Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Teaching and implementing autonomous robotic lab walkthroughs in a biotech laboratory through model-based visual tracking

After utilizing robots for more than 30 years for classic industrial automation applications, service robots form a constantly increasing market, although the big breakthrough is still awaited. Our approach to service robots was driven by the idea of supporting lab personnel in a biotechnology laboratory. After initial development in Germany, a mobile robot platform extended with an industrial manipulator and the necessary sensors for indoor localization and object manipulation, has been shipped to Bayer HealthCare in Berkeley, CA, USA, a global player in the sector of biopharmaceutical products, located in the San Francisco bay area. The determined goal of the mobile manipulator is to support the off-shift staff to carry out completely autonomous or guided, remote controlled lab walkthroughs, which we implement utilizing a recent development of our computer vision group: OpenTL - an integrated framework for model-based visual tracking.
Plasma calcitonin gene-related peptide decreases in chronic congestive heart failure.

To investigate the role of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) in cardiac failure, a sensitive and specific radioimmunoassay was developed to study plasma levels of CGRP in 37 normal subjects and 41 patients with heart failure (HF). The mean plasma levels of CGRP were 294.3 pg.ml-1 (SEM: 41.4) in normal subjects and 121.2 pg.ml-1 (SEM: 21.2) in HF patients. The significant decrease observed in HF patients suggests that CGRP is involved in the pathogenesis of heart failure via a direct effect or via modulation of sympathetic nervous activity.
Normoxic and acute hypoxic exercise tolerance in man following acetazolamide.

The influence of acetazolamide (ACZ) upon the ability to perform and sustain maximal and submaximal exercise bouts under normoxic and hypoxic conditions was examined in four groups of healthy male subjects (N = 27). ACZ (500 mg) or inert placebo (Pla) was administered prior to exercise in a quasi-randomized, double-blind, crossover fashion. ACZ was shown to lower venous pH (ACZ, 7.31 +/- 0.01, vs Pla, 7.35 +/- 0.08) and bicarbonate (ACZ, 22.4 +/- 0.27 mM, vs Pla, 25.4 +/- 0.6 mM) and to elevate urine pH (ACZ, 7.36 +/- 0.06, vs Pla, 5.84 +/- 0.19) and tended to elevate VE (P = 0.07) at rest. Peak VO2 measured using a continuous incremental protocol was unaltered in normoxia, while peak VCO2 and RER were lowered by ACZ. No significant effect of ACZ upon VO2, VCO2, RER, or heart rate (HR) was observed during submaximal exercise (75% of peak VO2) although VE was increased by 14% and time to exhaustion (EXHt) was reduced by 29%. During acute hypoxia at a simulated altitude of 4,270 m (Pbar = 446 mm Hg), no significant differences were noted in VE, VO2, VCO2, RER, HR, or arterial saturation (SaO2) at rest. Prior to exercise, venous pH (ACZ, 7.39 +/- 0.04, vs Pla, 7.44 +/- 0.007) and bicarbonate were lower with ACZ (ACZ, 21.6 +/- 0.46 mM, vs Pla, 24.2 +/- 0.25 mM), while urine pH was higher (ACZ, 7.6 +/- 0.07, vs Pla, 5.9 +/- 0.25). Other than a higher PCO2 and lower venous lactate with ACZ, no significant differences were identified at peak VO2. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Syntax versus Semantics: Analysis of Enriched Vector Space Models

This paper presents a robust method for the construction of collection-specific document models. These document models are variants of the well-known vector space model, which relies on a process of selecting, modifying, and weighting index terms with respect to a given document collection. We improve the step of index term selection by applying statistical methods for concept identification. This approach is particularly suited for post-retrieval categorization and retrieval tasks in closed collections, which is typical for intranet search. We compare our approach to “enriched” vector-space-based document models that employ knowledge of the underlying language in the form of external semantic concepts. Primary objective is to quantify the impact of a purely syntactic analysis in contrast to a semantic enrichment in the index construction step. As a by-product we provide an efficient and language-independent means for vector space model construction, whereas the resulting document models perform better than the standard vector space model.
The Polish Cyc lexicon as a bridge between Polish language and the Semantic Web

In this paper we discuss the problem of building the Polish lexicon for the Cyc ontology. As the ontology is very large and complex we describe semi-automatic translation of part of it, which might be useful for tasks lying on the border between the fields of Semantic Web and Natural Language Processing. We concentrate on precise identification of lexemes, which is crucial for tasks such as natural language generation in massively inflected languages like Polish, and we also concentrate on multi-word entries, since in Cyc for every 10 concepts, 9 of them is mapped to expressions containing more than one word.
In utero hematopoietic cell transplantation for hemoglobinopathies

In utero hematopoietic cell transplantation (IUHCTx) is a promising strategy to circumvent the challenges of postnatal hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) transplantation. The goal of IUHCTx is to introduce donor cells into a naïve host prior to immune maturation, thereby inducing donor–specific tolerance. Thus, this technique has the potential of avoiding host myeloablative conditioning with cytotoxic agents. Over the past two decades, several attempts at IUHCTx have been made to cure numerous underlying congenital anomalies with limited success. In this review, we will briefly review the history of IUHCTx and give a perspective on alpha thalassemia major, one target disease for its clinical application.
Photodynamic therapy of vascular stenosis: results from cell culture studies on human endothelial cells

BackgroundExperimental results from human cell culture studies have shown that smooth muscle cells derived from human atherosclerotic plaques react more sensitively to photoactivated dihematoporphyrin-ester and -ether (DHE) than smooth muscle cells from human nonatherosclerotic arteries. A therapeutic concept of photodynamic therapy of vascular stenosis appears, therefore, to be promising. The prerequisite for an intravascular application is a relatively harmless application of the photosensitizing agent to the luminal lining of endothelial cells. MethodsThe effect of DHE with and without photoactivation was examined on endothelial cell cultures from human saphenous veins. The cellular uptake of DHE in relation to the serum content of the culture medium was evaluated, as well as its effect on proliferative activity, cell size, cell volume, and cellular viability. ResultsIntracellular uptake of DHE decreased significantly when higher serum concentrations were present in the culture medium. Incubation of cells with the photosensitizer for 9 days in the dark without light activation resulted in a significant decrease of endothelial cell proliferation only at concentrations higher than 2.5 4mUg/mL (-2.5 mg/kg body weight for systemic application in vivo). Additional photoactivation caused no reduction of cell viability at DHE concentrations of 1 μg/mL, but at 2.5 μg/mL and 5 μg/mL, a reduction of viable cells within 24 hours was observed in relation to the energy densities used for irradiation. ConclusionsBecause smooth muscle cells from atherosclerotic plaques are, however, much more sensitive to photodynamic treatment, the concept of a photodynamic therapy of vascular stenosis may provide a good tool in the reduction of restenosis rates after recanalization of severely stenosed or even occluded arteries.
Assessment of Metabolic Syndrome and Its Risk Factors among Patients with Type 2 DM at Merjan Teaching Hospital, Al-Hilla City

Background: Metabolic Syndrome (MS) has become prevalent medical problem globally and the main consequence of Diabetes Mellitus (DM) and Coronary Heart Diseases (CHD). Aim of Study: To determine the proportion of MS among patients with type 2 DM and its association with MS risk factors at Merjan Teaching Hospital in Al-Hilla City. Materials and Methods: Ahospital-based cross sectional study design was carried out on (300) diabetic type 2 DM patients at diabetic outpatient clinic in Merjan Teaching Hospital. The study duration was from December 2011to December 2012. Categorical variables were presented as frequencies and percentages. Continuous variables were presented as means with their 95% confidence interval (CI) and standard deviation. The Pearson's chi-square test (x 2 ) was used to determine the associations between categorical variables. Binary Logistic regression was done for multivariate analysis. A p-value of < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: The results showedthat, out of 300 diabetic patients, the proportion of MS was 226 (75.3%). The overall mean age of patients was 57.26± 7.07 years. (60.0%) patients were male and (45.7%) ofthe patients were from urban area. (60.0%) of patients had abdominal obesity and (61.0%) of patients adapt sedentary life style. (76.7%) of patients had high triglyceride, meanwhile,only (39.7%) had normal HDL. Hypertension was presented in (73.7%) of patients. Metabolic syndrome was statistically significant with male, urban area, abdominal obesity, sedentary lifestyle, high triglyceride and hypertension.Patients with high triglyceride were 71 times more likely to develop MS than patients with normal triglyceride. Conclusion: High proportion of MS among diabetic type 2patients in this study. High triglyceride, urban area and sedentary lifestyle were the strongest predictors of MS.
Emotionally arousing context modulates the ERP correlates of neutral picture processing: An ERP test of the 'Glutamate Amplifies Noradrenergic Effects (GANE)' model

The timescale of the effects of emotional arousal on neutral information processing is crucial for the prediction GANE can make. Mather et al.? s review suggests that when stimuli are presented slowly and sequentially, neutral information processing will change when emotional stimuli are present in the sequence. We review three ERP experiments, including our own new dataset, to test this prediction.
Postnatal development of the optic nerve in (C57BL x CBA)F1 hybrid mice: general changes in morphometric parameters.

A morphometric analysis of the optic nerve in different age groups of (C57BL x CBA)F1 hybrid mice was carried out. Morphometric parameters examined were mean nerve cross-sectional area (csa), mean myelinated nerve fibre count, mean myelinated nerve fibre density and myelinated nerve fibre size distribution. The findings revealed that the optic nerve continues to develop well into adult life. Growth in calibre was very rapid during the early stage of postnatal life, but progressively slowed with age thereafter. No myelinated nerve fibres were observed before the 5th day of postnatal life. Similarly, once myelination was initiated, it progressed very rapidly during the early stage of postnatal development and, as for the csa, it slowed thereafter. Peak level of myelination within the optic nerve, which corresponded with the age when the maximum number of myelinated nerve fibres, i.e. 94213 +/- 1799 (S.E.M.) was measured, occurred at the 16th week of postnatal life. The earliest myelinated nerve fibres seen were predominantly large in diameter, but with increasing age, fibres of smaller diameter dominated the myelinated nerve fibre spectrum in the nerve. The highest mean myelinated nerve fibre density was observed in mice at the age of peak myelination.
Eat Me or Die

During embryonic development, the sculpting of many tissues depends on waves of apoptotic cell death among different cell populations. Unfortunately, at least in higher animals with sophisticated immune systems, dying cells must be engulfed by phagocytes to prevent a massive autoimmune response. In their Perspective, [ Savill et al . ][1] discuss new work ([ Li et al .][2], [ Wang et al .][3]) that identifies a key receptor expressed by macrophages, PSR, that is essential for cell corpse engulfment. [1]: http://www.sciencemag. org/cgi/content/full/302/5650/1516 [2]: http://www.sciencemag. org/cgi/content/short/302/5650/1560 [3]: http://www.sciencemag. org/cgi/content/short/302/5650/1563
The Regulatory Role of Ferric Uptake Regulator (Fur) during Anaerobic Respiration of Shewanella piezotolerans WP3

Ferric uptake regulator (Fur) is a global regulator that controls bacterial iron homeostasis. In this study, a fur deletion mutant of the deep-sea bacterium Shewanella piezotolerans WP3 was constructed. Physiological studies revealed that the growth rate of this mutant under aerobic conditions was only slightly lower than that of wild type (WT), but severe growth defects were observed under anaerobic conditions when different electron acceptors (EAs) were provided. Comparative transcriptomic analysis demonstrated that Fur is involved not only in classical iron homeostasis but also in anaerobic respiration. Fur exerted pleiotropic effects on the regulation of anaerobic respiration by controlling anaerobic electron transport, the heme biosynthesis system, and the cytochrome c maturation system. Biochemical assays demonstrated that levels of c-type cytochromes were lower in the fur mutant, consistent with the transcriptional profiling. Transcriptomic analysis and electrophoretic mobility shift assays revealed a primary regulation network for Fur in WP3. These results suggest that Fur may act as a sensor for anoxic conditions to trigger and influence the anaerobic respiratory system.
Reforming the age of criminal responsibility

This article discusses the age at which criminal responsibility should begin and whether there is still a need for the rebuttable presumption of doli incapax. It clarifies the various meanings given to the concept of the age of criminal responsibility and considers its importance. Some common law countries have moved away from the traditional position of a minimum age level of 7 years and a rebuttable presumption of doli incapax from 7 years until 14 years. In doing so, there has been a tendency to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 12 years and abolish the rebuttable presumption of doli incapax. After analysising these changes, the article argues that there is still a place for this presumption unless and until the minimum age of criminal responsibility is raised to the level preferred by the United Nations Committee on the Right of the Child.
Delirium in elderly patients and the risk of postdischarge mortality, institutionalization, and dementia: a meta-analysis.

CONTEXT Delirium is a common and serious complication in elderly patients. Evidence suggests that delirium is associated with long-term poor outcome but delirium often occurs in individuals with more severe underlying disease. OBJECTIVE To assess the association between delirium in elderly patients and long-term poor outcome, defined as mortality, institutionalization, or dementia, while controlling for important confounders. DATA SOURCES A systematic search of studies published between January 1981 and April 2010 was conducted using the databases of MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, and CINAHL. STUDY SELECTION Observational studies of elderly patients with delirium as a study variable and data on mortality, institutionalization, or dementia after a minimum follow-up of 3 months, and published in the English or Dutch language. Titles, abstracts, and articles were reviewed independently by 2 of the authors. Of 2939 references in the original search, 51 relevant articles were identified. DATA EXTRACTION Information on study design, characteristics of the study population, and outcome were extracted. Quality of studies was assessed based on elements of the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) checklist for cohort studies. DATA SYNTHESIS The primary analyses included only high-quality studies with statistical control for age, sex, comorbid illness or illness severity, and baseline dementia. Pooled-effect estimates were calculated with random-effects models. The primary analysis with adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) showed that delirium is associated with an increased risk of death compared with controls after an average follow-up of 22.7 months (7 studies; 271/714 patients [38.0%] with delirium, 616/2243 controls [27.5%]; HR, 1.95 [95% confidence interval {CI}, 1.51-2.52]; I(2), 44.0%). Moreover, patients who had experienced delirium were also at increased risk of institutionalization (7 studies; average follow-up, 14.6 months; 176/527 patients [33.4%] with delirium and 219/2052 controls [10.7%]; odds ratio [OR], 2.41 [95% CI, 1.77-3.29]; I(2), 0%) and dementia (2 studies; average follow-up, 4.1 years; 35/56 patients [62.5%] with delirium and 15/185 controls [8.1%]; OR, 12.52 [95% CI, 1.86-84.21]; I(2), 52.4%). The sensitivity, trim-and-fill, and secondary analyses with unadjusted high-quality risk estimates stratified according to the study characteristics confirmed the robustness of these results. CONCLUSION This meta-analysis provides evidence that delirium in elderly patients is associated with poor outcome independent of important confounders, such as age, sex, comorbid illness or illness severity, and baseline dementia.
A Functional Ser326Cys Polymorphism in hOGG1 Is Associated with Noise-Induced Hearing Loss in a Chinese Population

DNA damage to cochlear hair cells caused by 8-oxoguanine (8-oxoG) is essential for the development of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). Human 8-oxoG DNA glycosylase1 (hOGG1) is a key enzyme in the base excision repair (BER) pathway that eliminates 8-oxoG. Many epidemiological and functional studies have suggested that the hOGG1 Ser326Cys polymorphism (rs1052133) is associated with many diseases. The purpose of this investigation was to investigate whether the hOGG1 Ser326Cys polymorphism in the human BER pathway is associated with genetic susceptibility to NIHL in a Chinese population. This polymorphism was genotyped among 612 workers with NIHL and 615 workers with normal hearing. We found that individuals with the hOGG1 Cys/Cys genotype had a statistically significantly increased risk of NIHL compared with those who carried the hOGG1 Ser/Ser genotype (adjusted OR = 1.59, 95% CI = 1.13–2.25) and this increased risk was more pronounced among the workers in the 15- to 25- and >25-year noise exposure time, 85–92 dB(A) noise exposure level, ever smoking, and ever drinking groups, similar effects were also observed in a recessive model. In summary, our data suggested that the hOGG1 Cys/Cys genotype may be a genetic susceptibility marker for NIHL in the Chinese Han population.
New methodologies for adaptive sliding mode control

This article proposes new methodologies for the design of adaptive sliding mode control. The goal is to obtain a robust sliding mode adaptive-gain control law with respect to uncertainties and perturbations without the knowledge of uncertainties/perturbations bound (only the boundness feature is known). The proposed approaches consist in having a dynamical adaptive control gain that establishes a sliding mode in finite time. Gain dynamics also ensures that there is no overestimation of the gain with respect to the real a priori unknown value of uncertainties. The efficacy of both proposed algorithms is confirmed on a tutorial example and while controlling an electropneumatic actuator.
Observability Preservation Under Sensor Failure

This paper is concerned with the study of observability in a structural framework. It turns out that the system is structurally observable if and only if the system is output connected and contains no contraction. We focus our attention on the observability preservation under sensor failure. We consider linear observable systems and we wonder if a given system remains observable in case of sensor failure. More precisely, we will characterize among the sensors those which are critical, i.e., which failure leads to observability loss, those which are useless for observability purpose and the set of those which are useful without being critical. Using a graph approach we classify the sensors with respect to their importance for output connection preservation, contraction avoidance and then observability preservation under sensor failure.
Scalable distributed storage for multidimensional scientific data computing

We describe the distributed storage structure which can be effectively applied to scientific multidimensional imagery data in geoinformatics. Basic principal of this project is distributed (N,K)-block storage schema (LH*RS or SDDS). We develop the descent of LH*RS especially for multidimensional data arrays using the multiscaled representation of these arrays and using the efficient preprocessing algorithms. The LH*RS is positioned as the general-purpose method, and its efficiency does not depend on the data file type. But we can implement some enhancements in its distribution algorithm in order to optimize its performance in the case of multidimensional or imagery data. Dataset is decomposed into data blocks of several levels using the Wavelet transform. The required dataset of the requested scale and resolution is reconstructed from the corresponding set of downloaded blocks on clients' side. This approach can reduce the resource costs of corresponding scientific problems solving.
TAK‐603 selectively suppresses Th1‐type cytokine production and inhibits the progression of adjuvant arthritis

We have shown that TAK‐603, a new anti‐rheumatic drug, is more effective in animal models in which cellular immunity plays a central role. Here, we studied the effect of the drug on Th1 cytokines, which are dominantly produced in this type of immune reaction, in an in vitro system and an in vivo model. We established Th1‐ and Th2‐dominant T‐cell lines, and studied the effect of TAK‐603 on their cytokine production. Th1 cell lines were BALB/c mouse allo‐reactive T cells and C57BL mouse mite antigen‐reactive T cells, and the Th2 cell line was BALB/c mouse ovalbumin‐reactive T cells. TAK‐603 suppressed the production of Th1 cytokines [ interferon‐&ggr; (IFN‐&ggr;) and interleukin‐2 (IL‐2)] and not that of Th2 cytokines (IL‐4, IL‐5) in these cell lines. Furthermore, selective suppression of Th1 cytokine production was also observed in the T‐cell clones obtained from the ovalbumin‐reactive T‐cell line. To investigate the effect on cytokine production in animal models of arthritis, we analysed the expression of cytokine messenger RNA using reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction. In adjuvant arthritis rats, Th1‐dominant cytokine production was observed both in the arthritic joint and the spleen, and the time–course paralleled the progression of arthritis. On the other hand, in type‐II collagen‐induced arthritis, in which TAK‐603 has little effect, Th1‐dominant cytokine production was not observed and Th2 cytokines were shown to be more important. The adjuvant arthritis rats treated with TAK‐603 (6·25 mg/kg/day, per os) showed significantly lower cytokine mRNA expression both locally and systemically. These data suggest that TAK‐603 selectively suppresses Th1 cytokine production, which is consistent with its effect on cellular immunity in animal models.