Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influence of the novel inotropic agent levosimendan on isometric tension and calcium cycling in failing human myocardium.

BACKGROUND Levosimendan was shown to increase calcium sensitivity by a novel mechanism and to inhibit phosphodiesterase III activity in animal myocardium. METHODS AND RESULTS We investigated the influence of levosimendan on isometric contractions and calcium transients (aequorin method) in muscle strips from human hearts with end-stage failing dilated or ischemic cardiomyopathy (n=27). Data were compared with the effects of the phosphodiesterase inhibitor milrinone (n=9). The average maximum increase in twitch tension was 47+/-14% (range, 6% to 150%) at a levosimendan concentration of 0. 8+/-0.3 micromol/L (P<0.01). This was associated with significant increases in maximum rates of tension rise and fall and decreases in times to peak tension, to 50% relaxation, and to 95% relaxation. In aequorin-loaded muscles, levosimendan 10(-6) mol/L increased average tension by 50% (P<0.02), associated with a nonsignificant increase in aequorin light (16%). With milrinone 10(-5) mol/L, average tension increased by 58% and aequorin light by 49% (P<0.05). In those muscle strips with pronounced inotropic effects (>50% increase in tension), there was a comparable and pronounced increase in aequorin light with both agents. However, in muscle strips with weak inotropic responses (<50% increase in tension), the increase in light was significantly higher with milrinone than with levosimendan. CONCLUSIONS Levosimendan has inotropic and lusitropic actions in failing human myocardium. Comparison with the phosphodiesterase inhibitor milrinone indicates that in case of pronounced inotropic stimulation, the modes of action of the two agents may be similar (phosphodiesterase inhibition), whereas small inotropic effects of levosimendan may result predominantly from calcium sensitization.
FOR THE MONETARY DIALOGUE FIRST QUARTER 2007 “ MONETARY TRANSMISSION MECHANISM CHANNELS ” “ THE EU VERSUS THE US ”

There is a wide consensus about monetary policy having significant influence, in the short to medium run, on economic behaviour by households and firms and thus on real aggregate economic activity and, in the long run, on the general price level, given that monetary policy, in essence, determines the nominal or money values of goods and services. That is, while in the long run, inflation is basically a monetary phenomenon, by contrast, monetary policy has very little or no impact on the long run trend path of output, which is determined by real variables, such as knowledge, skills and technology.
Towards an automatic vehicle access control system: License plate location

An automatic vehicle access control system (AVACS) can be divided into three steps: vehicle location, vehicle license plate (VLP) location, and VLP recognition. This paper presents a new method for VLP location based on the horizontal gradient, morphological operations, connected components analysis, and statistical measures. First, the horizontal gradient is acquired and a mean filter is applied on it. Morphological operations are then used to darken non-VLP high-valued regions (saliences). At this step, we work on an integer-valued image rather than on the binary one, improving salience detection. Finally, the image is binarized, then a connected component analysis is performed, and statistical measures are used to decide among the VLP candidates. Experiments show that, in a database of 722 images, our method correctly locates the VLP in 95% of the cases, outperforming previous approaches.
An alternative approach to describing agility in sports through establishment of a relationship between velocity and radius of curvature

Abstract Agility is an essential part of many athletic activities. Currently, agility drill duration is the sole criterion used for evaluation of agility performance. The relationship between drill duration and factors such as acceleration, deceleration and change of direction, however, has not been fully explored. This paper provides a mathematical description of the relationship between velocity and radius of curvatures in an agility drill through implementation of a power law (PL). Two groups of skilled and unskilled participants performed a cyclic forward/backward shuttle agility test. Kinematic data was recorded using motion capture system at a sampling rate of 200 Hz. The logarithmic relationship between tangential velocity and radius of curvature of participant trajectories in both groups was established using the PL. The slope of the regression line was found to be 0.26 and 0.36, for the skilled and unskilled groups, respectively. The magnitudes of regression line slope for both groups were approximately 0.3 which is close to the expected 1/3 value. Results are an indication of how the PL could be implemented in an agility drill thus opening the way for establishment of a more representative measure of agility performance instead of drill duration.
How Secure are Secure Interdomain Routing Protocols

Ever since the 1990s, the de facto standard for Internet interAS 1 routing has been BGP, the Border Gateway Protocol. Security issues caused or abetted by BGP, some of which have been known for considerable time, have become increasingly apparent. Long-running e↵orts of making BGP and inter-AS routing more secure have produced a number of proposals, none of which have managed to gain traction. This is at least partly due to the fact that even the most popular and well-regarded proposals fail to prevent strategic attacks. We provide an overview of several popular proposals and how they address, or fail to address, a range of attacks on inter-AS routing.
Detection of preclinical Parkinson disease in at-risk family members with use of [123I]beta-CIT and SPECT: an exploratory study.

OBJECTIVE To explore whether the radioligand 2 beta-carboxymethoxy-3 beta-(4-[123I] iodophenyl) tropane ([123I]beta-CIT) and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) can detect decreased striatal uptake in at-risk relatives of patients with Parkinson disease (PD). PATIENTS AND METHODS Ten PD patients, 10 at-risk first-degree relatives of PD patients, and 10 controls underwent [123I]beta-CIT and SPECT brain imaging. Their striatal uptake ratios were compared. RESULTS Age-adjusted specific to nonspecific striatal uptake ratios were lower in patients compared with controls and with relatives; however, ratios were similar in relatives and controls. Among relatives, ratios were consistently lower in subgroups postulated to be at higher risk for preclinical PD. CONCLUSION Our findings provide preliminary support that [123I]beta-CIT and SPECT may detect decreased striatal uptake in relatives of PD patients postulated to be at higher risk for PD.
Structural Basis for Gluten Intolerance in Celiac Sprue

Celiac Sprue, a widely prevalent autoimmune disease of the small intestine, is induced in genetically susceptible individuals by exposure to dietary gluten. A 33-mer peptide was identified that has several characteristics suggesting it is the primary initiator of the inflammatory response to gluten in Celiac Sprue patients. In vitro and in vivo studies in rats and humans demonstrated that it is stable toward breakdown by all gastric, pancreatic, and intestinal brush-border membrane proteases. The peptide reacted with tissue transglutaminase, the major autoantigen in Celiac Sprue, with substantially greater selectivity than known natural substrates of this extracellular enzyme. It was a potent inducer of gut-derived human T cell lines from 14 of 14 Celiac Sprue patients. Homologs of this peptide were found in all food grains that are toxic to Celiac Sprue patients but are absent from all nontoxic food grains. The peptide could be detoxified in in vitro and in vivo assays by exposure to a bacterial prolyl endopeptidase, suggesting a strategy for oral peptidase supplement therapy for Celiac Sprue.
Risk Factors of Neurosensory Disturbance following Orthognathic Surgery

Objectives To report the incidence of objective and subjective neurosensory disturbance (NSD) after orthognathic surgery in a major orthognathic centre in Hong Kong, and to investigate the risk factors that contributed to the incidence of NSD after orthognathic surgery. Materials and Methods A retrospective cross-sectional study on NSD after orthognathic surgery in a local major orthognathic centre. Patients who had bimaxillary orthognathic surgery reviewed at post-operative 6 months, 12 months or 24 months were recruited to undergo neurosensory tests with subjective and 3 objective assessments. Possible risk factors of NSD including subjects’ age and gender, surgical procedures and surgeons’ experience were analyzed. Results 238 patients with 476 sides were recruited. The incidences of subjective NSD after maxillary procedures were 16.2%, 13% and 9.8% at post-operative 6 months, 12 months and 24 months, respectively; the incidences of subjective NSD after mandibular procedures were 35.4%, 36.6% and 34.6% at post-operative 6 months, 12 months and 24 months, respectively. Increased age was found to be a significant risk factor of NSD after orthognathic surgery at short term (at 6 months and 12 months) but not at 24 months. SSO has a significantly higher risk of NSD when compared to VSSO. SSO in combination with anterior mandibular surgery has a higher risk of NSD when compared to VSSO in combination with anterior mandibular surgery or anterior mandibular surgery alone. Gender of patients and surgeons’ experience were not found to be risk factors of NSD after orthognathic surgery. Conclusion The incidence of NSD after maxillary and mandibular orthognathic procedures at post-operative 6 months, 12 months and 24 months was reported. Increased age was identified as a risk factor of short term post-operative NSD but not in long term (24 months or more). Specific mandibular procedures were related to higher incidence of NSD after orthognathic surgery.
Friction compensation using neural networks applicable to high precision motion control systems in manufacturing

There is an increasing number of applications in high precision motion control systems in manufacturing, i.e., ultra-precision machining, assembly of small components and micro devices. It is very difficult to assure such accuracy due to many factors affecting the precision motion, such as frictions and disturbances in the drive system. The standard proportional-integral-derivative (PID) type servo control algorithms are not capable of delivering the desired precision under the influence of frictions and disturbances. In this paper neural network model reference adaptive controller (NNMRAC) is used to compensate the frictions and disturbances and the desired precision under the influence of frictions and disturbances is achieved. Therefore the proposed scheme can be applicable to a wide class of mechanical systems. The simulation results of single link robot arm with friction verify the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.
Magnetic clamping structures for the consolidation of composite laminates

Vacuum bags are used in conjunction with autoclaves to generate the consolidation pressures and temperatures required to manufacture aerospace composites. As the scale of continuous fiber composite structures increases, autoclave processing becomes prohibitively expensive or infeasible. The objective of this study is to develop flexible magnetic clamping structures to increase the consolidation pressure during the conventional vacuum bagging of composite laminates, thereby obviating the need for an autoclave. The ferromagnetic rubber, which consists of rubber filled with iron particles, developed in this study provides a conformable and reusable vacuum bag that provides increased consolidation through attractive forces produced by electromagnets. Experiments and finite-element modeling indicate that consolidation pressure in the range of 100 kPa can be generated by such a device with realistic power requirements. The effects of the magnetic clamping device process parameters on the consolidation pressure magnitude are modeled theoretically and are characterized experimentally. In addition, a method for the efficient design of the magnetic-clamping device is developed. POLYM. COMPOS. , 2012. © 2012 Society of Plastics Engineers
Supplemental Data Motor Learning with Unstable Neural Representations

Changes in Tuning Curves Are Approximated by Changes in Offset and Cosine Components The directional tuning curve of a neuron in our data is described by the set of 8 mean firing rates for the different movement directions. Changes in the mean firing rates across different directions may be correlated. In this case, changes in tuning curves can be compactly described by a few principal components (PCs), rather than the 8 mean firing rates. To examine this issue, for each neuron we computed a " difference tuning curve " , i.e. the changes from block 1 to block 3 in mean firing rate for each direction. We then performed principal component analysis (PCA) on the set of difference tuning curves. We found that the first 3 PCs account for 93% of the variance in the changes in tuning curves (Figure S1A). Figure S1B shows the first three PCs. The first PC (solid line) approximately corresponds to the offset of the tuning curve and the second and third PCs (dashed-dotted and dashed lines, respectively) approximately correspond to the cosine and sine components of the tuning curve. The other PCs have more complicated forms (data not shown). We conclude that changes in tuning curves in the control experiment can be reasonably approximated by changes in the tuning curves' offsets and cosine components.
Scalable 3D Facial Shape Motion Retrieval from Image Sequences Using a Map-Reduce Framework

Egocentric videos are foreseen to be collected pervasively as smart glasses continue emerging in the market. Large amount of interpersonal social events will be recorded and stored online as big video data. However, limited method has been proposed to retrieve useful social information from them, such as other people's identity, emotion and head gestures. In this paper, we propose retrieving 3D facial shape motion, which can be further used in estimating these facial related information during social interaction. In order to achieve this objective, we opt to adopt two major methods, including facial landmark localization on 2D videos and 3D shape reconstruction. Our system incorporates these methods into the map-reduce framework such that big video data can be processed in a scalable manner. Tested on a public facial dataset, the proposed system has greatly improved time efficiency by 92% on a private cloud. The experimental results have also demonstrated the scalability of the proposed system.
Symptoms Experienced by Patients with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

ABSTRACT: Background: Patients with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) sometimes report sensory symptoms outside the median nerve distribution. This study was designed to provide a more detailed assessment of these symptoms. Methods: Patients with clinical suspicion of upper limb neuromuscular lesions were divided into those with electrodiagnostic (EDX) evidence of CTS, and those without. CTS patients with superimposed nerve abnormalities were excluded. Motor and sensory symptoms were assessed in the exclusive CTS patients. Results: Over 50% of patients with exclusive CTS reported tingling or numbness over the whole hand, ulnar or radial nerve distributions. Some patients reported symptoms proximal to the wrist. Sensory signs did not extend beyond the median nerve distribution. Numbness and nocturnal pain were predictive of positive EDX evidence of CTS. Conclusions: Sensory symptoms outside the distribution of the median nerve are common in CTS. For enhanced sensitivity in diagnosis it is useful to be aware of these “atypical” symptoms. Reports of numbness and nocturnal pain are strong indicators of CTS.
Transforming trauma healthcare delivery in rural areas by use of an integrated call center

Introduction: There is poor penetration of trauma healthcare delivery in rural areas. On the other hand, mobile penetration in India is now averaging 80% with most families having access to mobile phone. Aims and Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the implementation and socioeconomic impact of a call center in providing healthcare delivery for patients with head and spinal injuries. Materials and Methods: This was a prospective observational study carried out over a 6-month period at a level I trauma Center in New Delhi, India. A nine-seater call center was outsourced to a private company and the hospital's electronic medical records were integrated with the call-center operations. The call center was given responsibility of maintaining appointments and scheduling clinics for the whole hospital as well as ensuring follow-up visits. Trained call-center staff handled simple patient queries and referred the rest via email to concerned doctors. A telephonic survey was done prior to the start of call-center operations and after 3 months to assess for user satisfaction. Results: The initial cost of outsourcing the call center was Rs 1.6 lakhs (US$ 4000), with a recurring cost of Rs 80,000 (US$ 2000) per month. A total of 484 patients were admitted in the department of Neurosurgery during the study period. Of these, 63% (n=305) were from rural areas. Patients’ overall experience for clinic visits improved markedly following implementation of call center. Patient satisfaction for follow-up visits increased from a mean of 32-96%. Ninety-five percent patients reported a significant decrease in waiting time in clinics 80.4% reporting improved doctor-patient interaction. A total of 52 visits could be postponed/cancelled for patients living in far flung areas resulting in major socioeconomic benefits to these families. Conclusions: As shown by our case study, call centers have the potential to revolutionize delivery of trauma healthcare to rural areas in an extremely cost-effective manner.
Obligatory heterotetramerization of three previously uncharacterized Kv channel α-subunits identified in the human genome

Voltage-gated K+ channels control excitability in neuronal and various other tissues. We identified three unique α-subunits of voltage-gated K+-channels in the human genome. Analysis of the full-length sequences indicated that one represents a previously uncharacterized member of the Kv6 subfamily, Kv6.3, whereas the others are the first members of two unique subfamilies, Kv10.1 and Kv11.1. Although they have all of the hallmarks of voltage-gated K+ channel subunits, they did not produce K+ currents when expressed in mammalian cells. Confocal microscopy showed that Kv6.3, Kv10.1, and Kv11.1 alone did not reach the plasma membrane, but were retained in the endoplasmic reticulum. Yeast two-hybrid experiments failed to show homotetrameric interactions, but showed interactions with Kv2.1, Kv3.1, and Kv5.1. Co-expression of each of the previously uncharacterized subunits with Kv2.1 resulted in plasma membrane localization with currents that differed from typical Kv2.1 currents. This heteromerization was confirmed by co-immunoprecipitation. The Kv2 subfamily consists of only two members and uses interaction with “silent subunits” to diversify its function. Including the subunits described here, the “silent subunits” represent one-third of all Kv subunits, suggesting that obligatory heterotetramer formation is more widespread than previously thought.
Model-Free Precise in-Hand Manipulation with a 3D-Printed Tactile Gripper

The use of tactile feedback for precision manipulation in robotics still lags far behind human capabilities. This study has two principal aims: 1) to demonstrate in-hand reorientation of grasped objects through active tactile manipulation; and 2) to present the development of a novel TacTip sensor and a GR2 gripper platform for tactile manipulation. Through the use of Bayesian active perception algorithms, the system successfully achieved in-hand reorientation of cylinders of different diameters (20, 25, 30, and 35 mm) using tactile feedback. Average orientation errors along manipulation trajectories were below 5<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$^{\circ }$ </tex-math></inline-formula> for all cylinders with reorientation ranges varying from 42<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$^{\circ }$</tex-math></inline-formula> to 67<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX"> $^{\circ }$</tex-math></inline-formula>. We also demonstrated an improvement in active tactile manipulation accuracy when using additional training data. Our methods for active tactile manipulation with the GR2 TacTip gripper are model free, can be used to investigate principles of dexterous manipulation, and could lead to essential advances in the areas of robotic tactile manipulation and teleoperated robots.
Rare Failures of DNA Bar Codes to Separate Morphologically Distinct Species in a Biodiversity Survey of Iberian Leaf Beetles

During a survey of genetic and species diversity patterns of leaf beetle (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) assemblages across the Iberian Peninsula we found a broad congruence between morphologically delimited species and variation in the cytochrome oxidase (cox1) gene. However, one species pair each in the genera Longitarsus Berthold and Pachybrachis Chevrolat was inseparable using molecular methods, whereas diagnostic morphological characters (including male or female genitalia) unequivocally separated the named species. Parsimony haplotype networks and maximum likelihood trees built from cox1 showed high genetic structure within each species pair, but no correlation with the morphological types and neither with geographic distributions. This contrasted with all analysed congeneric species, which were recovered as monophyletic. A limited number of specimens were sequenced for the nuclear 18S rRNA gene, which showed no or very limited variation within the species pair and no separation of morphological types. These results suggest that processes of lineage sorting for either group are lagging behind the clear morphological and presumably reproductive separation. In the Iberian chrysomelids, incongruence between DNA-based and morphological delimitations is a rare exception, but the discovery of these species pairs may be useful as an evolutionary model for studying the process of speciation in this ecological and geographical setting. In addition, the study of biodiversity patterns based on DNA requires an evolutionary understanding of these incongruences and their potential causes.