Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Chronic pain in Parkinson's disease: The cross‐sectional French DoPaMiP survey

Pain is a frequent, but poorly studied symptom of Parkinson's disease (PD). DoPaMiP survey aimed to assess the prevalence of chronic pain in PD, to describe PD patients with chronic pain, and to record analgesic consumption. About 450 parkinsonian patients underwent structured standardized clinical examination and completed self‐reported questionnaires in a cross sectional survey. Pains related or unrelated to PD were identified according to predefined criteria. About 98 patients with other chronic disorders than PD were examined to assess if pain was more frequent in PD than in this population. Two thirds parkinsonian patients (278 of 450) had chronic pain. Twenty‐five patients with non‐chronic pain (<3‐month duration) were excluded from subsequent analysis. Twenty six percent (111 of 425) parkinsonian patients had pain unrelated to PD (“non‐PD‐pain”, caused mainly by osteoarthritis), while 39.3% (167 of 425) had chronic pain related to PD (“PD‐pain”). In this last group, PD was the sole cause of pain in 103 and indirectly aggravated pain of another origin (mainly osteoarthritis) in 64. Parkinsonian patients with “PD‐pain” were younger at PD onset, had more motor complications, more severe depressive symptoms than those without pain or with “non‐PD pain. ” “PD‐pain” was more intense (P = 0.03), but was less frequently reported to doctors (P = 0.02), and was associated with less frequent analgesic consumption than “non‐PD‐pain. ” Pain was twice more frequent in PD patients than in patients without PD after adjustment for osteo‐articular comorbidities (OR = 1.9; 95% CI 1.2–3.2). Chronic pain is frequent but underreported in PD. Awareness of this problem should be increased and the assessment of analgesic strategies improved. © 2008 Movement Disorder Society
Dynamic Model Selection for Prediction Under a Budget

We present a dynamic model selection approach for resource-constrained prediction. Given an input instance at test-time, a gating function identifies a prediction model for the input among a collection of models. Our objective is to minimize overall average cost without sacrificing accuracy. We learn gating and prediction models on fully labeled training data by means of a bottom-up strategy. Our novel bottom-up method is a recursive scheme whereby a high-accuracy complex model is first trained. Then a low-complexity gating and prediction model are subsequently learnt to adaptively approximate the high-accuracy model in regions where low-cost models are capable of making highly accurate predictions. We pose an empirical loss minimization problem with cost constraints to jointly train gating and prediction models. On a number of benchmark datasets our method outperforms state-of-the-art achieving higher accuracy for the same cost.
Beamforming Codebook Design and Performance Evaluation for 60GHz Wideband WPANs

The paper proposes a codebook design to support beamforming mechanism in a wide band millimeter-wave 60GHz wireless personal area networks (60GHz WPANs) in a realistic millimeter-wave environment. The codebooks are designed sym- metrically in order to mitigate the possible beam shift due to the large differences of wave lengthes at different sub-bands of a wide band communication system. In order to provide a high data rate and high performance with minimum power consumption in 60GHz systems, the codebooks are generated with 90 degree phase resolution without amplitude adjustment. The codebooks are designed for different numbers of antenna elements, supporting a multitude of antenna configurations. The paper provides codebook design mechanism, some example codebooks and some analysis on antenna gain loss due to phase shift errors of phase shifters. Simulation results shows that: (1) To keep the gain loss at the intersections of any two patterns inside the codebook lower than 1dB, the number of patterns inside the codebook shall be at least 2 times of the number of antenna elements used for pattern generation; (2) The designed codebooks are robust to phase shift errors: the gain loss is lower than 1dB with only 10% outage probability when standard deviation of phase shift errors at phase shifters is 0.5 (28.6 degree). The proposed codebooks are a feasible design, they are the key basis of the beamforming protocol in 60GHz WPANs (IEEE 802.15.3c).
A Synchronous Bootstrap to Account for Dependencies Between Lines of Business in the Estimation of Loss Reserve Prediction Error

Abstract In this article we consider the situation in which an insurer requires a loss reserve, together with the estimated prediction error, in respect of a number of stochastically dependent lines of business, individually and in aggregate. We suppose that generalized linear models are used to estimate each of the individual loss reserves, and that bootstrapping is used to estimate prediction errors. Specialized forms of the bootstrap, referred to as synchronous bootstraps, are constructed to capture the dependencies. Numerical examples are given in which loss reserve forecasts and their prediction errors are obtained for individual lines of business and in aggregate.
A Robust Observer-Based Method for IGBTs and Current Sensors Fault Diagnosis in Voltage-Source Inverters of PMSM Drives

Permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSMs) drives using three-phase voltage-source inverters (VSIs) are currently used in many industrial applications. The reliability of VSIs is one of the most important factors to improve the reliability and availability levels of the drive. Accordingly, this paper presents a robust fault diagnostic method for multiple insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) open-circuit faults and current sensor faults in three-phase PMSM drives. The proposed observer-based algorithm relies on an adaptive threshold for fault diagnosis. Current sensor and open-circuit faults can be distinguished and the faulty sensors and/or power semiconductors are effectively isolated. The proposed technique is robust to machine parameters and load variations. Several simulation and experimental results using a vector-controlled PMSM drive are presented, showing the diagnostic algorithm robustness against false alarms and its effectiveness in both IGBTs and current sensors fault diagnosis.
The Need of an Optimal QoS Repository and Assessment Framework in Forming a Trusted Relationship in Cloud: A Systematic Review

Due to the cost-effectiveness and scalable features of the cloud the demand of its services is increasing every next day. Quality of Service (QOS) is one of the crucial factor in forming a viable Service Level Agreement (SLA) between a consumer and the provider that enable them to establish and maintain a trusted relationship with each other. SLA identifies and depicts the service requirements of the user and the level of service promised by provider. Availability of enormous service solutions is troublesome for cloud users in selecting the right service provider both in terms of price and the degree of promised services. On the other end a service provider need a centralized and reliable QoS repository and assessment framework that help them in offering an optimal amount of marginal resources to requested consumer. Although there are number of existing literatures that assist the interaction parties to achieve their desired goal in some way, however, there are still many gaps that need to be filled for establishing and maintaining a trusted relationship between them. In this paper we tried to identify all those gaps that is necessary for a trusted relationship between a service provider and service consumer. The aim of this research is to present an overview of the existing literature and compare them based on different criteria such as QoS integration, QoS repository, QoS filtering, trusted relationship and an SLA.
Fluorescence lifetime images of green fluorescent protein in HeLa cells during TNF-α induced apoptosis

Fluorescence lifetime images of HeLa cells expressing enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) have been measured as apoptosis is induced by tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in combination with cycloheximide. The fluorescence lifetime of EGFP is found to decrease after the induction of apoptosis, indicating that the change in environment occurs around the chromophore of EGFP with the apoptosis process. The fluorescence lifetime imaging technique can be used to perform in vivo observation of cell death processes. Fluorescence lifetime measurements are useful to examine the induction of the apoptosis process, even when a morphological change of each cell cannot be observed because of a low spatial resolution.
Nitroimidazooxazoles# Part xxiv, Search for Antileishmanial Agents: 2,3-Dihydro-6-nitroimidazo[2,1-b]oxazoles as Potential Antileishmanial Agents

A number of mono and bicyclic nitroimidazoles were screened for in vitro antileishmanial activity. Among these, compounds belonging to the class of nitroimidazo[2,1-b]oxazoles showed moderate to good activity. This class of compounds had been reported previously to have pronounced antitubercular activity, particularly CGI17341 (5a). In the present study (5a) and (5d) and (7) were found to be more potent antileishmanials in vitro than the standard and less toxic in relation to a reference compound. (7) Was earlier formulated to have the phenyl group located on C-2(5b).
Measurement of arc-value for concept similarity

The ultimate aim of this paper is for semantic information retrieval. Especially, we concentrate on measure of concept similarity. There are 9 kinds of relation (arc) in WordNet to define concepts and we have a motive from that a value of each arc is different up to kind of relation. So, this paper first makes a fundamental for the value of relation between concepts. And we measure the arc-value based on the fundamental and calculate concept similarity using the value.
Evaluation of Leishmanin Skin Test Reaction in Different Variants of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis

Introduction: Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a parasitic disease which has different clinical forms. The aim of this study is to compare the response to leishmanin skin test (LST) in three forms of CL including plaque type, lupoid type, and sporotrichoid type. Materials and Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study. The patients enrolled in this study had three clinical forms of CL confirmed by positive smear of their lesions and then LST was performed for them. Results were categorized as negative (0-5 mm induration), positive (6-14 mm), and strongly positive (≥15 mm). The data were documented in the patients’ files and analyzed with SPSS windows software version 16 (Inc.Chicago, USA). Results: 200 patients were enrolled in the study. In the group with plaque type, 86% had a positive LST, 13.3% were negative, and 0.7% were strongly positive. In the lupoid group, these figures were 45.8%, 8.4%, 45.8%, respectively. In the sporotrichoid group, LST was positive in 27.3%, negative in 72.7%, and none of the patients had a strongly positive reaction (P < 0.05). Discussion: The most of the positive LST were belong to plaque and lupoid groups, the most of strongly positive were belong to lupoid, and the most of negative LST were related with sporotrichoid type. Conclusion: It can be suggested that lupoid and sporotrichoid types of CL are parts of a continuous spectrum of the disease with an enhanced cellular immunity in lupoid form and a decreased state in sporotrichoid type.
TAXEL: Initial progress toward self-morphing visio-haptic interface

This paper proposes a new interactive interface TAXEL, which aims at developing a reconfigurable self-morphing visio-haptic interface. We first present the overall architecture and concept of a self-morphing visuo-haptic interface. Key hardware components are developed and tested, including three tactile actuators using a piezoelectric active linear actuator, a passive MR fluid actuator, and a thin film-type actuator, respectively, and a flexible visual display based on the light-waveguide technology. Using the developed components, a tactile platform that includes a 8×16 array of the linear actuators is implemented for a proof of concept. A rendering engine is also designed for the tactile platform with emphasis on the use of haptic feedback together with GUI. We also carried out a user study with virtual button simulation as a benchmark to evaluate the performance of the TAXEL tactile platform. Lastly, an integrated system with a visual display is demonstrated along with several application examples.
Sexual dysfunction in female subjects with fibromyalgia.

PURPOSE We investigated sexual function in females with fibromyalgia (FM) and evaluate whether coexistent major depression (MD) has an additional negative effect on sexual function. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 100 female subjects were enrolled in the study, including 40 with FM only, 27 with FM plus MD and 33 healthy volunteers as a control group. The diagnosis of MD was made according to Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-IV interview and the Hamilton Depression Rate Scale was used to grade depression. Widespread pain and quality of life were assessed with the Lattinen Pain Scale and Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire, respectively. The Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) was used to assess sexual dysfunction. RESULTS All subjects were comparable in age, occupation and education. Mean FSFI total score +/- SD was significantly decreased in the FM and FM plus MD groups compared with that in healthy controls (21.83 +/- 5.84 and 22.43 +/- 7.0 vs 28.10 +/- 6.52, respectively, p = 0.001). However, the FSFI score was not significantly different between patients with FM only and FM plus MD (p >0.05). Correlation analysis revealed a negative moderate correlation between total Lattinen pain score and FSFI score in the FM only and FM plus MD groups (r = -0.366, p = 0.047 and r = -0.403, p = 0.018, respectively). FSFI score did not correlate with FIQ and HDRS scores (p >0.05). CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrates that female patients with FM have distinct sexual dysfunction compared with healthy controls and coexistent MD has no additional negative effect on sexual function. Thus, female subjects with FM should be evaluated in terms of sexual function to provide better quality of life.
Design and Performance of a High- $Q$ Narrow Bandwidth Bandpass Filter in Empty Substrate Integrated Coaxial Line at $K_{u}$ -Band

This letter presents the design and performance of a planar narrow bandwidth bandpass filter with high quality factor. The structure is composed of an empty substrate integrated coaxial line with the center conductor suspended in air. The component dimensions have been calculated by means of classical microwave filter design theory. The filter has been manufactured using standard printed circuit board fabrication processes. A measured insertion loss of 1.59 dB, 2.93% fractional bandwidth, and a <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$Q$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-factor of 1505 have been obtained at 15 GHz. A <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$Q$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-factor comparison with other substrate and empty substrate integrated technologies shows the advantages of the solution considered in this letter. The proposed filter proves to be suitable for the implementation of integrated microwave or millimeter-wave subsystems with severe restrictions, i.e., low in-band losses, very narrow bandpass responses, low frequency dispersion, high out-of-band rejection, and low manufacturing cost.
TDML: A Data Mining Language for Transaction Databases

A desired feature of data mining systems is the ability to support ad hoc and interactive data mining in order to facilitate flexible and effective knowledge discovery. Data mining query languages can be designed to support such a feature. There are data mining query languages like DMQLfor mining relational databases. In this paper, we have proposed a new data mining language for mining transaction databases called TDML. This proposed language mines association rule mining and sequential pattern mining. It uses a new bit map processing approach with buffered storage of results. Various types of data mining approaches that are supported like generalized mining, multilevel mining, multidimensional mining, distributed mining, partition mining, incremental mining, online mining, merge mining, transaction reduction, stream mining and targeted itemset mining.
Acetone preservation: a practical technique for molecular analysis

In attempts to establish a convenient and reliable method for field collection and archival preservation of insects and their endosymbiotic microorganisms for molecular analysis, acetone, ethanol, and other organic solvents were tested for DNA preservability of the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum and its intracellular symbiotic bacterium Buchnera sp. After 6 months’ storage, not only the band of high‐molecular‐size DNA but also the bands of rRNA were well preserved in acetone, ethanol, 2‐propanol, diethyl ether and ethyl acetate. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays confirmed that the DNA of both the insects and their symbionts was well preserved in these solvents. In contrast, methanol and chloroform showed poor DNA preservability. When water‐containing series of acetone and ethanol were examined for DNA preservability, acetone was apparently more robust against water contamination than ethanol. Considering that most biological materials contain high amounts of water, acetone may be a more recommendable preservative for DNA analysis than ethanol which has been widely used for this purpose. The DNA of various insects could be preserved in acetone at room temperature in good condition for several years. In addition to the DNA of the host insects, the DNA of their endosymbionts, including Buchnera and other mycetocyte symbionts, Wolbachia, and gut bacteria, was amplified by PCR after several years of acetone storage. The RNA and protein of the pea aphid and its endosymbiont were also preserved for several years in acetone. After 2 years’ storage in acetone, proteins of A. pisum could be analysed by sodium dodecyl sulphate–polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS–PAGE) and immunoblotting, and the endosymbiotic bacteria were successfully detected by immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization on the tissue sections.
De Novo SCN8A Mutation Identified by Whole-Exome Sequencing in a Boy With Neonatal Epileptic Encephalopathy, Multiple Congenital Anomalies, and Movement Disorders

Epileptic encephalopathies represent a clinically and genetically heterogeneous group of disorders, majority of which are of unknown etiology. We used whole-exome sequencing of a parent-offspring trio to identify the cause of early infantile epileptic encephalopathy in a boy with neonatal seizures, movement disorders, and multiple congenital anomalies who died at the age of 17 months because of respiratory illness and identified a de novo heterozygous missense mutation (c.3979A>G; p.Ile1327Val) in SCN8A (voltage-gated sodium-channel type VIII alpha subunit) gene. The variant was confirmed in the proband with Sanger sequencing. Because the clinical phenotype associated with SCN8A mutations has previously been identified only in a few patients with or without epileptic seizures, these data together with our results suggest that mutations in SCN8A can lead to early infantile epileptic encephalopathy with a broad phenotypic spectrum. Additional investigations will be worthwhile to determine the prevalence and contribution of SCN8A mutations to epileptic encephalopathies.
A Reference Programming Model for Building Context-Aware Application

Context-aware applications are a key aspect of pervasive computing. The core issue of context-aware application development is how to make the application behave suitably according to the changing context without coupling such context dependencies in the program. Several programming paradigms and languages have been proposed to facilitate the development, but they are either lack of sufficient flexibility or somewhat complex for programming and deploying. A reference programming model is proposed in this paper to make up inadequacy of those approaches. In the model, virtual tables constructed by system and maintained by space manager connect knowledge of both developer and space manager while separating dependency between context and application logic from base program. Hierarchy and architecture of the model are presented, and implementation suggestions are also discussed. Validation and evaluation show that the programming model is lightweight and easy to be implemented and deployed. Moreover, the model brings better flexibility for developing context-aware applications.
The impact of neuropsychiatric symptoms of dementia on distress in family and professional caregivers in Singapore

Background: Behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) are a source of distress and burden for caregivers. This study attempts to determine the neuropsychiatric symptoms, demographic characteristics, and referral patterns of outpatients with dementia compared with patients admitted to the acute psychogeriatric wards of Woodbridge Hospital. We also assessed the impact of neuropsychiatric symptoms on distress in family and professional caregivers. Method: Eighty-five consecutive patients with a first-time diagnosis of dementia were recruited. They were assessed using the Neuropsychiatric Inventory Caregiver Distress Scale (NPI-D). The professional caregiver distress questions were rephrased to assess the “occupational disruptiveness” of behaviors in the nursing home version (NPI-NH). Results: Neuropsychiatric symptoms were common and were positively correlated with caregiver distress. Family caregivers were significantly more distressed than professional caregivers over the delusion, agitation, depression and aberrant motor domains, although the severity of the behavioral disturbances reported was not higher in the sample. The median NPI scores for the agitation and disinhibition domains were significantly higher in the inpatient group, contrasting with a higher score for the depression domain among the outpatient group. Conclusions: This study highlights the prevalence of neuropsychiatric symptoms in dementia and illustrates the strong correlation between the severity of behavioral disturbances and caregiver distress.
Nonpharmacological Approaches to the Management of Chronic Pain in Community‐Dwelling Older Adults: A Review of Empirical Evidence

The objective of this literature review is to gain insight into the efficacy of nonpharmacological interventions in chronic pain management in community‐dwelling older adults. An extensive search of pertinent databases was performed to identify reports of studies of nonpharmacological (physical and psychosocial) pain interventions. The review identifies intervention studies that used randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and summarizes existing evidence of effectiveness of nonpharmacological interventions. A literature search yielded 28 RCT intervention studies (18 for physical interventions and 10 for psychosocial interventions) that met inclusion criteria and are included in this review. Twenty‐one studies (75%) identified in this review demonstrated statistically significant differences (P < .05) in pain scores between nonpharmacological interventions and no intervention or sham interventions; the intervention groups showed lower pain intensity. More research is needed to determine the best format, intensity, duration, and content of such treatments, as well as their efficacy in the older adult population. Methodological limitations are identified in many of the studies, such as low statistical power due to sample size and imprecise measurement, lack of reliable sham controls, and inadequate blinding. Future intervention studies of nonpharmacological pain therapies may require larger sample sizes, control for comorbidities, and long‐term follow‐up.