Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Placebo‐controlled study of rTMS for the treatment of Parkinson's disease

The objective of this study is to assess the safety and efficacy of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) for gait and bradykinesia in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). In a double‐blind placebo‐controlled study, we evaluated the effects of 25 Hz rTMS in 18 PD patients. Eight rTMS sessions were performed over a 4‐week period. Four cortical targets (left and right motor and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) were stimulated in each session, with 300 pulses each, 100% of motor threshold intensity. Left motor cortex (MC) excitability was assessed using motor evoked potentials (MEPs) from the abductor pollicis brevis. During the 4 weeks, times for executing walking and complex hand movements tests gradually decreased. The therapeutic rTMS effect lasted for at least 1 month after treatment ended. Right‐hand bradykinesia improvement correlated with increased MEP amplitude evoked by left MC rTMS after individual sessions, but improvement overall did not correlate with MC excitability. rTMS sessions appear to have a cumulative benefit for improving gait, as well as reducing upper limb bradykinesia in PD patients. Although short‐term benefit may be due to MC excitability enhancement, the mechanism of cumulative benefit must have another explanation. © 2005 Movement Disorder Society
Virtual Sports Teacher - A Serious Game in Higher Education

Virtual Sports Teacher is a Serious Ga me which is being developed by sports scientists, computer scientists an d media scientists, funded by the HM WK (hessian Ministry of science and art). The primary target group of the gam e are physical education teacher st udents. In the gam e they can practice the procedure of a typical sport lesson, learn how to tr eat pupils and arrange different sport exercises. A Game Master, the cours e teacher of a university tutorial, can adapt the game at runtime according to the player’s performance. The Game Master is able to view important statistics, to modify difficulty or to trigger game events. In Section 1, we explain the need for new forms of teaching like Serious Games. In Section 2, we present the gam e Virtual Sports Teacher, followed by a detailed description of the didactical and Game Mastering concept in Section 3. In Section 4 we conclude with an overview of future work.
Differential Regulation of Amyloid-β Endocytic Trafficking and Lysosomal Degradation by Apolipoprotein E Isoforms*♦

Background: Apolipoprotein E (apoE) regulates amyloid-β (Aβ) clearance in an isoform-dependent manner. Results: Internalized Aβ traffics to lysosomal and recycling pathways. ApoE3 more efficiently promotes Aβ lysosomal trafficking and degradation than apoE4. Conclusion: ApoE isoforms differentially affect Aβ lysosomal trafficking and degradation. Significance: Differential effects of apoE isoforms on Aβ cellular degradation may explain why apoE4 is a risk factor for Alzheimer disease. Aggregation of amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides leads to synaptic disruption and neurodegeneration in Alzheimer disease (AD). A major Aβ clearance pathway in the brain is cellular uptake and degradation. However, how Aβ traffics through the endocytic pathway and how AD risk factors regulate this event is unclear. Here we show that the majority of endocytosed Aβ in neurons traffics through early and late endosomes to the lysosomes for degradation. Overexpression of Rab5 or Rab7, small GTPases that function in vesicle fusion for early and late endosomes, respectively, significantly accelerates Aβ endocytic trafficking to the lysosomes. We also found that a portion of endocytosed Aβ traffics through Rab11-positive recycling vesicles. A blockage of this Aβ recycling pathway with a constitutively active Rab11 mutant significantly accelerates cellular Aβ accumulation. Inhibition of lysosomal enzymes results in Aβ accumulation and aggregation. Importantly, apolipoprotein E (apoE) accelerates neuronal Aβ uptake, lysosomal trafficking, and degradation in an isoform-dependent manner with apoE3 more efficiently facilitating Aβ trafficking and degradation than apoE4, a risk factor for AD. Taken together, our results demonstrate that Aβ endocytic trafficking to lysosomes for degradation is a major Aβ clearance pathway that is differentially regulated by apoE isoforms. A disturbance of this pathway can lead to accumulation and aggregation of cellular Aβ capable of causing neurotoxicity and seeding amyloid.
The sex disparity in risky driving: A survey of Colombian young drivers

ABSTRACT Objective: The overrepresentation of young drivers in poor road safety outcomes has long been recognized as a global road safety issue. In addition, the overrepresentation of males in crash statistics has been recognized as a pervasive young driver problem. Though progress in road safety evidenced as a stabilization and/or reduction in poor road safety outcomes has been made in developed nations, less-developed nations contribute the greatest road safety trauma, and developing nations such as Colombia continue to experience increasing trends in fatality rates. The aim of the research was to explore sex differences in self-reported risky driving behaviors of young drivers, including the associations with crash involvement, in a sample of young drivers attending university in Colombia. Methods: The Spanish version of the Behaviour of Young Novice Drivers Scale (BYNDS-Sp) was applied in an online survey to a sample of 392 students (225 males) aged 16–24 years attending a major university. Appropriate comparative statistics and logistic regression modeling were used when analyzing the data. Results: Males reported consistently more risky driving behaviors, with approximately one quarter of all participants reporting risky driving exposure. Males reported greater crash involvement, with violations such as speeding associated with crash involvement for both males and females. Conclusion: Young drivers in Colombia appear to engage in the same risky driving behaviors as young drivers in developed nations. In addition, young male drivers in Colombia reported greater engagement in risky driving behaviors than young female drivers, a finding consistent with the behaviors of young male drivers in developed nations. As such, the research findings suggest that general interventions such as education, engineering, and enforcement should target transient rule violations such as speeding and using a handheld mobile phone while driving for young drivers in Colombia. Future research should investigate how these interventions could be tailored specifically for the Colombian cultural context, including how their effects can be evaluated, prior to implementation.
A nuclear mutation defective in mitochondrial recombination in yeast.

Homologous recombination (crossing over and gene conversion) is generally essential for heritage and DNA repair, and occasionally causes DNA aberrations, in nuclei of eukaryotes. However, little is known about the roles of homologous recombination in the inheritance and stability of mitochondrial DNA which is continuously damaged by reactive oxygen species, by‐products of respiration. Here, we report the first example of a nuclear recessive mutation which suggests an essential role for homologous recombination in the stable inheritance of mitochondrial DNA. For the detection of this class of mutants, we devised a novel procedure, ‘mitochondrial crossing in haploid’, which has enabled us to examine many mutant clones. Using this procedure, we examined mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae that showed an elevated UV induction of respiration‐deficient mutations. We obtained a mutant that was defective in both the omega‐intron homing and Endo.SceI‐induced homologous gene conversion. We found that the mutant cells are temperature sensitive in the maintenance of mitochondrial DNA. A tetrad analysis indicated that elevated UV induction of respiration‐deficient mutations, recombination deficiency and temperature sensitivity are all caused by a single nuclear mutation (mhr1) on chromosome XII. The pleiotropic characteristics of the mutant suggest an essential role for the MHR1 gene in DNA repair, recombination and the maintenance of DNA in mitochondria.
Improving Organizational Performance of Small and Medium Enterprises in Egypt through Promoting the Human Factors in Quality Management Systems

In this study, a sample of 96 Egyptian manufacturing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) was studied in relation to human factors (HFs) dependent quality management system (QMS). These were in three distinct industry groups: food & beverage, textiles & garments and leather & footwear. Human factors considered are derived from the seven criteria of the Egyptian Quality Award (EgyQA) and were used as the basis of a questionnaire survey. The SWOT analysis for the survey results revealed the urgent need for developing governmental strategies which should focus on improving organizations performance, developing QMS and establishing total quality management (TQM) basic infrastructure for the Egyptian manufacturing SMEs. This paper has provided two proposed practical framework models for improving the performance of the Egyptian manufacturing SMEs and for developing their competitiveness in both domestic and international markets, and thus activate their main role in the Egyptian economy.
Performance Issues of the Parallel Pam-Crash Code

The successful completion of the ESPRIT project CAMAS (EP 6756) and its extension to provide a link to the EURO PORT-1 action (EP 8421) (Mierendorff et al., 1995), together with further internal developments, has resulted in the availability of a portable message-passing version of the industrial crashworthiness program PAM-CRASH. This provides code users with an increased range of employment possibilities: effective use of resources through workstation networks, distributed-memory ma chines on which message passing is a necessity, and improved throughput on shared-memory or hybrid sys tems. With crash and safety analysis well established in the automotive design process, the availability of parallel application software enables the take-up of HPC technol ogy to the benefit of industrial design. In this paper, we illustrate the degree of scalability obtained for typical in dustrial applications and the challenges encountered on today's parallel machines.
Investigating the role of memory in interactions between intelligent virtual characters and humans over time

Memory is an important ability in aiding human interactions. It allows us to build interpersonal relationships by helping the development of trust and sharing of knowledge. Our ability to remember names, faces, places, events and other details enriches our ability to communicate. It therefore seems intuitive that any intelligent virtual character interacting with humans over a period of time should exhibit a similar ability for recall. Memory in virtual characters has typically been implemented as a solution to virtual characters remembering information considered essential for their success in their intended roles. This is frequently achieved by predefining the information that agents retain by making assumptions about the kind of information that agents should either remember or forget. However, human memory is not restricted to purely pertinent information. We are thus investigating the role of memory over time by conducting experiments to determine what sort of information, type of memory (e.g. episodic and/or semantic) and level of accuracy are considered most appropriate by humans to be recalled by intelligent virtual agents with whom they are interacting in order to find a property for lease or sale. Results should give us a better idea of how to increase the believability of virtual characters using long-term memory as well as greater understanding of the expectations that humans have of agents.
Retinal biosynthesis in Eubacteria: in vitro characterization of a novel carotenoid oxygenase from Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803

Retinal and its derivatives represent essential compounds in many biological systems. In animals, they are synthesized through a symmetrical cleavage of β‐carotene catalysed by a monooxygenase. Here, we demonstrate that the open reading frame sll1541 from the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 encodes the first eubacterial, retinal synthesizing enzyme (Diox1) thus far reported. In contrast to enzymes from animals, Diox1 converts β‐apo‐carotenals instead of β‐carotene into retinal in vitro. The identity of the enzymatic product was proven by HPLC, GC‐MS and in a biological test. Investigations, of the stereospecifity showed that Diox1 cleaved only the all‐trans form of β‐apo‐8′‐carotenal, yielding all‐trans‐retinal. However, Diox1 exhibited wide substrate specificity with respect to chain‐lengths and functional end‐groups. Although with divergent Km and Vmax values, the enzyme converted β‐apo‐carotenals, (3R)‐3‐OH‐β‐apo‐carotenals as well as apo‐lycopenals into retinal, (3R)‐3‐hydroxy‐retinal and acycloretinal respectively. In addition, the alcohols of these substrates were cleaved to yield the corresponding retinal derivatives.
Anticaries Effect of a Component from Shiitake (an Edible Mushroom)

The caries–inhibiting effect of the extract from shiitake (Lentinus edodes), the most popular edible mushroom in Japan, was studied both in vitro and in vivo. Shiitake extract showed an inhibitory effect on water–insoluble glucan formation from sucrose by crude glucosyltransferases of Streptococcus mutans JC–2 and Streptococcus sobrinus OMZ–176. The firmly adherent plaque in the artificial plaque formation test was strongly inhibited by shiitake extract. The reduction of firmly adherent plaque caused an increase in the incidence of non– and loosely adherent plaque and a decrease in total plaque formation. A significantly lower caries score was observed in specific pathogen–free rats infected with S. mutans JC–2 and fed with a cariogenic diet containing 0.25% shiitake extract as compared with controls fed the cariogenic diet without shiitake extract.
On the Role of Topography and Wind Stress on the Stability of the Thermohaline Circulation

A frictional geostrophic model is used to examine how the stability of the thermohaline circulation is affected by idealized topographic variations and the presence or absence of wind stress. If the flow exhibits collapses, the authors consider how topography and wind stress affect the ensuing oscillations. Large-scale slope up toward the north or the west can significantly destabilize the circulation by modifying the barotropic flow and reducing the depth of convection. Wind stress stabilizes the circulation by deepening the thermocline in the subtropical gyre. Wind driving can also radically reduce the period of oscillations by destabilizing the northern halocline in the collapsed phase. The overall period of the oscillation is usually governed by the time taken for diffusive warming to destabilize the deep ocean.
Normal Energy Intake Range in Children with Chronic Nonspecific Diarrhea: Association of Relapses with the Higher Level

An increase in energy intake often occurs at weaning. The increase may be due partly to prompting by the caregiver to accelerate the child's weight gain and partly motivated by the palatability of common weaning foods. Increased food intakes initiated during weaning and continued into the second year of life may be associated with chronic, nonspecific diarrhea in selected children. An educational project was designed to reduce intakes augmented by either cause. Reductions were achieved by the regulation of energy-dense foods in the child's diet and reliance on the child's appetite control to determine meal size. The educational intervention was applied prospectively under nonblinded, controlled conditions. Children, 1 to 2 years of age, with chronic nonspecific diarrhea were assigned randomly to either a treatment or control group. Compliance, food consumption, preprandial glycemia, and outdoor activities were reported by the children's mothers in four 7-day diaries; symptoms related to the children's clinical condition and anthropometric and biochemical indices of nutritional status were noted at the beginning and end of a 7-month period. Forty-four of 53 children in the experimental group maintained compliance, and 44 of 47 children in the control group completed the follow-up. Energy intake decreased significantly by almost one-third in the experimental group. Growth, skinfold thickness measurements, and outdoor activities were similar between experimental and control groups over the 7-month period. Diarrheal episodes occurred in 6, 1, and 2 children in the experimental group at 1.5, 3, and 7 months and in 22, 18, and 15 children in the control group, respectively (p < 0.002). Twenty of 32 parameter of clinical status were more advantageous in the experimental group compared to 9 of 32 in the control group in a comparison of the mean values in the two groups at the final examination (p < 0.05). Serum folate (p < 0.001) also was significantly higher in the experimental group. The described intervention appeared to achieve lower energy intakes in a safe and reproducible manner. It may be a useful tool to prevent overeating and control signs and symptoms associated with chronic, nonspecific diarrhea.
Modulates Innate Immune Responses Ubiquitination and a B k Suppresses I B, k Inhibits NF- Salmonella typhimurium of Secreted Factor L Deubiquitinase Salmonella

Salmonella enterica translocates virulent factors into host cells using type III secretion systems to promote host colonization, intracellular bacterial replication and survival, and disease pathogenesis. Among many effectors, the type III secretion system encoded in Salmonella pathogenicity island 2 translocates a Salmonella -speciﬁc protein, designated Salmonella secreted factor L (SseL), a putative virulence factor possessing deubiquitinase activity. In this study, we attempt to elucidate the mechanism and the function of SseL in vitro, in primary host macrophages and in vivo in infected mice. Expression of SseL in mammalian cells suppresses NF- (cid:1) B activation downstream of I (cid:1) B (cid:2) kinases and impairs I (cid:1) B (cid:2) ubiquitination and degradation, but not I (cid:1) B (cid:2) phosphorylation. Disruption of the gene encoding SseL in S. enterica serovar typhimurium increases I (cid:1) B (cid:2) degradation and ubiquitination, as well as NF- (cid:1) B activation in infected macrophages, compared with wild-type bacteria. Mice infected with SseL-deﬁcient bacteria mount stronger inﬂammatory responses, associated with increased production of NF- (cid:1) B-dependent cytokines. Thus, SseL represents one of the ﬁrst bacterial deubiquitinases demonstrated to modulate the host inﬂammatory response in vivo. The Journal of Immunology,
Binaural interaction in low-frequency neurons in inferior colliculus of the cat. IV. Comparison of monaural and binaural response properties.

We studied the monaural and binaural response properties of 82 low-frequency inferior colliculus (IC) neurons that display a clear sensitivity to changes in interaural phase. Most cells (60%) are excited by sound delivered to either ear, the remainder being excited only by stimulation of one ear; 70% of the neurons receive their stronger or sole excitatory input from the contralateral ear. A monotonic relation between spike discharge and sound pressure level (SPL) is seen in 65% of the monaural response areas, i.e., the range of stimulus frequencies and intensities effective in eliciting a response, while 30% show a nonmonotonic response pattern. In 33% of the cases there is a significant shift in the most effective frequency as a function of SPL. Most discharge patterns are classified as sustained (69%) and the remainder as onset. However, there is considerable variability within these patterns and often two types of discharges are present at different points in the same response area of a single cell. The sustained responses show a broad range of latencies, while onset patterns show a tighter distribution and shorter first spike latencies. Thus, IC neurons showing sensitivity to changes in interaural phase can differ in laterality preferences, response area characteristics, discharge patterns, and latency parameters. Given the diversity of inputs to the IC from lower brain stem structures, this heterogeneity is not surprising. For most neurons excited by stimulation to either ear, the characteristic frequencies, discharge patterns, and first spike latencies are similar, suggesting that the monaural inputs to a binaural cell are of the same type. A neuron's most effective frequencies at a particular SPL for monaural and binaural stimulation are, in general, the same. In some cases a neuron's monaural and binaural response areas can show remarkable similarities, suggesting that certain monaural features are intimately related to the binaural response. In 18% of the IC cells, phase locking to the monaural stimulating frequency is seen. When both inputs are phase locked, a simple coincidence model can predict the interaural phase or delay at which the maximal binaural discharge occurs.
Sarcolemmal excitability after eccentric exercise in man

Piitulainen, Harri 2006. Sarcolemmal excitability after eccentric exercise in man. Master thesis (Pro Gradu). Department of Biology of Physical Activity, University of Jyvaskyla, Finland. 49 pages. Experiments were carried out to test the sarcolemmal excitability after intensive eccentric elbow flexor exercise (two sets of 20 repetitions) in humans. Electrically elicited surface compound muscle action potential (M-wave) properties from 30 s stimulation trains (20 Hz) were recorded from the biceps brachii muscle immediately after the exercise and during 48 h follow-up period. The results indicated that M-wave properties (area, amplitude, root mean square and duration) were reduced when measured immediately post-exercise. However, this was not the case two days after the exercise, although subjects had clear symptoms of delayed-onset muscle soreness and the maximal voluntary isometric and eccentric torques were still depressed by 12.2 ± 9 % (P < 0.001) and 17.7 ± 9 % (P < 0.001), respectively. Plasma concentrations of K and Ca showed an acute post-exercise increase of 5.4 ± 5.4 % and 1.7 ± 2.1 %, respectively, suggesting an acute loss of normal ion distribution across the sarcolemma. These findings suggest, that disturbance of sarcolemmal excitability is not the major factor on eccentric exercise induced prolonged loss of muscle strength. However, the eccentric exercise may decrease the sarcolemmal excitability acutely, which seems to be related to increased sarcolemmal permeability.
Model identification and vision-based H∞ position control of 6-DoF cable-driven parallel robots

ABSTRACT This paper presents methodologies for the identification and control of 6-degrees of freedom (6-DoF) cable-driven parallel robots (CDPRs). First a two-step identification methodology is proposed to accurately estimate the kinematic parameters independently and prior to the dynamic parameters of a physics-based model of CDPRs. Second, an original control scheme is developed, including a vision-based position controller tuned with the H∞ methodology and a cable tension distribution algorithm. The position is controlled in the operational space, making use of the end-effector pose measured by a motion-tracking system. A four-block H∞ design scheme with adjusted weighting filters ensures good trajectory tracking and disturbance rejection properties for the CDPR system, which is a nonlinear-coupled MIMO system with constrained states. The tension management algorithm generates control signals that maintain the cables under feasible tensions. The paper makes an extensive review of the available methods and presents an extension of one of them. The presented methodologies are evaluated by simulations and experimentally on a redundant 6-DoF INCA 6D CDPR with eight cables, equipped with a motion-tracking system.