Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Stability of Aβ-fibril fragments in the presence of fatty acids

We consider the effect of lauric acid on the stability of various fibril-like assemblies of Aβ peptides. For this purpose, we have performed molecular dynamics simulations of these assemblies either in complex with lauric acid or without presence of the ligand. While we do not observe a stabilizing effect on Aβ40-fibrils we find that addition of lauric acid strengthen the stability of fibrils built from the more toxic triple-stranded S-shaped Aβ42-peptides. Or results may help to understand how specifics of the brain-environment modulate amyloid formation and propagation.
Analysis and Detection of Malicious Insiders

This paper summarizes a collaborative, six month ARDA NRRC 1 challenge workshop to characterize and create analysis methods to counter sophisticated malicious insiders in the United States Intelligence Community. Based upon a careful study of past and projected cases, we report a generic model of malicious insider behaviors, distinguishing motives, (cyber and physical) actions, and associated observables. The paper outlines several prototype techniques developed to provide early warning of insider activity, including novel algorithms for structured analysis and data fusion. We report the assessment of their performance in an operational network against three distinct classes of human insiders (an analyst, application administrator, and system administrator), measuring timeliness and accuracy of detection. 1 This effort was performed at The MITRE Corporation at the Northeast Regional Research Center (NRRC) which is sponsored by the Advanced Research and Development Activity in Information Technology (ARDA), a U.S. Government entity which sponsors and promotes research of import to the Intelligence Community which includes but is not limited to the CIA, DIA, NSA, NGA, and NRO.
A novel frequency domain image reconstruction based on the Tikhonov regularization and robust estimation technique for Compressive Sensing

Recently, a lot of attention has been paid to image reconstructionalgorithms based on Smoothed L0 (SL0) under the frequency domain. SL0 is fast and accurate under the noise free environment however it is unstable with the additional noise.According to ill-posed condition; without any prior information of the original image, the reconstruction procedure of SL0 is much affected by the noise. The frequency domain Tikhonov reduces and constrains the gap of restored image due to the ill-posed situation. Therefore, image restoration algorithm is better and immutable under the noise which can eliminate the image's properties. Moreover, in this paper we propose an l1 norm estimation, it is conceived less sensitivity to the outlier than an l2 norm. Thereforethe quality of reconstructed image under noise with high power is improved. Furthermore, the advancedrobust regularization algorithmcan be effectively applied under difference type of noise models (such as Speckle noise,AWGN, Salt & Pepper noise and Poisson noise) and at different noise powers.
Performance evaluation of Optical Burst Switched mesh networks with Localized Functional Resources

This work investigates the performance of Optical Burst Switched (OBS) mesh networks using Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) and Localized Functional Resources (LFC). These OBS networks were designed to have the same amount of wavelengths in all the links of a mesh topology, but some nodes or links chosen from the knowledge of network utilization, have additional functional resources as Wavelength Converters (WC) and Deflection Routing (DR) capability. The preliminary results show that the Localized Functional Resources can be a good choice to increase the performance of future Metropolitan Area Networks (MAN) without adding new wavelengths to the links.
The family of quaternionic quasi-unitary Lie algebras and their central extensions

The family of quaternionic quasi-unitary (or quaternionic unitary Cayley--Klein algebras) is described in a unified setting. This family includes the simple algebras sp(N+1) and sp(p,q) in the Cartan series C_{N+1}, as well as many non-semisimple real Lie algebras which can be obtained from these simple algebras by particular contractions. The algebras in this family are realized here in relation with the groups of isometries of quaternionic hermitian spaces of constant holomorphic curvature. This common framework allows to perform the study of many properties for all these Lie algebras simultaneously. In this paper the central extensions for all quasi-simple Lie algebras of the quaternionic unitary Cayley--Klein family are completely determined in arbitrary dimension. It is shown that the second cohomology group is trivial for any Lie algebra of this family no matter of its dimension.
Emotional lability in children and adolescents with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): clinical correlates and familial prevalence.

BACKGROUND The goal of this study was to investigate the occurrence, severity and clinical correlates of emotional lability (EL) in children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and to examine factors contributing to EL and familiality of EL in youth with ADHD. METHODS One thousand, one hundred and eighty-six children with ADHD combined type and 1827 siblings (aged 6-18 years) were assessed for symptoms of EL, ADHD, associated psychopathology and comorbid psychiatric disorders with a structured diagnostic interview (PACS) as well as parent and teacher ratings of psychopathology (SDQ; CPRS-R:L; CTRS-R:L). Analyses of variance, regression analyses, chi(2)-tests or loglinear models were applied. RESULTS Mean age and gender-standardized ratings of EL in children with ADHD were >1.5 SD above the mean in normative samples. Severe EL (>75th percentile) was associated with more severe ADHD core symptoms, primarily hyperactive-impulsive symptoms, and more comorbid oppositional defiant, affective and substance use disorders. Age, hyperactive-impulsive, oppositional, and emotional symptoms accounted for 30% of EL variance; hyperactive-impulsive symptoms did not account for EL variance when coexisting oppositional and emotional problems were taken into account, but oppositional symptoms explained 12% of EL variance specifically. Severity of EL in probands increased the severity of EL in siblings, but not the prevalence rates of ADHD or ODD. EL and ADHD does not co-segregate within families. CONCLUSION EL is a frequent clinical problem in children with ADHD. It is associated with increased severity of ADHD core symptoms, particularly hyperactivity-impulsivity, and more symptoms of comorbid psychopathology, primarily symptoms of oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), but also affective symptoms, and substance abuse. EL in ADHD seems to be more closely related to ODD than to ADHD core symptoms, and is only partly explainable by the severity of ADHD core symptoms and associated psychopathology. Although EL symptoms are transmitted within families, EL in children with ADHD does not increase the risk of ADHD and ODD in their siblings.
Differences in Vulnerability to Permanent Focal Cerebral Ischemia Among 3 Common Mouse Strains

Background and Purpose Genetically engineered mice are used to study the role of single genes in cerebral ischemia, but inherent, strain-dependent differences in neuronal vulnerability may affect experimental end points. To examine this possibility, tissue injury resulting from focal ischemia and its relationship to cerebral hemodynamics were determined in 3 common mutant mouse strains. Methods Permanent middle cerebral artery ligation was performed in male C57BL/6J, Balb/C, and 129X1/SvJ mice. Mean arterial blood pressure, blood gases, basal and postischemic cortical blood flow ([14C]iodoantipyrine autoradiography and laser-Doppler flowmetry), posterior communicating artery patency, and infarct size were determined. Results Basal cortical blood flow did not differ among strains. Ten minutes after middle cerebral artery ligation, relative red cell flow in the ischemic cortex was 6% to 7% of preischemic flow in every strain. Despite similar hemodynamics, cortical infarcts in Balb/C mice were 3-fold larger than those in 129X1/SvJ and C57BL/6J mice; infarct size in the latter 2 strains was not significantly different. The posterior communicating artery was either poorly developed or absent in >90% of the Balb/C and C57BL/6J but in <50% of the 129X1/SvJ mice. Conclusions The extent of ischemic injury differed markedly between the 3 strains. The presence and patency of posterior communicating arteries, although variable among strains, did not affect preischemic or postischemic cortical blood flow or bear any relationship to ischemic injury. Therefore, intrinsic factors, other than hemodynamic variability, may contribute to the differences in ischemic vulnerability among strains. These findings underscore the importance of selecting genetically matched wild-type controls.
Response to Letter Regarding Article, “Prevalence, Clinical Significance, and Natural History of Left Ventricular Apical Aneurysms in Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy”

We thank Dr Giuseppe Ando et al for their interest in our description of left ventricular (LV) apical aneurysms occurring in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), a newly recognized and important subgroup within this heterogeneous disease spectrum.1 Ando et al have raised a number of important issues relative to nomenclature, mechanism, and the treatment of LV apical aneurysms in HCM patients. With respect to nomenclature, we agree that the term diverticula should be …
Integrating visual odometry and dead-reckoning for robot localization and obstacle detection

The research presented introduces a new methodology to infer environment structure and robot localization by using a monocular machine vision system. The local field of view is constrained to the vicinity of the mobile robot in order to accomplish with robust navigation issues. The strategy proposed uses optical flow techniques and planar models to obtain qualitative 3D information and robot localization by using time integration series of acquired frames. In this way, different space resolution and meaningful corner information are considered. The different significant image points are correlated from camera pose knowledge and odometer data. The robot localization is achieved combining on board and visual odometer systems for reducing dead reckoning problems. Therefore, the two system errors are compared in a parallel process that selects the most accurate robot localization. Moreover, it is used to infer qualitative 3D information, when mismatches between both odometer systems are produced, due to the fact that the planar floor model is not accomplished. In this context, experimental results that reinforce the effectivity of the work developed are reported by using the available lab mobile platform. Other remarkable features of the strategy presented are its simplicity and the low computational cost.
Demo: iMoon: Using Smartphones for Image-based Indoor Navigation

The indoor location market is growing rapidly. However, fine-grained and up-to-date indoor maps are rarely available, and the existing indoor localization and navigation services mostly require extra infrastructures to provide accurate locations. In this demonstration we show iMoon, an indoor navigation system that provides indoor mapping, localization and navigation services using photos and sensor data collected from widely available mobile devices. The demonstration leverages a cohesive suite of computer vision, mobile sensing, and wireless networking techniques.
Influence of Bisphenol A on Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Bisphenol A (BPA) is an organic synthetic compound employed to produce plastics and epoxy resins. It is used as a structural component in polycarbonate beverage bottles and as coating for metal surface in food containers and packaging. The adverse effects of BPA on human health are widely disputed. BPA has been recently associated with a wide variety of medical disorders and, in particular, it was identified as potential endocrine-disrupting compound with diabetogenic action. Most of the clinical observational studies in humans reveal a positive link between BPA exposure, evaluated by the measurement of urinary BPA levels, and the risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus. Clinical studies on humans and preclinical studies on in vivo, ex vivo, and in vitro models indicate that BPA, mostly at low doses, may have a role in increasing type 2 diabetes mellitus developmental risk, directly acting on pancreatic cells, in which BPA induces the impairment of insulin and glucagon secretion, triggers inhibition of cell growth and apoptosis, and acts on muscle, hepatic, and adipose cell function, triggering an insulin-resistant state. The current review summarizes the available evidences regarding the association between BPA and type 2 diabetes mellitus, focusing on both clinical and preclinical studies.
Nanoindentation experiment and modeling for biomechanical behavior of red blood cell

The biomechanical behavior of a red blood cell (RBC) is investigated by nanoindentation technique and finite element method. A nanoindentation experiment is carried out to obtain Young's modulus, hardness and load-displacement curve of the RBC, and a 3D finite element model is built to simulate the nanoindentation experiment process. The effect of curvature radius of the indenter tip and friction coefficient between the indenter and cell is considered. The FE results are agreement with the experimental data for nanoindentation of RBC. It is shown that the mechanical parameters of RBC can be precisely determined by the present approach, which contributes to understanding of biomechanical behavior of RBC. The deformation of RBC is obviously influenced by the curvature radius of the tip but slightly by the friction coefficient between the indenter and the cell.
Better training for function labeling

Function labels enrich constituency parse tree nodes with information about their abstract syntactic and semantic roles. A common way to obtain function-labeled trees is to use a two-stage architecture where first a statistical parser produces the constituent structure and then a second component such as a classifier adds the missing function tags. In order to achieve optimal results, training examples for machine-learning-based classifiers should be as similar as possible to the instances seen during prediction. However, the method which has been used so far to obtain training examples for the function labeling classifier suffers from a serious drawback: the training examples come from perfect treebank trees, whereas test examples are derived from parser-produced, imperfect trees. We show that extracting training instances from the reparsed training part of the treebank results in better training material as measured by similarity to test instances. We show that our training method achieves statistically significantly higher f-scores on the function labeling task for the English Penn Treebank. Currently our method achieves 91.47% f-score on the section 23 of WSJ, the highest score reported in the literature so far.
“Diagnosis Threat”: The Effect of Negative Expectations on Cognitive Performance in Head Injury

The present study examined the effect of negative expectations on neuropsychological test performance. It was hypothesized that having attention called to a history of prior head injury and the potential effects of head injury on cognition would result in diminished neuropsychological test performance relative to individuals with a similar head injury history but who did not have their attention called to their head injury history (‘diagnosis threat’). Of 36 participants with a history of mild head injury, 17 were randomly assigned to diagnosis threat and 19 to neutral test directions. The diagnosis threat group performed significantly worse on tests measuring general intellect and memory, but were not different from the neutral group in basic attention or psychomotor speed. The diagnosis threat group rated themselves as putting forth less effort on the neuropsychological battery, and self-rated effort correlated with test performance in that group. Overall, results serve as a reminder that neuropsychological tests are measures of behavior, and thus can be influenced by nonneurological factors.
Serum B12, Homocysteine Levels, and their Effect on Peripheral Neuropathy in Parkinson's Disease: Indian Cohort

Background: Cobalamin deficiency, either due to dietary inadequacy or increased consumption attributable to levodopa-mediated metabolic disturbance, and resultant hyperhomocysteinemia may contribute to peripheral neuropathy (PN) in Parkinson's disease (PD). Aim: The aim of the study is to assess the prevalence of Vitamin B12 deficiency, hyperhomocysteinemia in Indian PD patients, and their association with PN. Materials and Methods: Clinical details were collected in 93 patients over a period of 2 years. Seventy controls were included in the study. Serum B12, homocysteine, folate, electroneurography, and autonomic function tests were done. The prevalence of B12 deficiency and hyperhomocysteinemia in PD patients and controls was assessed. The association of B12 and homocysteine levels with patients' age, disease duration, levodopa equivalent daily dose, cumulative levodopa dose, Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale-III off score, modified Hoehn and Yahr score, and presence or absence of PN was studied. Results: Serum B12, homocysteine levels, prevalence of B12 deficiency, and hyperhomocysteinemia were no different between cases and controls. Seven of 93 (9.68%) PD patients had PN. The median values of serum B12, folate, and homocysteine levels across patients with or without PN could not be compared as only seven of our patients had PN. Conclusion: The prevalence of B12 deficiency, hyperhomocysteinemia, and incidence of PN among our patients is very less when compared to the Western population. The conjecture that PN in PD patients may be secondary to B12 deficiency/hyperhomocysteinemia stands as a speculation.
Using spectral information at the NIR water absorption features to estimate canopy water content and biomass

Biomass is one of the key biophysical variables of i nterest in vegetation studies and it can be defined i terms of fresh matter weight or dry matter weight. Biogeochemical processes, such as photosynthesis, evaporation and net primary pro duction, are directly related to foliar water and are moreover commonly l imited by water stress. Therefore, canopy water con tent is important for the understanding of the terrestrial ecosystem function ing. Spectral information related to the water abso rpti n features at 970 nm and 1200 nm offer interesting possibilities for derivin g information on leaf and canopy water content. In the present work, hyperspectral reflectance data representing a range of canopies w ere simulated at the leaf level using the PROSPECT mo del and at the canopy level using the combined PROSPECT+SAILH model. Deriva tive spectra close to the absorption features at ab out 970 nm and 1200 nm showed a strong predictive power for the leaf an d canopy water content (CWC). Ratio indices defining t he absorption features had a smaller predictive power. The feasibility of using information from the water absorption feature s in the near-infrared (NIR) region of the spectrum was tested by estimating CWC a nd biomass for two quite different test sites. The first site was a homogeneously managed agricultural field with a gra ss/clover mixture and with very little variation wi thin the field. The other site was a very heterogeneous natural area in the floodp ain Millingerwaard along the river Waal in the Net h rlands. Spectral information at both test sites was obtained with an ASD FieldSpec spectrometer during the summer of 20 04. At the Millingerwaard site also a flight with the HyMap airborne imaging spectrometer was performed. Individual spectral ban ds and traditional vegetation indices based on red and NIR spectral bands yielded mo erate estimates for biomass and CWC. Ratio indices and the continuum removal method describing the absorption features y i lded good results. Best results were obtained for the derivative spectra. Highest correlation with CWC was obtained for the der ivative spectrum at about 950 nm, meaning at the sl ope of the first water absorption feature. Promising results in estimating CWC and biomass for various vegetation types were no t o ly obtained for field spectroradiometer data, but also for airborne imagi ng spectrometer data, indicating the potential for upscaling to larger areas.
Multiple model moving horizon estimation approach to prognostics in coupled systems

The key objectives of this paper are to analyze and implement a novel moving horizon model predictive estimation scheme based on constrained nonlinear optimization techniques for inferring the survival functions and residual useful life (RUL) of components in coupled systems. The approach employs a data-driven prognostics framework that combines failure time data, static and dynamic (time-series) parametric data, and the Multiple Model Moving Horizon Estimation (MM-MHE) algorithm for predicting the survival functions of components based on their usage profiles. Validation of the approach has been provided based on data from an electronic throttle control (ETC) system. The proposed prognostic approach is modular and has the potential to be applicable to a wide variety of systems, ranging from automobiles to aerospace.
Association Between Short Sleep and Body Mass Index, Hypertension Among Acute Coronary Syndrome Patients in Coronary Care Unit

Introduction: Patients with coronary diseases admitted to special care unit often suffer from sleep disorders, which may cause physiological changes and adversely affect patient’s health. The relationship between sleep disorders and obesity is an important factor in studies on sleep disorders and other chronic diseases in all groups, including cardiovascular diseases. Understanding this relationship may increase the chance of progress in effective medical interventions in sleep disorders and obesity. This study was designed to evaluate the association between short sleep and Body Mass Index (BMI), hypertension among acute coronary syndrome patients. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive analytical study, 221 coronary patients admitted to coronary care unit and general wards were investigated. Data were collected through a researcher-made questionnaire whose validity and reliability had been confirmed. Data were analyzed with SPSS-16 software. Results: A total of 221 patients with acute coronary diseases (including myocardial infarction and angina pectoris) with a mean age of 61.27 years were studied, of whom 61.5% were male and 38.5% were female. A significant association was observed between short sleep and higher BMI (P=0.000). About half the patients (49.3%) had a history of hypertension, and sleep disorders were also significantly related to hypertension (P=0.006). Discussion: In this study, sleep disorders were patients’ main complaint. Researchers found that patients with less than 5 hours or more than 9 hours sleep at night were more likely to have hypertension compared to patients that slept 7-8 hours. Lack of sleep affects metabolism, and daily energy expenditure reduces with increased immobility. In this study, a significant relationship was observed between BMI and sleep duration among hospitalized patients in coronary care unit (P=0.000), and sleep disorders increased with higher BMI. Short of sleep increases sympathetic tonus, cortisol level, and activation of inflammatory pathways, impairing glucose metabolism and contributing to overweigh, increased visceral fat. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that poor sleep quality, is related to higher BMI and hypertension among acute coronary syndrome patients.