Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Linking Integrin α6β4-based Cell Adhesion to the Intermediate Filament Cytoskeleton: Direct Interaction between the β4 Subunit and Plectin at Multiple Molecular Sites

Recent studies with patients suffering from epidermolysis bullosa simplex associated with muscular dystrophy and the targeted gene disruption in mice suggested that plectin, a versatile cytoskeletal linker and intermediate filament-binding protein, may play an essential role in hemidesmosome integrity and stabilization. To define plectin's interactions with hemidesmosomal proteins on the molecular level, we studied its interaction with the uniquely long cytoplasmic tail domain of the β4 subunit of the basement membrane laminin receptor integrin α6β4 that has been implicated in connecting the transmembrane integrin complex with hemidesmosome-anchored cytokeratin filaments. In vitro binding and in vivo cotransfection assays, using recombinant mutant forms of both proteins, revealed their direct interaction via multiple molecular domains. Furthermore, we show in vitro self-interaction of integrin β4 cytoplasmic domains, as well as disruption of intermediate filament network arrays and dislocation of hemidesmosome-associated endogenous plectin upon ectopic overexpression of this domain in PtK2 and/or 804G cells. The close association of plectin molecules with hemidesmosomal structures and their apparent random orientation was indicated by gold immunoelectron microscopy using domain-specific antibodies. Our data support a model in which plectin stabilizes hemidesmosomes, via directly interlinking integrin β4 subunits and cytokeratin filaments.
Design and characterization of a micromachined inchworm motor with thermoelastic linkage actuators

A new micromachined inchworm motor has been designed, fabricated and characterized for microassembly applications. In order to implement inchworm motions, a pair of thermoelastic actuator is devised to have five-linkage mechanism for two-dimensional motions in tangential and normal directions. The thermoelastic actuators consist of two amplification bars and two coupling bars with four hinge springs. A forked tip located on the apex of the linkage is used to fit the teeth of shuttle mass for its tangential translation. The thermal expansions of the active bars generate the displacement of the actuator, which is then transformed into a bending of the active hinges to be finally amplified by the amplification bar. The inchworm actuator performed the operation at a step movement of 50 μm with a latch-up by the teeth fitting and a driving force of 50 μN for 0.2 μm tolerance.
Risk and protective factors of health-related quality of life in children and adolescents: Results of the longitudinal BELLA study

Aims Cross-sectional studies demonstrated associations of several sociodemographic and psychosocial factors with generic health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in children and adolescents. However, little is known about factors affecting the change in child and adolescent HRQoL over time. This study investigates potential psychosocial risk and protective factors of child and adolescent HRQoL based on longitudinal data of a German population-based study. Methods Data from the BELLA study gathered at three measurement points (baseline, 1-year and 2-year follow-ups) were investigated in n = 1,554 children and adolescents aged 11 to 17 years at baseline. Self-reported HRQoL was assessed by the KIDSCREEN-10 Index. We examined effects of sociodemographic factors, mental health problems, parental mental health problems, as well as potential personal, familial, and social protective factors on child and adolescent HRQoL at baseline as well as over time using longitudinal growth modeling. Results At baseline, girls reported lower HRQoL than boys, especially in older participants; low socioeconomic status and migration background were both associated with low HRQoL. Mental health problems as well as parental mental health problems were negatively, self-efficacy, family climate, and social support were positively associated with initial HRQoL. Longitudinal analyses revealed less increase of HRQoL in girls than boys, especially in younger participants. Changes in mental health problems were negatively, changes in self-efficacy and social support were positively associated with the change in HRQoL over time. No effects were found for changes in parental mental health problems or in family climate on changes in HRQoL. Moderating effects for self-efficacy, family climate or social support on the relationships between the investigated risk factors and HRQoL were not found. Conclusion The risk factor mental health problems negatively and the resource factors self-efficacy and social support positively affect the development of HRQoL in young people, and should be considered in prevention programs.
4-dehydroxyepisarcovagine A, a new steroidal alkaloid from Sarcococca pruniformis Lindl.

Abstract A new steroidal alkaloid, 4-dehydroxyepisarcovagine A (1), along with seven known alkaloids, sarcovagine D (2), sarcovagenine C (3), epoxysarcovagenine D (4), Pachysamine L (5), Pachysamine E (6), sarcovagine A (7) and sarcovagine B (8), was isolated from the roots and stems of Sarcococca pruniformis Lindl. The structure of compound 1 was elucidated by means of spectroscopic analysis.
Secure and Privacy-Preserving Data Sharing and Collaboration in Mobile Healthcare Social Networks of Smart Cities

Mobile healthcare social networks (MHSN) integrated with connected medical sensors and cloud-based health data storage provide preventive and curative health services in smart cities. The fusion of social data together with real-time health data facilitates a novel paradigm of healthcare big data analysis. However, the collaboration of healthcare and social network service providers may pose a series of security and privacy issues. In this paper, we propose a secure health and social data sharing and collaboration scheme in MHSN. To preserve the data privacy, we realize secure and fine-grained health data and social data sharing with attribute-based encryption and identity-based broadcast encryption techniques, respectively, which allows patients to share their private personal data securely. In order to achieve enhanced data collaboration, we allow the healthcare analyzers to access both the reencrypted health data and the social data with authorization from the data owner based on proxy reencryption. Specifically, most of the health data encryption and decryption computations are outsourced from resource-constrained mobile devices to a health cloud, and the decryption of the healthcare analyzer incurs a low cost. The security and performance analysis results show the security and efficiency of our scheme.
Notions of similarity for systems biology models

Abstract Systems biology models are rapidly increasing in complexity, size and numbers. When building large models, researchers rely on software tools for the retrieval, comparison, combination and merging of models, as well as for version control. These tools need to be able to quantify the differences and similarities between computational models. However, depending on the specific application, the notion of ‘similarity’ may greatly vary. A general notion of model similarity, applicable to various types of models, is still missing. Here we survey existing methods for the comparison of models, introduce quantitative measures for model similarity, and discuss potential applications of combined similarity measures. To frame model comparison as a general problem, we describe a theoretical approach to defining and computing similarities based on a combination of different model aspects. The six aspects that we define as potentially relevant for similarity are underlying encoding, references to biological entities, quantitative behaviour, qualitative behaviour, mathematical equations and parameters and network structure. We argue that future similarity measures will benefit from combining these model aspects in flexible, problem-specific ways to mimic users’ intuition about model similarity, and to support complex model searches in databases.
Motion artifact detection and correction in functional near-infrared spectroscopy: a new hybrid method based on spline interpolation method and Savitzky–Golay filtering

Abstract. Motion artifact contamination in near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) data has become an important challenge in realizing the full potential of NIRS for real-life applications. Various motion correction algorithms have been used to alleviate the effect of motion artifacts on the estimation of the hemodynamic response function. While smoothing methods, such as wavelet filtering, are excellent in removing motion-induced sharp spikes, the baseline shifts in the signal remain after this type of filtering. Methods, such as spline interpolation, on the other hand, can properly correct baseline shifts; however, they leave residual high-frequency spikes. We propose a hybrid method that takes advantage of different correction algorithms. This method first identifies the baseline shifts and corrects them using a spline interpolation method or targeted principal component analysis. The remaining spikes, on the other hand, are corrected by smoothing methods: Savitzky–Golay (SG) filtering or robust locally weighted regression and smoothing. We have compared our new approach with the existing correction algorithms in terms of hemodynamic response function estimation using the following metrics: mean-squared error, peak-to-peak error (Ep), Pearson’s correlation (R2), and the area under the receiver operator characteristic curve. We found that spline-SG hybrid method provides reasonable improvements in all these metrics with a relatively short computational time. The dataset and the code used in this study are made available online for the use of all interested researchers.
Polypropylene/nTiO2 nanocomposites using melt mixing and its investigation on mechanical and thermal properties

This study investigates the preparation of nTiO2 particle using green chemistry approach and its subsequent effect on the properties of isotactic polypropylene (iPP) nanocomposites, which is one of the most suited thermoplastic polymer. The nanocomposite of iPP with TiO2 nanoparticle (0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, and 2.5 wt%) were prepared on Brabender plasticorder, which was then subjected to injection molding to get a dumbbell-shape specimens. Meanwhile, TiO2 nanoparticles (nTiO2) were prepared using ultrasonic cavitation technique using leaf extract of Murraya koenigii. The extraction of leaf was carried out using distilled water as a solvent. The size and shape of nTiO2 particle was confirmed using transmission electron microscope and found to be spherical shape of diameter ∼10–45 nm. The mechanical properties of nTiO2 reinforced iPP composites were studied using universal testing machine. Moreover, thermal properties were studied using Vicat softening temperature, thermogravimetric analyzer, and differential scanning calorimeter. The extent of dispersion of nTiO2 in iPP matrix was studied using field-emission scanning electron microscope and X-ray diffractometer. The mechanical and thermal properties of nTiO2-iPP composites were found to be improved significantly with increasing amount of nTiO2 particles except elongation at break, which is a marginal increment. This improvement in properties (mechanical and thermal) was due to the uniform dispersion of nTiO2 in iPP matrix, which means that chains of polymers were well adhered with the spherical shaper particles. POLYM. COMPOS. , 2015. © 2015 Society of Plastics Engineers
Augmentation cystoplasty in neurogenic bladder

The aim of this review is to update the indications, contraindications, technique, complications, and the tissue engineering approaches of augmentation cystoplasty (AC) in patients with neurogenic bladder. PubMed/MEDLINE was searched for the keywords "augmentation cystoplasty," "neurogenic bladder," and "bladder augmentation. " Additional relevant literature was determined by examining the reference lists of articles identified through the search. The update review of of the indications, contraindications, technique, outcome, complications, and tissue engineering approaches of AC in patients with neurogenic bladder is presented. Although some important progress has been made in tissue engineering AC, conventional AC still has an important role in the surgical treatment of refractory neurogenic lower urinary tract dysfunction.
Diagnostic procedures for osteoporosis in the elderly.

Several recent studies show that bone loss continues in the elderly, and that various regimens are still effective in the elderly to stop bone loss. Thus, diagnostic procedures for osteoporosis should be considered in elderly women, i.e. measurement of bone mass by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry of the hip, spine or forearm that have been shown to predict the subsequent risk of fractures. The rate of bone turnover, and therefore of bone loss, is quite variable from patient to patient and can be assessed with improved sensitivity and specificity with the new markers that are specific for bone formation and bone resorption.
Identification of 64 Novel Genetic Loci Provides an Expanded View on the Genetic Architecture of Coronary Artery Disease

Rationale: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a complex phenotype driven by genetic and environmental factors. Ninety-seven genetic risk loci have been identified to date, but the identification of additional susceptibility loci might be important to enhance our understanding of the genetic architecture of CAD. Objective: To expand the number of genome-wide significant loci, catalog functional insights, and enhance our understanding of the genetic architecture of CAD. Methods and Results: We performed a genome-wide association study in 34 541 CAD cases and 261 984 controls of UK Biobank resource followed by replication in 88 192 cases and 162 544 controls from CARDIoGRAMplusC4D. We identified 75 loci that replicated and were genome-wide significant (P<5×10−8) in meta-analysis, 13 of which had not been reported previously. Next, to further identify novel loci, we identified all promising (P<0.0001) loci in the CARDIoGRAMplusC4D data and performed reciprocal replication and meta-analyses with UK Biobank. This led to the identification of 21 additional novel loci reaching genome-wide significance (P<5×10−8) in meta-analysis. Finally, we performed a genome-wide meta-analysis of all available data revealing 30 additional novel loci (P<5×10−8) without further replication. The increase in sample size by UK Biobank raised the number of reconstituted gene sets from 4.2% to 13.9% of all gene sets to be involved in CAD. For the 64 novel loci, 155 candidate causal genes were prioritized, many without an obvious connection to CAD. Fine mapping of the 161 CAD loci generated lists of credible sets of single causal variants and genes for functional follow-up. Genetic risk variants of CAD were linked to development of atrial fibrillation, heart failure, and death. Conclusions: We identified 64 novel genetic risk loci for CAD and performed fine mapping of all 161 risk loci to obtain a credible set of causal variants. The large expansion of reconstituted gene sets argues in favor of an expanded omnigenic model view on the genetic architecture of CAD.
Processing of the Uni-directional Powdered Phenolic Resin—Bamboo Fiber Composites and Resulting Dynamic Mechanical Properties

The present study aims at development of composites based on powdered phenolic matrices (novolac) and both untreated and alkali treated bamboo fibers by a compression molding technique. Bamboo strips were treated with varying concentration (10, 15, and 20%) of caustic soda solution. The concentration of alkali solution used for treatment is the main influencing factor on the dynamic mechanical and thermal properties. The composites were evaluated by means of dynamic mechanical and differential scanning calorimetry analysis. The results reveal that the elastic and thermal properties are also dependent on the concentration of alkali used for treatment. DSC study reveals that the thermal stability of the cured resin has been lowered by the incorporation of the resin, though the alkali treatment of the fiber imparts better thermal stability to the composites than the untreated one. DMT analysis reveals that the dynamic mechanical properties are best with 20% alkali-treated fiber composites. The success of composite formation of a powdered phenolic resin is evident by the IR study of the composite.
Neurotransmitter-induced hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis responsiveness is defective in inflammatory disease-susceptible Lewis rats: in vivo and in vitro studies suggesting globally defective hypothalamic secretion of corticotropin-releasing hormone.

The susceptibility of female Lewis (LEW/N) rats to the development of streptococcal cell wall (SCW)-induced arthritis and other autoimmune phenomena is associated with the inability of their hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis to adequately respond to inflammatory stimuli. In contrast, resistance to the development of SCW-induced arthritis and other inflammatory autoimmune manifestations in histocompatible female Fischer rats (F344/N) is related to their intact HPA axis response to inflammatory mediators. To evaluate the mechanism and the specificity of the HPA axis defect in LEW/N rats, we examined the ability of three major excitatory neurotransmitter systems to activate the HPA axis in both Lewis and Fisher rats. The responsiveness of plasma ACTH and corticosterone to the cholinergic muscarinic receptor agonist arecoline, the alpha 1-adrenergic receptor agonist methoxamine and the serotonin (5-HT) type 2 receptor agonist 1-(2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodophenyl)2-aminopropane were significantly blunted and/or abolished in LEW/N compared to F344/N rats. To localize the HPA axis defect to the hypothalamic CRH neuron, we evaluated the ability of explanted hypothalami from the two strains to secrete immunoreactive CRH in vitro, in response to acetylcholine (ACh), norepinephrine (NE), 5-HT and the 5-HT agonist quipazine. LEW/N hypothalami released less immunoreactive CRH (iCRH) in response to ACh, NE, 5-HT and quipazine than F344/N hypothalami. The dose-response curves of these compounds in the former were shifted to the right and/or abolished, suggesting decreased sensitivity of LEW/N hypothalami to these neurotransmitters. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Improving EEG-Based Motor Imagery Classification for Real-Time Applications Using the QSA Method

We present an improvement to the quaternion-based signal analysis (QSA) technique to extract electroencephalography (EEG) signal features with a view to developing real-time applications, particularly in motor imagery (IM) cognitive processes. The proposed methodology (iQSA, improved QSA) extracts features such as the average, variance, homogeneity, and contrast of EEG signals related to motor imagery in a more efficient manner (i.e., by reducing the number of samples needed to classify the signal and improving the classification percentage) compared to the original QSA technique. Specifically, we can sample the signal in variable time periods (from 0.5 s to 3 s, in half-a-second intervals) to determine the relationship between the number of samples and their effectiveness in classifying signals. In addition, to strengthen the classification process a number of boosting-technique-based decision trees were implemented. The results show an 82.30% accuracy rate for 0.5 s samples and 73.16% for 3 s samples. This is a significant improvement compared to the original QSA technique that offered results from 33.31% to 40.82% without sampling window and from 33.44% to 41.07% with sampling window, respectively. We can thus conclude that iQSA is better suited to develop real-time applications.
Side-opened out-of-plane microneedles for microfluidic transdermal liquid transfer

We present the first hollow out-of-wafer-plane silicon microneedles having openings in the shaft rather than having an orifice at the tip. These structures are well suited for transdermal microfluidic applications, e.g., drug or vaccine delivery. The developed deep-reactive ion etching (DRIE) process allows fabrication of two dimensional, mechanically highly resistant needle arrays offering low resistance to liquid flows and a large exposure area between the fluid and the tissue. The presented process does not require much wafer handling and only two photolithography steps are required. Using a 3/spl times/3 mm/sup 2/ chip in a typical application, e.g., vaccine delivery, a 100 /spl mu/l volume of aqueous fluid injected in 2 s would cause a pressure drop of less than 2 kPa. The presented needles are approximately 210 /spl mu/m long.
Strongly Unforgeable Certificateless Signature Resisting Attacks from Malicious-But-Passive KGC

In digital signature, strong unforgeability requires that an attacker cannot forge a new signature on any previously signed/new messages, which is attractive in both theory and practice. Recently, a strongly unforgeable certificateless signature (CLS) scheme without random oracles was presented. In this paper, we firstly show that the scheme fails to achieve strong unforgeability by forging a new signature on a previously signed message under its adversarial model. Then, we point out that the scheme is also vulnerable to the malicious-but-passive key generation center (MKGC) attacks. Finally, we propose an improved strongly unforgeable CLS scheme in the standard model. The improved scheme not only meets the requirement of strong unforgeability but also withstands the MKGC attacks. To the best of our knowledge, we are the first to prove a CLS scheme to be strongly unforgeable against the MKGC attacks without using random oracles.
Resilient Corner-Based Vehicle Velocity Estimation

This paper presents longitudinal and lateral velocity estimators by considering the effect of the suspension compliance (SC) at each corner (tire) for ground vehicles. The estimators are developed to be resilient to sensor measurement inaccuracies, model and tire parameter uncertainties, switchings in observer gains, and measurement failures. More particularly, the stability of the observer is investigated, and its robustness to road condition uncertainties and sensor noises is analyzed. The sensitivity of the observers’ stability and performance to the model parameter changes is discussed. Moreover, the stability of the velocity observers for two cases of arbitrary and stochastic switching gains is investigated. The stochastic stability of the observer in the presence of faulty measurements is also studied, and it is shown that if the probability of a faulty measurement occurring is less than a certain threshold, the observer error dynamics will remain stochastically stable. The performance of the observer and the effect of the SC are validated via several road experiments.
Characterizations of Zeolite, Polyaniline and Zeolite/Polyaniline as Antifouling Materials for Marine Applications

In this paper, the basic synthesis of encapsulated zeolite, polyaniline and zeolite/polyaniline composite as self-healing core materials for antifouling coatings was studied through interfacial polymerization. All materials were synthesized by using ammonium persulphate as an oxidant agent. Field Emission Scanning electron microscope (FESEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) techniques were used to characterize the synthesized materials. This paper aims to study on synthesis and characterization of zeolite, polyaniline and zeolite/polyaniline composite as self-healing core materials for antifouling applications. FESEM revealed that a smooth and homogeneous microstructure of materials. XRD results showed the high crystalline nature of all materials. FTIR showed the successful synthesis of the three materials. Finally, DSC results revealed appreciable Thermal properties of the developed materials.