Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Wearable Devices for Gait Analysis in Intelligent Healthcare

In this study, we review the role of wearable devices in tracking our daily locomotion. We discuss types of wearable devices that can be used, methods for gait analyses, and multiple healthcare-related applications aided by artificial intelligence. Impaired walking and locomotion are common resulting from injuries, degenerative pathologies, musculoskeletal disorders, and various neurological damages. Daily tracking and gait analysis are convenient and efficient approaches for monitoring human walking, where concreate and rich data can be obtained for examining our posture control mechanism during body movement and providing enhanced clinical pieces of evidence for diagnoses and treatments. Many sensors in wearable devices can help to record data of walking and running; spatiotemporal and kinematic variables can be further calculated in gait analysis. We report our previous works in gait analysis, discussing applications of wearable devices for detecting foot and ankle lesions, supporting surgeons in early diagnosis, and helping physicians with rehabilitation.
The Leukodystrophy Spectrum in Saudi Arabia: Epidemiological, Clinical, Radiological, and Genetic Data

Background: Leukodystrophies (LDs) are inherited heterogeneous conditions that affect the central nervous system with or without peripheral nerve involvement. They are individually rare, but collectively, they are common. Thirty disorders were included by the Global Leukodystrophy Initiative Consortium (GLIA) as LDs. Methods: We conducted a retrospective chart review of a consecutive series of patients diagnosed with different types of LD from four large tertiary referral centers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Only those 30 disorders defined by GLIA as LDs were included. Results: In total, 83 children from 61 families were identified and recruited for this study. The male-to-female ratio was 1.5:1, and a consanguinity rate of 58.5% was observed. An estimated prevalence of 1:48,780 or 2.05/100,000 was observed based on the clinical cohort, whereas a minimum of 1:32,857 or 3.04/100,000 was observed based on the local genetic database. The central region of the country exhibited the highest prevalence of LDs (48.5%). The most common LD was metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD), and it accounted for 25.3%. The most common disorder based on carrier frequency was AGS. Novel variants were discovered in 51% of the cases, but 49% possessed previously reported variants. Missense variants were high in number and accounted for 73% of all cases. Compared with other disorders, MLD due to saposin b deficiency was more common than expected, Pelizaeus-Merzbacher-like disease was more prevalent than Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease, and X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy was less common than expected. The mortality rate among our patients with LD was 24%. Conclusion: To the best of our knowledge, this is the largest cohort of patients with LD from Saudi Arabia. We present epidemiological, clinical, radiological, and genetic data. Furthermore, we report 18 variants that have not been reported previously. These findings are of great clinical and molecular utility for diagnosing and managing patients with LD.
Surrogate Cerebrospinal Fluid Biomarkers for Assessing the Efficacy of Gene Therapy in Hurler Syndrome

Mucopolysaccharidosis type I (MPS I) is caused by a deficiency of the lysosomal hydroxylase alpha-l-iduronidase (IDUA). The resulting accumulation of dermatan and heparan sulfate induces intellectual disabilities and pre-mature death, and only a few treatment options are available. In a previous study, we demonstrated the feasibility, safety, and efficacy of gene therapy by injecting recombinant adeno-associated viral vector serotype (AAV)2/5-IDUA into the brain of a canine model of MPS I. We report on a quantitative proteomic analysis of control dogs and untreated dogs with MPS I cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) that had been collected throughout the study in the MPS I dogs. Mass spectrometry (MS) analysis identified numerous proteins present at altered levels in MPS I CSF samples. Quantitative immunoblotting, performed on CSF from healthy controls, untreated MPS I dogs, and MPS I dogs early treated and late treated by gene therapy, confirmed the MS data for a subset of proteins with higher abundance (neuronal pentraxin 1, chitinase 3-like 1, monocyte differentiation antigen CD14, and insulin-like growth factor-binding protein 2). Scoring of the results shows that the expression levels of these proteins are close to those of the control group for dogs that underwent gene therapy early in life but not for older treated animals. Our results disclose four novel predictive biomarker candidates that might be valuable in monitoring the course of the neurological disease in MPS patients at diagnosis, during clinical follow-up, and after treatment.
Anosognosia in Early- and Late-Onset Dementia and Its Association With Neuropsychiatric Symptoms

Background: The symptom anosognosia or unawareness of disease in dementia has mainly been studied in patients with late-onset dementia (LOD, ≥65 years), whereas little is known on whether it is also present in patients with early-onset dementia (EOD, <65 years). We aimed at investigating differences in anosognosia between LOD and EOD, by also studying its association with different clinical variants of EOD and the presence of neuropsychiatric symptoms. Methods: A total of 148 patients, 91 EOD and 57 LOD, were recruited and underwent extended clinical assessment and caregiver interview that included questionnaires aimed at measuring anosognosia and neuropsychiatric symptoms. Differences in anosognosia between EOD and LOD and between subgroups with different clinical variants were investigated, as well as correlation between anosognosia and neuropsychiatric symptoms. A regression analysis was applied to explore the association between anosognosia and development of neuropsychiatric symptoms during disease progression. Results: Median levels of anosognosia were not significantly different between EOD and LOD. Anosognosia increased overtime with disease progression and was higher in frontotemporal dementia patients or, more precisely, in frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer's disease variants associated with involvement of the frontal lobes. Higher levels of early anosognosia were associated with higher frequency and severity of subsequent neuropsychiatric symptoms, in particular apathy, later in the course of the disease. Conclusion: Anosognosia is a frequent symptom of EOD, occurring in 94.5% of all-cause EOD, and it is associated with higher risk of developing neuropsychiatric symptoms during disease progression. Recognising anosognosia may be helpful for clinicians and families to reduce diagnostic delay and improve disease managment.
Transmission Control of Cross-Regional Heterogeneous Networks for Direct Position Determination

In direct position determination (DPD), a large number of observation data need to be integrated and transmitted, which creates higher requirements for the transmission performance of the network. To alleviate the problem of performance degradation in a large number of data transmissions, this paper proposes a heterogeneous network architecture and transmission control algorithm for cross-regional heterogeneous networks. Through the heterogeneous integration of satellite and multihop networks, a transmission control model suitable for the long delay and high bit error rate environments is established, the congestion window of each stage of network transmission is analyzed, and the efficiency and accuracy of the algorithm are verified by experiments. The results show that a large amount of data can be transmitted in a heterogeneous network. When dealing with direct location, the algorithm can effectively transmit a large number of observation data for cross-regional heterogeneous networks. This simple and applicable transmission control algorithm can improve the satellite link throughput and reduce the download response time compared with the traditional transmission algorithm. These studies provide a reference for a large number of data transmissions in direct position determination.
Dual-Phase β-Amyloid PET Captures Neuronal Injury and Amyloidosis in Corticobasal Syndrome

Objectives: In recent years several 18F-labeled amyloid PET (Aβ-PET) tracers have been developed and have obtained clinical approval. There is evidence that Aβ-PET perfusion can provide surrogate information about neuronal injury in neurodegenerative diseases when compared to conventional blood flow and glucose metabolism assessment. However, this paradigm has not yet been tested in neurodegenerative disorders with cortical and subcortical affection. Therefore, we investigated the performance of early acquisition 18F-flutemetamol Aβ-PET in comparison to 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-PET in corticobasal syndrome (CBS). Methods: Subjects with clinically possible or probable CBS were recruited within the prospective Activity of Cerebral Networks, Amyloid and Microglia in Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease (ActiGliA) observational study and all CBS cases with an available FDG-PET prior to Aβ-PET were selected. Aβ-PET was acquired 0–10 min p.i. (early-phase) and 90–110 min p.i. (late-phase) whereas FDG-PET was recorded statically from 30 to 50 min p.i. Semiquantitative regional values and asymmetry indices (AI) were compared between early-phase Aβ-PET and FDG-PET. Visual assessments of hypoperfusion and hypometabolism were compared between both methods. Late-phase Aβ-PET was evaluated visually for assessment of Aβ-positivity. Results: Among 20 evaluated patients with CBS, 5 were Aβ-positive. Early-phase Aβ-PET and FDG-PET SUVr correlated highly in cortical (mean R = 0.86, range 0.77–0.92) and subcortical brain regions (mean R = 0.84, range 0.79–0.90). Strong asymmetry was observed in FDG-PET for the motor cortex (mean |AI| = 2.9%), the parietal cortex (mean |AI| = 2.9%), and the thalamus (mean |AI| = 5.5%), correlating well with AI of early-phase Aβ-PET (mean R = 0.87, range 0.62–0.98). Visual assessments of hypoperfusion and hypometabolism were highly congruent. Conclusion: Early-phase Aβ-PET facilitates assessment of neuronal injury in CBS for cortical and subcortical areas. Known asymmetries in CBS are captured by this method, enabling assessment of Aβ-status and neuronal injury with a single radiation exposure at a single visit.
Posterior Cortical Cognitive Deficits Are Associated With Structural Brain Alterations in Mild Cognitive Impairment in Parkinson’s Disease

Context: Cognitive impairments are common in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and are heterogeneous in their presentation. The “dual syndrome hypothesis” suggests the existence of two distinct subtypes of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in PD: a frontostriatal subtype with predominant attentional and/or executive deficits and a posterior cortical subtype with predominant visuospatial, memory, and/or language deficits. The latter subtype has been associated with a higher risk of developing dementia. Objective: The objective of this study was to identify structural modifications in cortical and subcortical regions associated with each PD-MCI subtype. Methods: One-hundred and fourteen non-demented PD patients underwent a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment as well as a 3T magnetic resonance imaging scan. Patients were categorized as having no cognitive impairment (n = 41) or as having a frontostriatal (n = 16), posterior cortical (n = 25), or a mixed (n = 32) MCI subtype. Cortical regions were analyzed using a surface-based Cortical thickness (CTh) method. In addition, the volumes, shapes, and textures of the caudate nuclei, hippocampi, and thalami were studied. Tractometric analyses were performed on associative and commissural white matter (WM) tracts. Results: There were no between-group differences in volumetric measurements and cortical thickness. Shape analyses revealed more abundant and more extensive deformations fields in the caudate nuclei, hippocampi, and thalami in patients with posterior cortical deficits compared to patients with no cognitive impairment. Decreased fractional anisotropy (FA) and increased mean diffusivity (MD) were also observed in the superior longitudinal fascicle, the inferior fronto-occipital fascicle, the striato-parietal tract, and the anterior and posterior commissural tracts. Texture analyses showed a significant difference in the right hippocampus of patients with a mixed MCI subtype. Conclusion: PD-MCI patients with posterior cortical deficits have more abundant and more extensive structural alterations independently of age, disease duration, and severity, which may explain why they have an increased risk of dementia.
Reaching Consensus with Byzantine Faulty Controllers in Software-Defined Networks

The combination of the Internet of Things (IoT) and Cloud computing are both popular applications that are based on the Internet. However, the traditional networking structure can no longer support the transmission of the huge number of packets required by cloud computing and IoT. Therefore, a new-generation architecture, software-defined networking (SDN), came into being. The new-generation SDN can control routing through software, making flexible and convenient management a key feature of SDN. However, attacks and threats are prevalent in today’s networking environment. When an SDN controller encounters a hacker attack or virus infection, it will not function properly. Hence, we need to design a fault-tolerant mechanism for the above environment. In this paper, a fault-tolerant consensus protocol is proposed to improve the fault tolerance of SDNs with multiple controllers.
Construct a Teaching System Combining Image Linguistics and Multimedia Technology

At present, the research on the theoretical system of multimedia image linguistics in my country is very limited. In order to further improve and develop the theoretical system of multimedia picture linguistics, this article extracts effective knowledge from the research results of educational technology, linguistics, psychology, and semiotics and establishes a teaching system based on image linguistics. Multimedia picture linguistics consists of three parts: structure, semantics, and pragmatics, corresponding to the artistic laws of multimedia pictures, the cognitive laws of multimedia pictures, and the humanization and naturalization of picture design. Therefore, the research in this article is an important part of establishing multimedia image linguistics. Starting from the research methods of multimedia technology and picture linguistics, this article introduces the theoretical framework and the relationship between the multimedia learning cognitive theory and Mayer’s multimedia learning cognitive theory and conducts in-depth discussion and demonstration. The thesis constructs a teaching system that combines picture linguistics and multimedia technology and makes it a language tool for developing and designing multimedia learning materials. Experiments have proved that the teaching system combining picture linguistics and multimedia technology proposed in this paper can provide a framework, ideas, and methods for the related research of multimedia picture linguistics and multimedia technology and make multimedia picture language a multimedia learning material design and development The language tools that can be followed can effectively improve the teaching effect under the background of information technology.
An ultrafiltration membrane with enhanced photocatalytic performance from grafted N–TiO2/graphene oxide

An enhanced photocatalytic ultrafiltration membrane was prepared by grafting with N–TiO2/graphene oxide. After N–TiO2/graphene oxide particles and a polysulfone membrane had been prepared, the N–TiO2/graphene oxide was distributed in deionized water, poured onto the membrane surface and grafted onto the membrane surface by using a pump filter. Scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy were used to investigate the surface and morphological structure of the prepared membranes. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were used to analyze the elemental compositions and chemical bonds of the membranes. The hydrophilicity of the membrane surface was investigated by a sessile-drop method. The membrane water flux was tested in an ultrafiltration cup system. Methylene blue removal under darkness, ultraviolet light and sunlight were used to characterize the photocatalytic ability. The photocatalytic membrane exhibited an enhanced photocatalytic performance, especially in sunlight rather than in ultraviolet light. The synergistic effect of photocatalysis and filtration was tested; the photocatalytic membrane exhibited a better methylene-blue removal ability than a pure membrane as the methylene blue concentration in filtered water was lower. The recyclability of the photocatalytic membrane had a great improvement compared with the powder photocatalyst.
Thermal Solvent-Free Method of Loading of Pharmaceutical Cocrystals into the Pores of Silica Particles: A Case of Naproxen/Picolinamide Cocrystal

The degradation of drugs during melting was found to be one of the obstacles which restricts the application of the thermal solvent-free (TSF) method as a simple and efficient technique for loading active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) into the pores of mesoporous silica particles (MSPs). The naproxen (NPX) with melting point at 158 °C is an example of a drug which belongs to this group. In the current report we show that this limitation can be overcome by converting NPX into new crystallographic form by synthesis of cocrystal with significantly lower melting temperature as compared to pure compounds. In the course of the study it was found that picolinamide (PA) is an appropriate coformer which fulfills the assumed thermal requirements. NPX:PA cocrystal was obtained by grinding component forms of two polymorphs (α and β) which were fully characterized by solid-state NMR techniques, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and FTIR. The α polymorph of PA undergoes thermal-phase transition into form β b.
Mechanically enhanced electrically conductive films from polymerization of 3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene with wood microfibers

This study was aimed at enhancing the mechanical properties of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)/poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) using wood microfibers. Ultra-fine friction grinding was conducted on wood particles to reduce their size to the micron scale and to induce fibrillation. Oxidative polymerization was performed on 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) monomer at seven dosages based on the content of microfibers in the formulation. The presence of PEDOT:PSS in the prepared films was verified by infra-red (IR) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The composite films became stronger and stiffer as the fiber content increased. An EDOT:microfibers ratio of 33 wt % was considered the best among the seven tested levels, judging from their low sheet resistivity (340 Ω/sq.) and favorable tensile properties (38 MPa strength and 4.8 GPa stiffness). The selected films were also tested for their resistance to solvents to obtain information about their potential use in different environments. Among the tested solvents, sodium hydroxide greatly decreased the film conductivity. It also had the harshest effect on reducing the weight of the film. Findings from this study demonstrate the successful use of wood microfibers alternative to synthetic substrates and cellulose nanofiber as a supportive and reinforcing material for electrically conductive polymers. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017, 134, 45127.
Histopathological Profile of Therapeutic Doses of Mango Mistletoe Methanolic Extract (MMME) in Cardiac of Hypertensive Rats (DOCA-Salt)

This study determined the effect of Mango mistletoe Methanolic Extract (MMME) on the cardiac's histopathological profile of hypertensive rats (DOCA-Salt) treated. The MMME was treated on fifty rats for 14 days, divided into five treatments: negative control, positive control, doses 50, 100, and 200 mg/kg BW with five replications. One-way ANOVA analysis was used, namely JAMOVI with version 1.1. 9.0, and for cell calculation, diameter using the IMAGE J application. Results showed that there were no significant differences in the histopathological profile of the cardiac in hypertensive rats (DOCA-Salt) treated with MMME for 14 days on the diameter of the heart muscle cells between the control (+) and control groups (-), treatments 1, 2, and 3. This is evidenced by the analysis of p-value> 0.05, namely 0.187 millimeters. Therefore, we concluded that MMME does not affect the diameter of heart/cardiac organ muscle cells. However, there was a significant difference in the amount of necrosis in the cardiac of hypertensive rats between control (+) and control (-) groups, treatments 1, 2, and 3. Based on the results, MMME reduces the number of necrosis in the heart/cardiac organ.
A role for virtual outcrop models in blended learning – improved 3D thinking and positive perceptions of learning

Abstract. Virtual outcrop models are increasingly used in geoscience education to supplement field-based learning but their efficacy for teaching key 3D spatial thinking skills has been little tested. With the rapid increase in online digital learning resources and blended learning, most recently because of the global COVID-19 pandemic, understanding the role of virtual field environments in supporting and developing skills conventionally taught through field-based teaching has never been more critical. Here we show the efficacy of virtual outcrop models in improving 3D spatial thinking and provide evidence for positive perceptions amongst participants using virtual outcrops in teaching and learning. Our results show that, in a simple, multiple-choice scenario, participants were more likely to choose the 3D block diagram that best represents the structure when using a virtual outcrop (59 %) compared to more traditional representations, such as a geological map (50 %) or field photograph (40 %). We add depth to these results by capturing the perceptions of a cohort of students, within our full participant set, on the use of virtual outcrops for teaching and learning, after accessing a virtual field site and outcrops which they had previously visited during a day's field teaching. We also asked all participants if and how virtual outcrops could be used effectively for teaching and training, recording 87 % of positive responses. However, only 2 % of participants felt that virtual outcrops could potentially replace in-field teaching. We note that these positive findings signal significant potential for the effective use of virtual outcrops in a blended learning environment and for breaking barriers to increase the equality, diversity and inclusivity of geoscience field skills and teaching.