Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Issues for selection of outcome measures in stroke rehabilitation: ICF Participation

Purpose. To evaluate the psychometric and administrative properties of outcome measures in the ICF Participation category, which are used in stroke rehabilitation research and reported in the published literature. Method. Critical review and synthesis of measurement properties for six commonly reported instruments in the stroke rehabilitation literature. Each instrument was rated using the eight evaluation criteria proposed by the UK Health Technology Assessment (HTA) programme. The instruments were also assessed for the rigour with which their reliability, validity and responsiveness were reported in the published literature. Results. Validity has been well reported for at least half of the measures reviewed. However, methods for reporting specific measurement qualities of outcome instruments were inconsistent. Responsiveness of measures has not been well documented. Of the three ICF categories, Participation seems to be most problematic with respect to: (a) lack of consensus on the range of domains required for measurement in stroke; (b) much greater emphasis on health-related quality of life, relative to subjective quality of life in general; (c) the inclusion of a mixture of measurements from all three ICF categories. Conclusions. The reader is encouraged to examine carefully the nature and scope of outcome measurement used in reporting the strength of evidence for improved participation associated with stroke rehabilitation. There is no consensus regarding the most important indicators of successful involvement in a life situation and which ones best represent the societal perspective of functioning. In particular, quality of life outcomes lack adequate conceptual frameworks to guide the process of development and validation of measures.
Direct and Indirect Interactions between Calcineurin-NFAT and MEK1-Extracellular Signal-Regulated Kinase 1/2 Signaling Pathways Regulate Cardiac Gene Expression and Cellular Growth

ABSTRACT MEK1, a member of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade that directly activates extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), induces cardiac hypertrophy in transgenic mice. Calcineurin is a calcium-regulated protein phosphatase that also functions as a positive regulator of cardiac hypertrophic growth through a direct mechanism involving activation of nuclear factor of activated T-cell (NFAT) transcription factors. Here we determined that calcineurin-NFAT and MEK1-ERK1/2 signaling pathways are interdependent in cardiomyocytes, where they directly coregulate the hypertrophic growth response. For example, genetic deletion of the calcineurin Aβ gene reduced the hypertrophic response elicited by an activated MEK1 transgene in the heart, while inhibition of calcineurin or NFAT in cultured neonatal cardiomyocytes also blunted the hypertrophic response driven by activated MEK1. Conversely, targeted inhibition of MEK1-ERK1/2 signaling in cultured cardiomyocytes attenuated the hypertrophic growth response directed by activated calcineurin. However, targeted inhibition of MEK1-ERK1/2 signaling did not directly affect calcineurin-NFAT activation, nor was MEK1-ERK1/2 activation altered by targeted inhibition of calcineurin-NFAT. Mechanistically, we show that MEK1-ERK1/2 signaling augments NFAT transcriptional activity independent of calcineurin, independent of changes in NFAT nuclear localization, and independent of alterations in NFAT transactivation potential. In contrast, MEK1-ERK1/2 signaling enhances NFAT-dependent gene expression through an indirect mechanism involving induction of cardiac AP-1 activity, which functions as a necessary NFAT-interacting partner. As a second mechanism, MEK1-ERK1/2 and calcineurin-NFAT proteins form a complex in cardiac myocytes, resulting in direct phosphorylation of NFATc3 within its C terminus. MEK1-ERK1/2-mediated phosphorylation of NFATc3 directly augmented its DNA binding activity, while inhibition of MEK1-ERK1/2 signaling reduced NFATc3 DNA binding activity. Collectively, these results indicate that calcineurin-NFAT and MEK1-ERK1/2 pathways constitute a codependent signaling module in cardiomyocytes that coordinately regulates the growth response through two distinct mechanisms.
Diet, anthropometric measures and prostate cancer risk: a review of prospective cohort and intervention studies

We reviewed 37 prospective cohort and four intervention studies on potential dietary risk factors for prostate cancer, published between 1966 and September 2003. Some studies were limited by small size, crude measurement of dietary exposure and limited control for confounders. Intervention and prospective cohort studies support a protective role against prostate cancer for selenium, and possibly for vitamin E, pulses and tomatoes/lycopene. Overall consumption of meat, eggs, vegetables, fruit, coffee, tea, carotenoids and vitamins A, C and D was not consistently related to prostate cancer risk. Intervention studies also indicate that supplementation with β‐carotene does not lower prostate cancer risk, except possibly in men with low β‐carotene status at baseline. For specific types of meat, alcoholic drinks, dairy products, fat and anthropometric measures, most cohort studies suggest either an increased risk or no relation with prostate cancer. For calcium, two cohort studies suggest an increased risk at very high calcium intakes (>2000 mg/day). In conclusion, prospective studies are consistent with a protective role for selenium, and possibly vitamin E, pulses and tomatoes/lycopene, in the aetiology of prostate cancer. Studies are inconclusive on the role of meat, dairy products, fat, vegetables, fruits, alcohol and anthropometric measures, whereas a very high calcium intake appears to be positively associated with prostate cancer risk.
Rapid feature extraction for Bangla handwritten digit recognition

Feature extraction is one of the fundamental problems of character recognition. The performance of character recognition system is largely depending on proper feature extraction and correct classifier selection. In this article, a rapid feature extraction method is proposed and named as Celled Projection (CP) that compute the projection of each section formed through partitioning an image. The recognition performance of the proposed method is compared with other widely used feature extraction methods that are intensively studied for many different scripts in literature. The experiments have been conducted using Bangla handwritten numerals along with three different well known classifiers which demonstrate comparable results including 94.12% recognition accuracy using celled-projection.
Predicate abstraction in protocol verification

The paper shows how predicate abstraction can be applied to protocol verification. Predicate abstraction is a method for automatic construction of an abstract state graph. The basic idea is to use n predicates, phi1,. , phin, defined on a concrete state space to generate an abstract state graph. Model checking is a formal verification technique which has been successfully applied to protocol verification. However, model checking can only be applied to finite state systems. Many interesting systems are infinite state or the number of states is so large that verification becomes infeasible. Predicate abstraction can be applied in the verification of infinite state systems (or large finite state systems). An abstract state graph created by predicate abstraction can be used for verification of safety properties using a model checker. We provide simple examples of protocol verification using predicate abstraction
Hand-printed character recognition system using artificial neural networks

A new technique is proposed for the recognition of hand-printed Latin characters using artificial neural networks together with conventional techniques. One advantage of this technique is that it combines rule-based (structural) and classification tests. Another advantage is that it it more efficient for large and complex sets. The technique can be divided into five major steps: (1) digitization of the image; (2) thinning of the binary image using a parallel thinning algorithm; tracing of the tree; (3) tracing of the skeleton of the image and construction of a binary tree; (4) extraction of features from the structural information; and (5) classification of the segmented descriptions as particular characters by a feedforward neural network trained by backpropagation. <<ETX>>
Maternal nutrition during pregnancy as it affects infant growth, development and health.

Strong epidemiological evidence exists of an association between maternal nutritional status, during and before pregnancy, and birthweight and intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR). Trials of nutritional supplementation during pregnancy have, however, found only a modest effect of supplementation on birthweight, even in undernourished women. One study even found no long-term benefit to children in terms of growth or neurocognitive development. Since it is not clear whether the supplementation trials were conducted at the right time during pregnancy, future supplementation during pregnancy should probably be targeted at nutritionally disadvantaged populations during all three trimesters of pregnancy. Distinguishing between IUGR and prematurity, and between stunted and wasted IUGR infants would be helpful in future trials. More research is also needed on the effect of maternal nutrition during pregnancy on preterm delivery, and during consecutive pregnancies and prior to pregnancy.
Trasplante de células madre mesenquimales en un modelo de rechazo crónico del injerto pulmonar

El sindrome de bronquiolitis obliterante (bos) es la mayor causa de morbimortalidad en los pacientes sometidos a un trasplante pulmonar a medio-largo plazo. Consiste en un proceso de obliteracion fibrosa de la pequena via aerea. A dia de hoy no se conoce la causa ultima y no existen estrategias preventivas o tratamientos eficaces. No obstante, se han desarrollado multitud de modelos animales con el objetivo de estudiar mejor la bos y tratar de comprender mejor su fisiopatologia y poder aplicar asi diferentes tratamientos. Por otro lado, las celulas madre mesenquimales (cmm) han demostrado tener un importante papel en la reparacion y regeneracion en diferentes tejidos sometidos a una lesion especifica. En esta tesis se reproduce satisfactoriamente un modelo animal de bos (trasplante traqueal heterotopico intrapulmonar en ratas) y se aplican cmm a diferentes tiempos y por diferentes vias de administracion (intravenosa, intrapulmonar e intratraqueal). En cuanto a los resultados, se observa una disminucion de la respuesta fibrosa y obliterativa de la luz del segmento traqueal implantado sobre todo en aquellos individuos que reciben las cmm a los 7 dias del injerto traqueal y por via endotraqueal. Ademas de esta respuesta reparadora, se objetiva un tejido neoformado con histologia e inmunohistoquimica compatible con tejido alveolar, lo que sugiere cierto grado de regeneracion tisular. Por ultimo, se observan las cmm viables y proliferando con capacidad de diferenciarse a diferentes linajes celulares, entre los que se incluyen endotelio y epitelio pulmonar.
Ética del valor p: una oportunidad para nuevas metodologías

Etica del valor p: una oportunidad para nuevas metodologias P-value Ethics. An Opportunity for New Methodologies Guillermo Droppelmann 1, 2, 3, Rolf Nickel 1, Felipe Feijoo 4 Area de Investigacion, Unidad Academica, Clinica MEDS, Santiago, Chile. Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Mayor, Santiago, Chile. Programa de Doctorado en Ciencias mencion Estadistica Avanzada, Universidad Catolica San Antonio de Murcia, Murcia, Espana. Escuela de Ingenieria Industrial, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso, Valparaiso, Chile. Email: guillermo.droppelmann@meds.cl Resumen La significacion estadistica ha sido el gran protagonista en la comunicacion de resultados en las investigaciones biomedicas. Sin embargo, las ciencias computacionales han desarrollado nuevas metodologias. Se describen las vias por las que la significancia estadistica podria ser reemplazada, impactando en la etica de la validez cientifica. Resulta necesario conocer las limitaciones de las herramientas estadisticas tradicionales e incorporar los nuevos elementos para el analisis de datos. Palabras clave: Etica, Metodologia, Significacion estadistica, Valor-p. Abstract Statistical significance has been the great protagonist in the communication of results in biomedical research. However, computational sciences have developed new methodologies. It is described that statistical significance could be replaced by impacting the ethics of scientific validity. It is necessary to know the limitations of traditional statistical tools and incorporate the new elements for data analysis. Keywords: Ethics, Methodology, Statistical significance, P-value.
Distribution and elimination of palladium in rats after 90-day oral administration

This study determined the distribution in internal organs and the elimination routes in rats after oral administration of potassium hexachloro-palladate. Forty male Wistar rats were exposed for 90 days to 0, 10, 100 and 250 ng/mL of the palladium (Pd) salt in drinking water. Samples of urine and feces were collected on days 1, 30, 60 and 90, while organs (kidney, liver, lung, spleen and bones) and blood were collected at the end of the experiment. Quantification method was based on the sector-field inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Results indicated that Pd ions were rapidly eliminated from the body. The principal excretion was through the feces (650 ± 72.7 ng/g dry weight, at the Pd dose of 250 ng/mL), but at the higher dosing Pd was also eliminated through the urine (6.16 ± 1.91 ng/mL for the Pd intake of 250 ng/mL). A clear relationship between the Pd ingested dose and the Pd excretion amount was observed mainly in the feces. Absorbed Pd was mostly found in the kidney of rats (124.4 ± 23.0 ng/g dry weight, following the highest dose), while liver, lung, spleen and bones did not accumulate the metal. At the higher dosing, Pd content in the kidney raised proportionally with the Pd dose. Our findings may be useful to help in the understanding of the health impact of Pd dispersed in the environment as well as in identifying appropriate biological indices of Pd exposure.
Vav‐1 regulates NK T cell development and NK cell cytotoxicity

The hematopoietic‐specific Rho‐family GTP exchange factor Vav‐1 is a regulator of lymphocyte antigen receptor signaling and mediates normal maturation and activation of B and T cells.Recent findings suggest that Vav‐1 also forms part of signaling pathways required for natural and antibody dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) of human NK cells. In this study, we show that Vav‐1 is also expressed in murine NK cells. Vav‐1–/– mice had normal numbers of splenic NK cells, and these displayed a similar expression profile of NK cell receptors as wild‐type mice. Unexpectedly, IL‐2‐activated Vav‐1–/– NK cells retained normal ADCC. Fc‐receptor mediated activation of ERK, JNK, and p38 was also normal. In contrast, Vav‐1–/– NK cells exhibited reduced natural cytotoxicity against EL4, C4.4. 25, RMA and RMA/S. Together, the results demonstrate that Vav‐1 is dispensable for mainstream NK cell development, but is required for NK natural cytotoxicity. Unlike the findings for NK cells, NK T cells were dramatically diminished in Vav‐1–/– mice and splenocytes from Vav‐1 mutant mice failed to produce IL‐4 in response to in vivo CD3 stimulation. These data highlight the important role of Vav‐1 in NK T cell development and NK cell function.
Polymorphic Marker Designed from Bioinformatics Sequences Related to Cell Wall Strength for Discrimination of Mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana L.) Clones Resistant to Gamboge Disorder

Gamboge disorder (GD) or fruit damage by the yellow sap is a major problem in mangosteen. Mangosteen plants varied in the level of GD, from very low or non GD to low, moderate and high GD. However it was difficult to differentiate between GD and non GD plants because evaluation of the disorder is strongly influenced by environment. In this study we investigated the usefulness of primer designed from bioinformatics related to cell wall strength, termed as MCWS, to predict GD. Plant materials used were 28 mangosteen plants selected based on percentage of GD categorized as high, moderate, low and very low or non GD. The result showed that the specific DNA fragments were absent in the high GD accessions. The MCWS marker suggests as a novel polymorphic marker for GD in mangosteen as well as a marker for detect variability in mangosteen as apomictic plant. Keywords—Bioinformatics, cell wall strength, gamboge disorder, mangosteen, polymorphic marker.
The Effect of Renewable Energy Development on Carbon Emission Reduction: An Empirical Analysis for the EU-15 Countries

The increased concerns about climate change have made renewable energy sources an important topic of research. Several scholars have applied different methodologies to examine the relationships between energy consumption and economic growth of individual and groups of countries and to analyze the environmental effects of energy policies. Previous studies have analyzed carbon emission savings, using renewable energy usage as an individual source or in combination with traditional sources of energy (e.g., hybrid plants) in connection with lifecycle analysis methods. It is shown that after a certain period, economic growth leads to the promotion of environmental quality. However, econometric modelling critiques have opposed the results of these studies. One reason is that the effectiveness of governance-related parameters has previously been neglected. In this research, we analyze the impact of renewable energy development on carbon emission reduction. We estimate a model to evaluate the effectiveness of renewable energy development, technological innovation, and market regulations in carbon emission reduction. The empirical results are based on a panel data estimation using the EU-15 countries data observed from 1995 to 2010. The elasticities of CO2 emissions are estimated, in order to evaluate the effectiveness of each parameter. The findings show that the effects of a negative climate change could be mitigated by governance-related parameters instead of economic development.
Genetic Diversity and Species Identification of Cultivar Species in Subtribe Cucumerinae (Cucurbitaceae) Using RAPD and SCAR Markers

DNA polymorphism in the cultivar species; Cucumis sativus L. , C. melo L. and Benincasa hispida Cogn. of subtribe Cucumerinae (Cucurbitaceae) in the four northeastern provinces of Thailand was examined by using RAPD technique. Twenty 10-mer primers were produced 212 RAPD fragments, ranging from approximately 120 to 2531 bp. The genetic similarities were estimated from banding profiles using a NTSYS* version 2.1 as a basis for dendrogram construction via the UPGMA method. Cluster analysis divided the taxa under study into 2 clades. Moreover, a RAPD marker: Cm (OPJ11700) was specified to C. melo, and this marker was converted into sequence characterized amplified region (SCAR) marker: Cm (SCJ11516). A pair of sequence-specific primer of clones Cm (OPJ11700) amplified a distinct single band of the same size as the RAPD clones. The SCAR marker was developed successfully to identify C. melo genotype.
Blinking and schizotypal thinking

Spontaneous eye blink rate (SBR) is thought to be a biological marker for cerebral dopamine (DA) activity. Accordingly, positive psychotic symptoms have been found to be associated with an increased SBR and negative psychotic symptoms with a decreased SBR. However, modulations of the DA system in patient populations also result from prior neuroleptic treatment. Here, we tested the possible relationship between SBR and positive and negative schizotypal thought. To test the direct influence of DA on SBR in general and as a function of schizotypy, half of a sample of 40 healthy men received levodopa and the other half placebo in a double-blind procedure. SBR did not differ between substance groups suggesting that a pharmacologically induced DA increase in healthy individuals does not generally increase SBR. However, in the levodopa group, increasing SBR correlated with increasing negative schizotypy scores, while no relationship was found between SBR and (1) negative schizotypy in the placebo group, or (2) positive schizotypy in either substance group. We conjecture that a pre-existing hypodopaminergic state in high negative schizotypy scorers, made these individuals susceptible to an increased DA concentration, as it has been observed in Parkinson’s disease. Furthermore, the absence of any relationship in the placebo group might suggest that variations in DA concentration as a function of schizotypy are too subtle to influence SBR. Finally, the lack of any association of SBR with positive schizotypy might indicate that SBR and positive schizotypy are mediated by functionally distinct neural circuits
R3M: A Universal Visual Representation for Robot Manipulation

We study how visual representations pre-trained on diverse human video data can enable data-efficient learning of downstream robotic manipulation tasks. Concretely, we pre-train a visual representation using the Ego4D human video dataset using a combination of time-contrastive learning, video-language alignment, and an L1 penalty to encourage sparse and compact representations. The resulting representation, R3M, can be used as a frozen perception module for downstream policy learning. Across a suite of 12 simulated robot manipulation tasks, we find that R3M improves task success by over 20% compared to training from scratch and by over 10% compared to state-of-the-art visual representations like CLIP and MoCo. Furthermore, R3M enables a Franka Emika Panda arm to learn a range of manipulation tasks in a real, cluttered apartment given just 20 demonstrations. Code and pre-trained models are available at https://tinyurl.com/robotr3m.
Pseudo-exponential computational circuit with improved accuracy and frequency response

A new higher-order CMOS current-mode pseudo-exponential circuit will be presented. The advantage of the circuit with respect to the previous reported similar ones is the smaller value of the limited expansion error obtained by using a higher order approximation of the exponential function. The circuit presents the important advantage of the independence of the output current on technological parameters. Due to the strong inversion operation of all MOS transistors and to the current-mode operation of the circuit, the circuit frequency response can be strongly improved. The second-order effects will be taken into account for evaluating the total error of the circuit core, resulting an additional error summed to the error caused by the neglecting of the superior-order terms from the exponential function Taylor series expansion. The circuit area is relatively small due to the exclusively utilization of MOS transistors.