegiate students in comparison with a typical balance training program. METHODS Forty students were randomly divided into two groups, a traditional (T group) and a Nintendo Wii group (W group) performed an 8 week balance program. The "W group" used the interactive games as a training method, while the "T group" used an exercise program with mini trampoline and inflatable discs (BOSU). Pre and Post-training participants completed balance assessments. RESULTS Two-way repeated measures analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were conducted to determine the effect of training program. Analysis of the data illustrated that both training program groups demonstrated an improvement in Total, Anterior-posterior and Medial Lateral Stability Index scores for both limbs. Only at the test performed in the balance board with anterior-posterior motion, the improvement in balance ability was greater in the "T group" than the "W group", when the assessment was performed post-training (p=0.023). CONCLUSIONS Findings support the effectiveness of using the Nintendo Wii gaming console as a balance training intervention tool.