Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Silicon central pattern generators for cardiac diseases

Cardiac rhythm management devices provide therapies for both arrhythmias and resynchronisation but not heart failure, which affects millions of patients worldwide. This paper reviews recent advances in biophysics and mathematical engineering that provide a novel technological platform for addressing heart disease and enabling beat‐to‐beat adaptation of cardiac pacing in response to physiological feedback. The technology consists of silicon hardware central pattern generators (hCPGs) that may be trained to emulate accurately the dynamical response of biological central pattern generators (bCPGs). We discuss the limitations of present CPGs and appraise the advantages of analog over digital circuits for application in bioelectronic medicine. To test the system, we have focused on the cardio‐respiratory oscillators in the medulla oblongata that modulate heart rate in phase with respiration to induce respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA). We describe here a novel, scalable hCPG comprising physiologically realistic (Hodgkin–Huxley type) neurones and synapses. Our hCPG comprises two neurones that antagonise each other to provide rhythmic motor drive to the vagus nerve to slow the heart. We show how recent advances in modelling allow the motor output to adapt to physiological feedback such as respiration. In rats, we report on the restoration of RSA using an hCPG that receives diaphragmatic electromyography input and use it to stimulate the vagus nerve at specific time points of the respiratory cycle to slow the heart rate. We have validated the adaptation of stimulation to alterations in respiratory rate. We demonstrate that the hCPG is tuneable in terms of the depth and timing of the RSA relative to respiratory phase. These pioneering studies will now permit an analysis of the physiological role of RSA as well as its any potential therapeutic use in cardiac disease.
The Division of Housework Among “Remarried” Couples

There are only a limited number of studies comparing housework among couples and individuals in different marital statuses, and the focus of attention has tended to be on married compared to cohabiting couples. This article focuses on differences between couples where one or more partner is remarried or recohabiting and those where both partners are in their first married or cohabiting relationships, using nationally representative survey data from Britain. It is shown in multivariate analysis that women in their second-plus partnerships contribute less in terms of their proportion of total housework time than women in their first partnerships. However, there is no effect for the man's number of previous partnerships or for current marital/cohabiting status. It is argued that the significant issue is interaction and negotiation with a subsequent partner in the light of experience gained from the breakdown of one or more previous married/cohabiting relationships.
Ultrasound Radiation Force Modulates Ligand Availability on Targeted Contrast Agents

Radiation force produced by low-amplitude ultrasound at clinically relevant frequencies remotely translates freely flowing microbubble ultrasound contrast agents over distances up to centimeters from the luminal space to the vessel wall in order to enhance ligand-receptor contact in targeting applications. The question arises as to how the microbubble shell might be designed at the molecular level to fully take advantage of such physical forces in targeted adhesion for molecular imaging and controlled therapeutic release. Herein, we report on a novel surface architecture in which the tethered ligand is buried in a polymeric overbrush. Our results, with biotin-avidin as the model ligand-receptor pair, show that the overbrush conceals the ligand, thereby reducing immune cell binding and increasing circulation persistence. Targeted adhesion is achieved through application of ultrasound radiation force to instantly reveal the ligand within a well-defined focal zone and simultaneously bind the ligand and receptor. Our data illustrate how the adhesive properties of the contrast agent surface can be reversibly changed, from stealth to sticky, through the physical effects of ultrasound. This technique can be combined with any ligand-receptor pair to optimize targeted adhesion for ultrasonic molecular imaging.
Subjective Happiness as Mediator between Personal Growth Initiative and Life Satisfaction in Adolescents

Purpose: This study was carried out to assess the mediating role of subjective happiness in relationship between personal growth initiative and life satisfaction. The relationship between personal growth initiative, subjective happiness and life satisfaction was also explored. Basic procedure: The study involved 200 adolescent students from Jammu and Rajauri (India). Pearson’s correlation, regression analysis and Sobel test were used for statistical analysis. Main findings: Results revealed positive relationship between all the three variables in study. Partial mediation role of subjective happiness was confirmed in this study. Principle conclusions: The findings of study reveal that efforts made to seek change develop feelings of happiness which in turn is responsible for life satisfaction. The results obtained emphasize on developing certain interventions to enhance subjective happiness in adolescent students for greater satisfaction in life. Findings of the study might be particularly useful for education system.
An Extended ΔCT-Method Facilitating Normalisation with Multiple Reference Genes Suited for Quantitative RT-PCR Analyses of Human Hepatocyte-Like Cells

Reference genes (RG) as sample internal controls for gene transcript level analyses by quantitative RT-PCR (RT-qPCR) must be stably expressed within the experimental range. A variety of in vitro cell culture settings with primary human hepatocytes, and Huh-7 and HepG2 cell lines, were used to determine candidate RG expression stability in RT-qPCR analyses. Employing GeNorm, BestKeeper and Normfinder algorithms, this study identifies PSMB6, MDH1 and some more RG as sufficiently unregulated, thus expressed at stable levels, in hepatocyte-like cells in vitro. Inclusion of multiple RG, quenching occasional regulations of single RG, greatly stabilises gene expression level calculations from RT-qPCR data. To further enhance validity and reproducibility of relative RT-qPCR quantifications, the ΔCT calculation can be extended (e-ΔCT) by replacing the CT of a single RG in ΔCT with an averaged CT-value from multiple RG. The use of two or three RG - here identified suited for human hepatocyte-like cells - for normalisation with the straightforward e-ΔCT calculation, should improve reproducibility and robustness of comparative RT-qPCR-based gene expression analyses.
Effect of E-Bike Versus Bike Commuting on Cardiorespiratory Fitness in Overweight Adults: A 4-Week Randomized Pilot Study

Objective: To assess if active commuting with an electrically assisted bicycle (e-bike) during a 4-week period can induce increases in cardiorespiratory fitness measured as peak oxygen uptake (V[Combining Dot Above]O2peak) in untrained, overweight individuals, and if these changes are comparable with those induced by a conventional bicycle. Design: Four-week randomized pilot study. Setting: Controlled laboratory. Participants: Thirty-two volunteers (28 men) participated. Seventeen {median age 37 years [interquartile range (IQR) 34, 45], median body mass index [BMI] 29 kg/m2 [IQR 27, 31]} were randomized to the E-Bike group and 15 [median age 43 years (IQR 38, 45), median BMI 28 kg/m2 (IQR 26, 29)] to the Bike group. Interventions: Participants in both groups were instructed to use the bicycle allocated to them (e-bike or conventional bicycle) for an active commute to work in the Basel (Switzerland) area at a self-chosen speed on at least 3 days per week during the 4-week intervention period. Main Outcome Measures: V[Combining Dot Above]O2peak was assessed before and after the intervention in an all-out exercise test on a bicycle ergometer. Results: V[Combining Dot Above]O2peak increased by an average of 3.6 mL/(kg·min) [SD 3.6 mL/(kg·min)] in the E-Bike group and by 2.2 mL/(kg·min) [SD 3.5 mL/(kg·min)] in the Bike group, with an adjusted difference between the 2 groups of 1.4 mL/(kg·min) [95% confidence interval, −1.4-4.1; P = 0.327]. Conclusions: E-bikes may have the potential to improve cardiorespiratory fitness similar to conventional bicycles despite the available power assist, as they enable higher biking speeds and greater elevation gain.
Subcortical Input to the Smooth and Saccadic Eye Movement Subregions of the Frontal Eye Field in Cebus Monkey

We have recently identified two functional subregions in the frontal eye field (FEF) of the Cebus monkey, a smooth eye movement subregion (FEFsem) and a saccadic subregion (FEFsac). The thalamic input to these two subregions was studied and quantified to gain more information about the influence of the cerebellum and basal ganglia on the oculomotor control mechanisms of the cerebral cortex. A recent study using transneuronal transport of virus demonstrated that there are neurons in the basal ganglia and cerebellum that project to the FEFsac with only a single intervening synapse (Lynch et al., 1994). In the present study, we concentrated on the thalamic input to the FEFsem to define possible basal ganglia–thalamus–cortex and cerebellum–thalamus–cortex channels of information flow to the FEFsem. We localized the functional subregions using low threshold microstimulation, and retrogradely transported fluorescent tracers were then placed into the FEFsem and FEFsac. The neurons that project to the FEFsem are distributed in (1) the rostral portion of the ventral lateral nucleus, pars caudalis, (2) the caudal portion of the ventral lateral nucleus, pars caudalis, (3) the mediodorsal nucleus, (4) the ventral anterior nucleus, pars parvocellularis, and (5) the ventral anterior nucleus, pars magnocellularis. In contrast, the large majority of neurons that project to the FEFsac are located in the paralaminar region of the mediodorsal nucleus. The FEFsac and FEFsem thus each receive neural input from both basal ganglia-receiving and cerebellar-receiving cell groups in the thalamus, but each receives input from a unique combination of thalamic nuclei.
Relations of Student Perceptions of Teacher Oral Feedback With Teacher Expectancies and Student Self-Concept

In this article, the authors investigated the relations of students’ perceptions of teachers’ oral feedback with teacher expectancies and student self-concept. A sample of 1,598 Taiwanese children in Grades 3 to 6 completed measures of student perceptions of teacher oral feedback and school self-concept. Homeroom teachers identified students for whom they had high or low expectancies. Discriminant analysis indicated student perceptions of positive and negative academic oral feedback were more important than nonacademic feedback in predicting teacher expectancies. A 2-way multivariate analysis of variance showed that boys perceived more negative oral feedback than did girls, and fifth-grade students perceived more negative oral feedback on academic and nonacademic domains than did the third- and fourth-grade students. Furthermore, structural equation modeling results indicated a particularly strong relation between positive academic oral feedback and academic self-concept.
A Framework for Anchoring in Hybrid Deliberative Systems

A designer of robotic systems that act in the real world is faced with the problem of symbol anchoring. In a general theory symbol anchoring would consist of three distinct problems: 1) detection of the symbol, 2) extracting its properties, and 3) updating these properties over time. Solving all the three problems for every symbol is very hard and computationally expensive. We claim that this general endeavour can be simpli ed by dividing symbols into di erent classes based on the paradigm of hybrid deliberative architectures. Such an architecture functions on two di erent levels of abstraction: a reactive level and a deliberative one. A framework is proposed, where the anchoring is considered separately for each of these levels, since they need di erent types of symbols. On both levels the anchoring problem can be simpli ed not solving all of the three tasks above, which signi cantly decreases its complexity. We verify the functionality of our framework by designing a navigation system for domestic, large-scale environments. This system successfully achieves its missions with simple anchoring processes, little a priori knowledge about the environment, and limited computational complexity.
Reduced vocal variability in a zebra finch model of dopamine depletion: implications for Parkinson disease

Midbrain dopamine (DA) modulates the activity of basal ganglia circuitry important for motor control in a variety of species. In songbirds, DA underlies motivational behavior including reproductive drive and is implicated as a gatekeeper for neural activity governing vocal variability. In the zebra finch, Taeniopygia guttata, DA levels increase in Area X, a song‐dedicated subregion of the basal ganglia, when a male bird sings his courtship song to a female (female‐directed; FD). Levels remain stable when he sings a less stereotyped version that is not directed toward a conspecific (undirected; UD). Here, we used a mild dose of the neurotoxin 6‐hydroxydopamine (6‐OHDA) to reduce presynaptic DA input to Area X and characterized the effects on FD and UD behaviors. Immunoblots were used to quantify levels of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) as a biomarker for DA afferent loss in vehicle‐ and 6‐OHDA‐injected birds. Following 6‐OHDA administration, TH signals were lower in Area X but not in an adjacent subregion, ventral striatal‐pallidum (VSP). A postsynaptic marker of DA signaling was unchanged in both regions. These observations suggest that effects were specific to presynaptic afferents of vocal basal ganglia. Concurrently, vocal variability was reduced during UD but not FD song. Similar decreases in vocal variability are observed in patients with Parkinson disease (PD), but the link to DA loss is not well‐understood. The 6‐OHDA songbird model offers a unique opportunity to further examine how DA loss in cortico‐basal ganglia pathways affects vocal control.
Screening of hepatocyte proteins binding to complete S protein of hepatitis B virus by yeast-two hybrid system.

AIM To investigate the biological function of complete S protein and to look for proteins interacting with complete S protein in hepatocytes. METHODS We constructed bait plasmid expressing complete S protein of HBV by cloning the gene of complete S protein into pGBKT7, then the recombinant plasmid DNA was transformed into yeast AH109 (a type). The transformed yeast AH109 was mated with yeast Y187 (alpha type) containing liver cDNA library plasmid in 2XYPDA medium. Diploid yeast was plated on synthetic dropout nutrient medium (SD/-Trp-Leu-His-Ade) containing X-alpha-gal for selection and screening. After extracting and sequencing of plasmids from positive (blue) colonies, we underwent sequence analysis by bioinformatics. RESULTS Nineteen colonies were selected and sequenced. Among them, five colonies were Homo sapiens solute carrier family 25, member 23 (SLC25A23), one was Homo sapiens calreticulin, one was human serum albumin (ALB) gene, one was Homo sapiens metallothionein 2A, two were Homo sapiens betaine-homocysteine methyltransferase, three were Homo sapiens Na(+) and H(+) coupled amino acid transport system N, one was Homo sapiens CD81 antigen (target of anti-proliferative antibody 1) (CD81), three were Homo sapiens diazepam binding inhibitor, two colonies were new genes with unknown function. CONCLUSION The yeast-two hybrid system is an effective method for identifying hepatocyte proteins interacting with complete S protein of HBV. The complete S protein may bind to different proteins i.e., its multiple functions in vivo.
Development of a repository of individual participant data from randomized controlled trials of therapists delivered interventions for low back pain

Individual patient data (IPD) meta‐analysis of existing randomized controlled trials (RCTs) is a promising approach to achieving sufficient statistical power to identify sub‐groups. We created a repository of IPD from multiple low back pain (LBP) RCTs to facilitate a study of treatment moderators. Due to sparse heterogeneous data, the repository needed to be robust and flexible to accommodate millions of data points prior to any subsequent analysis.
Practitioners’ Documentation of Assessment and Care Planning in Social Care: The Opportunities for Organizational Learning

This paper analyses practitioners’ documentation of social care assessments and care plans for disabled adults of working age. The data were collected in the course of an innovative project that introduced new outcome-focused documentation into routine social care assessment, care management and review processes. The project aimed to encourage practitioners to focus during these processes on the full range of outcomes that individual disabled adults might seek to achieve; and identify the appropriate services for realizing those outcomes. Analysis of the new documentation provides insights into the diverse range of priorities and outcomes that service users aspire to achieve as a result of receiving services, and the service inputs that were agreed between practitioners and service users. However, despite the new documentation, the majority of both outcomes and services that were recorded tended to cluster around a fairly narrow range of conventional social care service functions. Moreover, the emphasis of both outcomes and service inputs differed between different groups of social care professionals. In the context of current policies to make social care services more individualized and outcome-focused, each of these findings has major organizational implications. The opportunities for using routine practitioner documentation to identify areas of organizational and professional change and learning are discussed.
Synthesis of Silver Nanostructures by Multistep Methods

The shape of plasmonic nanostructures such as silver and gold is vital to their physical and chemical properties and potential applications. Recently, preparation of complex nanostructures with rich function by chemical multistep methods is the hotspot of research. In this review we introduce three typical multistep methods to prepare silver nanostructures with well-controlled shapes, including the double reductant method, etching technique and construction of core-shell nanostructures. The growth mechanism of double the reductant method is that different favorable facets of silver nanocrystals are produced in different reductants, which can be used to prepare complex nanostructures such as nanoflags with ultranarrow resonant band bandwidth or some silver nanostructures which are difficult to prepare using other methods. The etching technique can selectively remove nanoparticles to achieve the aim of shape control and is widely used for the synthesis of nanoflowers and hollow nanostructures. Construction of core-shell nanostructures is another tool to control shape and size. The three methods can not only prepare various silver nanostructures with well-controlled shapes, which exhibit unique optical properties, such as strong surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) signal and localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) effect, but also have potential application in many areas.
X‐ray radiation induced effects in selected chalcogenide glasses and CBRAM devices based on them

Conductive bridge resistance change (CBRAM) memory devices are one of the premier emerging technologies for non‐volatile memory. The application of these devices could overlap possible situations where they are expected to perform in environments containing X‐ray radiation. This poses the question, how X‐ray radiation affects the materials comprised within these devices, as well as the performance of the CBRAM devices. In this work, we studied the structural changes caused by a wide range X‐ray radiation over thin Ge–Se films with composition ranging from Se rich to Ge rich, as well as X‐ray induced Ag diffusion within these films. The results show that after the cessation of radiation, the Ge rich films undergo considerable structural modification while the other compositions did not exhibit substantial changes. X‐ray stimulated Ag diffusion with formation of Ag–Se by‐products occurred predominantly in the Se and Ge rich films. These effects influence the performance of the CBRAM devices, based on these films and their I–V characteristics, threshold voltage and endurance are presented and discussed in the context of the materials characterization findings of this work, performed by Raman spectroscopy, Energy dispersion spectroscopy and X‐ray diffraction.
An Efficient Tomographic Inversion Approach for Urban Mapping Using Meter Resolution SAR Image Stacks

This letter describes an efficient approach of multidimensional synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging for urban mapping. The proposed approach is an integration of tomographic SAR inversion and the well-known persistent scatterer interferometry (PSI). It consists of three steps: first, a global estimation of the topography and motion parameters using efficient algorithms such as PSI; second, a single and double scatterer discrimination step based on the results of the first step; finally, a tomographic SAR inversion, which is performed on the preclassified double scatterers, using the prior knowledge obtained in the first step, retrieving the topography and motion parameters of both scatterers. The proposed approach has been tested on a dozen of TerraSAR-X high-resolution spotlight image stacks. In this letter, examples from Las Vegas and Berlin are presented. The results are comparable with the one obtained by the most computationally expensive tomographic SAR algorithms (e.g., SLIMMER) only and saves computational time by a factor of 50.
The Effects of Aerobics Exercise Programmes on Body Composition and Some Physical Parameters for the Pre-obese Class 1 Obese Students at High School Aged 15-17

Today, it is known that adult obesity is a result of child and adolescent obesity. For this reason, to prevent obesity in adulthood, obesity must be controlled through organising exercise habits of adolescents in addition to organising other habits. Taking the importance of physical beauty in psychology of puberty period into consideration, the effects of aerobics exercise on the obese and fighting against obesity through exercise form the basis for our study to fight against obesity through the habit of exercise. Our study was conducted on 22 male, 27 female of high school level students through 12 weeks aerobics exercise programme, 3 days a week at least, approximately 60 minutes, interval training model. This study focuses on measurements of age, weight, gender characteristics, physical composition as anthropometric measurement (subcutaneous fat, peripheral and diametric measurement), stretching test (sit-reach test), strength test (hand dynamometer), standing long jump, vertical jump, sit-up and push-up.
Resolving Out-of-Vocabulary Words with Bilingual Embeddings in Machine Translation

Out-of-vocabulary words account for a large proportion of errors in machine translation systems, especially when the system is used on a different domain than the one where it was trained. In order to alleviate the problem, we propose to use a log-bilinear softmax-based model for vocabulary expansion, such that given an out-of-vocabulary source word, the model generates a probabilistic list of possible translations in the target language. Our model uses only word embeddings trained on significantly large unlabelled monolingual corpora and trains over a fairly small, word-to-word bilingual dictionary. We input this probabilistic list into a standard phrase-based statistical machine translation system and obtain consistent improvements in translation quality on the English-Spanish language pair. Especially, we get an improvement of 3.9 BLEU points when tested over an out-of-domain test set.