Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Abnormal visual contrast acuity in Parkinson's disease.

BACKGROUND Low-contrast vision is thought to be reduced in Parkinson's disease (PD). This may have a direct impact on quality of life such as driving, using tools, finding objects, and mobility in low-light condition. Low-contrast letter acuity testing has been successful in assessing low-contrast vision in multiple sclerosis. We report the use of a new iPad application to measure low-contrast acuity in patients with PD. OBJECTIVE To evaluate low- and high-contrast letter acuity in PD patients and controls using a variable contrast acuity eye chart developed for the Apple iPad. METHODS Thirty-two PD and 71 control subjects were studied. Subjects viewed the Variable Contrast Acuity Chart on an iPad with both eyes open at two distances (40 cm and 2 m) and at high contrast (black and white visual acuity) and 2.5% low contrast. Acuity scores for the two groups were compared. RESULTS PD patients had significantly lower scores (indicating worse vision) for 2.5% low contrast at both distances and for high contrast at 2 m (p < 0.003) compared to controls. No significant difference was found between the two groups for high contrast at 40 cm (p = 0.12). CONCLUSIONS Parkinson's disease patients have reduced low and high contrast acuity compared to controls. An iPad app, as used in this study, could serve as a quick screening tool to complement more formal testing of patients with PD and other neurologic disorders.
Inverse kinematics for autonomous underwater manipulations using weighted damped least squares

Automation using sensor based target recognition increases efficiency for underwater intervention, but may cause a problem to violate the kinematic limitations of the manipulators. In the paper, the kinematic solution based on the weighted damped least squares is investigated to overcome the limitations: workspace limit and singularity, unintended changes of the robot configurations, and joint limits on position and velocity. By designing appropriate cost functions for each limitation, the proposed method provides the kinematic solution optimized in the manner of weighted norm, even when the manipulators meet those limitations. Through the numerical experiments, the performance of the proposed method is verified.
Comparison of Na-K-Cl Cotransporters

The Na-K-Cl cotransporter (NKCC) mediates the coupled movement of ions into most animal cells, playing important roles in maintenance of cell volume and in epithelial Cl transport. Two forms of NKCC have been described: NKCC1, the “housekeeping” isoform that is also responsible for Cl accumulation in secretory epithelial cells, and NKCC2, which mediates apical Na+K+Cl entry into renal epithelial cells. Here we examine the kinetic properties of NKCC1, NKCC2, and the endogenous HEK-293 cell cotransporter. Stable expression of rabbit NKCC2A was obtained in HEK-293 cells utilizing a chimera (h1r2A0.7) in which the 5′-untranslated region and cDNA encoding 104 amino acids of the N terminus are replaced by the corresponding sequence of NKCC1. h1r2A0.7 exhibits Na and Cl affinities near those of NKCC1, but it has a 4-fold lower Rb affinity, and a 3-fold higher affinity for the inhibitor bumetanide. The activity of h1r2A0.7 is increased on incubation in low [Cl] media as is NKCC1, but the resting level of activity is higher in h1r2A0.7 and activation is more rapid. h1r2A0.7 exhibits an appropriate volume response, unlike NKCC1 for which concomitant changes in [Cl]i appear to be the overriding factor. These results support a model in which apical NKCC2 activity is matched to basolateral Cl exit through changes in [Cl]i. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction of HEK-293 cell mRNA is positive with NKCC1 primers and negative with NKCC2 primers. Surprisingly, we found that the behavior of the endogenous HEK cell Na-K-Cl cotransporter is unlike either of the two forms which have been described: compared with NKCC1, HEK cell cotransporter has a 2.5-fold lower Na affinity, an 8-fold lower Rb affinity, and a 4-fold higher bumetanide affinity. These results suggest the presence of a novel isoform of NKCC in HEK-293 cells.
Mycoplasma sturni from a California House Finch with Conjunctivitis Did Not Cause Disease in Experimentally Infected House Finches

Mycoplasma gallisepticum conjunctivitis emerged in 1994 as a disease of free-ranging House Finches (Carpodacus mexicanus) in North America and has also been isolated from other songbirds with conjunctivitis. A key feature for the successful study of natural and experimental disease has been the apparent, very-high correlation between characteristic eye lesions and M. gallisepticum. Mycoplasma sturni was originally isolated from an adult European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) with bilateral conjunctivitis and has since been reported in a relatively small number of other avian species, but not in House Finches. We identified as M. sturni a mycoplasma isolate from a California House Finch with conjunctivitis. However, experimental infection of House Finches with the M. sturni isolate failed to reproduce the disease. Therefore, M. gallisepticum remains the primary known cause of conjunctivitis in House Finches.
Adaptive Processing over Distributed Networks

The article describes recent adaptive estimation algorithms over distributed networks. The algorithms rely on local collaborations and exploit the space-time structure of the data. Each node is allowed to communicate with its neighbors in order to exploit the spatial dimension, while it also evolves locally to account for the time dimension. Algorithms of the least-mean-squares and least-squares types are described. Both incremental and diffusion strategies are considered.
Towards human identification based on SSVEP response: A proof of concept study

Unambiguous human identification always was an issue of great importance. The paper describes the concept study covering the possibility of implementation of human identification based on steady state visual evoked potentials (SSVEP). As it is very complicated to falsify an EEG (electroencephalography) signal, this approach appears to be promising. The results of conducted research presented in the paper show, that SSVEP response differ significantly for various individuals. The aim of the paper is to present the conceptual model of human identification method based on the EEG ensuring high falsification-resistant level.
Slit‐flow ektacytometry: Laser diffraction in a slit rheometer

Deformability of red blood cells (RBCs) is a determinant of blood flow resistance as RBCs pass through small capillaries of the microcirculation. Available techniques for measuring RBC deformability often require a washing process after each measurement, which is not optimal for day‐to‐day clinical use.
On Convergence and Parameter Selection of an Improved Particle Swarm Optimization

This paper proposes an improved particle swarm optimization named PSO with Controllable Random Exploration Velocity (PSO-CREV) behaving an additional exploration behavior. Different from other improvements on PSO, the updating principle of PSO-CREV is constructed in terms of stochastic approximation diagram. Hence a stochastic velocity independent on cognitive and social components of PSO can be added to the updating principle, so that particles have strong exploration ability than those of conventional PSO. The conditions and main behaviors of PSO-CREV are described. Two properties in terms of “divergence before convergence” and “controllable exploration behavior” are presented, which promote the performance of PSO-CREV. An experimental method based on a complex test function is proposed by which the proper parameters of PSO-CREV used in practice are figured out, which guarantees the high exploration ability, as well as the convergence rate is concerned. The benchmarks and applications on FCRNN training verify the improvements brought by PSO-CREV.
Activity of cefixime against Helicobacter pylori and affinities for the penicillin-binding proteins

Cefixime induced the formation of rounded cells from the spiral bacillary form of Helicobacter pylori at the MIC or less. Three main penicillin-binding proteins, called A, B and C, were separated from H. pylori. Cefixime had the strongest affinity to penicillin-binding protein B. The binding of cefixime to this protein may induce the formation of rounded H. pylori cells.
Dose-rate effects in plateau-phase cultures of S3 HeLa and V79 cells.

Dose-rate effects on cell survival were studied for log-, fed plateau-, and unfed plateau-phase cultures of V79 and S3 HeLa cells. For log-phase cultures, repair, cell-cycle redistribution, and cell division during exposure can contribute to the overall dose-rate effect, but their relative contributions are difficult to determine. With plateau-phase cultures, the cell-cycle times are greatly lengthened, for those cells that are in cycle. Hence, the contribution to the overall dose-rate effect of cell-cycle redistribution and cell division during the exposure could be minimized using plateau-phase cultures. With respect to the acute dose-survival curves, there was a clear loss in effectiveness when the dose rate was lowered to 154 rad/hr for both fed and unfed plateau-phase HeLa and V79 cells. There was no further reduction in effectiveness per unit dose, however, when the dose rate was reduced to 55 rad/hr. Since there was virtually no cell division or cell-cycle redistribution, it may be that a limit to the repair-dependent dose-rate effect at 37/sup 0/C has been reached at a dose rate of 154 rad/hr.
Graph-Based Anomaly Detection on Smart Grid Data

With the rise in usage of smart meters, the issue of security has been an active area of research. One particular area of research is the potential tapping into and stealing of power that is connected to a single smart grid. In this research, we present current security issues related to homes whose power consumption is regulated, monitored, and ultimately billed to the consumers. While most approaches deal with detecting potential irregularities in electrical consumption based upon traditional statistical methods, few efforts have attempted to model a city or neighbourhood smart grid as a network in order to detect unusual patterns in a structural representation. In this work, we propose the use of a graph-based anomaly detection approach for detecting anomalies in power usage. We empirically evaluate a graph-based anomaly detection approach on actual smart home data, and demonstrate its potential effectiveness.
A MicroRNA Superfamily Regulates Nucleotide Binding Site–Leucine-Rich Repeats and Other mRNAs[W][OA]

A large and diverse miRNA superfamily targets mRNAs of disease resistance proteins and initiates phased secondary siRNA that target other mRNAs. Pathogen-encoded suppressor proteins interfere with this process; consequently, infection increases the level of mRNAs for disease resistance and other proteins. Analysis of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) small RNA data sets revealed the presence of a regulatory cascade affecting disease resistance. The initiators of the cascade are microRNA members of an unusually diverse superfamily in which miR482 and miR2118 are prominent members. Members of this superfamily are variable in sequence and abundance in different species, but all variants target the coding sequence for the P-loop motif in the mRNA sequences for disease resistance proteins with nucleotide binding site (NBS) and leucine-rich repeat (LRR) motifs. We confirm, using transient expression in Nicotiana benthamiana, that miR482 targets mRNAs for NBS-LRR disease resistance proteins with coiled-coil domains at their N terminus. The targeting causes mRNA decay and production of secondary siRNAs in a manner that depends on RNA-dependent RNA polymerase 6. At least one of these secondary siRNAs targets other mRNAs of a defense-related protein. The miR482-mediated silencing cascade is suppressed in plants infected with viruses or bacteria so that expression of mRNAs with miR482 or secondary siRNA target sequences is increased. We propose that this process allows pathogen-inducible expression of NBS-LRR proteins and that it contributes to a novel layer of defense against pathogen attack.
FACE RECOGNITION USING LDA WITH WAVELET TRANSFORM APPROACH

Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) is one of the principal techniques used in face recognition systems. Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) is well-known scheme for feature extraction and dimension reduction. It provides improved performance over the standard Principal Component Analysis (PCA) method of face recognition by introducing the concept of classes and distance between classes. This paper provides an overview of PCA, the various variants of LDA and their basic drawbacks. Also has been proposed a development over classical LDA i.e. LDA using wavelets transform approach that enhances performance as regards accuracy and time complexity. Experiments on ORL face database clearly demonstrate this and the graphical comparison of the algorithms clearly showcases the improved recognition rate in case of the proposed algorithm.
Functional designed to include surface effects in self-consistent density functional theory

We design a density-functional-theory DFT exchange-correlation functional that enables an accurate treatment of systems with electronic surfaces. Surface-specific approximations for both exchange and correlation energies are developed. A subsystem functional approach is then used: an interpolation index combines the surface functional with a functional for interior regions. When the local density approximation is used in the interior, the result is a straightforward functional for use in self-consistent DFT. The functional is validated for two metals Al, Pt and one semiconductor Si by calculations of i established bulk properties lattice constants and bulk moduli and ii a property where surface effects exist the vacancy formation energy. Good and coherent results indicate that this functional may serve well as a universal first choice for solid-state systems and that yet improved functionals can be constructed by this approach.
A Fast and Reliable Question-Answering System Based on Predictive Answer Indexing and Lexico-Syntactic Pattern Matching

We propose a Question-Answering (QA) system in Korean that uses a predictive answer indexer. The predictive answer indexer, first, extracts all answer candidates in a document in indexing time. Then, it gives scores to the adjacent content words that are closely related to each answer candidate. Next, it stores the weighted content words with each candidate into a database. Using this technique, along with a complementary analysis of questions, the proposed QA system can save response time because it is not necessary for the QA system to extract answer candidates with scores on retrieval time. If the QA system is combined with a traditional Information Retrieval system, it can improve the document retrieval precision for closed-class questions after minimum loss of retrieval time.
The Individualized Target HbA 1 c : A New Method for Improving Macrovascular Risk and Glycemia Without Hypoglycemia and Weight Gain

Both the DCCT and UKPDS trials demonstrated that improved glycemic control reduces microvascular complications. Inconclusive evidence, however, has remained on the question of the effect of glycemic control on macrovascular disease (with special emphasis on cardiovascular morbidity and mortality). In the last year, the data from four large trials were published, directly addressing this question (ACCORD, ADVANCE, VADT and UKPDS-80), yet the results were conflicting. Close inspection of the structure of three of these trials (ACCORD, ADVANCE and VADT) revealed inadequacies that may explain the unfavorable results, such as the inclusion of mainly elderly patients with previous macrovascular complications. It is not surprising that intensive glycemic control resulted in a rise of hypoglycemic events yet did not decrease macrovascular morbidity or mortality in these cohorts. On the other hand, the UKPDS-80 trial, a follow-up of the original UKPDS, showed that intensive glycemic control was beneficial when initiated in newly diagnosed patients. These results led us to develop a new individualized method of determining the target HbA1c based on the characteristics of the individual. This method considers the patient’s possible benefit from glycemic control, the risk of suffering hypoglycemic events and consequences suffered from the hypoglycemic event. It is essential that the target HbA1c be tailored to the patient, with different goals set for the recently diagnosed “healthy” and young patient on the one hand, and the elderly patient with co-morbidities and polypharmacy on the other hand. We further suggest a method of comparing and choosing between the different hypoglycemic drugs available. Drugs should be considered not only based on their hypoglycemic effect but also on several other attributes such as effects on weight, glycemic durability, cardiovascular protection, individual experience with the drug, method of delivery and side effect profiles. Scoring the different attributes allows us to compare between different preparations and choose the most suitable drugs for each individual patient. Using our newly suggested system, a physician will first calculate the adequate HbA1c goal for his patient and then choose the drug that will best suit him, thus tailoring the treatment to the patients needs.
Knockdown of MMP11 Inhibits Proliferation and Invasion of Gastric Cancer Cells

Matrix metalloproteinase 11 (MMP11 or stromelysin-3) has recently been reported to play a crucial role in the development and progression of multiple malignancies. The aim of this study was to investigate the function of MMP11 expression in human gastric adenocarcinoma (GAC). Using immunohistochemistry assay, we studied the expression level of MMP11 in GAC and adjacent non-cancerous tissues (ANCT). The association between MMP11 expression and tumor size and pathological grade, as well as metastatic potential was analyzed. Through small hairpin RNA (shRNA)-mediated MMP11 knockdown in SGC-7901 GAC cells, we observed the changes of the biological behaviors of GAC cells. Our results indicated that the rate of positive expression of MMP11 was higher in GAC tissues than in ANCT (55.0% vs 30.0%, P=0.025). MMP11 expression had no association with the factors of age or gender of the GAC patients, or the size, pathological staging and lymph node metastases of the tumors (each P>0.05). Furthermore, MMP11 knockdown inhibited the proliferative activities and invasive potential of SGC-7901 GAC cells with decreased expression of IGF-1, PCNA and VEGF. Taken together, our findings demonstrated that MMP11 expression was increased in GAC tissues, but did not correlate with the clinicopathologic features. Knockdown of MMP11 expression could inhibit the proliferation and invasion of GAC cells probably through down-regulation of the IGF-1 signaling pathway, suggesting that MMP11 might be a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of gastric cancer.
Design of Wide-Tuning-Range Millimeter-Wave CMOS VCO With a Standing-Wave Architecture

The design of a wide-tuning-range millimeter-wave CMOS VCO is presented in this paper. In contrast to the conventional wideband topologies, a nonuniform standing-wave oscillator utilizing tapered gain elements, switched transmission lines and distributed varactors is employed to provide an extended output range with the coarse and fine frequency tuning. Due to the use of the transmission line architecture and the position-dependent amplitude of the standing waves, the loading effects of the varactors and the MOS switches can be alleviated, enabling the VCO to operate at higher frequencies. Using a 0.18-mum CMOS process, a 40-GHz VCO is designed and implemented. Consuming a DC power of 27 mW from a 1.5-V supply voltage, the fabricated circuit exhibits a frequency tuning range of 7.5 GHz with an output power level ranging from -13.6 to -4 dBm. The measured phase noise at 1-MHz offset is lower than -96 dBc/Hz within the entire frequency range. This work demonstrates the widest tuning range in percentage among the CMOS VCOs at millimeter-wave frequencies.
Compact Circularly Polarized Antennas Combining Meta-Surfaces and Strong Space-Filling Meta-Resonators

Reduced-size single-feed circularly-polarized (CP) patch antennas are proposed and investigated based on the strategy of combining meta-surfaces and meta-resonators owning strong space-filling capability. They all comprise a slot-loaded square patch printed over a well designed reactive impedance surface (artificial meta-surface with magnetic response at the resonant frequency) for improved antenna performances and size reduction. The complementary crossbar fractal tree (CCFT) slot and three-turn complementary spiral resonators (TCSRs) with asymmetric gap orientation are employed as meta-resonators to render the antennas to radiate CP waves in single-band or dual-band operation and to facilitate further miniaturization. Numerical and experimental results indicate that these antennas owning a maximum size of 0. 262λ0 × 0. 262λ0 around 3 GHz exhibit a comparable impedance and axial ratio (AR) bandwidth over 1.05% and high gain of more than 4.15 dBic, predicting promising applications in portable and handheld communication systems.
Variants in TERT influencing telomere length are associated with paranoid schizophrenia risk

Schizophrenia is one of the most severe psychiatric disorders, with a high heritability of up to 80%. Several studies have reported telomere dysfunction in schizophrenia, and common variants in the telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) gene. TERT is a key component of the telomerase complex that maintains telomere length by addition of telomere repeats to telomere ends, and has repeatedly shown association with mean lymphocyte telomere length (LTL). Thus, we hypothesized that TERT may be a novel susceptibility gene for schizophrenia. Using a Taqman protocol, we genotyped eight tag SNPs from the TERT locus in 1,072 patients with paranoid schizophrenia and 1,284 control subjects from a Chinese Han population. We also measured mean LTL in 98 cases and 109 controls using a quantitative PCR‐based technique. Chi‐square tests showed that two SNPs, rs2075786 (P = 0.0009, OR = 0.76, 95%CI = 0.65–0.90) and rs4975605 (P = 0.0026, OR = 0.73, 95%CI = 0.60–0.90), were associated with a protective effect, while rs10069690 was associated with risk of paranoid schizophrenia (P = 0.0044, OR = 1.23, 95%CI = 1.07–1.42). Additionally, the rs2736118‐rs2075786 haplotype showed significant association with paranoid schizophrenia (P = 0.0013). Moreover, mean LTL correlated with rs2075786 genotypes was significantly shorter in the patient group than the control group. The present results suggest that the TERT gene may be a novel candidate involved in the development of paranoid schizophrenia. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.