Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Plantar loading and cadence alterations with fatigue.

PURPOSE The purpose of this investigation was to identify changes in loading characteristics of the foot associated with fatigue during running. METHODS Nineteen healthy subjects ranging from 20 to 30 yr (mean = 22.3, SD = 2.4) were equipped with the Pedar in-shoe measurement system (Novel GmbH) for the assessment of plantar loading. After acclimation to the treadmill, subjects were progressed through the Ohio State protocol for exercise testing until fatigue was reported using Borg's RPE scale. Six right footsteps were recorded at 150 Hz for each subject's comfortable running pace under normal and fatigued conditions. A series of repeated measures multiple analysis of variance was performed for all dependent variables analyzed in this study including peak force (PF), force-time integral (FTI), peak pressure (PP), and pressure-time integral (PTI) for all regions of the plantar surface. RESULTS Decreased step time, significantly smaller values under the heel for PP, PF, FTI, CT, and PTI, and trends toward increased medial forefoot loading were identified while subjects were running under fatigued conditions (alpha < 0.05). CONCLUSION These results suggest that subjects change running technique and plantar surface loading characteristics in response to fatigued conditions through increased cadence, decreased loading of the heel, and increased medial forefoot loading.
Functional CD 40 Ligand Is Expressed by T Cells in Rheumatoid Arthritis

CD40 ligand (CD40-L), a member of the tumor necrosis family of transmembrane glycoproteins, is rapidly and transiently expressed on the surface of recently activated CD4 1 T cells. Interactions between CD40-L and CD40 induce B cell immunoglobulin production as well as monocyte activation and dendritic cell differentiation. Since these features characterize rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the expression and function of CD40-L in RA was examined. Freshly isolated RA peripheral blood (PB) and synovial fluid (SF) T cells expressed CD40-L mRNA as well as low level cell surface CD40-L. An additional subset of CD4 1 RA SF T cells upregulated cell surface CD40-L expression within 15 min of in vitro activation even in the presence of cycloheximide, but soluble CD40-L was not found in SF. CD40-L expressed by RA T cells was functional, since RA PB and SF T cells but not normal PB T cells stimulated CD40-L–dependent B cell immunoglobulin production and dendritic cell IL-12 expression in the absence of prolonged in vitro T cell activation. In view of the diverse proinflammatory effects of CD40-L, this molecule is likely to play a central role in the perpetuation of rheumatoid synovitis. Of importance, blockade of CD40-L may prove highly effective as a disease modifying therapy for RA. ( J. Clin. Invest. 1997. 100:2404– 2414.)
Correlation between GyrA Substitutions and Ofloxacin, Levofloxacin, and Moxifloxacin Cross-Resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis

ABSTRACT The newer fluoroquinolones moxifloxacin (MXF) and levofloxacin (LVX) are becoming more common components of tuberculosis (TB) treatment regimens. However, the critical concentrations for testing susceptibility of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to MXF and LVX are not yet well established. Additionally, the degree of cross-resistance between ofloxacin (OFX) and these newer fluoroquinolones has not been thoroughly investigated. In this study, the MICs for MXF and LVX and susceptibility to the critical concentration of OFX were determined using the agar proportion method for 133 isolates of M. tuberculosis. Most isolates resistant to OFX had LVX MICs of >1 μg/ml and MXF MICs of >0.5 μg/ml. The presence of mutations within the gyrA quinolone resistance-determining regions (QRDR) correlated well with increased MICs, and the level of LVX and MXF resistance was dependent on the specific gyrA mutation present. Substitutions Ala90Val, Asp94Ala, and Asp94Tyr resulted in low-level MXF resistance (MICs were >0.5 but ≤2 μg/ml), while other mutations led to MXF MICs of >2 μg/ml. Based on these results, a critical concentration of 1 μg/ml is suggested for LVX and 0.5 μg/ml for MXF drug susceptibility testing by agar proportion with reflex testing for MXF at 2 μg/ml.
Effect of acute exercise on circulating angiogenic cell and microparticle populations

What is the central question of this study? What is the effect of acute endurance exercise on circulating angiogenic cell (CAC) and microparticle (MP) subpopulations? What is the main finding and its importance? Exercise produced a differential response in CAC subpopulations as well as sex‐specific responses in CD62E+ and CD34+ MPs. Gene expression analysis also revealed CD62E+ peripheral blood mononuclear cells as a potentially proangiogenic cell population. These cell and MP populations play a role in vascular health; therefore, knowledge of their exercise‐induced responses may improve our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the beneficial vascular effects of exercise.
A comparison of convolutional object detectors for real-time drone tracking using a PTZ camera

As highly maneuverable drones are available at the low price, the threats that might be caused by the drone attacks has been increased. Recent object detectors have been dramatically improved in accuracy by using convolutional neural networks, and these can be utilized to identify hostile drones. In this paper, we examine state-of-the-arts convolutional object detectors for a real-time drone detection and tracking system using a Pan-Tilt-Zoom (PTZ) camera. In the drone detection and tracking system, an object detector is used to identify whether an image from the PTZ camera contains a drone, and our system generates PTZ actions to track the detected drone. To detect small size drones in real-time, an appropriate object detector should be selected. This paper compares six convolutional object detectors in the accuracy and speed.
Question Generation for French: Collating Parsers and Paraphrasing Questions

This article describes a question generation system for French. The transformation of declarative sentences into questions relies on two different syntactic parsers and named entity recognition tools. This makes it possible to further diversify the questions generated and to possibly alleviate the problems inherent to the analysis tools. The system also generates reformulations for the questions based on variations in the question words, inducing answers with different granularities, and nominalisations of action verbs. We evaluate the questions generated for sentences extracted from two different corpora: a corpus of newspaper articles used for the CLEF Question Answering evaluation campaign and a corpus of simplified online encyclopedia articles. The evaluation shows that the system is able to generate a majority of good and medium quality questions. We also present an original evaluation of the question generation system using the question analysis module of a question answering system.
Regulation of glutamine synthetase in cultured 3T3-L1 cells by insulin, hydrocortisone, and dibutyryl cyclic AMP.

The 3T3-L1 mouse fibroblast cell line develops morphological and biochemical characteristics of adipocytes when maintained at confluence. This conversion to adipocytes is accelerated by addition of insulin to the culture medium [Green, H. & Kehinde, O. (1975) Cell 5, 19-27]. During the course of the insulin-mediated adipocyte conversion, the specific activity (units/mg of protein) of glutamine synthetase [L-glutamate:ammonia ligase (ADP-forming), EC 6.3. 1.2] increases more than 100-fold. The specific activities of hexokinase (ATP:D-hexose 6-phosphotransferase, EC 2.7.1.1) and glucose-6-P dehydrogenase (D-glucose-6-phosphate:NADP(+) 1-oxidoreductase, EC 1.1.1.49) also increase but less dramatically (1.5- to 3-fold). In contrast, confluent cells maintained in the absence of insulin for the same time (12-20 days after confluence) display only minimal increases in the activity of these enzymes. Maintenance of confluent cells in culture medium lacking added L-glutamine has little, if any, effect on glutamine synthetase activity in either control or insulin-treated cultures. Treatment of confluent 3T3-L1 cultures with hydrocortisone (1 mug/ml) for 3 days prior to harvesting results in an increase in glutamine synthetase specific activity of 12-fold for control cultures maintained for 13 days in the absence of insulin and 1.4-fold for adipocyte cultures maintained for 13 days in the presence of insulin (10 mug/ml). Treatment of 3T3-L1 control cells and adipocytes with dibutyryl cyclic AMP (1 mM) plus theophylline (1 mM) decreases the glutamine synthetase specific activity and almost completely reverses the insulin- and hydrocortisone-mediated increases in enzyme activity. In contrast, treatment with dibutyryl cyclic AMP plus theophylline has relatively little effect on the specific activities of hexokinase or glucose-6-P dehydrogenase or on the protein content of the cultures. These data indicate that glutamine synthetase activity is hormonally regulated in 3T3-L1 cells.
Obstetrician–Gynecologists' Objections to and Willingness to Help Patients Obtain an Abortion

OBJECTIVE: To describe obstetrician–gynecologists' (ob-gyns') views and willingness to help women seeking abortion in a variety of clinical scenarios. METHODS: We conducted a mailed survey of 1,800 U.S. ob-gyns. We presented seven scenarios in which patients sought abortions. For each, respondents indicated if they morally objected to abortion and if they would help patients obtain an abortion. We analyzed predictors of objection and assistance. RESULTS: The response rate was 66%. Objection to abortion ranged from 16% (cardiopulmonary disease) to 82% (sex selection); willingness to assist ranged from 64% (sex selection) to 93% (cardiopulmonary disease). Excluding sex selection, objection was less likely among ob-gyns who were female (odds ratio [OR] 0.5, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.4–0.8), urban (OR 0.3, 95% CI 0.1–0.7), or Jewish (OR 0.3, 95% CI 0.1–0.7) compared with male, rural, or religiously unaffiliated ob-gyns. Objection was more likely among ob-gyns from the South (OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.2–3.0) or Midwest (OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.2–3.1), and among Catholic, Evangelical Protestant, or Muslim ob-gyns, or those for whom religion was most important, compared with reference. Among ob-gyns who objected to abortion in a given case, approximately two-thirds would help patients obtain an abortion. Excluding sex selection, assistance despite objection was more likely among female (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.1–2.9) and United States-born ob-gyns (OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.1–4.7) and less likely among southern ob-gyns (OR 0.3, 95% CI 0.2–0.6) or those for whom religion was most important (OR 0.3, 95% CI 0.1–0.7). CONCLUSION: Most ob-gyns help patients obtain an abortion even when they morally object to abortion in that case. Willingness to assist varies by clinical context and physician characteristics. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: II
An Evaluation of an Object-Oriented Paradigm for Land Use/Land Cover Classification

Object-oriented image classification has tremendous potential to improve classification accuracies of land use and land cover (LULC), yet its benefits have only been minimally tested in peer-reviewed studies. We aim to quantify the benefits of an object-oriented method over a traditional pixel-based method for the mixed urban–suburban–agricultural landscape surrounding Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. To do so, we compared a traditional pixel-based classification using maximum likelihood to the object-oriented image classification paradigm embedded in eCognition Professional 4.0 software. This object-oriented paradigm has at least four components not typically used in pixel-based classification: (1) the segmentation procedure, (2) nearest neighbor classifier, (3) the integration of expert knowledge, and (4) feature space optimization. We evaluated each of these components individually to determine the source of any improvement in classification accuracy. We found that the combination of segmentation into image objects, the nearest neighbor classifier, and integration of expert knowledge yields substantially improved classification accuracy for the scene compared to a traditional pixel-based method. However, with the exception of feature space optimization, little or no improvement in classification accuracy is achieved by each of these strategies individually.
Chronobiological Study of the Pharmacological Response of Rats to Combination Ketamine–Midazolam

Ketamine is commonly administered in combination with benzodiazepines to achieve surgical anaesthesia in rats. The aim of the present study was to analyze the pharmacological response of the combination ketamine–midazolam injected intraperitoneally at different times of day to rats. The study was conducted in July 2003, during the winter in the Southern hemisphere. Female prepuberal Sprague-Dawley rats synchronized to a 12 h light:12 h dark cycle (light, 07:00–19:00 h) were used as experimental animals. A combination treatment of ketamine (40 mg/kg) and midazolam (2 mg/kg) was administered to five different clock-time groups of rats (n = 7/group). Duration of the latency period, ataxia, loss-of-righting reflex (LRR), post-LRR ataxia, and total pharmacological response were assessed by visual assessment. Significant treatment-time differences were detected in the duration of LRR, post-LRR ataxia, and total pharmacological response duration. The longest pharmacological response occurred in rats injected during the light (rest) phase, and the shortest pharmacological response occurred in rats injected during the dark (activity) phase. Cosinor analysis documented circadian rhythmicity in the duration of post-LRR ataxia. The findings of the study indicate the duration of CNS-depression of the ketamine–midazolam combination exhibits treatment-time-dependent variation in the rat.
Dispersive analysis of a dual-layer planar structure for leaky-wave antenna applications

The dispersive features of a 2-D planar leaky-wave antenna constituted by an annular slot grating on a dual-layer grounded dielectric slab are presented in this contribution. A well-established in-house method-of-moments dispersion code has been suitably generalized to account for a multi-layer substrate and to assist in the characterization of the corresponding linearized structure. Validations are performed through full-wave simulations developed on state-of-the-art commercial software applying a hybrid Bloch-wave analysis on a finite number of unit cells; then, a parameterization study on the thickness of the superstrate is performed. The proposed analysis provides useful information about both phase and attenuation constants of the leaky mode supported by the structure as well as on the behavior of the open-stopband that characterizes this class of structure.
Amnion and Chorion Allografts in Combination with Coronally Advanced Flap in the Treatment of Gingival Recession: A Clinical Study.

BACKGROUND Guided tissue regeneration (GTR) based root coverage using different allograft membranes has been utilized to correct gingival recession defects with promising results. Amnion and chorion allograft membranes of alternative origin derived from human placental tissue has been advocated in the treatment of gingival recession. However, chorion membrane has been used in combination with amnion membrane no study has compared these allograft membranes in the treatment of gingival recession. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to clinically evaluate and compare the efficacy of amnion membrane and chorion membrane in combination with coronally advanced flap in the treatment of gingival recessions. MATERIALS AND METHODS Twelve systemically healthy patients having at least 2 bilateral Miller's Class I or Class II gingival recession were recruited and coronally advanced flap was performed with amnion membrane or chorion membrane. Clinical parameters such as gingival Index, plaque index, length of the recession, width of the recession, width of keratinized gingiva, relative attachment level were evaluated at baseline, 3 and 6 months post-surgery. RESULTS The mean decrease in length of recession (LR) for Chorion site was 2.00±1.54mm and amnion site was 1.58±1.14mm. The gain in attachment level for amnion site was 2.17±1.53mm and for chorion site was 1.58±1.22mm. The total mean percentage of root coverage was 34% for chorion site and 22% for amnion site. CONCLUSION Both amnion membrane and chorion membrane has shown to be versatile allograft material to be used in the treatment of root coverage.
Reliable Fault-Tolerant Multipath routing protocol for wireless sensor networks

Several routing protocols have been designed in the recent years to support different wireless sensor networks requirements. In this paper, we introduce a new on demand routing protocol, Reliable Fault-Tolerant Multipath (RFTM), to improve the reliability of data routing in wireless sensor networks. RFTM is a multi objective routing protocol that meets diverse application requirements by considering the changing conditions of the network. The protocol takes into account both reliability demand and link quality to determine the number of desired multiple disjoint paths between the sink and source nodes. With the advantage of data splitting method based on erasure coding the packets are encoded at source nodes and the sink node obtains the data by decoding. Moreover, the sink node can make intelligent decisions based on the node's available resources, hop count to the source and delay to lengthen the network lifetime, provides fault-tolerance and achieves the desired reliability that meets the network state and the different application requirements.
The use of an air filtration system in podiatry clinics

A small-scale study was conducted to ascertain the efficiency and effectiveness of an air filtration system for use in podiatry/chiropody clinics (Electromedia Model 35F (A), Clean Air Ltd, Scotland, UK). Three clinics were identified, enabling comparison of data between podiatry clinics in the West of Scotland. The sampling was conducted using a portable Surface Air Sampler (Cherwell Laboratories, Bicester, UK). Samples were taken on two days at three different times before and after installation of the filtration units. The global results of the study indicate the filter has a statistically significant effect on microbial counts, with an average percentage decrease of 65%. This study is the first time, to the authors' knowledge, such a system has been tested within podiatric practice.
Network Service Method under Cloud Environment of Wireless Sensor Networks in Disaster Situation

The sensor networks are characterized by tiny, inexpensive, and advanced communication technology. However, wireless ad-hoc sensor networks (WASNs) have some issues such as the limited amount of energy, multipath fading, and some other issues when they applied in disaster situations. For reducing power consumption, we show mathematical analysis of energy saving, and enhanced error symbol probability. The simulation results prove our analysis. As for the multipath fading, we also show the mathematical analysis of fading channel characteristics and channel model, as well as how to mitigate the multipath fading by modulation and diversity techniques. From the simulation results, we prove the proposed system with amplify-and-forward (AF) relaying can achieve a 2.5 dB performance gain the BER 10 -4 whereas the achievable improvement is almost a 4 dB at the BER 10 -5 when using maximal ratio combining.
Preliminary analysis of volcanoseismic signals recorded at the Tatun Volcano Group, northern Taiwan

The Tatun Volcano Group lies at the northern tip of Taiwan only 15 km north of the capital Taipei. A seismic array consisting of 5 stations equipped with both broadband and short‐period sensors was installed in 2003 in order to monitor the seismic activity of the area. It recorded a variety of events including common volcano‐tectonic earthquakes and volcanoseismic signals like tornillos, short duration monochromatic events (10–15 s) and long duration spasmodic bursts (∼15 min). An analysis of the complex frequencies of the tornillo/monochromatic signals shows that Q‐values are of the order of several hundreds. Based on the model of a fluid‐filled crack, such Q‐values can result from the oscillations of a crack containing a misty or dusty gas. These observations put into doubt the long‐standing suggestion that the Tatun volcanoes are extinct and prompt for a thorough assessment of the volcanic hazard for this area.
Hypertriglyceridemia in combination antiretroviral-treated HIV-positive individuals: potential impact on HIV sensory polyneuropathy

Objective:In HIV populations that are aging due to improved longevity with combination antiretroviral therapy (CART), both hypertriglyceridemia (hTRG) and sensory neuropathy have become increasingly common. Sensory neuropathy is associated with substantial long-term disability and frequently requires management with analgesics. Elevated serum triglycerides (TRGs) are associated with an increased risk for sensory neuropathy in diabetes mellitus. However, the contribution of hTRG to sensory neuropathy in HIV has not been carefully evaluated. Design:Prospective, comparative, single-center, cross-sectional cohort study. Methods:Clinical correlates of sensory neuropathy were assessed in HIV-positive and HIV-negative participants. HIV-sensory neuropathy was defined as one or more clinical signs of reduced distal sensation or ankle reflexes; symptoms were distal leg and foot pain, parasthesias or numbness. TRG levels were assessed along with concomitant metabolic and other risk factors including glucose, lipids, age, height, current and nadir CD4, and past or current use of protease inhibitors, dideoxynucleoside antiretrovirals (d-drugs), and statins in univariable and multivariable logistic regression. Results:Of 436 HIV patients (median age 52 years; 75% on CART), 27% had sensory neuropathy; 48% were symptomatic. TRG levels were significantly higher in HIV-positive than HIV-negative individuals (mean ± SD, 245 ± 242 versus 160 ± 97 mg/dl; P < 0.001). Among HIV-positive patients, those with TRG levels in the highest tertile (≥244 mg/dl) were more likely to have sensory neuropathy than those in the lowest tertile (reference, ≤142 mg/dl) after adjusting for concurrent predictors (adjusted odds ratio 2.7, 95% confidence interval 1.4–5.5). Conclusions:Elevated triglyceride levels increased the risk for HIV-sensory neuropathy in HIV-positive individuals independently of other known risk factors.
Stocks with Extreme Past Returns: Lotteries or Insurance?

The paper shows that lottery-like stocks are hedges against unexpected increases in market volatility. The loading on the aggregate volatility risk factor explains the majority of low abnormal returns to stocks with high maximum returns in the past month (Bali et al., 2011) and high expected skewness (Boyer et al., 2010). Aggregate volatility risk also explains the new evidence that the maximum effect and the skewness effect are stronger for firms with high market to book or high expected probability of bankruptcy.