Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ultrastructural distribution and redistribution of alloantigens and concanavalin A receptors on the surface of mouse lymphocytes

The distribution of theta, TL and H‐2 alloantigens and concanavalin A (Con A) receptor sites on mouse lymphocytes was studied using immunoferritin electron microscopy. The alloantigens were demonstrated using alloantibodies followed by either a mono‐ or divalent anti‐mouse Ig‐ferritin conjugate, while Con A receptors were labeled directly with Con A‐ferritin and in some cases, cross‐linked by an additional layer of anti‐ferritin antibody. The results indicate that these membrane macromolecules are mobile in the plane of the membrane and that their distribution can be altered by cross‐linking them with multivalent antibodies or ligands. It is concluded that all lymphocyte membrane macromolecules are probably potentially mobile and diffusely dispersed in the unperturbed membrane, and that any patchy distribution seen is artifactually induced by the multivalent ligands used to demonstrate them.
Genomics in obstetrics and gynaecology

With the Human Genome Project complete, and microarray technology progressing rapidly, the study of whole genomes has become a reality. The emerging field of genomics is full of promise, has become a cornerstone of commercial drug development, and looks certain to make a major contribution to clinical practice in the future. There is an increasing number of genomic studies concerned with obstetric and gynaecological conditions. Despite this, clinicians in their busy practices often lack a basic understanding of genomics and the tools involved in generating genome‐based information. In the present review, we aim to provide the clinician with a basic overview of genomics – what it is, what tools it uses, and how it may benefit our patients. The existing published reports on genomic studies in the reproductive field is reviewed.
Studies on the factors that govern directionality of axonal growth in the embryonic optic nerve and at the chiasm of mice

What are the forces residing at the presumptive chiasm of embryonic mice that control the directionality (i.e., side specificity) of the optic axons? In an attempt to answer this question, the overall trajectories of individual fascicles of early growing axons and the various environments that they encounter along their pathway have been charted from the eye through the nerve and into the base of the diencephalon. Serial sections and reconstructive computer graphic techniques were used for the analysis.
PCR Detection of Shiga Toxins, Enterohaemolysin and Intimin Virulence Genes of Escherichia coli O157:H7 Strains Isolated from Faeces of Anatolian Water Buffaloes in Turkey

The aim of this study was to detect Shiga toxins (stx1 and stx2), enterohaemolysin (EhlyA) and intimin (eaeA) virulence genes of 11 Escherichia coli O157:H7 strains isolated from faecal samples of 300 clinically healthy Anatolian water buffaloes by PCR. Multiplex PCR was used for the detection of stx1 and stx2, and singleplex PCRs were used for the detection of EhlyA and eaeA virulence genes respectively. A total of three (27.3%) strains were determined to harbour both of the stx1 and stx2 genes, of these, one (9.1%) only harboured these two genes alone, one (9.1%) also contained the EhlyA gene and one (9.1%) additionally contained the EhlyA and the eaeA genes. EhlyA gene was obtained from eight (72.7%) strains, six (54.5%) of these were alone. eaeA gene was positive in only one (9.1%) strain. Only one (9.1%) of the 11 E. coli O157:H7 strains harboured all the four virulence genes. Two (18.2%) of the isolates had none of the virulence genes. Enterohaemolysin was found to be the most common virulence factor. In conclusion, the virulence factors of E. coli O157:H7 strains isolated from the faeces of Anatolian water buffaloes were investigated and detected for the first time in Turkey.
Prospective evaluation of the prevalence and severity of fatigue in patients with prostate cancer undergoing radical external beam radiotherapy and neoadjuvant hormone therapy.

OBJECTIVE To prospectively evaluate the prevalence and severity of fatigue and its impact on quality of life (QOL) during and after radical external beam radiotherapy (RT) for prostate cancer. METHOD AND MATERIALS Twenty-eight men with prostate cancer undergoing RT over 6-8 consecutive weeks were prospectively accrued. The Brief Fatigue Inventory (BFI), a validated fatigue assessment tool, was administered at five time points: baseline (week 1), middle of RT (week 3-4), end of RT (last week of RT), and follow-up (median 6.5 weeks after RT). The BFI contained nine questions, each using 0-10 ratings to quantify fatigue severity and interference with six QOL domains. The prevalence of moderate-severe fatigue was plotted as a function of time. Mean sum and subscale scores at each time point were compared to baseline scores using Wilcoxon tests. Linear regression analyses were performed to assess associations between fatigue scores and age, tumor and treatment characteristics. RESULTS The median age was 69 years (range 57-84), Gleason score 7 (range 6-10), and presenting PSA 9.0 ng/mL (range 2.5 ng/mL-103.0 ng/mL). Patients were treated once daily to a median dose of 74 Gy (range 60 Gy-78 Gy) over a median of 37 fractions (range 30-39). Hormone therapy was used in all patients (median duration 12.2 months). The prevalence of moderate-severe present fatigue increased from 7% at baseline to 8% at mid-RT and 32% at RT completion. Compared to baseline (mean score 11.5), fatigue increased significantly mid-RT (mean score 14.6, p = 0.03) and peaked at the end of RT (mean score 23.5, p = 0.001). Fatigue significantly interfered with walking ability, normal work, daily chores, and enjoyment of life only at the end of RT. After RT completion, fatigue improved but remained higher compared to baseline at 6.5 weeks of follow-up (mean score 15.0, p = 0.02). On linear regression analysis, age, Gleason score, PSA, T-stage, hormone therapy duration, RT dose and fractions were not significantly associated with mean fatigue scores. CONCLUSION Patients undergoing 6-8 weeks of RT experienced significant fatigue adversely affecting QOL persisting after therapy completion. Since walking ability was not affected until the end of RT, a walking exercise intervention to combat fatigue is likely feasible and is being investigated.
The effect of magnetic saturation on sensorless control of a brushless permanent magnet motor under AC and DC excitation

The design and performance of a permanent magnet rotor for a concentrated wound, torque dense machine exhibiting a saliency profile suited to high-frequency injection based zero- and low-speed sensorless control is presented. Rotor design is mechanically constrained by an existing stator. Electromagnetic specifications require the motor to match the torque capability of an existing baseline machine whilst demonstrating a saliency characteristic suited for injection based, low-speed sensorless control. The effects of fundamental current amplitude on flux saturation and saliency profile are investigated for brushless DC and brushless AC operation. The saliency profiles required for sensorless detection show significant differences under these operating modes. For the selected rotor design, brushless AC operation results in a stronger saliency signature at light loads, which quickly deteriorates with the onset of saturation. Brushless DC operation results in more gradual deterioration in saliency signature, suggesting sensorless control would be possible over a greater torque range.
Simple Primary User Signal Area Estimation for Spectrum Measurement

This paper investigates a signal area (SA) estimation method for wideband and long time duration spectrum measurements for dynamic spectrum access. SA denotes the area (in time/frequency domain) occupied by the primary user’s signal. The traditional approach, which utilizes only Fourier transform (FT) and energy detector (ED) for SA estimation, can achieve low complexity, but its estimation performance is not very high. Against this issue, we apply post-processing to improve the performance of the FT-based ED. Our proposed method, simple SA (SSA) estimation, exploits the correlation of the spectrum states among the neighboring tiles and the fact that SA typically has a rectangular shape to estimate SA with high accuracy and relatively low complexity compared to a conventional method, contour tracing SA (CT-SA) estimation. Numerical results will show that the S-SA estimation method can achieve better detection performance. The SA estimation and processing can reduce the number of bits needed to store/transmit the observed information compared to the FT-based ED. Thus, in addition to improved detection performance it also compresses the data. key words: dynamic spectrum access, smart spectrum access, spectrum measurement, cognitive radio, signal detection, signal area estimation
A critical review of the first 10 years of candidate gene-by-environment interaction research in psychiatry.

OBJECTIVE Gene-by-environment interaction (G×E) studies in psychiatry have typically been conducted using a candidate G×E (cG×E) approach, analogous to the candidate gene association approach used to test genetic main effects. Such cG×E research has received widespread attention and acclaim, yet cG×E findings remain controversial. The authors examined whether the many positive cG×E findings reported in the psychiatric literature were robust or if, in aggregate, cG×E findings were consistent with the existence of publication bias, low statistical power, and a high false discovery rate. METHOD The authors conducted analyses on data extracted from all published studies (103 studies) from the first decade (2000-2009) of cG×E research in psychiatry. RESULTS Ninety-six percent of novel cG×E studies were significant compared with 27% of replication attempts. These findings are consistent with the existence of publication bias among novel cG×E studies, making cG×E hypotheses appear more robust than they actually are. There also appears to be publication bias among replication attempts because positive replication attempts had smaller average sample sizes than negative ones. Power calculations using observed sample sizes suggest that cG×E studies are underpowered. Low power along with the likely low prior probability of a given cG×E hypothesis being true suggests that most or even all positive cG×E findings represent type I errors. CONCLUSIONS In this new era of big data and small effects, a recalibration of views about groundbreaking findings is necessary. Well-powered direct replications deserve more attention than novel cG×E findings and indirect replications.
Statistical analysis of lung CT images for ground glass diagnosis

Lung is an important organ in human body that performs vital functions for every second. Hence we need to consider the main lung abnormalities in detection, diagnosis and also treatment of detected abnormality if it is possible. Also lung diseases are said to be the main reason for death around the world. The main reasons behind the lung diseases are inhaling chemicals, inhaling dusts, or even due to bacterial action. According to a survey done on Indian people approximately 70275 were affected by major lung diseases, among which 63759 people were not in a condition to be cured and caused their deaths. Computer aided diagnosis (CAD) system for thoracic computed tomography are used to detect and characterize most of the lung abnormalities with a high a degree of accuracy in a short time period. High-resolution Computed Tomography (HRCT) is a method used for diagnosing the lung diseases. In This paper a study on lung abnormality which is characterized by a slight increase in lung density with persistent visibility of vascular structures and bronchial walls called as ground glass structures are imaged. Ground glass structure is a marker for pulmonary edema, desquamative pneumonitis, hypersensitive pneumonitis, pneumocystis carinii pneumonia. Image processing techniques play a significant role in the diagnosis of many lung diseases. This paper presents a novel method for ground glass structure diagnosis using statistical feature analysis using gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM). These features based on GLCM are considered to observe the textural patterns in lung images which can differentiate between abnormal lung and normal lung. This method is experimented on a set of two normal and ground glass lung images. The results obtained show that the proposed method is promising in ground glass texture identification.
Sodium butyrate induces growth arrest and senescence‐like phenotypes in gynecologic cancer cells

We demonstrated here the growth‐suppressing effects of sodium butyrate (NaB) on human endometrial and ovarian cancer cells. The arrest of cells at the G1 checkpoint accounted for this effect. NaB‐mediated p21 might arrest endometrial and ovarian cancer cells at the G0/G1 phase by eliciting pRb unphosphorylation. To demonstrate the role of pRb regulation by p21, we measured the sensitivity to NaB of cervical cancer cells in which pRb had been inactivated by HPV E7. The cervical cancer cells displayed a sensitivity in NaB‐mediated G2/M arrest in addition to their sensitivity in G0/G1 arrest. Arrest at G0/G1 and G2/M accompanied induction of senescence‐like phenotypes (SLPs). Most importantly, the effect of NaB on senescence induction was not coupled with the predominance of hypophosphorylated pRb forms in the cervical cancer cells. This suggested that NaB had the potential to elicit SLPs through p21‐mediated withdrawal from cell cycle progression. The consequences of p21 induction were manifold. The effects of NaB on gynecologic cancer cell growth indicated its potential use in cancer treatment. NaB was effective even in the cancer cells with mutant p53 and/or Rb genes by eliciting cell senescence. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Three Dimensional Finite Element Analysis of Functionally Graded Radiation Shielding Nanoengineered Sandwich Composites

In recent years, nanotechnology has played an important role in the design of an efficient radiation shielding polymeric composites. It is well known that, high loading of nanomaterials with radiation absorption properties can enhance the radiation attenuation efficiency of shielding structures. However, due to difficulties in dispersion of nanomaterials into polymer matrices, there has been a limitation in higher loading percentages of nanoparticles in the polymer matrix. Therefore, the objective of the present work is to provide a methodology to fabricate and then to characterize the functionally graded radiation shielding structures, which can provide an efficient radiation absorption property along with good structural integrity. Sandwich structures composed of Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE) fabric as face sheets and functionally graded epoxy nanocomposite as core material were fabricated. A method to fabricate a functionally graded core panel with controllable gradient dispersion of nanoparticles is discussed. In order to optimize the design of functionally graded sandwich composites and to analyze the stress distribution throughout the sandwich composite thickness, a finite element method was used. The sandwich panels were discretized using 3-Dimensional 8 nodded brick elements. Classical laminate analysis in conjunction with simplified micromechanics equations were used to obtain the properties of the face sheets. The presented finite element model would provide insight into deformation and damage mechanics of the functionally graded sandwich composites from the structural point of view. Keywords—Nanotechnology, functionally graded material, radiation shielding, sandwich composites, finite element method.
Immune-mediated inflammation in the lumen of the bovine mammary gland.

Two groups of cows were sensitized to ovalbumin (OA) during lactation by a subcutaneous injection of OA either in Freund's complete or incomplet adjuvant; two groups of animals injected with the respective adjuvants only served as controls. Intraluminal infusion of microgram quantities of OA in uninflamed mammary glands elicited inflammation, i.e., release of leukocytes into the milk, only in the animals previously sensitized to OA. This indicates that an antigen-specific inflammatory pathway can be established in the mammary gland by parenteral sensitization. Immune-mediated release of leukocytes into the milk could not be reproduced by infusing complement fixing. OA-anti-OA complexes into the lumen of uninflamed glands of unsensitized cows.
The association between clinical findings on physical examination and self-reported severity in back pain. Results of a population-based study.

STUDY DESIGN A cross-sectional population-based study of back pain. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the association between clinical findings on physical examination and subjective severity in nonspecific back pain. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA Assessment of severity of back pain always has been controversial. Most studies evaluating the role of clinical findings in back pain have been hospital- or clinic-based, often representing a highly select population. This selection is avoided in the population-based approach of the present study. METHODS Approximately 4,000 German inhabitants of Lubeck, aged 25-74, were selected randomly from the local population registry and received a postal questionnaire. Those who reported "back pain today" (n = 1200) or "back pain within the past 12 months but no back pain before" (n = 75) were invited to come in for a clinical examination. Thirty-four physical measurements were taken. They were divided into four groups: static measurements, dynamic measurements, neurologic findings, and non-organic physical signs. Self-reported severity of back pain was measured by a pain questionnaire and a 12-item activities of daily living list to assess functional disability. RESULTS Within each of the four groups of physical measurements, those that corresponded best with the subjective severity of back pain could be identified (e.g., rotation, lateral flexion, and fingertip-floor distance, scoliosis, the position of the side plumb line, and pain on percussion of the spine pseudo-Lasegue and hand muscle-strength). Those that corresponded best could be differentiated statistically from less correlative measurements such as kyphosis and lordosis; flexion of the lumbar, thoracic, or cervical spine, abdominal muscle strength, and axial loading. The agreement between the classification of back pain severity based on clinical findings and the classification based on self-reports was moderate (kappa = 0.47). CONCLUSIONS Assessment of severity in back pain can only partly be based on the clinical findings of a physical examination. There is a relatively weak agreement between the results of physical examination and the subjective reporting of pain and disability.
Fractional-Slot Permanent Magnet Brushless Machines with Low Space Harmonic Contents

The paper is concerned with new winding configurations and associated pole-slot combinations for permanent magnet (PM) machines that lead to improved performance and facilitate cost reduction. Compared to the current state of the art, the salient feature of the proposed designs is elimination and/or reduction of undesirable space harmonics which result from the existing fractional-slot per phase per pole permanent magnet machines with concentric windings. This will bring the benefits of significant reduction of the eddy current loss in the rotor permanent magnets, short end-winding and hence reduced copper loss and copper usage, increased power/torque density, reduction in manufacturing cost, and improved energy efficiency. Although the proposed technique is primarily aimed for brushless permanent magnet machines, it is also applicable to synchronous reluctance machines, induction machines and synchronous wound field machines. The proposed technique is applied to the design of an interior mounted permanent magnet machine for electric vehicle traction applications, and demonstrated by the measurements on a prototype machine.
Is there a gender difference in concussion incidence and outcomes?

Objective: To determine if there is a gender difference in the incidence and outcomes of sport concussion. Design: Critical literature review of sport concussion by gender. Intervention: PubMed and major sports medicine journals were reviewed using the keywords concussion and gender. Articles included in this paper were English prospective surveillance that included concussion as an injury option conducted over the past 10 years, involved data collected by qualified medical personnel (athletic trainers/therapists or medical doctors) and used injury rates as opposed to raw counts. Only data from sports (soccer, basketball and ice hockey) where actions, equipment and most rules were similar between genders were reviewed. Results: For the PubMed search, using “concussion” and “gender” as keywords, there were 51 articles. Ten studies (four in football (soccer), four in basketball and two in ice hockey, including high school, college and professional athletes) were included in the incidence portion of the paper. Nine of the studies showed higher absolute injury rates for female concussion compared to their male counterparts with four of them reaching statistical significance. Five of the studies (two football (soccer), two basketball and one ice hockey) examined concussion mechanism and in all cases, males had a higher absolute percent of player contact concussions while females had a higher absolute percentage of surface or ball contact concussion episodes. Two brain injury and four sport concussion outcome papers were reviewed. Traumatic brain injury outcome was shown to be worse in females than in males for a majority of measured variables; females also are shown to have different baseline and post-concussion outcomes on neuropsychological testing. Conclusions: After evaluating multiple years of concussion data in comparable sports, the evidence indicates that female athletes may be at greater risk for concussion than their male counterparts. There also is some evidence that gender differences exist in outcomes of traumatic brain injury and concussions. Because concussion is a clinical diagnosis often depending on self reporting and with no established biological marker or consistent symptoms/definitions, and because there is evidence that females are more honest in reporting general injuries than males, it is unclear whether the concussion incidence data, while generally consistent in showing a higher risk in females as compared to males in similar sports, is a true difference or is influenced by a reporting bias.
Object Extraction from Architecture Scenes through 3D Local Scanned Data Analysis

1 Abstract—Terrestrial laser scanning becomes a standard way for acquiring 3D data of complex outdoor objects. The processing of huge number of points and recognition of different objects inside become a new challenge, especially in the case where objects are included. In this paper, a new approach is proposed to classify objects through an analysis on shape information of the point cloud data. The scanned scene is constructed using k Nearest Neighboring (k-NN), and then similarity measurement between points is defined to cluster points with similar primitive shapes. Moreover, we introduce a combined geometrical criterion to refine the over-segmented results. To achieve more detail information, a residual based segmentation is adopted to refine the segmentation of architectural objects into more parts with different shape properties. Experimental results demonstrate that this approach can be used as a robust way to extract different objects in the scenes.