Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of Upper Extremity Robot-Assisted Exercise on Spasticity in Stroke Patients

Objective To determine the efficacy of a stretching and strengthening exercise program using an upper extremity robot, as compared with a conventional occupational therapy program for upper extremity spasticity in stroke patients. Methods Subjects were randomly divided into a robot-assisted therapy (RT) group and a conventional rehabilitation therapy (CT) group. RT group patients received RT and CT once daily for 30 minutes each, 5 days a week, for 2 weeks. RT was performed using an upper-extremity robot (Neuro-X; Apsun Inc., Seoul, Korea), and CT was administered by occupational therapists. CT group patients received CT alone twice daily for 30 minutes, 5 days a week, for 2 weeks. Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS) was used to measure the spasticity of upper extremity. Manual muscle tests (MMT), Manual Function Tests (MFT), Brunnstrom stage, and the Korean version of Modified Barthel Index (K-MBI) were used to measure the strength and function of upper extremity. All measurements were obtained before and after 2-week treatment. Results The RT and CT groups included 22 subjects each. After treatment, both groups showed significantly lower MAS scores and significant improvement in the MMT, MFT, Brunnstrom stage, and K-MBI scores. Treatment effects showed no significant differences between the two groups. Conclusion RT showed similar treatment benefits on spasticity, as compared to CT. The study results suggested that RT could be a useful method for continuous, repeatable, and relatively accurate range of motion exercise in stroke patients with spasticity.
Pain assessment and management in infants with cancer

Infants with cancer will experience pain from multiple tissue‐damaging procedures associated with diagnostic and therapeutic protocols. Although effective pain management is a universal goal, in infants it is less than optimal. To prevent, minimize or ameliorate procedural pain, it is necessary to understand the conceptualization and consequences of pain in these children, the optimal approaches to assessment of pain in infants, and effective pharmacologic and non‐pharmacologic interventions throughout diagnosis and treatment, including palliative care. Collaboration of health professionals and parents is an essential starting point for achieving optimal pain management in this population. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2007;49:1097–1101. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The Membrane-Associated Methane Monooxygenase (pMMO) and pMMO-NADH:Quinone Oxidoreductase Complex from Methylococcus capsulatus Bath

ABSTRACT Improvements in purification of membrane-associated methane monooxygenase (pMMO) have resulted in preparations of pMMO with activities more representative of physiological rates: i.e., >130 nmol · min−1 · mg of protein−1. Altered culture and assay conditions, optimization of the detergent/protein ratio, and simplification of the purification procedure were responsible for the higher-activity preparations. Changes in the culture conditions focused on the rate of copper addition. To document the physiological events that occur during copper addition, cultures were initiated in medium with cells expressing soluble methane monooxygenase (sMMO) and then monitored for morphological changes, copper acquisition, fatty acid concentration, and pMMO and sMMO expression as the amended copper concentration was increased from 0 (approximately 0.3 μM) to 95 μM. The results demonstrate that copper not only regulates the metabolic switch between the two methane monooxygenases but also regulates the level of expression of the pMMO and the development of internal membranes. With respect to stabilization of cell-free pMMO activity, the highest cell-free pMMO activity was observed when copper addition exceeded maximal pMMO expression. Optimization of detergent/protein ratios and simplification of the purification procedure also contributed to the higher activity levels in purified pMMO preparations. Finally, the addition of the type 2 NADH:quinone oxidoreductase complex (NADH dehydrogenase [NDH]) from M. capsulatus Bath, along with NADH and duroquinol, to enzyme assays increased the activity of purified preparations. The NDH and NADH were added to maintain a high duroquinol/duroquinone ratio.
Thermal barrier coatings technology: critical review, progress update, remaining challenges and prospects

A comprehensive and integrated review of thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) applied to turbine components is provided. Materials systems, processes, applications, durability issues, technical approaches and progress for improved TBC, and our understanding of the science and technology are discussed. Thermal barrier coating prime reliance and further advances have been hampered by TBC loss by particle impact and erosion in certain locations of the turbine blades. Accumulation of low melting eutectic containing calcia, magnesia, alumina and silica resulting in TBC spallation limits maximum surface temperature. Design methodologies to address durability and data scatter issues are discussed. Compositions, morphology, characteristics and performance data for new bonds to achieve longer TBC life are described. Further reduction in the thermal conductivity of the top layer to minimise the parasitic mass of the coating on the component is being sought via top layer composition and processing modifications as well as by alternate ceramic compositions. The progress in these areas is critically reviewed including processing, stability and durability limitations. The paper also describes effort to understand various failure mechanisms including modelling and simulation.
4. Discussion

Since wavelet analysis is an effective tool for analyzing transient signals, we studied its feature extraction and representation properties for events in electrocardiogram (EKG) data. Significant features of the EKG include the P-wave, the QRS complex, and the T-wave. For this paper the feature that we chose to focus on was the P-wave. Wavelet analysis was used as a pre-processor for a backpropagation neural network with conjugate gradient learning. The inputs to the neural network were the wavelet transforms of EKGs at a particular scale. The desired output was the location of the P-wave. The results were compared to results obtained without using the wavelet transform as a pre-processor.
What's the Right Price? Pricing Tasks for Finishing on Time

Many practitioners currently use rules of thumb to price tasks on online labor markets. Incorrect pricing leads to task starvation or inefficient use of capital. Formal pricing policies can address these challenges. In this paper we argue that a pricing policy can be based on the trade-off between price and desired completion time. We show how this duality can lead to a better pricing policy for tasks in online labor markets. This paper makes three contributions. First, we devise an algorithm for job pricing using a survival analysis model. We then show that worker arrivals can be modeled as a non-homogeneous Poisson Process (NHPP). Finally using NHPP for worker arrivals and discrete choice models we present an abstract mathematical model that captures the dynamics of the market when full market information is presented to the task requester. This model can be used to predict completion times and pricing policies for both public and private crowds.
The Emerging Use of In Vivo Optical Imaging in the Study of Neurodegenerative Diseases

The detection and subsequent quantification of photons emitted from living tissues, using highly sensitive charged-couple device (CCD) cameras, have enabled investigators to noninvasively examine the intricate dynamics of molecular reactions in wide assortment of experimental animals under basal and pathophysiological conditions. Nevertheless, extrapolation of this in vivo optical imaging technology to the study of the mammalian brain and related neurodegenerative conditions is still in its infancy. In this review, we introduce the reader to the emerging use of in vivo optical imaging in the study of neurodegenerative diseases. We highlight the current instrumentation that is available and reporter molecules (fluorescent and bioluminescent) that are commonly used. Moreover, we examine how in vivo optical imaging using transgenic reporter mice has provided new insights into Alzheimer's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Prion disease, and neuronal damage arising from excitotoxicity and inflammation. Furthermore, we also touch upon studies that have utilized these technologies for the development of therapeutic strategies for neurodegenerative conditions that afflict humans.
Edge feature extraction in digital images with the ant colony system

In this paper, the perceptual graph is proposed to represent the relationship between neighboring image points. The ant colony system is applied to build the perceptual graph of digital images, which makes the basis of the layered model of a machine vision system. In the experiments, the edge feature in digital images is extracted based on the proposed machine vision model. The experimental results show that the ant colony system can effectively extract image features.
The measurement of large strains using electrical resistance strain gages

It is well known that in the range of large strains, the electrical resistance strain gages have a nonlinear behavior, that is the variation of electrical resistance is a nonlinear function of the strain applied to the strain gage, which means that the gage factor K is not constant. Also, the Wheatstone bridge has a nonlinear behavior at large strains. Usually the two nonlinearities have opposite effects, therefore the overall nonlinearity decreases. This article presents an overview of the behavior of strain gages subject to large strains and of the corrections to account for nonlinearities of both the strain gage and the Wheatstone bridge.
The Portal of Geriatrics Online Education: A 21st‐Century Resource for Teaching Geriatrics

The way students are taught and evaluated is changing, with greater emphasis on flexible, individualized, learner‐centered education, including the use of technology. The goal of assessment is also shifting from what students know to how they perform in practice settings. Developing educational materials for teaching in these ways is time‐consuming and can be expensive. The Portal of Geriatrics Online Education (POGOe) was developed to aid educators in meeting these needs and become quicker, better‐prepared teachers of geriatrics. POGOe contains more than 950 geriatrics educational materials that faculty at 45% of allopathic and 7% of osteopathic U.S. medical schools and the Centers for Geriatric Nursing Excellence have created. These materials include various instructional and assessment methodologies, including virtual and standardized patients, games, tutorials, case‐based teaching, self‐directed learning, and traditional lectures. Materials with common goals and resource types are available as selected educational series. Learner assessments comprise approximately 10% of the educational materials. POGOe also includes libraries of videos, images, and questions extracted from its educational materials to encourage educators to repurpose content components to create new resources and to align their teaching better with their learners' needs. Web‐Geriatric Education Modules, a peer‐reviewed online modular curriculum for medical students, is a prime example of this repurposing. The existence of a robust compendium of instructional and assessment materials allows educators to concentrate more on improving learner performance in practice and not simply on knowledge acquisition. It also makes it easier for nongeriatricians to teach the care of older adults in their respective disciplines.
Deciphering the role of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid-derived lipid mediators in health and disease

Accumulating evidence indicates that, analogous to n-6 PUFA, n-3 PUFA are enzymatically converted into diverse families of bioactive mediators that play numerous roles in physiology. These mediators, which include the resolvins, protectins and maresins, are particularly important in resolving acute inflammation and also appear to play a role in enhancing host defence. Given the protective actions of n-3 PUFA in human subjects and in animal models of disease, active generation of bioactive mediators may in part underlie these protective effects. Several studies have demonstrated that bioactive autacoids generated from n-3 PUFA have direct anti-inflammatory and pro-resolution actions, and the structures of many of these endogenous mediators have been elucidated. The diverse roles of these lipid mediators in health and disease, regulation of their biosynthesis, as well as identification of specific receptors and cellular targets, are emerging. This brief review will highlight the biosynthesis of resolvins, protectins and maresins, and discuss their receptor-mediated biological actions in promoting the resolution of inflammation. Their potential use as a new class of pro-resolution therapeutics, as well as gaps in knowledge and challenges for future research, will also be discussed. Overall, the identification of these novel families of lipid mediators has yielded insight into the protective actions of n-3 PUFA and may lead to the development of an entirely new class of therapeutics aimed at regulating inflammation and host defence.
Prevalence and spectrum of GJA5 mutations associated with lone atrial fibrillation.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common form of cardiac arrhythmia observed in clinical practice and a major contributor to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Accumulating evidence indicates a substantial genetic basis for AF. However, AF is genetically heterogeneous and the hereditary components responsible for AF remain to be identified in the majority of patients. The cardiac gap junction protein α 5 (GJA5) is specifically expressed in atrial myocytes and is associated with the coordinated electrical activation of the atria, providing a rationale to screen GJA5 as a logical candidate gene for AF. A cohort of 310 unrelated patients with lone AF and their available relatives were included in this study. A group of 200 unrelated healthy individuals matched for age, gender and race were also included as controls. The entire coding region and splice sites of the GJA5 gene were initially sequenced in 310 unrelated AF patients. The relatives of mutation carriers and 200 controls were subsequently genotyped for the presence of identified mutations. As a result, 4 novel heterozygous GJA5 mutations, p.K107R, p.L223M, p.Q236H and p.I257L, were identified in 4 of 310 unrelated AF patients, respectively, with a prevalence of ~1.29%. Genetic analysis of the carriers' families showed that in each family the missense mutation was present in all the affected family members. Absent in the 400 reference alleles, these mutations altered the amino acids highly conserved among various species, with the exception of p.I257L. In conclusion, this study expands the spectrum of GJA5 mutations associated with AF and provides novel insights into the molecular basis of AF, suggesting potential implications for the improved, gene-specific rhythm control strategies.
Alveolar fluid transport: a changing paradigm.

UNLIKE OTHER EPITHELIAL TISSUES that transport large amounts of solutes and water, the alveolar epithelium is faced with a unique physiological challenge. To facilitate optimal gas exchange and to trap airborne particulate matter, it must maintain a thin layer of fluid on the luminal surface of its extensive alveolar network. However, the thickness of the fluid layer must be tightly regulated, since even slight increases in the fluid depth could adversely affect gas exchange, whereas dehydration of the surface would impair ciliary clearance. The alveolar flooding associated with acute respiratory distress syndrome or the airway dehydration in cystic fibrosis represents two pathological extremes of a failure to maintain proper airway fluid balance. Both of these conditions account for a significant burden of morbidity and mortality worldwide (16, 20). Extensive research done in the last two decades has shown that precise regulation of alveolar surface fluid layer is achieved through vectorial transport of solutes between the alveolar surface and interstitial spaces with active Na transport across the alveolar epithelium generating the osmotic force for movement of water (12, 17). The broadly accepted paradigm for Na transport in the alveoli involves a two-step process: movement of Na through cation channels in the apical cell membrane constitutes the first step, and extrusion of the excess Na thus acquired via basolateral Na-K-ATPase is the second step (19). However, despite extensive research using many different approaches that support this paradigm, gaps still exist in our understanding of how this fine balance is achieved in vivo (19). In particular, there are several unresolved questions that, when resolved, could significantly affect our view of alveolar fluid clearance. First, type 1 cells constitute 95% of the alveolar surface area, but their role in ion transport is not completely clear. If there are significant differences between the transport characteristics of type I and type II cells, the current paradigm describing alveolar fluid clearance would need to be modified. Second, although cation permeability pathways have been described fairly well, the precise pathways for movement of anions are unclear. The character of these channels is important since anion channels could form either co-ion pathways for the concomitant movement of Na and Cl or a secretory pathway to increase alveolar fluid. Finally, alveolar fluid clearance appears to consist of a basal and stimulated component of reabsorption. The relative contribution of different ion channels and different cell types to these two components of clearance is far from clear. These questions are all underscored by the differences between the robust increases in transport that can be produced by several different treatments in vitro and the often weak clearance response of the in vivo lung epithelium to the same treatments
Arterial Stiffness in Chronic Kidney Disease: The Usefulness of a Marker of Vascular Damage

Increased arterial stiffness is a marker of vasculopathy in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients, suggesting a significant cardiovascular damage. Detection of arterial stiffness provides physicians with useful prognostic information independent of traditional cardiovascular (CV) risk factors. In addition, this knowledge may help guide appropriate therapeutic choices and monitor the effectiveness of antihypertensive therapies. We review the relationship between arterial stiffness and CKD, as well as the prognostic implications of increased arterial stiffness and the potential therapeutic strategies to ameliorate arterial compliance and outcome in CKD.
The role of IL‐23 receptor signaling in inflammation‐mediated erosive autoimmune arthritis and bone remodeling

The IL‐23/Th17 axis has been implicated in the development of autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA). RA and PsA are heterogeneous diseases with substantial burden on patients. Increasing evidence suggests that the IL‐23 signaling pathway may be involved in the development of autoimmunity and erosive joint damage. IL‐23 can act either directly or indirectly on bone forming osteoblasts as well as on bone resorbing osteoclasts. As IL‐23 regulates the activity of cells of the bone, it is conceivable that in addition to inflammation‐mediated joint erosion, IL‐23 may play a role in physiological bone remodeling. In this review, we focus on the role of IL‐23 in autoimmune arthritis in patients and murine models, and provide an overview of IL‐23 producing and responding cells in autoimmune arthritic joints. In addition, we discuss the role of IL‐23 on bone forming osteoblasts and bone resorbing osteoclasts regarding inflammation‐mediated joint damage and bone remodeling. At last, we briefly discuss the clinical implications of targeting this pathway for joint damage and systemic bone loss in autoimmune arthritis.
Numerical study of the shape effect in the ceramic based ballistic panels

The numerical investigations have been performed to determine the front surface shape effect in the ceramic based armour systems. Different shapes of ceramic elements were analyzed, including hemispheres and pyramids, with respect to standard flat tiles. The influence of the impact point location was also under considerations. The Computer simulations were performed with the Element Free Galerkin Method (EFG) implemented in LS-DYNA code. An impact of the 14.5x118mm B32 armour piercing projectile on the Al2O3 different shape elements backed by 7017 aluminium alloy plate was analyzed. Full 3D models of the projectile and targets were developed with strain rate and temperature dependent material constitutive relations. The models of the projectile, ceramic and aluminium alloy targets were validated with utilization of the experimental data found in literature. The obtained results confirm, the preliminary presumptions, that the shape of the front surface can play significant role in the overall ballistic resistance of the panel. Particularly projectile-target initial contact area seems to be important factor as showed by impact point location analysis. The conclusions presented in this paper can be applied to develop modern impact protection panels where the appropriate balance between the mass and protection level must be accomplished.
Sparse representation for frequency warping based voice conversion

This paper presents a sparse representation framework for weighted frequency warping based voice conversion. In this method, a frame-dependent warping function and the corresponding spectral residual vector are first calculated for each source-target spectrum pair. At runtime conversion, a source spectrum is factorised as a linear combination of a set of source spectra in the training data. The linear combination weight matrix, which is constrained to be sparse, is used to interpolate the frame-dependent warping functions and spectral residual vectors. In this way, the proposed method not only avoids the statistical averaging caused by GMM but also preserves the high-resolution spectral details for high-quality converted speech. Experiments are conducted on the VOICES database. Both objective and subjective results confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed method. In particular, the spectral distortion dropped from 5.55 dB of the conventional frequency warping approach to 5.0 dB of the proposed method. Compare to the state-of-the-art GMM-based conversion with global variance (GV) enhancement, our method achieved 68.5 % in an AB preference test.