Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sodium lactate differently alters relative EEG power and functional connectivity in Alzheimer’s disease patients’ brain regions

Bilateral temporo‐parietal hypoperfusion and decreased glucose metabolism are characteristic in vivo findings in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Lactate is a metabolic vasodilator and is known to induce increased cerebral blood flow in healthy adults. The present study addresses the issue whether sodium lactate infusion affects functional state and resulting electroencephalographic patterns of AD patients. Twelve late‐onset sporadic AD probands participated in this self‐control study. The relative power and synchronization likelihood (SL) values of the electroencephalographic samples were calculated and compared off‐line before and after sodium lactate infusion (0.5 m, 5 ml/kg body weight). Based on the reactivity to sodium lactate the scalp could be divided into three parts; no significant changes were seen in the seriously damaged (P3–P4) areas. The moderately affected regions in the close neighborhood showed a paradoxic inactivation with electroencephalographic slowing, a likely consequence of the metabolic‐like steal effect of the near‐normal areas outside. These results indicate a diminished vascular and/or metabolic reserve capacity to sodium lactate challenge in AD and confirm the formerly described electroencephalographic abnormalities.
Timing Influence of Carbohydrate-Protein Ingestion on Muscle Soreness and Next-Day Running Performance

ABSTRACT The present study investigates timing effects of a carbohydrate-protein (CHO-PROT) beverage on indicators of muscle damage and next day running performance. Nine trained subjects completed three trials of a 30 min downhill run, followed by a 1.5 mile treadmill running time trial 24 hr later in a blinded, crossover design. Either a CHO-PROT or noncaloric placebo beverage was given 30 and 5 min prior to, at the 15 min mark during, immediately after, and 30 min after the downhill running protocol. In the first treatment (T1), a total of 360 kilocalories were given 30 and 5 min prior to downhill running, as well as at the 15 min mark, with placebos used at other time points. In the second treatment (T2), an isocaloric amount was given but only immediately after and 30 min after downhill running, with placebos used at other time points. In the placebo treatment, a placebo was given at all time points. There were no significant differences in the 1.5 mile time trial or soreness between trials (p > .05). Regardless of timing, the ingestion of a CHO-PROT beverage had no effect on next day running performance or muscular soreness versus a placebo.
Auto-calibration for device-diversity problem in an indoor localization system

Recently, the techniques for indoor localization have become more and more important and play a critical role in many mobile applications. Among them, the fingerprint-based indoor localization system has been recognized as a possible right way toward success. However, some challenges still remain. One issue should be addressed is the device diversity problem, where different devices would receive different radio signal strengths (RSS) at the same location. This problem breaks the fingerprint assumption - each location has its singular RSS. Conventional calibration methods require manually collecting pair-wise RSS data among devices to train the calibration model. To reduce human load, we proposed a method that could automatically calibrate the device diversity problem in an efficient way.
A fully integrated CMOS magnetic current monitor

In this paper we present a fully-integrated magnetic current monitor, which allows accurate and non-invasive current measurements in industrial apparatus. The magnetic field generated by the current to be measured is sensed by a Hall device, amplified, converted into the digital domain with 9 bits of resolution and delivered to an on-board I/sup 2/S serial interface. The voltage amplifier provides digitally programmable gain and offset. On-chip Zener-tapping circuits are used as PROM to store the gain and offset calibration words. Two different operating ranges (20 A and 200 A full scale) are available with independent calibration coefficients. A prototype of the complete microsystem has been integrated in a conventional 0.8 /spl mu/m CMOS process. Experimental results are presented.
Dogs catch human yawns

This study is the first to demonstrate that human yawns are possibly contagious to domestic dogs (Canis familiaris). Twenty-nine dogs observed a human yawning or making control mouth movements. Twenty-one dogs yawned when they observed a human yawning, but control mouth movements did not elicit yawning from any of them. The presence of contagious yawning in dogs suggests that this phenomenon is not specific to primate species and may indicate that dogs possess the capacity for a rudimentary form of empathy. Since yawning is known to modulate the levels of arousal, yawn contagion may help coordinate dog–human interaction and communication. Understanding the mechanism as well as the function of contagious yawning between humans and dogs requires more detailed investigation.
Hierarchical Deformation of Locally Rigid Meshes

We propose a method for calculating deformations of models by deforming a low‐resolution mesh and adding details while ensuring that the details we add satisfy a set of constraints. Our method builds a low‐resolution representation of a mesh by using edge collapses and performs an as‐rigid‐as‐possible deformation on the simplified mesh. We then add back details by reversing edge‐collapses so that the shape of the mesh is locally preserved. While adding details, we deform the mesh to match the predicted positions of constraints so that constraints on the full‐resolution mesh are met. Our method operates on meshes with arbitrary triangulations, satisfies constraints over the full‐resolution mesh and converges quickly.
Interactive retrieval of 3D shape models using physical objects

We present a novel method for interactive retrieval of 3D shapes using ysical objects. Our method is based on simple ysical 3D interaction with a set of tangible blocks. As the user connects blocks, the system automatically recognizes the shape of the constructed ysical structure and picks similar 3D shape models from a preset model database, in real time. Our system fully supports interactive retrieval of 3D shape models in an extremely simple fashion, which is completely non-verbal and cross-cultural. These advantages make it an ideal interface for inexperienced users, previously barred from many applications that include 3D shape retrieval tasks.
Procedure for recording the simultaneous activity of single neurons distributed across cortical areas during sensory discrimination

We report a procedure for recording the simultaneous activity of single neurons distributed across five cortical areas in behaving monkeys. The procedure consists of a commercially available microdrive adapted to a commercially available neural data collection system. The critical advantage of this procedure is that, in each cortical area, a configuration of seven microelectrodes spaced 250–500 μm can be inserted transdurally and each can be moved independently in the z axis. For each microelectrode, the data collection system can record the activity of up to five neurons together with the local field potential (LFP). With this procedure, we normally monitor the simultaneous activity of 70–100 neurons while trained monkeys discriminate the difference in frequency between two vibrotactile stimuli. Approximately 20–60 of these neurons have response properties previously reported in this task. The neuronal recordings show good signal-to-noise ratio, are remarkably stable along a 1-day session, and allow testing several protocols. Microelectrodes are removed from the brain after a 1-day recording session, but are reinserted again the next day by using the same or different x-y microelectrode array configurations. The fact that microelectrodes can be moved in the z axis during the recording session and that the x-y configuration can be changed from day to day maximizes the probability of studying simultaneous interactions, both local and across distant cortical areas, between neurons associated with the different components of this task.
Strong Phases and Factorization for Color Suppressed Decays

We prove a factorization theorem in QCD for the color suppressed decays B0-> D0 M0 and B0-> D*0 M0 where M is a light meson. Both the color-suppressed and W-exchange/annihilation amplitudes contribute at lowest order in LambdaQCD/Q where Q={mb, mc, Epi}, so no power suppression of annihilation contributions is found. A new mechanism is given for generating non-perturbative strong phases in the factorization framework. Model independent predictions that follow from our results include the equality of the B0 -> D0 M0 and B0 -> D*0 M0 rates, and equality of non-perturbative strong phases between isospin amplitudes, delta(DM) = delta(D*M). Relations between amplitudes and phases for M=pi,rho are also derived. These results do not follow from large Nc factorization with heavy quark symmetry.
Detection of Thy‐1, T‐200, Lyt‐1 and Lyt‐2‐bearing cells in the developing lymphoid organs of the mouse embryo in vivo and in vitro

The appearance of cell membrane antigens on lymphoid cells of the embryonic thymus in vivo and in vitro using monoclonal antibodies in immunoperoxidase tests on frozen sections and in two‐color immunofluorescence tests on cell suspensions was studied. It was shown that cells are heterogeneous with respect to Lyt antigen expression from the earliest stages of ontogeny. Thus, after 16 days gestation, some cells are Lyt‐1+2−, others are Lyt‐1−2+ and some are Lyt‐1+2+. However, for various reasons which are discussed, we hesitate to suggest that this finding demonstrates independent derivation of the various T cell subsets.
Virulent Brucella abortus Prevents Lysosome Fusion and Is Distributed within Autophagosome-Like Compartments

ABSTRACT Virulent and attenuated Brucella abortus strains attach to and penetrate nonprofessional phagocytic HeLa cells. Compared to pathogenic Brucella, the attenuated strain 19 hardly replicates within cells. The majority of the strain 19 bacteria colocalized with the lysosome marker cathepsin D, suggesting thatBrucella-containing phagosomes had fused with lysosomes, in which they may have degraded. The virulent bacteria prevented lysosome-phagosome fusion and were found distributed in the perinuclear region within compartments resembling autophagosomes.
Spatially invariant classification of tissues in MR images

Inhomogeneities in the fields of magnetic resonance (MR) systems cause the statistical characteristics of tissue classes to vary within the resulting MR images. These inhomogeneities must be taken into consideration when designing an algorithm for automated tissue classification. The traditional approach in image processing would be to apply a gain field correction technique to remove the inhomogeneities from the images. Statistical solutions would most likely focus on including spatial information in the feature space of the classifier so that it can be trained to model and adjust for the inhomogeneities. This paper will prove that neither of these general approaches offer a complete and viable solution. This paper will prove that neither of these general approaches offers a complete and viable solution. This paper will in fact show that not only do the inhomogeneities modify the local mean and variance of a tissue class as is commonly accepted, but the inhomogeneities also induce a rotation of the covariance matrices. As a result, gain field correction techniques cannot compensate for all of the artifacts associated with inhomogeneities. Additionally, it will be demonstrated that while statistical methods can capture all of the anomalies, the across patient and across time variations of the inhomogeneities necessitate frequent and time consuming retraining of any Bayesian classifier. This paper introduces a two stage process for MR tissue classification which addresses both of these issues by utilizing techniques from both image processing and statistics. First, a band-pass mean field corrector is used to alleviate the mean and variance deformations in each image. Then, using a kernel mixture model classifier couple to an interactive data augmentation tool, the user can selectively refine and explore the class representations for localized regions of the image and thereby capture the rotation of the covariance matrices. This approach is shown to outperform Gaussian classifiers and 4D mixture modeling techniques when both the final accuracy and user time requirements are considered.
Diabetes, Obesity, and Hypertension May Enhance Associations between Air Pollution and Markers of Systemic Inflammation

Airborne particulate matter (PM) may lead to increased cardiac risk through an inflammatory pathway. Therefore, we investigated associations between ambient PM and markers of systemic inflammation among repeated measures from 44 senior citizens (≥ 60 years of age) and examined susceptibility by conditions linked to chronic inflammation. Mixed models were used to identify associations between concentrations of fine PM [aerodynamic diameter ≤ 2.5 μm (PM2.5)] averaged over 1–7 days and measures of C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and white blood cells (WBCs). Effect modification was investigated for diabetes, obesity, hypertension, and elevated mean inflammatory markers. We found positive associations between longer moving averages of PM2.5 and WBCs across all participants, with a 5.5% [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.10 to 11%] increase per interquartile increase (5.4 μg/m3) of PM2.5 averaged over the previous week. PM2.5 and CRP also exhibited positive associations among all individuals for averages longer than 1 day, with the largest associations for persons with diabetes, obesity, and hypertension. For example, an interquartile increase in the 5-day mean PM2.5 (6.1 μg/m3) was associated with a 14% increase in CRP (95% CI, −5.4 to 37%) for all individuals and an 81% (95% CI, 21 to 172%) increase for persons with diabetes, obesity, and hypertension. Persons with diabetes, obesity, and hypertension also exhibited positive associations between PM2.5 and IL-6. Individuals with elevated mean inflammatory markers exhibited enhanced associations with CRP, IL-6, and WBCs. We found modest positive associations between PM2.5 and indicators of systemic inflammation, with larger associations suggested for individuals with diabetes, obesity, hypertension, and elevated mean inflammatory markers.
Design of a flexible VLSI architecture for M-channel filter bank lifting factorizations

We present an efficient VLSI architecture focusing on M-channel multirate filter banks using the lifting scheme. Since the M-channel lifting factorization results in a signal flow graph with a variable structure, the architecture must have a high degree of flexibility to allow the implementation of basically different lifting factorizations. The proposed architecture is convenient to realize arbitrary lifting factorizations on a variable amount of arithmetic resources, leading to an adaptability for the real-time requirements of various DSP applications.
Randomized, Blinded Pilot Testing of Nonconventional Stimulation Patterns and Shapes in Parkinson's Disease and Essential Tremor: Evidence for Further Evaluating Narrow and Biphasic Pulses

Evidence suggests that nonconventional programming may improve deep brain stimulation (DBS) therapy for movement disorders. The primary objective was to assess feasibility of testing the tolerability of several nonconventional settings in Parkinson's disease (PD) and essential tremor (ET) subjects in a single office visit. Secondary objectives were to explore for potential efficacy signals and to assess the energy demand on the implantable pulse‐generators (IPGs).
Brown Nail-bed Arcs and Chronic Renal Disease

A brown arc affecting the distal part of the fingernail-bed, just proximal to the point of separation of the nail from its bed, has been found in 12 out of 34 patients with chronic renal disease (35%) compared with an incidence of less than 2% in a series of unselected patients. It represents a distinctive form of pigmentation, possibly due to lipochromes. No decisive association could be found between the presence or absence of the pigmented nail arc and the level of impaired renal function. Nevertheless it seems that renal disease predisposes towards the development of brown nail arcs.
An Enhanced Difference Method for Multi-objective Model of Cellular Base Station Antenna Configurations

In this paper, we propose a fine-grained grid-based multi-objective model which aims at optimizing base station antennas' configurations, such as transmit power, antenna tilt and antenna azimuth, in order to upgrading network performance in cellular networks. As the model is non-convex, non-smooth and discrete and computationally expensive, we use decomposition method to solve the MOP problem. We mainly focus on addressing the scalarized sub-problem after decomposition. For the scalarized sub-problem, we propose an enhanced difference method. First, difference of each component is calculated, which provides the guidance of optimization. Then an OPSO is applied to search the optimal step length. The method is applied to GSM network optimization on an area in Beijing. The effect of the application shows that proposed method has a good performance, and is effective/efficient to solve mobile network optimization problems.
Efficiency analysis of 5MW wind turbine system in an all-DC wind park

This article presents the efficiency analysis of a 5 MW wind turbine generating system in an all-DC wind park comprising of a permanent magnet assisted synchronous reluctance generator (PMaSynRG) system as well as an IGBT equipped forced-commutated inverter. In this article, the focus is on the NPC converter and DC-DC converter with an optimized high-frequency transformer. The total efficiency through the AD-DC converter to DC-DC converter was found to be 96.72 % as safed operation.
The Syndrome of Food-Cobalamin Malabsorption: A Personal View in a Perspective of Clinical Practice

This article presents recent findings on cobalamin deficiencies due to food-cobalamin malabsorption or nondissociation of vitamin B12 from its carrier proteins syndrome. These findings might be of interest to medical practitioners. This disorder, for which a definitive consensus on the criteria for diagnosis is not yet available, is the leading cause of cobalamin deficiency in the elderly. In practice, food-cobalamin malabsorption is a diagnosis of exclusion, and requires the deductive elimination of all other causes of cobalamin deficiencies, particularly pernicious anaemia. The causes or associated disorders of food-cobalamin malabsorption are multiple and include gastric pathologies, Helicobacter pylori infections and certain drugs (biguanides and proton pump inhibitors). Depending on the disease aetiology, treatment of food-cobalamin malabsorption involves oral supplementation of doses lower than those required for pernicious anaemia.
Automatic web image selection with a probabilistic latent topic model

We propose a new method to select relevant images to the given keywords from images gathered from theWeb based on the Probabilistic Latent Semantic Analysis (PLSA) model which is a probabilistic latent topic model originally proposed for text document analysis. The experimental results shows that the results by the proposed method is almost equivalent to or outperforms the results by existing methods. In addition, it is proved that our method can select more various images compared to the existing SVM-based methods.
Efficient systematic testing for dynamically updatable software

Recent years have seen significant advances in dynamic software updating (DSU) systems, which allow programs to be patched on the fly. However, a significant challenge remains: How can we ensure the act of applying a patch does not itself introduce errors? In this paper, we address this problem by presenting a new systematic testing methodology for updatable programs. Our idea is to transform standard system tests into update tests that execute as before, but each transformed test applies a patch at a different update point during execution. To mitigate the increase in the number of tests, we developed an algorithm for test suite minimization that finds a subset of update points that, if fully tested, yields the equivalent to full update point coverage. We implemented our approach and evaluated it on OpenSSH and vsftpd, two widely used server applications. We found that minimization is highly effective, reducing the number of update tests required for full coverage by 93%.
Frequency of occurrence analysis attack and its countermeasure

This paper addresses a newly discovered security threat named Frequency of Occurrence Analysis (FOA) attack in searchmetics password authentication scheme. A countermeasure technique that utilises Metaheuristic Randomisation Algorithm (MRA) is proposed to address the FOA attack. The proposed algorithm is presented and an offline FOA attack simulation tool is developed to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. In addition, a shoulder surfing testing is conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed method in terms of mitigating shoulder surfing attack. The experiment results show that MRA is able to prevent FOA and mitigate shoulder surfing attacks. Moreover, the proposed method is able to provide larger password space compare to the benchmarking scheme.
Harmonization of gene/protein annotations: towards a gold standard MEDLINE

MOTIVATION The recognition of named entities (NER) is an elementary task in biomedical text mining. A number of NER solutions have been proposed in recent years, taking advantage of available annotated corpora, terminological resources and machine-learning techniques. Currently, the best performing solutions combine the outputs from selected annotation solutions measured against a single corpus. However, little effort has been spent on a systematic analysis of methods harmonizing the annotation results and measuring against a combination of Gold Standard Corpora (GSCs). RESULTS We present Totum, a machine learning solution that harmonizes gene/protein annotations provided by heterogeneous NER solutions. It has been optimized and measured against a combination of manually curated GSCs. The performed experiments show that our approach improves the F-measure of state-of-the-art solutions by up to 10% (achieving ≈70%) in exact alignment and 22% (achieving ≈82%) in nested alignment. We demonstrate that our solution delivers reliable annotation results across the GSCs and it is an important contribution towards a homogeneous annotation of MEDLINE abstracts. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION Totum is implemented in Java and its resources are available at http://bioinformatics.ua. pt/totum