Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Wearable, yes, but able…?: it is time for evidence-based marketing claims!

With great interest, we1 have been following the growing popularity of non-invasive wearable sensor technology as a way to increase physical performance, assist recovery or monitor health. These sensors, integrated into clothing worn on the body, are often referred to as ‘wearables’ or ‘wearable technology’. The popularity of the wearables is mainly due to three recent advances: (1) miniature sensor technology,1 (2) telemetric transfer and (web-based) storage of personal data and (3) extension of battery life. According to a worldwide survey of fitness trends, wearable technology appears set to be the number 1 trend in 2017,2 with expected sales for some wearables in the range of 1.5–2.6 billion US$. 2 We believe that this type of technology will be a central tool in the fitness and health industry, provided some fundamental issues …
Maternal Protein Restriction in Rats Alters the Expression of Genes Involved in Mitochondrial Metabolism and Epitranscriptomics in Fetal Hypothalamus

Fetal brain development is closely dependent on maternal nutrition and metabolic status. Maternal protein restriction (PR) is known to be associated with alterations in the structure and function of the hypothalamus, leading to impaired control of energy homeostasis and food intake. The objective of this study was to identify the cellular and molecular systems underlying these effects during fetal development. We combined a global transcriptomic analysis on the fetal hypothalamus from a rat model of maternal PR with in vitro neurosphere culture and cellular analyses. Several genes encoding proteins from the mitochondrial respiratory chain complexes were overexpressed in the PR group and mitochondrial metabolic activity in the fetal hypothalamus was altered. The level of the N6-methyladenosine epitranscriptomic mark was reduced in the PR fetuses, and the expression of several genes involved in the writing/erasing/reading of this mark was indeed altered, as well as genes encoding several RNA-binding proteins. Additionally, we observed a higher number of neuronal-committed progenitors at embryonic day 17 (E17) in the PR fetuses. Together, these data strongly suggest a metabolic adaptation to the amino acid shortage, combined with the post-transcriptional control of protein expression, which might reflect alterations in the control of the timing of neuronal progenitor differentiation.
Nosology, Taxonomy and the Classification Conundrum of the Functional Psychoses

The theory underlying medical classification is not always given sufficient regard. Here systematic methods developed in biology are summarised and compared with parallel developments in nosology. The classification of the functional psychoses is discussed as an example of a methodological problem in medicine. We consider that cladism could have a useful application in nosology, and could lead to classifications based on the concept of interrelationships of disease.
Fixed-Frequency Sliding-Mode Control Scheme Based on Current Control Manifold for Improved Dynamic Performance of Boost PFC Converter

This paper deals with the switching regulation of boost power factor correction (PFC) converter under large and quick load fluctuation to ensure tight output voltage regulation and unity PF (UPF) at line side. In this sense, the sliding-mode control (SMC) technique based on current-controlled manifold is proposed. Input current distortion is limited even during light loading condition. In addition, the dead-zone issue related to light load near to the crossover of input current is resolved in this paper. To execute the proposed SMC algorithm, equivalent control approach is used for the selection of sliding coefficients, ensuring the system stability. The control operation manipulates both inner SM current controller to frame input current and an outer PI controller to maintain desired regulated output voltage. For experimental validation, a 500-W, 390 V/dc boost PFC prototype, controlled by dSPACE 1104 signal processor is framed. The presented simulation and experimental results infer that the proposed converter controller offers UPF, tight output voltage regulation, and percentage total harmonic distortion standard even under fluctuating load behavior. In this paper, the performance of the proposed control scheme is experimentally verified with different load behaviors and external references, which explains the robustness and effectiveness of the proposed system.
Exploring the Effectiveness of Smart Technologies in the Management of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

The global epidemic of diabetes, with increasing prevalence of type 2 diabetes (T2D), is placing a huge burden on health care management and financial systems. Unless new strategic solutions are developed, the increasing prevalence of T2D will result in a significant rise in morbidity, health care costs, and complications associated with diabetes. The introduction of smart devices in diabetes management may provide meaningful improvements in clinical outcomes, patient engagement, as well as potential cost reductions for the health care system. Future research may be capable of providing new smart and interactive solutions to the growing multidisciplinary diabetes team and, most important, to reduce the morbidity associated with T2D.
Adhesion protein YadA of Yersinia species mediates binding of bacteria to fibronectin

The interaction between fibronectin and Yersinia strains was studied. Wild-type Y. enterocolitica strains expressing the virulence-plasmid-encoded adhesion protein YadA adhered strongly to fibronectin-coated coverslips, while their plasmid-cured variants expressed weaker binding. The cloned yadA gene of Y. enterocolitica or Y. pseudotuberculosis conferred fibronectin-binding ability both to Escherichia coli and to Y. psuedotuberculosis strains lacking the YadA protein. The YadA protein did not mediate binding to isolated fragments of fibronectin or to soluble fibronectin.
The significance of kinin-destroying enzymes activity in Plasmodium knowlesi malarial infection.

Experiments were performed on healthy (non-infected) and Plasmodium knowlesi-infected rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) to determine the activity of the kinin-destroying enzymes (kininases) present in the circulation. Methods for the studies and estimation of kininases in the circulating blood of control and P. knowlesi-infected animals are described. The activity of the enzymes, present in the blood in all animals investigated, was evaluated from both methods employed by incubation with synthetic bradykinin. The isolated rat uterus served as the test organ. Studies were made on protein peak fractions obtained by column chromatography from sera of uninfected and infected animals. Kininases activity was present in fractions 4 and 5 of the control animals and in fractions 3, 4, 4a and 5 of the infected animals. The total mean value of kininase activity in the separated fractions of control animals was 179 enzyme units as compared with 489 units in monkeys infected with P. knowlesi. In the plasma, the pre-infection level of kininases obtained in the 3 animals studied was 0·0007-0·0008 (expressed in reciprocals of seconds); in the late stages of the infection, the level was 0·0022, with a subsequent drop of 0·0002-0·0004 at the terminal stages. It is concluded that increase in kininases activity in malarial infection in relation to the normal values obtained for circulating kinins suggested a rapid turn-over of the latter. In this case, the balance of kininases: kinins in P. knowlesi infection thus serve as a regulatory mechanism in minimising the damage caused on the capillary endothelium.
Quinoline-Based Fluorescence Sensors

The human body is full of various ions, which play an important role in the normal physiological activities. For example, Zinc ion (Zn2+) plays a vital role in protein organism and in many biochemical processes, such as inducing apotosis, enzyme regulation, and gene expression. Also, Ferrous ion (Fe2+) is vital in the oxygen transporting. But there are some ions harmful to human body. When exposed to mercury, even at a very low concentration, they lead to kidney and neurological diseases. What’s more, Cadmium (Cd2+) could damage our tissues, resulting in renal dysfunction or even cancers. So far, we have known more about these ions’ properties in metabolism, but little is known on mechanism.
Hospital Characteristics Associated With Achievement of Meaningful Use

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The objective of this study was to identify factors associated with hospitals that achieved the Medicare meaningful use incentive thresholds for payment under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009. We employed a cross‐sectional design using data from the 2011 American Hospital Association Annual Survey, including the Information Technology Supplement; the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services report of hospitals receiving meaningful use payments; and the Health Resources and Services Administration's Area Resource File. We used a lagged value from 2010 to determine electronic health record (EHR) adoption. Our methods were a descriptive analysis and logistic regression to examine how various hospital characteristics are associated with the achievement of Medicare meaningful use incentives. Overall, 1,769 (38%) of 4,683 potentially eligible hospitals achieved meaningful use incentive thresholds by the end of 2012. Characteristics associated with organizations that received incentive payments were having an EHR in place in 2010, having a larger bed size, having a single health information technology vendor, obtaining Joint Commission accreditation, operating under for‐profit status, having Medicare share of inpatient days in the middle two quartiles, being eligible for Medicaid incentives, and being located in the Middle Atlantic or South Atlantic census region. Characteristics associated with not receiving incentive payments were being a member of a hospital system and being located in the Mountain or Pacific census region. Thus far, little evidence suggests that the HITECH incentive program has enticed hospitals without an EHR system to adopt meaningful use criteria. Policy makers should consider modifying the incentive program to accelerate the adoption of and meaningful use in hospitals without EHRs.
Effects of Nonsteroidal Antiinflammatory Drugs on Platelet Function and Systemic Hemostasis

Aspirin and nonaspirin nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) inhibit platelet cyclooxygenase, thereby blocking the formation of thromboxane A2. These drugs produce a systemic bleeding tendency by impairing thromboxane‐dependent platelet aggregation and consequently prolonging the bleeding time. Aspirin exerts these effects by irreversibly blocking cyclooxygenase and, therefore, its actions persist for the circulating lifetime of the platelet. Nonaspirin NSAIDs inhibit cyclooxygenase reversibly and, therefore, the duration of their action depends on specific drug dose, serum level, and half‐life. The clinical risks of bleeding with aspirin or nonaspirin NSAIDs are enhanced by the concomitant use of alcohol or anticoagulants and by associated conditions, including advanced age, liver disease, and other coexisting coagulopathies.
Adiponectin and Atherosclerosis

Adiponectin is secreted by white adipose tissue and as known as for its function it is anti-diabetes, anti-atherosclerosis, anti-inflammation and antitumor activities, which have been directly linked to the high molecular weight and are abundantly present in circulating blood. adiponectin had effects on monocyte adhesion to endothelium, myeloid differentiation and macrophage cytokine production and phagocytosis. It can suppress atherogenesis by inhibiting the adherence of monocytes, reducing their phagocytic activity and suppressing the accumulation of modified lipoproteins in the vascular wall. C1q and TNF family play important roles in inflammation, the immune system and atherosclerosis. Adiponectin has protective actions in the initiation and progression of atherosclerosis through anti-inflammatory and anti-atherogenic effects. Adiponectin levels are decreased in obesity, type 2 diabetes and negatively correlated with the CRP levels in patients with CAD. With the prospect of future, adiponectin could become a promising target for future investigations in reducing the morbidity and mortality of atherosclerotic disease. Key word: Adiponectin, diponectin properties, Atherosclerosis disease, inflammatory effect, Anti-inflammatory effect.
A Study on Correlation of Anthropometric measures and HbA 1 c

There are certain Anthropometric measures which are important risk factors for development of non insulin dependent Diabetes. Previous studies have shown that body mass index (BMI) and waist hip circumference ratio (WHR) as well as other anthropometric measurements are predictive of NIDDM[1]. Shalom Nwodo Chinedu et al. also studied the correlation between body mass index and waist circumference in nigerian adults and implied indicators of health status[2].
Optimal contemporary management of symptomatic and asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis

This commentary addresses the issue of optimal contemporary management of symptomatic and asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis. Based on current data, carotid endarterectomy (CEA) should be performed in the majority of patients with symptomatic carotid artery stenosis. Carotid artery stenting (CAS) should be reserved for a minority of these symptomatic patients, in whom CEA is contraindicated. In asymptomatic patients, all should be placed on best medical treatment (BMT). With the use of one or more of the proposed stroke risk stratification models or some as yet undetermined method, the identification of those asymptomatic individuals may be possible in whom stroke risk is higher than usual with BMT. This asymptomatic subgroup, which may be small and is yet to be determined with certainty, could be offered an invasive carotid procedure (either CAS or CEA).
La evolución del español hasta en Hispanoamérica

Actualmente esta admitido que el espanol hasta se deriva del arabe hatta, tras haber sufrido algunos cambios foneticos de los que no nos ocuparemos aqui. Los lexicografos y los gramaticos tradicionales mantienen que hasta tiene dos usos distintos segun su naturaleza preposicional o adverbial.
LC-DAD/ESI-MS/MS study of phenolic compounds in ash (Fraxinus excelsior L. and F. americana L.) heartwood. Effect of toasting intensity at cooperage.

The phenolic composition of heartwood extracts from Fraxinus excelsior L. and F. americana L. , both before and after toasting in cooperage, was studied using LC-DAD/ESI-MS/MS. Low-molecular weight (LMW) phenolic compounds, secoiridoids, phenylethanoid glycosides, dilignols and oligolignols compounds were detected, and 48 were identified, or tentatively characterized, on the basis of their retention time, UV/Vis and MS spectra, and MS fragmentation patterns. Some LMW phenolic compounds like protocatechuic acid and aldehyde, hydroxytyrosol and tyrosol, were unlike to those for oak wood, while ellagic and gallic acid were not found. The toasting of wood resulted in a progressive increase in lignin degradation products with regard to toasting intensity. The levels of some of these compounds in medium-toasted ash woods were much higher than those normally detected in toasted oak, highlighting vanillin levels, thus a more pronounced vanilla character can be expected when using toasted ash wood in the aging wines. Moreover, in seasoned wood, we found a great variety of phenolic compounds which had not been found in oak wood, especially oleuropein, ligstroside and olivil, along with verbascoside and isoverbascoside in F. excelsior, and oleoside in F. americana. Toasting mainly provoked their degradation, thus in medium-toasted wood, only four of them were detected. This resulted in a minor differentiation between toasted ash and oak woods. The absence of tannins in ash wood, which are very important in oak wood, is another peculiar characteristic that should be taken into account when considering its use in cooperage.
Multiple-trait multiple country genetic evaluation of fertility traits in dairy cattle

Female fertility is one of the most economically important traits for the dairy cattle industry. Because of a few decades of selection mainly for higher milk production, many dairy farms around the world suffer from the consequences of female fertility loss. The aims of this thesis were to study the international genetic evaluation of female fertility traits, to quantify the bias of analyzing multiple female fertility traits per country with the current method in use for international genetic evaluations (MACE), to study the implementation of a new method (MT-MACE) for the analysis of multiple traits per country, and also to study the effect of across country selection for milk yield on the international genetic evaluation of female fertility traits, when MT-MACE is applied. Female fertility traits are low heritable, each describing a part of the female fertility complex. International genetic evaluation is useful for improving the accuracy of female fertility evaluations and making the across country comparisons of bulls possible. Despite the low heritability values of female fertility traits, the estimated across country genetic correlations were moderate to high, making the international genetic evaluations feasible for female fertility traits. Results for female fertility traits showed that including multiple traits per country in a MACE analysis would lead to considerable bias. This bias is due to ignoring covariances from multiple-trait national models. Avoiding bias by performing several unbiased MACE analyses, each including one trait per country is not advantageous, because it is computationally prohibitive and it does not make an optimal use of the available data. MT-MACE was applied to female fertility data, which led to higher reliabilities compared to the (unbiased) MACE evaluations. The reliability gains were larger for foreign bulls and the Top 100 bulls in each country-trait. The results showed that when the within country selection for milk yield is already taken care of by the multiple-trait national models, the across country selection for milk yield did not make significant bias in the international evaluation of female fertility traits.
The IFITM Proteins Inhibit HIV-1 Infection

ABSTRACT Type I interferon protects cells from virus infection through the induction of a group of genes collectively named interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs). In this study, we utilized short hairpin RNA (shRNA) to deplete ISGs in SupT1 cells in order to identify ISGs that suppress the production of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). Among the ISG candidates thus identified were interferon-induced transmembrane (IFITM) proteins, including IFITM1, IFITM2, and IFITM3, that potently inhibit HIV-1 replication at least partially through interfering with virus entry. Further mutagenesis analysis shows that the intracellular region, rather than the N- and C-terminal extracellular domains, is essential for the antiviral activity of IFITM1. Altogether, these data suggest that the IFITM proteins serve as important components of the innate immune system to restrict HIV-1 infection.
Induction of Broad Cross-Subtype-Specific HIV-1 Immune Responses by a Novel Multivalent HIV-1 Peptide Vaccine in Cynomolgus Macaques

One of the major obstacles in the design of an effective vaccine against HIV-1 is its antigenic variation, which results in viral escape from the immune system. Through a bioinformatics approach, we developed an innovative multivalent HIV-1 vaccine comprised of a pool of 176 lipidated and nonlipidated peptides representing variable regions of Env and Gag proteins. The potency and breadth of the candidate vaccine against a panel of HIV-1 subtypes was evaluated in nonhuman primate (cynomolgus macaques) and humanized mouse (HLA-A2.1) models. The results demonstrate strong immunogenicity with both breadth (humoral and cellular immunity) and depth (immune recognition of widely divergent viral sequences) against heterologous HIV-1 subtypes A–F.
Hepatitis C virus treatment as prevention among injecting drug users: who should we cure first?

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Treatment of injecting drug users (IDU) for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection may prevent onward transmission. Treating individuals who often share injecting equipment is most likely to prevent new infections. However, these high-risk IDU are also more likely to become re-infected than low-risk IDU. We investigated to which group treatment is best targeted. DESIGN We modelled the expected benefits per treatment of one chronically HCV-infected IDU in a population of low- and high-risk IDU. The benefits of treating one low- or one high-risk IDU were compared. MEASUREMENTS Benefits included the probability for the treated IDU to become and remain uninfected, as well as the expected number of prevented infections to others (i.e. we quantified the total expected decrease in chronic infections). FINDINGS We found a threshold in HCV-RNA prevalence above which treating low-risk IDU, and below which treating high-risk IDU, resulted in the greatest benefits. This threshold was at 50% of exchanged syringes being HCV contaminated. When 42% of IDU engaged in high-risk behaviour (borrowing and lending out syringes 7.3 times more frequently than low-risk IDU), the corresponding threshold of HCV-RNA prevalence among IDU was at 32%. Larger-risk heterogeneity led to a lower corresponding threshold among IDU. A combination of HCV treatment and 50% risk reduction was best directed at high-risk IDU for prevalence among syringes up to 59%. The threshold was marginally sensitive to changes in disease and treatment variables. CONCLUSIONS When more than half of all exchanged syringes in a population of injecting drug users (IDU) are contaminated by hepatitis C virus, it is most efficient to treat low-risk IDU first. Below this threshold, it is most efficient to treat high-risk IDU first.
MEMS platform for studying neurogenesis under controlled mechanical tension

A suitable platform has been introduced to exert mechanical tension along radial glial processes between groups of neural stem cells to study the effect of tension on cerebral cortex neurogenesis. Two improvements were implemented in the clamp-and-ratchet microstructure design based on polycrystalline silicon (polysilicon) micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) technology. Finite Element Analysis shows that these new designs are well within fracture limits under expected tension loading. Stretching the PDMS using the clamp-and-ratchet will produce various precise tensions in these radial extensions, which may modulate neuronal migration, a key process in neurogenesis.
The performance of TCP over ATM on lossy ADSL networks

This paper studies the performance of the transmission control protocol (TCP) over asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) when asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) technology is used in the local loop. TCP can experience performance degradation in this network architecture because of protocol conversion overhead and data losses due to transmission errors. A simulation model is developed to simulate ADSL network components and noisy local loops. The simulation experiments are designed to study the impact of channel errors on TCP performance for unidirectional bulk data transfers, using both an independent error model and a burst error model. The primary performance metrics are cell loss ratio, packet loss ratio, and TCP effective throughput. The simulation results illustrate how TCP is affected by channel errors, as well as the impacts of the TCP maximum segment size (MSS), switch buffer size, bandwidth asymmetry, and the percentage of noisy lines.