Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The role of motivation in predicting antiretroviral therapy adherence in China

Patient motivation is important in managing medication regimens such as antiretroviral treatment for HIV/AIDS. We tested whether self-determination theory could predict adherence behavior among 115 HIV-positive patients in the China Adherence through Technology Study, a randomized controlled trial of an intervention using text reminders and supportive counseling to increase adherence. Being in the treatment group had a significant effect on improving adherence; however, we did not find evidence that self-determination theory predicts adherence in this population of HIV-positive patients. Autonomous motivation was strongly associated with perceived competence; among low adherers, external regulation was negatively correlated with adherence.
Robot sensor data as a means to measure human reactions to an interaction

This study investigates a methodology using sensor data from a humanoid robot to interpret a human's feelings towards a social interaction with the robot. Subjects of diverse backgrounds taught the robot how to play a rock-paper-scissors game while the robot discreetly took measures of hand temperature, tactile pressure, forces, and face distance. Before and after the interaction, surveys were administered to measure the subject's technophobia level and reactions to the robot. Several correlations were found between the questionnaire data and sensor data, following tendencies supported by previous research and psychological studies. The usage of robot sensor data may provide a quick, natural, and discreet alternative to survey data to analyze user feelings towards a social interaction with a humanoid robot. These results may also guide roboticists on the design of humanoid robots and sensors able to measure and react to their users.
Achievement of ‘Mikoshi’ with multiple humanoid robots as coordinated navigation problem based on real-time 3D space recognition in a dynamic environment

In order for humanoid robots to work actively around humans, they are expected to move autonomously in public spaces. For achieving such mobile intelligence, so many researches have been conducted so far. However, most of them deal with only elements for constructing necessary mobile intelligence. While moving around public spaces, composite recognition including self-motion recognition, moving objects' motion recognition, and global localization is indispensable in a dynamic environment. In this paper, “Mikoshi” is adopted as a challenging task of coordinated navigation problem in a dynamic environment. “Mikoshi” is a Japanese traditional mobile shrine which is carried by multiple people cooperatively. In some festival, not only a shrine, but also a person is carried. For robots to imitate `Mikoshi' in a public space, they have to solve not only cooperative locomotion problem, but also navigation in a dynamic environment. The purpose of this paper is to achieve such coordinated navigation problem by multiple humanoid robots. For solving this problem, an integrated system based on real-time 3D space recognition and coordinated motion generation algorithm for stable motion is developed. Also, we performed a verification experiment with path planning navigation of `Mikoshi' in a dynamic environment.
How have selection bias and disease misclassification undermined the validity of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome studies?

Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome has been a controversial diagnosis, resulting in tensions between patients and professionals providing them with care. A major constraint limiting progress has been the lack of a ‘gold standard’ for diagnosis; with a number of imperfect clinical and research criteria used, each defining different, though overlapping, groups of people with myalgic encephalomyelitis or chronic fatigue syndrome. We review basic epidemiological concepts to illustrate how the use of more specific and restrictive case definitions could improve research validity and drive progress in the field by reducing selection bias caused by diagnostic misclassification.
Molecular and Structural Basis for the Roles of Hepatitis C Virus Polymerase NS5B Amino Acids 15, 223, and 321 in Viral Replication and Drug Resistance

ABSTRACT Resistance to the 2′-F-2′-C-methylguanosine monophosphate nucleotide hepatitis C virus (HCV) inhibitors PSI-352938 and PSI-353661 was associated with a combination of amino acid changes (changes of S to G at position 15 [S15G], C223H, and V321I) within the genotype 2a nonstructural protein 5B (NS5B), an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase. To understand the role of these residues in viral replication, we examined the effects of single and multiple point mutations on replication fitness and inhibition by a series of nucleotide analog inhibitors. An acidic residue at position 15 reduced replicon fitness, consistent with its proximity to the RNA template. A change of the residue at position 223 to an acidic or large residue reduced replicon fitness, consistent with its proposed proximity to the incoming nucleoside triphosphate (NTP). A change of the residue at position 321 to a charged residue was not tolerated, consistent with its position within a hydrophobic cavity. This triple resistance mutation was specific to both genotype 2a virus and 2′-F-2′-C-methylguanosine inhibitors. A crystal structure of the NS5B S15G/C223H/V321I mutant of the JFH-1 isolate exhibited rearrangement to a conformation potentially consistent with short primer-template RNA binding, which could suggest a mechanism of resistance accomplished through a change in the NS5B conformation, which was better tolerated by genotype 2a virus than by viruses of other genotypes.
A journey in the field of health: From social psychology to multi-disciplinarity

“Health psychology” is a newer sub-discipline whose research methodologies, theories, and practices were borrowed from diverse areas of psychology. It appeared later in France than in the United States or United Kingdom. In 1966, I adopted a perspective between anthropology and psycho-sociology of medicine. I never have self-identified as a “Health Psychologist”, continuing to work outside of disciplinary boundary constraints, but studied health questions moving first from psychology (and anthropology), through social psychology to sociology. By the 1980s, I adopted an even broader multi-disciplinary approach to health, as the HIV/AIDS epidemic urgently challenged health researchers/practitioners, in France and worldwide.
Comparison of the Accuracy and Precision of Pharmacokinetic Equations To Predict Free Meropenem Concentrations in Critically Ill Patients

ABSTRACT Population pharmacokinetic analyses can be applied to predict optimized dosages for individual patients. The aim of this study was to compare the prediction performance of the published population pharmacokinetic models for meropenem in critically ill patients. We coded the published population pharmacokinetic models with covariate relationships into dosing software to predict unbound meropenem concentrations measured in a separate cohort of critically ill patients. The agreements between the observed and predicted concentrations were evaluated with Bland-Altman plots. The absolute and relative bias and precision of the models were determined. The clinical implications of the results were evaluated according to whether dose adjustments were required from the predictions to achieve a meropenem concentration of >2 mg/liter throughout the dosing interval. A total of 157 free meropenem concentrations from 56 patients were analyzed. Eight published population pharmacokinetic models were compared. The models showed an absolute bias in predicting the unbound meropenem concentrations from a mean percent difference (95% confidence interval [CI]) of −108.5% (−119.9% to −97.3%) to 19.9% (7.3% to 32.7%), while absolute precision ranged from −249.1% (−263.4% to −234.8%) to 31.9% (17.6% to 46.2%) and −178.9% (−196.9% to −160.9%) to 175.0% (157.0% to 193.0%). A dose change was required in 44% to 64% of the concentration results. Seven of the eight equations evaluated underpredicted free meropenem concentrations. In conclusion, the overall accuracy of these models supports their inclusion in dosing software and application for individualizing meropenem doses in critically ill patients to increase the likelihood of achievement of optimal antibiotic exposures.
Compliance analysis of human leg joints in level ground walking with an optimal control approach

Compliance is a property of human locomotion that has been largely investigated, both at muscle and joint level. Many studies are focused on leg joints in order to create mechanisms able to reproduce human-like gaits such as prostheses, exoskeletons or walking robots. A common approach is to look for a suitable stiffness for a linear spring that can approximate the behavior of a specific joint in a certain walking phase. In this paper the objective is instead to analyze the modulation of stiffness in the joints of human lower limbs during a single ground level walking step. Torsional springs with variable stiffness are introduced in the hip, knee and ankle joints of a 2D human model, as well as a damper in the ankle joint to avoid oscillations. Optimal control is applied to compute the variable stiffness, the rest positions of the springs and the value of the damper at the ankle that best reproduce human joint trajectories during level ground walking.
Student teachers' concepts of literacy and numeracy

The UK Government's Key Stage 3 Strategy (KS3S) aims to transform teachers' approaches, including pedagogy, and pupils' expectations in England. It places new demands on specialist subject teachers to undertake cross‐curricular work in the fields of literacy and numeracy development. However, there are insufficient research data concerning trainee teachers' readiness for such a broadening of their responsibilities, and it is also unclear whether, or how, teachers will be trained in the underpinning pedagogies associated with literacy and numeracy. This study, funded by the British Academy, investigated how trainee teachers across a range of disciplines conceive of literacy and numeracy, as such pre‐concepts are likely to frame their approaches to teaching, and, thus, impact on the effectiveness of the cross‐curricular elements within the Strategy. It discovered differences according to subject background and between attitudes to literacy and numeracy. The interview process was found to be helpful in getting trainee teachers to ‘think through’ their views on these issues.
A comparison of contact distribution representations for learning to predict object interactions

Different contacts between objects afford different interactions between them. For example, while contacts below an object can provide support, contacts on opposing sides can be used for pinching. Hence, a robot can learn to predict which interactions are currently afforded based on the set of contacts. However, representing sets of contacts is not trivial, as the number of contacts is not fixed nor are the contacts ordered. In this paper, we compare different methods for representing contacts, including bag-of-features, probability product kernels, and random forests. These approaches model the distribution over the contacts without relying on task-specific features. The methods were evaluated on both simulated grasping data, as well as real robot grasps. The random forest and the normalized expected likelihood kernel approaches achieved the highest accuracies for the simulated experiments. In the case of the real robot data, the more robust exponential χ2 and Bhattacharyya kernels achieved higher accuracies.
Optimizing energy consumption and preventing slips at the footstep planning level

Energy consumption and stability are two important problems for humanoid robots deployed in remote outdoor locations. In this paper we propose an extended footstep planning method to optimize energy consumption while considering motion feasibility and ground friction constraints. To do this we estimate models of energy, feasibility and slippage in physics simulation, and integrate them into a hybrid A* search and optimization-based planner. The graph search is done in footstep position space, while timing (leg swing and double support times) and COM motion (parameterized height trajectory) are obtained by solving an optimization problem at each node. We conducted experiments to validate the obtained energy model on the real robot, as well as planning experiments showing 9 to 19% energy savings. In example scenarios, the robot can correctly plan to optimally traverse slippery patches or avoid them depending on their size and friction; and uses stairs with the most beneficial dimensions in terms of energy consumption.
Efficient body part tracking using ridge data and data pruning

This paper proposes a model-based human pose estimation from a sequence of monocular depth images using ridge data and data pruning. The proposed method uses the ridge data that is defined as the local maxima in the distance map because it estimates the human pose robustly and fast due to its selective representation of body skeletons. The proposed method performs four functional subtasks sequentially: (1) it segments human depth silhouettes from depth images by executing floor removal, object segmentation, human detection and human identification, (2) it extracts ridge data from each segmented human depth silhouette by finding the local maxima over the distance map, (3) it generates initial human model parameters such as the lengths between two neighboring joints, and (4) it estimates the human pose by tracking the body joints in a hierarchical order of head, torso, and limbs and pruning illegal ridge data based on the joint length constraints. In pose estimation experiments on the benchmark dataset, SMMC-10, the proposed method achieved 0.9671 mean Average Precision (mAP) and 280 frames per second (fps). The experimental results over the SMMC-10 dataset show that the proposed method estimates the human pose fast and tracks the body joints accurately under various self-occlusion and fast moving condition.
Pharmacokinetics and Safety of Intravenous Cidofovir for Life-Threatening Viral Infections in Pediatric Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant Recipients

ABSTRACT Children undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) are at risk for life-threatening viral infections. Cidofovir is often used as a first-line agent for adenovirus infections, despite the absence of randomized controlled trials with HSCT patients, and as a second-line agent for resistant herpesvirus infections. The frequency and severity of adverse effects, particularly nephrotoxicity, in pediatric HSCT recipients are unclear, and pharmacokinetics (PK) of cidofovir in children have not previously been reported. This study was an open-label, nonrandomized, single-dose pilot study to determine the safety and PK of cidofovir in pediatric HSCT recipients with symptomatic adenovirus, nucleoside-resistant cytomegalovirus (CMV) or herpes simplex virus (HSV), and/or human papovavirus infections. Subsequent dosing and frequency were determined by clinical response and side effects, as assessed by the treating physician. Blood and urine samples were obtained from patients for PK studies and assessment of toxicity and virologic response. Twelve patients were enrolled (median age, 9 years; 33.5 days posttransplantation). Four of seven patients with adenovirus infection were successfully treated and eventually cleared their infections. Four of twelve patients died of disseminated viral disease and multiorgan failure. Two of twelve patients had evidence of acute kidney injury after the first dose, and one of these patients developed chronic kidney disease; two other patients developed late nephrotoxicity. The mean drug half-life was 9.5 h. There was no correlation between nephrotoxicity and plasma maximum concentration, clearance, or half-life. PK were similar to those reported for adults, although the drug half-life was significantly longer than that for adults. Cidofovir was well tolerated in the majority of patients. However, effective therapeutic strategies are urgently needed to support patients until immune reconstitution is achieved.
Stable bipedal foot planting on uneven terrain through optimal ankle impedance

In the problem of fast bipedal locomotion on uneven terrain, one of the key challenges is in establishing stable footholds. We present an approach for analytically computing the optimal impedances for completing a safe and stable foothold. The robot foot-leg behavior is modeled as a free-floating two-link system making contact with an uneven surface. The optimal impedance is derived directly from minimizing a cost function based on the Center of Pressure (CoP) at the instant of making full ground contact. The obtained impedance is shown to be linearly dependent on the orientation of the ground, for a given desired terminal state and CoP position. Consequently the impedance can be estimated based on an expectation of ground orientation at the point of foot contact. The proposed approach is validated in a walking simulation on the full iCub humanoid robot.
Damage-Free Smooth-Sidewall InGaAs Nanopillar Array by Metal-Assisted Chemical Etching.

Producing densely packed high aspect ratio In0.53Ga0. 47As nanostructures without surface damage is critical for beyond Si-CMOS nanoelectronic and optoelectronic devices. However, conventional dry etching methods are known to produce irreversible damage to III-V compound semiconductors because of the inherent high-energy ion-driven process. In this work, we demonstrate the realization of ordered, uniform, array-based In0.53Ga0. 47As pillars with diameters as small as 200 nm using the damage-free metal-assisted chemical etching (MacEtch) technology combined with the post-MacEtch digital etching smoothing. The etching mechanism of InxGa1-xAs is explored through the characterization of pillar morphology and porosity as a function of etching condition and indium composition. The etching behavior of In0.53Ga0. 47As, in contrast to higher bandgap semiconductors (e.g., Si or GaAs), can be interpreted by a Schottky barrier height model that dictates the etching mechanism constantly in the mass transport limited regime because of the low barrier height. A broader impact of this work relates to the complete elimination of surface roughness or porosity related defects, which can be prevalent byproducts of MacEtch, by post-MacEtch digital etching. Side-by-side comparison of the midgap interface state density and flat-band capacitance hysteresis of both the unprocessed planar and MacEtched pillar In0.53Ga0. 47As metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitors further confirms that the surface of the resultant pillars is as smooth and defect-free as before etching. MacEtch combined with digital etching offers a simple, room-temperature, and low-cost method for the formation of high-quality In0.53Ga0. 47As nanostructures that will potentially enable large-volume production of In0.53Ga0. 47As-based devices including three-dimensional transistors and high-efficiency infrared photodetectors.
Synthesis of a Sugar-Based Thiosemicarbazone Series and Structure-Activity Relationship versus the Parasite Cysteine Proteases Rhodesain, Cruzain, and Schistosoma mansoni Cathepsin B1

ABSTRACT The pressing need for better drugs against Chagas disease, African sleeping sickness, and schistosomiasis motivates the search for inhibitors of cruzain, rhodesain, and Schistosoma mansoni CB1 (SmCB1), the major cysteine proteases from Trypanosoma cruzi, Trypanosoma brucei, and S. mansoni, respectively. Thiosemicarbazones and heterocyclic analogues have been shown to be both antitrypanocidal and inhibitory against parasite cysteine proteases. A series of compounds was synthesized and evaluated against cruzain, rhodesain, and SmCB1 through biochemical assays to determine their potency and structure-activity relationships (SAR). This approach led to the discovery of 6 rhodesain, 4 cruzain, and 5 SmCB1 inhibitors with 50% inhibitory concentrations (IC50s) of ≤10 μM. Among the compounds tested, the thiosemicarbazone derivative of peracetylated galactoside (compound 4i) was discovered to be a potent rhodesain inhibitor (IC50 = 1.2 ± 1.0 μM). The impact of a range of modifications was determined; removal of thiosemicarbazone or its replacement by semicarbazone resulted in virtually inactive compounds, and modifications in the sugar also diminished potency. Compounds were also evaluated in vitro against the parasites T. cruzi, T. brucei, and S. mansoni, revealing active compounds among this series.
Antimalarial Iron Chelator FBS0701 Blocks Transmission by Plasmodium falciparum Gametocyte Activation Inhibition

ABSTRACT Reducing the transmission of the malarial parasite by Anopheles mosquitoes using drugs or vaccines remains a main focus in the efforts to control malaria. Iron chelators have been studied as potential antimalarial drugs due to their activities against different stages of the parasite. The iron chelator FBS0701 affects the development of Plasmodium falciparum early gametocytes and lowers blood-stage parasitemia. Here, we tested the effect of FBS0701 on stage V gametocyte infectivity for mosquitoes. The incubation of stage V gametocytes for up to 3 days with increasing concentrations of FBS0701 resulted in a significant dose-related reduction in mosquito infectivity, as measured by the numbers of oocysts per mosquito. The reduction in mosquito infectivity was due to the inhibition of male and female gametocyte activation. The preincubation of FBS0701 with ferric chloride restored gametocyte infectivity, showing that the inhibitory effect of FBS0701 was quenched by iron. Deferoxamine, another iron chelator, also reduced gametocyte infectivity but to a lesser extent. Finally, the simultaneous administration of drug and gametocytes to mosquitoes without previous incubation did not significantly reduce the numbers of oocysts. These results show the importance of gametocyte iron metabolism as a potential target for new transmission-blocking strategies.
Characterization of a Large Cluster of Influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 Viruses Cross-Resistant to Oseltamivir and Peramivir during the 2013-2014 Influenza Season in Japan

ABSTRACT Between September 2013 and July 2014, 2,482 influenza 2009 pandemic A(H1N1) [A(H1N1)pdm09] viruses were screened in Japan for the H275Y substitution in their neuraminidase (NA) protein, which confers cross-resistance to oseltamivir and peramivir. We found that a large cluster of the H275Y mutant virus was present prior to the main influenza season in Sapporo/Hokkaido, with the detection rate for this mutant virus reaching 29% in this area. Phylogenetic analysis suggested the clonal expansion of a single mutant virus in Sapporo/Hokkaido. To understand the reason for this large cluster, we examined the in vitro and in vivo properties of the mutant virus. We found that it grew well in cell culture, with growth comparable to that of the wild-type virus. The cluster virus also replicated well in the upper respiratory tract of ferrets and was transmitted efficiently between ferrets by way of respiratory droplets. Almost all recently circulating A(H1N1)pdm09 viruses, including the cluster virus, possessed two substitutions in NA, V241I and N369K, which are known to increase replication and transmission fitness. A structural analysis of NA predicted that a third substitution (N386K) in the NA of the cluster virus destabilized the mutant NA structure in the presence of the V241I and N369K substitutions. Our results suggest that the cluster virus retained viral fitness to spread among humans and, accordingly, caused the large cluster in Sapporo/Hokkaido. However, the mutant NA structure was less stable than that of the wild-type virus. Therefore, once the wild-type virus began to circulate in the community, the mutant virus could not compete and faded out.