Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impact of Skin–Electrode Interface on Electrocardiogram Measurements Using Conductive Textile Electrodes

Physicians' understanding of biosignals as measured with medical instruments becomes the foundation of their decisions and diagnoses of patients, as they rely strongly on what the instruments show. Thus, it is critical and very important to ensure that the instruments' recordings exactly reflect what is happening in the patient's body so that the acquired signal is the real one or at least as close to the real in-body signal as possible. This is such an important issue that sometimes physicians use invasive measurements to obtain the real biosignal. Generating an in-body signal from what a measurement device shows is called “signal purification” or “reconstruction” and can be done only when we have adequate information about the interface between the body and the monitoring device. In this paper, first, we present a device that we developed for electrocardiogram (ECG) acquisition and transfer to PC. To evaluate the performance of the device, we use it to measure ECG and apply conductive textile as our ECG electrode. Then, we evaluate ECG signals captured by different electrodes, specifically traditional gel Ag/AgCl and dry golden plate electrodes, and compare the results, allowing us to investigate if ECG measured with the device is proper for applications where no skin preparation is allowed, such as ECG-assisted blood pressure monitoring devices. Next, we propose a method to reconstruct the ECG signal from the signal acquired by our device, with respect to the interface characteristics and their relation to the ECG. The interface in this paper is skin-electrode interface for conductive textiles. In the last stage of this paper, we explore the effects of pressure on skin-electrode interface impedance and its parametrical variation.
Visualization of Atomic-Scale Motions in Materials via Femtosecond X-Ray Scattering Techniques

We review current progress with respect to ultrafast, atomic-scale resolution X-ray scattering studies of materials. In the last decade, advances in sources and techniques have opened up new possibilities for probing the dynamics of how materials change in situ and in real time. These developments have enabled direct measurements of the first primary steps in how complex/functional materials transform and the flow of energy between different degrees of freedom. Unique insight into the mechanisms underlying how materials function is obtained through these studies. An outlook on future developments and new opportunities is also presented.
Discrete time variable structure control of robotic manipulators based on fully tuned rbf neural networks

This paper presents a discrete-time variable structure control based on neural networks for a planar robotic manipulator. Radial basis function neural networks are used to learn about uncertainties affecting the system. The learning algorithm combines the growth criterion of the resource allocating network technique with an adaptive extended Kalman filter to update all network parameters. The analysis of the control stability is given and the controller is evaluated on the ERICC robot arm. Simulations show that the proposed controller produces good trajectory tracking performance and is robust in the presence of model inaccuracies.
A New Trusted Routing Protocol for Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks Using Trusted Metrics

Trusted routing in VANET is a challenging task due to highly dynamic network topologies and openness of wireless architecture. To provide secure routing among the Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks (VANET) and to avoid selfish nodes, an Optimized Node Selection Routing Protocol (Trusted-ONSRP) of VANET has been designed based on trusted metrics using a Trusted Computing Algorithm. The results stated that the T-ONSRP routing shows higher performance in security measures than the existing routing protocols.
HIV-1 Accessory Proteins Adapt Cellular Adaptors to Facilitate Immune Evasion

As obligate intracellular parasites, viruses must gain entry into target cells and utilize the host cellular machinery for production of viral progeny. After entering the cell and localizing to an intracellular niche, the virus sheds its capsid, replicates its genome, transcribes its RNA, translates its protein components, and assembles the components to form new progeny virions that can infect new cells. At each stage of the virus life cycle, the host has evolved mechanisms to restrict successful infection, and pathogenic viruses have evolved countermechanisms to overcome each restriction. This article will focus on the mechanisms by which the lentivirus human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) overcomes these barriers to establish and propagate infection in human cells.
High‐Performance Large‐Scale Solar Steam Generation with Nanolayers of Reusable Biomimetic Nanoparticles

The harvesting of solar radiation for steam generation has drawn wide attention as a future sustainable technology for the renewable production of clean water worldwide. Here, a new super‐dark metasurface of 200 nm thickness is presented, which reaches a solar thermal efficiency of 87% when exposed to an intensity of only 2.3 sun, maintaining a stable efficiency of 90% at higher solar intensities. The metasurface is composed of extremely robust nanoparticles, which are up to 98% recyclable and can be produced on massively large scales by wet chemistry. By employing such reusable nanoparticles on an area of 1 m2, 1.2 kg of seawater can be purified within only 1 h under natural sunshine. With such excellent performances, this nanomaterial can open new applications of high‐performance solar steam.
Influence of interferon on virus‐particle synthesis in oncornavirus‐carrier lines. II. Evidence for A direct effect on particle release

Interferon treatment of murine C‐type oncornavirus carrier lines results in a drastic inhibition of extracellular virus formation. When such cells are subcultured in the presence of interferon, synthesis of extracellular C‐type virus remains depressed until the interferon treatement is discontinued. Cell‐associated virus as seen in the electron microscope or as detected by uridine incorporation is not proportionally inhibited. Several possibilities to explain this discrepancy are tested. The most likely hypothesis is that interferon treatment primarily inhibits virus release.
Co-Training as a Human Collaboration Policy

We consider the task of human collaborative category learning, where two people work together to classify test items into appropriate categories based on what they learn from a training set. We propose a novel collaboration policy based on the Co-Training algorithm in machine learning, in which the two people play the role of the base learners. The policy restricts each learner's view of the data and limits their communication to only the exchange of their labelings on test items. In a series of empirical studies, we show that the Co-Training policy leads collaborators to jointly produce unique and potentially valuable classification outcomes that are not generated under other collaboration policies. We further demonstrate that these observations can be explained with appropriate machine learning models.
HEPATIC ATP-BINDING CASSETTE TRANSPORTER A 1 AND TRIGLYCERIDE METABOLISM : IN-VITRO STUDIES

Purpose of review—Elevated plasma triglyceride and reduced HDL concentrations are prominent features of metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. Individuals with Tangier disease also have elevated plasma triglyceride concentrations and very low HDL, resulting from mutations in ATP-binding cassette transporter A1 (ABCA1), an integral membrane protein that facilitates nascent HDL particle assembly. Past studies attributed the inverse relationship between plasma HDL and triglyceride to intravascular lipid exchange and catabolic events. However, recent studies also suggest that hepatic signaling and lipid mobilization and secretion may explain how HDL affects plasma triglyceride concentrations. Recent findings—Hepatocyte-specific ABCA1 knockout mice have markedly reduced plasma HDL and a two-fold increase in triglyceride due to failure to assemble nascent HDL particles by hepatocytes, causing increased catabolism of HDL apolipoprotein A-I and increased hepatic production of triglyceride-enriched VLDL. In-vitro studies suggest that nascent HDL particles may induce signaling to decrease triglyceride secretion. Inhibition of microRNA 33 expression in nonhuman primates augments hepatic ABCA1, genes involved in fatty acid oxidation, and decreases expression of lipogenic genes, causing increased plasma HDL and decreased triglyceride levels. Summary—New evidence suggests potential mechanisms by which hepatic ABCA1-mediated nascent HDL formation regulates VLDL–triglyceride production and contributes to the inverse relationship between plasma HDL and triglyceride.
Undecidability in Epistemic Planning

Dynamic epistemic logic (DEL) provides a very expressive framework for multi-agent planning that can deal with nondeterminism, partial observability, sensing actions, and arbitrary nesting of beliefs about other agents' beliefs. However, as we show in this paper, this expressiveness comes at a price. The planning framework is undecidable, even if we allow only purely epistemic actions (actions that change only beliefs, not ontic facts). Undecidability holds already in the S5 setting with at least 2 agents, and even with 1 agent in S4. It shows that multi-agent planning is robustly undecidable if we assume that agents can reason with an arbitrary nesting of beliefs about beliefs. We also prove a corollary showing undecidability of the DEL model checking problem with the star operator on actions (iteration).
ADAPTIVE NEURO-FUZZY INFERENCE SYSTEM APPROACH FOR THE AUTOMATIC SCREENING OF DIABETIC RETINOPATHY IN FUNDUS IMAGES

Problem statement: Diabetic retinopathy is one of the most significant factors contributing to blindness and so early diagnosis and timely treatment is particularly important to prevent visual loss. Approach: An integrated approach for extraction of blood vessels and exudates detection was proposed to screen diabetic retinopathy. An automated classifier was developed based on Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) to differentiate between normal and nonproliferative eyes from the quantitative assessment of monocular fundus images. Feature extraction was performed on the preprocessed fundus images. Structure of Blood vessels was extracted using Multiscale analysis. Hard Exudates were detected using CIE Color channel transformation, Entropy Thresholding and Improved Connected Component Analysis from the fundus images. Features like Wall to Lumen ratio in blood vessels, Texture, Homogeneity properties and area occupied by Hard Exudates, were given as input to ANFIS.ANFIS was trained with Back propagation in combination with the least squares method. Proposed method was evaluated on 200 real time images comprising 70 normal and 130 retinopathic eyes. Results and Conclusion: All of the results were validated with ground truths obtained from expert ophthalmologists. Quantitative performance of the method, detected exudates with an accuracy of 99.5%. Receiver operating characteristic curve evaluated for real time images produced better results compared to the other state of the art methods. ANFIS provides best classification and can be used as a screening tool in the analysis and diagnosis of retinal images.
A neutron star progenitor for FRBs? Insights from polarisation measurements

Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) are intense, millisecond-duration broadband radio transients, the emission mechanisms of which are not understood. Masui et al. recently presented Green Bank Telescope observations of FRB 110523, which displayed temporal variation of the linear polarisation position angle (PA). This effect is commonly seen in radio pulsars and is attributed to a changing projected magnetic field orientation in the emission region as the star rotates. If a neutron star is the progenitor of this FRB, and the emission mechanism is pulsar-like, we show that the progenitor is either rapidly rotating, or the emission originates from a region of complex magnetic field geometry. The observed PA variation could also be caused by propagation effects within a neutron-star magnetosphere, or by spatially varying magnetic fields if the progenitor lies in a dense, highly magnetised environment. Although we urge caution in generalising results from FRB 110523 to the broader FRB population, our analysis serves as a guide to interpreting future polarisation measurements of FRBs, and presents another means of elucidating the origins of these enigmatic ephemera.
Origins of adult pigmentation: diversity in pigment stem cell lineages and implications for pattern evolution

Teleosts comprise about half of all vertebrate species and exhibit an extraordinary diversity of adult pigment patterns that function in shoaling, camouflage, and mate choice and have played important roles in speciation. Here, we review studies that have identified several distinct neural crest lineages, with distinct genetic requirements, that give rise to adult pigment cells in fishes. These lineages include post‐embryonic, peripheral nerve‐associated stem cells that generate black melanophores and iridescent iridophores, cells derived directly from embryonic neural crest cells that generate yellow‐orange xanthophores, and bipotent stem cells that generate both melanophores and xanthophores. This complexity in adult chromatophore lineages has implications for our understanding of adult traits, melanoma, and the evolutionary diversification of pigment cell lineages and patterns.
The Neuroendocrine Stress Hormone Norepinephrine Augments Escherichia coli O157:H7-Induced Enteritis and Adherence in a Bovine Ligated Ileal Loop Model of Infection

ABSTRACT The role of the neuroendocrine environment in the pathogenesis of enteric bacterial infections is increasingly being recognized. Here we report that norepinephrine augments Escherichia coli O157:H7-induced intestinal inflammatory and secretory responses as well as bacterial adherence to intestinal mucosa in a bovine ligated ileal loop model of infection. Norepinephrine modulation of enteritis and adherence was dependent on the ability of E. coli O157:H7 to form attaching and effacing lesions.
Increasing incidence of Barrett’s oesophagus in the general population

Background: Barrett’s oesophagus (BO) predisposes to oesophageal adenocarcinoma. Epidemiological data suggest that the incidence of BO is rising but it is unclear whether this reflects a true rise in incidence of BO or an increase in detection secondary to more upper gastrointestinal endoscopies performed. This study aimed to examine the changes in BO incidence relative to the number of upper gastrointestinal endoscopies performed in the general population. Methods: We conducted a cohort study using the Integrated Primary Care Information database. This general practice research database contains the complete and longitudinal electronic medical records of more than 500 000 persons. Results: In total, 260 incident cases of BO were identified during the study period. The incidence of BO increased from 14.3/100 000 person years in 1997 (95% confidence interval (CI) 8.6–22.4) to 23.1/100 000 person years (95% CI 17.2–30.6) in 2002 (r2 = 0.87). The number of upper gastrointestinal endoscopies decreased from 7.2/1000 person years (95% CI 6.7–7.7) to 5.7/1000 person years (95% CI 5.4–6.1) over the same time period. This resulted in an overall increase in detected BO per 1000 endoscopies from 19.8 (95% CI 12.0–31.0) in 1997 to 40.5 (95% CI 30.0–53.5) in 2002 (r2 = 0.93). The incidence of adenocarcinoma increased from 1.7/100 000 person years (95% CI 0.3–5.4) in 1997 to 6.0/100 000 person years (95% CI 3.3–10.2) in 2002 (r2 = 0.87). Conclusion: The incidence of diagnosed BO is increasing, independent of the number of upper gastrointestinal endoscopies that are being performed. This increase in BO incidence will likely result in a further increase in the incidence of oesophageal adenocarcinomas in the near future.
Empagliflozin Reduces Blood Pressure in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes and Hypertension

OBJECTIVE To investigate the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of empagliflozin in patients with type 2 diabetes and hypertension. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Patients (N = 825) with type 2 diabetes and hypertension (mean seated systolic blood pressure [SBP] 130–159 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure [DBP] 80–99 mmHg) were randomized (double blind) to 10 mg or 25 mg empagliflozin or placebo once daily for 12 weeks. RESULTS At week 12, adjusted mean difference versus placebo in change from baseline in mean 24-h SBP (ambulatory blood pressure monitoring [ABPM]) was −3.44 mmHg (95% CI −4.78, −2.09) with 10 mg empagliflozin and −4.16 mmHg (−5.50, −2.83) with 25 mg empagliflozin (both P < 0.001). At week 12, adjusted mean difference versus placebo in change from baseline in mean 24-h DBP (ABPM) was −1.36 mmHg (95% CI −2.15, −0.56) with 10 mg empagliflozin and −1.72 mmHg (95% CI −2.51, −0.93) with 25 mg empagliflozin (both P < 0.001). Changes in office BP were consistent with ABPM. Adjusted mean difference versus placebo in change from baseline in HbA1c at week 12 was −0.62% (95% CI −0.72, −0.52) (−6.8 mmol/mol [95% CI −7.9, −5.7]) with 10 mg empagliflozin and −0.65% (95% CI −0.75, −0.55) (−7.1 mmol/mol [95% CI −8.2, −6.0]) with 25 mg empagliflozin (both P < 0.001). Empagliflozin was well tolerated. One patient on placebo and one patient on 10 mg empagliflozin reported events consistent with volume depletion. CONCLUSIONS Empagliflozin was associated with significant and clinically meaningful reductions in BP and HbA1c versus placebo and was well tolerated in patients with type 2 diabetes and hypertension.
Clinical signs, profound acidemia, hypoglycemia, and hypernatremia are predictive of mortality in 1,400 critically ill neonatal calves with diarrhea

Profound acidemia impairs cellular and organ function and consequently should be associated with an increased risk of mortality in critically ill humans and animals. Neonatal diarrhea in calves can result in potentially serious metabolic derangements including profound acidemia due to strong ion (metabolic) acidosis, hyper-D-lactatemia, hyper-L-lactatemia, azotemia, hypoglycemia, hyperkalemia and hyponatremia. The aim of this retrospective study was to assess the prognostic relevance of clinical and laboratory findings in 1,400 critically ill neonatal calves with diarrhea admitted to a veterinary teaching hospital. The mortality rate was 22%. Classification tree analysis indicated that mortality was associated with clinical signs of neurologic disease, abdominal emergencies, cachexia, orthopedic problems such as septic arthritis, and profound acidemia (jugular venous blood pH < 6.85). When exclusively considering laboratory parameters, classification tree analysis identified plasma glucose concentrations < 3.2 mmol/L, plasma sodium concentrations ≥ 151 mmol/L, serum GGT activity < 31 U/L and a thrombocyte count < 535 G/L as predictors of mortality. However, multivariable logistic regression models based on these laboratory parameters did not have a sufficiently high enough sensitivity (59%) and specificity (79%) to reliably predict treatment outcome. The sensitivity and specificity of jugular venous blood pH < 6.85 were 11% and 97%, respectively, for predicting non-survival in this study population. We conclude that laboratory values (except jugular venous blood pH < 6.85) are of limited value for predicting outcome in critically ill neonatal calves with diarrhea. In contrast, the presence of specific clinical abnormalities provides valuable prognostic information.
Ultra high-definition video coding using bit-depth reduction with image noise reduction and pseudo-contour prevention

We propose a novel ultra high-definition video coding method with bit-depth reduction before encoding procedure and bit-depth reconstruction after decoding procedure. The bit-depth reduction is performed by Lloyd-Max quantization; considering ultra high-definition video noise reduction for high coding efficiency and gradation conservation for pseudo-contour prevention. The bit-depth reconstruction is carried out accurately using side information which is determined by comparing a local-decoded bit-depth reconstructed image and an original image on encoder side. Experiments show that the proposed method has a pseudo-contour prevention effect and a better PSNR in comparison with conventional video coding methods.
ANTIGEN BINDING TO LYMPHOID CELLS FROM UNIMMUNIZED MICE

Neonatal spleen populations have been studied for antigen‐binding capacity in an attempt to determine if the frequency of double antigen‐binding cells changes as the population matures. Just after birth, the frequencies of total ABC, double ABC and Ig‐bearing cells were similar to the frequencies seen in the adult bone marrow. During the first week after birth, the proportion of total ABC and Ig‐bearing cells rose sharply so that by 8 days after birth, these cells were about half of adult levels. The proportion of total double ABC, after a brief rise at day 1, remained constant throughout the test period. Thus, the proportion of total ABC which are doubles gradually decreases with age. Sedimentation velocity studies indicate that double ABC's tend to co‐sediment with cells which require a period of maturation before they can respond to a thymus‐independent antigen in irradiated hosts. Single ABC, on the other hand, tend to co‐sediment with cells which are immediately responsive to antigen, or require a shorter maturational period before they become responsive to antigen. All of these data, taken together with our other work, suggest the possibility that multiple ABC are clonally‐derived lymphocyte populations which become more restricted in their antigen‐binding capacity as they mature.