Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study of the Safety and Efficacy of Botulinum Toxin Type A for Patients with Glabellar Lines

The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of botulinum toxin type A for the treatment of glabellar lines. Patients with moderate or severe glabellar lines at maximal frown received intramuscular injections of placebo or 20 U of botulinum toxin type A (Botox; Allergan, Inc., Irvine, Calif.) distributed among five injection sites (one in the procerus muscle and two in each corrugator supercilii). Follow-up assessments were performed at 7, 30, 60, 90, and 120 days after injections. Efficacy measures were the physician’s rating of glabellar line severity at maximal frown and at rest (none, mild, moderate, or severe) and the patient’s global assessment of changes in glabellar lines, from +4 (100 percent better) to −4 (100 percent worse). A total of 273 patients were enrolled (botulinum toxin, 202 patients; placebo, 71 patients). All except five patients (botulinum toxin, two patients; placebo, three patients) completed the study. For the physician’s rating at maximal frown, the responder rate (percentage of patients with severity ratings of none or mild in follow-up evaluations) for the botulinum toxin group peaked at 77 percent at day 30 and was significantly greater than that for the placebo group at every follow-up visit (p < 0.001). For the patient’s assessment, the responder rate (percentage of patients with scores of +2 or more) for the botulinum toxin group peaked at 89 percent at day 30 and was significantly greater than that for the placebo group at every follow-up visit (p < 0.001). Rates of adverse events were similar for the two groups. The only adverse event with an incidence of ≥5 percent was headache (botulinum toxin, 11 percent; placebo, 20 percent). The incidence of blepharoptosis was 1 percent for the botulinum toxin group. Botulinum toxin type A was remarkably safe and effective in reducing glabellar lines.
Tracking Triploid Mortalities of Eastern Oysters Crassostrea virginica in the Virginia Portion of the Chesapeake Bay

ABSTRACT Since 2012, aquacultured eastern oysters Crassostrea virginica have been reported by oyster farmers to display mortality approaching 30%, and in some cases 85%, in areas of the lower Chesapeake Bay, VA. Based on accounts from industry, this mortality has typically affected 1-y-old oysters between May and early July, and has tended to occur in triploid oysters, which represent the vast bulk of production in the area. During this period, samples submitted for pathology have not revealed the presence of major pathogens as a cause. In 2015, to gain deeper insight into this mortality and determine whether specific sites, ploidy condition, or genetic lines were affected, oyster seed commercially produced in early 2014 were obtained from four lines, one diploid (2N DEBY) and three triploid (3N DEBY, 3N hANA, and 3N Northern). These lines were deployed in July 2014 at aquaculture farms at five Chesapeake Bay locations: Locklies Creek and Milford Haven on the western shore, and Pungoteague Creek, Nassawadox Creek, and Cherrystone Creek on the Eastern Shore. During this study, mortality was observed to peak in June at most sites, reaching a mean mortality across all tested lines of 17.0% and a cumulative mortality for the study period of 32.0% at Nassawadox Creek, the site most severely affected by mortality that followed the expected early summer mortality pattern. Interval mortality at all sites decreased to under 5% after June, but cumulative levels for the study period reached from 8.8% to 18.6% even at the sites least affected by mortality. This represents a high level of mortality given the documented absence of material involvement by major oyster pathogens such as Hapolosporidium nelsoni and Perkinsus marinus. Infiltration of gill tissues by hemocytes, observed in up to 33% of individuals at Nassawadox Creek coincident with the increase in mortality, was the only pathology observed. Harmful algal blooms were not associated with the mortality, nor were abnormal temperatures or salinities. There was no clear relationship of mortality to oyster genetic heritage, although there was variability in susceptibility among oyster lines and interactions between lines and specific sites. At some locations and in comparison with diploids, triploid oysters appeared to be more susceptible to mortality. Mortality in triploids was coincident with the timing of peak gametogenic development in diploids. Given the lack of involvement by major pathogens and the possible association of mortality with oyster gametogenesis, future work should seek to better understand the suite of environmental stressors potentially impacting cultured oysters in these systems and their interactions with the physiology and energetics of these animals.
Robust Document Image Binarization Technique For Degraded Document Images

Image segmentation is a set of segments that collectively cover the entire image ,or set of contours extracted from the image. In the process of improving degraded document images segmentation is one of the difficult task due to back ground and foreground variation. This paper presents a new approach for enhancement of degraded documents. Image binarization is the process of parting of pixels into dual collections black as foreground and white as background. Thresholding has found to be a well known technique used for binarization of document images. In degraded documents where extensive background noise or difference in the contrast and brightness exist, there exist many pixels which cannot be categorized effortlessly as foreground and background. In such cases local thresholding has significant over available techniques. The main objective of this paper is to evaluate the different image binarization techniques to find the gaps in the existing techniques.
Applications of molecular genetics to gastrointestinal and liver diseases. II. Clinical relevance

Abstract The use of DNA probes within or near disease genes is becoming increasingly important in clinical medicine. Probes are available for prenatal and carrier diagnosis for several of the more than 100 genetic diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and liver. These include familial adenomatous polyposis, haemochromatosis, cystic fibrosis, α1‐antitrypsin deficiency and the hereditary porphyrias. This review uses examples drawn from such diseases to show the relevance of these approaches to the clinician.
An innovative mathematical analysis of routine MRI scans in patients with glioblastoma using DoctorEye

Improving the initial diagnosis and the assessment of response to treatment in malignant gliomas, while avoiding invasive methods as much as justifiable, is one major aspect actual research is focusing on. Imaging studies are used to calculate tumor volume and define vital, necrotic and cystic areas within a tumor. Though the visual interpretation of magnetic resonance (MR) images is based on qualitative observation of variation in signal intensity, a correlation of signal intensities with histological features of a tumor is not possible. Better methods are needed for a reliable interpretation of follow-up studies in single patients. Histograms of signal intensities might serve as a method adding quantitative data to the description of a tumor. Using DoctorEye software, tumors can be easily rendered and histograms of the signal intensities within a tumor as well as mean and median signal intensities are possible to calculate. Our results in glioblastoma suggest that these histograms are an innovative method of gaining new tumor-specific information without performing additional investigations in a patient. It can be an additional diagnostic tool in differentiating various intracranial lesions from each other, as well as in assessing response to treatment or progression of malignant glioma.
The myosin-binding UCS domain but not the Hsp90-binding TPR domain of the UNC-45 chaperone is essential for function in Caenorhabditis elegans

The UNC-45 family of molecular chaperones is expressed in metazoan organisms from Caenorhabditis elegans to humans. The UNC-45 protein is essential in C. elegans for early body-wall muscle cell development and A-band assembly. We show that the myosin-binding UCS domain of UNC-45 alone is sufficient to rescue lethal unc-45 null mutants arrested in embryonic muscle development and temperature-sensitive loss-of-function unc-45 mutants defective in worm A-band assembly. Removal of the Hsp90-binding TPR domain of UNC-45 does not affect rescue. Similar results were obtained with overexpression of the same fragments in wild-type nematodes when assayed for diminution of myosin accumulation and assembly. Titration experiments show that, on a per molecule basis, UCS has greater activity in C. elegans muscle in vivo than full-length UNC-45 protein, suggesting that UNC-45 is inhibited by either the TPR domain or its interaction with the general chaperone Hsp90. In vitro experiments with purified recombinant C. elegans Hsp90 and UNC-45 proteins show that they compete for binding to C. elegans myosin. Our in vivo genetic and in vitro biochemical experiments are consistent with a novel inhibitory role for Hsp90 with respect to UNC-45 action.
Can Exercise Affect Cognitive Functioning in Alzheimer's Disease? A Review of the Literature

Abstract This review systematically analyzes the evidence for exercise and its effect on cognition in patients with Alzheimer's disease. A number of prospective cohort studies have been conducted elucidating the prevalence, incidence and risk factors for Alzheimer's disease (AD). These studies have demonstrated that increased levels of physical activity confer a reduced risk of AD. Nevertheless, there is a paucity of clinical trials evaluating the efficacy of exercise on cognitive functioning for AD patients. Overall, the studies presented in this paper demonstrate minimal change in cognitive functioning following exercise intervention. However, other benefits may be gained from exercise programs, such as decreasing restless behavior and improving sleep and physical status for the AD patient, and a decrease in caregiver isolation and stress when the caregivers participate in an exercise program. To ensure that activity planning for persons with AD is effective for cognitive function ing, both physical exercise and cognitively stimulating activities are recommended.
XFlow: Cross-Modal Deep Neural Networks for Audiovisual Classification

In recent years, there have been numerous developments toward solving multimodal tasks, aiming to learn a stronger representation than through a single modality. Certain aspects of the data can be particularly useful in this case—for example, correlations in the space or time domain across modalities—but should be wisely exploited in order to benefit from their full predictive potential. We propose two deep learning architectures with multimodal cross connections that allow for dataflow between several feature extractors (XFlow). Our models derive more interpretable features and achieve better performances than models that do not exchange representations, usefully exploiting correlations between audio and visual data, which have a different dimensionality and are nontrivially exchangeable. This article improves on the existing multimodal deep learning algorithms in two essential ways: 1) it presents a novel method for performing cross modality (before features are learned from individual modalities) and 2) extends the previously proposed cross connections that only transfer information between the streams that process compatible data. Illustrating some of the representations learned by the connections, we analyze their contribution to the increase in discrimination ability and reveal their compatibility with a lip-reading network intermediate representation. We provide the research community with Digits, a new data set consisting of three data types extracted from videos of people saying the digits 0–9. Results show that both cross-modal architectures outperform their baselines (by up to 11.5%) when evaluated on the AVletters, CUAVE, and Digits data sets, achieving the state-of-the-art results.
KeDiary: Using Mobile Phones to Assist Patients in Recovering from Drug Addiction

Ketamine is an addictive drug that has been shown to inflict considerable physical and mental damage on users. Due in part to its low cost, ketamine has become one of the most popular club drugs among young adults and teenagers in Southeast Asia. This paper proposes a phone-based support system (KeDiary) with Bluetooth-enabled device for the screening of saliva, as a means of assisting ketamine-dependent patients to self-monitor their ketamine use following acute withdrawal treatment. We also conducted a practical experiment to evaluate the feasibility of the proposed system, wherein three ketamine-dependent patients self-administered tests at least once per day over a period of three weeks. Follow-up interviews with the same users helped in the further refinement of the proposed self-monitoring system.
Quantum deformations of the discrete nonlinear Schrödinger equation.

A quantum system with the Hamiltonian and commutation relations depending on a deformation parameter \ensuremath{\epsilon} is introduced. When \ensuremath{\epsilon}=0 the system reduces to the quantum Ablowitz-Ladik (QAL) equation, for \ensuremath{\epsilon}=\ensuremath{\gamma}/3 it represents a quantum discrete nonlinear Schr\"odinger (QDNLS) system, and for \ensuremath{\epsilon}=\ensuremath{\gamma} the system reduces to the usual QDNLS equation. We show that the energy levels of this system can be continuously deformed into the corresponding ones of the QAL and QDNLS equations. The physical significance of this system is also discussed.
Demonstration of error-free 25Gb/s duobinary transmission using a colourless reflective integrated modulator

We report on a hybrid reflective electroabsorption modulator-based photonic integrated circuit, demonstrating error-free 25.3Gb/s duobinary transmission (BER<;1×10-12) over 35km of SSMF. Colourless operation with 1.2dB OSNR variation over the C-band is confirmed.
Carnitine Palmitoyltransferase 1B 531K Allele Carriers Sustain a Higher Respiratory Quotient after Aerobic Exercise, but β3-Adrenoceptor 64R Allele Does Not Affect Lipolysis: A Human Model

Carnitine palmitoyltransferase IB (CPT1B) and adrenoceptor beta-3 (ADRB3) are critical regulators of fat metabolism. CPT1B transports free acyl groups into mitochondria for oxidation, and ADRB3 triggers lipolysis in adipocytes, and their respective polymorphisms E531K and W64R have been identified as indicators of obesity in population studies. It is therefore important to understand the effects of these mutations on ADRB3 and CPT1B function in adipose and skeletal muscle tissue, respectively. This study aimed to analyze the rate of lipolysis of plasma indicators (glycerol, free fatty acids, and beta hydroxybutyrate) and fat oxidation (through the non-protein respiratory quotient). These parameters were measured in 37 participants during 30 min of aerobic exercise at approximately 62% of maximal oxygen uptake, followed by 30 min of recovery. During recovery, mean respiratory quotient values were higher in K allele carriers than in non-carriers, indicating low post-exercise fatty acid oxidation rates. No significant differences in lipolysis or lipid oxidation were observed between R and W allele carriers of ADRB3 at any time during the aerobic load. The substitution of glutamic acid at position 531 by lysine in the CPT1B protein decreases the mitochondrial beta-oxidation pathway, which increases the non-protein respiratory quotient value during recovery from exercise. This may contribute to weight gain or reduced weight-loss following exercise.
Generalized nonisospectral super integrable hierarchies

For the Lie superalgebra B(0,1), we choose a set of basis matrices. Then we consider a linear combination of the basis matrices, which is exactly the spectral matrix of the spatial part for the super Ablowitz‐Kaup‐Newell‐Segur (AKNS) hierarchy. The compatible condition of the spatial and temporal spectral problems leads to the well‐known zero curvature equation. Here, when the spectral parameter is independent (dependent) of temporal parameter, we obtain isospectral (nonisospectral) super AKNS hierarchy. Furthermore, we derive the generalized nonisospectral super AKNS hierarchy (GNI‐SAKNS). As another example, similar method is successfully applied to the super Dirac hierarchy, and we obtain the generalized nonisospectral super Dirac hierarchy (GNI‐SD).
Prospective randomized double-blind trial of bilateral thalamic deep brain stimulation in adults with Tourette syndrome.

OBJECT The severity of Tourette syndrome (TS) typically peaks just before adolescence and diminishes afterward. In some patients, however, TS progresses into adulthood, and proves to be medically refractory. The authors conducted a prospective double-blind crossover trial of bilateral thalamic deep brain stimulation (DBS) in five adults with TS. METHODS Bilateral thalamic electrodes were implanted. An independent programmer established optimal stimulator settings in a single session. Subjective and objective results were assessed in a double-blind randomized manner for 4 weeks, with each week spent in one of four states of unilateral or bilateral stimulation. Results were similarly assessed 3 months after unblinded bilateral stimulator activation while repeated open programming sessions were permitted. RESULTS In the randomized phase of the trial, a statistically significant (p < 0.03, Friedman exact test) reduction in the modified Rush Video-Based Rating Scale score (primary outcome measure) was identified in the bilateral on state. Improvement was noted in motor and sonic tic counts as well as on the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale and TS Symptom List scores (secondary outcome measures). Benefit was persistent after 3 months of open stimulator programming. Quality of life indices were also improved. Three of five patients had marked improvement according to all primary and secondary outcome measures. CONCLUSIONS Bilateral thalamic DBS appears to reduce tic frequency and severity in some patients with TS who have exhausted other available means of treatment.
A subtype of a Pseudomonas aeruginosa cystic fibrosis epidemic strain exhibits enhanced virulence in a murine model of acute respiratory infection.

BACKGROUND The Liverpool epidemic strain (LES) of Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a particularly successful cystic fibrosis (CF) pathogen associated with transmissibility, increased patient morbidity, and, unusually, infection of the non-CF parents of a patient with CF. METHODS Using assays for virulence-associated exoproducts, biofilm formation, Caenorhabditis elegans killing, and a murine model of acute respiratory infection, we compared the pathogenic behavior of representatives of 4 subtypes of the LES, including LES431, an isolate associated with the infection of a parent without CF. RESULTS The quorum-sensing-defective lasR mutant LES400 produced less exoproduct and had less C. elegans killing activity than the other LES subtypes, which were represented by LES431, LESB58, and LESB65. LES431 was deficient in biofilm formation, compared with the other LES sub-types. The LES subtypes displayed a range of virulence in the mouse model, with LES431 being by far the most virulent. The genome-sequenced isolate LESB58, effective at establishing infections in a rat model of chronic infection, was the least virulent subtype in the murine acute infection model. CONCLUSIONS LES isolates display widely variable pathogenic characteristics. LES431, associated with transmission to the non-CF parent of a CF patient, represents a "hypervirulent" subtype more adapted to acute infections than chronic infections.
Hierarchical Solutions for the Deformable Surface Problem in Visualization

In this paper we present a hierarchical approach for the deformable surface technique. This technique is a three dimensional extension of the snake segmentation method. We use it in the context of visualizing three dimensional scalar data sets. In contrast to classical indirect volume visualization methods, this reconstruction is not based on iso-values but on boundary information derived from discontinuities in the data. We propose a multilevel adaptive finite difference solver, which generates a target surface minimizing an energy functional based on an internal energy of the surface and an outer energy induced by the gradient of the volume. The method is attractive for preprocessing in numerical simulation or texture mapping. Red-green triangulation allows adaptive refinement of the mesh. Special considerations help to prevent self interpenetration of the surfaces. We will also show some techniques that introduce the hierarchical aspect into the inhomogeneity of the partial differential equation. The approach proves to be appropriate for data sets that contain a collection of objects separated by distinct boundaries. These kind of data sets often occur in medical and technical tomography, as we will demonstrate in a few examples.
A Generalized and Flexible Control Scheme for Photovoltaic Grid-Tie Microinverters

In this paper, design and implementation of a flyback photovoltaic (PV) microinverter based on the direct digital synthesis (DDS) technique has been described for both the standalone and the grid-connected operation. The DDS technique adopted provides flexibility in the implementation of various control schemes of the PV microinverter on a simple low-cost digital signal processing type of microprocessor (dsPIC). As compared with the conventional look-up-table method used for generating sinusoidal output voltage waveforms by digital signal processing, a much higher resolution can be obtained in the voltage phase angle and magnitude owing to the adaptive nature of the look-up table implemented within the DDS architecture. The DDS technique is used in the implementation of all control schemes of a PV microinverter, such as maximum power point tracking (MPPT), phase-locked-loop (PLL), anti-islanding, and low-voltage ride-though (LVRT), with an integrated software run on a simple microcontroller. A dedicated computer simulation model is developed, where the PV panel model, the PLL in DQ reference frame, the MPPT algorithm, and the anti-islanding and LVRT features are all taken into account. The experimental results obtained on a 120-W PV flyback microinverter have verified the validity of the proposed technique for both the steady-state and the transient-state operation. The DDS technique is thus found to be quite convenient for application to module integrated converters.