Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Imagerie préclinique multimodale chez le petit animal : qualification des instruments et des méthodes (IRM, µTDM et µTEMP). (Preclinical multimodal small animal imaging : qualification of instruments and methods (MRI, µCT and µSPECT))

L’imagerie preclinique se pratique majoritairement sur des modeles animaux murins principalement des souris (61%), elle represente une etape indispensable en recherche preclinique car elle suit les deux premieres recommandations de la regle des 3R (reduction, raffinement et remplacement). Pour donner une signification biologique aux mesures extraites des images acquises in vivo chez la souris, il est necessaire d’evaluer les performances des instruments utilises mais egalement des procedures experimentales en jeu. La qualification des appareils necessite l’usage de fantomes specifiques, et l’evaluation des methodes impose de tester les procedures sur des individus non pathologiques, avant le passage aux experimentations proprement dites. L’objectif de ce travail a ete de developper des outils et des methodes permettant de qualifier les instruments d’imagerie et certaines procedures in vivo. La necessite de quantification, a partir d’images realisees chez le petit animal, nous amene a considerer les instruments d’imagerie preclinique comme des outils metrologiques ; ce qui amene a integrer le principe d’incertitude de mesure dans l’expression des resultats.
Prevalence of Osteoporosis in Apparently Healthy Adults above 40 Years of Age in Pune City, India

Purpose: The aim of study was to assess the prevalence of osteoporosis and changes in bone mass with increasing age and compare bone health status of apparently healthy men, premenopausal and postmenopausal women. Methods: Data were collected on anthropometric and sociodemographic factors in 421 apparently healthy Indian adults (women = 228), 40–75 years of age, in a cross-sectional study in Pune city, India. Bone mineral density (BMD) was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry at two sites-lumbar spine (LS) and left femur. Individuals were classified as having osteoporosis or osteopenia based on the World Health Organization criteria of T-scores. Results: Mean age of study population was 53.3 ± 8.4 years. Of the total women, 44.3% were postmenopausal with 49.2 ± 3.5 years as mean age at menopause. Postmenopausal women showed a rapid decline in BMD with age till 50 years while men showed a gradual decline. Premenopausal women showed no significant decline in BMD with age (P > 0.1). Significantly lower T-scores were observed at LS in men compared to premenopausal (P < 0.05). At left femur, T-scores were lower in men compared to premenopausal women (P < 0.05) but not postmenopausal women (P > 0.1). The prevalence of osteoporosis in men at LS was lower than postmenopausal women but higher than premenopausal women. Conclusion: In Indian men, a low T-score compared to women indicates higher susceptibility to osteoporosis. In women, menopause causes a rapid decline in BMD. Therefore, both Indian men and postmenopausal women require adequate measures to prevent osteoporosis during later years in life.
Dye-enhanced visualization of rat whiskers for behavioral studies

Visualization and tracking of the facial whiskers is required in an increasing number of rodent studies. Although many approaches have been employed, only high-speed videography has proven adequate for measuring whisker motion and deformation during interaction with an object. However, whisker visualization and tracking is challenging for multiple reasons, primary among them the low contrast of the whisker against its background. Here, we demonstrate a fluorescent dye method suitable for visualization of one or more rat whiskers. The process makes the dyed whisker(s) easily visible against a dark background. The coloring does not influence the behavioral performance of rats trained on a vibrissal vibrotactile discrimination task, nor does it affect the whiskers’ mechanical properties. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.7554/eLife.25290. 001
Integration of Flowering Signals in Winter-Annual Arabidopsis1

Photoperiod is the primary environmental factor affecting flowering time in rapid-cycling accessions of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). Winter-annual Arabidopsis, in contrast, have both a photoperiod and a vernalization requirement for rapid flowering. In winter annuals, high levels of the floral inhibitor FLC (FLOWERING LOCUS C) suppress flowering prior to vernalization. FLC acts to delay flowering, in part, by suppressing expression of the floral promoter SOC1 (SUPPRESSOR OF OVEREXPRESSION OF CONSTANS1). Vernalization leads to a permanent epigenetic suppression of FLC. To investigate how winter-annual accessions integrate signals from the photoperiod and vernalization pathways, we have examined activation-tagged alleles of FT and the FT homolog, TSF (TWIN SISTER OF FT), in a winter-annual background. Activation of FT or TSF strongly suppresses the FLC-mediated late-flowering phenotype of winter annuals; however, FT and TSF overexpression does not affect FLC mRNA levels. Rather, FT and TSF bypass the block to flowering created by FLC by activating SOC1 expression. We have also found that FLC acts as a dosage-dependent inhibitor of FT expression. Thus, the integration of flowering signals from the photoperiod and vernalization pathways occurs, at least in part, through the regulation of FT, TSF, and SOC1.
Genome Dynamics Explain the Evolution of Flowering Time CCT Domain Gene Families in the Poaceae

Numerous CCT domain genes are known to control flowering in plants. They belong to the CONSTANS-like (COL) and PREUDORESPONSE REGULATOR (PRR) gene families, which in addition to a CCT domain possess B-box or response-regulator domains, respectively. Ghd7 is the most recently identified COL gene to have a proven role in the control of flowering time in the Poaceae. However, as it lacks B-box domains, its inclusion within the COL gene family, technically, is incorrect. Here, we show Ghd7 belongs to a larger family of previously uncharacterized Poaceae genes which possess just a single CCT domain, termed here CCT MOTIF FAMILY (CMF) genes. We molecularly describe the CMF (and related COL and PRR) gene families in four sequenced Poaceae species, as well as in the draft genome assembly of barley (Hordeum vulgare). Genetic mapping of the ten barley CMF genes identified, as well as twelve previously unmapped HvCOL and HvPRR genes, finds the majority map to colinear positions relative to their Poaceae orthologues. Combined inter-/intra-species comparative and phylogenetic analysis of CMF, COL and PRR gene families indicates they evolved prior to the monocot/dicot divergence ∼200 mya, with Poaceae CMF evolution described as the interplay between whole genome duplication in the ancestral cereal, and subsequent clade-specific mutation, deletion and duplication events. Given the proven role of CMF genes in the modulation of cereals flowering, the molecular, phylogenetic and comparative analysis of the Poaceae CMF, COL and PRR gene families presented here provides the foundation from which functional investigation can be undertaken.
Value and limitations of chest pain history in the evaluation of patients with suspected acute coronary syndromes.

CONTEXT The chest pain history, physical examination, determination of coronary artery disease (CAD) risk factors, and the initial electrocardiogram compose the information immediately available to clinicians to help determine the probability of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) or acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in patients with chest pain. However, conflicting data exist about the usefulness of the chest pain history and which components are most useful. OBJECTIVE To identify the elements of the chest pain history that may be most helpful to the clinician in identifying ACS in patients presenting with chest pain. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION MEDLINE and Ovid were searched from 1970 to September 2005 by using specific key words and Medical Subject Heading terms. Reference lists of these articles and current cardiology textbooks were also consulted. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS Certain chest pain characteristics decrease the likelihood of ACS or AMI, namely, pain that is stabbing, pleuritic, positional, or reproducible by palpation (likelihood ratios [LRs] 0.2-0.3). Conversely, chest pain that radiates to one shoulder or both shoulders or arms or is precipitated by exertion is associated with LRs (2.3-4.7) that increase the likelihood of ACS. The chest pain history itself has not proven to be a powerful enough predictive tool to obviate the need for at least some diagnostic testing. Combinations of elements of the chest pain history with other initially available information, such as a history of CAD, have identified certain groups that may be safe for discharge without further evaluation, but further study is needed before such a recommendation can be considered reasonable. CONCLUSION Although certain elements of the chest pain history are associated with increased or decreased likelihoods of a diagnosis of ACS or AMI, none of them alone or in combination identify a group of patients that can be safely discharged without further diagnostic testing.
Loop parallelisation for pvm-based distributed-memory systems

Writing programs for a distributed-memory system (DMS) is a difficult job. In this paper, a method for parallelising sequential programs for DMS is presented. The input programs are C programs and the output parallel versions are programs containing routines for the Parallel Virtual Machine (PVM). PVM allows a group of computers in a network to be specified as a DMS and provides the routines for task activation and communication. The main task in this parallelisation of program is to process the loops in the source program and determine if there exists any data dependences or not. If the loop iterations are independent, the body will be transformed to tasks that will run independently for PVM.
Buccal films as a dressing for the treatment of aphthous lesions

BACKGROUND Buccal flexible films in the form of solid, thin, mucoadhesive patches can be used as dressings separating aphthous lesions from the environment of the oral cavity, which can in turn shorten the treatment period and reduce the pain perception. METHODS The clinical study was performed on 36 volunteers suffering from aphthous lesions. The first group was treated using standard means-by application of an oral gel containing cholin salicylate (Mundisal) on the aphthous lesion. The second group was treated with the same preparation; however, the lesion was covered with a mucoadhesive film following the application of the gel. The criteria for statistical evaluation were the size of lesions in relation to the length of the treatment and the subjective perception of the treatment results. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS The application of buccal films covering aphthous lesions during the treatment significantly increased the rate of healing when compared with the standard methods of treatment. While the pain improvement was statistically significant as soon as Day 3 in the experimental group, it was only apparent on Day 5 in the control group, and the number of successfully treated patients (pain perception improving to visual analogue scale 2 or less) was at all time points higher in the experimental group than in the control group. The results imply that the use of buccal films for treatment of aphthous lesions is very promising and can lead to a significant reduction in the duration of patients' discomfort.
Neurobehavioral features in individuals with Kabuki syndrome

Kabuki syndrome (KS) is a disorder characterized by multiple congenital anomalies affecting development and function of multiple systems. Over the years, researchers have attempted to characterize the neurobehavioral phenotype of KS in cohorts of patients enrolled on the basis of clinical assessment. The availability of molecular testing now allows for recruitment of patients with confirmed KS due to KMT2D and KDM6A.
Depression and cardiac mortality: results from a community-based longitudinal study.

BACKGROUND Depression may be a potential risk factor for subsequent cardiac death. The impact of depression on cardiac mortality has been suggested to depend on cardiac disease status, and to be stronger among cardiac patients. This study examined and compared the effect of depression on cardiac mortality in community-dwelling persons with and without cardiac disease. METHODS A cohort of 2847 men and women aged 55 to 85 years was evaluated for 4 years. Major depression was defined according to psychiatric DSM-III criteria. Minor depression was defined by Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale scores of 16 or higher. Effects of minor and major depression on cardiac mortality were examined separately in 450 subjects with a diagnosis of cardiac disease and in 2397 subjects without cardiac disease after adjusting for demographics, smoking, alcohol use, blood pressure, body mass index, and comorbidity. RESULTS Compared with nondepressed cardiac patients, the relative risk of subsequent cardiac mortality was 1.6 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.0-2.7) for cardiac patients with minor depression and 3.0 (95% CI, 1.1-7.8) for cardiac patients with major depression, after adjustment for confounding variables. Among subjects without cardiac disease at baseline, similar increased cardiac mortality risks were found for minor depression (1.5 [95% CI, 0.9-2.6]) and major depression (3.9 [95% CI, 1.4-10.9]). CONCLUSION Depression increases the risk for cardiac mortality in subjects with and without cardiac disease at baseline. The excess cardiac mortality risk was more than twice as high for major depression as for minor depression.
Multi-Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Cooperative Fault Detection Employing Differential Global Positioning (DGPS), Inertial and Vision Sensors

This paper presents a method to increase the reliability of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) sensor Fault Detection and Identification (FDI) in a multi-UAV context. Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) and inertial sensors are used for sensor FDI in each UAV. The method uses additional position estimations that augment individual UAV FDI system. These additional estimations are obtained using images from the same planar scene taken from two different UAVs. Since accuracy and noise level of the estimation depends on several factors, dynamic replanning of the multi-UAV team can be used to obtain a better estimation in case of faults caused by slow growing errors of absolute position estimation that cannot be detected by using local FDI in the UAVs. Experimental results with data from two real UAVs are also presented.
Critical Role of K1685 and K1829 in the Large Protein of Rabies Virus in Viral Pathogenicity and Immune Evasion

ABSTRACT Rabies, one of the oldest infectious diseases, still presents a public health threat in most parts of the world today. Its pathogen, rabies virus (RABV), can utilize its viral proteins, such as the nucleoprotein and phosphorylation protein, to subvert the host innate immune system. For a long time, the large (L) protein was believed to be essential for RABV transcription and replication, but its role in viral pathogenicity and immune evasion was not known. Recent studies have found that the conserved K-D-K-E tetrad motif in the L protein is related to the methyltransferase (MTase) activity in the viral mRNA process. In the present study, a series of RABV mutations in this motif was constructed with the recombinant CVS-B2c (rB2c) virus. Two of these mutants, rB2c-K1685A and rB2c-K1829A, were found to be stable and displayed an attenuated phenotype in both in vitro growth and in vivo pathogenicity in adult and suckling mice. Further studies demonstrated that these two mutants were more sensitive to the expression of the interferon-stimulated gene product IFIT2 than the parent virus. Taken together, our results suggest that K1685 and K1829 in the L protein play important roles in pathogenicity and immune evasion during RABV infection. IMPORTANCE Rabies continues to present a public health threat in most areas of the world, especially in the developing countries of Asia and Africa. The pathogenic mechanisms for rabies are not well understood. In the present study, it was found that the recombinant rabies viruses rB2c-K1685A and rB2c-K1829A, carrying mutations at the predicted MTase catalytic sites in the L protein, were highly attenuated both in vitro and in vivo. Further studies showed that these mutants were more sensitive to the expression of the interferon-stimulated gene product IFIT2 than the parent virus. These findings improve our understanding of rabies pathogenesis, which may help in developing potential therapeutics and an avirulent rabies vaccine.
Proximate composition of selected potential feedstuffs for Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus Linnaeus) production in Kenya

Nutrition is vital in fish farming because feed costs represent 40–50 % of the total variable production costs (SHANG, 1992; CRAIG and HELFRICH, 2002). For several decades, fishmeal has been used as the main source of protein in fish feeds (TACON and JACKSON, 1985; TACON, 1993; EL-SAIDY and GABER, 2004; ALCESTE and JORY, 2000). However, the periodically occurring low availability, competition and continuously fluctuating prices of fishmeal are affecting aquaculture feed production and consequently the profitability (WATANABE, 1988; WATANABE and PONGMANEERAT, 1991; LIM and DOMINAY, 1990). As a result, a lot of effort has been focussed on feed alternatives to fishmeal both from plant and animal protein sources (ELSAIDY and GABER, 2004; EL-SAYED, 1998; FERNANDES et al., 1999; FASAKIN et al., 1999; RINCHARD et al., 2002; HOSSAIN et al., 2002). In order to enhance aquacultural production, improve food security, and reduce the level of poverty in developing
Illumination-Invariant Robust Multiview 3D Human Motion Capture

In this work we address the problem of capturing human body motion under changing lighting conditions in a multiview setup. In order to account for changing lighting conditions we propose to use an intermediate image representation that is invariant to the scene lighting. In our approach this is achieved by solving time-varying segmentation problems that use frame- and view-dependent appearance costs that are able to adjust to the present conditions. Moreover, we use an adaptive combination of our lighting-invariant segmentation with CNN-based joint detectors in order to increase the robustness to segmentation errors. In our experimental validation we demonstrate that our method is able to handle difficult conditions better than existing works.
Deep Learning and Model Predictive Control for Self-Tuning Mode-Locked Lasers

Self-tuning optical systems are of growing importance in technological applications such as mode-locked fiber lasers. Such self-tuning paradigms require intelligent algorithms capable of inferring approximate models of the underlying physics and discovering appropriate control laws in order to maintain robust performance for a given objective. In this work, we demonstrate the first integration of a deep-learning (DL) architecture with model predictive control (MPC) in order to self-tune a mode-locked fiber laser. Not only can our DL-MPC algorithmic architecture approximate the unknown fiber birefringence, it also builds a dynamical model of the laser and appropriate control law for maintaining robust, high-energy pulses despite a stochastically drifting birefringence. We demonstrate the effectiveness of this method on a fiber laser that is mode-locked by nonlinear polarization rotation. The method advocated can be broadly applied to a variety of optical systems that require robust controllers.
An improved MCMC algorithm for generating random graphs from constrained distributions

Abstract We consider the problem of generating uniformly random graphs from a constrained distribution. A graph is valid if it obeys certain constraints such as a given number of nodes, edges, k-stars or degree sequence, and each graph must occur with equal probability. A typical application is to confirm the correctness of a model by repeated sampling and comparing statistical properties against empirical data. Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithms are often used, but have certain difficulties such as the inability to search the space of all possible valid graphs. We propose an improved algorithm which overcomes these difficulties. Although each individual iteration of the MCMC algorithm takes longer, we obtain better coverage of the search space in the same amount of time. This leads to better estimates of various quantities such as the expected number of transitive triads given the constraints. The algorithm should be of general interest with many possible applications, including the world wide web, biological, and social networks.
Proof of concept study of a novel pacemapping algorithm as a basis to guide ablation of ventricular arrhythmias

Aims To determine if a software algorithm can use an individualized distance-morphology difference model, built from three initial pacemaps, to prospectively locate the exit site (ES) of ventricular arrhythmias (VA). Methods and results Consecutive patients undergoing ablation of VA from a single centre were recruited. During mapping, three initial pacing points were collected in the chamber of interest and the navigation algorithm applied to predict the ES, which was corroborated by conventional mapping techniques. Thirty-two patients underwent ES prediction over 35 procedures. Structural heart disease was present in 16 (7 ischaemic cardiomyopathy, 9 non-ischaemic cardiomyopathy), median ejection fraction 45% [Interquartile range (IQR) 26]. The remainder had normal hearts. The navigation algorithm was applied to 46 VA (24 left ventricle, 11 right ventricular outflow tract, 5 left ventricular outflow tract, 4 right ventricle, 2 epicardial) and successfully located the site of best pacemap match in 45 within a median area of 196.5 mm2 (IQR 161.3, range 46.6-1288.2 mm2). Conclusions In a diverse population of patients with and without structural heart disease, the ES of VA can be accurately and reliably identified to within a clinically useful target area using a simple software navigation algorithm based on pacemapping.
Long‐term outcome of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients with acute respiratory failure following intensive care unit discharge in Turkey

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) remains a globally significant cause of mortality, although COPD mortality varies from country to country, and across different regions within each country. The primary objective of this study was to determine the mortality rates of COPD patients who present with acute respiratory failure (ARF) to a tertiary care referral center in different stages of their follow‐up (ICU, in‐hospital and after discharge). The secondary objective was to determine factors associated with mortality in this group of patients.
"You Better Eat to Survive": Exploring Cooperative Eating in Virtual Reality Games

"You Better Eat to Survive" is a two-player virtual reality game that involves eating real food to survive and ultimately escape from a virtual island. We sense eating actions of players by analyzing chewing sounds captured by a low-cost microphone attached to the players cheek. Our interest in using cooperative eating as a way of interacting in virtual reality is driven by the possibilities of creating a cross-modal gameplay experience that benefits social interactions. A user study with 22 players showed that eating real food improved players feeling of presence, challenged trust dependencies and made the survival aspect of the game feel more "real". We use these insights to articulate three design themes that can guide designers in creating virtual reality games that incorporate cooperative eating. Ultimately, our work aims to guide design thinking towards using underexplored interaction methods in virtual reality games, thereby reiterating the post-digital design theme of TEI 2018.