Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Human muscle sympathetic neural and haemodynamic responses to tilt following spaceflight

Orthostatic intolerance is common when astronauts return to Earth: after brief spaceflight, up to two‐thirds are unable to remain standing for 10 min. Previous research suggests that susceptible individuals are unable to increase their systemic vascular resistance and plasma noradrenaline concentrations above pre‐flight upright levels. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that adaptation to the microgravity of space impairs sympathetic neural responses to upright posture on Earth. We studied six astronauts ∼72 and 23 days before and on landing day after the 16 day Neurolab space shuttle mission. We measured heart rate, arterial pressure and cardiac output, and calculated stroke volume and total peripheral resistance, during supine rest and 10 min of 60 deg upright tilt. Muscle sympathetic nerve activity was recorded in five subjects, as a direct measure of sympathetic nervous system responses. As in previous studies, mean (±s.e.m.) stroke volume was lower (46 ± 5 vs. 76 ± 3 ml, P= 0.017) and heart rate was higher (93 ± 1 vs. 74 ± 4 beats min−1, P= 0.002) during tilt after spaceflight than before spaceflight. Total peripheral resistance during tilt post flight was higher in some, but not all astronauts (1674 ± 256 vs. 1372 ± 62 dynes s cm−5, P= 0.32). No crew member exhibited orthostatic hypotension or presyncopal symptoms during the 10 min of postflight tilting. Muscle sympathetic nerve activity was higher post flight in all subjects, in supine (27 ± 4 vs. 17 ± 2 bursts min−1, P= 0.04) and tilted (46 ± 4 vs. 38 ± 3 bursts min−1, P= 0.01) positions. A strong (r2= 0.91–1.00) linear correlation between left ventricular stroke volume and muscle sympathetic nerve activity suggested that sympathetic responses were appropriate for the haemodynamic challenge of upright tilt and were unaffected by spaceflight. We conclude that after 16 days of spaceflight, muscle sympathetic nerve responses to upright tilt are normal.
The synergistic action of the anterior cruciate ligament and thigh muscles in maintaining joint stability

The synergistic action of the ACL and the thigh muscles in maintaining joint stability was studied experimentally. The EMG from the quadriceps and hamstring muscle groups was recorded and analyzed in three separate experimental procedures in which the knee was stressed. The test revealed that direct stress of the ACL has a moderate inhibitory effect on the quadriceps, but simultaneously it directly excites the hamstrings. Similar responses were also obtained in patients with ACL damage during loaded knee extension with tibia subluxation, indicating that an alternative reflex arc unrelated to ACL receptors was available to maintain joint integrity. The antagonist muscles (hamstrings) were clearly demonstrated to assume the role of joint stabilizers in the patient who has a deficient ACL. The importance of an appropriate muscle-conditioning rehabilitation program in such a patient is substantiated.
Altered Functional Connectivity of the Default Mode Network in Patients With Schizo-obsessive Comorbidity: A Comparison Between Schizophrenia and Obsessive-compulsive Disorder

Clinical and neuroimaging data support the idea that schizo-obsessive comorbidity (SOC), similar to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and schizophrenia (SCZ), may be a distinct brain disorder. In this study, we examined the strength of resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) between 19 subregions of the default mode network (DMN) and whole brain voxels in 22 patients with SOC features, 20 patients with SCZ alone, 22 patients with OCD, and 22 healthy controls (HC). The main results demonstrated that patients with SOC exhibited the highest rsFC strength within subregions of the DMN and the lowest rsFC strength between the DMN and subregions of the salience network (SN) compared with the other 3 groups. In addition, compared with HCs, all 3 patient groups exhibited increased rsFC between subregions of the DMN and the executive control network (ECN). The SOC and SCZ group both exhibited increased rsFC between subregions of the DMN and the middle temporal gyrus, but the OCD group exhibited decreased rsFC between them. These findings highlight a specific alteration in functional connectivity in the DMN in patients with SOC, and provide new insights into the dysfunctional brain organization of different mental disorders.
Effects of an Electrostimulation Training Program on Strength, Jumping, and Kicking Capacities in Soccer Players

Billot, M, Martin, A, Paizis, C, Cometti, C, and Babault, N. Effects of an electrostimulation training program on strength, jumping, and kicking capacities in soccer players. J Strength Cond Res 24(5): 1407-1413, 2010-The present study investigated the influence of a 5-week electrostimulation (EMS) training program on muscular strength, kicking velocity, sprint, and vertical jump performance in soccer players. Twenty amateur soccer players participated in the study, 10 in the electrostimulated group and the remaining 10 in a control group. Electrostimulation was applied on the quadriceps muscles over 5 weeks. Subjects were tested before, during (wk-3), and after (wk-5) the EMS training program. Maximal voluntary contraction using different contraction mode (i.e., eccentric, concentric, and isometric), vertical jump height, sprint running for 10 m, and ball speed were examined. We observed an increase in isometric and eccentric maximal knee extension torques and also a gain in ball speed performance without run up at wk-3. After 5 weeks of EMS training, eccentric, isometric, and concentric torques and ball speed had significantly improved. It appeared appropriate to conduct EMS training during at least 3 weeks to observe beneficial effects in specific soccer skills such as ball speed.
Enhancing cross-view object classification by feature-based transfer learning

Object classification is of vital importance to intelligent traffic surveillance. A big challenge is that shooting view changes in different scenes, which leads to sharp accuracy decrease since training and test samples do not follow the same distribution anymore. On the other hand, manual labeling training samples is time and labor consuming. We propose a feature-based transfer learning framework to gap the divergence of different domain distributions with scarce target view samples. Source view samples, following a different but relevant distribution, could be utilized to learn what a good classifier is like by structure learning. At the same time, small amount of target view samples could make a great contribution to reflect the target distribution. Experimental results indicate that our method outperforms traditional approaches when target samples are too scarce to build a strong classifier.
La tasa de reemplazo en el sistema privado de pensiones

El objeto del trabajo es estimar cuál será el nivel de la tasa de reemplazo de los afiliados del SPP, distinguiendo por género, en los próximos años. Mediante técnica de Montecarlo, se realizan 1000 simulaciones de tasas de reemplazo, considerando procesos estocásticos independientes entre la rentabilidad de largo plazo del fondo de pensiones, el crecimiento de salarios y la tasa de descuento de las rentas vitalicias. Se usa la estimación de la curva de ingresos de los actuales afiliados y la tasa de desempleo de largo plazo de la economía peruana. Los resultados, con diversos supuestos conservadores, sugieren que un afiliado representativo del SPP alcanzará tasas de reemplazo superiores al 50%.
Prevention of Hemolysis-Induced Organ Damage by Nutritional Activation of the Vagal Anti-Inflammatory Reflex*

Objectives:Acute hemolysis is associated with organ damage, inflammation, and impaired vascular function. Stimulation of the cholecystokinin-1 receptor-dependent vagal anti-inflammatory reflex with lipid-rich enteral nutrition was demonstrated to prevent tissue damage and attenuate inflammation. This study investigates the effects of nutritional activation of the vagal anti-inflammatory reflex on organ integrity, systemic inflammation, and microcirculation during hemolysis. Design:Prospective randomized controlled study. Setting:University research unit. Subjects:Male Sprague-Dawley rats. Interventions:Intravascular hemolysis was simulated by infusion of prelysed erythrocytes. Animals were fasted or received lipid-rich enteral nutrition. Pegylated (PEG)-CCK9A, A70104 (a cholecystokinin-1 receptor antagonist), and chlorisondamine (a nicotinic acetylcholine receptor antagonist) were applied to investigate involvement of the vagal reflex. Measurements and Main Results:Nutritional intervention reduced hemolysis-related renal tubular cell damage, hepatocyte damage, ileal leakage of horseradish peroxidase, and bacterial translocation compared with food deprivation (all p < 0.05). Also circulating interleukin (IL)-6 levels were decreased by enteral nutrition (p < 0.05). Blockage of the cholecystokinin-1 receptor or the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor reversed the protective nutritional effects compared with vehicle (p < 0.05), whereas PEG-CCK9 mimicked the impact of enteral feeding in fasted animals (p < 0.05). Furthermore, nutritional intervention increased renal, hepatic, and intestinal blood flow compared with fasting (all p < 0.05), as evaluated using fluorescent microspheres. Conclusions:Nutritional activation of the vagal anti-inflammatory reflex preserves tissue integrity and attenuates systemic inflammation in a rodent model of acute hemolysis. In addition, lipid-rich nutrition improves renal, hepatic, and intestinal microcirculation. These findings implicate stimulation of the autonomic nervous system by nutritional means as a potential therapy to prevent complications of acute hemolysis. (Crit Care Med 2013; 41:e361–e367)
The genetic architecture of the familial hyperlipidaemia syndromes: rare mutations and common variants in multiple genes

Purpose of review Genome-Wide Association Studies have provided robust identification of approximately 100 genetic loci determining plasma lipid parameters. Using these multiple common genetic lipid-determining variants in a ‘gene score’ has thrown new light on the mode of inheritance of familial lipid disorders. Recent findings Different hypertriglyceridaemia states have been explained by the polygenic coinheritance of triglyceride-raising alleles. Taking this gene score approach with 12 LDL-cholesterol-raising alleles, we reported that for patients with a clinical diagnosis of familial hypercholesterolaemia, but no identified rare mutation in the familial hypercholesterolaemia-causing genes, LDL receptor, apolipoprotein B and PCSK9, the most likely explanation for their elevated LDL-C levels was a polygenic, not a monogenic, cause of the disease. Summary These findings have wider implications for understanding complex disorders, and may very well explain the genetic basis of familial combined hyperlipidaemia, another familial lipid disorder in which the genetic cause(s) has remained elusive.
Abnormalities of Cognitive Functions in IDDM Revealed by P300 Event-Related Potential Analysis: Comparison With Short-Latency Evoked Potentials and Psychometric Tests

The possible influence of diabetes on the higher mnestic and cognitive functions has been investigated. The P300 wave latency, an endogenous electrophysiological event, was explored and compared with the multimodal short-latency evoked potential (EP) recordings (visual [VEP], brainstem auditory [BAEP], and median and tibial nerve somatosensory EPs [mSEP and tSEP, respectively]) and psychometric test measures in 16 insulin-dependent diabetic (IDDM) patients, in 16 age- and (IDDM) sex-matched nondiabetic subjects, and in a large normal reference population. The age of subjects, the duration of IDDM, and the metabolic control of patients were taken into account. P300 values were significantly increased in IDDM versus matched control subjects (P < 0.001), and 3 patients showed values above the reference value range. Abnormal VEP recordings were present in 1 of 16 patients, BAEP in 3 of 16, mSEP in 7 of 16, and tSEP in 6 of 16. Digit-span backward test results were significantly (P < 0.02) modified in the diabetic cohort. There was no tendency for anomalies of P300, short-latency EPs, and psychometric test values to be contemporarily present, except in 1 patient. Electrophysiological or psychometric abnormalities were not clearly correlated with the duration of IDDM or the degree of short-term metabolic control. These findings give evidence that 1) higher cognitive functions may be affected in diabetes as documented by P300 analysis and short-term memory tests, 2) endogenous electrophysiological analysis highlights neuropsychological changes not detectable by psychometric tests, 3) an alteration of evoked potentials was present in half of the IDDM subjects studied, and 4) anomalies of the CNS are patchily distributed in diabetes.
Evaluation of inflammatory biomarkers associated with oxidative stress and histological assessment of magnetic therapy on experimental myopathy in rats

The effect of pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) therapy, also called magnetic therapy, upon inflammatory biomarkers associated with oxidative stress plasma fibrinogen, nitric oxide (NO), L-citrulline, carbonyl groups, and superoxide dismutase (SOD) was evaluated through histological assessment, in rats with experimental myopathy. The groups studied were: (A) control (intact rats that received PEMF sham exposures); (B) rats with myopathy and sacrificed 24 h later; (C) rats with myopathy; (D) rats with myopathy and treated with PEMF; and (E) intact rats treated with PEMF. Groups A, C, D, and E were sacrificed 8 days later. Myopathy was induced by injecting 50 μl of 1% carrageenan λ (type IV) once sub-plantar. Treatment was carried out with PEMF emitting equipment with two flat solenoid disks for 8 consecutive days in groups D and E, at 20 mT and 50 Hz for 30 min/day/rat. The biomarkers were determined by spectrophotometry. The muscles (5/8) were stained with Hematoxylin-Eosin and examined by optic microscopy. Quantitative variables were statistically analyzed by the Fisher test, and categorical applying Pearson's Chi Squared test at p < 0.05 for all cases. In Groups B and C, the biomarkers were significantly increased compared to A, D, and E groups: fibrinogen (p < 0.001); NO, L-citrulline and carbonyl groups (p < 0.05); SOD (p < 0.01) as well as the percentage of area with inflammatory infiltration (p < 0.001). PEMF caused decreased levels of fibrinogen, L-citrulline, NO, SOD, and carbonyl groups and significant muscle recovery in rats with experimental myopathies.
A filtered-X RLS based narrowband active noise control system in the presence of frequency mismatch

Rotating machines, such as fans, engines, large-scale cutting machines etc., generate noise signals of a sinusoidal nature. Narrowband active noise control (ANC) systems are effective in suppressing these noise signals. However, when the reference timing signal sensor and the cosine wave generator contain errors, the frequencies of the reference sinusoids fed to each ANC channel are different from the primary noise signal frequencies. This difference is referred to as frequency mismatch (FM). We first introduce a fast filtered-X RLS (FXRLS) algorithm to replace the filtered-X LMS (FXLMS) algorithm in the conventional parallel form narrowband ANC system, and demonstrate its improved performance without FM. Second, through extensive simulations, it is revealed that this FXRLS-based ANC system may suffer from significant performance degradation in the presence of FM. Third, the FXRLS-based system is modified to mitigate the influence of the FM by incorporating second-order AR model based adaptive blocks that are updated by an LMS or RLS algorithm. Simulations are provided to demonstrate that the modified system is robust to the existence of FM and superior to a recently developed FXLMS-based ANC system in terms of capabilities of suppressing the undesirable FM.
Alterations of renal hemodynamics in unilateral ureteral obstruction mediated by activation of endothelin receptor subtypes.

PURPOSE Unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) for 21 hours causes severe renal vasoconstriction. We examined the role of endothelin (ET)-A receptor in renal hemodynamic alterations induced by UUO. MATERIALS AND METHODS Hemodynamic and clearance experiments were performed in 3 groups of anesthetized dogs. In group 1, 6 sham operated dogs received intrarenal infusion of the specific ET-A receptor antagonist BQ-610 (Peninsula Laboratories, Inc., Belmont, California), followed by infusion of the nitric oxide synthase substrate L-arginine. In the 7 group 2 dogs release of 21-hour UUO was followed by intrarenal infusion of BQ-610 and L-arginine. In the 5 group 3 dogs release of 21-hour UUO was followed by L-arginine infusion. RESULTS UUO caused marked decreases in renal blood flow (RBF) and glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in groups 2 and 3 compared with group 1. In group 1 BQ-610 and L-arginine infusion did not alter RBF or GFR. In contrast, BQ-610 infusion in group 2 after UUO release led to a significant increase in RBF and GFR as well as additional increases after L-arginine infusion. After UUO release in group 3 L-arginine infusion alone did not change RBF or GFR. CONCLUSIONS After UUO release blockade of the ET-A receptor ameliorates renal vasoconstriction. The addition of L-arginine, which is a substrate for nitric oxide synthase, superimposed on ET-A receptor blockade confers a further decrease in renal vascular resistance, suggesting that the ET and L-arginine-nitric oxide systems are involved in renal hemodynamic alterations caused by UUO.
THE INFLUENCE OF TYPE OF UNIVERSITY ON PERCEIVED EASE OF USING THE INTERNET AMONG EDUCATION STUDENTS IN KENYAN UNIVERSITIES

Purpose : The purpose of this study was to establish the influence of type of university on perceived ease of using the internet among education students in Kenyan universities. Methodology : Quantitative research approach was undertaken. An ex post facto research survey design was adopted. The researcher used a representative sample of 435 (Moi University) and 175 (Daystar University)adding up to 610 Third year student teachers of the academic year 2015/2016 drawn from School of Education in the two universities. Stratified sampling was used to categorize students by gender from each stratum; participants were chosen randomly. Questionnaires were used as instruments of data collection. Content validity was established by use of expert judgment in the school of education. Test re-test method was used to establish the reliability of instruments of data collection. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze data. In descriptive statistics data frequencies, percentages and mean was used. Analysis of variance (ANOVA), Chi square and Post hoc tests were used to test the hypotheses. Results : The study findings indicated no significant relationship between university type and internet knowledge, internet self efficacy, perceived internet usefulness and perceived internet ease of use. Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: The results of the study are useful in designing educational programmes in Kenyan institutions of higher learning and also, offer an opportunity to connect the knowledge gap in digital divide research which is useful for future studies of technology acceptance.
Extending the Stability Limit of the FDTD Method With Spatial Filtering

It is shown that the well-known Courant stability limit of the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method can be controlled and extended by filtering out unstable spatial harmonics that develop when the time-step is chosen to exceed this limit. The formulation of a spatially filtered FDTD algorithm is accompanied by a numerical benchmarking study that includes cavity resonator and backward wave media simulations.
Biological Responses of the Immature Annulus Fibrosus to Dynamic Compression in a Disc Perfusion Culture

Mechanical stimuli participate in disc development and remodelling. However, the effects of mechanical load on the immature annulus fibrosus (AF) are largely unclear. This study aimed to investigate how the immature AF responded to dynamic compressive magnitude and duration. Immature porcine discs were bioreactor-cultured for 7 days and then dynamically compressed at various magnitudes (0.1, 0.2, 0.4, 0.8 and 1.3 MPa at a frequency of 1.0 Hz for 2 h/day) and durations (1, 2, 4 and 8 h/day at a magnitude of 0.4 MPa and a frequency of 1.0 Hz). Non-compressed discs were used as controls. The immature AF tissue was analysed for histology, gene expression (aggrecan, collagen I, ADAMTS-4, MMP-3, TIMP-1 and TIMP-3), biochemical content of glycosaminoglycans (GAG) and hydroxyproline (HYP) and aggrecan immunohistochemical staining. In the lower-compressive-magnitude groups (0.1, 0.2 and 0.4 MPa), the immature AF showed an up-regulation in the expression of matrix genes, GAG and HYP content and aggrecan deposition. In the compression duration groups, the GAG and HYP content and aggrecan deposition declined to a minimum in the 8-hour group, in which a catabolic gene expression profile was found. In conclusion, this study indicated that the effects of dynamic compression on the immature AF are magnitude and duration dependent and that catabolic remodelling within the immature AF can be induced by high compressive magnitudes and long compressive durations.
Zero-Crossing-Based Channel Attentive Weighting of Cepstral Features for Robust Speech Recognition: The ETRI 2011 CHiME Challenge System

We present a practical and noise-robust speech recognition system which estimates a target-to-interferers power ratio us-ing a zero-crossing-based binaural model and applies the power ratio to a channel attentive missing feature decoder in the cepstral domain. In a natural multisource environment, our binaural model extracts spatial cues at each zero-crossing of a ﬁlterbank output signal to localize multiple sound sources and estimates a ratio mask reliably which segregates target speech from interfering noises. Our system uses gammatone ﬁlterbank cepstral coefﬁcients (GFCCs) for the recognition and the channel attentive decoder utilizes the ratio mask on weighting the cepstral features when calculating the output probability in the Viterbi decoding. On the experiments of CHiME ﬁnal testset, our channel attentive GFCC system improves the baseline recognition result 12.2% on average, and with noisy training condition, the average improvement amounts to 18.8%.
In vitro transcription and DNA binding characteristics of chloroplast and etioplast extracts from mustard (Sinapis alba) indicate differential usage of the psbA promoter.

The psbA gene which is differentially expressed in vivo in chloroplasts and etioplasts has an unusual promoter, containing both prokaryotic‐type ‘‐35’ and ‘‐10’ elements and a sequence motif that resembles the nuclear TATA box. Single base pair substitutions were introduced into the mustard psbA promoter and the mutants were tested in transcription and DNA binding experiments, using extracts from either chloroplasts or etioplasts. Positions within the ‘‐35’ region appear to play an essential role in the chloroplast but not in the etioplast system. Altering the first or second position of the ‘TATA box’‐like region led to decreased psbA in vitro transcription in either plastid extract. These two mutations, however, did not affect binding of extracts to the (linear) psbA promoter fragment in gel retardation assays. Fragments carrying two other plastid promoters effectively competed psbA promoter binding of the etioplast extract, but more weakly that of the chloroplast extract. Lambda exonuclease mapping shows that the 5′ border of the binding region is more upstream with the etioplast than with the chloroplast system, whereas the 3′ border appears to be the same. Hence, protein(s) of the two plastid types seem to interact differently with the mustard psbA promoter in vitro and perhaps also in vivo.