Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of harvest and selected cartilage repair procedures on the physical and biochemical properties of articular cartilage in the canine knee

This study utilizes a canine model to quantify changes in articular cartilage 15–18 weeks after a knee joint is subjected to surgical treatment of isolated chondral defects. Clinical and experimental treatment of articular cartilage defects may include implantation of matrix materials or cells, or both. Three cartilage repair methods were evaluated: microfracture, microfracture and implantation of a type‐II collagen matrix, and implantation of an autologous chondrocyte‐seeded collagen matrix. The properties of articular cartilage in other knee joints subjected to harvest of articular cartilage from the trochlear ridge (to obtain cells for the cell‐seeded procedure) were also evaluated. Physical properties (thickness, equilibrium compressive modulus, dynamic compressive stiffness, and streaming potential) and biochemical composition (hydration, glycosaminoglycan content, and DNA content) of the cartilage from sites distant to the surgical treatment were compared with values measured for site‐matched controls in untreated knee joints. No significant differences were seen in joints subjected to any of the three cartilage repair procedures. However, a number of changes were induced by the harvest operation. The largest changes (displaying up to 3‐fold increases) were seen in dynamic stiffness and streaming potential of patellar groove cartilage from joints subjected to the harvest procedure. Whether the changes reported will lead to osteoarthritic degeneration is unknown, but this study provides evidence that the harvest procedure associated with autologous cell transplantation for treatment of chondral defects may result in changes in the articular cartilage in the joint.
LIDAR SYSTEM SELF-CALIBRATION USING PLANAR PATCHES FROM PHOTOGRAMMETRIC DATA

The ever improving capabilities of the direct geo-referencing technology is having a positive impact on the widespread adoption of LIDAR systems for the acquisition of dense and accurate surface models over extended areas. Unlike photogrammetric techniques, derived footprints from a LIDAR system are not based on redundant measurements, which are manipulated in an adjustment procedure. The accuracy of derived LIDAR footprints depends on the quality of the bore-sighting parameters among the system components: namely, the laser, GPS, and INS units. Current methodologies for estimating the bore-sighting parameters of a LIDAR system are based on complicated and sequential calibration procedures. This paper presents a new methodology for estimating the LIDAR bore-sighting parameters through a tight integration procedure that involves photogrammetric data and raw measurements from a LIDAR system. Then, the LIDAR bore-sighting parameters are determined by minimizing the normal distances between the derived LIDAR footprints and the photogrammetric patches. The whole procedure is implemented in an integrated bundle adjustment that incorporates the photogrammetric data as well as the raw LIDAR measurements. An analysis will be conducted to determine the optimum configuration of the control patches as well as the flight pattern for reliable estimation of the bore-sighting parameters while avoiding possible correlations. Besides the estimation of the bore-sighting parameters, the proposed methodology will also ensure the co-registration of the photogrammetric and LIDAR data to a common reference frame, which will have a positive impact on further products such as orthophotos and generated photo-realistic 3D models. The findings of the conducted analysis will be verified through experimental results from simulated data. * Corresponding author.
Emergency evacuation simulation in staircases considering evacuees' physical and psychological status

Building evacuation in case of emergency events such as fire and smoke has long been recognized as a crucial issue. Stair is the main egress, whether the staircases meet the criterion of building safety is thus important. But it is difficult or even impossible to test staircases in actual emergency events. In view of this, simulation is a proper method, and how to improve evacuation simulation in staircases is important. This problem, however, is difficult because several important evacuees' physical factors, which are ignored by many studies, should be considered in simulation model, and evacuees' psychology and moving uncertainties need to be considered, and evacuation experiments are needed to validate the simulation model. In this paper, a new cellular automata model is established. Several crucial physical factors and how evacuee's psychology influences their behaviors are introduced into this model. To simulate evacuees' moving uncertainties, a split-and-recombine grid map and a group of novel transition rules are introduced. To validate this simulation, a fire drill held in a high-rise building was video recorded. It is found that the simulation results are similar to the fire drill results according to statistical method. Several interesting phenomena, which happen in actual emergency evacuation events, are captured in the simulation process such as overtaking, merging, and going along the inner side of a staircase. The structure of this model is simple, and it is easy to be further developed and utilized in different buildings with various kinds of occupants such as children, adult and the old.
Tree‐structured gatekeeping tests in clinical trials with hierarchically ordered multiple objectives

This paper discusses a new class of multiple testing procedures, tree‐structured gatekeeping procedures, with clinical trial applications. These procedures arise in clinical trials with hierarchically ordered multiple objectives, for example, in the context of multiple dose–control tests with logical restrictions or analysis of multiple endpoints. The proposed approach is based on the principle of closed testing and generalizes the serial and parallel gatekeeping approaches developed by Westfall and Krishen (J. Statist. Planning Infer. 2001; 99:25–41) and Dmitrienko et al. (Statist. Med. 2003; 22:2387–2400). The proposed testing methodology is illustrated using a clinical trial with multiple endpoints (primary, secondary and tertiary) and multiple objectives (superiority and non‐inferiority testing) as well as a dose‐finding trial with multiple endpoints. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Common BRAF(V600E)-directed pathway mediates widespread epigenetic silencing in colorectal cancer and melanoma

Significance In many cancers, specific genes affecting cellular growth control are hypermethylated and transcriptionally repressed, a phenomenon known as epigenetic silencing. However, the mechanistic basis of epigenetic silencing is not well understood. One model, called the “instructive model,” posits that epigenetic silencing occurs through a specific pathway, comprising a defined set of components, initiated by an oncoprotein. We have previously shown that in colorectal cancer, B-Raf proto-oncogene (BRAF) directs widespread promoter methylation and epigenetic silencing by up-regulating the transcriptional repressor v-maf avian musculoaponeurotic fibrosarcoma oncogene homolog G (MAFG), which, in turn, recruits a set of corepressors, resulting in transcriptional repression. Here, we show that this same BRAF-directed pathway also mediates widespread epigenetic silencing in melanoma. Our results provide strong support for the instructive model of oncoprotein-directed epigenetic silencing. During cancer development, it is well established that many genes, including tumor suppressor genes, are hypermethylated and transcriptionally repressed, a phenomenon referred to as epigenetic silencing. In general, the factors involved in, and the mechanistic basis of, epigenetic silencing during cancer development are not well understood. We have recently described an epigenetic silencing pathway, directed by the oncogenic B-Raf proto-oncogene (BRAF) variant BRAF(V600E), that mediates widespread epigenetic silencing in colorectal cancer (CRC). Notably, the BRAF(V600E) mutation is also present in 50–70% of melanomas. Here, we show that the same pathway we identified in CRC also directs epigenetic silencing of a similar set of genes in BRAF-positive melanoma. In both CRC and melanoma, BRAF(V600E) promotes epigenetic silencing through up-regulation of v-maf avian musculoaponeurotic fibrosarcoma oncogene homolog G (MAFG), a transcriptional repressor with sequence-specific DNA-binding activity. The elevated concentration of MAFG drives DNA binding on the promoter. Promoter-bound MAFG recruits a set of corepressors that includes its heterodimeric partner BTB and CNC homology 1, basic leucine zipper transcription factor 1 (BACH1), the chromatin remodeling factor chromodomain helicase DNA-binding protein 8 (CHD8), and the DNA methyltransferase DNMT3B, resulting in hypermethylation and transcriptional silencing. Our results reveal a common BRAF(V600E)-directed transcriptional regulatory pathway that mediates epigenetic silencing in unrelated solid tumors and provide strong support for an instructive model of oncoprotein-directed epigenetic silencing.
Animating and Interacting with Graphical Evidence : Bringing Courtrooms to Life with Virtual Reconstructions

Three-dimensional (3D) reconstructions of evidence offer great potential in the field of forensic science. They can help in the presentation of complex spatial and temporal data to a non-technical audience. In addition to these 3D technologies, the digital age has brought a plethora of new evidence forms, evidence detection methods, and means of evidence presentation. This position paper describes the previous use of 3D reconstruction evidence in courtrooms. It then outlines the forensic process in terms of tasks and phases involved, and describes the state of the art in terms of digital technology usage. The paper then presents a taxonomy of these phases in terms of a technology continuum. It goes on to highlight areas where new applications of 3D digital technologies could be used to enhance particular phases of the forensic process. This paper does not deal with security issues relevant to the devices discussed.
Developments in polymeric devices for oral insulin delivery

Background: Development of improved oral insulin administration is necessary for the treatment of diabetes mellitus, to overcome the problem of daily subcutaneous injections. The vast amount of literature data on oral insulin delivery prompted us to cover this area in a review. Objective: Insulin delivery using polymeric devices is discussed, with an ultimate aim of addressing the technological development in this area. Methods: The development of oral delivery devices for insulin using hydrogels and micro/nanoparticles is discussed with reference to polymers. These efforts must be directed to increase the residence time of insulin near the intestinal absorptive cells. Results/conclusion: The published results on oral insulin delivery devices, particularly on inter-polymer complexes of the grafted copolymers, are discussed in greater depth. The use of absorption enhancers like cyclodextrins, bile salts and surfactants is covered. The state-of-the-art technology and challenges in this area are discussed, with typical examples.
PARTIAL PURIFICATION OF DROSOPHILA GLUTAMATE DECARBOXYLASE 1

Abstract— A 600‐fold purification of l‐glutamatc decarboxylasc from Drosophila melanogaster Oregon R Wild Type has been achieved. The purification procedures involve the initial homogenization of whole flies in dilute potassium phosphate buffer containing dithiothreitol and phenylmethyl sulfonyl fluoride as protectors, followed by a series of column chromatography with hydroxylapatite, Sephadex G‐150 and DEAE‐Sephadex. The purified enzyme has an apparent Km of 11 mm for l‐glutamate and requires a 40mm‐K+ for maximum activity.
A low-power 22-bit incremental ADC

This paper describes a low-power 22-bit incremental ADC, including an on-chip digital filter and a low-noise/low-drift oscillator, realized in a 0.6-mum CMOS process. It incorporates a novel offset-cancellation scheme based on fractal sequences, a novel high-accuracy gain control circuit, and a novel reduced-complexity realization for the on-chip sinc filter. The measured output noise was 0.25 ppm (2.5 muVRMS), the DC offset 2 muV, the gain error 2 ppm, and the INL 4 ppm. The chip operates with a single 2.7-5 V supply, and draws only 120 muA current during conversion
WLAN preamble detection methods in a multi-antenna, multi-standard software defined radio architecture

This paper presents a comparison of different detec tion methods which could be used to sense a frequency band in order to select a particular channel and a particul ar communication standard in a wideband melted signal. Here we focus on a generic WLAN receiver based on SDR principles, capable of sampling several overlapping channels to demodulate simultaneously concurrent users possi bly using different waveforms.
An Analytical Model of Hardware Transactional Memory

This paper investigates the problem of deriving a white box performance model of Hardware Transactional Memory (HTM) systems. The proposed model targets TSX, a popular implementation of HTM integrated in Intel processors starting with the Haswell family in 2013.An inherent difficulty with building white-box models of commercially available HTM systems is that their internals are either vaguely documented or undisclosed by their manufacturers. We tackle this challenge by designing a set of experiments that allow us to shed lights on the internal mechanisms used in TSX to manage conflicts among transactions and to track their readsets and writesets.We exploit the information inferred from this experimental study to build an analytical model of TSX focused on capturing the impact on performance of two key mechanisms: the concurrency control scheme and the management of transactional meta-data in the processor's caches. We validate the proposed model by means of an extensive experimental study encompassing a broad range of workloads executed on a real system.
Acute and joint toxicity of twelve substituted benzene compounds to Propsilocerus akamusi Tokunaga

This study investigated the toxic effects of 12 substituted benzenes exposed to Propsilocerus akamusi larvae singly and as mixtures. Their toxicities were quantified in terms of median effective concentration (EC50) killing 50% of the larvae. For individual substituted benzenes to 4th-instar P. akamusi larvae, the toxicity was in decreasing order of p-chlorophenol > nitrobenzene > phenol > 1,2-dimethylbenzene > 1,3-dimethylbenzene > chlorobenzene > p-phenylenediamine > 1,4-dimethylbenzene > m-phenylenediamine > methylbenzene > benzene > aniline. The order of toxicity among three isomers of dimethylbenzene was 1,2-dimethylbenzene > 1,3-dimethylbenzene > 1,4-dimethylbenzene while p-phenylenediamine > m-phenylenediamine. The binary substituted benzene compounds’ toxicities were evaluated by toxic unit (TU), additive index (AI), mixture toxicity index (MTI) and similarity parameter index (λ). The evaluation results of TU and MTI for 9 substituted benzene compounds were completely consistent while the results of AI were the same as the results of λ based on 24 h EC50 of binary substituted benzenes. The evaluation results of 10 substituted benzene compounds were consistent using TU, MTI, AI and λ evaluation methods. 52.63% and 47.37% of binary substituted benzene tests on P. akamusi larvae showed synergism and partial addition/antagonism, respectively, under mixtures of equal proportions. These results suggest that substituted benzenes indicate acute and binary joint toxicity to P. akamusi.
Utilization and Adverse Outcomes of Percutaneous Left Atrial Appendage Closure for Stroke Prevention in Atrial Fibrillation in the United States: Influence of Hospital Volume

Background—Safety data on percutaneous left atrial appendage closure arises from centers with considerable expertise in the procedure or from clinical trial, which might not be reproducible in clinical practice. We sought to estimate the frequency and predictors of adverse outcomes and costs of percutaneous left atrial appendage closure procedure in the US. Methods and Results—The data were obtained from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample from the years 2006 to 2010. The Nationwide Inpatient Sample is the largest all-payer inpatient data set in the US. Complications were calculated using patient safety indicators and International Classification of Diseases-Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification codes. Annual hospital volume was calculated using unique hospital identifiers. Weights provided by the Nationwide Inpatient Sample were used to generate national estimates. A total of 268 (weighted=1288) procedures were analyzed. The overall composite rate of mortality or any adverse event was 24.3% (65), with 3.4% patients required open cardiac surgery after procedure. Average length of stay was 4.61±1.05 days and cost of care was 26 024±34 651. Annual hospital procedural volume was significantly associated with reduced complications and mortality (every unit increase: odds ratio, 0.89; 95% confidence interval, 0.85–0.94; P<0.001), decrease in length of stay (every unit increase: hazard ratio, 0.95; 95% confidence interval, 0.92–0.98; P<0.001) and cost of care (every unit increase: hazard ratio, 0.96; 95% confidence interval, 0.93–0.98; P<0.001). Conclusions—Our study demonstrates that the frequency of inhospital adverse outcomes associated with percutaneous left atrial appendage closure is higher in the real-world population than in clinical trials. We also demonstrate that higher annual hospital volume is associated with safer procedures, with lower length of stay and cost.
Subliminal Smells can Guide Social Preferences

It is widely accepted that unconscious processes can modulate judgments and behavior, but do such influences affect one's daily interactions with other people? Given that olfactory information has relatively direct access to cortical and subcortical emotional circuits, we tested whether the affective content of subliminal odors alters social preferences. Participants rated the likeability of neutral faces after smelling pleasant, neutral, or unpleasant odors delivered below detection thresholds. Odor affect significantly shifted likeability ratings only for those participants lacking conscious awareness of the smells, as verified by chance-level trial-by-trial performance on an odor-detection task. Across participants, the magnitude of this priming effect decreased as sensitivity for odor detection increased. In contrast, heart rate responses tracked odor valence independently of odor awareness. These results indicate that social preferences are subject to influences from odors that escape awareness, whereas the availability of conscious odor information may disrupt such effects.
Two year followup of anterior and vertical atlantoaxial subluxation in ankylosing spondylitis.

OBJECTIVE To describe the clinical and radiological 2-yr followup of 22 patients with anterior atlantoaxial subluxation (AAS) from a prospective cohort of patients with ankylosing spondylitis. METHODS The 2-yr assessment included a structured questionnaire for rheumatologic and neurologic complaints and lateral cervical radiographs in maximal flexion view. Initial and 2-yr radiographs were assessed blind to patient data. The course of anterior AAS was classified as unchanged (< 1 mm), progression (> or = 1 mm) or regression (> or = 1 mm) at 2 yrs compared with baseline. Vertical AAS was classified using the Sakaguchi-Kauppi method. Magnification factor was corrected using the ratio of C3 width. RESULTS Anterior AAS was detected in 22 patients at baseline examination. Two patients also had vertical AAS; 86% were male. Mean age was 33 +/- 9 yrs and mean disease duration was 12 +/- 7 yrs. At followup, one patient had died of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, 3 could not be reached, and 2 had undergone surgical fusion due to severe myelopathy and now showed complete neurological recovery. Of the remaining 16 patients, 7 (32%) showed progression and 9 (41%) showed no change in the C1-odontoid distance. Vertical AAS developed in one patient. After the 2-yr assessment, 3 additional patients had surgical fusion because of notable progression of AAS, despite absence of neurological signs. CONCLUSION Anterior AAS progressed in a number of these patients in the 2 yrs following its detection, and with or without neurological signs, surgical management was thought appropriate in a considerable number of them.
Multi-Jumps

We provide clear-cut evidence for economically and statistically significant multivariate jumps (multi-jumps) occurring simultaneously in stock prices by using a novel nonparametric test based on smoothed estimators of integrated variances. Detecting multi-jumps in a panel of liquid stocks is more statistically powerful and economically informative than the detection of univariate jumps in the market index. On the contrary of index jumps, multi-jumps can indeed be associated with sudden and large increases of the variance risk-premium, and possess a statistically significant forecasting power for future volatility and correlations which implies a sizable deterioration in the diversification potential of asset allocation.
Color-Related Signals in the Primate Superior Colliculus

Color is important for segmenting objects from backgrounds, which can in turn facilitate visual search in complex scenes. However, brain areas involved in orienting the eyes toward colored stimuli in our environment are not believed to have access to color information. Here, we show that neurons in the intermediate layers of the monkey superior colliculus (SC), a critical structure for the production of saccadic eye movements, can respond to isoluminant color stimuli with the same magnitude as a maximum contrast luminance stimulus. In contrast, neurons from the superficial SC layers showed little color-related activity. Crucially, visual onset latencies were 30–35 ms longer for color, implying that luminance and chrominance information reach the SC through distinct pathways and that the observed color-related activity is not the result of residual luminance signals. Furthermore, these differences in visual onset latency translated directly into differences in saccadic reaction time. The results demonstrate that the saccadic system can signal the presence of chromatic stimuli only one stage from the brainstem premotor circuitry that drives the eyes.