Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Estimation of Individual Muscle Force Using Elastography

Background Estimation of an individual muscle force still remains one of the main challenges in biomechanics. In this way, the present study aimed: (1) to determine whether an elastography technique called Supersonic Shear Imaging (SSI) could be used to estimate muscle force, (2) to compare this estimation to that one provided by surface electromyography (EMG), and (3) to determine the effect of the pennation of muscle fibers on the accuracy of the estimation. Methods and Results Eleven subjects participated in two experimental sessions; one was devoted to the shear elastic modulus measurements and the other was devoted to the EMG recordings. Each session consisted in: (1) two smooth linear torque ramps from 0 to 60% and from 0 to 30% of maximal voluntary contraction, for the first dorsal interosseous and the abductor digiti minimi, respectively (referred to as “ramp contraction”); (2) two contractions done with the instruction to freely change the torque (referred to as “random changes contraction”). Multi-channel surface EMG recordings were obtained from a linear array of eight electrodes and the shear elastic modulus was measured using SSI. For ramp contractions, significant linear relationships were reported between EMG activity level and torque (R2 = 0.949±0.036), and between shear elastic modulus and torque (R2 = 0.982±0.013). SSI provided significant lower RMSdeviation between measured torque and estimated torque than EMG activity level for both types of contraction (1.4±0.7 vs. 2.8±1.4% of maximal voluntary contraction for “ramp contractions”, p<0.01; 4.5±2.3 vs. 7.9±5.9% of MVC for “random changes contractions”, p<0.05). No significant difference was reported between muscles. Conclusion The shear elastic modulus measured using SSI can provide a more accurate estimation of individual muscle force than surface EMG. In addition, pennation of muscle fibers does not influence the accuracy of the estimation.
Effects of a catecholamine-induced increase in cardiac output on lung injury after experimental unilateral pulmonary acid instillation*

Objectives:Increasing pulmonary blood flow aggravated ventilation-associated lung injury in ex vivo animal experiments, but data were less consistent in an in vivo animal model and do not reflect redistributed lung perfusion seen in clinical acute lung injury. We sought to determine the effects of increased cardiac output on markers of lung injury in an in vivo model of inhomogeneous lung perfusion and injury. Design:Prospective, controlled animal study. Setting:Experimental research laboratory of a university hospital. Subjects:A total of 50 anesthetized, mechanically ventilated, male Wistar rats. Interventions:Unilateral lung injury was induced in rats by left lung acid instillation. After 24 hrs, animals were anesthetized and subjected to mechanical ventilation (tidal volume, 8 mL/kg; positive end-expiratory pressure, 7 cm H2O; Fio2, 0.4) and continuous infusion of either 10 &mgr;g·kg−1·min−1 dobutamine or isotonic saline (control) for 4 hrs. Measurements and Main Results:Cardiac output and differential lung perfusion were recorded throughout the ventilation period. Right and left lung wet-to-dry weight ratio, cytokines and inflammatory cells in lung lavage, and histologic lung injury were measured postmortem. After acid injury, lung perfusion was preferentially distributed to the noninjured lung. Dobutamine increased baseline cardiac output (>70%) and perfusion of both lungs (left, acid-instilled lung: from 16 ± 2 to 29 ± 6 mL/min; right, non–acid-instilled lung: from 54 ± 3 to 98 ± 7 mL/min). There was no difference in left lung injury between dobutamine- and saline-infused animals, but right lung injury was aggravated in dobutamine-infused animals, as indicated by increased lung edema, histologic lung injury, and cell counts in lavage. Conclusions:In the setting of unilateral lung injury and uneven lung perfusion, a dobutamine-induced increase in cardiac output has potentially detrimental effects on the opposite lung.
Theoretical Performance and Thresholds of the Multitaper Method for Spectrum Sensing

The use of multitaper spectrum (MTS) for spectrum sensing in cognitive radio (CR) has been investigated by a number of researchers. Meanwhile, its superior detection performance has been numerically demonstrated. Regardless of their importance, the theoretic performance and thresholds for MTS detectors remain unavailable in the literature. In this paper, we tackle such an issue, ending up with various closed-form analytic formulas for the probabilities of detection and false alarm with different settings including single-sensor and multisensor MTS detectors with perfect or inaccurate noise variance. The validity of theoretical formulas is intensively examined through numerical results and computer simulations.
An Efficient Method for Tagging a Query with Category Labels Using Wikipedia towards Enhancing Search Engine Results

This paper intends to present a straightforward, extensive, and noise resistant method for efficiently tagging a web query, submitted to a search engine, with proper category labels. These labels are intended to represent the closest categories related to the query which can ultimately be used to enhance the results of any typical search engine by either restricting the results to matching categories or enriching the query itself. The presented method effectively rules out noise words within a query, forms the optimal keyword packs using a density function, and returns a set of category labels which represent the common topics of the given query using Wikipedia category hierarchy.
Interference and Information Organization in Keeping Track of Continually Changing Information

The influences of information organization and similarity-based interference on memory for changing information were investigated in the present experiment. Participants performed a keeping-track task in which they had to remember the most recent value for each of several continually changing attributes associated with one or several objects. Recall was poor when participants kept track of the same changing attribute compared with when they kept track of different changing attributes. This pattern was observed whether many attributes were mapped to one object or a single attribute was mapped to many objects. Keeping-track performance also deteriorated as the number of information events intervening between presentation and recall increased. The results are discussed in terms of similarity-based interference. Also discussed is the notion that this dynamic task gives rise to the need to distinguish between memory capacity for static information and memory capacity for dynamically changing information.
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It is now well established that T lymphocytes function as helper cells in the induction of immune responses to thymus-dependent antigens, but they can also exert suppressive effects on the same responses. Attempts have been made to ascribe these two effects to distinct T-cell subpopulations using irradiation sensitivity, differing sedimentation rates, and cell surface markers as tools (2, 5, 8, 14, 16). Most of these studies have been interpreted to indicate the existence of at least two distinct subsets of T cells (helper and suppressor cells). The selective T mitogens phytohemagglutinin (PHA) 1 and concanavalin A (Con A) are capable of inducing both helper and suppresser activities, and are therefore statable tools for the analysis of the mechanism of action of suppressor T cells (4, 13, 15). It has been shown that there are at least two T-cell targets for the action of Con A. One is shortlived, radiosensitive, susceptible to anti-T-cell antisera, and mediates the inhibitor effect (4, 5). The other subpopulation is responsible for the stimulatory activity and is radioresistant, long-lived, relatively insensitive to complement-mediated lysis in the presence of anti-T sera (4, 5). Using the Ly phenotypes and Con A-activated cells, it has been shown that the Ly 23 but not the Ly 1 lymphocytes can suppress the antibody response (2, 7, 8). In primary and secondary responses to sheep red blood cells (SRC), the cells of the Ly 2 +, in particular Ly 23 cells, have a suppressive activity (2, 7, 8). Helper and suppressor T lymphocytes have also been separated on a Ficoll velocity sedimentation gradient after stimulatmn with Con A in vitro. The population of blast cells exhibits suppressive activity, while the small cells mediate helper effects (16). The other T-cell mitogen used (PHA) can also either suppress or enhance the in vitro primary immune response of mouse spleen cells to heterologous erythrocytes (13). Con A added in vitro can induce helper or suppressor cells in a primary anti-SRC response, depending on the dose and the
Mapping-free high dynamic range image compression

High Dynamic Range (HDR) image compression is mostly concerned on lossless coding strategies. Conventional HDR compression schemes usually require mapping of HDR into the low dynamic range (LDR) images, so that conventional image coders, such as JPEG and JPEG2000 can be applied. This paper proposes a low complex approach to compress RGBE and OpenEXR HDR content without using any mapping step or modification of the existing JPEG and JPEG2000 codecs. The experimental results indicate that the proposed method can be used in further compressing the lossless RGBE and OpenEXR HDR formats. The overall rate-distortion performance of the proposed method is comparable to the two state of the art approaches, yet with low complexity due to the exclusion of integer to floating-points conversion and tone-mapping.
Investigating cardiac energetics in heart failure

• What is the topic of this review? This report reviews the current literature on non‐invasive in vivo methodologies for the assessment of cardiac energetics in the mouse. • What advances does it highlight? Example applications of magnetic resonance spectroscopy are discussed, including suggestions for how this approach can be advanced.
Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty for intracranial atherosclerotic lesions: evolution of technique and short-term results.

OBJECT A retrospective analysis of a 9-year experience with balloon angioplasty for intracranial atherosclerotic stenosis was undertaken with the goals of illustrating development of a safe technique for treatment of intracranial atherosclerotic disease and reporting the immediate results in this series of patients. METHODS Three distinct periods are defined, based on the technique used. In the early period, in which eight patients were treated, the angioplasty balloon size approximated the vessel size, but was always smaller. Angioplasty was moderately rapid and brief (15-30 seconds). Clinical improvement occurred in seven (87.5%) of eight patients, dissection without consequence occurred in four (50%) of eight, and residual stenosis greater than 50% was found in three (37.5%) of eight. No neurological complications occurred. In the middle period, in which 12 patients were treated, the balloon size approximated the vessel size, but oversizing by up to 0.25 mm was permitted. Angioplasty was extremely rapid and brief. Angiographically visible dissection occurred in nine (75%) of 12 patients, necessitating urokinase infusion in five (41.7%) of 12 and producing abrupt occlusion in one (8.3%) of 12, resulting in death. Occlusion secondary to the recrossing of the lesion occurred in one (8.3%) of 12, resulting in stroke. Good outcome was eventually achieved in 10 (83.3%) of 12. In the current period, in which 50 patients have been treated, the balloon is always undersized and inflation is extremely slow (several minutes). Dissection occurred in seven (14%) of 50 patients, necessitating fibrinolysis in two of 50 (4%, both uneventful) and producing no abrupt occlusion or stroke. Residual stenosis greater than 50% occurred in eight (16%) of 50, with no stenosis greater than 70%. Late restenosis occurred in four (9%) of 44 and successful repeated angioplasty was performed in all four. One guidewire vessel perforation occurred (2%), resulting in the patient's death. Good angiographic and short-term clinical outcome was achieved in the other 49 patients (98%). CONCLUSIONS Extremely slow balloon inflation combined with balloon undersizing results in decreased intimal damage, decreased acute platelet/thrombus deposition, and decreased acute closure. This technique sometimes yields suboptimal angiographic results but achieves the clinical goal safely. Intracranial angioplasty can be safely performed using this technique and modern equipment.
Penetration of Mutual Funds in India - Opportunities and Challenges

We carry out a preliminary enquiry into the nature of geographical penetration and distribution of mutual funds in India as well as their likely determinants. Using a questionnaire survey we collect qualitative and quantitative evidence from fund managers on the nature and determinants of their geographical presence throughout the country. Distribution channels seem to play a major role in fund penetration and facilitating these rather than trying to boost demand through financial literacy may be a more effective way of achieving better fund penetration. The Indian mutual fund industry is one of the fastest growing and most competitive segments of the financial sector. As of August 2013, the total AUM stood at Rs. 7.66 trillion. However, growth rates of AMCs have come down from the peak levels seen in the early 2000s. One of the biggest reasons behind this is the lack of healthy participation from a large part of the country. This lack of penetration can be due to two reasons: a) Low demand of mutual funds from the public outside the major (T-15) cities. This low demand in turn could be caused by low levels of financial literacy, cultural attitudes towards savings and investments etc., and b) Low supply of mutual funds from AMCs outside the major cities. The low supply could be due to perceived lack of demand from the general retail investor or due to lack of available manpower in these areas. The study first documents how Assets under Management (AUM) are unevenly distributed across the country and then proceed to scrutinize the reasons behind this uneven penetration. It focuses on the AMCs distribution networks using proxies such as the distribution of independent financial agents (IFAs) across the country, sales made by IFAs, distributional efficiency of AMCs etc., A survey of fund houses was carried out to gain a better understanding of the causes holding them back from expanding beyond top 15 cities. The study found that low number of agents (per capita) in sub-urban and rural areas and the slow growth rates in mutual fund sales in the corresponding areas are closely associated with each other.
The Teaching of Intonation: Fundamental Research and Classroom Applications

This article reports on research carried out in the Netherlands showing that training in the perception of intonation resulted in a statistically significant improvement in the production of English intonation patterns. The materials used for the experiment were then adapted for the teaching situation and applied in Kodak-Pathe's in-company English courses in France. Results tended to confirm the Dutch findings, but student feedback was suggestive of possible alternative directions to be taken in intonation teaching.
Erectile dysfunction in diabetes mellitus.

INTRODUCTION Type 2 diabetes is reaching pandemic levels and young-onset type 2 diabetes is becoming increasingly common. Erectile dysfunction (ED) is a common and distressing complication of diabetes. The pathophysiology and management of diabetic ED is significantly different to nondiabetic ED. AIM To provide an update on the epidemiology, risk factors, pathophysiology, and management of diabetic ED. METHOD Literature for this review was obtained from Medline and Embase searches and from relevant text books. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES A comprehensive review on epidemiology, risk factors, pathophysiolgy, and management of diabetic ED. RESULTS Large differences in the reported prevalence of ED from 35% to 90% among diabetic men could be due to differences in methodology and population characteristics. Advancing age, duration of diabetes, poor glycaemic control, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, sedentary lifestyle, smoking, and presence of other diabetic complications have been shown to be associated with diabetic ED in cross-sectional studies. Diabetic ED is multifactorial in aetiology and is more severe and more resistant to treatment compared with nondiabetic ED. Optimized glycaemic control, management of associated comorbidities and lifestyle modifications are essential in all patients. Psychosexual and relationship counseling would be beneficial for men with such coexisting problems. Hypogonadism, commonly found in diabetes, may need identification and treatment. Maximal doses of phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5) inhibitors are often needed. Transurethral prostaglandins, intracavenorsal injections, vacuum devices, and penile implants are the available therapeutic options for nonresponders to PDE5 inhibitors and for whom PDE5 inhibitors are contraindicated. Premature ejaculation and reduced libido are conditions commonly associated with diabetic ED and should be identified and treated. CONCLUSIONS Aetiology of diabetic ED is multifactorial although the relative significance of these factors are not clear. A holistic approach is needed in the management of diabetic ED.
Gas analyzer's drift leads to systematic error in maximal oxygen uptake and maximal respiratory exchange ratio determination

The aim was to examine the drift in the measurements of fractional concentration of oxygen (FO2) and carbon dioxide (FCO2) of a Nafion-using metabolic cart during incremental maximal exercise in 18 young and 12 elderly males, and to propose a way in which the drift can be corrected. The drift was verified by comparing the pre-test calibration values with the immediate post-test verification values of the calibration gases. The system demonstrated an average downscale drift (P < 0.001) in FO2 and FCO2 of −0.18% and −0.05%, respectively. Compared with measured values, corrected average maximal oxygen uptakevalues were 5–6% lower (P < 0.001) whereas corrected maximal respiratory exchange ratio values were 8–9% higher (P < 0.001). The drift was not due to an electronic instability in the analyzers because it was reverted after 20 min of recovery from the end of the exercise. The drift may be related to an incomplete removal of water vapor from the expired gas during transit through the Nafion conducting tube. These data demonstrate the importance of checking FO2 and FCO2 values by regular pre-test calibrations and post-test verifications, and also the importance of correcting a possible shift immediately after exercise.
Mammalian DNA single‐strand break repair: an X‐ra(y)ted affair

The genetic stability of living cells is continuously threatened by the presence of endogenous reactive oxygen species and other genotoxic molecules. Of particular threat are the thousands of DNA single‐strand breaks that arise in each cell, each day, both directly from disintegration of damaged sugars and indirectly from the excision repair of damaged bases. If un‐repaired, single‐strand breaks can be converted into double‐strand breaks during DNA replication, potentially resulting in chromosomal rearrangement and genetic deletion. Consequently, cells have adopted multiple pathways to ensure the rapid and efficient removal of single‐strand breaks. A general feature of these pathways appears to be the extensive employment of protein–protein interactions to stimulate both the individual component steps and the overall repair reaction. Our current understanding of DNA single‐strand break repair is discussed, and testable models for the architectural coordination of this important process are presented. BioEssays 23:447–455, 2001. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
HIDDEN POWER IN MARRIAGE

Without patriarchal laws and legally permitted gender discrimination, it becomes clearer that a powerful draw back to gender equality springs from norms about gender identity, concepts of masculinity and femininity, and tacit rules of interaction between women and men. This article offers a theoretical perspective to analyze hidden power in gender relationships. The conceptualization is based on research into marital power carried out in the Netherlands. The focus of this research was not on the way the “power cake” is divided up between spouses but rather on the operation of power processes and mechanisms that can explain why change toward gender equality in marriage is so slow.
Characterization of neutralization epitopes in the V2 region of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 gp120: role of glycosylation in the correct folding of the V1/V2 domain

A number of monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) with various levels of neutralizing activity that recognize epitopes in the V1/V2 domain of LAI-related gp120s have been described. These include rodent antibodies directed against linear and conformational epitopes and a chimpanzee MAb, C108G, with extremely potent neutralizing activity directed against a glycan-dependent epitope. A fusion glycoprotein expression system that expressed the isolated V1/V2 domain of gp120 in native form was used to analyze the structural characteristics of these epitopes. A number of MAbs (C108G, G3-4, 684-238, SC258, 11/68b, 38/66a, 38/66c, 38/62c, and CRA3) that did not bind with high affinity to peptides immunoprecipitated a fusion glycoprotein expressing the V1/V2 domain of HXB2 gp120 in the absence of other human immunodeficiency virus sequences, establishing that their epitopes were fully specified within this region. Biochemical analyses indicated that in the majority of V1/V2 fusion molecules only five of the six glycosylation signals in the V1/V2 domain were utilized, and the glycoforms were found to be differentially recognized by particular MAbs. Both C108G and MAbs directed against conformational epitopes reacted with large fractions of the fully glycosylated molecules but with only small fractions of the incompletely glycosylated molecules. Mutational analysis of the V1 and V2 glycosylation signals indicated that in most cases the unutilized site was located either at position 156 or at position 160, suggesting the occurrence of competition for glycan addition at these neighboring positions. Mutation of glycosylation site 160 destroyed the C108G epitope but increased the fraction of the molecules that presented the conformational epitopes, while mutation of the highly conserved glycosylation site at position 156 greatly diminished the expression of the conformational epitopes and increased expression of the C108G epitope. Similar heterogeneity in glycosylation was also observed when the HXB2 V1/V2 fusion glycoprotein was expressed without most of the gp70 carrier protein, and thus, this appeared to be an intrinsic property of the V1/V2 domain. Heterogeneity in expression of conformational and glycan-dependent epitopes was also observed for the natural viral env precursor, gPr160, but not for gp120. These results suggested that the closely spaced glycosylation sites 156 and 160 are often alternatively utilized and that the pattern of glycosylation at these positions affects the formation of the conformational structures needed for both expression of native epitopes in this region and processing of gPr160 to mature env products.