Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Motor Control Information Extracted from Surface EMG as Muscle Force Estimation

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to introduce an extension to a force estimation technique based on activity index and to compare it to two other muscle force estimation techniques that also use the motor control information on the same set of surface EMG signals. Our new method is called motor unit twitch force technique and the compared methods include motor unit action potential rate and activity index. The main difference of the three compared methods lies in the extraction of the motor control information from multi-channel surface EMG. Motor unit action potential rate and activity index measure global muscle activity as they represent the summation of innervation pulse trains of all active motor units, while twitch force technique decomposes the surface EMG and obtains the activity of all active individual motor units separately. This means a great improvement over activity index and motor unit action potential rate methods as both force regulation principles, i.e. motor unit recruitment and firing rate modulation can be observed. Surface EMG signals used in the experiment were recorded from biceps brachii muscle during elbow flexion on five subjects. Two-dimensional matrix of surface electrodes (13 rows by 5 columns) was applied. Isometric constant force contractions at three different force levels were performed, i.e. at 5, 10 and 30 % of maximal voluntary contraction. Torque produced at the elbow joint was measured simultaneously with surface EMG. The force estimation error of the methods was measured by root mean square error between the recorded and estimated force. Our new motor unit twitch force technique reduced the muscle force estimation error significantly, for 13% when compared to the motor unit action potential rate, and for 2% when compared to the activity index method.
Restoration of motion-blurred line drawings by Differential Evolution and Richardson-Lucy algorithm

The image restoration from a blurred image is an old problem. Richardson-Lucy (RL) algorithm is a deconvolution algorithm that can restore the original image quite well if the point-spread function (PSF) is known. However, it needs to know the PSF to apply this algorithm. In this research, by restricting our problem to motion-blurred line images, we propose a blind-deconvolution algorithm by estimating PSF using Differential Evolution. As the fitness value, we define a weighted sum of two kinds of error functions. Numerical examples will show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.
Interim Hospital Order — A Regional Secure Unit experience

The Mental Health Act, 1983, provides certain new provisions for the disposal of mentally disordered offenders, including the Interim Hospital Order. This Order allows the appropriateness of an eventual Hospital Order to be assessed. However, there is a wide variation in the use of the Interim Hospital Order. This paper examines the use of this Order in the Trent Regional Secure Unit, where it seems to have been used principally to assess the treatability of patients under the category of psychopathic disorder.
Detection of subclinical Mycobacterium avium intracellulare complex infection in immunodeficient HIV-infected patients treated with zidovudine

Objective:To test the hypothesis that subclinical Mycobacterium avium intracellulare complex (MAC) infection may result in the development of a tuberculin response in immunodeficient HIV-infected individuals treated with zidovudine. Design:Longitudinal, observational study. Setting:The Western Australian HIV Cohort Study; a prospective, single centre, population-based observational study of the natural history of HIV disease. Patients:Forty-nine patients with impaired delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) responses and negative tuberculin responses in whom DTH responses were augmented within 6 months of starting zidovudine therapy. Outcome measures:Progression to disseminated MAC infection stratified according to the presence or absence of a tuberculin response in the first 6 months of zidovudine therapy. Results:Twenty-nine of the patients developed a post-zidovudine tuberculin response. None of the tuberculin non-responders developed disseminated MAC infection during the study period; the Kaplan–Meier probability estimate of disseminated MAC infection was 50% at 24 months and reached 100% 40 months after zidovudine was commenced in tuberculin responders. All patients with disseminated MAC infection had become anergic to all antigens, including tuberculin, before diagnosis. The probability of a post-zidovudine tuberculin response was related to the severity of peripheral blood CD4+ T-cell depletion, rising from an estimated 20% at 20% CD4+ T cells to 100% at ≤ 1% CD4+ T cells. Conclusions:The restoration of a cellular immune response against subclinical MAC infection can be demonstrated by measuring the DTH response to tuberculin in patients with impaired DTH augmented by zidovudine therapy. The findings suggest that MAC infection is almost inevitable, but often asymptomatic, in profoundly immunodeficient HIV-infected patients and that a prolonged subclinical phase of MAC infection is usual.
Applying flow tank measurements to the surf zone: Predicting dislodgment of the Gigartinaceae

Our understanding of how flow affects the survival of members of the Gigartinaceae has advanced considerably in recent years. In particular, methods have been developed that give phycologists a powerful tool with which to predict mechanistically the survival of wave‐swept macroalgae. One limitation of such methods, however, is the lack of hydrodynamic data for macroalgae in surf‐zone flows. The method instead relies upon the extrapolation of low‐velocity flow tank measurements (< 3.5 m s–1) to velocities well beyond their measured range (10–20 m s–1). Such extrapolation is particularly tenuous for flexible organisms, such as macroalgae, that can reconfigure in flow. This study uses three members of the Gigartinaceae to evaluate two commonly used methods for extrapolation of flow tank data to high water velocities: one that allows for continued thallus reconfiguration at extreme water velocities and one that does not. Limitations of both models are evident and underscore the need for improved measures of force generation on macroalgae exposed to extreme flows. Additionally, the extent to which the mechanical design might influence life history traits of the Gigartinaceae is discussed.
Lamins of ocular lens epithelial cells

Experiments were performed to characterize a prominent nuclear matrix (NM) protein isolated from tissue cultured mouse lens epithelial cells. This NM protein was separated by SDS‐PAGE and the stained gel band was analyzed by mass spectroscopy. Blast analysis of the amino acid sequence derived by mass spectroscopy revealed the presence of Lamin C in the NM of the mouse lens epithelial cells. We also examined nuclear proteins of adult and fetal human lenses. Data collected from these experiments showed the presence of Lamin C in both adult and fetal lens cells. However fetal lens cells only show Lamin C dimers, whereas adult human lens contained dimers, monomers and degraded Lamin C. Early and late passaged tissue cultured mouse lens epithelial cells also contained Lamin C in the nucleus with a preponderance of the dimer in the early passaged cells. The biological significance of the presence of dimers in human fetal lens cells and early passaged mouse lens cells is not known. However, it could suggest an enhanced docking capability of Lamin C dimers for other physiologically important nuclear proteins. J. Cell. Biochem. 100: 923–928, 2007. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
An Optimized User Behavior Prediction Model Using Genetic Algorithm on Mobile Web Structure

With the advancement of mobile web environments, identification and analysis of the user behavior play a significant role and remains a challenging task to implement with variations observed in the model. This paper presents an efficient method for mining optimized user behavior prediction model using genetic algorithm on mobile web structure. The framework of optimized user behavior prediction model integrates the temporary and permanent register information and is stored immediately in the form of integrated logs which have higher precision and minimize the time for determining user behavior. Then by applying the temporal characteristics, suitable time interval table is obtained by segmenting the logs. The suitable time interval table that split the huge data logs is obtained using genetic algorithm. Existing cluster based temporal mobile sequential arrangement provide efficiency without bringing down the accuracy but compromise precision during the prediction of user behavior. To efficiently discover the mobile users" behavior, prediction model is associated with region and requested services, a method called optimized user behavior Prediction Model using Genetic Algorithm (PM-GA) on mobile web structure is introduced. This paper also provides a technique called MAA during the increase in the number of models related to the region and requested services are observed. Based on our analysis, we content that PM-GA provides improved performance in terms of precision, number of mobile models generated, execution time and increasing the prediction accuracy. Experiments are conducted with different parameter on real dataset in mobile web environment. Analytical and empirical result offers an efficient and effective mining and prediction of user behavior prediction model on mobile web structure.
Diabetic foot complications: a two-year review of limb amputation in a Kelantanese population.

INTRODUCTION Many conditions, including benign and malignant tumours, peripheral vascular diseases and open fracture grade 3C, have been successfully treated with limb sparing procedures. However, the same could not be said for treatment of limb infection, especially late stage diabetic foot complications. METHODS This is a retrospective review of patients who underwent operations at our hospital from July 2003 to June 2005. All patients who underwent various types of limbs amputations were included. The cohort was divided according to the diagnosis leading to the amputation and the level of amputation. The number and levels of amputation were then compared with the various causes leading to the amputation. RESULTS There were 203 patients who underwent amputation during the period of study. 135 (66.5 percent) of the patients were diabetic and amputations performed were related to diabetic foot conditions. 68 (33.5 percent) patients were not known to have diabetes mellitus. Among nondiabetic patients, 54 (26.6 percent) amputations were due to trauma, 11 (5.4 percent) were related to musculoskeletal tumours and 3 (1.5 percent) were due to peripheral vascular disease. Among diabetic patients, 23 (17 percent) patients underwent above knee amputation, 44 (33 percent) patients underwent below knee amputation, and 68 (50 percent) patients underwent local foot amputation. 80 of 135 (59.3 percent) patients, who underwent amputation due to diabetic complications, were less than 60 years old. CONCLUSION Good diabetic control and detection of early diabetic foot complications will reduce the number of patients undergoing limb amputation as well as the number of amputees. Since the incidence of lower limb amputation is due mainly to poor diabetic control, it is important to protect this group of patients from a probable avoidable amputation.
Gene expression during differentiation of human dendritic cells from cord blood cd34 stem cells.

Human cord blood CD34(+)stem cells were allowed to differentiate in the presence of cytokines stem cell factor (SCF), granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) into functional CD1a+dendritic cells (DC). A maximum of 1.9 x 10(6) CD1a+ cells were separated from the cells generated from 1.2 x 10(6) CD34(+) stem cells from an individual donor. The percentage of CD1a+cells separated rose to a maximum of 27% at day 11 and fell to 8% at 21 days. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis showed that interleukin 2 receptor, interleukin 3 receptor, interleukin 6 receptor, interleukin 12 receptor (IL-12R) and signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) 3, STAT 4 mRNA was expressed in all CD1a+cell populations throughout and appears to be constitutive. Expression of IL-12RmRNA was unexpected in CD1a+DC normally considered to be of myeloid lineage. Expression of interleukin 12 (IL-12) p40 subunit mRNA was not detected. Intermittent expression of the IL-12p35 subunit and IL-4R mRNA suggested that gene expression is inducible, but not obviously correlated with progressive DC development. Expression of mRNA for a spectrum of cytokine receptors indicates that CD1a+DC have the potential to respond to a variety of maturational signals.
The SCOFF questionnaire: assessment of a new screening tool for eating disorders

Eating disorders are among the most common psychiatric disorders in young women. Early detection and treatment improves prognosis, but presentation is often cryptic—for example, via physical symptoms in primary care. Ability to diagnose the condition varies and can be inadequate,1 and existing questionnaires for detection 2 3 are lengthy and may require specialist interpretation. No simple, memorable screening instruments are available for non-specialists. In alcohol misuse the CAGE questionnaire4 has proved popular with clinicians because of its simplicity. We developed and tested a similar tool for eating disorders— with questions designed to raise suspicion that an eating disorder might exist—before rigorous clinical assessment. We developed five questions addressing core features of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa using focus groups of patients with eating disorders and specialists in eating disorders; we tested the questions in a feasibility study of patients and staff at an eating disorders unit None …
Thymoma and thymic carcinoma.

Based on the light microscopical features of normal thymic epithelial cells, human thymoma was divided in different types, namely cortical, medullary, and mixed ones, according to the epithelial cell (EC) type. Lymphoid cell populations with morphological features of either cortical or medullary thymocytes were found according to different types of EC in thymoma. The histological variation of the different types of thymoma are demonstrated. In a retrospective study of 58 thymomas and 13 thymic carcinomas, malignant invasive character as well as the occurrence of myasthenia gravis were both found to be related to the neoplastic proliferation of the cortical epithelial cells, whereas in the usual mixed type of thymoma and the medullary type no gross invasion or metastases were noticed.
Fine structure of capillaries in ischaemic and non ischaemic rat striated muscle. Effect of torbafylline.

Capillary ultrastructure was studied in ischaemic and contralateral extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscle, in the diaphragm and left ventricular papillary muscle of rats with unilateral ligation of the common iliac artery (L), in ischaemic stimulated muscles (SL), and in ischaemic stimulated muscles of animals treated with a new xanthine derivative, torbafylline (SL&T). Muscles were stimulated at 10Hz via implanted electrodes 7 times/day for 2 weeks. Torbafylline or water was given by gavage morning and evening. Nominal evaluation of capillary ultrastructure revealed endothelial swelling in 52.7 +/- 8.7% (mean +/- SEM) capillaries in ischaemic muscles, 35.2 +/- 5.6% in contralateral muscles and about 30% in the diaphragm and papillary muscle. Stimulation of ischaemic muscles increased this proportion to 62.6 +/- 6.2% (not significant vs. L), 57.8 +/- 9.5% (p < 0.05 vs. L), 62.6 +/- 6.3 (p < 0.05 vs. L) and 43.7 +/- 4.2% (p < 0.05 vs. L) in ischaemic and contralateral EDL, diaphragm and papillary muscle, respectively. Administration of torbafylline reduced the proportion of swollen capillaries to 37.8 +/- 6.1. 45% (p < 0.02 vs. SL) in ischaemic muscles, and to 26.2 +/- 2.1% (p < 0.001) in papillary muscle, with a smaller effect in the contralateral EDL and the diaphragm. Stereological analysis showed that stimulation led to a marked increase in capillary size vs. contralateral muscles. A similar lumen volume density across all groups (Vv = 0.36-0.39), vs. control Vv = 0.47, reflected structural heterogeneity within the capillary population of EDL. For most components this intra- animal variation obscured drug treatment effects, the exception being Vv(nucleus) which was least in SL&T. Activity in ischaemic muscles can thus result in widespread capillary endothelial damage in muscles, and attenuation of this swelling by torbafylline may explain the beneficial effect of this drug on capillary perfusion and performance.
Dynamic Seasonality in Time Series

This study introduces a new class of time series models capturing dynamic seasonality. Unlike traditional seasonal models that mainly focus on the mean process, our approach accommodates dynamic seasonality in the mean and variance processes. This feature allows us to statistically infer dynamic seasonality in heteroskedastic time series models. Quasi-maximum likelihood estimation and a model selection procedure are adopted. A simulation study is carried out to evaluate the efficiency of the estimation method. In the empirical examples, our model outperforms a deterministic seasonality model and Holt-Winters method in forecasting monthly Nino Region 3 Sea Surface Temperature Index and intraday stock return variations in an out-of-sample analysis.
Focused ion beam scanning electron microscopy in biology

Since the end of the last millennium, the focused ion beam scanning electron microscopy (FIB‐SEM) has progressively found use in biological research. This instrument is a scanning electron microscope (SEM) with an attached gallium ion column and the 2 beams, electrons and ions (FIB) are focused on one coincident point. The main application is the acquisition of three‐dimensional data, FIB‐SEM tomography. With the ion beam, some nanometres of the surface are removed and the remaining block‐face is imaged with the electron beam in a repetitive manner. The instrument can also be used to cut open biological structures to get access to internal structures or to prepare thin lamella for imaging by (cryo‐) transmission electron microscopy. Here, we will present an overview of the development of FIB‐SEM and discuss a few points about sample preparation and imaging.
Discriminative Bag-of-Words-Based Adaptive Appearance Model for Robust Visual Tracking

In this letter, we propose a novel discriminative bag-of-words (DBoW) model that can both adapt to appearance variations over time and reduce the commonly observed drifting problem in online tracking. Specifically, a contextual region containing both the object and its surroundings is explored to construct a compact representation with two bags-of-words. Each visual word is learned to carry discriminative appearance cues for the object. In order to alleviate the drifting problem, an adaptive updating approach is introduced to prevent the integration of the background into the object model. Based on DBoW model, a robust and near real-time tracker is proposed, where tracking is accomplished by searching the candidate that best matches to the maintained DBoW model. Extensive experimental results demonstrate competitive performance of the proposed method to state-of-the-art algorithms.
Effect of Food Thermal Processing on Allergenicity Proteins in Bombay Locust (Patanga Succincta)

Food security is importance for people all the world. Bombay locust (Patanga succincta) is a major agricultural pest in Thailand and most popular for consumption as human food. Arthropods include crustacean (shrimp) and insect which can induce allergic reactions in sensitive humans. The aims of this study is to identified the cross-reactive allergens in P. succincta with sera who allergic to shrimp by IgE-immunoblotting and tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and investigated the effect of thermal processing (fried) on allergenicity of this edible insect. The electrophoresis profiles between raw and fried P. succincta is clearly differentiated. Hexamerin (HEX), enolase and arginine kinase (AK) were identified as raw P. succincta allergens whereas fried P. succincta can identified four proteins as HEX, pyruvate kinase, enolase and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) as allergen. In this result, thermal processing can alter the allergenicity of food allergens.
Expression of S100A4 by a variety of cell types present in the tumor microenvironment of human breast cancer

The S100A4 protein, which is involved in the metastasis process, is a member of the S100 superfamily of Ca‐binding proteins. Members of this family are multifunctional signaling proteins with dual extra and intracellular functions involved in the regulation of diverse cellular processes. Several studies have established a correlation between S100A4 protein expression and worse prognosis for patients with various malignancies including breast cancer. In this article, we have used specific antibodies in combination with immunohistochemistry (IHC) to identify the cell types that express S100A4 in human breast cancer biopsies obtained from high‐risk patients. IHC analysis of 68 tumor biopsies showed that the protein is expressed preferentially by various cell types present in the tumor microenvironment (macrophages, fibroblasts, activated lymphocytes), rather than by the tumor cells themselves. Moreover, we show that the protein is externalized by the stroma cells to the fluid that bathes the tumor microenvironment, where it is found in several forms that most likely correspond to charge variants. Using a specific ELISA test, we detected a significant higher concentration of S100A4 in the tumor interstitial fluid (TIF) as compared to their corresponding normal counterparts (NIF). © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Tomographic linear array SAR down-looking 3-D imaging based on multi-pass trajectories

This paper presents a new concept of tomography LASAR (TomoLASAR) down-looking 3-D imaging technique based on multi-pass trajectory. In contrast to conventional Tomography SAR, TomoLASAR cab obtains a much larger 2-D synthetic aperture and has capability of high resolution imaging in down-looking mode which can avoid shadowing effects. Firstly, the geometrical model and the received signal model of TomoLASAR using multi-pass trajectory are established. Secondly, a time domain back projection beamforming algorithm is presented for the non-uniform multi-pass data processing. In the end, the feasibility of the TomoLASAR and the imaging algorithm are demonstrated by simulated data.