Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of Gestational and Postnatal Age on Body Temperature, Oxygen Consumption, and Activity during Early Skin-to-Skin Contact between Preterm Infants of 25-30-Week Gestation and Their Mothers

Temporary skin-to-skin contact between preterm infant and the mother is increasingly used in neonatal medicine to promote bonding. It is not known at which gestational age (GA) and postnatal age skin-to-skin contact outside the incubator is a sufficiently warm environment and is tolerated by preterm infants without a decrease in body temperature, oxygen consumption(Vo2) increase, or unrest. We conducted a prospective clinical study of 27 spontaneously breathing preterm infants of 25-30-wk GA. Rectal temperature (Trectal), Vo2 (indirect calorimetry), and activity were continuously measured in the incubator (60 min), during skin-to-skin contact (60 min), and back in the incubator (60 min) in wk 1 and 2 of life. In wk 1 the change in Trectal during skin-to-skin contact was related to GA (r = 0.585, p = 0.0027): infants of 25-27-wk GA lost heat during skin-to-skin contact, whereas infants of 28-30 wk gained heat and their mean Trectal during skin-to-skin contact was 0.3°C higher than before (p < 0.01). No significant changes of Vo2 or activity occurred. In wk 2 the infants' Vo2 was higher than in wk 1, but Vo2 during skin-to-skin contact was the same as in the incubator. Only small fluctuations in Trectal occurred. In wk 2 all infants slept more during skin-to-skin contact than in the incubator (p < 0.02). We conclude that, for preterm infants of 28-30-wk GA, skin-to-skin contact was a sufficiently warm environment as early as postnatal wk 1. For infants of 25-27-wk GA skin-to-skin contact should be postponed until wk 2 of life, when their body temperature remains stable and they are more quiet during skin-to-skin contact than in the incubator.
Ionic basis of spike after‐depolarization and burst generation in adult rat hippocampal CA1 pyramidal cells.

1. Intracellular recordings in adult rat hippocampal slices were used to identify the ionic conductances underlying active spike after‐depolarization (ADP) and intrinsic burst firing in the somata of CA1 pyramidal cells (PCs). To test the ‘Ca2+ hypothesis’, Ca2+ currents were suppressed by replacing the Ca2+ in the saline with either Mn2+ or Mg2+. Alternatively, the inorganic Ca2+ channel blockers Cd2+ (0.5 mM) or Ni2+ (2 mM) were added to the saline. To test the ‘Na+ hypothesis’, Na+ currents were blocked with tetrodotoxin (TTX; 0.5 microM). 2. The suppression of Ca2+ currents blocked the fast after‐hyperpolarization (AHP) generated by the fast Ca(2+)‐gated K+ current Ic, while enhancing the amplitude and duration of active spike ADPS. 3. Evoked and spontaneous burst firing was preserved undiminished following Ca2+ current suppression, while the propensity to fire bursts increased in many cases. The postburst medium AHP (generated primarily by the muscarine‐sensitive voltage‐gated K+ current, IM) was not affected by this treatment, which blocked the slow AHP (generated by the slow Ca(2+)‐gated K+ current, IAHP). 4. TTX strongly suppressed active ADPs and intrinsic bursts before substantially reducing the threshold, rate of rise and amplitude of solitary spikes. 5. In Ca(2+)‐free saline, caesium‐filled PCs generated large, plateau ADPs following an initial burst of fast spikes. Application of TTX suppressed these ADPs before solitary fast spikes appeared to be reduced. 6. Injection of brief, just subthreshold depolarizing current pulses into bursters evoked slow depolarizing potentials lasting up to 50 ms. These persisted after suppression of Ca2+ currents and were entirely blocked by TTX. 7. We conclude that active spike ADPs and intrinsic bursts in the somata of adult CA1 PCs are generated by a low voltage‐gated, persistent Na+ current. Burst termination is mediated by voltage‐gated K+ currents activated during the burst (most likely IM), rather than by the Ca(2+)‐gated K+ currents Ic and IAHP. The latter currents downregulate the innate tendency of CA1 PCs to burst (Ic) and limit the rate of spontaneous burst firing (IAHP).
Comparison of 3-D haptic peg-in-hole tasks in real and virtual environments

We describe an experimental arrangement for comparison of user performance during a real and a virtual 3D peg-in-hole task. Tasks are performed using a unique six-degree-of-freedom (6-DOF) magnetic levitation haptic device. The arrangement allows a user to exert and experience real and virtual forces using the same 6-DOF device. During the virtual task, a peg and hole are rendered haptically, and visual feedback is provided through a graphical display. During the real task, a physical peg is attached to the underside of the haptic device. Using only real forces/torques, the peg is inserted into a hole in a plate attached to a force/torque sensor, while positions/orientations are measured by the haptic device. positions/orientations and forces/torques are recorded for both modes. Preliminary results indicate increased task time, larger total forces and more failures occur with the virtual task. Recorded data reveal user strategies that are similar for both tasks. Quantitative analysis of the strategies employed should lead to identification of significant factors in haptic interface design and haptic rendering techniques.
THE CELLULAR HIERARCHY INFORMATION MODELING ENVIRONMENT

As a first approximation, one may consider a cell to be a weak agent in the sense proposed by Wooldridge and Jennings [7], i.e. the cell is an object that is autonomous, social, reactive and pro-active. A machine indicates its willingness to host cells by running a special depot program. Each cell within the CHIME then resides in some depot process; each depot process manages a set of cells (see figure 1).
Influence of preadsorbed milk proteins on adhesion of Listeria monocytogenes to hydrophobic and hydrophilic silica surfaces

The adsorption of beta-lactoglobulin, bovine serum albumin, alpha-lactalbumin, and beta-casein for 8 h and beta-lactoglobulin and bovine serum albumin for 1 h at silanized silica surfaces of low and high hydrophobicity, followed by incubation in buffer and contact with Listeria monocytogenes, resulted in different numbers of cells adhered per unit of surface area. Adhesion to both surfaces was greatest when beta-lactoglobulin was present and was lowest when bovine serum albumin was present. Preadsorption of alpha-lactalbumin and beta-casein showed an intermediate effect on cell adhesion. Adsorption of beta-lactoglobulin for 1 h resulted in a generally lower number of cells adhered compared with the 8-h adsorption time, while the opposite result was observed with respect to bovine serum albumin. The adhesion data were explainable in terms of the relative rates of arrival to the surface and postadsorptive conformational change among the proteins, in addition to the extent of surface coverage in each case.
NSAIDs and Natural Products Interactions : Mechanism and Clinical Implications

NSAIDs: Non Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs; COX1: Ciclooxigenase-1; COX2: Ciclooxigenase-2; NP: Natural Products; AA: Arachidonic Acid; PGE2: Prostaglandin E2; PGJ2: Prostaglandin J2; PGD2: Prostaglandin D2; TNFα: Tumor Necrosis Factorα; IL-1β: Interleukin 1 Beta; GI: Gastrointestinal; NO: Nitric Oxide; FKA: Flavokawains A; FKB: Flavokawains B; FKC: Flavokawains C; FKs: Flavokawains; GABAA: γ-Aminobutyric Acid Type A; FDA: Food and Drug Administration; EHE: Ephedra Herb Extract; ADP: Adenosine Diphosphate; EC: Epicatechin; EGC: Epigallocatechin; ECG: EC-3-O-Gallate; EGCG: (−) Epigallocatechin-3-Gallate; IFN-γ: Interferon Gamma; cAMP: Cyclic Adenosinemonophosphate; JAK2: Tyrosine-Protein Kinase; STAT3: Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription 3; PGC-1α: Peroxisome Proliferator Activated Receptor Gamma Coactivator 1α; AMPK: 5’ -Adenosine Monophosphate--Activated Protein Kinase; UCP2: Mitochondrial Uncoupling Protein 2; PI3K: Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinase; Nrf2: Nuclear Factor Erythroid Related Factor 2; ERK: Extracellular Signal–Regulated Kinases; MAPK: Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases; AP-1: Activator Protein 1; ICAM-1:Intercellular Adhesion Molecule 1; MCP-1: Monocyte Chemotactic Protein 1; IL-8: Interleukin 8; IL-6: Interleukin 6; IL-17: Interleukin 17; IL-10: Interleukin 10;NF-κB: Factor Nuclear Kappa B; ROS: Reactive Oxygen Species; SIRT: Silent Mating Type Information Regulation; PPAR: Peroxisome Proliferator Activated Receptor; VEGF: Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor; SOD: Superóxido Dismutase; iNOS: The Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase; PKC: Protein Kinase C; CYP2E1: Cytochrome P450 2E1; CYP3A1: Cytochrome P450 3A1; CYP1A2: Cytochrome P450 1A2; NASH: Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis; NAFL: Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver; LPS: Lipopolysaccharide; CD14: Cluster of Differentiation 14; GSH: Glutathione; PGC-1α: Peroxisome Proliferator Activated Receptor Gamma Coactivator 1α
Crystal Growth of Calcite Nano-Plate by Alternate Soaking Method, Using CDS Crystals

Hetero-epitaxial growth of calcite crystals on calcium dodecyl sulfate (Ca(DS)2 = CDS) single crystals was studied by alternate soaking method. The calcite (006) oriented single crystals grow on the (001) surface of the CDS. The hetero-epitaxial growth mechanism is discussed by the lattice matching of the a-c planes of calcite and CDS according to the structure data of the CDS single crystal.
Improved hypothesis selection for multiple hypothesis tracking

The need to track closely-spaced targets in clutter is essential in support of military operations. This paper presents a Multiple Hypothesis Tracking (MHT) algorithm which uses an efficient structure to represent the dependency which naturally arises between targets due to the joint observation process, and an Integral Square Error (ISE) mixture reduction algorithm for hypothesis control. The resulting algorithm, denoted MHT with ISE Reduction (MISER), is tested against performance metrics including track life, coalescence and track swap. The results demonstrate track life performance similar to that of ISE-based methods in the single-target case, and a significant improvement in track swap metric due to the preservation of correlation between targets. The result that correlation reduces the track life performance for formation targets requires further investigation, although it appears to demonstrate that the inherent coupling of dynamics noises for such problems eliminates much of the benefit of representing correlation only due to the joint observation process.
Diabetic glucolipotoxic cardiomyopathy : does it exist in humans ?

Heart disease is the most common cause of death in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), 1,2 frequently related to coronary artery disease (CAD) and heart failure (HF). Particularly, T2DM increases the risk to develop HF or to die from HF to a greater extent in women as compared to men.
Human Atrial Cell Models to Analyse Haemodialysis-Related Effects on Cardiac Electrophysiology: Work in Progress

During haemodialysis (HD) sessions, patients undergo alterations in the extracellular environment, mostly concerning plasma electrolyte concentrations, pH, and volume, together with a modification of sympathovagal balance. All these changes affect cardiac electrophysiology, possibly leading to an increased arrhythmic risk. Computational modeling may help to investigate the impact of HD-related changes on atrial electrophysiology. However, many different human atrial action potential (AP) models are currently available, all validated only with the standard electrolyte concentrations used in experiments. Therefore, they may respond in different ways to the same environmental changes. After an overview on how the computational approach has been used in the past to investigate the effect of HD therapy on cardiac electrophysiology, the aim of this work has been to assess the current state of the art in human atrial AP models, with respect to the HD context. All the published human atrial AP models have been considered and tested for electrolytes, volume changes, and different acetylcholine concentrations. Most of them proved to be reliable for single modifications, but all of them showed some drawbacks. Therefore, there is room for a new human atrial AP model, hopefully able to physiologically reproduce all the HD-related effects. At the moment, work is still in progress in this specific field.
On the CVD Growth of C Nanotubes over Fe-Loaded Montmorillonite Catalysts

The synthesis of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of isobutane (i-C4H10) over sodium-exchanged K10-montmorillonite based iron-catalysts is investigated. By studying the influence of iron-addition (5-25 wt%) on the catalyst performances, at 700 °C, an empirical relationship is derived relating the mass of CNTs synthesized with the exposed surface of loaded iron, as resulting from simultaneous change of number, size and dispersion of Fe-nanoparticles available for the growth.
Identification of Serum MicroRNAs as Novel Non-Invasive Biomarkers for Early Detection of Gastric Cancer

Background To investigate the potential of serum miRNAs as biomarkers for early detection of gastric cancer (GC), a population-based study was conducted in Linqu, a high-risk area of GC in China. Methodology/Principal Findings All subjects were selected from two large cohort studies. Differential miRNAs were identified in serum pools of GC and control using TaqMan low density array, and validated in individual from 82 pairs of GC and control, and 46 pairs of dysplasia and control by real-time quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. The temporal trends of identified serum miRNA expression were further explored in a retrospective study on 58 GC patients who had at least one pre-GC diagnosis serum sample based on the long-term follow-up population. The miRNA profiling results demonstrated that 16 miRNAs were markedly upregulated in GC patients compared to controls. Further validation identified a panel of three serum miRNAs (miR-221, miR-744, and miR-376c) as potential biomarkers for GC detection, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve-based risk assessment analysis revealed that this panel could distinguish GCs from controls with 82.4% sensitivity and 58.8% specificity. MiR-221 and miR-376c demonstrated significantly positive correlation with poor differentiation of GC, and miR-221 displayed higher level in dysplasia than in control. Furthermore, the retrospective study revealed an increasing trend of these three miRNA levels during GC development (P for trend<0.05), and this panel could classify serum samples collected up to 5 years ahead of clinical GC diagnosis with 79.3% overall accuracy. Conclusions/Significance These data suggest that serum miR-221, miR-376c and miR-744 have strong potential as novel non-invasive biomarkers for early detection of GC.
Formal Analysis of Network Protocols

Today’s Internet is becoming increasingly complex and fragile. Current performance centric techniques on network analysis and runtime verification have became inadequate in the development of robust networks. To cope with these challenges there is a growing interest in the use of formal analysis techniques to reason about network protocol correctness throughout the network development cycle. This talk surveys recent work on the use of formal analysis techniques to aid in design, implementation, and analysis of network protocols. We first present a general framework that covers a majority of existing formal analysis techniques on both the control and routing planes of networks, and present a classification and taxonomy of techniques according to the proposed framework. Using four representative case studies (Metarouting, rcc, axiomatic formulation, and Alloy based analysis), we discuss various aspects of formal network analysis, including formal specification, formal verification, and system validation. Their strengths and limitations are evaluated and compared in detail.
SQA-Profiles: Rule-based activity profiles for Continuous Integration environments

Continuous Integration (CI) environments cope with the repeated integration of source code changes and provide rapid feedback about the status of a software project. However, as the integration cycles become shorter, the amount of data increases, and the effort to find information in CI environments becomes substantial. In modern CI environments, the selection of measurements (e.g., build status, quality metrics) listed in a dashboard does only change with the intervention of a stakeholder (e.g., a project manager). In this paper, we want to address the shortcoming of static views with so-called Software Quality Assessment (SQA) profiles. SQA-Profiles are defined as rule-sets and enable a dynamic composition of CI dashboards based on stakeholder activities in tools of a CI environment (e.g., version control system). We present a set of SQA-Profiles for project management committee (PMC) members: Bandleader, Integrator, Gatekeeper, and Onlooker. For this, we mined the commit and issue management activities of PMC members from 20 Apache projects. We implemented a framework to evaluate the performance of our rule-based SQA-Profiles in comparison to a machine learning approach. The results showed that project-independent SQA-Profiles can be used to automatically extract the profiles of PMC members with a precision of 0.92 and a recall of 0.78.
In-vitro degradation of calcium phosphate bone substitutes : Coupled monitoring of the evolution of mechanical, microstructural and physico-chemical properties of DCPD and β-TCP samples

The present Ph.D. thesis work was aimed to establish and assess an experimental methodology to monitor the in-vitro evolution of calcium phosphate (CaP) bone substitutes. Dicalcium phosphate dihydrate and beta-tricalcium phosphate were chosen as model of two main classes of bone substitutes: “biosoluble” ones (which undergo dissolution after implantation) and “bioresorbable” ones (which undergo cellular resorption after implantation). In order to study the dissolution and precipitation phenomena, which take place once CaPs are immersed in solution, these materials were produced in the form of micro-porous samples (60% of porosity for DCPD, 75% for β-TCP) and used for dissolution tests in-vitro in static and dynamic conditions (without or with liquid renewal) in different buffered solutions at physiologic pH (TRIS and PBS) and for periods of time ranging between 30 minutes and 2 months. The analysis of the physico-chemical, microstructural and mechanical properties of the samples before and after immersion allowed to evaluate the influence of the chosen medium and immersion conditions on the evolution of the specimens. Particular attention was paid to the mechanical characterisation: instrumented spherical micro-indentation was preferred to other more conventional tests. This technique enables the evaluation of several parameters such as the hardness and the Young’s modulus in a quasi-non-destructive way and on a local scale. As a consequence, the use of micro-indentation proved to be of great help for monitoring the characteristics of the degraded specimens, which presented a gradient of properties between the surface (where the degradation process starts) and the core (subject to changes on a longer period). The last part of this work was focused on the study of the second main phenomenon, which takes part in the in-vivo resorption of bone substitutes, that is to say the cellular resorption. For this purpose, cellular tests with osteoclast-precursor cells were carried out on dense samples made of pure and magnesium-doped β-TCP (5 mol.% of Mg). The addition of magnesium was aimed to modify the properties of the material and, as a consequence, the cellular behavior. The results confirmed the cytocompatibility of both types of β-TCP, but they also showed a difficult activation of osteoclasts. Two of the possible causes would be linked to the topography of the surface of the specimens and to the release of calcium ions due to the dissolution of the material.
Channel switching cost aware and energy-efficient cooperative sensing scheduling for cognitive radio networks

In this paper, we formulate the energy-efficient cooperative sensing scheduling scheme for a cognitive radio network (CRN) with heterogeneous primary signal-to-noise ratio at each secondary user (SU). In the considered CRN, cognitive base station assigns a set of SUs for each frequency with the aim of minimizing the total energy consumption for sensing while meeting the asserted probability of detection and false alarm requirements by employing cooperation. Sensing duration for a target detection performance increases with degrading channel quality. Thus, an SU with better channel conditions consumes lower energy for sensing. Additionally, an SU also spends energy to switch to the next frequency in its sensing sequence. Our scheduling scheme discovers the appropriate set of SUs for each frequency by considering the sensing and channel switching energy as well as the energy consumed for reporting the sensing outcomes. We also present a polynomial time heuristic, Energy Aware Spectrum sEnsing (EASE) that performs close to the optimal solution.
A spot market model for pricing derivatives in electricity markets

Abstract In this paper, we analyse the evolution of prices in deregulated electricity markets. We present a general model that simultaneously takes into account the following features: seasonal patterns, price spikes, mean reversion, price dependent volatilities and long term non-stationarity. We estimate the parameters of the model using historical data from the European Energy Exchange. Finally, we demonstrate how it can be used for pricing derivatives via Monte Carlo simulation.
Theoretical and methodological considerations in the measurement of spasticity

Purpose: To discuss the measurement of spasticity in the clinical and research environments, make recommendations based on the SPASM reviews of biomechanical, neurophysiological and clinical methods of measuring spasticity and indicate future developments of measurement tools. Method: Using the results of the systematic reviews of the biomechanical, neurophysiological and clinical approaches, methods were evaluated across three dimensions: (1) validity, reliability and sensitivity to change; (2) practical quality such as ease of use and (3) qualities specific to the measurement of spasticity, for example ability to be applied to different muscle groups. Methods were considered in terms of applicability to research and clinical applications. Results: A hierarchy of measurement approaches was identified from highly controlled and more objective (but unrelated to function) to ecologically valid, but less objective and subject to contamination from other variables. The lack of a precise definition of spasticity may account for the problem of developing a valid, reliable and sensitive method of measurement. The reviews have identified that some tests measure spasticity per se, some phenomena associated with spasticity or consequential to it and others the effect of spasticity on activity and participation and independence. Conclusions: Methods appropriate for use in research, particularly into the mechanism of spasticity did not satisfy the needs of the clinician and the need for an objective but clinically applicable tool was identified. A clinical assessment may need to generate more than one 'value' and should include evaluation of other components of the upper motor neurone syndrome. There is therefore a need for standardized protocols for 'best practice' in application of spasticity measurement tools and scales.