Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Histamine excites neurones in the human submucous plexus through activation of H1, H2, H3 and H4 receptors

Histamine is a major mast cell mediator of immunoneural signalling in the gut and mast cells play a role in the pathophysiology of functional and inflammatory bowel diseases. Histamine receptors are therefore promising drug targets to treat gut disorders. We aimed to study the so far unknown effect of histamine on neural activity in the human enteric nervous system (ENS) and to identify the pharmacology of histamine response. We used fast imaging techniques in combination with the potentiometric dye di‐8‐ANEPPS to monitor directly membrane potential changes and thereby neuronal excitability in the human submucous plexus from surgical specimens of 110 patients (2137 neurones, 273 ganglia). Local microejection of histamine resulted in action potential discharge in 37% of neurones. This excitatory effect was mimicked by the H1 agonist HTMT‐dimaleat, H2 agonist dimaprit, H3 agonist (R)‐(−)‐α‐methylhistamine and H4 agonist 4‐methylhistamine. The excitatory actions of the agonists were specifically and selectively blocked by the H1, H2, H3 or H4 receptor antagonists pyrilamine, ranitidine, clobenpropit or J1‐[(5‐chloro‐1H‐indol‐2‐yl)carbonyl]‐4‐methylpiperazine (JNJ 7777120), respectively. Clobenproprit reduced the excitatory response to histamine. Unlike in the guinea‐pig ENS (R)‐(−)‐α‐methylhistamine had no presynaptic actions in human submucous plexus. Application of agonists revealed receptor clustering which was as follows: 29% H1/H3, 27% H2, 20% H1/H2/H3, 10% H3, 7% H1/H2 and 7% H2/H3. Histamine excites human enteric neurones and this effect involves all four histamine receptors; most striking was the identification of an excitatory H3 mediated component and the discovery of H4 mediated neuronal excitation. These data may form the basis of identification of new targets to treat inflammatory and functional gut disorders.
Towards understanding traveler behavior in Location-based Social Networks

Understanding users' behavior in Location-based Social Networks (LBSNs) is becoming an interesting research topic. In LBSNs, users can explore the places of interest around their current locations, check in at these locations and share such check-ins with their friends or the public. Therefore, the check-ins are valuable information for studying user behavior. Many services would benefit from the research of user behavior. For example, it can help the urban design and development based on the user mobility patterns and it could also improve the location recommendations to help users to find their places of interests. Intrinsically, traveler's activities in LBSN are distinctive, especially when compared with the a local user's activities. Therefore, a study of travelers' activities in LBSNs can help understand traveler behavior and then help LBSNs provider to improve their services, e.g. location recommendation service to new visitors. The location recommendation is especially important for a new visitor to a city. However, in the literature, there is little work specially focusing on the research of travelers' behavior in LBSNs. In this paper, we take the first step towards understanding such user behavior in LBSNs. Our research is based on the travelers' check-in information created in the greater Pittsburgh area in Foursquare. At first, we empirically study the venues and the check-ins created on such venues based on venue category information. After that, we investigate the temporal features of travelers' check-ins, and examine the evolution of check-ins created at the venues related to four categories using spatio-temporal information. Besides the empirical study, we employ the notion of user entropy to investigate the diversity of the travelers' check-ins. Through the research of the user entropy as a function of the user's check-ins, we find that the majority travelers usually exhibit higher diversity in their activities. Moreover, we also use the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) to generate travelers' mobility patterns. These human centric latent topics cannot only help to cluster the venues but also address the hot spots in a city based on the crowd level.
A survey to explore what information, advice and support community-dwelling people with stroke currently receive to manage instability and falls

Abstract Purpose: To describe and determine the benefits of the information and support services currently offered to people with stroke experiencing instability and falls. Methods: A cross-sectional survey study. Two hundred and fifty-six surveys were sent out to community stroke groups in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, as well as to people with stroke on a patient register. Results: One hundred and twenty-five surveys were returned. A total of 107 participants (86%) reported instability and 62 (50%) had experienced a fall in the preceding year; 29 (28%) had reportedly received information on falls prevention. Forty-four participants (43%) sought help from health professionals following instability and falls; just over half reported that the information they received was useful. One quarter (n = 11) of those seeking help were referred on to falls clinics; all attended and 86% felt attending had been beneficial. However, only one participant was followed up by these clinics. Conclusions: Findings suggest that the majority of people with stroke who have experienced instability and falls did not receive any information and support, with very few referred on to falls clinics. Health professionals play a key role in information provision and facilitating access to falls prevention programs. Further research is required to determine the most effective ways to implement current guidelines to manage instability and falls in this high-risk group. Implications for rehabilitation: Many community-dwelling people with stroke did not receive any information, help or support after experiencing instability and falls. Clinicians must stress that falls are a complication, not an expectation, post-stroke. Information on falls prevention and available support services should be offered to individuals prior to discharge from hospital, in GP practices and in rehabilitation settings. All individuals with stroke seeking health professional help following instability and falls should be referred on to falls clinics for individualized multifactorial assessment and intervention to comply with current guidelines
Clostridium difficile Infection in Infants and Children

Infections caused by Clostridium difficile in hospitalized children are increasing. The recent publication of clinical practice guidelines for C difficile infection in adults did not address issues that are specific to children. The purpose of this policy statement is to provide the pediatrician with updated information and recommendations about C difficile infections affecting pediatric patients.
Aesthetics of Biocybernetic Designs: A Systems Approach to Biorobots and Its Implications for the Environment

ABSTRACT The authors identify some of the theoretical premises of biocybernetic art objects, with reference to the works of Nam June Paik, Edward Ihnawitz, Ulrike Gabriel, and most notably, Gilberto Esparza, the Mexican biocybernetic artist. Systems theory anticipates stochastic convergences in nature, defying the classic certitude of the teleological notion of form. Evidence for this paradigmatic shift is found in the biocybernetic creatures conceived by these roboticists. In much biocybernetic art, beauty emerges in the form of adaptive mechanisms, such as in robotic tetrapods or self-organizing artificial plants. Such structures provide a template for survival mechanisms in an increasingly entropic environment.
The financial burden of emergency general surgery: National estimates 2010 to 2060

BACKGROUND Adoption of the acute care surgery model has led to increasing volumes of emergency general surgery (EGS) patients at trauma centers. However, the financial burden of EGS services on trauma centers is unknown. This study estimates the current and future costs associated with EGS hospitalization nationwide. METHODS We applied the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma’s DRG International Classification of Diseases—9th Rev. criteria for defining EGS to the 2010 National Inpatient Sample (NIS) data and identified adult EGS patients. Cost of hospitalization was obtained by converting reported charges to cost using the 2010 all-payer inpatient cost-to-charge ratio for all hospitals in the NIS database. Cost was modeled via a log-gamma model in a generalized linear mixed model to account for potential correlation in cost within states and hospitals in the NIS database. Patients’ characteristics and hospital factors were included in the model as fixed effects, while state and hospital were included as random effects. The national incidence of EGS was calculated from NIS data, and the US Census Bureau population projections were used to estimate incidence for 2010 to 2060. Nationwide costs were obtained by multiplying projected incidences by estimated costs and reported in year 2010 US dollar value. RESULTS Nationwide, there were 2,640,725 adult EGS hospitalizations in 2010. The national average adjusted cost per EGS hospitalization was $10,744 (95% confidence interval [CI], $10,615–$10,874); applying these cost data to the national EGS hospitalizations gave a total estimated cost of $28.37 billion (95% CI, $28.03–$28.72 billion). Older age groups accounted for greater proportions of the cost ($8.03 billion for age ≥ 75 years, compared with $1.08 billion for age 18–24 years). As the US population continues to both grow and age, EGS costs are projected to increase by 45% to $41.20 billion (95% CI, $40.70–$41.7 billion) by 2060. CONCLUSION EGS constitutes a significant portion of US health care costs and is expected to rise with the demographic changes in the population. Trauma centers should conduct careful financial analyses of their EGS services, based on their unique case mix and payer mix. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Economic analysis, level III.
Low-complexity feature-mapped speech bandwidth extension

Today's telecommunications systems use a limited audio signal bandwidth. A typical bandwidth is 0.3-3.4 kHz, but recently it has been suggested that mobile phone networks will facilitate an audio signal bandwidth of 50 Hz-7 kHz. This is suggested since an increased bandwidth will increase the sound quality of the speech signals. Since only few telephones initially will have this facility, a method extending the conventional narrow frequency-band speech signal into a wide-band speech signal utilizing the receiving telephone only is suggested. This will give the impression of a wide-band speech signal. The proposed speech bandwidth extension method is based on models of speech acoustics and fundamentals of human hearing. The extension maps each speech feature separately. Care has been taken to deal with implementation aspects, such as noisy speech signals, speech signal delays, computational complexity, and processing memory usage.
Molecular Pathways TLX 1-Induced T-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

The TLX1 transcription factor oncogene is frequently activated by chromosomal translocations in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) and defines a distinct molecular group of tumors characterized by differentiation arrest at the early cortical stage of thymocyte differentiation and excellent response to therapy. Recent developments from the analysis of genomic data on TLX1-specific transcriptional targets and analysis of the molecular mechanisms of TLX1 transformation in humanand mouse-induced leukemias have shown novel insight into the activity of this transcription factor oncogene. Aberrant expression of TLX1 in T-cell progenitors disrupts normal T-cell development and triggers the development of aneuploidy during T-cell transformation. Importantly, the disruption of the mitotic checkpoint in TLX1-induced tumors may be linked not only to the acquisition of secondary genetic alterations in T-ALL but also to increased sensitivity of these tumors to chemotherapy with drugs targeting the formation of the mitotic spindle. Clin Cancer Res; 17(20); 6381–6. 2011 AACR.
A Review of Test Artifacts for Additive Manufacturing

A standardized test part can be used to quantitatively evaluate the performance of a machine or process. This document reviews existing test artifacts used to characterize additive manufacturing processes that are reported in the literature. Several aspects of the test artifacts and their use for performance characterization are discussed, including the purposes of the studies, important features found in various test pieces, and characteristics that are desirable in test pieces. The works were divided into four categories: test artifacts for comparing processes for decision making, test artifacts for evaluating individual processes, test artifacts for evaluating metal-based processes, and test artifacts for other uses. Many of the test parts have similar characteristics because research typically builds upon the findings of previous research, and many researchers may have been influenced by “rules” put forth in earlier works. Most of the test artifact designs have various “real” features atop a square or rectangular base. The main alternative to the square-base, multiple-feature artifacts appears to be a smaller, simpler artifact that is built at multiple positions and/or multiple orientations throughout the work volume. The proposed test parts were as large as 240 mm x 240 mm in lateral dimensions and contained features as small as 0.2 mm in dimension.
Approaching game-studies: towards a reflexive methodology of games as situated cultures

This paper will address why and how a reflexive and situated methodology could be employed to study cultural functions of play. Starting from the supposition that playing is pivotal to all game-research, I will follow Aarseth’s claim that any (cultural) approach of games asks for an inclusion of the position of the player/researcher in its methodology [1]. Being particularly interested in games as a cultural practice, I will add to his claim that for such kind of research a methodology is needed that enables us to see games as culture. My hypotheses will be that reflexivity and situatedness lie at the heart of any approach that wants to include both issues. I will show that reflexivity and situatedness may be needed as complementary tools to come to a cultural study of games that takes Aarseth’s call for reflectivity serious. I will claim that the researcher needs the combined tools of reflexivity and situatedness because both situatedness (intertwining agent and environment) and reflexivity (distance/proximity) take into account the involvement of the researcher/player with its material and view this as a cultural praxis. Situatedness allows for game-research that shows the physical locality of playing whilst still relating play to a more global or national context. Reflexivity permits us to show how the researcher is culturally and locally involved in her quasi-object of study through play. Author Keywords
Platelets in Pulmonary Hypertension: a Causative Role or a Simple Association?

Pathophysiology of pulmonary arterial hypertension is based on three basic mechanisms: thrombotic pulmonary vascular lesions, vasoconstriction and vascular remodeling. Platelets are related to all of these mechanisms by their aggregation, production, storage and release of several mediators. The role of platelets is more prominent in some types of pulmonary arterial hypertension, including those which are secondary to inflammatory and infectious diseases, hemoglobinopathies, essential thrombocythemia, drugs, thromboembolism, and cardiac surgery. Most pulmonary antihypertensive drugs have a negative effect on platelets. In this review, the mechanisms of platelets association with pulmonary arterial hypertension, those types of pulmonary arterial hypertension with greatest platelet contribution to their pathophysiology, and the effects of pulmonary antihypertensive drugs on platelets are summarized.
Spatial gradient of protein phosphorylation underlies replicative asymmetry in a bacterium

Spatial asymmetry is crucial to development. One mechanism for generating asymmetry involves the localized synthesis of a key regulatory protein that diffuses away from its source, forming a spatial gradient. Although gradients are prevalent in eukaryotes, at both the tissue and intracellular levels, it is unclear whether gradients of freely diffusible proteins can form within bacterial cells given their small size and the speed of diffusion. Here, we show that the bacterium Caulobacter crescentus generates a gradient of the active, phosphorylated form of the master regulator CtrA, which directly regulates DNA replication. Using a combination of mathematical modeling, single-cell microscopy, and genetic manipulation, we demonstrate that this gradient is produced by the polarly localized phosphorylation and dephosphorylation of CtrA. Our data indicate that cells robustly establish the asymmetric fates of daughter cells before cell division causes physical compartmentalization. More generally, our results demonstrate that uniform protein abundance may belie gradients and other sophisticated spatial patterns of protein activity in bacterial cells.
GATA-6: the proliferation stops here: cell proliferation in glomerular mesangial and vascular smooth muscle cells.

See related article, pages 699–704 GATA-6 belongs to a family of zinc finger transcription factors that have been implicated in various developmental processes, including cell differentiation and proliferation. In this issue of Circulation Research , Nagata et al1 report that overexpression of GATA-6 in glomerular mesangial cells (GMCs) results in decreased cell proliferation and posttranscriptional upregulation of p21cip1, a cyclin-dependent kinase (cdk) inhibitor. This finding is especially interesting in light of recent reports showing that GATA-6 regulates cell proliferation via p21cip1 in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). 2 Thus, the present study details a new region of expression for GATA-6 (glomerular mesangial cells) coupled with an important emerging function (regulation of cell proliferation). All GATA factors activate transcription by binding to the consensus DNA sequence WGATAR (where W is T or A and R is G or A). 3 4 On the basis of both their amino acid sequence homologies and respective patterns of expression, the 6 vertebrate GATA factors have been classified into 2 subfamilies. Members of the GATA-1/-2/-3 subfamily are known to be important regulators of hematopoietic cell growth and differentiation.5 In addition, GATA-1 has been shown to regulate erythroid cell proliferation, whereas GATA-2 seems to regulate multipotential hematopoietic progenitor cell proliferation.6 7 GATA-6 was originally characterized as a member of the GATA-4/-5/-6 subfamily of GATA factors, which are expressed in the developing heart and are able to transactivate cardiac-specific promoters, such as cardiac troponin C, atrial natriuretic factor, and α-myosin heavy chain, in vitro.8 Recent reports of mice containing null mutations for GATA-4 and -6 have shown that these factors are essential for formation of the midline heart tube from precardiac mesoderm and differentiation of the visceral endoderm in the mouse, respectively.9 10 11 Although a great deal has …
Haptics in Education: Exploring an Untapped Sensory Modality

As human beings, we can interact with our environment through the sense of touch, which helps us to build an understanding of objects and events. The implications of touch for cognition are recognized by many educators who advocate the use of “hands-on” instruction. But is it possible to know something more completely by touching it? Does touch promote the construction of more connected and meaningful understandings? Current technology makes the addition of touch to computer-generated environments possible, but the educational implications of this innovation are still largely unknown. This article is a baseline review that examines the role of touch in cognition and learning and explores the research investigating the efficacy of the haptic augmentation of instruction.
Sparse signal recovery from compressed measurements using hybrid particle swarm optimization

The computationally intensive part of compressed sensing (CS) deals with the sparse signal reconstruction from lesser number of random projections. Finding sparse solution to such an underdetermined system is highly ill-conditioned and therefore requires additional regularization constraints. This research paper introduces a new approach for recovering a K-sparse signal from compressed samples using particle swarm optimization (PSO) along with separable surrogate functionals (SSF) algorithm. The suggested hybrid mechanism applied with appropriate regularization constraints speeds up the convergence of PSO. The estimated original sparse signal is also recovered with great precision. Simulation results show that the signal estimated with PSO-SSF combination outperforms the signal recovery through PSO, SSF and parallel coordinate descent (PCD) methods in terms of reconstruction accuracy. Finally, the efficiency of the proposed algorithm is validated experimentally by exactly recovering a one-dimensional K-sparse signal from only a few number of non-adaptive random measurements.
Silicon Photonic devices for the near- and the mid-infrared wavelength ranges

We discuss recent results in our work on Silicon Photonics. This includes both active and passive devices for a variety of applications. In particular we discuss work on wafer scale testing, modulators and drivers, device integration and mid-IR silicon photonics components. These devices are important both for established applications such as integrated transceivers for short reach interconnects, as well as emerging applications such as disposable sensors and mass market photonics.