Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fully Automatic Finger Extensor Tendon Segmentation in Ultrasound Images of the Metacarpophalangeal Joint

In this work a fully automatic system to identify the extensor tendon on ultrasound images of the metacarpophalangeal joint is proposed. These images are used to diagnose rheumatic diseases which are one of the main causes of impairment and pain in developed countries. The early diagnosis of these conditions is crucial to a proper treatment and follow-up and so, a system such as the one proposed here, could be useful to automatically extract relevant information from the resulting images. This work is an extension of a previous published work which uses manual annotations of the skin line, metacarpus and phalange to guide the extensor tendon segmentation. By introducing automatic segmentations of all structures, we expect to create a fully automatic system, which is more interesting to the possible end-users. Results show that, despite an expected loss in the performance, it is still possible to correctly identify the extensor tendon with a Confidence of 88% considering a maximum allowed Modified Hausdorff Distance of 0.5mm.
Assessment of Fringe Pattern Decomposition with a Cross-Correlation Index for Phase Retrieval in Fringe Projection 3D Measurements

Phase retrieval from single frame projection fringe patterns, a fundamental and challenging problem in fringe projection measurement, attracts wide attention and various new methods have emerged to address this challenge. Many phase retrieval methods are based on the decomposition of fringe patterns into a background part and a fringe part, and then the phase is obtained from the decomposed fringe part. However, the decomposition results are subject to the selection of model parameters, which is usually performed manually by trial and error due to the lack of decomposition assessment rules under a no ground truth data situation. In this paper, we propose a cross-correlation index to assess the decomposition and phase retrieval results without the need of ground truth data. The feasibility of the proposed metric is verified by simulated and real fringe patterns with the well-known Fourier transform method and recently proposed Shearlet transform method. This work contributes to the automatic phase retrieval and three-dimensional (3D) measurement with less human intervention, and can be potentially employed in other fields such as phase retrieval in digital holography.
SLC1A2 mediates refractory temporal lobe epilepsy with an initial precipitating injury by targeting the glutamatergic synapse pathway

This study aimed to identify the genes related to epilepsy and their effects on epilepsy, as well as the underlying mechanism. Using microarray analysis, differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were screened out and then used to build weighted gene coexpression networks using WGCNA. Module membership and evaluation of gene significance (GS) were adopted to detect hub genes. The DAVID online tool was used to understand the function of modules and target genes. The Licl‐pilocarpine chronic rat epilepsy model was used to simulate mesial temporal lobe epilepsy with an initial precipitating injury. Hippocampal expression of the proteins solute carrier family 1 member 2 (SLC1A2), glial fibrillary acidic protein, interleukin‐1β (IL‐1β), tumor necrosis factor α (TNF‐α), and N‐methyl‐d‐aspartic acid receptor (NMDAR) was determined by ELISA and Western blot. Nissl staining was used to measure neuronal loss. Immunohistochemistry was performed to assess the percentage of positive cells to reflect the distribution of NMDAR1. Here, 3232 potential genes highly correlated with epilepsy were selected from the screened DEGs, among which SLC1A2 was related to brain development and its expression was significantly decreased in epilepsy patients. According to Gene Ontology and KEGG analysis, SLC1A2 mediates epilepsy through the glutamatergic synapse pathway. Tissue experiments suggested that Slc1a2 could genuinely ameliorate epilepsy through the glutamatergic synapse pathway, mitigate neuronal loss, and suppress astrocytosis and inflammatory responses. Our study suggested that low hippocampal content of SLC1A2 is a potential biomarker of epilepsy and may affect the function of neurons through the glutamatergic synapse pathway. © 2018 IUBMB Life, 71(1):213–222, 2019
EyePlay Revisited: Past, Present and Future Challenges for Eye-Based Interaction in Games

What are current and future challenges that incorporating eye tracking into game design and development creates? The Second EyePlay workshop brings together academic researchers and industry practitioners from the fields of eye tracking and games to explore these questions. In recent years, gaming has been at the forefront of the commercial popularization of eye tracking. In this workshop, we will share experiences in the development of gaze-enabled games, discuss best practices and tools, and explore future challenges for research. Topics of interest lie at the intersection of eye tracking and games including, but limited to, novel interaction techniques and game mechanics, development processes and tools, accessible games, evaluation, and future visions.
Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in acute respiratory distress syndrome: does it really help?

The concept of extracorporeal life support had been credited to Dr. Gibbon (1903 to 1973) as he described in a patient that suffered from a massive pulmonary embolism “… if it were possible to remove continuously some of the blue blood … put oxygen into that blood and allow carbon dioxide to escape from it, and then inject continuously the now-red blood into the patient’s arteries, we might have saved her life ” (1).
Quercitrin Nanocoated Implant Surfaces Reduce Osteoclast Activity In Vitro and In Vivo

In this study, the effect on osteoclast activity in vitro and in vivo of titanium implants that were coated with quercitrin was evaluated. Titanium surfaces were covalently coated with the flavonoid quercitrin. The effect of the surfaces on osteoclastogenesis was first tested in vitro on RAW264.7 cells that were supplemented with receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B ligand (RANKL) to generate osteoclast-like cells by tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) inmunostaining after five days of culture, and by analysis of the mRNA expression levels of markers related to bone resorption after seven days of culture. A rabbit tibial model was used to evaluate the in vivo biological response to the implant surfaces after eight weeks of healing, analyzing the lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and the alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activities in the wound fluid that were present at the implant interface and the peri-implant bone mRNA expression levels of several markers related to inflammation, bone resorption and osteoblast-osteoclast interaction. No differences between groups and control surfaces were found in the wound fluid analyses. Moreover, quercitrin implant surfaces significantly decreased the expression of osteoclast related genes in vitro (Trap, CalcR, Ctsk, H+ATPase, Mmp9) and in vivo (Ctsk, H+ATPase, Mmp9) as well as the expression of RankL in vivo. Moreover, quercitrin surfaces were not cytotoxic for the cells. Thus, quercitrin implant surfaces were biocompatible and decreased osteoclastogenesis in vitro and in vivo. This could be used to improve the performance of dental implants.
Transpiration Response of Cotton to Vapor Pressure Deficit and Its Relationship With Stomatal Traits

Many studies have demonstrated that the cotton in warm environments is vulnerable to water-limitations thus reducing the yield. A number of plant traits have been recommended to ameliorate the effects of water deficits on plant growth and yield. Limitation on maximum transpiration rate (TR) under high vapor pressure deficit (VPD), usually occurs during midday, is often considered as a water conservation trait. The genotypes with this trait are desirable in high VPD environments where water deficits commonly develop in the later part of the growing season. Our objective of the study was to find the genotypic variation for the trait limited TR under high VPD and also to study leaf temperature, water potential, photosynthesis, and stomatal conductance responses. Also, our objective was also to study the structural changes in the stomatal traits when exposed to long term high VPD conditions and involvement in such responses. In the present study, 17 cotton genotypes were studied for their (TR) response to various VPD environments under well irrigated conditions. Out of 17, eight genotypes limited TR after approximately 2 kPa VPD and rest of them increased their TR with increased VPD. Five selected genotypes with different TR response to increasing VPD were further studied for gas exchange and stomatal properties. All genotypes, irrespective of exhibiting limited TR at high VPD, reduced stomatal conductance, photosynthesis and water potential at high VPD of 3.3 kPa. The genotypes with limited TR modified their stomatal traits mostly on the adaxial surface with frequent and small stomata under high VPD. The genotypes with limited TR also exhibited an increase in epidermal cell expansion and stomatal index at contrasting VPD gradients to effectively balance the liquid and vapor phase conductance to limit TR at high VPD.
Do Fluoroquinolones Cause Neuropathy

Fluoroquinolone antibiotics are thought to be associated with peripheral neuropathy. Since 2004, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires the manufacturers of systemic fluoroquinolone drugs to list peripheral neuropathy on the label for these drugs [1]. It further recommends that patients with symptoms of peripheral neuropathy after taking systemic fluoroquinolone to stop the medication and to be treated with an alternative non-fluoroquinolone antibacterial drug. This decision is based on FDA’s review of the Adverse Event Reporting System (AERS) database. This data has been reviewed and published. The data shows that out of 46,257 adverse event reports submitted for fluoroquinolones, 539 reports involved peripheral neuropathy. Of these reported cases, 119 had at least one concomitant risk factor for peripheral neuropathy and 48 had Guillain-Barre syndrome.
The Expanding Role of Vesicles Containing Aquaporins

In animals and plants, membrane vesicles containing proteins have been defined as key for biological systems involving different processes such as trafficking or intercellular communication. Docking and fusion of vesicles to the plasma membrane occur in living cells in response to different stimuli, such as environmental changes or hormones, and therefore play an important role in cell homeostasis as vehicles for certain proteins or other substances. Because aquaporins enhance the water permeability of membranes, their role as proteins immersed in vesicles formed of natural membranes is a recent topic of study. They regulate numerous physiological processes and could hence serve new biotechnological purposes. Thus, in this review, we have explored the physiological implications of the trafficking of aquaporins, the mechanisms that control their transit, and the proteins that coregulate the migration. In addition, the importance of exosomes containing aquaporins in the cell-to-cell communication processes in animals and plants have been analyzed, together with their potential uses in biomedicine or biotechnology. The properties of aquaporins make them suitable for use as biomarkers of different aquaporin-related diseases when they are included in exosomes. Finally, the fact that these proteins could be immersed in biomimetic membranes opens future perspectives for new biotechnological applications.
Analysis of Learning Preferences and Learning Styles for an Undergraduate Teaching Unit

This paper works on a subpart of a research-in-progress framework on students’ success, which is an integration of three modules comprise of learning styles, educational data mining and personalized learning. This study looks into the first module of learning styles. We aim to discover and analyze the learning styles and the learning preferences for a class of business students enrolled in a third-year data mining unit in their undergraduate study. Students’ learning styles and learning preferences are captured and gathered through surveys. Diagnostic analytics are carried on the compiled data. Data analysis revealed that there is no strong significant relationship between students’ learning preference and learning styles, but students do have varying learning styles and a dominant learning style is preferred for the learning of a data mining unit at University.
Computational Framework for Verifiable Decisions of Self-Driving Vehicles

A framework is presented for the verification of an agent's decision making in autonomous driving applications by checking the logic of the agent for instability and inconsistency. The framework verifies the decisions of a rational agent implemented in Natural Language Programming (NLP) and based on a belief-desire-intention (BDI) paradigm using sEnglish and Jason code. The main results are methods of verification for the correctness of real-time agent decisions expressed in computational tree logic (CTL) formulae. The methods rely on the Model Checker for Multi-Agent Systems (MCMAS) verification tool. To test the new verification system, an autonomous vehicle (AV) has been modelled and simulated, which is capable of planning, navigation, objects detection and obstacle avoidance using a rational agent. The agent's decisions are based on information received from mono-cameras and LiDAR sensor that feed into logic-based decisions of the AV. The model of the AV and its environment has been implemented in the Robot Operating System (ROS) and the Gazebo virtual reality simulator.
Towards Human Activity Recognition: A Hierarchical Feature Selection Framework

The inherent complexity of human physical activities makes it difficult to accurately recognize activities with wearable sensors. To this end, this paper proposes a hierarchical activity recognition framework and two different feature selection methods to improve the recognition performance. Specifically, according to the characteristics of human activities, predefined activities of interest are organized into a hierarchical tree structure, where each internal node represents different groups of activities and each leaf node represents a specific activity label. Then, the proposed feature selection methods are appropriately integrated to optimize the feature space of each node. Finally, we train corresponding classifiers to distinguish different activity groups and to classify a new unseen sample into one of the leaf-nodes in a top-down fashion to predict its activity label. To evaluate the performance of the proposed framework and feature selection methods, we conduct extensive comparative experiments on publicly available datasets and analyze the model complexity. Experimental results show that the proposed method reduces the dimensionality of original feature space and contributes to enhancement of the overall recognition accuracy. In addition, for feature selection, returning multiple activity-specific feature subsets generally outperforms the case of returning a common subset of features for all activities.
Comparison of human lumbar disc pressure characteristics during simulated spinal manipulation vs. spinal mobilization.

The present study aimed to investigate the differences in human lumbar intradiscal pressure (IDP) characteristics during simulated spinal manipulation and spinal mobilization. A total of 12 adult fresh lumbar spinal specimens (T12‑S2) were randomly divided into two groups. The parameters of simulated spinal mobilization were as follows: Preload angle, 15˚ (speed, 3˚/sec); maximum angle, 20˚ (speed, 1˚/sec); and 9 N horizontal force to the L5 spinous process. The parameters of simulated spinal manipulation were as follows: Preload angle, 15˚ (speed, 3˚/sec); impulse angle, 20˚ (impulse speed, 33˚/sec) and 22 N horizontal force to the L5 spinous process. The maximal IDP during both techniques was greater than the initial and end pressures (P<0.01). There was no difference between the initial and end IDP (P>0.05). The maximal IDP on the rotating side was greater than that on the contralateral side during the two techniques (P<0.05). There was no difference in both initial and end IDPs between the two sides (P>0.05). There was no difference in the maximal IDP between the two techniques (P>0.05). The ascending speed of IDP during manipulation was faster than during mobilization (P<0.01), while there was no difference in the descending speed between the two techniques (P>0.05). The maximal IDP on the rotating side was greater than the contralateral side during simulated spinal mobilization and manipulation (P<0.05). The ascending speed of IDP was faster during manipulation than mobilization (P<0.01). Therefore, thrust manipulation may have more instant impact to discs than mobilization.
Prevalence of anaphylaxis and prescription rates of epinephrine auto-injectors in urban and rural areas of Korea

Background/Aims Despite the clinical importance anaphylaxis and the recent increase in its occurrence, studies regarding the epidemiology of anaphylaxis, risk factors for anaphylaxis, and epinephrine auto-injector (EAI) prescription status for patients with anaphylaxis remain poorly described. Thus, we investigated the prevalence of anaphylaxis and prescription rates of EAI in urban and rural areas in Korea. Methods We used data from the 2010 to 2014 Health Insurance Review and Assessment database. Anaphylaxis was identified through physician-certified diagnoses using the International Classification of Diseases 10th (ICD-10) codes (T780, T782, T805, T886). Data on prescription rates of EAI were collected from the Korea Orphan & Essential Drug Center, the only pharmacy exclusively dealing with EAI in Korea. The prescription rates of EAI were defined as the number of EAI prescribed against the number of patients with anaphylaxis. Results The prevalence of anaphylaxis over the 5-year period was 0.023%. The annual prevalence of anaphylaxis increased over the 5-year period. Anaphylaxis was more common in males than in females (54% vs. 46%) and in the population aged 50 to 59 years old. For regional analysis, urban areas showed a relatively lower prevalence of anaphylaxis (17.3 per 100,000 individuals) along with higher prescription rates (12.0%) of EAI for patients with anaphylaxis. In contrast, rural areas showed a relatively higher prevalence of anaphylaxis (28.8 per 100,000 individuals) along with lower prescription rates (3.1%) of EAI. Conclusions The prevalence of anaphylaxis has increased annually in Korea. There were regional differences in the prevalence of anaphylaxis and prescription rates of EAI between urban and rural areas in Korea.
Visual Evidence Accumulation Guides Decision-Making in Unrestrained Mice

The ability to manipulate neural activity with precision is an asset in uncovering neural circuits for decision-making. Diverse tools for manipulating neurons are available for mice, but their feasibility remains unclear, especially when decisions require accumulating visual evidence. For example, whether mice' decisions reflect leaky accumulation is unknown, as are the relevant/irrelevant factors that influence decisions. Further, causal circuits for visual evidence accumulation are poorly understood. To address this, we measured decisions in mice judging the fluctuating rate of a flash sequence. An initial analysis (>500,000 trials, 29 male and female mice) demonstrated that information throughout the 1000 ms trial influenced choice, with early information most influential. This suggests that information persists in neural circuits for ∼1000 ms with minimal accumulation leak. Next, in a subset of animals, we probed strategy more extensively and found that although animals were influenced by stimulus rate, they were unable to entirely suppress the influence of stimulus brightness. Finally, we identified anteromedial (AM) visual area via retinotopic mapping and optogenetically inhibited it using JAWS. Light activation biased choices in both injected and uninjected animals, demonstrating that light alone influences behavior. By varying stimulus–response contingency while holding stimulated hemisphere constant, we surmounted this obstacle to demonstrate that AM suppression biases decisions. By leveraging a large dataset to quantitatively characterize decision-making behavior, we establish mice as suitable for neural circuit manipulation studies. Further, by demonstrating that mice accumulate visual evidence, we demonstrate that this strategy for reducing uncertainty in decision-making is used by animals with diverse visual systems. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT To connect behaviors to their underlying neural mechanism, a deep understanding of behavioral strategy is needed. This understanding is incomplete for mice. To surmount this, we measured the outcome of >500,000 decisions made by 29 mice trained to judge visual stimuli and performed behavioral/optogenetic manipulations in smaller subsets. Our analyses offer new insights into mice' decision-making strategies and compares them with those of other species. We then disrupted neural activity in a candidate neural structure and examined the effect on decisions. Our findings establish mice as suitable for visual accumulation of evidence decisions. Further, the results highlight similarities in decision-making strategies across very different species.
Neuropsychological functioning in opioid use disorder: A research synthesis and meta-analysis

ABSTRACT Background: Research has demonstrated that patients with opioid use disorders (OUD; including both opioid abuse and/or dependence) have poorer neuropsychological functioning compared to healthy controls; however, the pattern and robustness of the findings remain unknown. Objectives: This study meta-analyzed the results from previous research examining the neuropsychological deficits associated with opioids across 14 neurocognitive domains. Method: Articles comparing patients with OUD to healthy controls were selected based on detailed inclusion/exclusion criteria and variables of interest were coded. In total, 61 studies were selected for the analyses. These consisted of 2580 patients with OUD and 2102 healthy control participants (15.9% female). Drug-related variables were analyzed as potential moderators. Results: The largest effect size difference in neuropsychological performance was observed in complex psychomotor ability. With the exception of the motor and processing speed domains, which showed no group differences, small-to-medium effect sizes were associated with all neurocognitive domains examined. Meta-regression revealed that increases in the length of abstinence were associated with decreases in effect sizes of the complex psychomotor domain. Additionally, attentional ability predicted effect size differences in executive functioning as well as verbal memory ability. Although the majority of meta-analyzed studies demonstrated significant differences between patients with OUD and controls, the average raw scores for patients with OUD in these studies typically fell within the normal range. Conclusion: The pattern of neuropsychological performance among patients with OUD appears to reflect mild generalized cognitive dysfunction, with a large effect in complex psychomotor abilities.