Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Performance evaluation of a novel master-slave rehabilitation system

Despite the benefits of the robotic technologies on rehabilitation, human involvement is still critical. On the aspect of patients, they also need the supervision of the therapist as well as their active guidance and their expertise. Through the master-slave rehabilitation system, the therapist can adjust the training according to the patient's status with their expertise. Therefore, the master-slave rehabilitation system is better than the traditional robotic rehabilitation system in which the training is programmed beforehand. In this paper, a master-slave rehabilitation system including an upper limb exoskeleton rehabilitation device (ULERD) as slave side and a human upper limb-like robot as master side is proposed. Considering that the force feedback that the therapist adjusts the training intensive or training mode (active or passive training) based on is most important during the rehabilitation. Therefore, a novel structure based on the Serial Elastic Actuator (SEA) is applied on a human upper limb-like robot for generating different resistance forces. By detecting the deflection of the elastic element, the interaction force between the human and robot can be calculated. Thanks to the high torque output actuator, the master device can mimic the spasticity of stroke patients by controlling the deflection of the elastic element. Active training can be realized for mild stroke patient with ULERD using an extended impedance control method. Therefore, therapists can perform both active training and passive training according the force feedback with proposed master-slave rehabilitation system.
Translating a management concept: diversity management in Denmark

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to understand how the concept of diversity management is translated and adapted into the Danish societal context. The authors therefore seek to answer these questions: to what extent do larger Danish companies experience a need to practice diversity management? Do they also have specific diversity policies? And how do these Danish companies discursively construct and manage diversity? Design/methodology/approach – The authors surveyed 100 Danish firms and performed a discourse analysis of two frontrunner firms' diversity documents.Findings – The Danish firms in the survey experienced a need for diversity management, but were somewhat reluctant to introduce diversity policies. The two frontrunner firms drew on a discourse of diversity as a business case intertwined with a discourse of social responsibility with focus on helping minority groups having difficulties accessing the job market. The findings indicate that concepts must be translated for the local context in o.
y-Aminobutyric acid-containing basal forebrain neurons innervate inhibitory interneurons in the neocortex ( nonpyramidal cells / somatostatin / parvalbumin / disinhibition / subcortical control )

The basal forebrain-neocortex pathwayinvolved in higher cognitive processing, selective attention, and arousal-is considered one of the functionally most important ascending subcortical projections. The mechanism by which this relatively sparse subcortical pathway can control neuronal activity patterns in the entire cortical mantle is still unknown. The present study in the cat provides evidence that y-aminobutyric acid-containing basal forebrain neurons participate in the neocortical projection and establish multiple synaptic connections with y-aminobutyric acid-releasing interneurons containing somatostatin or parvalbumin. We propose that a mechanism by which the numerically small ascending pathways can exert a powerful global effect in the neocortex is by the selective innervation of r-aminobutyric acid-releasing interneurons, which, in turn, control the activity of large populations of pyramidal cells through their extensive axon arborizations. Finally, these results demonstrate a direct anatomical link between two cell populations implicated in Alzheimer disease pathology: basal forebrain neurons and cortical somatostatin cells. Efferent projections of the basal forebrain nuclei to most cortical areas (1-3) are thought important for selective attention, higher cognitive processes, cortical arousal, and plasticity (4-11). Acetylcholine has been identified as the major neurotransmitter of the basal forebrain-neocortex pathway, but noncholinergic neurons were also shown to participate in the cortical projection (12-14). In a recent study some of the cortically projecting noncholinergic neurons were shown to contain y-aminobutyric acid (GABA) (15), and a coexistence of acetylcholine and GABA in some cortical terminals has also been reported (16). The termination pattern and postsynaptic targets ofthe cholinergic component of this pathway are relatively well known (16-18), but no such information is available about the GABAergic component. The septohippocampal pathway was also shown to contain both cholinergic and GABAergic fibers (19), and the latter component was found remarkably selective in innervating GABAergic interneurons in both rat and monkey (20-22). Local GABAergic interneurons in the hippocampus, as in neocortical areas, are known to control the firing of large populations of principal cells. Thus, any pathway, even if relatively sparse, may exert a powerful effect on the electrical activity patterns of a cortical area if it modulates the activity of local inhibitory interneurons (20, 23). In the present study we investigated the synaptic organization of the GABAergic basal forebrain-neocortex pathway to shed light on the structural basis of the mechanism by which basal forebrain neurons can effectively regulate electrical activity and higher cognitive processes in the neocor-
Decision-making in moral conflict: A brain electrical tomography analysis

Background: The study of moral behavior has expanded to the area of neuroscience, with an increasing interest in understanding the neuronal network and anatomical brain structures involved in this complex human behavior. We studied decision-making during moral judgments using a philosophical moral dilemma, namely the trolley and footbridge dilemmas. Recent studies have shown that the trolley dilemma activates rational brain areas whereas the footbridge dilemma activates emotional brain areas. Our aim was to compare activation of the emotional network during personal moral conflict (footbridge dilemma) with impersonal moral conflict (trolley dilemma) through Standardized Low Resolution Electromagnetic Tomography (sLORETA). We detected a high beta 3 oscillation source located bilaterally in the insular cortex as well as in the anterior and posterior cingulate gyri. Furthermore, we detected hypoactivation in alpha 1 oscillation source located in the anterior and posterior cingulate cortices. Our results confirmed the relationship between personal moral decision- making and the emotional network. We propose that brain electrical tomography analyses can make an important contribution towards the neuroscience of decision-making
Prediction of traction forces of motile cells

When crawling on a flat substrate, living cells exert forces on it via adhesive contacts, enabling them to build up tension within their cytoskeleton and to change shape. The measurement of these forces has been made possible by traction force microscopy (TFM), a technique which has allowed us to obtain time-resolved traction force maps during cell migration. This cell ‘footprint’ is, however, not sufficient to understand the details of the mechanics of migration, that is how cytoskeletal elements (respectively, adhesion complexes) are put under tension and reinforce or deform (respectively, mature and/or unbind) as a result. In a recent paper, we have validated a rheological model of actomyosin linking tension, deformation and myosin activity. Here, we complement this model with tentative models of the mechanics of adhesion and explore how closely these models can predict the traction forces that we recover from experimental measurements during cell migration. The resulting mathematical problem is a PDE set on the experimentally observed domain, which we solve using a finite-element approach. The four parameters of the model can then be adjusted by comparison with experimental results on a single frame of an experiment, and then used to test the predictive power of the model for following frames and other experiments. It is found that the basic pattern of traction forces is robustly predicted by the model and fixed parameters as a function of current geometry only.
Ultrasound-guided continuous infraclavicular brachial plexus block using bupivacaine alone or combined with adenosine for pain control in upper limb surgery

Introduction: The infraclavicular brachial plexus block (ICB) is designed to deposit anesthetic high in the plexus, achieving anesthesia of the hand, forearm, elbow, and distal arm. Adenosine is a metabolic intermediate that is involved in nearly all aspects of cell function, including neurotransmission and signal transduction.This study was aimed to show whether addition of adenosine to bupivacaine in ultrasound-guided ICB had an analgesic effect. Methods: Sixty adult patients were divided into two equal groups, each group included 30 patients. Group I received infraclavicular bupivacaine 0.325% in a volume of 30 ml. Group II received 30 ml of 0.325% bupivacaine + 12 mg adenosine. The block was maintained with an infusion of 10 ml/h. The following parameters were assessed: Success rate, time of the sensory onset, motor block, visual analog scale (VAS), and amount of i.v. pethidine needed. Results: This study showed an analgesic effect of infraclavicular adenosine as evidenced by a statistically significant shorter mean time of onset of the sensory block (16 vs. 20 min, P < 0.05), lower mean VAS score over 48 h (1.7 vs. 2.7, P < 0.05), longer mean time of first parenteral analgesic requirement (299 vs. 255 min, P < 0.05), and lower mean total dose of pethidine needed over 48 h after surgery (25.5 vs. 56.6 mg, P <0.05). All patients got successful infraclavicular block and recovered uneventfully without any sensory or motor deficit. Conclusion: Adenosine may provide valuable addition to the therapeutic options in anesthesia and pain management. Further research is required to figure out its exact role
Development and Evaluation of a Procedure for the Calibration of Simulation Models

Microscopic traffic simulation models have been playing an important role in the evaluation of transportation engineering and planning practices for the past few decades, particularly in cases in which field implementation is difficult or expensive to conduct. To achieve high fidelity and credibility for a traffic simulation model, model calibration and validation are of utmost importance. Most calibration efforts reported in the literature have focused on the informal practice, and they have seldom proposed a systematic procedure or guideline for the calibration and validation of simulation models. This paper proposes a procedure for microscopic simulation model calibration. The validity of the proposed procedure was demonstrated by use of a case study of an actuated signalized intersection by using a widely used microscopic traffic simulation model, Verkehr in Staedten Simulation (VISSIM). The simulation results were compared with multiple days of field data to determine the performance of the calibrated model. It was found that the calibrated parameters obtained by the proposed procedure generated performance measures that were representative of the field conditions, while the simulation results obtained with the default and best-guess parameters were significantly different from the field data.
Formal Guarantees on the Robustness of a Classifier against Adversarial Manipulation

Recent work has shown that state-of-the-art classifiers are quite brittle, in the sense that a small adversarial change of an originally with high confidence correctly classified input leads to a wrong classification again with high confidence. This raises concerns that such classifiers are vulnerable to attacks and calls into question their usage in safety-critical systems. We show in this paper for the first time formal guarantees on the robustness of a classifier by giving instance-specific lower bounds on the norm of the input manipulation required to change the classifier decision. Based on this analysis we propose the Cross-Lipschitz regularization functional. We show that using this form of regularization in kernel methods resp. neural networks improves the robustness of the classifier without any loss in prediction performance.
Draft Genome Sequence of an Escherichia coli O157:H43 Strain Isolated from Cattle

ABSTRACT Here we report the draft genome sequence of an Escherichia coli O157:H43 strain, designated T22, with an atypical virulence gene profile and isolated from healthy cattle. T22 produces cytolethal distending toxin V (CDT-V) and belongs to phylogenetic group B1 and sequence type 155 (ST155).
Evaluation of agro-industrial by-products as protein sources for duck production in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam

This thesis is based on four studies to determine the nutritive value and ileal and total tract amino acid digestibility of agro-industrial by-products, and the effects of inclusion of these by-products in diets on the biological performance of growing crossbred Muscovy and common ducks in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. The results show that brewery waste (BW) was characterised by high protein content,good balance of essential amino acids, but high crude fibre content. The best growth performance was observed when 50% of the concentrate was replaced by BW for both Muscovy and common ducks. The crossbred Muscovies had better performance and gave higher economic benefit than the local Muscovies, and common ducks gave the lowest profit. BW could be offered either in mixed or separate feeding systems without any effects on performance and carcass yield (Paper I and II). Soya waste (SW) and ensiled shrimp waste (ESW) are good protein sources, but low in dry matter (DM) and methionine content (SW) and high in chitin content (ESW). The best performance in terms of growth rate and carcass quality was found with replacement of up to 60% of soybean meal by SW, and only 20% of fish meal by ESW, which gave the lowest feed costs (Paper III). The inclusion of ESW in diets for adult crossbred common ducks resulted in a linear decrease of the apparent total tract digestibility of dry matter, organic matter, ether extract, N free extract and N retention with increasing levels of ESW. The digestibility of individual amino acids followed a similar pattern to the nutrient digestibility. The apparent total tract digestibility of most individual amino acids was higher than the apparent ileal value (Paper IV). It can be concluded that from nutritive and economic apects the three agro-industrial byproducts evaluated have proven to be acceptable feed ingredients in duck diets. Replacement up to levels of 20% (ESW), 50% (BW) and 60% (SW) of fish meal, concentrate and soybean meal, respectively, in diets for growing crossbred ducks can be recommended under the conditions of the Mekong Delta.
Randomized Clinical Trial of Abciximab in Diabetic Patients Undergoing Elective Percutaneous Coronary Interventions After Treatment With a High Loading Dose of Clopidogrel

Background—Diabetic patients are at increased risk of adverse outcomes after percutaneous coronary interventions. Although subset analyses suggest particular benefit from the administration of abciximab in diabetic patients, no dedicated large randomized trials have been performed in diabetic patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention, and certainly not after pretreatment with a high loading dose of clopidogrel. Methods and Results—This study (Intracoronary Stenting and Antithrombotic Regimen: Is Abciximab a Superior Way to Eliminate Elevated Thrombotic Risk in Diabetics [ISAR-SWEET] Study) enrolled 701 diabetic patients with coronary artery disease who underwent an elective percutaneous coronary intervention after pretreatment with a 600-mg dose of clopidogrel >2 hours before the procedure: 351 patients were randomly assigned to abciximab and 350 patients to placebo. The primary end point of the trial was the composite incidence of death and myocardial infarction at 1 year. The frequency of angiographic restenosis (diameter stenosis ≥50%) was the secondary end point. The incidence of death or myocardial infarction was 8.3% in the abciximab group and 8.6% in the placebo group (P=0.91), with a relative risk of 0.97 (95% CI, 0.58 to 1.62). The incidence of angiographic restenosis was 28.9% in the abciximab group and 37.8% in the placebo group (P=0.01), with a relative risk of 0.76 (95% CI, 0.62 to 0.94). The incidence of target lesion revascularization was 23.2% in the abciximab group and 30.4% in the placebo group (P=0.03). Conclusions—The findings of this study do not support a significant impact of abciximab on the risk of death and myocardial infarction in diabetic patients undergoing percutaneous coronary interventions after pretreatment with a 600-mg loading dose of clopidogrel at least 2 hours before the procedure. The present findings suggest, however, that abciximab reduces the risk of restenosis in diabetic patients receiving coronary bare metal stents.
Phosphorothioation: An Unusual Post-Replicative Modification on the DNA Backbone

DNA molecules are polymers composed of basic repeating subunits of deoxyribonucleotides, which consist of the deoxyribose sugar, phosphate groups, and a nitrogenous base. They appear to fulfill all requirements necessary to maintain the genetic function of DNA. The five elements of nitrogen, phosphorus, carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen had been regarded as the canonical composition of DNA until the discovery of phosphorothioation, with a sixth element, sulfur, identified as an additional naturally occurring constituent on the DNA backbone, as a sequence-selective, stereospecific postreplicative modification governed by the dnd gene cluster. Unlike any other DNA or RNA modification system, DNA phosphorothioation is the first-described physiological modification of the DNA sugar-phosphate backbone [1]. The physiological phosphorothioate modification is widespread in bacteria and occurs in diverse sequence contexts and frequencies in different bacterial genomes, implying a significant impact on bacteria [2]. Recently, a counterpart phosphorothioate-dependent restriction system capable of protection against the invasion of unmodified foreign DNA was discovered to maintain the genetic stability of the phosphorothioate modified host [3]. Another type IV endonuclease, ScoA3McrA, was found to be capable of specifically recognizing as well as cleaving phosphorothioate modified DNA [4]. Interestingly, the gene sco4631, which code for ScoA3McrA, is unable to coexist with the dnd gene cluster in the same host, causing immediate cell death [4]. Here we summarize the discovery of this first reported physiological modification on the DNA backbone, and provide insights and perspectives into the biological functions of the phosphorothioate modification in prokaryotic physiology.
Host Responses to the Pathogen Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis and Beneficial Microbes Exhibit Host Sex Specificity

ABSTRACT Differences between microbial pathogenesis in male and female hosts are well characterized in disease conditions connected to sexual transmission. However, limited biological insight is available on variances attributed to sex specificity in host-microbe interactions, and it is most often a minimized variable outside these transmission events. In this work, we studied two gut microbes—a pathogen, Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis, and a probiotic, Lactobacillus animalis NP-51—and the interaction between each agent and the male and female gastrointestinal systems. This trial was conducted in BALB/c mice (n = 5 per experimental group and per sex at a given time point), with analysis at four time points over 180 days. Host responses to M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis and L. animalis were sensitive to sex. Cytokines that were significantly different (P ≤ 0.05) between the sexes included interleukin-1α/β (IL-1α/β), IL-17, IL-6, IL-10, IL-12, and gamma interferon (IFN-γ) and were dependent on experimental conditions. However, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and IL-13/23 showed no sex specificity. A metabolomics study indicated a 0.5- to 2.0-fold (log2 scale) increase in short-chain fatty acids (butyrate and acetate) in males and greater increases in o-phosphocholine or histidine from female colon tissues; variances distinct to each sex were observed with age or long-term probiotic consumption. Two genera, Staphylococcus and Roseburia, were consistently overrepresented in females compared to males; other species were specific to one sex but fluctuated depending on experimental conditions. The differences observed suggest that male and female gut tissues and microbiota respond to newly introduced microorganisms differently and that gut-associated microorganisms with host immune system responses and metabolic activity are supported by biology distinct to the host sex.
A system for assessment of limb movements in sleep

Movement in bed may be an indicator of health problems, i.e., the alteration of the pattern or amount of motor activity can be a disease marker. It can reflect illnesses ranging from flu to depression, pain, or the side effects of certain treatments. There are also motor disturbances that are triggered by sleep such as restless legs syndrome and periodic limb movements during sleep that reduce sleep quality. The assessment of nocturnal motor disturbances in sleep is traditionally performed through overnight polysomnography or actigraphy. In this paper, we investigate the use of unobtrusive sensors (load cells) installed under the supports of a bed to assess movements in bed. Body and leg movements are discriminated using a linear classifier with features derived from load cell signals. Leg movements are scored as periodic leg movements using the criteria defined by The World Association of Sleep Medicine, and a periodic leg movement index is estimated. The system is validated against technicians' annotations of body movements and leg movements (scorings from EMG data) collected from 17 patients during a one night polysomnogram exam. The classification rate is equal to 97%, and the Spearman's correlation coefficient between the periodic leg movement indexes estimated by the system and those obtained from polysomnogram is 0.927. These results demonstrate the feasibility of using load cells for movement classification and detection of periodic leg movements.
About Multichannel Speech Signal Extraction and Separation Techniques

The extraction of a desired speech signal from a noisy environment has become a challenging issue. In the recent years, the scientific community has particularly focused on multichannel techniques which are dealt with in this review. In fact, this study tries to classify these multichannel techniques into three main ones: Beamforming, Independent Component Analysis (ICA) and Time Frequency (T-F) masking. This paper also highlights their advantages and drawbacks. However these previously mentioned techniques could not afford satisfactory results. This fact leads to the idea that a combination of those techniques, which is depicted along this study, may probably provide more efficient results. Indeed, giving the fact that those approaches are still be considered as being not totally efficient, has led us to review these mentioned above in the hope that further researches will provide this domain with suitable innovations.