Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An FMCW Radar for Localization and Vital Signs Measurement for Different Chest Orientations

This work tests the ability of a frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar to measure the respiratory rate and the heartbeat of a subject in challenging indoor scenarios. To simulate a realistic configuration for ambient assisted living (AAL) applications, in which the thorax orientation towards the antenna is typically unknown, four different scenarios were considered. Measurements were performed on five volunteers positioned with the chest, left, back, and right side facing the antenna, respectively. The 5.8 GHz radar and the antennas used for the measurements were suitably designed for the considered application. To obtain a low cost and compact system, series-fed arrays were preferred over other antenna topologies. The geometry of the patches was opportunely shaped to reduce the side lobe level (SLL) and increase the bandwidth, thus ensuring good system performances. In all scenarios, the vital signs extracted from the radar signal were compared with the ones collected by a photoplethysmograph and a respiratory belt, used as references. A statistical analysis of the measured data on the different subjects and orientations was performed, showing that the radar was able to measure with high accuracy both the respiratory rate and the heartbeat in all considered configurations.
A Computer Model for Patient Individual Parametrizing of Ventricular Tachycardia Termination Algorithms

BACKGROUND Antitachycardial pacing (ATP) is a painless method for terminating ventricular tachycardias (VT) which would otherwise be treated using a painful high energy shock. However, it is well known that not each VT can be successfully terminated by ATP. Furthermore, ATP can be parametrized in several ways using scan, ramp or scan ramp approaches and can be applied in the right ventricle or in both ventricles (biventricular). In this work, we investigate the therapeutically most convenient ATP protocol based on a computer simulation using a patient individual model. METHODS A patient individual model generated from a 3D/4D data set and a hybrid automaton was used for modeling and simulation of different VT scenarios. On the different VTs (from cycle length 288 ms up to 408 ms) different ATP approaches derived from the ADVANCE-CRT trial were applied in order to determine the effectiveness of these approaches. RESULTS In this computer simulation study we were able to verify and validate the results from the ADVANCE-CRT trial. Biventricular ATP does not prove to be more effective than RV ATP but has a slight advantage in terminating fast VTs. CONCLUSIONS The availability of a patient individual model and knowledge about the ischemic area and the underlying mechanism of the VTs will allow the use of these models to optimize ATP management.
Unknown Intent Detection Using Gaussian Mixture Model with an Application to Zero-shot Intent Classification

User intent classification plays a vital role in dialogue systems. Since user intent may frequently change over time in many realistic scenarios, unknown (new) intent detection has become an essential problem, where the study has just begun. This paper proposes a semantic-enhanced Gaussian mixture model (SEG) for unknown intent detection. In particular, we model utterance embeddings with a Gaussian mixture distribution and inject dynamic class semantic information into Gaussian means, which enables learning more class-concentrated embeddings that help to facilitate downstream outlier detection. Coupled with a density-based outlier detection algorithm, SEG achieves competitive results on three real task-oriented dialogue datasets in two languages for unknown intent detection. On top of that, we propose to integrate SEG as an unknown intent identifier into existing generalized zero-shot intent classification models to improve their performance. A case study on a state-of-the-art method, ReCapsNet, shows that SEG can push the classification performance to a significantly higher level.
The role of ramucirumab and pembrolizumab combination in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer, gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma, or urothelial carcinoma.

Antibody against vascular endothelial growth factor ligand (anti-VEGF) or receptor (anti-VEGFR) and antibody against programmed death-1 (anti-PD-1) receptor or programmed death ligand 1 (anti-PD-L1) are often not combined to treat patients with advanced malignancies. Recent proposals have postulated that such a combination could produce synergistic effect thus providing greater clinical advantage than realized otherwise (1). Herbst et al. recently reported an anti-VEGFR and anti-PD-1 combination for three advanced solid tumor cohorts: gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma (GEA), non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and urothelial carcinoma (UC) (2). Such patients have considerable unmet needs and novel approaches are needed (3-5). Currently, ramucirumab, anti-VEGFR, has been approved to treat advanced GEA and NSCLC patients in the second line setting but it produces minimum advantage (6,7). Ramucirumab’s limited role in NSCLC patients has been criticized (8). In GEA patients, the combination of paclitaxel and ramucirumab is the preferred regimen (3) over marginal effects of ramucirumab alone (3,6,9). The checkpoint inhibition (IO) immunotherapy with pembrolizumab was approved for 3 or later line therapy of advanced GEA patients based solely on the response rate but 4 randomized studies have failed to produce survival benefit from IO (3,10-13). Thus we can say with certainty that advanced GEA is barely responsive to IO and most patients have an evidence of cancer progression at the time of first response assessment. However, the scenario is quite different for NSCLC and UC where IO therapy has made considerable impact in patient outcome (14-18). The role of IO therapy in advanced NSCLC depends on the absence of the targetable driver mutations (4). Patients with tumors without these driver mutations are candidates for anti-PD-1 or antiPD-L1 therapy alone or in combination with platinum doublet chemotherapy. Anti-PD-1 therapy preference for monotherapy vs combination with chemotherapy is dependent on the level (labeling index) of PD-L1 expression. Pembrolizumab monotherapy is preferred for those with PD-L1 expression ≥50% while using pembrolizumab in combination with platinum doublet therapy is for those with PD-L1 1–49%. Responses seen in KEYNOTE-024 were approximately 45% with pembrolizumab and a clear advantage over platinum doublet chemotherapy (4 months improvement in PFS) in this group (17). Subsequent therapy options for those that did not receive an anti-PD-1 or anti-PD-L1 agent in the front-line may receive one of these options depending on specific indication (4). Interesting to note, bevacizumab has been studied in combination with atezolizumab plus chemotherapy (ABCP regimen) compared to bevacizumab Editorial Commentary
Empathic emotion regulation in prosocial behaviour and altruism

ABSTRACT Emotions evoked in response to others’ distress are important for motivating concerned prosocial responses. But how emotion regulation shapes prosocial responding is not yet well understood. We tested the role of empathic emotion regulation in promoting prosocial motivation and costly donations across two studies, first in a community sample and then in a sample of altruistic kidney donors and a matched comparison sample. Participants engaged in hopeful and distancing reappraisals while viewing images of others in distress, then decided whether to help by donating to charity. Whereas hope was expected to evoke approach-based motivation indexed by increased donations, distance was expected to evoke avoidance-based motivation indexed by decreased donations, via varying effects of the two reappraisals on positive and negative affect. Across both studies, both reappraisals decreased negative affect and hopeful reappraisal increased positive affect. In the community sample, hope resulted in higher donations than distancing. Altruists were more prosocial overall, but the associations between affect and donation behaviour in this group mirrored the hopeful reappraisal in the community sample, suggesting that altruists might adopt this strategy by default. These findings clarify the role of empathic emotion regulation in prosocial behaviour and also independent effects of positive and negative affect.
Dispersal of mimetic seeds of three species of Ormosia (Leguminosae)

ABSTRACT. Seeds with ‘imitation arils’ appear wholly or partially covered by pulp or aril but actually carry no fleshy material. The mimetic seed hypothesis to explain this phenomenon proposes a parasitic relationship in which birds are deceived into dispersing seeds that resemble bird-dispersed fruits, without receiving a nutrient reward. The hard-seed for grit hypothesis proposes a mutualistic relationship in which large, terrestrial birds swallow the exceptionally hard mimetic seeds as grit for grinding the softer seeds on which they feed. They defecate, dispersing the seeds, and abrade the seed surface, enhancing germination. Any fruit mimicry is incidental. Fruiting trees of Ormosia spp. (Leguminosae: Papilionoideae) were observed to ascertain mechanisms of seed dispersal and the role of seemingly mimetic characteristics of the seeds in that dispersal. Seed predation and seed germination were also examined. Ormosia isthamensis and O. macrocalyx (but not O. bopiensis) deceived arboreally-foraging frugivorous birds into taking their mimetic seeds, although rates of seed dispersal were low. These results are consistent with the mimetic seed hypothesis. On the other hand, the rates of disappearance of seeds from the ground under the Ormosia trees, hardness of the seeds, and enhancement of germination with the abrasion of the seed coat are all consistent with the hard-seed for grit hypothesis. RESUMEN. Semillas con arilos falsos aparecen estar cubiertas en parte o completamente por pulpa o arilo, pero en realidad no llevan ninguna materia carnosa. El hipótesis semilla mímica propone que las semillas parecen frutos carnosos cuyas semillas están dispersadas por aves y que engañan las aves a dispersar sus semillas sin recibir una recompensa nutritiva — una relación parasítica. El hipótesis semilla dura para arenisca propone que aves grandes y terrestres tragan las semillas mímicas y excepcionalmente duras como arenisca para moler las semillas más suaves en que se alimentan; las aves defecan y dispersan las semillas, y las rascan, lo cual mejora la germinación — una relación mutua. Cualquier mimetismo es incidente. Se observaron árboles de Ormosia espp. (Leguminosae: Papilionoideae) con frutos para averiguar los mecanismos de dispersión de semillas y el papel que hacen las características aparentemente mímicas de sus semillas en esa dispersión. Se examinaron también la depredación y germinación de semillas. Las semillas mímicas de Ormosia isthamensis y O. macrocalyx (pero no O. bopiensis), engañaron aves frugivoras y arbóreas en comerlas, aunque las tasas de dispersión eran bajas. Estos resultados son consistente con el hipótesis semilla mímica. En cambio, las tasas de desaparición de semillas caídas de Ormosia, dureza de las semillas, y mejoramiento de germinación con la raedura de las capas de las semillas son consistente con el hipótesis semilla dura para arenisca.
Biological Functions and Therapeutic Potential of Lipocalin 2 in Cancer

Lipocalin-2 (LCN2) is a secreted glycoprotein linked to several physiological roles, including transporting hydrophobic ligands across cell membranes, modulating immune responses, maintaining iron homeostasis, and promoting epithelial cell differentiation. Although LNC2 is expressed at low levels in most human tissues, it is abundant in aggressive subtypes of cancer, including breast, pancreas, thyroid, ovarian, colon, and bile duct cancers. High levels of LCN2 have been associated with increased cell proliferation, angiogenesis, cell invasion, and metastasis. Moreover, LCN2 modulates the degradation, allosteric events, and enzymatic activity of matrix metalloprotease-9, a metalloprotease that promotes tumor cell invasion and metastasis. Hence, LCN2 has emerged as a potential therapeutic target against many cancer types. This review summarizes the most relevant findings regarding the expression, biological roles, and regulation of LCN2, as well as the proteins LCN2 interacts with in cancer. We also discuss the approaches to targeting LCN2 for cancer treatment that are currently under investigation, including the use of interference RNAs, antibodies, and gene editing.
The Association between the Plasma Sugar and Lipid Profile with the Gene Expression of the Regulatory Protein of mTOR (Raptor) in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

ABSTRACT Background Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoinflammatory and self-perpetuating disease with both articular and extra-articular manifestations, such as cardiovascular complications, which are the leading cause of mortality and morbidity in RA patients. Impaired sugar and lipid metabolism are considered as the critical risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Regarding the regulatory function of Raptor in the immunometabolism, in this study, we evaluated the association between plasma sugar and lipid profiles with the gene expression of Raptor and the cytokine tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), as an inflammatory mediator, in peripheral blood leukocyte of RA patients. Material and methods Thirty-five RA patients who received combinational disease modified anti-rheumatoid drugs (DMARD) regimen and thirty healthy subjects enrolled in this study. The gene expression of Raptor was assessed by the real-time PCR method, and the Plasma levels of glucose and lipids, as well as TNF-α, were obtained using Hitachi device and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique, respectively. Results The gene expression of Raptor was reduced significantly in RA patients compared to the healthy subjects (p = .001). The plasma level of HDL was significantly higher in RA patients than the control group (p = .001), while the plasma level of LDL was reduced significantly in these patients (p = .001). Conclusion In our study, the reduced gene expression of Raptor may contribute to the impaired immunometabolism in RA patients, which is independent of plasma sugar and lipid profile.
Physiological and hormonal changes during prolonged starvation in fish

Starvation periods are common for many animals, including fish, birds, and mammals. Many fish species exhibit extraordinary resilience to prolonged starvation, but the reasons for that and the mechanisms employed during these periods are poorly understood. This study shows that similar to mammals and birds, many fish species undergo three phases during starvation: (I) a short transient phase, (II) a long, protein conservation steady state phase with mainly fat oxidation as the primary energy source, and (III) a shift to protein mobilization as a main energy source. These starvation states and their transitions were quantified by a meta-analysis of large empirical data available in the literature, revealing that low critical levels of fat reserves trigger the transition to the third state. The critical fat level, denoted as γ (percentage of total lipid in body mass), ranges between 0.7% and 5%, depending on the species. It appears that these transitions in the energy mobilization phases are regulated by ho.
A cross-cultural investigation into the influence of eye gaze on working memory for happy and angry faces

ABSTRACT Previous long-term memory (LTM) research found that angry faces were more poorly recognised when encoded with averted vs. direct gaze, while memory for happy faces was unaffected by gaze. Contrastingly, working memory (WM) accuracy for angry faces was unaffected by gaze, but WM was enhanced for happy faces with averted vs. direct gaze. Because the LTM study was conducted in an Eastern culture (Japan) with Japanese faces, while the WM study was conducted in a Western culture (UK) with Caucasian faces, here we investigated WM further to examine whether gaze effects diverge due to cultural variation between the faces and participants. When Western participants viewed Japanese faces (Experiment 1), the happy-averted gaze advantage in WM was replicated. In contrast, Japanese participants viewing Caucasian faces (Experiment 2a) showed poorer WM for angry faces with averted vs. direct gaze, and no influence of gaze on WM for happy faces. When Japanese participants viewed Japanese faces (Experiment 2b), gaze did not modulate WM. Therefore, the way in which expression and gaze interact to influence face WM does not appear to rely on the specific memory system engaged, but instead may be attributed to cultural differences in display rules between Eastern and Western cultures.
Upstroke Time as a Novel Predictor of Mortality in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease

Upstroke time (UT), measured from the foot-to-peak peripheral pulse wave, is a merged parameter used to assess arterial stiffness and target vascular injuries. In this study, we aimed to investigate UT for the prediction of cardiovascular and all-cause mortality in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). This longitudinal study enrolled 472 patients with CKD. Blood pressure, brachial pulse wave velocity (baPWV), and UT were automatically measured by a Colin VP-1000 instrument. During a median follow-up of 91 months, 73 cardiovascular and 183 all-cause mortality instances were recorded. Multivariable Cox analyses indicated that UT was significantly associated with cardiovascular mortality (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.010, p = 0.007) and all-cause mortality (HR = 1.009, p < 0.001). The addition of UT into the clinical models including traditional risk factors and baPWV further increased the value in predicting cardiovascular and all-cause mortality (both p < 0.001). In the Kaplan–Meier analyses, UT ≥ 180 ms could predict cardiovascular and all-cause mortality (both log-rank p < 0.001). Our study found that UT was a useful parameter in predicting cardiovascular and all-cause mortality in CKD patients. Additional consideration of the UT might provide an extra benefit in predicting cardiovascular and all-cause mortality beyond the traditional risk factors and baPWV.
Response of Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata in Free and Alginate Immobilized Cells to Heavy Metals Toxicity

Effects of 12 heavy metals on growth of free and alginate-immobilized cells of the alga Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata were investigated. The tested metals ions include Al, As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Hg, Se, Ni, Pb, Sr, and Zn. Toxicity values (EC50) were calculated by graphical interpolation from dose-response curves. The highest to the lowest toxic metals are in the order Cd > Co > Hg > Cu > Ni > Zn > Cr > Al > Se > As > Pb > Sr. The lowest metal concentration (mg L−1) inhibiting 50% (EC50) of algal growth of free and immobilized (values in parentheses) algal cells were, 0.018 (0.09) for Cd, 0.03 (0.06) for Co, 0.039 (0.06) for Hg, 0.048 (0.050) for Cu, 0.055 (0.3) for Ni, 0.08 (0.1) for Zn, 0.2 (0.3) for Cr, 0.75 (1.8) for Al, 1.2 (1.4) for Se, 3.0 (4.0) for As, 3.3 (5.0) for Pb, and 160 (180) for Sr. Free and immobilized cultures showed similar responses to Cu and Se. The free cells were more sensitive than the immobilized ones. Accordingly, the toxicity (EC50) of heavy metals derived only form immobilized algal cells might by questionable. The study suggests that batteries of alginate-immobilized algae can efficiently replace free algae for the bio-removal of heavy metals.
Application-Oriented Growth of a Molybdenum Disulfide (MoS2) Single Layer by Means of Parametrically Optimized Chemical Vapor Deposition

In the 2D material framework, molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) was originally studied as an archetypical transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) material. The controlled synthesis of large-area and high-crystalline MoS2 remains a challenge for distinct practical applications from electronics to electrocatalysis. Among the proposed methods, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is a promising way for synthesizing high-quality MoS2 from isolated domains to a continuous film because of its high flexibility. Herein, we report on a systematic study of the effects of growth pressure, temperature, time, and vertical height between the molybdenum trioxide (MoO3) source and the substrate during the CVD process that influence the morphology, domain size, and uniformity of thickness with controlled parameters over a large scale. The substrate was pretreated with perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic acid tetrapotassium salt (PTAS) seed molecule that promoted the layer growth of MoS2. Further, we characterized the as-grown MoS2 morphologies, layer quality, and physical properties by employing scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Raman spectroscopy, and photoluminescence (PL). Our experimental findings demonstrate the effectiveness and versatility of the CVD approach to synthesize MoS2 for various target applications.
The Perioperative Management of Giant Retinal Tears.

Giant retinal tears (GRT) are defined as full-thickness retinal breaks extending circumferentially for >90 degrees that are associated with posterior vitreous detachments (PVD). They frequently occur immediately posterior to the ora serrata but can also be found near the equator. Unlike retinal dialysis, in which a retinal detachment (RD) also occurs posterior to the ora serrata but with remaining attachment of the vitreous base, the posterior edges of GRTs are frequently independently mobile and thus pose a unique challenge to surgical repair. Even after successful surgical reattachment, the visual prognosis for patients with GRTs remains guarded. Epidemiological studies have estimated the annual incidence of GRT to be 0.094 to 0.15 cases per 100,000 people per year.1,2 It commonly affects middleaged white males (mean age 42.2 y) (Fig. 1A), and although most cases are idiopathic (ie, not associated with any clear precipitating/causal factor), roughly 20% are associated with blunt or penetrating trauma (Fig. 1B). Other risk factors for GRT development include high myopia, aphakia, pseudophakia, extensive lattice degeneration, surgical trauma (as might occur with anterior vitrectomy for posterior capsular rupture and dropped lens nuclei), and congenital diseases such as Marfan, Ehlers-Danlos, and Stickler syndromes.1,3 Case reports have also described GRTs in the setting of rare conditions such as retinitis pigmentosa, meningococcal endophthalmitis, Jarisch-Herxheimer reaction with ocular syphilis, and aniridia.4–8 Of note, fellow eyes of patients with nontraumatic GRTs are at an increased risk of developing GRTs (∼12.0% to 12.8%). 1,9 Furthermore, 26% of these fellow eyes are associated with present or previous RD, non-GRT retinal breaks, or retinal changes predisposing
Preliminary estimates of the potential for carbon mitigation in European soils through no‐till farming

In this paper we estimate the European potential for carbon mitigation of no‐till farming using results from European tillage experiments. Our calculations suggest some potential in terms of (a) reduced agricultural fossil fuel emissions, and (b) increased soil carbon sequestration. We estimate that 100% conversion to no‐till farming would be likely to sequester about 23 Tg C y–1 in the European Union or about 43 Tg C y–1 in the wider Europe (excluding the former Soviet Union). In addition, up to 3.2 Tg C y–1 could be saved in agricultural fossil fuel emissions. Compared to estimates of the potential for carbon sequestration of other carbon mitigation options, no‐till agriculture shows nearly twice the potential of scenarios whereby soils are amended with organic materials. Our calculations suggest that 100% conversion to no‐till agriculture in Europe could mitigate all fossil fuel‐carbon emissions from agriculture in Europe. However, this is equivalent to only about 4.1% of total anthropogenic CO2‐carbon produced annually in Europe (excluding the former Soviet Union) which in turn is equivalent to about 0.8% of global annual anthropogenic CO2‐carbon emissions.