Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Leptin, free leptin index, insulin resistance and liver fibrosis in children with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

OBJECTIVE Prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) among children is increasing dramatically. It is unclear why some patients develop steatohepatitis (NASH), fibrosis and cirrhosis from steatosis, and others do not. A role for leptin has been claimed. This study aims to evaluate the relationship between leptin, insulin resistance (IR) and NAFLD in children. DESIGN AND METHODS In 72 biopsy-proven NAFLD children (aged 9-18 years; 51M/21F), fasting leptin and its soluble receptor (sOB-R) were measured; free leptin index (FLI) was calculated as leptin/sOB-R; IR was estimated by homeostasis model assessment (HOMA-IR) and insulin sensitivity index (ISI-comp); glucose tolerance by oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). Percentage of total body fat (TBF) by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) was available in 65 patients. RESULTS Prevalence of diabetes, impaired fasting and/or after load glucose tolerance was 11%. HOMA-IR and ISI-comp values were 2.55 +/- 1.39 and 4.4 +/- 2. NASH was diagnosed in 38 and simple steatosis in 25 children; diagnosis was indeterminate in 29 children. Increased fibrosis, mostly of mild severity, was observed in 41 patients. Median NAFLD activity (NAS) score was 3.42 +/- 1.60. According to histology, levels of leptin and FLI increased as steatosis (leptin from 11.9 +/- 6.3 in score 1 to 17.4 +/- 6.9 in score 2 (P = 0.01) and 22.2 +/- 6.8 ng/ml in score 3 (P < 0.001); FLI 2.56 +/- 1.40, 3.57 +/- 0.34, 4.45 +/- 0.64 respectively (P = 0.05)); ballooning (from 13.7 +/- 6.7 in score 1 to 17 +/- 7.5 in score 2 (P = 0.001) and 22.1 +/- 7.1 ng/ml in score 3 (P = 0.01); FLI 2.81 +/- 1.50, 3.40 +/- 1.65, 4.57 +/- 1.67 (P = 0.01 between 0 and 2)); fibrosis (from 14.3 +/- 7 to18.3 +/- 6.9; P = 0.03; FLI 3.03 +/- 1.57 vs 3.92 +/- 077; P < 0.05) and NAS score (score 1-2: 12.9 +/- 6.9; score 3-4: 17 +/- 6.9 (P = 0.01); score 5-7: 22.9 +/- 7.5 ng/ml (P = 0.03); FLI 2.70 +/- 1.53, 3.12 +/- 1.53, 4.58 +/- 1.57 P = 0.01 and P = 0.05 between 1-2 vs 3-4 and 3-4 vs 5-7 respectively) worsened. Higher leptin correlated with more severe steatosis, ballooning and NAS score (r(0) = 0.6, 0.4 and 0.6 respectively; for all P < 0.001); FLI with ballooning (r(0) = 0.4, P < 0.0001), steatosis (r(0) = 0.5, P < 0.0001) and NAS score (r(0) = 0.5, P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS Leptin and liver injury correlated independently of age, BMI and gender in the present study. Nevertheless, any causative role of leptin in NAFLD progression could be established. Thus, studies are needed to define whether the hormone plays a major role in the disease.
Strong Light-Matter Interactions in Heterostructures of Atomically Thin Films

Atomic Layer Heterostructures—More Is More The isolation of stable layers of various materials, only an atom or several atoms thick, has provided the opportunity to fabricate devices with novel functionality and to probe fundamental physics. Britnell et al. (p. 1311, published online 2 May; see the Perspective by Hamm and Hess) sandwiched a single layer of the transition metal dichalcogenide WS2 between two sheets of graphene. The photocurrent response of the heterostructure device was enhanced, compared to that of the bare layer of WS2. The prospect of combining single or several-atom-thick layers into heterostructures should help to develop materials with a wide range of properties. Transition metal dichalcogenides sandwiched between two layers of graphene produce an enhanced photoresponse. [Also see Perspective by Hamm and Hess] The isolation of various two-dimensional (2D) materials, and the possibility to combine them in vertical stacks, has created a new paradigm in materials science: heterostructures based on 2D crystals. Such a concept has already proven fruitful for a number of electronic applications in the area of ultrathin and flexible devices. Here, we expand the range of such structures to photoactive ones by using semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs)/graphene stacks. Van Hove singularities in the electronic density of states of TMDC guarantees enhanced light-matter interactions, leading to enhanced photon absorption and electron-hole creation (which are collected in transparent graphene electrodes). This allows development of extremely efficient flexible photovoltaic devices with photoresponsivity above 0.1 ampere per watt (corresponding to an external quantum efficiency of above 30%).
Joint estimation of time‐dependent and non‐linear effects of continuous covariates on survival

In order to yield more flexible models, the Cox regression model, λ(t;x) = λ0(t)exp(βx), has been generalized using different non‐parametric model estimation techniques. One generalization is the relaxation of log‐linearity in x, λ(t;x) = λ0(t)exp[r(x)]. Another is the relaxation of the proportional hazards assumption, λ(t;x) = λ0(t)exp[β(t)x]. These generalizations are typically considered independently of each other. We propose the product model, λ(t;x) = λ0(t)exp[β(t)r(x)] which allows for joint estimation of both effects, and investigate its properties. The functions describing the time‐dependent β(t) and non‐linear r(x) effects are modelled simultaneously using regression splines and estimated by maximum partial likelihood. Likelihood ratio tests are proposed to compare alternative models. Simulations indicate that both the recovery of the shapes of the two functions and the size of the tests are reasonably accurate provided they are based on the correct model. By contrast, type I error rates may be highly inflated, and the estimates considerably biased, if the model is misspecified. Applications in cancer epidemiology illustrate how the product model may yield new insights about the role of prognostic factors. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
An anatomically realistic 3d model of atrial propagation based on experimentally recorded action potentials

A three-dimensional anatomically and electro-physiologically realistic model of atrial propagation is developed utilizing generic cardiac ionic models fitted to experimentally recorded action potentials (APs). The atrial geometry incorporated realistic wall thickness and twelve anatomical structures, including the sino-atrial node (SAN), pulmonary veins, interatrial septum, Bachmann's bundle and coronary sinus as interatrial conduction pathways. The SAN was further subdivided into central and peripheral regions, characterized by different ionic parameters. These parameters were obtained by optimizing ionic models to fit spontaneous APs recorded intracellularly from intact rabbit in vitro sino-atrial tissue preparations. The SAN region in the 3D model was able to initiate spontaneous rhythmic APs and excite the surrounding atrium. The pattern of atrial activation was similar to that observed in humans. The use of model optimization allows direct incorporation of experimental data into anatomically realistic geometries and is a step towards developing patient-specific models for the treatment of atrial arrhythmias.
microRNAs regulate adipocyte differentiation

The number of adipocytes is relevant to the extent of differentiation from pluripotent stem cells into pre‐adipocytes, whereas the size of adipocytes relates to the extent of differentiation from pre‐adipocytes into mature fat cells and the accumulation of triglyceride. Investigation of the molecular regulatory mechanism of adipocyte differentiation is not only essential for understanding the physiological processes of adipogenesis, but it is also important for identifying new biomarkers and therapeutic targets for some metabolic diseases, such as obesity and diabetes. microRNAs (miRNAs) appear to play important roles in adipocyte differentiation. During adipogenesis, miRNAs can accelerate or inhibit adipocyte differentiation by acting on transcription factors, regulating signalling pathways related to adipogenesis, or blocking the mitotic clonal expansion stage, thus regulating adipocyte development. The regulatory role of some miRNAs varies in different species or different cells. In this review, the biological characteristics of miRNA and the adipocyte differentiation process are concisely discussed. Recent advances in our understanding of the role of miRNAs in adipocytes development or adipogenesis are discussed.
The Denolin Lecture 1998. Towards measurement of coronary blood flow in patients and its alteration by interventions.

AIM Several methods of measuring coronary blood flow in intact conscious man are reviewed, on the basis of personal contributions or the experiences of our teams. METHODS AND RESULTS It is important to distinguish between global, regional and transmural blood flow measurements. The advantages and limitations of the following methods are discussed: diffusible inert and radioactive tracers, dye dilution, roentgendensitometry, magnetic resonance imaging and contrast echocardiography. In interventional cardiology it is most important to be able to measure flow through single coronary vessels. Information on coronary artery Doppler velocity during vasodilation and at rest is less useful than the concept of fractional flow reserve. This is based on pressure measurements under maximal vasodilation to ascertain the presence of borderline flow-limiting lesions. This information is necessary in order to decide whether to proceed with angioplasty or not. CONCLUSIONS The historical design of percutaneous coronary angioplasty and beta-irradiation of coronary restenosis, established under the author's guidance, are put into perspective. The author pays tribute to many excellent colleagues who worked with him at the Zurich and Geneva University Hospitals.
The use of cryoablation in treating liver tumors

Percutaneous image-guided tumor ablation techniques have been used as an alternative method for patients with unresectable liver tumors. Although all techniques avoid morbidity and mortality of major surgery and have advantage of preserving non-tumoral liver parenchyma, cryoablation currently is the only percutaneous ablation technique allowing intraprocedural monitoring because of visibility of its ablation effect with computed tomography and MRI. Cryoablation uses extremely low temperatures to induce local tissue necrosis to treat both primary and metastatic liver tumors. This article discusses the principles of liver tumor percutaneous cryoablation, including mechanisms of tissue injury, technique, equipment, image-guidance used, patient selection criteria, clinical outcome and complications as well as current trends and future goals.
A Framework for Flexible Educational Data Mining

Educational Data Mining (EDM) focuses on tools and techniques for discovering previously unknown patterns in the data generated by the educational process. Despite the increased awareness of data mining, the adoption among educators has been slow because the data mining tools are complex and the use of the tools requires a detail understanding of the parameters and requirements of the algorithms used. In this paper, we present a framework for developing an educational data mining environment that is flexible in that it caters for educators who have little technical skills as well as for more advanced users with some data mining expertise.
Psychophysiological Training of Operators in Adaptive Biofeedback Cardiorhythm Control

A new individual computerized technique for psychophysiological training of operators before performing psychomotor activity on a computer model (psychomotor concentration and spatial orientation test) was developed. Qualitative criteria for the prediction of safe operator activity were formulated. Preliminary testing of operators' activity quality showed great dispersion of individual results: The amount of errors ranged from 0 to 56 and the rate of information processing varied from 1.01 up 3.56 bit/s. Subjects with initially identified respiratory sinus arrhythmia or synchronization caused by respiratory movements committed minimal recognition errors in initial stages at a high rate of information processing. The number of errors remained unchanged after the biofeedback cardio-training cycle, with the rate of information processing increasing noticeably. Subjects without inherent harmonics developed harmonics after sessions of cardiorhythm biofeedback control, and their operator activity quality improved significantly, making fewer mistakes and increasing the rate of information processing. Biofeedback control led not only to the restoration of respiratory sinus arrhythmia, a favorable diagnostic sign, as revealed by cardiorhythmograms, but also resulted in improvement of the quality of operator activity. Se desarrolló una nueva técnica informática para el entrenamiento psicofísiológico de operadores antes de llevar a cabo una actividad psicomotora en un modelo informático (test de concentración psicomotora y orientación espacial). Se formularon los criterios cualitativos para la predicción de la actividad segura de los operadores. Las pruebas preliminares de la calidad de la actividad de los operadores reveló una gran dispersión de los resultados individuales: la cantidad de errores oscilaba entre 0 y 56 y el porcentaje de información procesado variaba entre 1.01 y 3.56 bits/s. Los sujetos inicialmente identificados con una arritmia respiratoria sinusal o sincronización causada por los movimientos respiratorios cometían mínimos errores de reconocimiento en las fases iniciales, con una alta velocidad de procesamiento de la información. El número de errores no cambió después del ciclo de entrenamiento biofeedback cardíaco y la velocidad de procesamiento de la información aumentó considerablemente. Los sujetos sin armónicos inherentes desarrollaron armónicos después de las sesiones de control biofeedback del ritmo cardíaco, y su calidad de actividad mejoró significativamente, cometiendo menos errores y aumentando su velocidad de procesamiento de la información. El control biofeedback no sólo llevó a la restauración de la arritmia respiratoria sinusal, una señal diagnóstica favorable, como se observa en los cardiorritmogramas, sino que también mejoró la calidad de la actividad de los operadores.
Characterisation of the genomic structure of chick Fgf8

The Fgf8 gene encodes a series of secreted signalling molecules important in the normal development of the face, brain and limbs. The genomic structure of the chick Fgf8 gene has been analysed and compared to the human and mouse sequences. Divergence between the chick, human and mouse genomic structure was observed. Data indicates that the long alternatively spliced form of exon 1b observed in mouse and exon 1c observed in human and mouse do not exist in the chick Fgf8 gene. RT-PCR analysis indicates that chick Fgf8, like its mouse and human counterpart is alternatively spliced. This data along with the genomic structure data indicates that in the chick there are only two isoforms of Fgf8. This is in contrast to the human and mouse, where evidence suggests that there are 4 and 8 isoforms, respectively. Approximately 400 bp of intron 1d is highly conserved between chick, human and mouse genomic sequences. Using TRANSFAC possible conserved regulatory element binding sites within this domain were identified.
Adaptive Depth Computational Policies for Efficient Visual Tracking

Though convolutional neural networks have made significant improvements to the task of video tracking, they come at the cost of being extremely computationally expensive. In this work, we make the observation that different frames in a video can require different levels of network complexity in order to track with high accuracy. To exploit this, we propose a fully convolutional Siamese network that performs video tracking at multiple network depths. We learn an adaptive policy, in the form of gating functions, to control how deep to evaluate the network during runtime. Training proceeds in two phases, a finetuning phase where we train the convolutional weights to extract meaningful features for metric learning and a gating phase where we train the gate weights to balance accuracy and computational cost. Our results show that our network can achieve accuracy that is competitive with the state-of-the-art on the VOT2016 benchmark. Furthermore, we show that using conditional computation with the adaptive policy, we achieve higher accuracy than fixed-depth policies with less computational cost. The framework we present extends to other tasks that use convolutional neural networks and enables trading speed for accuracy at runtime.
The coiled-coil helix in the neck of kinesin.

Kinesin is a microtubule-dependent motor protein. We have recently determined the X-ray structure of monomeric and dimeric kinesin from rat brain. The dimer consists of two motor domains, held together by their alpha-helical neck domains forming a coiled coil. Here we analyze the nature of the interactions in the neck domain (residues 339-370). Overall, the neck helix shows a heptad repeat (abcdefg)n typical of coiled coils, with mostly nonpolar residues in positions a and d. However, the first segment (339-355) contains several nonclassical residues in the a and d positions which tend to weaken the hydrophobic interaction along the common interface. Instead, stabilization is achieved by a hydrophobic "coat" formed by the a and d residues and the long aliphatic moieties of lysines and glutamates, extending away from the coiled-coil core. By contrast, the second segment of the kinesin neck (356-370) shows a classical leucine zipper pattern in which most of the hydrophobic residues are buried at the highly symmetrical dimer interface. The end of the neck reveals the structure of a potential coiled-coil "trigger" sequence.
Quantitative analysis of mast cell structure

Fixed and embedded normal rat peritoneal mast cells were studied by light and electron microscopy, utilizing stereological methods to obtain quantitative data on their structure. The diameters of the mast cells and their nuclei averaged 10.9 and 5.8 μm respectively. The volume of the individual mast cell granule was estimated to 0.3 μm3. About 53% of the cytoplasmic volume was occupied by granules, and 2% by mitochondria. 11% of the cell volume was taken up by the nucleus. The average number of granules per cell was calculated to about 1020. Quantitative biochemical data on mast cells, extrapolated from the literature and applied to the calculated figures above, yield the following results with respect to mast granule contents‐heparin: 95 × 10−3 pg, histamine: 30 × 10−3 pg and 5‐hydroxytryptamine: 1.3 × 10−3 pg per mast cell granule.
Stable and finite Morse index solutions on ⁿ or on bounded domains with small diffusion

In this paper, we study bounded solutions of -Δu = f(u) on R n (where n = 2 and sometimes n = 3) and show that, for most f's, the weakly stable and finite Morse index solutions are quite simple. We then use this to obtain a very good understanding of the stable and bounded Morse index solutions of -e 2 Δu - f(u) on Ω with Dirichlet or Neumann boundary conditions for small e.
Modeling Time Synchronization Uncertainty Sources in Wireless Sensor Networks

This paper deals with a thorough analysis of the uncertainty sources affecting the inter-node time synchronization in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Such an analysis relies on a stochastic model describing the various uncertainty contributions as well as on the main features of real WSN node architectures. Some experimental results confirm the correctness of the theoretical approach. The achieved results will enable the implementation of a simulator that could be used to compare the accuracy performances of different synchronization protocols.
Internet of Things Architecture for Handling Stream Air Pollution Data

In this paper, we present an IoT architecture which handles stream sensor data of air pollution. Particle pollution is known as a serious threat to human health. Along with developments in the use of wireless sensors and the IoT, we propose an architecture that flexibly measures and processes stream data collected in real-time by movable and low-cost IoT sensors. Thus, it enables a wide-spread network of wireless sensors that can follow changes in human behavior. Apart from stating reasons for the need of such a development and its requirements, we provide a conceptual design as well as a technological design of such an architecture. The technological design consists of Kaa and Apache Storm which can collect air pollution information in real-time and solve various problems to process data such as missing data and synchronization. This enables us to add a simulation in which we provide issues that might come up when having our architecture in use. Together with these issues, we state r easons for choosing specific modules among candidates. Our architecture combines wireless sensors with the Kaa IoT framework, an Apache Kafka pipeline and an Apache Storm Data Stream Management System among others. We even provide open-government data sets that are freely available.
Word Count: 5,056 Investigating trajectories of change in psychological distress amongst patients with Depression and Generalised Anxiety Disorder treated with Internet Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Internet based cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is efficacious for the treatment of anxiety and depression. The current study aimed to examine the effectiveness of internet based CBT prescribed by primary care clinicians for the treatment of depression and generalised anxiety disorder. Psychological distress data from 302 patients who completed an online CBT course for depression and 361 patients who completed an online CBT course for generalised anxiety disorder were subjected to growth mixture analysis. For both disorders psychological distress decreased across each lesson in a quadratic trend. Two classes of individuals were identified with different trajectories of change: a large group of individuals who responded well to the courses and a smaller group of individuals with a lower response. Both groups were similar with respect to sociodemographic characteristics however the low responders tended to have higher levels of symptom severity and psychological distress at baseline in comparison to the responders. For the majority of patients (75-80%) the internet CBT courses for depression and generalised anxiety disorder were effective. Further research is required to identify and effectively treat the smaller proportion of patients who did not improve during internet CBT.
Optimal control for power generating kites

In this paper we present optimization studies for kites that produce wind energy by periodically pulling a generator on the ground while flying fast in a crosswind direction. We derive a model for a single kite and formulate an optimal control problem with periodic boundary conditions and free cycle duration. The objective function is the average power at the generator. We solve this nonlinear and unstable optimal control problem numerically with a direct multiple shooting method. Here, the main result is that we can attain about 5MW with a 500m2-kite at equation wind speed. Finally, we consider a system of two kites and show that such systems can further increase the efficiency.
The Tutorial : S Transform

The S transform is variable window of short time Fourier transform (STFT) or an extension of wavelet transform (WT). It is based on a scalable localizing Gaussian window and supplies the frequency dependent resolution. In this tutorial, we introduce the fundamental function of S transform and the generalized S transform. Furthermore, we present some applications of S transform: seismogram analysis, analysis of engine induction noise in acceleration, and power quality analysis. Then compare the result of S transform with other time-frequency analysis and exhibit some different windows of S transform