Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A region-region and region-edge cooperative approach of image segmentation

In the task of segmentation of some complex pictures, it is often difficult to obtain satisfactory results using only one approach of image segmentation. The tendency toward the integration of several techniques seems to be the best solution. The authors introduce a new approach of image segmentation, which tends to combine several sources of knowledge about the image in a way to produce better segmentation results. First, they try to locate germs that are homogenous by means of a region-region cooperative process. A region growing process is then applied to these germs in order to find the region borders. This process is controlled, on the one hand, by the germs' parameters, and on the other hand by a gradient information obtained by a simple edge detector. Finally, a region merging step is applied on the extracted regions in order to reconstruct regions that have been split by the germs' extraction process. This method has given good segmentation results over several complex natural images. <<ETX>>
Thai local product recommendation using ontological content based filtering

This paper presents ontology based recommender system using similarity of properties of Thai local products. With the designed ontology, products are mapped to the schema to realize their properties. The application is designed for users to search a product with criteria, and the selected item is recognized as a base for recommendation expansion. The recommendation is made by comparing ontology properties of the base item with other items, and the items with common properties are recommended to the user. User profiles are asked to prevent recommending products with unwanted properties while positive preference is designed to rank the recommendation result. From experiment, we found that the recommendation result is able to gain users' interest with their view count on the most of generated recommended item.
Regulation of PI3-kinase/Akt signaling by muscle-enriched microRNA-486

microRNAs (miRNAs) play key roles in modulating a variety of cellular processes through repression of mRNA targets. In a screen for miRNAs regulated by myocardin-related transcription factor-A (MRTF-A), a coactivator of serum response factor (SRF), we discovered a muscle-enriched miRNA, miR-486, controlled by an alternative promoter within intron 40 of the Ankyrin-1 gene. Transcription of miR-486 is directly controlled by SRF and MRTF-A, as well as by MyoD. Among the most strongly predicted targets of miR-486 are phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) and Foxo1a, which negatively affect phosphoinositide-3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt signaling. Accordingly, PTEN and Foxo1a protein levels are reduced by miR-486 overexpression, which, in turn, enhances PI3K/Akt signaling. Similarly, we show that MRTF-A promotes PI3K/Akt signaling by up-regulating miR-486 expression. Conversely, inhibition of miR-486 expression enhances the expression of PTEN and Foxo1a and dampens signaling through the PI3K/Akt-signaling pathway. Our findings implicate miR-486 as a downstream mediator of the actions of SRF/MRTF-A and MyoD in muscle cells and as a potential modulator of PI3K/Akt signaling.
Skin Moisturisation and Elasticity Originate From at Least Two Different Mechanisms

Skin moisturisation and elasticity are clearly linked in people’s mind. For a large series of neat personal care ingredients we measured both their skin moisturising and plasticising performance on human skin in‐vivo, and were able to rank the products according to their effectiveness. Efficacy was expressed relative to benchmark products: glycerine for moisturisation and water for elasticity. A good spread in skin moisturisation efficacy was found: 15 of our products had a relative performance of less than 30%, 23 products scored between 30 and 70% and 7 ingredients marked above 70%. For skin elasticity, the number of products in the corresponding groups was 36, 4 and 2. This discrepancy could be due to the choice of benchmark products, but when the values for relative elasticity performance of the various ingredients were plotted against those of relative moisturisation effectiveness, it became obvious that skin moisturisation and elasticity are not linearly correlated. This is at least remarkable as water was used as the benchmark product for skin elasticity. The common belief that increased skin moisturisation will automatically lead to enhanced skin elasticity is therefore unlikely to be true.
Health promotion for frail older home care clients.

AIM This paper reports a study evaluating the comparative effects and costs of a proactive nursing health promotion intervention in addition to usual home care for older people compared with usual home care services alone. BACKGROUND An ageing population, budget constraints and technological advances in many countries have increased the pressure on home care resources. The result is a shift in nursing services from health promotion to meet the more pressing need for postacute care. For frail older people with long-term needs, these changes combine to create a fragmented system of health service delivery, characterized by providing nursing on demand rather than proactively. METHODS A two-armed, single-blind, randomized controlled trial was carried out with older people > or =75 years and eligible for personal support services through a home care programme in Ontario, Canada. Participants were randomly allocated either to usual home care (control) or to a nursing (experimental) group. In addition to usual home care, the nursing group received a health assessment combined with regular home visits or telephone contacts, health education about management of illness, coordination of community services, and use of empowerment strategies to enhance independence. The data were collected in 2001-2002. RESULTS Of the 288 older people who were randomly allocated at baseline, 242 (84%) completed the study (120 nursing group; 122 control group). Proactively providing older people with nursing health promotion, compared with providing nursing services on-demand, resulted in better mental health functioning (P = 0.009), a reduction in depression (P = 0.009), and enhanced perceptions of social support (P = 0.009) at no additional cost from a societal perspective. CONCLUSIONS Home based nursing health promotion, proactively provided to frail older people with chronic health needs, enhances quality of life while not increasing the overall costs of health care. The results underscore the need to re-invest in nursing services for health promotion for older clients receiving home care.
Hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer: identification of mutation carriers and assessing pathogenicity of mutations

Hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC), also referred to as Lynch syndrome, is an autosomal dominantly inherited disorder that is characterized by susceptibility to colorectal cancer and extracolonic malignancies, in particular endometrial cancer. HNPCC is caused by pathogenic mutations in the mismatch repair (MMR) genes, which play an important role in maintaining genomic stability during DNA replication. Identification of MMR gene mutation carriers is important as this enables them to enrol in surveillance programmes, thus reducing their risk of cancer and increasing survival. Clinical criteria as well as non-clinical criteria have been formulated to select patients for mutation analysis. In this paper we review the approaches used to select patients for mutation analysis. Mutation analysis in the MMR genes may yield mutations of which the pathogenic nature is unclear. Criteria to determine the pathogenicity of such variants are discussed, as well as differences in design of functional assays to assess pathogenicity.
Immunosuppression in Helminth Infection

1.1 Parasitism Parasitism is an antagonistic relationship between organisms of different species where the parasite benefits at the expense of the host. Helminths are long-living, multicellular parasites. There are two major phylla of helminths; Nematodes and Platyhelminthes. The nematodes contain the intestinal worms known as soil-transmitted helminths including hookworms, whipworms and the filarial worms that cause lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis. The Platyhelminthes, known as flatworms, include the flukes and the tapeworms. Both nematodes, flukes and tapeworms widely infect humans and animals (Hotez & Kamath, 2009). Most of the parasitic species causing weakness and disease survive in and explore the host as natural environment. Helminths can be found in a great variety of tissue niches, and although they cause very high morbidity, direct mortality of the host species remains low (Brooker, 2010). Human hookworm infection is a common soiltransmitted helminth infection that is caused by the nematode parasites Necator americanus and Ancylostoma duodenale. Hookworm infections are asymptomatic however substantially contributes to the incidence of anemia and malnutrition in developing nations (de Silva et. al 2003, WHO 2010). Filarial diseases are rarely fatal and morbidity of human filariasis results mainly from the host reaction to microfilariae or developing adult worms in different areas of the body. Most of the filarial infected individuals have a subclinical condition associated with patent infection, and acute manifestations which are rarely life threatening. However, chronic manifestations, such as lymphedema (elephantiasis) and hydrocele, are debilitating (Keiser et al., 2002). Schistosomes, the blood flukes reside in the mesenteric and vesical venules. They have a life span of many years and daily produce large numbers of eggs, which must traverse the gut or bladder tissues on their way to the lumens of the excretory organs. Many of the eggs remain in the host tissues, inducing immunologically mediated granulomatous inflammation and fibrosis (Warren, 1982). The relationship between the presence of schistosome infection and clinical morbidity revealed schistosomiasis-related disease and associated death (Van der Werf et al., 2003). Worldwide, many cestode infestations occur with very low prevalence of infections and are asymptomatic. Nevertheless some of the more serious infestations result in symptoms from mass effects on vital organs, inflammatory responses, nutritional deficiencies, and the potential of fatal anaphylaxis (Del Brutto, 2005; Morar & Feldman, 2003; Ozturk et al., 2007).
Application of terpene-induced cell for enhancing biodegradation of TCE contaminated soil

Abstract Suttinun, O. , Lederman, P.B. , and Luepromchai, E. Application of terpene-induced cell for enhancing biodegradation ofTCE contaminated soil Songklanakarin J. Sci. Technol. , 2004, 26(Suppl. 1) : 131-142 Trichloroethylene (TCE), a chlorinated solvent, is a major water pollutant originating from spillageand inappropriate disposal of dry cleaning agents, degreasing solvents, and paint strippers. Due to its wide-spread contamination and potential health threat, remediation technology to clean-up TCE is necessary. Aerobicbiodegradation of TCE is reported to occur via cometabolism, by which TCE degrading bacteria utilize othercompounds such as toluene, phenol, and methane as growth substrate and enzyme inducer. Although tolueneis reported to be the most effective inducer, it is regulated as a hazardous material and should not be appliedto the environment. The objectives of this study were to identify an alternative enzyme inducer as well as toapply the induced bacteria for degradation of TCE in contaminated soil. We investigated the effect of terpenes,the main components in volatile essential oils of plants, on induction of TCE degradation in
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Institutionalized World War II Veterans.

Relatively little is known about posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in World War II (WWII) veterans, despite the significant number of studies on this problem in Vietnam veterans. The authors document the prevalence of PTSD and other psychiatric disorders and investigate the etiological correlates of the syndrome in elderly, institutionalized WWII veterans. Sixty-two cognitively intact subjects (mean age 74.2 years), residents in a veterans' long-term care facility, were assessed for past and present psychopathology. A second investigator, blind to patients' psychiatric status, determined the degree of combat exposure and administered a checklist of pre-war and wartime variables. The lifetime prevalence of PTSD was 23%. Of those veterans with PTSD, 57% experienced chronic symptoms. The lifetime prevalence of other diagnoses was also high, including 3 7% for major depression and 53% for alcohol abuse. There was a strong correlation between the severity of the combat stressor and the development of PTSD. Significant correlations between PTSD and some pre-war variables were also found: more family histories of alcohol abuse, more deaths of close family members in early life, and less likelihood of having held a job for more than 1 year prior to the war. PTSD in elderly, institutionalized WWII veterans is a common, serious problem that is often unrecognized.
Role of the ortholog and paralog amino acid invariants in the active site of the UDP-MurNAc-L-alanine:D-glutamate ligase (MurD).

To evaluate their role in the active site of the UDP-N-acetylmuramoyl-L-alanine:D-glutamate ligase (MurD) from Escherichia coli, 12 residues conserved either in the Mur superfamily [Eveland, S. S. , Pompliano, D. L. , and Anderson, M. S. (1997) Biochemistry 36, 6223-6229; Bouhss, A. , Mengin-Lecreulx, D. , Blanot, D. , van Heijenoort, J., and Parquet, C. (1997) Biochemistry 36, 11556-11563] or in the sequences of 26 MurD orthologs were submitted to site-directed mutagenesis. All these residues lay within the cleft of the active site of MurD as defined by its 3D structure [Bertrand, J. A. , Auger, D. , Fanchon, E. , Martin, L. , Blanot, D. , van Heijenoort, J., and Dideberg, O. (1997) EMBO J. 16, 3416-3425]. Fourteen mutant proteins (D35A, K115A, E157A/K, H183A, Y194F, K198A/F, N268A, N271A, H301A, R302A, D317A, and R425A) containing a C-terminal (His)(6) extension were prepared and their steady-state kinetic parameters determined. All had a reduced enzymatic activity, which in many cases was very low, but no mutation led to a total loss of activity. Examination of the specificity constants k(cat)/K(m) for the three MurD substrates indicated that most mutations affected both the binding of one substrate and the catalytic process. These kinetic results correlated with the assigned function of the residues based on the X-ray structures.
Intracellular records from Betz cells in the cat.

1. Methods have been described by which neurones in the motor cortex of cats have been successfully impaled by intracellular microelectrodes. 2. The majority of the cells thus entered have shown large stable resting potentials of - 60 to - 90 mV, without natural subthreshold voltage fluctuation or any discharge of impulses. Electrical stimulation of the overlying cortex did not excite them, even when it was strong enough to cause movements of the limbs. 3. Twenty-six cells impaled in 69 experiments were proved, by their response to antidromic stimulation of the medullary pyramid, to be cells of origin of pyramidal axones (loosely described as Betz cells throughout this paper). 4. These cells were naturally active from time to time under the light anaesthesia employed. Their membrane potentials oscillated below the threshold for firing, and, whenever this level was reached, impulses were discharged, sporadically or in regular trains at frequencies up to 50 c. /s. 5. Stronger stimulation of the pyramidal tract caused delayed excitatory depolarizations and inhibitory hyperpolarizations to follow the antidromic impulses which invaded the Betz cells.
Tumor cell metabolism

Cancer is a genetic disease that is caused by mutations in oncogenes, tumor suppressor genes and stability genes. The fact that the metabolism of tumor cells is altered has been known for many years. However, the mechanisms and consequences of metabolic reprogramming have just begun to be understood. In this review, an integral view of tumor cell metabolism is presented, showing how metabolic pathways are reprogrammed to satisfy tumor cell proliferation and survival requirements. In tumor cells, glycolysis is strongly enhanced to fulfill the high ATP demands of these cells; glucose carbons are the main building blocks in fatty acid and nucleotide biosynthesis. Glutaminolysis is also increased to satisfy NADPH regeneration, whereas glutamine carbons replenish the Krebs cycle, which produces metabolites that are constantly used for macromolecular biosynthesis. A characteristic feature of the tumor microenvironment is acidosis, which results from the local increase in lactic acid production by tumor cells. This phenomenon is attributed to the carbons from glutamine and glucose, which are also used for lactic acid production. Lactic acidosis also directs the metabolic reprogramming of tumor cells and serves as an additional selective pressure. Finally, we also discuss the role of mitochondria in supporting tumor cell metabolism.
Induction of breviaristatum mutants in barley.

Short-awned (breviaristatum) mutants were induced in the barley varieties Bonus, Foma and Kristina by ionizing radiations (X- and γ-rays, neutrons) and by chemical mutagens (chiefly sulfonates and ethyleneimine) About 260 mutants were isolated and certified in 1953–1972. Of those tested for allelism approximately 140 were distributed into 17 loci represented by 2 to 26 allelic mutants. Two loci have a single allele. The skew distribution of mutants at different loci is evident. Mutation rates and proportions were determined in M2 progenies during four years of screening. Chlorophyll mutations were approximately 25 times more frequent than breviaristatum types. Among the morphological mutants, erectoides, eceriferum and breviaristaturn types were approximately equally common. In general, chemical mutagens were 2–3 times more efficient than radiations in the induction of all kinds of mutation. Differences in detectability of mutant groups depending on parent variety are briefly discussed. A brief phenotypical description of the individual breviaristatum (ari) loci is given, illustrating the pleiotropic effects often found. Mutants in loci ari-a, -c, -d, -e, which have previously been placed on the chromosome map, may serve as good marker genes. Mutants of loci ari-1 and -m are of some practical interest owing to their stiff short straw and prolific spikes.
Dual reuptake inhibitor milnacipran and spinal pain pathways in fibromyalgia patients: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

BACKGROUND Investigations based on quantitative sensory testing have consistently shown evidence of allodynia in fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) patients involving both the spinal and supraspinal pain regulatory systems. Functional imaging studies have demonstrated enhanced neural activities in pain-related brain areas as well as impairment of pain inhibition in the descending nociceptive regulatory system. A higher state of excitability of spinal nociceptive neurons as evidenced by lowered nociceptive flexion reflex R-III (NFR) threshold was reported for FMS patients. The NFR procedure has been shown to be a valuable tool to evaluate pharmacologically active therapeutic agents at the spinal level. OBJECTIVE Serotonin-noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors have been shown to reduce pain in FMS patients possibly through descending monoaminergic pain pathways modulation. This randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial assessed the pharmacodynamic activity of the dual-reuptake inhibitor milnacipran (MLN) at the spinal level by means of the objective spinal NFR. STUDY DESIGN Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. SETTING A single academic medical center, outpatient setting. METHODS Seven-week exposure (100, 150, 200mg/day) in women fibromyalgia patients. Evaluation consisted of extensive quantitative sensory testing including determination of the NFR threshold, self-reported standard questionnaires investigating pain, visual analog scales, fibromyalgia impact, health-related quality of life, depression and anxiety questionnaires, as well as the Patient's Global Impression of Change (PGIC). Analysis of covariance adjusted for baseline value was used for all endpoints. RESULTS Seventy-seven (39 placebo, 38 milnacipran all doses) out of 80 randomized patients were available for analysis. The absence of influence of MLN (any dose) on the NFR surprisingly contrasted with the dose-dependent analgesic effect observed in MLN-treated patients with an adjusted change difference of -18.4mm (-30.9; -5.8) in pain reduction between placebo and the maximum dosage (200 mg) MLN groups (P = 0.02). Unchanged depression and anxiety scores confirmed the predominant selectivity of the analgesic effect of MLN on nociceptive pain pathway. Self-reported questionnaires consistently reflected the positive effects of MLN on quality of life and psychological well-being. Odds ratio 5.1 for PGIC responders (i.e. much/very much improved) was significantly in favor of MLN (P = 0.04). CONCLUSION Milnacipran has a predominantly supraspinal analgesic effect as evidenced by the significant clinical benefits and the absence of changes in the nociceptive spinal reflex threshold. Higher dose was associated with higher pain reduction. Reported analgesia was independent of patients' emotional status.
Topological Characterization of Reconstructed Attractors Modding Out Symmetries

Topological characterization is important in understanding the subtleties of chaotic behaviour. Unfortunately it is based on the knot theory which is only efficiently developed in 3D spaces (namely IR 3 or in its one-point compactification S 3 ). Consequently, to achieve topological characterization, phase portraits must be embedded in 3D spaces, i.e. in a lower dimension than the one prescribed by Takens' theorem. Investigating embedding in low-dimensional spaces is, therefore, particularly meaningful. This paper is devoted to tridimensional systems which are reconstructed in a state space whose dimension is also 3. In particular, an important case is when the system studied exhibits symmetry properties, because topological properties of the attractor reconstructed from a scalar time series may then crucially depend on the variable used. Consequently, special attention is paid to systems with symmetry properties in which specific procedures for topological characterization are developed. In these procedures, all the dynamics are projected onto a so-called fundamental domain, leading us to the introduction of the concept of restricted topological equivalence, i. e. two attractors are topologically equivalent in the restricted sense, if the topological properties of their fundamental domains are the same. In other words, the symmetries are moded out by projecting the whole phase space onto a fundamental domain.