Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Relationship Between Muscle Fatigue and Balance in the Elderly

Objective To investigate the effect of gastrocnemius muscle fatigue on postural control ability in elderly people. Methods Twenty-four healthy elderly people participated in this study. The postural control ability of single leg standing was evaluated with Health Improvement & Management System (HIMS) posturography before and after fatiguing exercises. After evaluating initial postural control ability, the maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) of ankle plantarflexion was assessed using a surface electromyogram from the medial belly of the gastrocnemius muscle. After a 5-minute resting period, subjects began submaximal isometric ankle plantarflexion (40% MVC) until 40% of MVC was dropped below 95% for 5 seconds, or subject couldn't continue working out due to muscle fatigue. And postural control ability was assessed after fatiguing exercise. The mean deviation of center of pressure (COP), length of COP movement, occupied area of COP were measured, and analyzed by paired t-test. Results Mediolateral deviation, length of COP movement, and area of COP occupied were increased after fatiguing exercise of the gastrocnemius muscle. Anteroposterior deviation and length of COP movement were also increased, but had low statistical significance. Conclusion These findings suggest that the gastrocnemius muscle fatigue affects mediolateral stability and accuracy during single leg standing in elderly people. Therefore muscle endurance training is necessary to prevent falls in elderly people.
Multimedia Resource Replication Strategy for a Pervasive Peer-to-Peer Environment

The computer world is experiencing a paradigm shift towards context-aware pervasive computing, where diverse computer devices communicate with each other through different network access technologies, and allow resource access based on user preferences. P2P computing is an area which will be affected by this new trend. In this paper, we proposed a resource replication strategy for context-aware P2P computing in a pervasive environment. The replication strategy takes an active approach through using the resource request rate as the primary metric to trigger the replication process, and then adaptively replicate resources into various configuration states according to the properties of peers (i.e., terminal capabilities and user preferences) and the size of peer clusters. Also, the strategy uses peer related information stored on super peers to determine which peers should be selected to perform adaptive replications and where the resulting replicas should be stored. Simulation results show that the proposed strategy reduces network delays while increasing resource hit rate in comparison to commercial super peer P2P systems and random replication strategies.
Efficient Hair Rendering under Dynamic, Low-Frequency Environmental Light Using Spherical Harmonics

SUMMARY We present an algorithm for e ﬃ cient rendering of animated hair under a dynamic, low-frequency lighting environment. We use spherical harmonics (SH) to represent the environmental light. The trans-mittances between a point on a hair strand and the light sources are also represented by SH functions. Then, a convolution of SH functions and the scattering function of a hair strand is precomputed. This allows us to e ﬃ - ciently compute the intensity at a point on the hair. However, the computation of the transmittance is very time-consuming. We address this problem by using a voxel-based approach: the transmittance is computed by using a voxelized hair model. We further accelerate the computation by sampling the voxels. By using our method, we can render a hair model consisting of tens of thousands of hair strands at interactive frame rates.
Expression of Muscle-Specific MiRNA 206 in the Progression of Disease in a Murine SMA Model

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a severe neuromuscular disease, the most common in infancy, and the third one among young people under 18 years. The major pathological landmark of SMA is a selective degeneration of lower motor neurons, resulting in progressive skeletal muscle denervation, atrophy, and paralysis. Recently, it has been shown that specific or general changes in the activity of ribonucleoprotein containing micro RNAs (miRNAs) play a role in the development of SMA. Additionally miRNA-206 has been shown to be required for efficient regeneration of neuromuscular synapses after acute nerve injury in an ALS mouse model. Therefore, we correlated the morphology and the architecture of the neuromuscular junctions (NMJs) of quadriceps, a muscle affected in the early stage of the disease, with the expression levels of miRNA-206 in a mouse model of intermediate SMA (SMAII), one of the most frequently used experimental model. Our results showed a decrease in the percentage of type II fibers, an increase in atrophic muscle fibers and a remarkable accumulation of neurofilament (NF) in the pre-synaptic terminal of the NMJs in the quadriceps of SMAII mice. Furthermore, molecular investigation showed a direct link between miRNA-206-HDAC4-FGFBP1, and in particular, a strong up-regulation of this pathway in the late phase of the disease. We propose that miRNA-206 is activated as survival endogenous mechanism, although not sufficient to rescue the integrity of motor neurons. We speculate that early modulation of miRNA-206 expression might delay SMA neurodegenerative pathway and that miRNA-206 could be an innovative, still relatively unexplored, therapeutic target for SMA.
ASSOCIATION RULE MINING AND CLASSIFIER APPROACH FOR QUANTITATIVE SPOT RAINFALL PREDICTION

Rainfall prediction is usually done for a region but spot quantitative precipitation forecast is required for individual township, harbours and stations with vital installation. A methodology using data mining technique has been tried for a coastal station, Cuddalore in East Coast of India and the results are presented here. The method gives good result for the prediction of daily rainfall 24 hours ahead. There are three main parts in this work. First, the obtained raw data was filtered using discretization approach based on the best fit ranges. Then, association mining has been performed on dataset using Predictive Apriori algorithm. Thirdly, the data has been validated using K classifier approach. Results show that the overall classification accuracy of the data mining technique is satisfactory.
Comparison of strain‐specific antibody responses during primary and secondary infections with respiratory syncytial virus

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a major cause of lower respiratory tract infection in infants. RSV repeatedly reinfects individuals: this may be due in part to the variability of the attachment (G) glycoprotein and changes in this protein have been shown to be under positive selection. Infants experiencing their primary infection show a genotype‐specific antibody response with respect to the variable regions of the G protein. A prospective study of RSV infections in a birth cohort in rural Kenya identified infants experiencing repeat infections with RSV. The serum antibody responses of these infants were investigated with respect to their anti‐RSV reactions in an enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and the specificity of the response to a variable region of the G protein by ELISA and immunoblotting using bacterially expressed polypeptides representative of the currently circulating strains of RSV. The results presented here confirm that the primary antibody response to the variable regions of the G protein is generally genotype‐specific, but show that the response may become cross‐reactive (at least within group A viruses) during secondary infections even where the secondary infection is of the same genotype as the initial infection. Also, some infants who did not mount a detectable antibody response to whole RSV antigens during their primary infection nevertheless showed genotype‐specific responses to the G protein. In conclusion, the strain‐specific nature of the serum antibody response to the variable regions of the G protein of RSV observed in primary infections can become cross‐reactive in subsequent reinfections. J. Med. Virol. 79:1943–1950, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Etude préliminaire de la perception précoce des voyelles labialisées par des auditeurs déficients visuels

The present research deals with auditory effects of anticipatory lip movements in [V1CV2] sequences, where V1 is vowel [i], C is the fricative [s] and V2 a rounded vowel [Vlab]. The aim of the investigation is triple: first, we wanted to observe for potential anticipatory acoustic effects of vowel rounding, when a speaker pronounces sequences which include vowels [y], [i ], [u] or [o] in the V2 position. Secondly, attention is paid to the moment when sighted listeners may start to perceive probable anticipatory effects of the rounded vowel. Thirdly, the core purpose of this work was to analyse the behaviour of blind subjects carrying out the same experimental tasks. Results show that vowels [y] and [u] are perceived earlier than [i ] and [o] by both control and blind subjects. When data for the control group and the group of blind subjects are compared, it is noticed that blind subjects perceive rounded vowels earlier than control sighted subjects.
Relationship between Drug/Metabolite Exposure and Impairment of Excretory Transport Function

The quantitative impact of excretory transport modulation on the systemic exposure to xenobiotics and derived metabolites is poorly understood. This article presents fundamental relationships between exposure and loss of a specific excretory process that contributes to overall clearance. The mathematical relationships presented herein were explored on the basis of hepatic excretory data for polar metabolites formed in the livers of various transporter-deficient rodents. Experimental data and theoretical relationships indicated that the fold change in exposure is governed by the relationship, 1/(1 – fe), where fe is the fraction excreted by a particular transport protein. Loss of function of a transport pathway associated with fe < 0.5 will have minor consequences (<2-fold) on exposure, but exposure will increase exponentially in response to loss of function of transport pathways with fe > 0.5. These mathematical relationships may be extended to other organs, such as the intestine and kidney, as well as to systemic drug exposure. Finally, the relationship between exposure and fe is not only applicable to complete loss of function of a transport pathway but also can be extended to partial inhibition scenarios by modifying the equation with the ratio of the inhibitor concentration and inhibition constant.
Send Orders of Reprints at Reprints@benthamscience.net a Description of the Methodology Used in an Overview of Reviews to Evaluate Evidence on the Treatment, Harms, Diagnosis/classification, Prognosis and Outcomes Used in the Management of Neck Pain

Background: Neck Pain (NP) is a common musculoskeletal disorder and the literature provides conflicting evidence about its management. Objective: To describe the methodology used to conduct an overview of reviews (OvR) and to characterize the distribution and risk of bias profiles across the evidence for all areas of NP management. Narrative and SR and clinical practice guidelines (CPG) evaluating the efficacy of treatment (benefits and harms), diagnosis/classification, prognosis, and outcomes were eligible. For treatment, articles were limited to SRs from 2005 forward. Risk of bias of SR was assessed with the AMSTAR; the AGREE II was used to critically appraise the CPGs. Results: From 2476 articles, 508 were eligible for full text screening. A total of 341 articles were included. Treatment (n=117) had the greatest yield. Other clinical areas had less literature (diagnosis=54, prognosis=16, outcomes=27, harms=16). There were no SR for classification and narrative reviews were problematic for this topic. There was great overlap across different databases within each clinical area except for those for outcome measures. Risk of bias assessment using the AMSTAR of eligible SRs showed a similar trend across different clinical areas. Conclusion: A summary of methods used to review the literature in five clinical areas of NP management have been described. The challenges of selecting and synthesizing eligible articles in an OvR required customized solutions across different areas of clinical focus.
Molecular and metabolomic effects of voluntary running wheel activity on skeletal muscle in late middle-aged rats

We examined the molecular and metabolomic effects of voluntary running wheel activity in late middle‐aged male Sprague Dawley rats (16–17 months). Rats were assigned either continuous voluntary running wheel access for 8 weeks (RW+) or cage‐matched without running wheel access (RW−). The 9 RW+ rats averaged 83 m/day (range: 8–163 m), yet exhibited both 84% reduced individual body weight gain (4.3 g vs. 26.3 g, P = 0.02) and 6.5% reduced individual average daily food intake (20.6 g vs. 22.0 g, P = 0.09) over the 8 weeks. Hindlimb muscles were harvested following an overnight fast. Muscle weights and myofiber cross‐sectional area showed no difference between groups. Western blots of gastrocnemius muscle lysates with a panel of antibodies suggest that running wheel activity improved oxidative metabolism (53% increase in PGC1α, P = 0.03), increased autophagy (36% increase in LC3B‐II/‐I ratio, P = 0.03), and modulated growth signaling (26% increase in myostatin, P = 0.04). RW+ muscle also showed 43% increased glycogen phosphorylase expression (P = 0.04) and 45% increased glycogen content (P = 0.04). Metabolomic profiling of plantaris and soleus muscles indicated that even low‐volume voluntary running wheel activity is associated with decreases in many long‐chain fatty acids (e.g., palmitoleate, myristoleate, and eicosatrienoate) relative to RW− rats. Relative increases in acylcarnitines and acyl glycerophospholipids were also observed in RW+ plantaris. These data establish that even modest amounts of physical activity during late middle‐age promote extensive metabolic remodeling of skeletal muscle.
A new method for position control of planar 3-Dof underactuated robots

Position control of nonholonomic 3R underactuated robots is investigated in this paper. A new method is proposed for motion control of this kind of system. The control objective is to move the links from rest to target configuration with zero velocity. The whole control process can be divided into two stages, the first stage is to achieve the position control of first link based on the dynamic model, the desired position of the second active and third passive links are reached in the second stage without considering the motion of first link. Fuzzy control method is introduced in the second stage and the motion of the system can be considered to be the resultant motion of the folding or unfolding of passive joints and the revolution of active joints. The genetic algorithm is utilized in the best fuzzy rules generating. At last numerical simulations illuminate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
The Role of Audiology in an Outpatient Interdisciplinary Post-Trauma Clinic

Abstract Patients in the process of recovering from severe bodily injury will encounter several barriers to effective treatment. When present, untreated hearing loss can create additional obstacles in a process that is already difficult. This article describes an outpatient post-trauma clinic associated with a tertiary care hospital trauma unit that consolidates rehabilitation resources 2 weeks after inpatient discharge to help these patients on their path to recovery. The role of audiology in the interdisciplinary clinic is described and data related to services are presented. Some practical tips for implementation of audiologic services in this type of environment are provided.
Computational Design and Nonlinear Dynamics of a Recurrent Network Model of the Primary Visual Cortex

Recurrent interactions in the primary visual cortex make its output a complex nonlinear transform of its input. This transform serves preattentive visual segmentation, that is, autonomously processing visual inputs to give outputs that selectively emphasize certain features for segmentation. An analytical understanding of the nonlinear dynamics of the recurrent neural circuit is essential to harness its computational power. We derive requirements on the neural architecture, components, and connection weights of a biologically plausible model of the cortex such that region segmentation, figure-ground segregation, and contour enhancement can be achieved simultaneously. In addition, we analyze the conditions governing neural oscillations, illusory contours, and the absence of visual hallucinations. Many of our analytical techniques can be applied to other recurrent networks with translation-invariant neural and connection structures.
Crystal structure of Porphyromonas gingivalis peptidylarginine deiminase: implications for autoimmunity in rheumatoid arthritis

Background Periodontitis (PD) is a known risk factor for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and there is increasing evidence that the link between the two diseases is due to citrullination by the unique bacterial peptidylarginine deiminase (PAD) enzyme expressed by periodontal pathogen Pophyromonas gingivalis (PPAD). However, the precise mechanism by which PPAD could generate potentially immunogenic peptides has remained controversial due to lack of information about the structural and catalytic mechanisms of the enzyme. Objectives By solving the 3D structure of PPAD we aim to characterise activity and elucidate potential mechanisms involved in breach of tolerance to citrullinated proteins in RA. Methods PPAD and a catalytically inactive mutant PPADC351A were crystallised and their 3D structures solved. Key residues identified from 3D structures were examined by mutations. Fibrinogen and α-enolase were incubated with PPAD and P. gingivalis arginine gingipain (RgpB) and citrullinated peptides formed were sequenced and quantified by mass spectrometry. Results Here, we solve the crystal structure of a truncated, highly active form of PPAD. We confirm catalysis is mediated by the following residues: Asp130, His236, Asp238, Asn297 and Cys351 and show Arg152 and Arg154 may determine the substrate specificity of PPAD for C-terminal arginines. We demonstrate the formation of 37 C-terminally citrullinated peptides from fibrinogen and 11 from α-enolase following incubation with tPPAD and RgpB. Conclusions PPAD displays an unequivocal specificity for C-terminal arginine residues and readily citrullinates peptides from key RA autoantigens. The formation of these novel citrullinated peptides may be involved in breach of tolerance to citrullinated proteins in RA.
How do spouses allocate time : the effects of wages and income

This paper focuses on the time allocation of spouses and the impact of wages and other income. The theory of household production is inconclusive on the direction of these effects. Our approach is empirical. We distinguish four time uses for each spouse -paid work, childcare, housework and a reminder which includes leisure time. The econometric model simultaneously specifies the time uses of each spouse, allowing for corner solutions, their wages and the selection equations into employment. We let the correlation across the errors of the ten equations system be urestricted. This is to our knowledge the first study that estimates simultaneously the time demand equations of the two spouses and their correlations, in addition to endogenizing their wages. We exploit the rich information in the French time-use survey 1998-99 to estimate the model. We conclude that parents’ market and nonmarket time responds significantly to changes in own wage: positively, for market work, and, negatively, for domestic work and childcare. The cross-wage elasticity of women’s paid work is negative while it is not significant for men. The cross-wage elasticities of men’s non-market work are significant and positive, but they are not significant for women. Other income has a negative impact on parental paid work but a positive one on unpaid work. We find significant and positive correlations across the errors of the spousal equations.
Germany's agri-biotechnology policy: precaution for choice and alternatives

In Germany, the precautionary principle (PP) is a well-established legal principle in environmental law, especially for regulating agri-biotechnology. This article uses the analytical concept of issue-framing to identify different views of the PP and how they have informed changes in the German regulatory arena. In the 1990s Germany's genetically modified (GM) crop policy was dominated by a discourse of innovation and international competitiveness, combined with narrow accounts of precaution. In the early 2000s, agro-biotechnology became subject to changes in the risk regulatory system, new agricultural policies and a broader precautionary scope. After the BSE crisis, German policy promoted sustainable agriculture and organic food, combined with the demand for a precautionary consumer policy and ‘consumer choice’. Precaution now encompasses comprehensive mandatory labelling and liability rules to protect non-GM food production from GM ‘contamination’ in fields and across the food chain. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.
Fusion of Cyclophilin A to Fv1 Enables Cyclosporine-Sensitive Restriction of Human and Feline Immunodeficiency Viruses

ABSTRACT TRIM5α is a potent intracellular antiviral restriction factor governing species-specific retroviral replication. In the New World species owl monkey the coding region for the viral binding B30.2 domain of TRIM5α has been replaced by a cyclophilin A (CypA) pseudogene by retrotransposition. The resultant TRIM5-CypA fusion protein restricts human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), as well as feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), by recruitment of the CypA domain to the incoming viral capsids. Infectivity is rescued by agents such as cyclosporine that disrupt CypA binding to its substrates. Mice encode an antiviral restriction factor called Fv1 (for Friend virus susceptibility gene 1), which is active against murine leukemia virus and related to endogenous gag sequences. Here we show that fusing CypA to Fv1 generates a restriction factor with the antiviral specificity of TRIMCyp but the antiviral properties of Fv1. Like TRIMCyp, Fv1-Cyp restricts HIV-1 and FIV and is sensitive to inhibition by cyclosporine. TRIM5α is known to have a short half-life and block infectivity before viral reverse transcription. We show that Fv1-Cyp has a long half-life and blocks after reverse transcription, suggesting that its longer half-life gives the restricted virus the opportunity to synthesize DNA, leading to a later block to infection. This notion is supported by the observation that infectivity of Fv1-Cyp restricted virus can be rescued by cyclosporine for several hours after infection, whereas virus restricted by TRIMCyp is terminally restricted after around 40 min. Intriguingly, the Fv1-Cyp-restricted HIV-1 generates closed circular viral DNA, suggesting that the restricted virus complex enters the nucleus.
Consumer-resource dynamics

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