Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sickle Cell Anemia and Other Hemoglobinopathies

'I'he hernoglobinopathies are a group of disorders characterized by abnormalities in the amino acid sequence o r in the rate of synthesis of the alpha o r beta globin chains of the hemoglobin rnolecule. Hemoglobin A, the predominant hcmoglobin in normal adults, contains two alpha anti two beta chains, each of which carries a heme group that is capable of binding oxygen. In the thalasseniias there is an inherited defect in the rate of synthesis of' the alpha (alpha-thalassemia) o r beta (beta-thalasseniia) polypeptide chains. In sickle cell anemia a single point rnutation in the glutarnic acid DNA codon (GAG to C;.I7G) results in the substitution of valine tor glutarnic acid at the sixth position in the beta globin chain. This single substitution leads to the synthesis o f t h e variant hernoglobiri S (Hb S) which gives rise to a host of clinical manifestations and complex pathophysiologic changes. ' T h e sickle cell diseases are those disorders in which red blood cell sickling under conditiolis of' deoxygenation leads to prominent clinical rnanikstations. -1'hese disorders include sickle cell anemia and the double heterozygote states in which one beta globin gene codes fbr H b S while the other beta gene is either deleted o r not transcribed (sickle cell-beta-thalasserriia) o r codes for another abnormal hernoglobiri (sickle cell-hemoglobin C: disease). Under conditions of low oxygen tension, hemoglobin S undergoes polymerization, resulting in the distorted (sickleti) cell. Initially, this sicklirig is reversible on reoxygenation, but with repeated episodes of' sickling and unsickling, the red cell membrane is damaged and the cell becomes irrcversibly sickled. Although the primary defect in sickle cell anemia is in hernoglobin, there are secondary changes in red cell membrane structure and function. ' . l'he red cells have clif'ficulty i l l maintaining intracellular volume, and coriseqirently the intracellular hemoglobin rises and the cell 1)ecornes more dense. Kecl cells ill sickle cell anemia have a much wider range of'densities t h ; ~ n those of normal red cells. "Dense cells," of which a large subset are the "irreversibly sickled cells," are the least deforrnable and have the most abnormal shape.2 They have been implicated ill playing a major role iri the pathophysiology of' sickle cell disease. T h e severity of heniolysis, a key feature of' sickle cell disease, is directly related to the nurnl)er of' these irreversibly sickled cells. :' ' l 'he most dramatic clinical ~nanifestation of sickle cell disease is the painful vaso-occlusive crisis. 'l'his results froni obstruction of' the capillaries and postcapillary venules by sicklecl cells with s u b sequent tissue infarction. ' Although i t liatl k e n assunled that this was secondary to niechmical blockage due to the circulatory imcornpetence of' the irreversibly sickled cell, there is no correlation be-
3D face recognition using stereo images

Face recognition in still images and video is an important application in computer vision and image processing. This work focuses on extracting 3D or depth information using stereo matching for the purpose of enhancing face recognition. We present a new fast stereo matching algorithm termed stereo cluster search (SCS) that can be performed in real time to generate depth information from the left and right stereo pair of a face image. The depth information is then augmented with the 2D face image information for enhancing recognition using Principal Component Analysis. The work uses a 3D labeled database of face images for testing the proposed method that proves suitable for the recognition problem.
Working memory supports listening in noise for persons with hearing impairment.

BACKGROUND Previous studies have demonstrated a relation between cognitive capacity, in particular working memory, and the ability to understand speech in noise with different types of hearing aid signal processing. PURPOSE The present study investigates the relation between working memory capacity and the speech recognition performance of persons with hearing impairment under both aided and unaided conditions, following a period of familiarization to both fast- and slow-acting compression settings in the participants' own hearing aids. RESEARCH DESIGN Speech recognition was tested in modulated and steady state noise with fast and slow compression release settings (for aided conditions) with each of two materials. Working memory capacity was also measured. STUDY SAMPLE Thirty experienced hearing aid users with a mean age of 70 yr (SD = 7.8) and pure-tone average hearing threshold across the frequencies 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 kHz (PTA7) and for both ears of 45.8 dB HL (SD = 6.6. INTERVENTION 9 wk experience with each of fast-acting and slow-acting compression. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS Speech recognition data were analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance with the within-subjects factors of material (high constraint, low constraint), noise type (steady state, modulated), and compression (fast, slow), and the between-subjects factor working memory capacity (high, low). RESULTS With high constraint material, there were three-way interactions including noise type and working memory as well as compression, in aided conditions, and performance level, in unaided conditions, but no effects of either working memory or compression with low constraint material. Investigation of simple main effects showed a significant effect of working memory during speech recognition under conditions of both "high degradation" (modulated noise, fast-acting compression, low signal-to-noise ratio [SNR]) and "low degradation" (steady state noise, slow-acting compression, high SNR). The finding of superior performance of persons with high working memory capacity in modulated noise with fast-acting compression agrees with findings of previous studies including a familiarization period of at least 9 wk, in contrast to studies with familiarization of 4 wk or less that have shown that persons with lower cognitive capacity may benefit from slow-acting compression. CONCLUSIONS Working memory is a crucial factor in speech understanding in noise for persons with hearing impairment, irrespective of whether hearing is aided or unaided. Working memory supports speech understanding in noise under conditions of both "high degradation" and "low degradation. " A subcomponent view of working memory may contribute to our understanding of these phenomena. The effect of cognition on speech understanding in modulated noise with fast-acting compression may only pertain after a period of 4-9 wk of familiarization and that prior to such a period, persons with lower cognitive capacity may benefit more from slow-acting compression.
Product of Gaussians and multiple stream systems

There has been interest in the use of classifiers based on the product of experts (PoE). PoEs offer an alternative to the standard mixture of experts (MoE) framework. This paper presents a particular form of PoE, the product of Gaussians (PoG), within an hidden Markov model framework. Training and initialisation procedures are described for this PoG system. In addition, the relationship of PoG to standard multiple stream systems is explored. The PoG system performance is examined on the SwitchBoard task and is compared to standard Gaussian mixture systems and multiple stream systems.
Interaction of PDZRhoGEF with Microtubule-associated Protein 1 Light Chains

Rat (r) PDZRhoGEF, initially identified as a glutamate transporter EAAT4-associated protein, is a member of a novel RhoGEF subfamily. The N terminus of the protein contains a PDZ and a proline-rich domain, two motifs known to be involved in protein-protein interactions. By using the yeast two-hybrid approach, we screened for proteins that interact with the N terminus of rPDZRhoGEF. The light chain 2 of microtubule-associated protein 1 (LC2) was the only protein identified from the screen that does not contain a type I PDZ-binding motif at its extreme C terminus (-(S/T)Xφ-COOH, where φ is a hydrophobic amino acid). However, the C terminus does conform to a type II-binding motif (-φXφ). We report here that rPDZRhoGEF interacts with LC2 via the PDZ domain, and the interaction is abolished by mutations in the carboxylate-binding loop. The specificity of the interaction was confirmed using GST fusion protein pull-down assays and coimmunoprecipitations. Expression of rPDZRhoGEF mutants that are unable to interact with proteins via the carboxylate-binding loop induced changes in cell morphology and actin organization. These mutants alter the activation of RhoGTPases, and coexpression of dominant-negative RhoGTPases prevent the morphological changes. Furthermore, in cells expressing wild type rPDZRhoGEF, drug-induced microtubule depolymerization produces changes in cell morphology that are similar to those induced by rPDZRhoGEF mutants. These results indicate that modulation of the guanine nucleotide exchange activity of rPDZRhoGEF through interaction with microtubule-associated protein light chains may coordinate microtubule integrity and the reorganization of actin cytoskeleton. This coordinated action of the actin and microtubular cytoskeletons is essential for the development and maintenance of neuronal polarity.
Calibration of the sampling jitter effect on wind direction measurement from platform-based HF radar

A promising trend in HF systems design for ocean surface mapping application is to change it from the land-based to platform-based. One of the new challenges to be faced is the motion of the platform, which will cause sampling jitter. This paper examines the effects of random jitter in sampling locations in the radar power spectrum, from which wind direction measurements are made. Random jitter leads to, among other distortions, attenuation in power spectral estimation. This is more severe in higher frequencies. The resulting distortion of the radar power spectrum will contribute to error in the direction estimation. To help mitigate this problem, an ensemble average approach is suggested. This can lead to an accurate restoration of the power spectrum if the probability density function of the jitter is known. If the distribution is only partially known, an estimation method is proposed to reliably compute the distribution parameter of the random jitter from the distorted spectrum. Results from simulations illustrate the adverse effects of sampling jitter on the wind direction extraction and demonstrate improvements in recovery of this parameter.
Orientational averaging of light-scattering observables in the J-matrix approach.

The formalism of the quantum theory of angular momentum is used for orientational averaging of the a matrix, the Hermitian tensorJ(+)J, and the direct product T(*)(vv')T(Tmicromicro'). These results are independent of the nature of waves and scatterers. Equations for ? J? and ? J(+)I? are interpreted as specific forms of the generalized Wigner-Eckart theorem for the matrix elements of operators J and J(+)J which are calculated in terms of symmetrical top eigenfunctions. The averaged values of the above three types of tensor are used for the analytical calculation of a complete set of incoherent light-scattering observables, i.e., the total scattering and extinction cross sections and the Mueller matrix elements.
Proceedings of the 12th Edition of the Konvens Conference, Hildesheim, Germany, October 8-10, 2014

The dependency of word similarity in vector space models on the frequency of words has been noted in a few studies, but has received very little attention. We study the influence of word frequency in a set of 10 000 randomly selected word pairs for a number of different combinations of feature weighting schemes and similarity measures. We find that the similarity of word pairs for all methods, except for the one using singular value decomposition to reduce the dimensionality of the feature space, is determined to a large extent by the frequency of the words. In a binary classification task of pairs of synonyms and unrelated words we find that for all similarity measures the results can be improved when we correct for the frequency bias.
Bevacizumab followed by chemotherapy is potential therapy for gastric cancer.

PURPOSE To investigate the antitumor effects of the angiogenesis inhibitor bevacizumab combined with chemotherapy, and the application of in vivo imaging technology of growth of fluorescence-labelled gastric cancer (GC) in nude mice. METHODS Twenty-five nude mice were randomly divided into 5 groups (A-E). Subcutaneous xenograft of human MGC803 cells was transplanted to nude mice, followed by different treatments for the groups, including A (bevacizumab combined with chemotherapy), B (24-h chemotherapy with FP followed by bevacizumab), C (bevacizumab 24-h followed by FP chemotherapy), D (bevacizumab only) and E (normal saline). Then, dynamic variation of tumor growth during 4 weeks was evaluated by calculating the tumor inhibition rate and fluorescence signal strength by in vivo imaging system. RESULTS After 28-day treatment, fluorescence signal strength in the groups A-D changed significantly compared with the E (control) group, while tumor inhibition rate in C group was highest (68.42%). Furthermore, on the 4th week, the fluorescence signal value in C group was lowest. CONCLUSIONS Administration of bevacizumab followed by chemotherapy was more effective therapeutic method for GC. The in vivo imaging could show off dynamic variation of tumors and was a sensitive and objective detection method.
Computer algorithms to characterize individual subject EMG profiles during gait.

Three methods of precisely determining onset and cessation times of gait EMG were investigated. Subjects were 24 normal adults and 32 individuals with gait pathologies. Soleus muscle EMG during free speed level walking was obtained with fine wires, and was normalized by manual muscle test (%MMT). Linear envelopes were generated from the rectified, integrated EMG at each percent gait cycle (%GC) of each stride in individual gait trials. Three methods were used to generate EMG profiles for each tested subject. The ensemble average (EAV) was determined for each subject from the mean relative intensity of the linear envelopes. Low relative intensity or short duration EMG was removed from the ensemble average to create the intensity filtered average (IFA). The packet analysis method (PAC) created an EMG profile from the linear envelopes in successive strides whose respective centroid %GC locations were within +/- 15%GC of each other. Control values for onset and cessation times of individual gait trials were calculated after spurious outliers were removed. Mean onset and cessation times across subjects for control values and the experimental methods (EAV, IFA, and PAC) were calculated. Dunnett's test (p less than .05) was performed to compare control and experimental groups in patient and normal trials. EAV differed from control values for onsets (p less than .01), cessations (p less than .01), and durations (p less than .01) in both normal and patient trials. IFA and PAC had no significant differences from control value means. IFA was selected for clinical use as automatic analysis could be performed on all trials and a minimum number of decision rules were needed.
Comparative effects of sulfhydryl compounds on target organellae, nuclei and mitochondria, of hydroxylated fullerene‐induced cytotoxicity in isolated rat hepatocytes

DNA damage and cytotoxicity induced by a hydroxylated fullerene [C60(OH)24], which is a spherical nanomaterial and/or a water‐soluble fullerene derivative, and their protection by sulfhydryl compounds were studied in freshly isolated rat hepatocytes. The exposure of hepatocytes to C60(OH)24 at a concentration of 50 μM caused time (0 to 3 h)‐dependent cell death accompanied by the formation of cell surface blebs, the loss of cellular levels of ATP and reduced glutathione, accumulation of glutathione disulfide, and induction of DNA fragmentation assayed using alkali single‐cell agarose‐gel electrophoresis. C60(OH)24‐induced cytotoxicity was effectively prevented by pretreatment with sulfhydryl compounds. N‐acetyl‐L‐cysteine (NAC), L‐cysteine and L‐methionine, at a concentration of 2.5 mM, ameliorated cell death, accompanied by a decrease in cellular ATP levels, formation of cell surface blebs, induction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and loss of mitochondrial membrane potential caused by C60(OH)24. In addition, DNA fragmentation caused by C60(OH)24 was also inhibited by NAC, whereas an antioxidant ascorbic acid did not affect C60(OH)24‐induced cell death and DNA damage in rat hepatocytes. Taken collectively, these results indicate that incubation of rat hepatocytes with C60(OH)24 elicits DNA damage, suggesting that nuclei as well as mitochondria are target sites of the hydroxylated fullerene; and induction of DNA damage and oxidative stress is ameliorated by an increase in cellular GSH levels, suggesting that the onset of toxic effects may be partially attributable to a thiol redox‐state imbalance caused by C60(OH)24. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
G protein‐mediated FMRFamidergic modulation of calcium influx in dissociated heart muscle cells from squid, Loligo forbesii

1 The actions of the neuropeptide FMRFamide (Phe‐Met‐Arg‐Phe‐NH2) on the L‐type (ICa,L) and T‐type (ICa,T) calcium currents were investigated in muscle cells dissociated from the heart of squid, Loligo forbseii. 2 The heart muscle cells could be divided into type I and type II cells, on the basis of morphological differences in the dissociated myocytes. FMRFamide induced a substantial block of the L‐type calcium current seen in type I cells; this inhibition was rapid, reversible and dose dependent (IC50= 0.1 μm). FMRFamide induced an increase in the amplitude of the L‐type calcium current in the type II heart muscle cells, but had no effect on the T‐type calcium current in either type of dissociated heart muscle cell, even at concentrations much higher than those found to affect the L‐type calcium current. 3 Internal dialysis of isolated type I heart muscle cells with guanosine 5′‐O‐(3‐thiotriphosphate (GTPγS, 100 μm), a non‐hydrolysable GTP analogue, mimicked the FMRFamide inhibition of the Ca2+ current and occluded any further FMRFamide‐induced inhibition. Internal dialysis of these cells with guanosine 5′‐O‐(2‐thiodiphosphate) (GDPβS, 100 μm) reduced the FMRFamide‐induced inhibition of the peak Ca2+ current. The inhibitory effects of FMRFamide were abolished by pre‐incubation of the cells with pertussis toxin (200 ng ml−1). 4 The activation kinetics of ICa,L were not affected by FMRFamide application, nor by internal perfusion with GTPγS, and the FMRFamide‐induced reduction in ICa,L was not relieved by large depolarising prepulses. These data indicate that FMRFamide can modulate ICa,L, but not ICa,T, in squid heart muscle cells, and that the underlying G protein pathway is dissimilar to that commonly associated with transmitter modulation of channel activity. 5 The FMRFamide‐modulated increase in ICa,L seen in the type II heart muscle cells was not mediated by a PTX‐sensitive G protein pathway.
The Influence of Periodized Resistance Training on Recreationally Active Males with Chronic Nonspecific Low Back Pain

Jackson, JK, Shepherd, TR, and Kell, RT. The influence of periodized resistance training on recreationally active males with chronic nonspecific low back pain. J Strength Cond Res 25(1): 242-251, 2011-The most common musculoskeletal health issue is chronic nonspecific low back pain (CLBP). CLBP increases pain and disability, which reduces quality of life (QoL). Generally, pain, disability, and QoL are improved with a moderate volume and intensity of physical activity. Recently, periodized resistance training (PRT) was shown to be effective at improving CLBP in sedentary young, middle-age, and older adults. The purpose of this study was to determine if PRT would increase strength, reduce pain and disability, and improve QoL in recreationally active, moderately trained middle- and older-age males. Forty-five male subjects were divided according to age into 1 of 3 groups: (a) middle-age exercise (ME), (b) old-age exercise (OE), or (c) control (C). All subjects suffered from CLBP and were considered to be moderately trained, participating in recreational ice hockey for 60 minutes, 2 times per wk−1 for ∼5 months/year along with other recreational activities. The study ran for 16 weeks (3-week familiarization and 13 weeks of testing and PRT) with 5 repetition maximum testing at baseline and weeks 8 and 12. The PRT program systematically and progressively overloaded all major muscle groups (whole-body workout). The results indicate that middle- and old-age recreationally active males with CLBP respond similarly in magnitude to PRT, with improvements in all outcome measures (strength, pain, disability, QoL) across all time points of the study. Clinical significance (≥25%) in outcome measures was reached on most variables for the ME and OE groups. The results suggest that PRT may be effectively applied as rehabilitation for moderately trained recreational athletes with CLBP.
Regulation of relaxin 3 gene expression via cAMP‐PKA in a neuroblastoma cell line

Relaxin 3 is expressed in neurons of the brain stem that inneravate wide areas of the forebrain. Relaxin 3 mRNA levels in these neurons are increased in response to restraint stress, and by central administration of corticotropin‐releasing factor (CRF). In the present study, we observed that relaxin 3 was expressed in a mouse neuroblastoma cell line, Neuro2a, and investigated the intracellular signaling that activated relaxin 3 gene transcription in vitro. By means of a clone stably transfected with a relaxin 3 promoter‐EGFP gene, we observed that dibutyryl cyclic AMP and forskolin increased the relaxin 3 promoter activity. These increases were inhibited by pretreatment with PKA inhibitors, H89 and KT5720. Moreover, the promoter activity was enhanced by CRF treatment after expression of CRF‐R1 receptor on the cells. Taken together, these results indicate that relaxin 3 transcription is activated via the cAMP‐PKA pathway in the downstream of CRF‐R1. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Debate: A bridge too far—liver transplantation for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis will overwhelm the organ supply

The obesity epidemic is one of the greatest health challenges currently facing the general population, and it will have a major impact on LT because of the associated rise in the incidence of NASH and NASH-related HCC. There is already a severe shortage of available liver allografts, which will be exacerbated by an increased demand for LT with the rising incidence of obesity-related liver disease. Because the obesity crisis also impacts the availability of suitable living and deceased organ donors, the impact will be far more significant. Research and public health initiatives aimed at further elucidating and counteracting obesity in both adults and especially children is paramount.
On the Best Rank-1 and Rank-(R1 , R2, ... , RN) Approximation of Higher-Order Tensors

In this paper we discuss a multilinear generalization of the best rank-R approximation problem for matrices, namely, the approximation of a given higher-order tensor, in an optimal least-squares sense, by a tensor that has prespecified column rank value, row rank value, etc. For matrices, the solution is conceptually obtained by truncation of the singular value decomposition (SVD); however, this approach does not have a straightforward multilinear counterpart. We discuss higher-order generalizations of the power method and the orthogonal iteration method.