Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Enhancing the Visibility of Delamination during Pulsed Thermography of Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Plates Using a Stacked Autoencoder

The effectiveness of pulsed thermography (PT) for detecting delamination in carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) plates has been widely verified. However, delaminations are usually characterized by weak visibility due to the influences of inspection factors and the delaminations with weak visibility are easily missed in real inspections. In this study, by introducing a deep learning algorithm—stacked autoencoder (SAE)—to PT, we propose a novel approach (SAE-PT) to enhance the visibility of delaminations. Based on the ability of SAE to learn unsupervised features from data, the thermal features of delaminations are extracted from the raw thermograms. The extracted features are then employed to construct SAE images, in which the visibility of delaminations is expected to be enhanced. To test the performance of SAE-PT, we inspected CFRP plates with prefabricated delaminations. By implementing SAE-PT on the raw inspection data, the delaminations were more clearly indicated in the constructed SAE images. We also compare SAE-PT to the widely used principal component thermography (PCT) method to further verify the validity of the proposed approach. The results reveal that compared to PCT, SAE-PT can show delaminations in CFRP with higher contrast. By effectively enhancing the delamination visibility, SAE-PT thus has potential for improving the inspection accuracy of PT for non-destructive testing (NDT) of CFRP.
The Anti-Inflammatory Mediator, Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide, Modulates the Differentiation and Function of Th Subsets in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Genetic background, epigenetic modifications, and environmental factors trigger autoimmune response in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Several pathogenic infections have been related to the onset of RA and may cause an inadequate immunological tolerance towards critical self-antigens leading to chronic joint inflammation and an imbalance between different T helper (Th) subsets. Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) is a mediator that modulates all the stages comprised between the arrival of pathogens and Th cell differentiation in RA through its known anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory actions. This “neuroimmunopeptide” modulates the pathogenic activity of diverse cell subpopulations involved in RA as lymphocytes, fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS), or macrophages. In addition, VIP decreases the expression of pattern recognition receptor (PRR) such as toll-like receptors (TLRs) in FLS from RA patients. These receptors act as sensors of pathogen-associated molecular pattern (PAMP) and damage-associated molecular pattern (DAMP) connecting the innate and adaptive immune system. Moreover, VIP modulates the imbalance between Th subsets in RA, decreasing pathogenic Th1 and Th17 subsets and favoring Th2 or Treg profile during the differentiation/polarization of naïve or memory Th cells. Finally, VIP regulates the plasticity between theses subsets. In this review, we provide an overview of VIP effects on the aforementioned features of RA pathology.
Association between serum cotinine levels and electrocardiographic left atrial abnormality

Although the harmful effect of tobacco exposure on cardiovascular disease (CVD) and its risk factors are well established, the constituents of cigarette‐smoke and the pathophysiological mechanism involved are unknown. Recently, deep terminal negativity of P wave in V1 (DTNPV1) has emerged as a marker of left atrial abnormality that predicts atrial fibrillation, stroke, and death due to all‐cause or CVD. Therefore, we examined the association between serum cotinine levels with abnormal DTNPV1 using the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
Red Queen dancing in the lek: effects of mating skew on host–parasite interactions

Abstract The RQH (Red Queen hypothesis), which argues that hosts need to be continuously finding new ways to avoid parasites that are able to infect common host genotypes, has been at the center of discussions on the maintenance of sex. This is because diversity is favored under the host–parasite coevolution based on negative frequency‐dependent selection, and sexual reproduction is a mechanism that generates genetic diversity in the host population. Together with parasite infections, sexual organisms are usually under sexual selection, which leads to mating skew or mating success biased toward males with a particular phenotype. Thus, strong mating skew would affect genetic variance in a population and should affect the benefit of the RQH. However, most models have investigated the RQH under a random mating system and not under mating skew. In this study, I show that sexual selection and the resultant mating skew may increase parasite load in the hosts. An IBM (individual‐based model), which included host–parasite interactions and sexual selection among hosts, demonstrates that mating skew influenced parasite infection in the hosts under various conditions. Moreover, the IBM showed that the mating skew evolves easily in cases of male–male competition and female mate choice, even though it imposes an increased risk of parasite infection on the hosts. These findings indicated that whether the RQH favored sexual reproduction depended on the condition of mating skew. That is, consideration of the host mating system would provide further understanding of conditions in which the RQH favors sexual reproduction in real organisms.
Roles of microRNAs in mammalian reproduction: from the commitment of germ cells to peri‐implantation embryos

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are active regulators of numerous biological and physiological processes including most of the events of mammalian reproduction. Understanding the biological functions of miRNAs in the context of mammalian reproduction will allow a better and comparative understanding of fertility and sterility in male and female mammals. Herein, we summarize recent progress in miRNA‐mediated regulation of mammalian reproduction and highlight the significance of miRNAs in different aspects of mammalian reproduction including the biogenesis of germ cells, the functionality of reproductive organs, and the development of early embryos. Furthermore, we focus on the gene expression regulatory feedback loops involving hormones and miRNA expression to increase our understanding of germ cell commitment and the functioning of reproductive organs. Finally, we discuss the influence of miRNAs on male and female reproductive failure, and provide perspectives for future studies on this topic.
Modification of Nanofiber Support Layer for Thin Film Composite Forward Osmosis Membranes via Layer-by-Layer Polyelectrolyte Deposition

Electrospun nanofiber-supported thin film composite membranes are among the most promising membranes for seawater desalination via forward osmosis. In this study, a high-performance electrospun polyvinylidenefluoride (PVDF) nanofiber-supported thin film composite (TFC) membrane was successfully fabricated after molecular layer-by-layer polyelectrolyte deposition. Negatively-charged electrospun polyacrylic acid (PAA) nanofibers were deposited on electrospun PVDF nanofibers to form a support layer consisted of PVDF and PAA nanofibers. This resulted to a more hydrophilic support compared to the plain PVDF nanofiber support. The PVDF-PAA nanofiber support then underwent a layer-by-layer deposition of polyethylenimine (PEI) and PAA to form a polyelectrolyte layer on the nanofiber surface prior to interfacial polymerization, which forms the selective polyamide layer of TFC membranes. The resultant PVDF-LbL TFC membrane exhibited enhanced hydrophilicity and porosity, without sacrificing mechanical strength. As a result, it showed high pure water permeability and low structural parameter values of 4.12 L m−2 h−1 bar−1 and 221 µm, respectively, significantly better compared to commercial FO membrane. Layer-by-layer deposition of polyelectrolyte is therefore a useful and practical modification method for fabrication of high performance nanofiber-supported TFC membrane.
A Brain–Heart Biomarker for Epileptogenesis

Postinjury epilepsy is an potentially preventable sequela in as many as 20% of patients with brain insults. For these cases biomarkers of epileptogenesis are critical to facilitate identification of patients at high-risk of developing epilepsy and to introduce effective anti-epileptogenic interventions. Here, we demonstrate that delayed brain–heart coincidences serve as a reliable biomarker. In a murine model of post-infection acquired epilepsy, we used long-term simultaneous measurements of the brain activity via electroencephalography and autonomic cardiac activity via electrocardiography, in male mice, to quantitatively track brain–heart interactions during epileptogenesis. We find that abnormal cortical discharges precede abnormal fluctuations in the cardiac rhythm at the resolution of single beat-to-beat intervals. The delayed brain–heart coincidence is detectable as early as the onset of chronic measurements, 2–14 weeks before the first seizure, only in animals that become epileptic, and increases during epileptogenesis. Therefore, delayed brain–heart coincidence serves as a biomarker of epileptogenesis and could be used for phenotyping, diagnostic, and therapeutic purposes. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT No biomarker that readily predicts and tracks epileptogenesis currently exists for the wide range of human acquired epilepsies. Here, we used long-term measurements of brain and heart activity in a mouse model of post-infection acquired epilepsy to investigate the potential of brain–heart interaction as a biomarker of epileptogenesis. We found that delayed coincidences from brain to heart can clearly separate the mice that became epileptic from those that did not weeks before development of epilepsy. Our findings allow for phenotyping and tracking of epileptogenesis in this and likely other models of acquired epilepsy. Such capability is critical for efficient adjunctive treatment development and for tracking the efficacy of such treatments.
Generation and Applications of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are adult stem cells with fibroblast-like morphology and isolated from the bone marrow via plastic adhesion. Their multipotency and immunoregulatory properties make MSCs possible therapeutic agents, and an increasing number of publications and clinical trials have highlighted their potential in regenerative medicine. However, the finite proliferative capacity of MSCs limits their scalability and global dissemination as a standardized therapeutic product. Furthermore, adult tissue provenance could constrain accessibility, impinge on cellular potency, and incur greater exposure to disease-causing pathogens based on the donor. These issues could be circumvented by the derivation of MSCs from pluripotent stem cells. In this paper, we review methods that induce and characterize MSCs derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and introduce MSC applications to disease modeling, pathogenic mechanisms, and drug discovery. We also discuss the potential applications of MSCs in regenerative medicine including cell-based therapies and issues that should be overcome before iPSC-derived MSC therapy will be applied in the clinic.
Plasma Gelsolin: Indicator of Inflammation and Its Potential as a Diagnostic Tool and Therapeutic Target

Gelsolin, an actin-depolymerizing protein expressed both in extracellular fluids and in the cytoplasm of a majority of human cells, has been recently implicated in a variety of both physiological and pathological processes. Its extracellular isoform, called plasma gelsolin (pGSN), is present in blood, cerebrospinal fluid, milk, urine, and other extracellular fluids. This isoform has been recognized as a potential biomarker of inflammatory-associated medical conditions, allowing for the prediction of illness severity, recovery, efficacy of treatment, and clinical outcome. A compelling number of animal studies also demonstrate a broad spectrum of beneficial effects mediated by gelsolin, suggesting therapeutic utility for extracellular recombinant gelsolin. In the review, we summarize the current data related to the potential of pGSN as an inflammatory predictor and therapeutic target, discuss gelsolin-mediated mechanisms of action, and highlight recent progress in the clinical use of pGSN.
Edge preserving image segmentation using spatially constrained EM algorithm

In this paper, a new method for edge preserving image segmentation based on the Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) is presented. The standard GMM considers each pixel as independent and does not incorporate the spatial relationship among the neighboring pixels. Hence segmentation is highly sensitive to noise. Traditional smoothing filters average the noise, but fail to preserve the edges. In the proposed method, a bilateral filter which employs two filters domain filter and range filter, is applied to the image for edge preserving smoothing. Secondly, in the Expectation Maximization algorithm used to estimate the parameters of GMM, the posterior probability is weighted with the Gaussian kernel to incorporate the spatial relationship among the neighboring pixels. Thirdly, as an outcome of the proposed method, edge detection is also done on images with noise. Experimental results obtained by applying the proposed method on synthetic images and simulated brain images demonstrate the improved robustness and effectiveness of the method.
Perception of threshold-level whole-body motion during mechanical mastoid vibration.

BACKGROUND Vibration applied on the mastoid has been shown to be an excitatory stimulus to the vestibular receptors, but its effect on vestibular perception is unknown. OBJECTIVE Determine whether mastoid vibration affects yaw rotation perception using a self-motion perceptual direction-recognition task. METHODS We used continuous, bilateral, mechanical mastoid vibration using a stimulus with frequency content between 1 and 500 Hz. Vestibular perception of 10 healthy adults (M±S.D. = 34.3±12 years old) was tested with and without vibration. Subjects repeatedly reported the perceived direction of threshold-level yaw rotations administered at 1 Hz by a motorized platform. A cumulative Gaussian distribution function was fit to subjects' responses, which was described by two parameters: bias and threshold. Bias was defined as the mean of the Gaussian distribution, and equal to the motion perceived on average when exposed to null stimuli. Threshold was defined as the standard deviation of the distribution and corresponded to the stimulus the subject could reliably perceive. RESULTS The results show that mastoid vibration may reduce bias, although two statistical tests yield different conclusions. There was no evidence that yaw rotation thresholds were affected. CONCLUSIONS Bilateral mastoid vibration may reduce left-right asymmetry in motion perception.
The impact of exposure to air pollution on cognitive performance

Significance Most of the population in developing countries live in places with unsafe air. Utilizing variations in transitory and cumulative air pollution exposures for the same individuals over time in China, we provide evidence that polluted air may impede cognitive ability as people become older, especially for less educated men. Cutting annual mean concentration of particulate matter smaller than 10 μm (PM10) in China to the Environmental Protection Agency’s standard (50 μg/m3) would move people from the median to the 63rd percentile (verbal test scores) and the 58th percentile (math test scores), respectively. The damage on the aging brain by air pollution likely imposes substantial health and economic costs, considering that cognitive functioning is critical for the elderly for both running daily errands and making high-stake decisions. This paper examines the effect of both cumulative and transitory exposures to air pollution for the same individuals over time on cognitive performance by matching a nationally representative longitudinal survey and air quality data in China according to the exact time and geographic locations of the cognitive tests. We find that long-term exposure to air pollution impedes cognitive performance in verbal and math tests. We provide evidence that the effect of air pollution on verbal tests becomes more pronounced as people age, especially for men and the less educated. The damage on the aging brain by air pollution likely imposes substantial health and economic costs, considering that cognitive functioning is critical for the elderly for both running daily errands and making high-stake decisions.
Is extensive atrial fibrosis in the setting of heart failure associated with a reduced atrial fibrillation burden?

Atrial fibrillation (AF) affects 10–50% of patients with chronic heart failure (HF) and is associated with poor long‐term prognosis. AF is commonly associated with atrial structural remodeling (ASR), principally characterized by atrial dilatation and fibrosis. However, the occurrence of AF in the full spectrum of ASR encountered in patients with HF is poorly defined. Experimental studies have presented evidence that extensive ASR can be accompanied with a reduced burden of AF, secondary to a prominent depression of atrial excitability. This reduction in AF burden is associated with severe atrial fibrosis rather than with dilatation. Clinical studies of patients with HF point to the possibility that advanced ASR is associated with a less frequent AF occurrence than moderate ASR. Our goal in this review is to introduce the hypothesis that AF is less likely to occur in severe versus moderate atrial ASR in the setting of HF and that it is severe atrial fibrosis‐associated depression of atrial excitability that reduces AF burden.
Reversing Parallel Programs with Blocks and Procedures

We show how to reverse a while language extended with blocks, local variables, procedures and the interleaving parallel composition. Annotation is defined along with a set of operational semantics capable of storing necessary reversal information, and identifiers are introduced to capture the interleaving order of an execution. Inversion is defined with a set of operational semantics that use saved information to undo an execution. We prove that annotation does not alter the behaviour of the original program, and that inversion correctly restores the initial program state.
Learning from Positive and Unlabeled Data under the Selected At Random Assumption

For many interesting tasks, such as medical diagnosis and web page classification, a learner only has access to some positively labeled examples and many unlabeled examples. Learning from this type of data requires making assumptions about the true distribution of the classes and/or the mechanism that was used to select the positive examples to be labeled. The commonly made assumptions, separability of the classes and positive examples being selected completely at random, are very strong. This paper proposes a weaker assumption that assumes the positive examples to be selected at random, conditioned on some of the attributes. To learn under this assumption, an EM method is proposed. Experiments show that our method is not only very capable of learning under this assumption, but it also outperforms the state of the art for learning under the selected completely at random assumption.
Helpful and Hindering Events in Internet-Delivered Cognitive Behavioural Treatment for Generalized Anxiety

Background: Anxiety disorders are a highly prevalent cause of impairment globally with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) sharing many features with other anxiety disorders. Aims: The present study investigated the helpful and hindering events and impacts for individuals with generalized anxiety who engaged with a supported 6-week online intervention based on cognitive behavioural therapy (iCBT). Method: Participants (n = 36) completed the Helpful and Hindering Aspects of Therapy (HAT) for each session. A descriptive-interpretative framework was used to analyse the data. Results: Helpful events were identified by participants as CBT techniques including psychoeducation, monitoring, cognitive restructuring and relaxation, and found supporter interaction, mindfulness and reading personal stories helpful. The associated impacts were identified as support and validation; behavioural change/applying coping strategies; clarification, awareness, and insight; reassurance/relief; and self-efficacy/empowerment. Hindering events were identified as treatment content/form; and amount of work/technical issues, which led to impacts such as frustration/irritation; increased anxiety; and isolation. Conclusion: The implications of the results, potential future directions of research and limitations of the study are discussed.
Intravenous Irons: From Basic Science to Clinical Practice

Iron is an essential trace mineral necessary for life, and iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) is one of the most common haematological problems worldwide, affecting a sixth of the global population. Principally linked to poverty, malnutrition and infection in developing countries, in Western countries the pathophysiology of IDA is primarily linked to blood loss, malabsorption and chronic disease. Oral iron replacement therapy is a simple, inexpensive treatment, but is limited by gastrointestinal side effects that are not inconsequential to some patients and are of minimal efficacy in others. Third generation intravenous (IV) iron therapies allow rapid and complete replacement dosing without the toxicity issues inherent with older iron preparations. Their characteristic, strongly-bound iron-carbohydrate complexes exist as colloidal suspensions of iron oxide nanoparticles with a polynuclear Fe(III)-oxyhydroxide/oxide core surrounded by a carbohydrate ligand. The physicochemical differences between the IV irons include mineral composition, crystalline structure, conformation, size and molecular weight, but the most important difference is the carbohydrate ligand, which influences complex stability, iron release and immunogenicity, and which is a unique feature of each drug. Recent studies have highlighted different adverse event profiles associated with third-generation IV irons that reflect their different structures. The increasing clinical evidence base has allayed safety concerns linked to older IV irons and widened their clinical use. This review considers the properties of the different IV irons, and how differences might impact current and future clinical practice.
Self-controlled components for human-machine interaction services

Cloud computing and Future Internet promise a new ecosystem where everything is "as a service", reachable and connectable anywhere and anytime, everyone succeeding in getting a service composition that meets his needs. Applications are now being constructed as micro-services compositions integrating more and more functionalities including human-machine interaction. We must answer the following questions: Can a human-machine interaction be implemented using microservices and can we control its behavior? Based on a service composition entity called Self-Controlled Component (SCC), we show how a human-machine interaction can be decomposed into elementary microservices. In addition, the self-controlling mechanisms integrated in the SCCs make it possible to check the quality of service rendered for this interaction to introduce automation necessary for the dynamic reactions. The objective of this new concept is to provide a quality of service (QoS) guaranteed for the whole of a composite application.