Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Novel augmented ADIM training using ultrasound imaging and electromyography in adults with core instability.

OBJECTIVE To determine the effect of novel augmented abdominal drawing-in maneuver (ADIM) training using rehabilitative ultrasound imaging (RUSI) and electromyography (EMG) in adults with core instability. METHODS A convenience sample of 20 young adults with core instability (female =4; mean age ± standard deviation=24.4 ± 2.9 years) was recruited. Core instability was determined by the formal test. All subjects underwent an intensive ADIM that was augmented by comprehensive visual feedback via a pressure biofeedback unit, RUSI, and EMG. The intervention was provided for 20 minutes a day, 7 days a week, over a two-week period. RESULTS The paired t-test showed that both transverse abdominal (TrA) and internal oblique (IO) muscle thickness during ADIM were significantly greater than at rest (p= 0.000). However, external oblique (EO) muscle thickness remained relatively unchanged. The mean EMG amplitudes of the EO and erector spinae (ES) muscles were significantly decreased after the intervention (p=0.001, p=0.008). The intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC(1,2)) showed the excellent test-retest reliability for muscle thickness (ranging from 0.90 to 0.98 in the prone position). CONCLUSION This is the first evidence to demonstrate that the novel augmented ADIM training can effectively improve the lumbo-pelvic stabilization in adults with core instability.
Autoinhibition regulates cellular localization and actin assembly activity of the diaphanous-related formins FRLα and mDia1

Diaphanous-related formins (DRFs) are key regulators of actin cytoskeletal dynamics whose in vitro actin assembly activities are thought to be regulated by autoinhibition. However, the in vivo consequences of autoinhibition and the involvement of DRFs in specific biological processes are not well understood. In this study, we show that in the DRFs FRLα (formin-related gene in leukocytes α) and mouse diaphanous 1, autoinhibition regulates a novel membrane localization activity in vivo as well as actin assembly activity in vitro. In FRLα, the Rho family guanosine triphosphatase Cdc42 relieves the autoinhibition of both membrane localization and biochemical actin assembly activities. FRLα is required for efficient Fc-γ receptor–mediated phagocytosis and is recruited to the phagocytic cup by Cdc42. These results suggest that mutual autoinhibition of biochemical activity and cellular localization may be a general regulatory principle for DRFs and demonstrate a novel role for formins in immune function.
Plasmonically Enhanced Thin-Film Amorphous Silicon Solar Cells

Due to the atomic structure of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H), power conversion efficiencies (PCE) are much lower than in crystalline silicon counterparts. In order to increase PCE of a-Si:H solar cells, this study focused on incorporating metal nanoparticles onto the front transparent conductive electrode to induce increased forward light scattering and near-field light coupling. Different deposition thicknesses and annealing temperatures were used to analyze the effects on metal nanoparticle size and coverage. It was discovered that initial deposition thickness is linearly related to metal nanoparticle size. Furthermore, annealing the 5-15 nm silver samples at 300◦C led to a Ag nanoparticle coverage of 30% regardless of initial Ag deposition thickness. Deposition of Ag layers of 7.4 nm and 10 nm in the glass/ITO/Ag/PIN a-Si:H/ITO/Al solar cells achieved the best PCEs. Thus, future investigation into Ag deposition thicknesses between 7.4-10 nm should be performed.
Conversations in end-of-life care: communication tools for critical care practitioners.

BACKGROUND Communication skills are the key for quality end-of-life care including in the critical care setting. While learning general, transferable communication skills, such as therapeutic listening, has been common in nursing education, learning specific communication tools, such as breaking bad news, has been the norm for medical education. Critical care nurses may also benefit from learning communication tools that are more specific to end-of-life care. STRATEGY We conducted a 90-min interactive workshop at a national conference for a group of 78 experienced critical care nurses where we presented three communication tools using short didactics. We utilized theatre style and paired role play simulation. The Ask-Tell-Ask, Tell Me More and Situation-Background-Assessment-Recommendation (SBAR) tools were demonstrated or practiced using a case of a family member who feels that treatment is being withdrawn prematurely for the patient. The audience actively participated in debriefing the role play to maximize learning. The final communication tool, SBAR, was practiced using an approach of pairing with another member of the audience. At the end of the session, a brief evaluation was completed by 59 nurses (80%) of the audience. SUMMARY These communication tools offer nurses new strategies for approaching potentially difficult and emotionally charged conversations. A case example illustrated strategies for applying these skills to clinical situations. The three tools assist critical care nurses to move beyond compassionate listening to knowing what to say. Ask-Tell-Ask reminds nurses to carefully assess concerns before imparting information. Tell Me More provides a tool for encouraging dialogue in challenging situations. Finally, SBAR can assist nurses to distill complex and often long conversations into concise and informative reports for colleagues.
Advances in Studying Brain Morphology: The Benefits of Open-Access Data

Until recently, neuroimaging data for a research study needed to be collected within one’s own lab. However, when studying inter-individual differences in brain structure, a large sample of participants is necessary. Given the financial costs involved in collecting neuroimaging data from hundreds or thousands of participants, large-scale studies of brain morphology could previously only be conducted by well-funded laboratories with access to MRI facilities and to large samples of participants. With the advent of broad open-access data-sharing initiatives, this has recently changed–here the primary goal of the study is to collect large datasets to be shared, rather than sharing of the data as an afterthought. This paradigm shift is evident as increase in the pace of discovery, leading to a rapid rate of advances in our characterization of brain structure. The utility of open-access brain morphology data is numerous, ranging from observing novel patterns of agerelated differences in subcortical structures to the development of more robust cortical parcellation atlases, with these advances being translatable to improved methods for characterizing clinical disorders (see Figure 1 for an illustration). Moreover, structural MRIs are generally more robust than functional MRIs, relative to potential artifacts and in being not task-dependent, resulting in large potential yields. While the benefits of open-access data have been discussed more broadly within the field of cognitive neuroscience elsewhere (Van Horn and Gazzaniga, 2013; Poldrack and Gorgolewski, 2014; Van Horn and Toga, 2014; Vogelstein et al., 2016; Voytek, 2016; Gilmore et al., 2017), as well as in other fields (Choudhury et al., 2014; Ascoli et al., 2017; Davies et al., 2017), this opinion paper is focused specifically on the implications of open data to brain morphology research.
Ameliorative Effects of Stabilized Rice Bran on Type 2 Diabetes Patients

Background/Aim: While it has been demonstrated that rice bran might lower the cholesterol level in hypercholesterolemic individuals, its effects on the levels of adiponectin and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus remain unknown. Methods: Twenty-eight volunteers with type 2 diabetes were randomly divided into 2 groups, one of which received a dietary supplement of 20 g of stabilized rice bran and the other placebo once daily for 12 weeks. Parameters such as the level of HbA1c, glucose, insulin, homeostasis model assessment for estimation of relative insulin resistance, high-density and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and adiponectin were evaluated. Results: At the end of the study period, postprandial glucose and the area under the glucose curve of the rice bran group were significantly lower than baseline levels by 14.4 and 15.7%, respectively. Compared to baseline, the HbA1c values in the rice bran group were also significantly lower. Serum total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol concentrations in the rice bran group were 9.2 and 13.7% lower, respectively, than in the placebo group. The plasma free fatty acid and adiponectin concentrations were 20% lower and 40% higher in the rice bran group compared to the placebo group. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that stabilized rice bran can lower the level of HbA1c and blood lipids and increase blood adiponectin concentrations in type 2 diabetic subjects. In light of this, we conclude that stabilized rice bran may represent an important functional nutrient to ameliorate lipid and glycemic anomalies in type 2 diabetic subjects.
Waveform Generation Based on Signal Reshaping for Statistical Parametric Speech Synthesis

We propose a new paradigm of waveform generation for Statistical Parametric Speech Synthesis that is based on neither source-filter separation nor sinusoidal modelling. We suggest that one of the main problems of current vocoding techniques is that they perform an extreme decomposition of the speech signal into source and filter, which is an underlying cause of “buzziness”, “musical artifacts”, or “ muffled sound” in the synthetic speech. The proposed method avoids making unnecessary assumptions and decompositions as far as possible, and uses only the spectral envelope and F0 as parameters. Prerecorded speech is used as a base signal, which is “reshaped” to match the acoustic specification predicted by the statistical model, without any source-filter decomposition. A detailed description of the method is presented, including implementation details and adjustments. Subjective listening test evaluations of complete DNN-based text-to-speech systems were conducted for two voices: one female and one male. The results show that the proposed method tends to outperform the state-of-theart standard vocoder STRAIGHT, whilst using fewer acoustic parameters.
The Pricing Strategy Guideline Framework for SaaS Vendors

Software as a Service has become a dominant IT news topic over the last few years. Especially in these current recession times, adopting SaaS solutions is increasingly becoming the more favourable alternative for customers rather than investing on brand new on-premise software or outsourcing. This fact has inevitably stimulated the birth of numerous SaaS vendors. Unfortunately, many small-to-medium vendors have emerged only to disappear again from the market. A lack of maturity in their pricing strategy often becomes part of the reason. This paper presents the 'Pricing Strategy Guideline FrameworkPSGF' that assists SaaS vendors with a guideline to ensure that all the fundamental pricing elements are included in their pricing strategy. The PSGF describes five different layers that need to be taken to price software: value creation, price structure, price and value communication, price policy, and price level. The PSGF can be of particularly great use for the start-up vendors that tend to have less experience in pricing their SaaS solutions. There have been no SaaS pricing frameworks available in the SaaS research area, such as the PSGF developed in this research. The PSGF is evaluated in a case study at a Dutch SaaS vendor in the Finance sector.
Phase Retrieval Approach for DOA Estimation With Array Errors

Direction-of-arrival estimation in the presence of gain and phase errors is investigated from the phase retrieval (PR) perspective. In order to remove the influence of phase errors, they are isolated by taking the absolute values of the elements in the compensated covariance matrix. Finally, the formulated nonconvex PR optimization problem is solved by utilizing the feasible point pursuit algorithm. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.
Absence of frameshift mutations in the bax gene in renal cell cancer (RCC) and transitional cell cancer (TCC).

BACKGROUND Bax protein, a member of the Bcl-2 family, regulates the apoptotic pathway that involves both Bcl-2 and p53. bax mutations are found in hematological malignancies, colon cancer with microsatellite mutator phenotype, and some other cancers. We evaluated the possibility that Bax functions as a TCC or RCC tumor suppressor gene. MATERIALS AND METHODS Using Western blot and polymerase chain reaction-single strand conformation polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) we looked for somatic mutations in a tract of eight deoxyguanosines (G)8 within third exon of bax in TCC and RCC cell lines and tumor specimens. RESULTS We failed to reveal genetic alterations, at least in this specific region of bax gene in urological cancers. CONCLUSION Alterations of bax, at least at investigated specific region, do not play considerable role in RCC or TCC tumorigenesis.
Steady-state and dynamic properties of cardiac sodium-calcium exchange. Ion and voltage dependencies of the transport cycle

Ion and voltage dependencies of sodium-calcium exchange current were studied in giant membrane patches from guinea pig ventricular cells after deregulation of the exchanger with chymotrypsin. (a) Under zero- trans conditions, the half-maximum concentration (Kh) of cytoplasmic calcium (Cai) for activation of the isolated inward exchange current decreased as the extracellular sodium (Nao) concentration was decreased. The Kh of cytoplasmic sodium (Nai) for activation of the isolated outward exchange current decreased as the extracellular calcium (Cao) concentration was decreased. (b) The current-voltage (I- V) relation of the outward exchange current with saturating concentrations of Nai and Cao had a shallow slope (twofold change in approximately 100 mV) and a slight saturation tendency at very positive potentials. The outward current gained in steepness as the Nai concentration was decreased, such that the Kh for Nai decreased with depolarization. The decrease of Kh for Nai with depolarization was well described by a Boltzmann equation (e alpha.Em/26.6) with a slope (alpha) of -0.06. (c) Voltage dependence of the outward current was lost as the Cao concentration was decreased, and the Kh for Cao increased upon depolarization with a Boltzmann slope of 0.26. (d) The I- V relation of the inward exchange current, under zero-trans conditions, was also almost linear (twofold change in approximately 100 mV) and showed some saturation tendency with hyperpolarization as the Cai concentration was decreased. The Kh for Cai decreased with depolarization (Boltzmann slope, -0.10). Voltage dependence of the inward current was decreased in the presence of a high (300 mM) Nao concentration. (e) In the presence of both Na and Ca on both membrane sides, the I-V relations with saturating Nai show sigmoidal shape and clear saturation at positive potentials. Measured reversal potentials were close to the equilibrium potential expected for a 3 Na to 1 Ca exchange. (f) Nai and Cai interacted competitively with respect to the outward current, but in a mixed competitive-noncompetitive fashion with respect to the inward current. (g) Cai inhibited the outward exchange current in a voltage-dependent manner. The half-effective concentration for inhibition (Ki) by Cai increased upon depolarization with a Boltzmann slope of 0.32 in 25 mM Nai and 0.20 in 100 mM Nai. (h) Nai also inhibited the inward exchange current voltage dependently. The Ki decreased upon depolarization (Boltzmann slope, -0.11 at 3 microM Cai and -0.10 at 1.08 mM Cai). (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Lycopene Content in Tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill): Effect of Thermal Heat and its Health Benefits

Lycopene is a phytonutrient and an antioxidant and this pigment is responsible for the characteristic deep red colour of ripe tomatoes and their products. It plays an important role in human health and epidemiological studies have shown it to reduce the risk of chronic diseases. The lycopene content and stability in tomato purée during cooking was studied. Eight different tomato cultivars (‘NH158’, ‘Three lobed’, ‘Ronita’, ‘Small local’, ‘Leader’, ‘Lindo’, ‘Big local’ and ‘Cherry’) were planted for evaluation. The tomato slurries were subjected to thermal heat for 1, 2 and 3 h and analyzed for lycopene content by spectrophotometry. The absorbance was read at 502 nm. The lycopene content ranged from 70.25 to 147.29 μg/g, ‘Leader’ having the highest and ‘Lindo’ the lowest. The percentage loss of lycopene content after 1 h boiling ranged from 13.58-42.99% among the cultivars. Values obtained for 2 and 3 h heating were similar, ranging from 24.6685. 30%. However, ‘Three-lobed’ and ‘Cherry’ retained more of their lycopene content than the other six cultivars. A further loss in the lycopene content was observed when subjected to 3 h cooking suggesting that lycopene is not stable when exposed to longer heating. The levels of lycopene in tomato and the potential influence of thermal heat on its availability in tomatoes and tomato-based foods would be of interest to the food industry, tomato improvement and public health intervention programmes. This paper also summarizes the current state of knowledge of the properties of lycopene, and its possible health benefits. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Relations among sodium pump inhibition, Na-Ca and Na-H exchange activities, and Ca-H interaction in cultured chick heart cells.

Sodium pump inhibition in cardiac muscle cells is associated with changes in intracellular sodium, calcium, and hydrogen concentrations as well as in membrane ion transport activity. We examined further the functional relations among these entities using cultured chick ventricular cells. [Ca]i and pHi were determined from fluorescence signals obtained from cells loaded with fura-2 or BCECF, respectively. Ouabain (100 microM) elevated [Ca]i eightfold and decreased pHi by 0.11 unit (a 30% increase in [H+]). In the presence of 10 microM ethylisopropylamiloride, a potent inhibitor of Na-H exchange, ouabain elevated [Ca]i 3.5-fold and reduced pHi by 0.16 unit (a 48% increase in [H+]). Exposure to sodium-free (sodium replaced with potassium) medium produced a twelvefold increase in [Ca]i and a 0.12 pH unit decrease in pHi. In cells treated with 100 microM ouabain, exposure to sodium-free (lithium) medium resulted in a 22-fold sustained increase in [Ca]i and a rapid intracellular acidification (pH 7.15 to 6.60). The effect of ouabain or sodium-free medium on pHi was abolished in calcium-free medium; addition of 1 mM Ca rapidly increased [Ca]i and decreased pHi. In cells treated with subtoxic (3 microM) or toxic (100 microM) concentrations of ouabain, initial 24Na uptake rates were significantly greater than in control cells and were significantly reduced in the presence of 10 microM ethylisopropylamiloride. We conclude that ouabain (100 microM) produces intracellular acidification as a result of sodium pump inhibition; calcium accumulation via Na-Ca exchange, and subsequent Ca-H interaction within the cell. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Actions on gamma‐motoneurones elicited by electrical stimulation of group I muscle afferent fibres in the hind limb of the cat.

The reflex actions, elicited by graded electrical stimulation of hind‐limb muscle, skin and joint nerves were studied in an extended series of experiments in extra‐and intracellular recordings from 120 lumbar gamma‐motoneurones of cats anaesthetized with chloralose. The present report deals with the action of group I muscle afferent fibres, which was examined in ninety‐five gamma‐cells. Of the gamma‐cells 83% were classified as either static or dynamic by stimulation in the mesencephalic area for dynamic control. The general responsiveness (i.e. number of input nerves with effect/number of input nerves tested) of the cells was very high (89.9%). The responsiveness to stimulation of group I muscle afferent fibres was extremely low, both in flexor and extensor gamma‐motoneurones and irrespective of whether they were static or dynamic. There was no difference, as regards the low incidence of group I muscle reflex action, between stimulation of autogenetic and heteronymous nerves. Among the rare reflex effects elicited from group I muscle fibres inhibition was four times as frequent as excitation. Inhibitory effects could be provoked from the autogenetic as well as from the heteronymous nerves. In contrast, excitatory effects were almost always autogenetic. The scarcity of group I muscle action on gamma‐motoneurones is in striking contrast to the well known and powerful reflex actions of Ia and Ib fibres on alpha‐motoneurones. These findings are discussed in relation to the concept of alpha‐gamma linkage, and it is concluded that skeletomotor and fusimotor activity cannot be rigidly linked under all conditions.
Neural network fault classification of transient data in an automotive engine air path

Classification of automotive engine air path faults from transient data is investigated using Neural Networks (NNs). A generic Spark Ignition (SI) Mean Value Engine Model (MVEM) is used for experimentation. Several faults are considered, including sensor faults, Exhaust Gas Recycle (EGR) valve and leakage in intake manifold. Consideration of different fault intensities for all the sensor and component faults is a unique feature of this research. The identification of a fault and its intensity has been considered both equally important. Radial Basis Function (RBF) NNs are trained to detect and diagnose the faults, and also to indicate fault size, by recognising the different fault patterns occurring in the transient data. Three dynamic cases of fault occurrence are considered with increasing generality of engine operation: (1) engine accelerates or retards from mean speed, (2) engine runs at different steady speeds and (3) engine accelerates or retards from any initial speed. The approach successfully classifies the faults in each case.
Precipitation and Temperature Effects on Populations of Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae): Implications for Range Expansion

Abstract We investigated how temperature and precipitation regime encountered over the life cycle of Aedes albopictus (Skuse) affects populations. Caged populations of A. albopictus were maintained at 22, 26, and 30°C. Cages were equipped with containers that served as sites for oviposition and larval development. All cages were assigned to one of three simulated precipitation regimes: (1) low fluctuation regime - water within the containers was allowed to evaporate to 90% of its maximum before being refilled, (2) high fluctuation regime - water was allowed to evaporate to 25% of its maximum before being refilled, and (3) drying regime - water was allowed to evaporate to complete container dryness before being refilled. Greater temperature and the absence of drying resulted in greater production of adults. Greater temperature in combination with drying were detrimental to adult production. These precipitation effects on adult production were absent at 22°C. Greater temperatures and drying treatments yielded higher and lower eclosion rates, respectively and, both yielded greater mortality. Development time and size of adults decreased with increased temperatures, and drying produced larger adults. Greater temperatures resulted in greater egg mortality. These results suggest that populations occurring in warmer regions are likely to produce more adults as long as containers do not dry completely. Populations in cooler regions are likely to produce fewer adults with the variability of precipitation contributing less to variation in adult production. Predicted climate change in North America is likely to extend the northern distribution of A. albopictus and to limit further its establishment in arid regions.