Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
T1 magnetic resonance imaging head segmentation for diffuse optical tomography and electroencephalography

Abstract. Accurate segmentation of structural magnetic resonance images is critical for creating subject-specific forward models for functional neuroimaging source localization. In this work, we present an innovative segmentation algorithm that generates accurate head tissue layer thicknesses that are needed for diffuse optical tomography (DOT) data analysis. The presented algorithm is compared against other publicly available head segmentation methods. The proposed algorithm has a root mean square scalp thickness error of 1.60 mm, skull thickness error of 1.96 mm, and summed scalp and skull error of 1.49 mm. We also introduce a segmentation evaluation metric that evaluates the accuracy of tissue layer thicknesses in regions of the head where optodes are typically placed. The presented segmentation algorithm and evaluation metric are tools for improving the localization accuracy of neuroimaging with DOT, and also multimodal neuroimaging such as combined electroencephalography and DOT.
Quantitative assessment of chronic non-specific lung disease at necropsy. Report by Panel on Pathology of the Medical Research Council Committee on Research into Chronic Bronchitis, April 1972.

The Panel on the Pathology of Chronic Bronchitis met for the first time in June 1970 and the terms of reference were discussed. It was agreed that the aim of the Panel should be the production of a brief memorandum which would help to standardize the techniques presently used in the preparation of the respiratory tract and thoracic organs at necropsy by macroscopic and light microscope methods in cases of chronic nonspecific lung disease (Ciba Guest Symposium, 1959). In any scheme for the quantitative examination of the respiratory and cardiovascular systems it is useful to distinguish between: (1) methods recommended for use by pathologists during their routine hospital duties, where accurate diagnosis of lung disease is required for certification, epidemiological studies or for correlation with radiographs, and (2) methods used by pathologists, working in close collaboration with clinical physiologists, interested in detailed research into pathophysiological correlation. In the pages that follow the methods recommended for routine use are marked with an asterisk. In all cases of chronic lung disease it is desirable to examine not only the lungs and airways but also the heart and carotid bodies. Since the methods described below are in some instances tedious and time-consuming, it is essential, if they are to prove worth while, that full clinical details should be made available, including not only the history and findings on physical and radiological examination but also details of pulmonary function tests.
Ten-year review of rating scales. I: overview of scale functioning, psychometric properties, and selection.

OBJECTIVE As part of the Journal's 10-year Research Update Reviews, a series of articles will be presented on the role of rating scales in child and adolescent psychiatry. The first article in the series summarizes principles underlying scale functioning. METHOD Sources were reviewed regarding testing theory, scale development, variability in scale functioning, psychometric properties, and scale selection. The extracted information was adapted to issues in child and adolescent psychiatry. RESULTS Rating scales can make major contributions to understanding youths' needs. They provide easy and efficient measurement of psychopathology and quantify underlying constructs for comparison across youths, time, and applications. Although multiple factors may affect a scale's functioning, these factors can be understood and managed by considering the goals of measurement and basic psychometric principles. CONCLUSIONS Potential users of rating scales should not blindly assume that a well-known scale will meet the measurement needs for a particular application. Rather, they can relatively easily educate themselves regarding the appropriate use of rating scales. This article provides the background information needed to evaluate scales for intended applications. It will also assist in reviewing the individual scales presented in subsequent articles in this series.
Telephone support as an adjunct to transdermal nicotine in smoking cessation.

OBJECTIVES Transdermal nicotine patches have shown considerable promise in improving smoking cessation outcomes. The present study assessed telephone support as an adjunct to a managed care-based, single-session group orientation smoking cessation program with nicotine patch therapy. METHODS The unit of randomization was the orientation session (n = 35). Subjects (n = 509) were randomly assigned to a group session without telephone support, the session plus access to a toll-free help line, or the session with telephone help line plus active telephone outreach. RESULTS Contrary to hypothesis, there were no differences between treatment conditions. Overall abstinence rates were 22% at 6 months and 21% at 1 year. Fewer than 1% of eligible subjects called the toll-free help line. An average of 3.8 of a possible 4 calls were completed in the telephone outreach condition. CONCLUSIONS Abstinence results obtained in this program were comparable to those obtained with more extensive counseling. However, there was no evidence of benefit from telephone support beyond the initial physician-led group orientation session.
Effects of Aquatic Exercise and Walking in Sedentary Obese Women Undergoing a Behavioral Weight-Loss Intervention

Background: The effects of the non-weight-bearing method of aquatic exercise as a modality for weight loss have not been established. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a combined aquatic-exercise and walking program compared with walking alone on body weight and selected variables in obese women undergoing a 16-week standard behavioral treatment program. Methods: Forty-four obese (body-mass index 34.9 ± 3.8 kg/m) sedentary women age 40.3 ± 6.8 years were randomly assigned to one of two groups: aquatic and walking exercise (AE) or walking only (W). In addition, both groups were required to complete three sessions of home-based walking per week and were instructed to reduce energy intake to facilitate weight loss. Results: In the AE group, total body weight, cardiorespiratory fitness, flexibility, strength, and health-related quality of life significantly improved over time similarly to the W group. Slightly greater nonsignificant losses in body weight, improvements in flexibility, greater attendance rates, and significantly greater enjoyment scores also occurred in the AE group. Conclusion: These observations suggest that aquatic exercise in combination with walking can serve as an alternative to walking exercise alone for overweight women during periods of weight loss, and this can improve functional health status.
Responses of a detoxification enzyme to diet quality in the wolf spider , Pardosa prativaga

A previous study revealed a significantly increased respiration rate in wolf spiders, Pardosa prativaga, fed diets of low-quality prey through 2-4 weeks compared to spiders fed high-quality prey. We tested here the hypothesis that a higher metabolic rate was due to activity of detoxification enzymes, induced by presumed toxins in the low-quality prey. Two aspects of the activity of a detoxification enzyme (Glutathione S-transferase (GST) and its peroxidase activity (GSTpx)) were measured on the same individuals as in the previous study. The activity of both enzymes was significantly affected by the diet treatments, but in different ways. GSTpx activity was more or less reduced by all low-quality diets compared to high-quality diets and therefore showed a nearsignificant relationship with respiration rate and daily weight change over the experimental period. GST activity was reduced only by two aphid species and showed no correlation with the abovementioned parameters. There was no relationship between the two enzyme activities. Since all significant responses to low-quality prey were inhibitive, the results did not confirm our hypothesis.
Regulation of Protein Post-Translational Modifications on Metabolism of Actinomycetes

Protein post-translational modification (PTM) is a reversible process, which can dynamically regulate the metabolic state of cells through regulation of protein structure, activity, localization or protein–protein interactions. Actinomycetes are present in the soil, air and water, and their life cycle is strongly determined by environmental conditions. The complexity of variable environments urges Actinomycetes to respond quickly to external stimuli. In recent years, advances in identification and quantification of PTMs have led researchers to deepen their understanding of the functions of PTMs in physiology and metabolism, including vegetative growth, sporulation, metabolite synthesis and infectivity. On the other hand, most donor groups for PTMs come from various metabolites, suggesting a complex association network between metabolic states, PTMs and signaling pathways. Here, we review the mechanisms and functions of PTMs identified in Actinomycetes, focusing on phosphorylation, acylation and protein degradation in an attempt to summarize the recent progress of research on PTMs and their important role in bacterial cellular processes.
Induction of ermC requires translation of the leader peptide.

ermC confers resistance to macrolide‐lincosamide streptogramin B antibiotics by specifying a ribosomal RNA methylase, which results in decreased ribosomal affinity for these antibiotics. ermC expression is induced by exposure to erythromycin. We have previously proposed a translational regulation model in which erythromycin causes stalling of a ribosome, which is translating a leader peptide. Stalling causes a conformation shift in the ermC mRNA which in turn unmasks the methylase ribosomal binding site. A prediction of this translational attenuation model for ermC induction was tested by replacing the second codon of the putative ermC leader peptide coding region by TAA. As expected, the introduction of this mutation resulted in an uninducible phenotype which was suppressible by two ochre suppressor mutations in Bacillus subtilis. It is concluded that translation through the leader peptide coding region, in frame with the predicted leader peptide, is required for ermC induction.
Network Reliability Evaluation

Network reliability concerns reliability metrics of large classes of multicomponent systems. In general, the structure of such a system is represented by a binary function of M binary variables where M is the number of components. Let us denote by such a structure function. We adopt the usual convention where 1 represents the operational state (the device, component or system, is operational or up) and 0 the failed or down state. A state vector for such a system is a vector x x xM where xi is a possible state, 0 or 1, of the ith component. With this notation,
Conchord: An Application for Generating Musical Harmony by Navigating in a Perceptually Motivated Tonal Interval Space

We present Conchord, a system for real-time automatic generation of musical harmony through navigation in a novel 12-dimensional Tonal Interval Space. In this tonal space, Euclidean distances among multi-level pitch configurations equate with their perceptual proximity, and Euclidean distances of pitch configurations from the center of the space acts as an indicator of consonance. Building upon these attributes, users can intuitively and dynamically define a collection of chords based on their relation to a tonal center (or key) and their consonance level. Furthermore, two algorithmic strategies grounded in principles from function and root-motion harmonic theories generate chord progressions characteristic of Western tonal music.
Multimodal Biometric System for Identity Verification Based on Hand Geometry and Hand Palm's Veins

– This project was developed w ith the aim to implement a multibiometric system capable of handling hand palm images acquired using a touchless approach. This considerably increases the difficulty of the image processing task due to the fact that the images from the same person may vary significantly depending on the relative position of the hand regarding the sensor. A modular software tool was developed, providing the user a method for each of these steps: initial image preparation, the feature extraction, processing and fusion, ending with the classification, thus making the researcher's task much easier and faster. The biometric features used for identification include hand geometry features as well as palm vein textures. For the hand geometry data, an algorithm for determining finger tips and hand valleys was proposed and from there was possible to extract a handful of other features related to the geometry of the hand. The handpalm veins' texture features were extracted from a rectangle generated based on the hand's center of mass. The texture descriptor chosen was the Histogram of Gradients. In possession with all the biometric data, the fusion was done on feature level. Support Vector Machine technique was used for the classification. The database chosen for the development of this project was the CASIA Multi-Spectral Palmprint Image Database V1.0. The images used corresponds to the 940nm spectrum due to allowing the visualization of the hand palm's veins. The achieved result for the hand geometry was an EER of 4.77%, for the palm veins an EER of 3.11% and changing the threshold value a FAR of 0.50% and a FRR of 4.82% were achieved. For the fusion of both biometric systems the final result was an EER of 2.33% with a FAR of 1.30% and a FRR of 4.27%.
Human Amniotic Fluid Stem Cells Possess the Potential to Differentiate into Primordial Follicle Oocytes In Vitro1

ABSTRACT Previous reports have demonstrated that embryonic stem cells were capable of differentiating into primordial germ cells through the formation of embryoid bodies that subsequently generated oocyte-like cells (OLCs). Such a process could facilitate studies of primordial follicle oocyte development in vitro and regenerative medicine. To investigate the pluripotency of human amniotic fluid stem cells (hAFSCs) and their ability to differentiate into germ cells, we isolated a CD117+/CD44+ hAFSC line that showed fibroblastoid morphology and intrinsically expressed both stem cell markers (OCT4, NANOG, SOX2) and germ cell markers (DAZL, STELLA). To encourage differentiation into OLCs, the hAFSCs were first cultured in a medium supplemented with 5% porcine follicular fluid for 10 days. During the induction period, cell aggregates formed and syntheses of steroid hormones were detected; some OLCs and granulosa cell-like cells could be loosened from the surface of the culture dish. Cell aggregates were collected and replated in oocyte culture medium for an additional 7–10 days. OLCs ranging from 50 to 120 μm presenting zona pellucida were observed in cumulus-oocyte complexes; some OLCs developed spontaneously into multicell structures similar to preimplantation embryos. Approximately 2% of the hAFSCs differentiated to meiotic germ cells that expressed folliculogenesis- and oogenesis-associated markers. Although the in vitro maturation and fertilization potentials are as yet unproven, short-term (<25 days) and high-efficiency (>2%) derivation of OLCs from hAFSCs might provide a new approach to the study of human germ cell development in vitro.
Variations in serum erythropoietin and transferrin receptor during phlebotomy therapy of hereditary hemochromatosis: A case report

Abstract: Serum levels of transferrin receptor and erythropoietin were determined in 2 patients with hereditary hemochromatosis undergoing phlebotomy therapy. The objective of the study was to determine changes in serum transferrin receptor and serum erythropoietin occurring during therapy, and to investigate if such changes could be useful to monitor the therapy. The study showed that serum transferrin receptor, and to a lesser extent serum erythropoietin, may be better parameters than serum ferritin as indicators of when phlebotomy should be discontinued. The most sensitive parameter, however, appeared to be the serum transferrin ratio.
What drives Malaysian m-commerce adoption? An empirical analysis

– This study aims to empirically examine the factors that affect the consumer intention to use (IU) mobile commerce (m‐commerce) in Malaysia. The five factors examined in this study are perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease‐of‐use (PEOU), social influence (SI), perceived cost and trust. , – The study sample consists of 222 respondents with a response rate of 84.09 per cent. Data were analyzed by employing correlation and multiple regression analysis. , – The findings revealed that PU, SI, perceived financial cost and trust are positively associated with consumer IU m‐commerce in Malaysia. In addition, PEOU and trust were found to have an insignificant effect on consumer IU m‐commerce in Malaysia. , – The generalizability of the findings is limited as the study focuses only on Malaysia. , – Based on the findings, companies involved in m‐commerce should focus on improving the usefulness of the system, trust (i.e. security and privacy protection) and reducing the cost of m‐commerce services to improve the adoption of m‐commerce. , – The findings made a contribution in terms of allowing us to understand the factors that can contribute to the adoption of mobile commerce. This study successfully extend the TAM model in the context of mobile commerce by incorporating one trust‐based construct (trust), one behavioural control construct (perceived financial cost) and one subjective norm construct (SI). This extended TAM model provides a greater understanding of user acceptance of mobile commerce in Malaysia.
Damage to cordgrass by scale insects in a constructed salt marsh: Effects of nitrogen additions

Because tall cordgrass (Spartina foliosa) is needed for nesting by the endangered light-footed, clapper rail, managers of constructed salt marshes in southern California are proposing large-scale nitrogen fertilization to improve cordgrass growth. How this might affect an existing infestation of scale insects (Haliaspis spartina) and the degree of damage these insects cause to their cordgrass hosts was unknown. We explored the effects of timing and duration of fertilization onHaliaspis damage to cordgrass, as well as the timing ofHaliaspis dispersal, in a constructed marsh at Sweetwater Marsh National Wildlife Refuge in San Diego Bay, California. Fertilization did not result in increasedHaliaspis abundance. After a large dispersal pulse in late May,Haliaspis establishment in the long-term fertilized plots was greater than in the controls; however, this trend reversed in August, when many more stems in the control plots were infested with large numbers ofHaliaspis. Since adultHaliaspis cannot leave a feeding site, losses of individuals in the fertilized plots were apparently due to mortality, perhaps resulting from mechanical or chemical changes in the fertilized plants or increased predation. Late in the growing season, plots fertilized with 10 applications of urea over 20 wk had the lowest meanHaliaspis abundance. Plots fertilized only in March, April, June, or August did not differ from controls in meanHaliaspis abundance.Haliaspis was never abundant in the fertilized or control plots in the adjacent natural marsh. This study suggests that fertilization, of constructed salt marshes in San Diego Bay may proceed without concern that furtherHaliaspis outbreaks will be facilitated.
Effect of ischemic preconditioning on lactate accumulation and running performance.

PURPOSE Repeated bouts of ischemia followed by reperfusion (i.e., ischemic preconditioning (IPC)) protect against damage after a myocardial infarction. Recent observational data indicate that IPC improves exercise performance. However, no previous study has examined potential underlying mechanisms for this effect of IPC. Therefore, we examined the potential of IPC to improve 5-km running time trial performance and reduce lactate accumulation during an incremental exercise test. METHODS In a randomized, crossover study, 13 healthy men performed running exercise, which was preceded by IPC (4 × 5-min 220 mm Hg bilateral leg occlusion) or a control intervention (C) (4 × 5-min 20 mm Hg bilateral leg occlusion). Participants performed a graded maximal treadmill running test, starting with five 3-min submaximal stages (10-14 km·h), followed by increments of 1 km·h every 2 min to 16 km·h, followed by an incline of the treadmill of 2% every 2 min. Blood lactate was examined at each 3-min stage. After 45 min of rest in the supine position, subjects then performed a 5-km running time trial. RESULTS We found similar submaximal gas parameters during running exercise with both interventions. The overall increase in blood lactate during the submaximal stages was 1.07 ± 0.11 mmol·L lower when exercise was preceded with IPC versus C (P = 0.023). The 5-km running time trial was completed in a time that was 34 s faster after IPC versus C (95% confidence interval, 5-64 s; P = 0.027). CONCLUSION IPC improves 5-km time trial performance in healthy male individuals. Moreover, we found that IPC is associated with an attenuated rise in blood lactate concentration at submaximal level during an incremental running test. This could indicate that IPC allows for higher work rates and thus improves time trial performance.
A new proxy signcryption scheme using warrants

In this paper, a new proxy signcryption scheme is proposed suitable for use by resource constrained devices such as pagers and mobile phones. The proposed scheme is based on delegating the signing rights of the original signer to one of his proxies using warrants. The use of warrants enables explicit specification of the signing rights of the proxy agent. The proxy agent and the original signer are assumed to be registered within the same traditional public key infrastructure. To offer a higher level of security, the proxy key is derived from the personal key of the proxy signer to prevent the proxy signer from denying a signature it created and protects it from framing attacks mounted by the original signer against it. We also consider a variant of our main scheme that works over elliptic curves since they have proven recently the possibility of reducing the key sizes.
Aging characteristic at different depths in a single composite insulators shed

Estimation of the degree of aging and the remaining lifetime of composite insulators is an important issue. In this paper, one shed of a 500 kV AC composite insulator that has operated for three years on a transmission line was studied. The insulator shed was cut longitudinally into four layers from the upper surface to the bottom surface and tested by the thermally stimulated current (TSC) method, and each layer was also tested by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The results show that the first layer has fewer trap charges than the other layers in the TSC test, but it also has the highest trap level, and the trap depth of the first layer is deeper than that of the other layers. The trap levels and the quantities of shallow traps decrease successively from the second to the fourth layer. In the FTIR spectra, the absorption peaks of the first layer are lower than those of the other layers, and the other three layers have similar absorption peaks. The aging state of the first layer is more serious than that of the other layers. The study indicates that long-term contamination and ultraviolet (UV) radiation are the main reason for the aging differences among the different insulator shed layers.
RANKL expression is related to treatment outcome of patients with localized, high‐grade osteosarcoma

The receptor activator of nuclear factor κB ligand (RANKL/TNFSF11) is expressed in metastatic bone cancer cells and has been suggested to play a key role in cell migration and metastatic behavior. We determined whether RANKL expression is correlated to clinical behavior of localized, high‐grade osteosarcoma.