Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pulsed electromagnetic fields affect osteoblast proliferation and differentiation in bone tissue engineering

Bone tissue engineering is an interdisciplinary field involving both engineers and cell biologists, whose main purpose is to repair bone anatomical defects and maintain its functions. A novel system that integrates pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMFs) and bioreactors was applied to bone tissue engineering for regulating osteoblast proliferation and differentiation in'vitro. Osteoblasts were acquired from the calvaria of newborn Wistar rats and isolated after sequential digestion. Poly(DL‐lactic‐co‐glycolic acid) (PLGA) scaffolds were made by the solvent merging/particulate leaching method. Osteoblasts were seeded into porous PLGA scaffolds with 85% porosity and cultured in bioreactors for the 18‐day culture period. Cells were exposed to PEMF pulsed stimulation with average (rms) amplitudes of either 0.13, 0.24, or 0.32 mT amplitude. The resulting induced electric field waveform consisted of single, narrow 300 µs quasi‐rectangular pulses with a repetition rate of 7.5'Hz. The results showed that PEMF stimulation for 2 and 8 h at . 13 mT increased the cell number on days 6 and 12, followed by a decrease on day 18 using 8 h stimulation. However, ALP activity was decreased and then increased on days 12 and 18, respectively. On the other hand, PEMF‐treated groups (irrespective of the stimulation time) at 0.32 mT inhibited cell proliferation but enhanced ALP activity during the culture period. These findings suggested that PEMF stimulation with specific parameters had an effect on regulating the osteoblast proliferation and differentiation. This novel integrated system may have potential in bone tissue engineering. Bioelectromagnetics 28:519–528, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Hybrid Microstrip T-Stub/Defected Ground Structure Cell for Electromagnetic Interference Bandpass Filter Design

In this paper, the hybrid microstrip T-stub/defected ground structure (HMT/DGS) cell is presented, which is composed of a microstrip T-stub and an interdigital DGS with the broadside-coupled (BC) transition. Finely adjusted resonance can be achieved by the proposed cell. Meanwhile, strong slow-wave effect is employed by the structure, which leads to wide stopband responses. Based on these HMT/DGS cells, the interdigital-coupled scheme is employed to implement the electromagnetic interference (EMI) bandpass filter with high performance. To verify the aforementioned mechanism, two filters are designed and fabricated. Specifically, the second-order bandpass filter with a fractional bandwidth (FBW) of 14.3% has a 29.1-dB stopband rejection up to 15 f0 (where f0 stands for the passband center frequency). The fourth-order bandpass filter with an FBW of 10.8% demonstrates a 30.1-dB stopband rejection up to 12.1f0. Both types of filters show compact sizes with low insertion losses less than 1.1 dB.
Maternal serum alpha‐fetoprotein and fetal triploidy

Fetal triploidy is commonly found in early pregnancy. The majority of these pregnancies spontaneously abort in the first trimester. Occasionally, the pregnancy progresses to the second and third trimesters. We reviewed the maternal serum alpha‐fetoprotein (MSAFP), amniotic fluid alpha‐fetoprotein (AFP), amniotic fluid acetylcholinesterase (ACHE), fetal pathology, and placental pathology in sex second‐trimester pregnancies complicated by fetal triploidy. Four of these patients had MSAFP values greater than 7.5 multiples of the median (MoM). Five of six pregnancies had MSAFP values greater than 2.25 MoM. All five of these patients had a partial mole. Four patients had amniotic fluid AFP values greater than 2.0 MoM. Two fetuses had associated neural tube defects. These were the only patients with positive amniotic fluid ACHE. None of the other patients had fetuses with anomalies that are known to be associated with an elevated MSAFP. The elevated MSAFP appeared to be related to the presence of a partial mole. Two of the five cases with an MSAFP greater than 2.25 MoM did not have sonographic evidence of a significant anomaly. Therefore, karyotyping can be of benefit in evaluating patients with elevated MSAFP.
Calmodulin kinase modulates Ca2+ release in mouse skeletal muscle

Activation of the contractile machinery in skeletal muscle is initiated by the action‐potential‐induced release of Ca2+ from the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR). Several proteins involved in SR Ca2+ release are affected by calmodulin kinase II (CaMKII)‐induced phosphorylation in vitro, but the effect in the intact cell remains uncertain and is the focus of the present study. CaMKII inhibitory peptide or inactive control peptide was injected into single isolated fast‐twitch fibres of mouse flexor digitorum brevis muscles, and the effect on free myoplasmic [Ca2+] ([Ca2+]i) and force during different patterns of stimulation was measured. Injection of the inactive control peptide had no effect on any of the parameters measured. Conversely, injection of CaMKII inhibitory peptide decreased tetanic [Ca2+]i by ≈25 %, but had no significant effect on the rate of SR Ca2+ uptake or the force‐[Ca2+]i relationship. Repeated tetanic stimulation resulted in increased tetanic [Ca2+]i, and this increase was smaller after CaMKII inhibition. In conclusion, CaMKII‐induced phosphorylation facilitates SR Ca2+ release in the basal state and during repeated contractions, providing a positive feedback between [Ca2+]i and SR Ca2+ release.
A cross-sectional examination of growth indicators from Thai adolescent girls: Evidence of obesity among Thai youth?

Background: Few studies have examined growth data from adolescent girls in Southeast Asia and almost none have been carried out in Thailand. Thus this study examines growth data from Thai adolescent girls. Aim: Cross-sectional growth data from a sample of Thai girls were compared to reference data from healthy well-nourished girls. It is hypothesized that the reference girls will be taller and heavier than the Thai girls; however, the growth indicators will also indicate that obesity is present among Thai girls. Subjects and methods: Anthropometric and age at menarche data were collected from a sample of 319 adolescent girls ages 11–17 years living in suburban Thailand. Results: Thai girls are heavier than the reference girls at ages 11–13 years yet are shorter and lighter than the reference girls at ages 14–17 years. The data also reveal that 18.4% of the girls are overweight or obese as classified by the CDC BMI-for-age percentile growth curves. Conclusion: The findings suggest the presence of overweight and obesity among this adolescent Thai population. These data may reflect the impact of the improved economic situation of Thailand as well as the impact of body image concerns among these young girls.
Calibration of the RT3 accelerometer for various patterns of physical activity in children and adolescents

Abstract The aim of this study was to determine thresholds for various intensities of physical activity in children and adolescents using the RT3 accelerometer. Forty healthy participants aged 10–16 years were recruited to the study. To validate the RT3 accelerometer data, an independent sample of 20 children and adolescents aged 10–16 years performed the same activities. Accelerometer data, heart rate, and oxygen consumption were measured at nine levels of physical activity, which varied in intensity: sedentary, light, moderate, and vigorous. Age and sex did not affect thresholds. The activity categories and accelerometer counts were: sedentary activity, 0–40 counts · min−1; light activity, 41–950 counts · min−1; moderate activity, 951–3410 counts · min−1; and vigorous activity, >3410 counts · min−1, respectively. These thresholds were considered valid as the difference between threshold values obtained using two independent groups of children was not significant. This study has established threshold values for various physical activities and enables the RT3 accelerometer to be used to quantify the duration of various levels of activity in adolescents under free-living conditions.
Design and Implementation of Reconfigurable Shift Unit using FPGAs

Shift operation is widely used in symmetric-key block ciphers. Since the data width and shift length vary with different algorithms, there had not a general shift unit supporting all shift operations. In this paper, a high-performance and dynamic reconfigurable shift unit is presented, which provides support for all 4/8/28/32/128-bit data width shift operation. To boost up the adaptability, we adopt multilevel technique to implement arbitrary length shift. Compared with traditional schemes, the shift unit not only supports for all shift implementing modes, but also provides possibility for appearance of reconfigurable cryptographic system
New pimarane diterpenes and other antimycobacterial metabolites from Anisochilus verticillatus

Phytochemical investigation of the acetone extract of the aerial parts of Anisochilus verticillatus afforded a new 8,9-secopimarane diterpene (1), two new isopimarane diterpenes (2, 3) and the known ursolic acid (4), α-amyrin (5), β-amyrin (6), stigmast-5-en-3-one (7) and hydroxychavicol (8). Structures of the new compounds were elucidated with the help of 1D and 2D nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopic data, and single crystal X-ray crystallography of compound 3. Compounds 2 and 8 inhibited Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Ra with an IC50 of 11.3 (IC90 of 20.0 μg/mL) and 12.5 μg/mL, respectively. Correspondingly, molecular docking studies with Extra Precision Glide revealed a correlation between score and biological activity for these compounds to describe the molecular basis for the most significant SAR results.
Staging chronic kidney disease and estimating glomerular filtration rate: an opinion paper about the new international recommendations

Abstract In January 2013, the international recommendations of the KDIGO (for “Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes”) to define chronic kidney disease (CKD) and classify patients in CKD stages have been published. In this opinion article, we will review and discuss the most important guidelines proposed about CKD staging and glomerular filtration rate (GFR) estimating. In particular, we question the choice of fixed knot values at 60 mL/min/1.73 m² to define CKD. We also question the strategies proposed to measure and use cystatin C results.
Modeling and Evaluating Information Diffusion for Spam Detection in Micro-blogging Networks

Spam has become one of the top threats of micro-blogging networks as the representations of rumor spreading, advertisement abusing and malware distribution. With the increasing popularity of micro-blogging, the problems will exacerbate. Prior detection tools are either designed for specific types of spams or not robust enough. Spammers may escape easily from being detected by adjusting their behaviors. In this paper, we present a novel model to quantitatively evaluate information diffusion in micro-blogging networks. Under this model, we found that spam posts differ wildly from the non-spam ones. First, the propagations of non-spam posts mostly result from their followers, but those of spam posts are mainly from strangers. Second, the non-spam posts relatively last longer than the spam posts. Besides, the non-spam posts always get their first reposts/comments much sooner than the spam posts. With the features defined in our model, we propose an RBF-based approach to detect spams. Different from the previous works, in which the features are extracted from individual profiles or contents, the diffusion features are not determined by any single user but the crowd. Thus, our method is more robust because any single user’s behavior changes will not affect the effectiveness. Besides, although the spams vary in types and forms, they’re propagated in the same way, so our method is effective for all types of spams. With the real data crawled from the leading micro-blogging services of China, we are able to evaluate the effectiveness of our model. The experiment results show that our model can achieve high accuracy both in precision and recall.
Intensity of sensation related to activity of slowly adapting mechanoreceptive units in the human hand

1. Impulses were recorded from single afferent fibres in the median and ulnar nerves of human subjects. The response of slowly adapting mechanosensitive units with receptive fields in the glabrous skin of the hand were studied when rectangular indentations of varying amplitudes and invariant time duration were delivered. Simultaneously the subject was asked to estimate the magnitude of his sensation associated with the stimuli.
Transcranial Stimulation of the Orbitofrontal Cortex Affects Decisions about Magnocellular Optimized Stimuli

Visual categorization plays an important role in fast and efficient information processing; still the neuronal basis of fast categorization has not been established yet. There are two main hypotheses known; both agree that primary, global impressions are based on the information acquired through the magnocellular pathway (MC). It is unclear whether this information is available through the MC that provides information (also) for the ventral pathway or through top-down mechanisms by connections between the dorsal pathway and the ventral pathway via the frontal cortex. To clarify this, a categorization task was performed by 48 subjects; they had to make decisions about objects' sizes. We created stimuli specific to the magno- and parvocellular pathway (PC) on the basis of their spatial frequency content. Transcranial direct-current stimulation was used to assess the role of frontal areas, a target of the MC. Stimulation did not bias the accuracy of decisions when stimuli optimized for the PC were used. In the case of stimuli optimized for the MC, anodal stimulation improved the subjects' accuracy in the behavioral test, while cathodal stimulation impaired accuracy. Our results support the hypothesis that fast visual categorization processes rely on top-down mechanisms that promote fast predictions through coarse information carried by MC via the orbitofrontal cortex.
Seamless Interaction in Virtual Reality

Jot is a novel research interface for virtual reality modeling. This system seamlessly integrates and applies a variety of virtual and physical tools, each customized for specific tasks. The Jot interface not only moves smoothly from one tool to another but also physically and cognitively matches individual tools to the tasks they perform. In particular, we exploit the notion that gestural interaction is more direct, in many cases, than traditional widget based interaction. We also respect the time tested observation that some operations-even conceptually three dimensional ones-are better performed with 1D or 2D input devices, whereas other operations are more naturally performed using stereoscopic views, higher DOF input devices, or both. Ultimately we strive for a 3D modeling system with an interface as transparent as the interaction afforded by a pencil and a sheet of paper. For example, the system should facilitate the tasks of drawing and erasing and provide an easy transition between the two. Jot emerged from our previous work on a mouse based system, called Sketch, for gesturally creating imprecise 3D models. Jot extends Sketch's functionality to a wider spectrum of modeling, from concept design to detailed feature based parametric parts. Jot also extends the interaction in Sketch to better support individual modeling tasks. We extended Sketch's gestural framework to integrate interface components ranging from traditional desktop interface widgets to context sensitive gestures to direct manipulation techniques originally designed for immersive VR.
Subtype‐specific oligodendrocyte dynamics in organotypic culture

The morphogenesis of oligodendrocytes is essential for central nervous system myelin formation and the rapid propagation of axon potentials through saltatory conduction. However, the discrete cellular events involved in the three‐dimensional maturation of oligodendrocytes remain to be fully described. To address this, we followed the developmental stages of oligodendrocytes in mouse organotypic hippocampal slice cultures for 7–60 days using viral‐mediated gene delivery of membrane‐targeted fluorescent proteins. Using static and time‐lapse confocal imaging, we find that postmigratory NG2‐expressing cells exhibit slow anatomical reorganization over the course of hours. This is in direct contrast to oligodendrocytes that take on a promyelinating and transitional phenotype, which display a more complex morphology and undergo dramatic actin‐dependent structural remodeling over just minutes. More mature myelinating oligodendrocytes, which have pruned most of their processes, still retain some local remodeling behavior at developing internodes, but in general, revert to a relatively stable state. Our findings provide a detailed characterization of cellular events that help shape oligodendrocyte morphology and likely participate in neuron‐glial cell interactions and the process of myelination. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Identification of a Novel Dihydrodaidzein Racemase Essential for Biosynthesis of Equol from Daidzein in Lactococcus sp. Strain 20-92

ABSTRACT Equol is metabolized from daidzein, a soy isoflavone, by the gut microflora. In this study, we identified a novel dihydrodaidzein racemase (l-DDRC) that is involved in equol biosynthesis in a lactic acid bacterium, Lactococcus sp. strain 20-92, and confirmed that histidine-tagged recombinant l-DDRC (l-DDRC-His) was able to convert both the (R)- and (S)-enantiomers of dihydrodaidzein to the racemate. Moreover, we showed that recombinant l-DDRC-His was essential for in vitro equol production from daidzein by a recombinant enzyme mixture and that efficient in vitro equol production from daidzein was possible using at least four enzymes, including l-DDRC. We also proposed a model of the metabolic pathway from daidzein to equol in Lactococcus strain 20-92.
Isolation and Characterization of Pediocin AcH Chimeric Protein Mutants with Altered Bactericidal Activity

ABSTRACT A collection of pediocin AcH amino acid substitution mutants was generated by PCR random mutagenesis of DNA encoding the bacteriocin. Mutants were isolated by cloning mutagenized DNA into anEscherichia coli malE plasmid that directs the secretion of maltose binding protein-pediocin AcH chimeric proteins and by screening transformant colonies for bactericidal activity againstLactobacillus plantarum NCDO955 (K. W. Miller, R. Schamber, Y. Chen, and B. Ray, 1998. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 64:14–20, 1998). In all, 17 substitution mutants were isolated at 14 of the 44 amino acids of pediocin AcH. Seven mutants (N5K, C9R, C14S, C14Y, G37E, G37R, and C44W) were completely inactive against the pediocin AcH-sensitive strains L. plantarum NCDO955,Listeria innocua Lin11, Enterococcus faecalisM1, Pediococcus acidilactici LB42, and Leuconostoc mesenteroides Ly. A C24S substitution mutant constructed by other means also was inactive against these bacteria. Nine other mutants (K1N, W18R, I26T, M31T, A34D, N41K, H42L, K43N, and K43E) retained from <1% to ∼60% of wild-type activity when assayed against L. innocua Lin11. One mutant, K11E, displayed ∼2.8-fold-higher activity against this indicator. About one half of the mutations mapped to amino acids that are conserved in the pediocin-like family of bacteriocins. All four cysteines were found to be required for activity, although only C9 and C14 are conserved among pediocin-like bacteriocins. Several basic amino acids as well as nonpolar amino acids located within the hydrophobic C-terminal region also were found to be important. The mutations are discussed in the context of structural models that have been proposed for the bacteriocin.
Flared monopole antennas for 10 µm energy harvesting

We analyze flared monopole antennas for 10 µm radiation energy harvesting. The figure of merit of the proposed antennas is evaluated by computing the field enhancement over a large bandwidth around 10 µm. In particular, we demonstrate that these radiators need to be designed by fully taking into account the dispersive nature of both conductors and loads.
Validation and clinical feasibility of nitrogen washin/washout functional residual capacity measurements in children

Background: The functional residual capacity (FRC) is an important parameter in pediatric respiratory monitoring but it is difficult to assess in the clinical setting. We have introduced a modified N2 washout method utilizing a change of FIO2 of 0.1 for FRC measurement in adult respiratory monitoring. This study validated the algorithm in a pediatric lung model and investigated the stability and feasibility in a pediatric peri‐operative and intensive care setting.
Comparison of three generations of ActiGraph™ activity monitors in children and adolescents

Abstract In this study, we evaluated agreement among three generations of ActiGraph™ accelerometers in children and adolescents. Twenty-nine participants (mean age = 14.2 ± 3.0 years) completed two laboratory-based activity sessions, each lasting 60 min. During each session, participants concurrently wore three different models of the ActiGraph™ accelerometers (GT1M, GT3X, GT3X+). Agreement among the three models for vertical axis counts, vector magnitude counts, and time spent in moderate-to-vigorous physical exercise (MVPA) was evaluated by calculating intraclass correlation coefficients and Bland-Altman plots. The intraclass correlation coefficient for total vertical axis counts, total vector magnitude counts, and estimated MVPA was 0.994 (95% CI = 0.989–0.996), 0.981 (95% CI = 0.969–0.989), and 0.996 (95% CI = 0.989–0.998), respectively. Inter-monitor differences for total vertical axis and vector magnitude counts ranged from 0.3% to 1.5%, while inter-monitor differences for estimated MVPA were equal to or close to zero. On the basis of these findings, we conclude that there is strong agreement between the GT1M, GT3X, and GT3X+ activity monitors, thus making it acceptable for researchers and practitioners to use different ActiGraph™ models within a given study.
Comparison of Epigenetic and Genetic Alterations in Mucinous Cystic Neoplasm and Serous Microcystic Adenoma of Pancreas

Mucinous cystic neoplasms and serous microcystic adenomas account for the majority of cystic tumors of pancreas. Mucinous cystic neoplasms and serous microcystic adenomas have different frequencies of progression to malignancy. The genetic and epigenetic alterations of these tumors have not been studied in detail. In this study, we compared methylation status of p16, p14, VHL, and ppENK genes by methylation-specific PCR (MSP), and genetic alterations including K-ras and β-catenin gene mutations, chromosome 3p loss, and microsatellite instability in 15 mucinous cystic neoplasms (10 benign and 5 borderline) and 16 serous microcystic adenomas. There were no significant differences between mucinous cystic neoplasms and serous microcystic adenomas in methylation of p16 (14%, 2/14 and 12%, 2/16), p14 (15%, 2/13 and 37%, 6/16), VHL (0/14 and 7%, 1/14), and ppENK (0/14 and 0/13), respectively. K-ras mutation was present only in mucinous cystic neoplasms but not in serous microcystic adenomas (33%, 5/15 versus 0/16; P = .004). In addition, LOH at 3p25, the chromosomal location of VHL gene, was present in 57% (8/14) of serous microcystic adenomas compared with in 17% (2/12) of mucinous cystic neoplasms (P = .03). No β-catenin mutation, microsatellite instability, or mutation of transforming growth factor β type II receptor was present in either type of tumors. In conclusion, K-ras mutations and allelic loss of VHL locus at 3p25, but not methylation, distinguished mucinous cystic neoplasms and serous microcystic adenomas. The differences in genetic alterations but not epigenetic alterations may explain the pathogenesis and progression to malignancy of these cystic tumors of pancreas.