Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The athletes’ visuomotor system – Cortical processes contributing to faster visuomotor reactions

Abstract Many sports require athletes to rapidly transform visual information into a targeted motor response, a process referred to as visuomotor reaction. On the behavioural level, athletes have long been established to achieve faster simple visuomotor reaction times when compared to non-athletes. However, although the superior performance in athletes has been attributed to the central nervous system, the underlying neural mechanisms remained poorly studied. More recently, a growing number of neurophysiological and neuroimaging studies systematically addressed the functional and structural modulations in the athletes’ visual and motor systems as well as their contribution to visuomotor performance. This article reviews current research on structural and functional characteristics of the athletes’ cortical visuomotor system associated with simple visuomotor reactions, sports-specific visuomotor performance and visuomotor training. The primary objective is to shed light on the neural mechanisms potentially contributing to superior visuomotor reaction performance in athletes participating in visuomotor demanding disciplines. A more comprehensive understanding of performance-determining neural functions could provide great potential for diagnostics and training to improve athletic performance.
Tissue-Specific Analysis of Secondary Metabolites Creates a Reliable Morphological Criterion for Quality Grading of Polygoni Multiflori Radix

In commercial herbal markets, Polygoni Multiflori Radix (PMR, the tuberous roots of Polygonum multiflorum Thunb.), a commonly-used Chinese medicinal material, is divided into different grades based on morphological features of size and weight. While more weight and larger size command a higher price, there is no scientific data confirming that the more expensive roots are in fact of better quality. To assess the inherent quality of various grades and of various tissues in PMR and to find reliable morphological indicators of quality, a method combining laser microdissection (LMD) and ultra-performance liquid chromatography triple-quadrupole mass spectrometry (UPLC-QqQ-MS/MS) was applied. Twelve major chemical components were quantitatively determined in both whole material and different tissues of PMR. Determination of the whole material revealed that traditional commercial grades based on size and weight of PRM did not correspond to any significant differences in chemical content. Instead, tissue-specific analysis indicated that the morphological features could be linked with quality in a new way. That is, PMR with broader cork and phloem, as seen in a transverse section, were typically of better quality as these parts are where the bioactive components accumulate. The tissue-specific analysis of secondary metabolites creates a reliable morphological criterion for quality grading of PMR.
Tensor-based computation and modeling in multi-resolution digital pathology imaging: application to follicular lymphoma grading

In this work, we introduce a tensor-based computation and modeling framework for the analysis of digital pathology images at different resolutions. We represent digital pathology images as a third-order tensor (a three-way array) with modes: images, features and scales, by extracting features at different scales. The constructed tensor is then analyzed using the most popular tensor factorization methods, i.e., CANDECOMP/PARAFAC and Tucker. These tensor models enable us to extract the underlying patterns in each mode (i.e. images, features and scales) and examine how these patterns are related to each other. As a motivating example, we analyzed 500 follicular lymphoma images corresponding to high power fields, evaluated by three expert hematopathologists. Numerical experiments demonstrate that (i) tensor models capture easily-interpretable patterns showing the significant features and scales, and (ii) patterns extracted by the right tensor model, which in this case is the Tucker model commonly used for exploratory analysis of higher-order tensors, perform as well as the reduced dimensions captured by matrix factorization methods on unfolded data, in terms of follicular lymphoma grading.
Role of HDAC inhibition and environmental condition in altering phases of amphetamine self-administration

Gene-environment interactions play a significant role in drug abuse and addiction. Epigenetics (the study of how environmental stimuli alter gene expression) has gained attention in recent years as a significant contributor to many behavioral phenotypes of drug addiction. The current study sought to determine if differential rearing conditions can alter a specific epigenetic mechanism, histone deacetylase (HDAC), and how HDAC inhibition can affect drug-taking and drug-seeking behaviors differently among enriched, isolated, or standard-housed rats. Ninety male Sprague-Dawley rats were reared for 30 days in enriched (EC), isolated (IC), or standard (SC) conditions prior to amphetamine (0.03, 0.05, 0.1 mg/kg/infusion, i.v.) self-administration, extinction, or reinstatement sessions. Trichostatin A (TsA; 0.3 mg/kg, i.v.), an HDAC inhibitor, was injected 30 min prior to drug-taking or drug-seeking sessions. Results indicated that EC rats self-administered less amphetamine (0.03 mg/kg/infusion) than IC rats. No significant effects of TsA administration were found on general self-administration for any of the three amphetamine doses. While enrichment facilitated the extinction of active lever pressing, there was also a mild facilitation of extinction in IC-TsA rats compared to IC-vehicle counterparts. Lastly, TsA administration decreased cue-, but not drug-induced reinstatement, with IC-TsA rats exhibiting significantly attenuated cue-induced reinstatement compared to IC-vehicle rats. These findings suggest that differential rearing can alter HDAC mechanisms that can change drug-seeking behaviors, particularly in rats reared in isolated conditions. While TsA-induced HDAC inhibition may be less protective against general amphetamine self-administration, it may decrease drug-seeking tendencies during relapse that are induced by the reintroduction of contextual environmental cues heavily associated with drug reward. ROLE OF HDAC INHIBITION AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITION IN ALTERING PHASES OF AMPHETAMINE SELF-ADMINISTRATION
Review of the Carbon Ion Radiotherapy for Locally Advanced Uterine Cervical Cancer

Cite this article: Wakatsuki M, Irie D, Karasawa K, Kamada T (2014) Review of the Carbon Ion Radiotherapy for Locally Advanced Uterine Cervical Cancer. J Radiol Radiat Ther 2(3): 1053. *Corresponding author Masaru Wakatsuki, Research Center for Charged Particle Therapy, National Institute of Radiological Sciences, 4-9-1 Anagawa, Inage-ku, Chiba 2638555, Japan, Tel: (+81) 43-206-3360; Fax: (+81) 43256-6506; Email:
Ranking for Relevance and Display Preferences in Complex Presentation Layouts

Learning to Rank has traditionally considered settings where given the relevance information of objects, the desired order in which to rank the objects is clear. However, with today's large variety of users and layouts this is not always the case. In this paper, we consider so-called complex ranking settings where it is not clear what should be displayed, that is, what the relevant items are, and how they should be displayed, that is, where the most relevant items should be placed. These ranking settings are complex as they involve both traditional ranking and inferring the best display order. Existing learning to rank methods cannot handle such complex ranking settings as they assume that the display order is known beforehand. To address this gap we introduce a novel Deep Reinforcement Learning method that is capable of learning complex rankings, both the layout and the best ranking given the layout, from weak reward signals. Our proposed method does so by selecting documents and positions sequentially, hence it ranks both the documents and positions, which is why we call it the Double Rank Model (DRM). Our experiments show that DRM outperforms all existing methods in complex ranking settings, thus it leads to substantial ranking improvements in cases where the display order is not known a priori.
Prussian Blue Modified Carbon Nanotube Paste Electrodes: A Comparative Study and a Biochemical Application

Abstract Prussian Blue modification of Single Walled Carbon Nanotubes and the successive assembling of paste electrodes is presented in this article for the first time. The electrochemical feature of such electrodes have been fully evaluated with CV and amperometric experiments. Prussian Blue Nanotube Paste electrodes showed a high sensitivity towards hydrogen peroxide with a LOD of 7.4 × 10−6 M. They also proved to possess a strong stability even at basic pHs (i.e., pH 9 and 10) demonstrating no significant loss of signal after three days of continuous work. In addition, the loading in the paste mixture of glucose oxidase has brought to a sensitive tool for the detection of glucose in a range between 0.1 and 50 mM.
Functionalized poly(ethylene glycol)-grafted polysiloxane monolayers for control of protein binding

Two new grafted polysiloxane polymers, a copolysiloxane and a terpolysiloxane, have been synthesized. Both polysiloxane backbones are grafted with dialkyl disulfide chains and 600 MW methoxy-terminated poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) chains, while the terpolysiloxane also has 3400 MW PEG side chains terminated with N-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS) reactive ester groups. The two polymers spontaneously form monolayers on gold surfaces with estimated thicknesses of 23 and 31 A, respectively. Combined analysis with angle-dependent X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and static time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry showed that most grafted dialkyl disulfide side chains were bound to the gold surface, forming multiple molecular linkages at the monolayer/gold interface. The PEG-grafted chains were concentrated in the outermost exposed region of the monolayers. Protein adsorption on the two immobilized polymer monolayers was examined with surface plasmon resonance (SPR). The copolymer-covered surface resisted protein.
Building Normalized SentiMI to enhance semi-supervised sentiment analysis

Sentiment analysis and polarity detection is a type of text classification where natural language opinion is analyzed in order to classify it into either positive or negative categories. Classification of text into sentiment labels is a very difficult task as opinions expressed in natural language may contain abbreviations, slangs, sarcasm, irony and/or idioms. The proposed research focuses on the use of SentiWordNet3.0 as a labeled corpus for training purposes. We present a complete framework based on a dictionary named Normalized SentiMI (nSentiMI) which is created by calculating point-wise mutual information for each term/part-of-speech pair extracted from SentiWordNet. The proposed framework is applied on a dataset of 50,000 movie reviews to identify the value of a weight factor and then evaluated on an unseen test dataset of 2000 movie reviews. Comparison with state of art techniques also confirms the superiority of proposed approach.
Selective Elimination of Membrane-Damaged Chloroplasts via Microautophagy1[OPEN]

Chlorophagy is a selective autophagy process that removes swollen chloroplasts caused by high light-induced membrane damage via tonoplast-mediated transport in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant chloroplasts constantly accumulate damage caused by visible wavelengths of light during photosynthesis. Our previous study revealed that entire photodamaged chloroplasts are subjected to vacuolar digestion through an autophagy process termed chlorophagy; however, how this process is induced and executed remained poorly understood. In this study, we monitored intracellular induction of chlorophagy in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) leaves and found that mesophyll cells damaged by high visible light displayed abnormal chloroplasts with a swollen shape and 2.5 times the volume of normal chloroplasts. In wild-type plants, the activation of chlorophagy decreased the number of swollen chloroplasts. In the autophagy-deficient autophagy mutants, the swollen chloroplasts persisted, and dysfunctional chloroplasts that had lost chlorophyll fluorescence accumulated in the cytoplasm. Chloroplast swelling and subsequent induction of chlorophagy were suppressed by the application of exogenous mannitol to increase the osmotic pressure outside chloroplasts or by overexpression of VESICLE INDUCING PROTEIN IN PLASTID1, which maintains chloroplast envelope integrity. Microscopic observations of autophagy-related membranes showed that swollen chloroplasts were partly surrounded by autophagosomal structures and were engulfed directly by the tonoplast, as in microautophagy. Our results indicate that an elevation in osmotic potential inside the chloroplast due to high visible light-derived envelope damage results in chloroplast swelling and serves as an induction factor for chlorophagy, and this process mobilizes entire chloroplasts via tonoplast-mediated sequestering to avoid the cytosolic accumulation of dysfunctional chloroplasts.
Partnership duration and HIV serodisclosure among people living with HIV/AIDS in Lilongwe, Malawi

HIV serodisclosure to sexual partners is an important aspect of HIV prevention, treatment, and care. We investigated the association between partnership duration and serodisclosure among HIV-infected individuals in Lilongwe, Malawi. We analyzed data from a cross-sectional study of individuals attending one of two antiretroviral therapy (ART) clinics in Lilongwe. Clients aged 18–45 years and sexually active within the past six months were eligible. Logistic regression was used to estimate the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for the association between partnership duration ≤1 year and serodisclosure. Five hundred and sixty-two participants completed the survey: 308 (55%) women and 254 (45%) men. Median age was 35 years (IQR 30–40), 90% were married, 88% were on ART, and 95% had serodisclosed to their partner. Marital status, knowledge of partner serostatus, and ART use were significantly associated with serodisclosure. Participants in a relationship for ≤1 year were significantly less likely to disclose their serostatus to their partners compared to those in a relationship for >1 year (OR = 0.18, 95% CI: 0.06, 0.58). Couple-based interventions that encourage serodisclosure among partners within their first year of relationship should be developed to decrease HIV transmission, encourage treatment and support.
Empirical experiment on origin destination estimation using automatic licence plate matching on a rural road of Thailand

The growth of economic influences city authorities to plan and build infrastructure. The growth prediction mostly uses modern mathematical models. The accuracy of the model is highly depended on reliable parameters. Two crucial parameters for most models are traffic capacity and average travel speed along road networks and obtained from an origin-destination (OD) estimation. Thus, an OD estimation is necessary to obtain reliable parameters for the predictive models. Traditionally, the OD estimation is performed by human observation; however, an automatic license plate recognition and matching algorithm show potential of obtaining such data. Additionally, the observation is able to perform long term observation which is impractical for human. Therefore, this paper reports an empirical experiment on OD estimation using automatic license plate matching along with a real-world human observation survey in Mukdahan province. The results from both types of surveys are reported and compared. The different results between the both raises an opportunity for researching an optimal method of OD estimation in Thailand.
Cow Body Condition Scoring Management Tool for Monitoring Nutritional Status of Beef Cows

duction, replacement rates and market weight are important. Yet, beef managers must also recognize that controlling costs is a vital component of the profitability equation. For example, feed costs represent the largest single annual expense, amounting to 50 70 percent of the total cost of maintaining a beef cow. Thus, the objective of any good feeding program should be to ensure optimum fertility and production, from every female in the herd as economically as possible. Research and economic studies clearly demonstrate that well-formulated rations and efficient use of the forage resource base, generally reduces feed costs. When used by cow/calf producers, university educators and veterinarians on a consistent and regular basis, body condition scores can be used to monitor the effectiveness of beef cow nutrition programs as environmental conditions and nutrient needs change. However, according to a recent survey conducted by the USDA’s National Animal Health Monitoring System, only 5.5 percent of 799 cow/calf operations surveyed routinely condition score their cows.
Applying Semantic Reasoning in Image Retrieval

Abstract—With the growth of open sensor networks, multiple applications in different domains make use of a large amount of sensor data, resulting in an emerging need to search semantically over heterogeneous datasets. In semantic search, an important challenge consists of bridging the semantic gap between the high-level natural language query posed by the users and the low-level sensor data. In this paper, we show that state-of-the-art techniques in Semantic Modelling, Computer Vision and Human Media Interaction can be combined to apply semantic reasoning in the field of image retrieval. We propose a system, GOOSE, which is a general-purpose search engine that allows users to pose natural language queries to retrieve corresponding images. User queries are interpreted using the Stanford Parser, semantic rules and the Linked Open Data source ConceptNet. Interpreted queries are presented to the user as an intuitive and insightful graph in order to collect feedback that is used for further reasoning and system learning. A smart results ranking and retrieval algorithm allows for fast and effective retrieval of images.
Can unenhanced MRI of the breast replace contrast-enhanced MRI in assessing response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy?

Background The goals of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) are to reduce tumor volume and to offer a prognostic indicator in assessing treatment response. Contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (CE-MRI) is an established method for evaluating response to NAC in patients with breast cancer. Purpose To validate the role of unenhanced MRI (ue-MRI) compared to CE-MRI for assessing response to NAC in women with breast cancer. Material and Methods Seventy-one patients with ongoing NAC for breast cancer underwent MRI before, during, and at the end of NAC. Ue-MRI was performed with T2-weighted sequences with iterative decomposition of water and fat and diffusion-weighted sequences. CE-MRI was performed using three-dimensional T1-weighted sequences before and after administration of gadobenate dimeglumine. Two blinded observers rated ue-MRI and CE-MRI for the evaluation of tumor response. Statistical analysis was performed to compare lesion size and ADC values changes during therapy, as well as inter-observer agreement. Results There were no statistically significant differences between ue-MRI and CE-MRI sequences for evaluation of lesion size at baseline and after every cycle of treatment (P > 0.05). The mean tumor ADC values at baseline and across the cycles of NAC were significantly different for the responder group. Conclusion Ue-MRI can achieve similar results to CE-MRI for the assessment of tumor response to NAC. ADC values can differentiate responders from non-responders.
Angiotensin II enhances the acetylation and release of HMGB1 in RAW264.7 macrophage

The high‐mobility group box‐1 (HMGB1), as a highly conserved ubiquitous DNA‐binding protein, has been widely studied in various diseases, including inflammation and tumor; however, fewer studies were focused on the mechanisms controlling HMGB1 release compared with the function of HMGB1. Previous studies have proven that ANG II can act as a pro‐inflammatory cytokine, both of HMGB1 and ANG II were significantly upregulated in autoimmune diseases; however, the exact role of ANG II in regulating HMGB1 release have not been shown. The present study was to define the effects of ANG II on macrophages and the possible mechanisms in controlling HMGB1 release. Our results showed that ANG II can induce M1 macrophage polarization through upregulated the expression of HMGB1 and caused acetylation of HMGB1 and release via its dissociation from SIRT1, which in a positive feedback upregulates ANG II. Subsequently, HMGB1 inhibitors can reduce the ANG II‐elicited polarize of macrophage. Meanwhile, we show that JAK/STAT pathways play an essential role in ANG II‐induced HMGB1 nuclear translocation, JAK/STAT specific inhibitors can inhibit ANG II‐induced HMGB1 expression. Taken together, our results provide a novel evidence that HMGB1 play a critical role in ANG II mediated macrophage polarization, and we suggest that ANG II mediated HMGB1 release via dissociation from SIRT1, induce hyperacetylation of HMGB1, thus for subsequent release, suggesting that the angiotensin II receptor antagonist is a potential drug target for inhibiting HMGB1 release in inflammation diseases.
Age-Distinct Predictors of Symptomatic Cervicocephalic Atherosclerosis

Background: Little is known about whether vascular risk factors predispose to atherosclerotic stroke depending on age. We evaluated predictors of large vessel atherosclerotic stroke (LVAS) stratified by age in two geographically and racially distinct study populations. Methods: Data collected over a 4-year period in prospectively maintained registries on 3,053 subjects with ischemic cerebrovascular events were analyzed: 1,982 patients from a hospital in South Korea and 1,071 patients admitted to a hospital in Los Angeles, Calif. , USA. Independent vascular risk factor associations with LVAS mechanism were evaluated in three groups stratified by age (years) at symptom onset: young (≤50 years), older (51–75 years), and oldest (>75 years). Results: Altogether at both study sites, 972 (31.8%) patients had LVAS mechanism, of whom 391 (40.2%) were female. Risk factor profiles were not significantly different between LVAS versus other stroke mechanisms. Among young patients, after adjusting for covariates, current smoking was the only predictor of atherosclerotic stroke at both Korean (OR 2.04; 95% CI: 1.13–3.69) and Californian sites (OR 4.78, 95% CI 1.54–14.89), while the metabolic syndrome was the only predictor of atherosclerotic stroke among the older patients (OR 1.58, 95% CI 1.17–2.12 for Korean; OR 1.75, 95% CI 1.07–2.84 for Californian), but not in the young or oldest groups. Conclusions: Across race and region, the estimated impact of vascular risk factors for LVAS varies by age, and this is most prominently seen among persons of less than 76 years of age. Some risk factors have an early effect (smoking) and others an effect that plays out over time.