Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of Various Warm-Up Devices on Bat Velocity of Intercollegiate Baseball Players

Szymanski, DJ, Beiser, EJ, Bassett, KE, Till, ME, Medlin, GL, Beam, JR, and DeRenne, C. Effect of various warm-up devices on bat velocity of intercollegiate baseball players. J Strength Cond Res 25(2): 287-292, 2011-A variety of warm-up devices are available to baseball players to use before their game at-bat. Past baseball research evaluating warm-up devices indicates that implements that are ±12% of standard game bat weight produce the greatest bat velocities for high school and intercollegiate players. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of various warm-up devices on bat velocity (BV) of intercollegiate baseball players. Twenty-two Division I intercollegiate baseball players (age = 20.0 ± 1.5 years, height = 182.6 ± 8.3 cm, body mass = 91.4 ± 11.4 kg, lean body mass = 78.8 ± 8.9 kg, % body fat = 13.6 ± 3.8) participated in a warm-up with 1 of 10 weighted devices on separate days. Each of the 10 testing sessions consisted of a standardized warm-up, 3 dry swings as hard as possible with the assigned warm-up device, 2 comfortable dry swings with a standard game baseball bat followed by 3 game swings (20-second rest between swings) while hitting a baseball off of a batting tee with the same standard game baseball bat. Results indicated that there were no statistically significant differences in BV after using any of the 10 warm-up devices. For male intercollegiate baseball players, results indicate that warm-up devices varying from 623.7 to 2,721.5 g (22-96 oz.) did not change mean BV of a standard game baseball bat, suggesting that intercollegiate players can use any of the 10 warm-up devices in the on-deck circle and maintain their BV. Therefore, personal preference as to which warm-up implement to use in the on-deck circle is advised.
On the recursive programming techniques

One day, you will discover a new adventure and knowledge by spending more money. But when? Do you think that you need to obtain those all requirements when having much money? Why don't you try to get something simple at first? That's something that will lead you to know more about the world, adventure, some places, history, entertainment, and more? It is your own time to continue reading habit. One of the books you can enjoy now is recursive programming techniques here.
Cortical inter-subject correspondences with optimal group-wise parcellation and sulcal pits labeling

The sulcal pits are the points of maximal depth within the folds of the cortical surface. Their study is usually limited to the deepest and more robust ones. However, because they also consist in reliable cortical landmarks, the concept of sulcal pits has recently been extended to the shallower folds. The analysis of this richer organization of the cortical surface calls thus for new numerical tools to establish inter-subject correspondences. Here, we address this problem in two phases. We first present a new method to generate an atlas of this sulcal organization as a sulcal parcellation of the cortical surface. We then address the group-wise labeling of individual sulcal pits with respect to a given atlas. Individual sulcal basins that are the local patches of surfaces surrounding each sulcal pits will play a central role in the geometric framework presented in this paper. The density maps of such basins across subjects will drive the optimization of the atlas sulcal parcellation. They are a very efficient tool to analyze and to visualize the inter-subject variability. We implemented these methodological advances and we applied them on two different populations of healthy subjects. The first database of 137 adults allows us to compare our method to the previous one and the second database of 209 children illustrates the robustness of our method on heterogeneous data.
New Life for Savannah River Site

STAMP is a newly developed web server that is designed to support the study of DNA-binding motifs. STAMP may be used to query motifs against databases of known motifs; the software aligns input motifs against the chosen database (or alternatively against a user-provided dataset), and lists of the highest-scoring matches are returned. Such similarity-search functionality is expected to facilitate the identification of transcription factors that potentially interact with newly discovered motifs. STAMP also automatically builds multiple alignments, familial binding profiles and similarity trees when more than one motif is inputted. These functions are expected to enable evolutionary studies on sets of related motifs and fixed-order regulatory modules, as well as illustrating similarities and redundancies within the input motif collection. STAMP is a highly flexible alignment platform, allowing users to ‘mix-and-match’ between various implemented comparison metrics, alignment methods (local or global, gapped or ungapped), multiple alignment strategies and tree-building methods. Motifs may be inputted as frequency matrices (in many of the commonly used formats), consensus sequences, or alignments of known binding sites. STAMP also directly accepts the output files from 12 supported motif-finders, enabling quick interpretation of motif-discovery analyses. STAMP is available at http://www.benoslab. pitt.edu/stamp
Near end listening enhancement optimized with respect to speech intelligibility index and audio power limitations

In speech communications, signal processing algorithms for near end listening enhancement allow to improve the intelligibility of clean (far end) speech for the near end listener who perceives not only the far end speech but also ambient background noise. A typical scenario is mobile telephony in acoustical background noise such as traffic or babble noise. In these situations, it is often not acceptable/possible to increase the audio power amplification. In this contribution we use a theoretical analysis of the Speech Intelligibility Index (SII) to develop an algorithm which numerically maximizes the SII under the constraint of an unchanged average power of the audio signal.
Cryptococcosis in Colombia: results of the national surveillance program for the years 2006-2010.

INTRODUCTION A survey on cryptococcosis is being conducted regularly in Colombia since 1997. We present hereby the results corresponding to patients diagnosed from 2006 to 2010. OBJECTIVE To analyze the data obtained during this period. MATERIALS AND METHODS Retrospective analysis of the corresponding surveys. RESULTS A total of 526 surveys originating from 72% of the Colombian political divisions were received during the 5-year period. Most patients (76.6%) were males and 74.9% were 21-50 years old. The most prevalent risk factor was HIV infection (83.5%) with cryptococcosis defining AIDS in 23% of the cases. In the general population the estimated mean annual incidence rate for cryptococcosis was 2.4 x 106 inhabitants while in AIDS patients this rate rose to 3.3 x 103. In 474 surveys stating clinical features, most frequent complaints were headache 84.5%, fever 63.4%, nausea and vomiting 57.5%, mental alterations 46.3%, meningeal signs 33.0%, cough 26.4% and visual alterations 24.5%. Neurocryptococcosis was recorded in 81.8% of the cases. Laboratory diagnosis was based on direct examination, culture and latex in 29.3% cases. From 413 Cryptococcus isolates analyzed, 95.6% were identified as C. neoformans var. grubii, 1% C. neoformans var. neoformans, and 3.4% C. gattii. Treatment was reported for 71.6% of the cases with amphotericin B alone or in combination with fluconazole prescribed in 28%. CONCLUSIONS Surveys done through passive surveillance continue to be sentinel markers for HIV infection and represent a systematic approach to the study of opportunistic problems regularly afflicting AIDS patients since cryptococcosis requires no compulsory notification in Colombia.
Developmental onset of reproductive barriers and associated proteome ch ges in stigma / s yles of Solanum pennellii

In mammals, cadmium is widely considered as a non-genotoxic carcinogen acting through a methylation-dependent epigenetic mechanism. Here, the effects of Cd treatment on the DNA methylation patten are examined together with its effect on chromatin reconfiguration in Posidonia oceanica. DNA methylation level and pattern were analysed in actively growing organs, under short(6 h) and long(2 d or 4 d) term and low (10 mM) and high (50 mM) doses of Cd, through a Methylation-Sensitive Amplification Polymorphism technique and an immunocytological approach, respectively. The expression of one member of the CHROMOMETHYLASE (CMT) family, a DNA methyltransferase, was also assessed by qRT-PCR. Nuclear chromatin ultrastructure was investigated by transmission electron microscopy. Cd treatment induced a DNA hypermethylation, as well as an up-regulation of CMT, indicating that de novo methylation did indeed occur. Moreover, a high dose of Cd led to a progressive heterochromatinization of interphase nuclei and apoptotic figures were also observed after long-term treatment. The data demonstrate that Cd perturbs the DNA methylation status through the involvement of a specific methyltransferase. Such changes are linked to nuclear chromatin reconfiguration likely to establish a new balance of expressed/repressed chromatin. Overall, the data show an epigenetic basis to the mechanism underlying Cd toxicity in plants.
The entity-relationship model: toward a unified view of data

A data model, called the entity-relationship model, which incorporates the semantic information in the real world is proposed. A special diagramatic technique is introduced for exhibiting entities and relationships. An example of data base design and description using the model and the diagramatic technique is given. The implications on data integrity, information retrieval, and data manipulation are discussed.
InterPro : An integrated documentation resource for protein families , domains and functional sites The InterPro Consortium :

The exponential increase in the submission of nucleotide sequences to the nucleotide sequence database by genome sequencing centres has resulted in a need for rapid, automatic methods for classification of the resulting protein sequences. There are several signature and sequence cluster-based methods for protein classification, each resource having distinct areas of optimum application owing to the differences in the underlying analysis methods. In recognition of this, InterPro was developed as an integrated documentation resource for protein families, domains and functional sites, to rationalise the complementary efforts of the individual protein signature database projects. The member databases – PRINTS, PROSITE, Pfam, ProDom, SMART and TIGRFAMs – form the InterPro core. Related signatures from each member database are unified into single InterPro entries. Each InterPro entry includes a unique accession number, functional descriptions and literature references, and links are made back to the relevant member database(s). Release 4.0 of InterPro (November 2001) contains 4,691 entries, representing 3,532 families, 1,068 domains, 74 repeats and 15 sites of posttranslational modification (PTMs) encoded by different regular expressions, profiles, fingerprints and hidden Markov models (HMMs). Each InterPro entry lists all the matches against SWISS-PROT and TrEMBL (2,141,621 InterPro hits from 586,124 SWISS-PROT and TrEMBL protein sequences). The database is freely accessible for textand sequence-based
Engineering of Recombinant Poplar Deoxy-D-Xylulose-5-Phosphate Synthase (PtDXS) by Site-Directed Mutagenesis Improves Its Activity

Deoxyxylulose 5-phosphate synthase (DXS), a thiamine diphosphate (ThDP) dependent enzyme, plays a regulatory role in the methylerythritol 4-phosphate (MEP) pathway. Isopentenyl diphosphate (IDP) and dimethylallyl diphosphate (DMADP), the end products of this pathway, inhibit DXS by competing with ThDP. Feedback inhibition of DXS by IDP and DMADP constitutes a significant metabolic regulation of this pathway. The aim of this work was to experimentally test the effect of key residues of recombinant poplar DXS (PtDXS) in binding both ThDP and IDP. This work also described the engineering of PtDXS to improve the enzymatic activity by reducing its inhibition by IDP and DMADP. We have designed and tested modifications of PtDXS in an attempt to reduce inhibition by IDP. This could possibly be valuable by removing a feedback that limits the usefulness of the MEP pathway in biotechnological applications. Both ThDP and IDP use similar interactions for binding at the active site of the enzyme, however, ThDP being a larger molecule has more anchoring sites at the active site of the enzyme as compared to the inhibitors. A predicted enzyme structure was examined to find ligand-enzyme interactions, which are relatively more important for inhibitor-enzyme binding than ThDP-enzyme binding, followed by their modifications so that the binding of the inhibitors can be selectively affected compared to ThDP. Two alanine residues important for binding ThDP and the inhibitors were mutated to glycine. In two of the cases, both the IDP inhibition and the overall activity were increased. In another case, both the IDP inhibition and the overall activity were reduced. This provides proof of concept that it is possible to reduce the feedback from IDP on DXS activity.
Modeling RNA secondary structure folding ensembles using SHAPE mapping data

Abstract RNA secondary structure prediction is widely used for developing hypotheses about the structures of RNA sequences, and structure can provide insight about RNA function. The accuracy of structure prediction is known to be improved using experimental mapping data that provide information about the pairing status of single nucleotides, and these data can now be acquired for whole transcriptomes using high-throughput sequencing. Prior methods for using these experimental data focused on predicting structures for sequences assuming that they populate a single structure. Most RNAs populate multiple structures, however, where the ensemble of strands populates structures with different sets of canonical base pairs. The focus on modeling single structures has been a bottleneck for accurately modeling RNA structure. In this work, we introduce Rsample, an algorithm for using experimental data to predict more than one RNA structure for sequences that populate multiple structures at equilibrium. We demonstrate, using SHAPE mapping data, that we can accurately model RNA sequences that populate multiple structures, including the relative probabilities of those structures. This program is freely available as part of the RNAstructure software package.
Beyond IEEE Std 115 & API 546: Test procedures for high-speed, multi-megawatt permanent-magnet synchronous machines

High-speed multi-megawatt permanent-magnet machines have been proposed in the literature and offered for sale in a variety of petro-chemical applications. Presently, the discussion of synchronous machines in both IEEE Std 115 [1] and American Petroleum Institute (API) 546 [2] exclude consideration of permanent-magnet synchronous machines. These machines pose special problems when attempting to apply the test procedures given for wound-field synchronous machines in that many of the tests rely on the ability to adjust the field strength. In addition, a permanent-magnet-rotor topology has different performance and robustness concerns than a wound-field machine that should be addressed. This paper attempts to outline a coherent method for evaluating high-speed permanent-magnet machines by extending the test procedures outlined in IEEE Std 115, and by presenting additional procedures specific to permanent-magnet machines. Extended application guidelines will be discussed for high-speed, multi-megawatt machines. The differences between the risk profile for permanent-magnet machines and wound-field machines will be highlighted with a particular emphasis on risk mitigation via test for the permanent-magnet machine.
Proxemic interactions: the new ubicomp?

In 1966 anthropologist Edward Hall coined the term “proxemics,” an area of study that identifies the culturally dependent ways in which people use interpersonal distance to understand and mediate their interactions with other people [2]. While his theory of proxemics has many aspects to it, perhaps the most relevant to HCI are his definitions of four proxemic “zones,” which characterize how people interpret interpersonal distance: intimate (less than 1.5 feet), personal (1.5 to 4 feet), social (4 to 12 feet), and public (12 to 25 feet). As these names imply, closer distances lead to increasing expectations of interpersonal engagement and intimacy. In practice, people adjust these distances not only to match their social activities, but also to raise defense mechanisms when others intrude into these zones. Hall also described how features within the space affect people’s interactions. “Fixed features” include those that mark boundaries (e.g., entrances to a particular type of room), where people tend to organize certain kinds of social activities within these boundaries. “Semi-fixed features” are entities whose position can affect whether the space tends to bring people together or move them apart (for example, the arrangement of chairs). To understand why this is important to ubiquitous computing (ubicomp), we need to revisit the ubicomp vision. In 1991 Mark Weiser—recognized as the founder Proxemic Interactions: The New Ubicomp?
Expression of RAB4B, a protein governing endocytic recycling, is co-regulated with MHC class II genes

The small GTPase RAB4 regulates endocytic recycling, a process that contributes to Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC)-mediated antigen presentation by specialized antigen presenting cells (APC) of the immune system. The gene encoding the RAB4B isoform of RAB4 was singled out by two complementary genome-wide screens. One of these consisted of a computer scan to identify genes containing characteristic MHC class II-related regulatory sequences. The second was the use of chromatin immunoprecipitation coupled to microarrays (ChIP-on-chip) to identify novel targets of a transcriptional co-activator called the MHC class II transactivator (CIITA). We show that the RAB4B gene is regulated by a typical MHC class II-like enhancer that is controlled directly by both CIITA and the multiprotein transcription factor complex known as the MHC class II enhanceosome. RAB4B expression is thus activated by the same regulatory machinery that is known to be essential for the expression of MHC class II genes. This molecular link between the transcriptional activation of RAB4B and MHC class II genes implies that APC boost their antigen presentation capacity by increasing RAB4-mediated endocytic recycling.
Almost sure average consensus of multi-agent systems with time-varying topologies and stochastic communication noises

This paper is concerned with the average-consensus problem of first-order discrete-time multi-agent networks with time-varying topologies. Each agent can only receive its neighbors' state information corrupted by stochastic communication noises. To attenuate the noises, a distributed stochastic approximation type protocol is used. By using probability limit theory and algebraic graph theory, sufficient conditions are given to ensure consensus to be achieved asymptotically. Especially, if the network switches between jointly-containing-spanning-tree instantaneously balanced graphs, then the designed protocol can guarantee that each individual state converges to a common random variable almost surely. The expectation of this common variable is right the average of the initial states of the whole system.
A rare cause of gastrointestinal bleeding. Multiple myeloma with extramedullary gastroduodenal plasmacytoma.

62 Question: A 60-year-old woman presented to our emergency room with epigastric fullness and passage of tarry stool for 1 week. She also had progressive shortness of breath, dizziness, and generalized weakness. On physical examination, slight tachycardia (heart rate, 104 bpm) with anemic conjunctiva was noted. Blood tests showed low hemoglobin (6.9 g/dL). Esophagogastroduodenoscopy revealed a polypoid tumor with superficial ulcerations and hematin coatings, suggesting recent bleeding, near superior duodenal angle of duodenum (Figure A). A barium study showed a filling defect over mesenteric side of second portion of duodenum, resulting in luminal narrowing (Figure B, black arrow). Biopsy at the overlying mucosa showed inflammatory changes without neoplastic cells. Abdominal computed tomography disclosed an enhancing soft tissue mass in the second portion of the duodenum (Figure C, D, white arrow). Tumor markers (carcinoembryonic antigen and carbohydrate antigen 19-9) were within normal limits. The patient underwent pancreaticoduodenotomy with limited antrectomy to remove the tumor. What is your diagnosis of this duodenal tumor? Look on page 261 for the answer and see the GASTROENTEROLOGY web site (www.gastrojournal.org) for more information on submitting your favorite image to Clinical Challenges and Images in GI.
Transient Limb Ischemia Induces Remote Ischemic Preconditioning In Vivo

Background—Ischemic preconditioning reduces local tissue injury caused by subsequent ischemia-reperfusion (IR), but may also have a salutary effect on IR injury of tissues remote from those undergoing preconditioning. We tested the hypothesis that limb ischemia induces remote preconditioning, reduces endothelial IR injury in humans, and reduces experimental myocardial infarct size. Methods and Results—Endothelial IR injury of the human forearm was induced by 20 minutes of upper limb ischemia (inflation of a blood pressure cuff to 200 mm Hg) followed by reperfusion. Remote preconditioning was induced by three 5-minute cycles of ischemia of the contralateral limb. Venous occlusion plethysmography was used to assess forearm blood flow in response to acetylcholine at baseline and 15 minutes after reperfusion. Experimental myocardial infarction was achieved by 40 minutes of balloon occlusion of the left anterior descending artery in 15-kg pigs. Remote preconditioning was induced by four 5-minute cycles of lower limb ischemia. Triphenyltetrazolium staining was used to assess the extent of myocardial infarction. In the human study, the response to acetylcholine was significantly attenuated in the control group after 15 minutes’ reperfusion, but remote preconditioning prevented this reduction. Limb ischemia caused a significant reduction in the extent of myocardial infarction relative to the area at risk compared with control (26±9% versus 53±8%, P <0.05). Conclusion—Remote ischemic preconditioning prevents IR-induced endothelial dysfunction in humans and reduces the extent of myocardial infarction in experimental animals. Transient limb ischemia is a simple preconditioning stimulus with important potential clinical applications.