Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Relation of Oxytocin to Psychological Stress Responses and Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenocortical Axis Activity in Older Women

Objective: Animal research suggests that oxytocin (OT) plays a role in stress responses and that in females, this role is modulated by estrogen. Yet little is known about the relation of OT to human stress responses. This study was conducted to examine the relations between estrogen activity and OT, identify stressors distinctively associated with elevations in OT, and investigate whether OT is related to cardiovascular and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) activity in a laboratory challenge paradigm. Methods: Seventy-three postmenopausal women who were on hormone therapy (HT) or not completed questionnaires assessing psychological distress and social relationships and then participated in a laboratory stress challenge (Trier Social Stress Task), during which OT, cortisol, and blood pressure were assessed. Results: HT was significantly associated with higher plasma OT. Controlling for HT, elevated plasma OT was significantly associated with gaps in social relationships, with less positive relationships with a primary partner, and with elevated cortisol levels. OT was not associated with stress reactivity or recovery. Conclusion: In women, plasma OT signals relationship stress and is associated with elevated cortisol; it does not appear to significantly affect cortisol or blood pressure responses to acute stress. OT = oxytocin; HPA = hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical; HT = hormone therapy; TSST = Trier Social Stress Test; CAD = coronary artery disease; CHF = coronary heart failure; CRC = UCLA Clinical Research Center; BP = blood pressure; SCL-90 = Brief Symptom Inventory; PANAS = Positive and Negative Affect Schedule; RPM = rotations per minute; HLM = hierarchical linear modeling; GCA = growth curve analysis.
Tarefa : une approche pour l'ingéniérie des besoins des systèmes interactifs

Notre travail traite precisement de l'integration des concepts de genie logiciel et de l'interaction homme-machine. Le but de cette these est de proposer TAREFA (Task Analysis based Requirements Engineering FrAmework), une approche pour l'ingenierie des besoins des systemes interactifs. TAREFA possede des caracteristiques specifiques pour les systemes interactifs, comme (a) une riche modelisation du contexte de realisation des tâches de l'utilisateur ; (b) des solutions a des problemes comme la tracabilite des besoins, la communication utilisateur-analyste et la modelisation du design rationale ; et (c) l'adoption de cas d'utilisation pour envisager differentes situations de l'utilisation du systeme. Cette these est structuree en trois parties distinctes. La premiere partie est consacree a la presentation de l'etat de l'art. Nous debutons cette partie au chapitre I par une revue des concepts des systemes interactifs qui vont intervenir dans la comprehension de notre travail. Le chapitre II fait un tour d'horizon de l'ingenierie des besoins, en suivant un point de vue du genie logiciel. Ensuite, il est examine pourquoi et comment ces concepts doivent etre modifies pour faire face aux particularites des systemes interactifs. Le chapitre III presente les approches les plus significatives utilisees pour l'ingenierie des besoins dans les domaines du GL et de l'IHM, et compare les tentatives d'integration des deux domaines pour l'ingenierie des besoins des systemes interactifs. La deuxieme partie est consacree a la description de l'approche TAREFA. Le chapitre IV presente les fondements et une vue de l'ensemble de TAREFA, en particulier son organisation en deux macroactivites d'analyse et synthese en prenant en compte l'entrelacement des activites systematiques et des activites cooperatives ; le chapitre V presente la demarche et les modeles associes a la macroactivite d'analyse ; le chapitre VI presente la demarche et les modeles associes a la macroactivite de synthese ; le chapitre VII presente le modele de processus base sur le concept de l'emergence, propose pour les activites cooperatives de TAREFA. La troisieme partie contient le chapitre VIII, qui presente une etude de cas : l'ingenierie des besoins pour un outil d'aide a la planification cooperatives des operations du satellite multi-instrument Soho.
Review Paper: A Systematic Review of the Literature on Multidisciplinary Rounds to Design Information Technology

Multidisciplinary rounds (MDR) have become important mechanisms for communication and coordination of care. To guide design of tools supporting MDR, we reviewed the literature published from 1990 to 2005 about MDR on information tools used, information needs, impact of information tools, and evaluation measures. Fifty-one papers met inclusion criteria and were included. In addition to patient-centric information tools (e.g., medical chart) and decision-support tools (e.g., clinical pathway), process-oriented tools (e.g., rounding list) were reported to help with information organization and communication. Information tools were shown to improve situation awareness of multidisciplinary care providers, efficiency of MDR, and length of stay. Communication through MDR may be improved by process-oriented information tools that help information organization, communication, and work management, which could be achieved through automatic extraction from clinical information systems, displays and printouts in condensed forms, at-a-glance representations of the care unit, and storing work-process information temporarily.
Recent advances in the understanding of the repeated bout effect: the protective effect against muscle damage from a single bout of eccentric exercise

The repeated bout effect refers to the adaptation whereby a single bout of eccentric exercise protects against muscle damage from subsequent eccentric bouts. While the mechanism for this adaptation is poorly understood there have been significant recent advances in the understanding of this phenomenon. The purpose of this review is to provide an update on previously proposed theories and address new theories that have been advanced. The potential adaptations have been categorized as neural, mechanical and cellular. There is some evidence to suggest that the repeated bout effect is associated with a shift toward greater recruitment of slow twitch motor units. However, the repeated bout effect has been demonstrated with electrically stimulated contractions, indicating that a peripheral, non‐neural adaptation predominates. With respect to mechanical adaptations there is evidence that both dynamic and passive muscle stiffness increase with eccentric training but there are no studies on passive or dynamic stiffness adaptations to a single eccentric bout. The role of the cytoskeleton in regulating dynamic stiffness is a possible area for future research. With respect to cellular adaptations there is evidence of longitudinal addition of sarcomeres and adaptations in the inflammatory response following an initial bout of eccentric exercise. Addition of sarcomeres is thought to reduce sarcomere strain during eccentric contractions thereby avoiding sarcomere disruption. Inflammatory adaptations are thought to limit the proliferation of damage that typically occurs in the days following eccentric exercise. In conclusion, there have been significant advances in the understanding of the repeated bout effect, however, a unified theory explaining the mechanism or mechanisms for this protective adaptation remains elusive.
Botanical data retrieval system supporting discovery learning

We constructed a botanical data retrieval system applying our proposed search interface named 'Concentric Ring View' for multi-faceted metadata. This system allows users to search flexibly and intuitively by combining attributes with simple operation. The attributes used as search keys are visual and botanical features such as flower color, leaf shape, blooming season, and so on. Users can create their own dynamic knowledge hierarchies by selecting these attributes and adjusting attribute values. We considered that this system enables users not only to search for plant names but also to learn morphological features and the taxonomy of plants, and performed a usability testing. We confirmed that users could finally find the correct plant names even if each user selected different attributes for searching, and users could also find correct plants by grasping visual features even if the images shown focused on flower and leaf. In discovery learning, users could learn plant features and botanical properties by finding out the common properties from the relationships between attributes and attribute values, and attribute values and retrieved results.
The influencing factors on procalcitonin values in newborns with noninfectious conditions during the first week of life

Purpose Although procalcitonin (PCT) level is useful for the diagnosis of neonatal sepsis, PCT reliability is inconsistent because of the varied conditions encountered in neonatal intensive care units. This study aimed to investigate PCT levels and factors influencing increased PCT levelin newborns without bacterial infection during the first week of life. Methods In newborns hospitalized between March 2013 and October 2015, PCT levels were measured on the first, third, and seventh days after birth. Newborns with proven bacterial (blood culture positive for bacteria) or suspicious infection (presence of C-reactive protein expression or leukocytosis/leukopenia) were excluded. Various neonatal conditions were analyzed to identify the factors influencing increased PCT level. Results Among 292 newborns with a gestational age of 35.2±3.0 weeks and a birth weight of 2,428±643 g, preterm newborns (n=212) had higher PCT levels than term newborns (n=80). Of the newborns, 7.9% had increased PCT level (23 of 292) on the firstday; 28.3% (81 of 286), on the third day; and 3.3% (7 of 121), on the seventh day after birth. The increased PCT level was significantly associated with prenatal disuse of antibiotics (P=0.004) and surfactant administration (P<0.001) on the first day after birth, postnatal use of antibiotics (P=0.001) and ventilator application (P=0.001) on the third day after birth, and very low birth weight (P=0.042) on the seventh day after birth. Conclusion In newborns without bacterial infection, increased PCT level was significantly associated with lower gestational age and respiratory difficulty during the first week of life. Further studies are needed for clinical applications.
Hypervolemia for Hypertension Pathophysiology: A Population-Based Study

Objectives. Hypertension and hypervolemia relationship was proven among renal disease, although it is not known in normal population. Present study determines the fluid distribution defects in relation to blood pressure. Material and Methods. In a population-based survey in Turkey demographics, height, weight, blood pressure, urine analysis, and serum creatinine measurements were recorded. Bioimpedance measured with the Body Composition Monitor. Results. Total 2034 population of 71.6% male, mean age 47 ± 12.6 (18–89) years, systolic blood pressure (SBP) 134.7 ± 20, diastolic blood pressure 77.9 ± 11.6 mmHg. Body mass index (BMI) was 28.5 ± 4.5 (15.8–50.6) kg/m2; overhydration was 0.05 ± 1.05 L. There was a correlation between extracellular water (ECW)/height and SBP (r = 0.21, P < 0.001). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve with the performance of 0.60 (P < 0.001) that showed cut-off value of ECW/height was 10.06 L/m, with the 69% sensitivity and 45% specificity for SBP: 140 mmHg values. Risk factors for high SBP were increase of ECW/Height, age, BMI and presence of diabetes. ECW/height, SBP, and fat tissue index (FTI) increased in BMI categories (low, normal, and obese) and in diabetics. SBP and FTI were lower in smokers. Conclusions. High blood pressure may be accompanied by increased extracellular volume indices. In the future volume status assessment could be of use in evaluating the effectiveness of pharmacological intervention in the treatment of hypertension.
A Dynamic Attenuator Improves Spectral Imaging With Energy-Discriminating, Photon Counting Detectors

Energy-discriminating, photon counting (EDPC) detectors have high potential in spectral imaging applications but exhibit degraded performance when the incident count rate approaches or exceeds the characteristic count rate of the detector. In order to reduce the requirements on the detector, we explore the strategy of modulating the X-ray flux field using a recently proposed dynamic, piecewise-linear attenuator. A previous paper studied this modulation for photon counting detectors but did not explore the impact on spectral applications. In this work, we modeled detection with a bipolar triangular pulse shape (Taguchi , 2011) and estimated the Cramer-Rao lower bound (CRLB) of the variance of material selective and equivalent monoenergetic images, assuming deterministic errors at high flux could be corrected. We compared different materials for the dynamic attenuator and found that rare earth elements, such as erbium, outperformed previously proposed materials such as iron in spectral imaging. The redistribution of flux reduces the variance or dose, consistent with previous studies on benefits with conventional detectors. Numerical simulations based on DICOM datasets were used to assess the impact of the dynamic attenuator for detectors with several different characteristic count rates. The dynamic attenuator reduced the peak incident count rate by a factor of 4 in the thorax and 44 in the pelvis, and a 10 Mcps/mm2 EDPC detector with dynamic attenuator provided generally superior image quality to a 100 Mcps/mm 2 detector with reference bowtie filter for the same dose. The improvement is more pronounced in the material images.
Structural Basis for Activity Regulation and Substrate Preference of Clostridial Collagenases G, H, and T

Background: Bacterial collagenases degrade collagen substrates with high efficiency yet varying specificity. Results: The newly identified calcium site, aspartate switch, and conformational selectivity filter regulate substrate access to the active sites of these collagenases. Conclusion: The unanticipated dynamics of the substrate recognition sites plus zinc occupancy combine to tune the enzymatic activity. Significance: The crystal structures provide a rational framework to understand and optimize the isoform-dependent collagenase activities. Clostridial collagenases are among the most efficient enzymes to degrade by far the most predominant protein in the biosphere. Here we present crystal structures of the peptidases of three clostridial collagenase isoforms (ColG, ColH, and ColT). The comparison of unliganded and liganded structures reveals a quaternary subdomain dynamics. In the unliganded ColH structure, this globular dynamics is modulated by an aspartate switch motion that binds to the catalytic zinc. We further identified a calcium binding site in proximity to the catalytic zinc. Both ions are required for full activity, explaining why calcium critically affects the enzymatic activity of clostridial collagenases. Our studies further reveal that loops close to the active site thus serve as characteristic substrate selectivity filter. These elements explain the distinct peptidolytic and collagenolytic activities of these enzymes and provide a rational framework to engineer collagenases with customized substrate specificity as well as for inhibitor design.
An efficient solution to 6DOF localization using Unscented Kalman Filter for planetary rovers

In this paper, we propose an efficient solution to 6 degrees of freedom (6DOF) localization using Unscented Kalman filter for planetary rovers. The solution is a technique augmented the Unscented Kalman filter for accurate 6DOF localization, named Augmented Unscented Kalman Filter (AUKF). The AUKF is designed to deal with problems which occur on other planets: wheel slip, visual odometry error, and gyro drift. To solve the problems, the AUKF estimates the slippage ratio in an augmented state vector, the accuracy of the visual odometry with the number of inliers among feature points, and sensor usefulness with Gyrodometry model. Experimental results of rover runs over rough terrain are presented, the effectiveness of the AUKF and its each component is shown.
A combination of calcium ionophore and puromycin effectively produces human parthenogenones with one haploid pronucleus

Parthenogenetic activation with various combinations of the calcium ionophore A23187 and protein synthesis or phosphorylation inhibitors was investigated as a means of producing human parthenogenones with one haploid pronucleus. Unfertilised human aged oocytes exposed to 5 μM A23187 for 5 min were treated with 10 μg/ml puromycin (puromycin group, 46 oocytes) or 2 mM 6-dimethylaminopurine (DMAP group, 42 oocytes) for 5 h. Oocytes treated only with A23187 served as a control (control group, 40 oocytes). After washing the oocytes, they were incubated for up to 37 h. Evidence of activation (pronuclear formation) and cleavage was observed 18 h and 42 h after A23187 treatment, respectively. Activation rates in the puromycin and DMAP groups were significantly higher than in the control group (91% (42/46) and 77% (34/44) vs 20% (8/40), p < 0.05, respectively). In the puromycin group, 81% (34/42) of the activated oocytes showed one pronucleus with the second polar body (2ndPB), whereas none (0/34) of the activated oocytes in the DMAP group extruded the 2ndPB. The cleavage rate in the puromycin group was significantly lower than in the DMAP group (38% vs 68%, p < 0.05). The activated oocytes which had one pronucleus with the 2ndPB in the puromycin group showed a haploid set of chromosomes (10/13). In conclusion, the combination of A23187 and puromycin is effective for producing human parthenogenones with one haploid pronucleus.
Immune Modulation through 4-1BB Enhances SIV Vaccine Protection in Non-Human Primates against SIVmac251 Challenge

Costimulatory molecules play a central role in the development of cellular immunity. Understanding how costimulatory pathways can be directed to positively influence the immune response may be critical for the generation of an effective HIV vaccine. Here, we evaluated the ability of intravenous administration of a blocking monoclonal antibody (mAb) directed against the negative costimulatory molecule CTLA-4, and an agonist mAb directed against the positive costimulatory molecule 4-1BB, either alone or in combination, to augment intramuscular SIV DNA immunizations. We then tested the ability these of these responses to impact a high-dose SIVmac251 challenge. Following immunization, the groups infused with the anti-4-1BB mAb exhibited enhanced IFN-γ responses compared to the DNA vaccine only group. Interestingly, although CTLA-4 blockade alone did not enhance IFN-γ responses it did increase the proliferative capacity of the CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. The combination of both mAbs enhanced the magnitude of the polyfunctional CD8+ T cell response. Following challenge, the group that received both mAbs exhibited a significant, ∼2.0 log, decrease in plasma viral load compared to the naïve group the included complete suppression of viral load in some animals. Furthermore, the use of the CTLA-4 blocking antibody resulted in significantly higher viral loads during chronic infection compared to animals that received the 4-1BB mAb, likely due to the higher CD4+ T cell proliferative responses which were driven by this adjuvant following immunization. These novel studies show that these adjuvants induce differential modulation of immune responses, which have dramatically different consequences for control of SIV replication, suggesting important implications for HIV vaccine development.
Influence of Octadecyltrichlorosilane Surface Modification on Electrical Properties of Polymer Thin-Film Transistors Studied by Capacitance–Voltage Analysis

The influence of octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) surface modification of a gate dielectric on the electrical properties of polymer thin-film transistors based on poly(3-hexylthiophene) is investigated by using capacitance-voltage analysis. Results show that surface modification using OTS can effectively increase the field-effect mobility in the saturation region by almost two orders of magnitude to 2 × 102 cm2/V · s and improve the stability of the devices under gate-bias stress. Capacitance-voltage (C-V) analysis for the metal-polymer-oxide-silicon structures indicates that the frequency-dependent behavior of the C-V characteristics is related to the long relaxation time of the charge carriers in the polymer bulk rather than the trapping effect at the dielectric/ polymer interface, and the performance improvement of the de vices is attributed to a reduction of localized charges in the poly mer bulk.
From Foresight to Insight: Using Scenarios Well

Some of the best moments I have had working with clients on futures projects as a consultantand a facilitator have been during scenarios workshops. By 'best', I mean those moments when adifferent insight emer ges in the room, or a new way of interpreting the world. Even in the moreeveryday futures work I've never had the sense that I've been "hashing and haranguing" my waythrough it. W ithout appearing to brag, clients generally seem to feel that they have benefited. Soreading G raham M olitor's piece, m y first reaction w as one of sadness, that such a distinguishedfuturist has come to find such rich work so wearisome. His article, however , raises important questions about why , in our futures practice, we use sce-narios methods at all. There are many futures techniques, after all. So what is it in scenarios meth-ods that contributes depth or breadth to futures work? For me the answer to that question lies in theway in which organisations relate to their external environment and understand it, and how groupslearn. F utures w ork can be thought of as a device for 'disturbing the present', to adapt G astonBer ger's famous phrase. The question is whether scenarios do this well or not.
FlockStream: A Bio-Inspired Algorithm for Clustering Evolving Data Streams

Existing density-based data stream clustering algorithms use a two-phase scheme approach consisting of an online phase, in which raw data is processed to gather summary statistics, and an offline phase that generates the clusters by using the summary data. In this paper we propose a data stream clustering method based on a multi-agent system that uses a decentralized bottom-up self-organizing strategy to group similar data points. Data points are associated with agents and deployed onto a 2D space, to work simultaneously by applying a heuristic strategy based on a bio-inspired model, known as flocking model. Agents move onto the space for a fixed time and, when they encounter other agents into a predefined visibility range, they can decide to form a flock if they are similar. Flocks can join to form swarms of similar groups. This strategy allows to merge the two phases of density-based approaches and thus to avoid the offline cluster computation, since a swarm represents a cluster. Experimental results show the capability of the bio-inspired approach to obtain very good results on real and synthetic data sets.