Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Muscle activity pattern in Olympic lifting: latissimus dorsi and pectoralis major – an EMG study

An electromyography study was conducted to identify the response of latissimus dorsi (LD) and pectoralis major (PM) during the Olympic style of weightlifting, that is, two types of lifting were included in the study. ‘Snatch’ and ‘Clean & Jerk’ in various loads from 20 kg, 40%, 60% and 80% of lifter's maximum lifts were studied. The electrical signal of the muscles (EMG) was recorded using a multichannel recorder (Sensor medic R 612; The Netherlands). The signal conditioning was made through a couple (direct/average EMG type 9852A), preamplifier (type 820) and amplifier (type 412). The gain of amplification was selected according to the level of activity of the particular muscle. The activity of the LD was for a long duration in phase I and II for both the Olympic lifts. In 2nd phase of C & J there was 100% activity at all loads. In 3rd and 4th phase the duration of activity came down remarkably. Duration of activity of PM was very short in phases II and IV for both the Olympic lifts. Second and 3rd phase showed considerably long duration. In phase V, the activity was moderate for C & J. Study shows remarkably high electrical activity of LD in phase I of both the lifts and in phase II it was maintained. PM showed very short response in all the phases especially in phase I and IV where it was considerably short. The pattern of electrical activity at all loads and in all the phase was identical.
Pediatric obesity epidemiology

Purpose of reviewTo provide updated summary of recently published data regarding pediatric obesity epidemiology. Recent findingsThere is a burgeoning literature of pediatric obesity epidemiology, with type 2 diabetes trends serving as the harbinger for obesity related diseases in children. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and Pediatric Nutrition Surveillance System report a tripling of the prevalence of BMI at least 95% (obesity) among US school-age children and adolescents over the past three decades. Recent updates provide insight into infants and toddler obesity and explore the impact of ethnicity, socioeconomic status, school setting and geographic variations. International data confirm similar upward shifts in pediatric BMI distribution, especially in countries undergoing economic transitions favoring industrialized, western urban lifestyles. SummaryThe health and financial consequences of this epidemic are a complex global public health dilemma. International efforts are underway to reverse these obesity trends. On-going analysis of obesity prevalence and exploration of potential causal associations are required to implement and assess the effectiveness of interventions and policies.
Obesity, insulin resistance and free fatty acids

Purpose of reviewTo describe the role of free fatty acid (FFA) as a cause for insulin resistance in obese people. Recent findingsElevated plasma FFA levels can account for a large part of insulin resistance in obese patients with type 2 diabetes. Insulin resistance is clinically important because it is closely associated with several diseases including type 2 diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia and abnormalities in blood coagulation and fibrinolysis. These disorders are all independent risk factors for cardiovascular disease (heart attacks, strokes and peripheral arterial disease). The mechanisms by which FFA can cause insulin resistance, although not completely known, include generation of lipid metabolites (diacylglycerol), proinflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, MCP1) and cellular stress including oxidative and endoplasmic reticulum stress. SummaryIncreased plasma FFA levels are an important cause of obesity-associated insulin resistance and cardiovascular disease. Therapeutic application of this knowledge is hampered by the lack of readily accessible methods to measure FFA and by the lack of medications to lower plasma FFA levels.
Phylogenetic analysis of the genus Lactobacillus and related lactic acid bacteria as determined by reverse transcriptase sequencing of 16S rRNA

Abstract The small subunit rRNA sequences of 55 species of the genus Lactobacillus were determined by reverse transcription in an attempt to elucidate their natural interrelationships. Comparative analysis of the sequence data revealed the presence of 3 phylogenetically distinct clusters. Cluster 1 (designated) the L. delbrueckii group) included L. delbrueckii the type species of the genus and 11 other obligately homofermentative species. Cluster 2 (designated the L. casei group) comprised 32 Lactobacillus species and 5 Pediococcus species (including P. damnosus , the type species of the genus). With the exception of 5 obligately homofermentative species ( L. animalis, L. ruminis, L. salivarius, L. sharpeae, L. yamanashiensis ) most members of cluster 2 were heterofermentative. Cluster 3 (designated the Leuconostoc paramesenteroides group) included the atypical heterofermentative lactobacilli, L. confusus L. kandleri, L. minor, L. viridescens and Leu. paramesenteroides . The sequence data clearly demonstrate that the genus Lactobacillus as presently constituted is phylogenetically very heterogeneous. Further, the rRNA groups identified in the present study do not correspond to the classical division of Lactobacillus into the subgenera Thermobacterium, Streptobacterium and Betabacterium established on the basis of phenotype.
Sympathetic neural signaling via the β2‐adrenergic receptor suppresses T‐cell receptor‐mediated human and mouse CD8+ T‐cell effector function

Postganglionic sympathetic neurons innervate secondary lymphoid organs and secrete norepinephrine (NE) as the primary neurotransmitter. NE binds and signals through five distinct members of the adrenergic receptor family. In this study, we show elevated expression of the β2‐adrenergic receptor (ADRB2) on primary human CD8+ effector memory T cells. Treatment of both human and murine CD8+ T cells with NE decreased IFN‐γ and TNF‐α secretion and suppressed their cytolytic capacity in response to T‐cell receptor (TCR) activation. The effects of NE were specifically reversed by β2‐specific antagonists. Adrb2−/− CD8+ T cells were completely resistant to the effects of NE. Further, the ADRB2‐specific pharmacological ligand, albuterol, significantly suppressed effector functions in both human and mouse CD8+ T cells. While both TCR activation and stimulation with IL‐12 + IL‐18 were able to induce inflammatory cytokine secretion, NE failed to suppress IFN‐γ secretion in response to IL‐12 + IL18. Finally, the long‐acting ADRB2‐specific agonist, salmeterol, markedly reduced the cytokine secretion capacity of CD8+ T cells in response to infection with vesicular stomatitis virus. This study reveals a novel intrinsic role for ADRB2 signaling in CD8+ T‐cell function and underscores the novel role this pathway plays in adaptive T‐cell responses to infection.
Negative regulators of the RIG‐I‐like receptor signaling pathway

Upon recognition of specific molecular patterns on microbes, host cells trigger an innate immune response, which culminates in the production of type I interferons, proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines, and restricts pathogen replication and spread within the host. At each stage of this response, there are stimulatory and inhibitory signals that regulate the magnitude, quality, and character of the response. Positive regulation promotes an antiviral state to control and eventually clear infection, whereas negative regulation dampens inflammation and prevents immune‐mediated tissue damage. An overexuberant innate response can lead to cell and tissue destruction, and the development of spontaneous autoimmunity. The retinoic acid‐inducible gene I (RIG‐I)‐like receptors (RLRs), RIG‐I and melanoma differentiation‐associated gene 5 (MDA5), belong to a family of cytosolic host RNA helicases that recognize distinct nonself RNA signatures and trigger innate immune responses against several RNA viruses by signaling through the essential adaptor protein mitochondrial antiviral signaling (MAVS). The RLR signaling pathway is tightly regulated to maximize antiviral immunity and minimize immune‐mediated pathology. This review highlights contemporary findings on negative regulators of the RLR signaling pathway, with specific focus on the proteins and biological processes that directly regulate RIG‐I, MDA5 and MAVS signaling function.
Limited effectiveness and safety profile of protease inhibitor-based triple therapy against chronic hepatitis C in a real-world cohort with a high proportion of advanced liver disease

Background/objective Triple therapy with pegylated-interferon-&agr;, ribavirin, and a protease inhibitor (PI), boceprevir or telaprevir, is the standard of care for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C genotype 1 in several countries. Pivotal studies showed reasonable results for safety and efficacy. However, it remains uncertain to what extent this can be transferred to the real world. Here, we aimed to analyze the effectiveness and safety of pegylated-interferon-&agr;/ribavirin/PI triple therapy in a real-world cohort of a tertiary referral center. Patients and methods Between June 2011 and November 2011, a total of 208 consecutive patients with chronic hepatitis C genotype 1 were evaluated for the initiation of a triple-therapy regimen and included in this study. Eighty-six patients (86% F3/F4) started a triple-therapy regimen and were followed until 12 weeks after the end of treatment. Results Overall, 36 out of the 86 treated patients (42%) achieved a sustained virological response. However, only 17% of the initially screened 208 patients were cured with triple therapy at our center. A high rate of serious adverse events (28%) was documented during treatment. The risk/benefit ratio was poor for patients with signs of advanced liver cirrhosis (n=33, 38%), indicated by increased bilirubin, low albumin, and/or low platelet count at baseline. Conclusion The effectiveness and safety of PI-based triple therapy can be limited in real-world cohorts including large numbers of patients with advanced liver disease. Future therapies can only overcome these limitations if interferon-free regimens are established.
Death: Beyond Whole-Brain Criteria

does little to distinguish grey matter from white, although it clearly defines CSF. Almost a third of the illustrations use this sequencing and it detracts from the information that could have been available. Brief anatomical notes accompany the diagrams many of which are very basic but serve as timely reminders of half forgotten and sometimes misconstrued anatomical facts and relationships. The next chapter concerns the orbit but unfortunately this would do little to encourage the radiologist to use MRI for the investigation of orbital pathology. Most of the anatomy is obscured by the high signal from the orbital fat and no surface coils have been used. This chapter especially is not representative of current orbital imaging. The section on functional systems covers the principal pathways and the MRI illustrations in this section have been performed using an unspecified sequence but one which clearly defines grey and white matter but to a lesser extent CSF. Within this section multiplanar imaging is used to illustrate the functional pathways: for example the extrapyramidal system, cerebellar tracts and functions, the sensory pathways, the olfactory and limbic system and the speech area and connections. Interestingly, within the acoustic system there are no illustrations of the internal auditory canal, its contents or their attachment to the brain stem. Similarly the only cranial nerves to be considered are 1, 2 and 5. Three chapters now follow concerning the face, neck and cervical spine in the axial. coronal and sagittal planes, and although there is a section on the foramen magnum and nasopharynx the cranial nerves are not illustrated. This section contains more extensive anatomical notes may of which relate to the soft tissues of the pharynx and neck, and there are many illustrations of the neck muscles. Similar problems afflict the chapters on the thoracic and lumbar spine where there is paucity of information relating to the cord and nerve roots in their immediate surroundings and much concerning the paraspinal muscles. With the exception of the cranial nerves and blood vessels the atlas covers well the head and spine. As the authors admit, while the images were acquired on a "state of the art" imager this quality could well have been improved upon by the time the text came to press. Unfortunately this has not been the case, particularly in relation to the orbit and spine. Notwithstanding the multiplanar display, the anatomy is in general well laid out and easy to read, and I particularly like the section on functional systems. The section on the spine suffers, like the orbit, from being overtaken by significantly improved imaging sequencing and the use of surface coils; and, therefore the image quality lacks much of the detail present in current "state of the art" examinations. At a cost of under £70 I am
Immune checkpoints and their inhibition in cancer and infectious diseases

The development of chronic infections and cancer is facilitated by a variety of immune subversion mechanisms, such as the production of anti‐inflammatory cytokines, induction of regulatory T (Treg) cells, and expression of immune checkpoint molecules, including CTLA‐4 and PD‐1. CTLA‐4, expressed on T cells, interacts with CD80/CD86, thereby limiting T‐cell activation and leading to anergy. PD‐1 is predominantly expressed on T cells and its interaction with PD‐L1 and PD‐L2 expressed on antigen‐presenting cells (APCs) and tumors sends a negative signal to T cells, which can lead to T‐cell exhaustion. Given their role in suppressing effector T‐cell responses, immune checkpoints are being targeted for the treatment of cancer. Indeed, antibodies binding to CTLA‐4, PD‐1, or PD‐L1 have shown remarkable efficacy, especially in combination therapies, for a number of cancers and have been licensed for the treatment of melanoma, nonsmall cell lung cancer, and renal and bladder cancers. Moreover, immune checkpoint inhibitors have been shown to enhance ex vivo effector T‐cell responses from patients with chronic viral, bacterial, or parasitic infection, including HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria. Although the data from clinical trials in infectious diseases are still sparse, these inhibitors have great potential for treating chronic infections, especially when combined with therapeutic vaccines.
Are opinions expressed in land-use planning documents?

A great deal of research on information extraction from textual datasets has been performed in specific data contexts, such as movie reviews, commercial product evaluations, campaign speeches, etc. In this paper, we raise the question on how appropriate these methods are for documents related to land-use planning. The kind of information sought concerns the stakeholders, sentiments, geographic information, and everything else related to the territory. However, it is extremely challenging to link sentiments to the three dimensions that constitute geographic information (location, time, and theme). After highlighting the limitations of existing proposals and discussing issues related to textual data, we present a method called OPILAND (OPinion mIning from LAND-use planning documents) designed to semi-automatically mine opinions related to named-entities in specialized contexts. Experiments are conducted on a Thau lagoon dataset (France), and then applied on three datasets that are related to different areas in order to highlight the relevance and the broader applications of our proposal.
Enhancing integrated indoor/outdoor mobility in a smart campus

A Smart City relies on six key factors: Smart Governance, Smart People, Smart Economy, Smart Environment, Smart Living and Smart Mobility. This paper focuses on Smart Mobility by improving one of its key components: positioning. We developed and deployed a novel indoor positioning system (IPS) that is combined with an outdoor positioning system to support seamless indoor and outdoor navigation and wayfinding. The positioning system is implemented as a service in our broader cartography-based smart university platform, called SmartUJI, which centralizes access to a diverse collection of campus information and provides basic and complex services for the Universitat Jaume I (Spain), which serves as surrogate of a small city. Using our IPS and based on the SmartUJI services, we developed, deployed and evaluated two end-user mobile applications: the SmartUJI APP that allows users to obtain map-based information about the different facilities of the campus, and the SmartUJI AR that allows users to interact with the campus through an augmented reality interface. Students, university staff and visitors who tested the applications reported their usefulness in locating university facilities and generally improving spatial orientation.
Efeito da realização simultânea de tarefas cognitivas e motoras no desempenho funcional de idosos da comunidade

O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar o efeito de seis diferentes tarefas duplas no desempenho funcional de idosos da comunidade. Em 35 idosos com idade media de 69,6±7,1 anos foi aplicado o teste de levantar e caminhar cronometrado (TLCC, Timed up and go ou TUG) simples (TLCCS) e associado a duas tarefas motoras - carregar um copo com agua (TLCCM1) e transferir moedas de um bolso para o outro (TLCCM2) - e duas cognitivas, repetir uma frase (TLCCC1) e falar os dias da semana em ordem inversa (TLCCC2), sendo aferidos os acertos e erros nessas tarefas. Houve piora significativa da media do tempo em segundos no TLCC nas tarefas duplas, independente da tarefa, e correlacao significativa, de moderada (r=0,676) a quase perfeita (r=0,953), entre os tempos de cada tipo de TLCC. O numero de moedas transferidas no TLCCM2 e o numero de dias na semana dito em ordem inversa no TLCCC2 apresentaram correlacao com o tempo gasto para realizar todas as outras tarefas. Essas duas tarefas foram as que mais afetaram o tempo do TLCC (p<0,001). Os idosos estudados apresentaram pois pior desempenho no TLCC associado a realizacao de tarefas duplas. As tarefas com pior desempenho funcional verificados foram os de passar moedas de um bolso para outro e falar os dias da semana em ordem inversa. A complexidade da tarefa foi mais importante que sua natureza motora ou cognitiva.
Role of Eco-Friendly Strategies in the Development of Biomedical Nanotechnology

ABSTRACT Biomedical nanotechnology promises to play an important role in disease prevention, early diagnosis, and more effective treatment strategies. Development of nanosized concepts that can be used for improved vaccine delivery, image contrast enhancers for sensitive and specific disease detection, and targeted therapeutic strategies for drug and genes holds tremendous promise in cost-effective patient care and improving clinical outcomes. One of the critical areas in the development of nanotechnology is to emphasize the role of eco-friendly approaches in synthesis and fabrication, storage, utilization, and reduction of toxicity especially for medically relevant applications. Integration of “green” concepts with biomedical product development can have a profound influence in the future. In this review, the authors discuss various eco-friendly strategies that can be implemented for more effective use of raw materials, avoidance of toxic chemicals and hazardous solvents, and substantial reduction of tox.
A framework for identifying activity groups from individual space-time profiles

ABSTRACT Datasets collecting the ever-changing position of moving individuals are usually big and possess high spatial and temporal resolution to reveal activity patterns of individuals in greater detail. Information about human mobility, such as ‘when, where and why people travel’, is contained in these datasets and is necessary for urban planning and public policy making. Nevertheless, how to segregate the users into groups with different movement and behaviours and generalise the patterns of groups are still challenging. To address this, this article develops a theoretical framework for uncovering space-time activity patterns from individual’s movement trajectory data and segregating users into subgroups according to these patterns. In this framework, individuals’ activities are modelled as their visits to spatio-temporal region of interests (ST-ROIs) by incorporating both the time and places the activities take place. An individual’s behaviour is defined as his/her profile of time allocation on the ST-ROIs she/he visited. A hierarchical approach is adopted to segregate individuals into subgroups based upon the similarity of these individuals’ profiles. The proposed framework is tested in the analysis of the behaviours of London foot patrol police officers based on their GPS trajectories provided by the Metropolitan Police.
Red blood cell distribution width and globulin, noninvasive indicators of fibrosis and inflammation in chronic hepatitis patients

Aims We aimed to develop new simple predictive models for significant fibrosis and inflammation in chronic hepatitis patients using routine laboratory parameters. Methods A total of 218 patients who had undergone liver biopsy were enrolled in our study. Among these, 116 had chronic hepatitis B, 65 had primary biliary cirrhosis, and 37 had autoimmune hepatitis. Patients were divided into two groups: absent–mild (S0–S1, G0–G1) and moderate–severe (S2–S4, G2–G4) according to the histologic severity of liver fibrosis and inflammation. All common demographics and routine laboratory parameters were analyzed. Results Red blood cell distribution width (RDW) and globulin values increased with progressive liver fibrosis and inflammation. After adjustment for other potent predictors, liver fibrosis was associated independently with RDW and platelet (odds ratio=0.976 and 1.487, respectively), whereas significant inflammation was associated independently with globulin, alanine aminotransferase, red blood cell, and platelet (odds ratio=1.153, 1.017, 0.392, and 1.487, respectively). The sensitivity and specificity of model A were 73.4 and 79.1% for the detection of significant liver fibrosis [area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (AUROC)=0.81, P<0.001]. The sensitivity and specificity of model B were 75.9 and 88.9% for predicting advanced liver inflammation (AUROC=0.89, P<0.001). Compared with pre-existing indicators, model A achieved the highest AUROC (0.81, P<0.001) for liver fibrosis, whereas model B showed the highest AUROC (0.89, P<0.001) for liver inflammation. Conclusion RDW may provide a useful clinical value for predicting liver fibrosis; meanwhile, globulin may provide a useful clinical value for predicting liver inflammation in chronic hepatitis patients with other markers.
Force-directed layout of origin-destination flow maps

ABSTRACT This paper introduces a force-directed layout method for creating origin-destination flow maps. Design principles derived from manual cartography and automated graph drawing to increase readability of flow maps and graph layouts are taken into account. The origin-destination flow maps produced with our algorithm show flows with quadratic Bézier curves that reduce flow-on-flow and flow-on-node overlaps, and avoid sharp or irregular bends in flow lines. A survey of expert cartographers found that flow maps created with our automated method are similar in quality to manually produced flow maps.