Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An EOG-based wheelchair robotic arm system for assisting patients with severe spinal cord injuries

Objective. In this study, we combine a wheelchair and an intelligent robotic arm based on an electrooculogram (EOG) signal to help patients with spinal cord injuries (SCIs) accomplish a self-drinking task. The main challenge is to accurately control the wheelchair to ensure that the randomly located object is within a limited reachable space of the robotic arm (length: 0.8 m; width: 0.4 m; height: 0.6 m), which requires decimeter-level precision, and is still undemonstrated for EOG-based systems as well as EEG-based systems. Approach. A novel high-precision EOG-based human machine interface (HMI) is proposed which can effectively translate two kinds of eye movements (i.e. blinking and eyebrow raising) into various commands. For the wheelchair, positional precision can reach decimeter-level and the minimal steering angle is . For the intelligent robotic arm, shared control is implemented based on an EOG-based HMI, two cameras and the arm’s own intelligence. Main results. After brief training, five healthy subjects and five paralyzed patients with severe SCIs successfully completed three experiments. For the healthy subjects/patients with SCIs, the system achieved an average accuracy of 99.3%/97.3%, an average response time of 1.91 s/2.02 s per command and an average stop-response time of 1.30 s/1.36 s with a 0 false operation rate. Significance. The EOG-based HMI can provide sufficient precision control to integrate a wheelchair and a robotic arm into a system which can help patients with SCIs to accomplish a self-drinking task. (ChiCTR1800019764)
Nostril-specific and structure-based olfactory learning of chiral discrimination in human adults

Practice makes perfect. In human olfaction, such plasticity is generally assumed to occur at the level of cortical synthetic processing that shares information from both nostrils. Here we present findings that challenge this view. In two experiments, we trained human adults unirhinally for the discrimination between odor enantiomers over a course of about 10 to 11 days. Results showed that training-induced perceptual gain was restricted to the trained nostril yet partially generalized to untrained odor enantiomers in a structure- rather than quality- based manner. In other words, learning enhanced the differentiation of chirality (molecular configuration) as opposed to overall odor quality (odor object) per se. These findings argue that, unlike earlier beliefs, one nostril does not readily know what the other learns. Moreover, the initial analytical processing of the structural features of uninarial olfactory input remains plastic in human adults.
Open epididymal spermatozoa aspiration for obstructive azoospermia

In men suffering from obstructive azoospermia (OA), surgical sperm retrieval (SR) can be performed for use with intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). Several techniques of surgical SR exist, with various results. In our facility, we have developed the open epididymal spermatozoa aspiration (OESA) procedure. The aim of this study was to report on the sperm retrieval rate (SRR), reproductive outcome and neonatal outcome of OESA followed by ICSI. In addition, we have investigated possible predictors of successful SR and clinical pregnancy. A total of 231 men who were treated with OESA were included in this retrospective analysis, together with their female partners. We found an overall SRR of 76.6%. Serum FSH was a significant negative predictor of successful SR (odds ratio 0.87; 95% CI 0.78–0.98; p = 0.021). Overall cumulative pregnancy rate was 50.8%. Higher age (odds ratio 0.90; p < 0.001) and frozen vs. fresh embryo transfer (odds ratio 0.56; p = 0.004) were negatively associated with clinical pregnancy in multivariable analysis. Reproductive and neonatal outcomes did not differ according to obstruction cause. We conclude that OESA is a reliable and safe method for surgical SR in men suffering from OA.
What should we do to prevent and manage obesity in children and adolescents?

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Editorial Korean J Pediatr 2019;62(1):1-2 https://doi.org/10.3345/kjp.2018. 07374 pISSN 1738-1061•eISSN 2092-7258
Health Risk Assessment of Inorganic Mercury and Methylmercury via Rice Consumption in the Urban City of Guiyang, Southwest China

Rice consumption is the main methylmercury (MeHg) exposure route for residents in mercury (Hg) mining areas. However, there is limited studies on mercury in commercial rice, which has high liquidity and can be directly consumed by urban residents. This study measured the total Hg (THg) and MeHg concentrations in 146 rice samples purchased from the markets in Guiyang city, southwest China, and both the inorganic Hg (IHg) and MeHg estimated daily intakes (EDIs) and hazard quotients (HQs) were calculated according to rice consumption. The THg concentrations in all rice samples (range: 0.97 to 13.10 μg·kg−1; mean: 3.88 μg·kg−1) were lower than the Chinese national standard (20 μg·kg−1). The average MeHg concentration in rice was 1.16 μg·kg−1. The total HQs (THQs) ranged from 0.0106 to 0.1048, with a mean of 0.0462, which was far lower than 1. This result suggests that there were low Hg exposure levels through consumption of commercial rice in residents of Guiyang.
VCP maintains lysosomal homeostasis and TFEB activity in differentiated skeletal muscle

ABSTRACT Differentiated tissue is particularly vulnerable to alterations in protein and organelle homeostasis. The essential protein VCP, mutated in hereditary inclusion body myopathy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia, is critical for efficient clearance of misfolded proteins and damaged organelles in dividing cells, but its role in terminally differentiated tissue affected by disease mutations is less clear. To understand the relevance of VCP in differentiated tissue, we inactivated it in skeletal muscle of adult mice. Surprisingly, knockout muscle demonstrated a necrotic myopathy with increased macroautophagic/autophagic proteins and damaged lysosomes. This was not solely due to a defect in autophagic degradation because age-matched mice with muscle inactivation of the autophagy essential protein, ATG5, did not demonstrate a myopathy. Notably, myofiber necrosis was preceded by upregulation of LGALS3/Galectin-3, a marker of damaged lysosomes, and TFEB activation, suggesting early defects in the lysosomal system. Consistent with that, myofiber necrosis was recapitulated by chemical induction of lysosomal membrane permeabilization (LMP) in skeletal muscle. Moreover, TFEB was activated after LMP in cells, but activation and nuclear localization of TFEB persisted upon VCP inactivation or disease mutant expression. Our data identifies VCP as central mediator of both lysosomal clearance and biogenesis in skeletal muscle. Abbreviations: AAA: ATPases Associated with diverse cellular Activities; TUBA1A/α-tubulin: tubulin alpha 1a; ATG5: autophagy related 5; ATG7: autophagy related 7; ACTA1: actin alpha 1, skeletal muscle; CLEAR: coordinated lysosomal expression and regulation; CTSB/D: cathepsin B/D; Ctrl: control; DAPI: diamidino-2-phenylindole; EBSS: Earle’s balanced salt solution; ELDR: endolysosomal damage response; ESCRT: endosomal sorting complexes required for transport; Gastroc/G: gastrocnemius; H&E: hematoxylin and eosin; HSPA5/GRP78: heat shock protein family A (Hsp70) member 5; IBMPFD/ALS: inclusion body myopathy associated with Paget disease of the bone, frontotemporal dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; i.p.: intraperitoneal; LAMP1/2: lysosomal-associated membrane protein 1/2; LLOMe: Leu-Leu methyl ester hydrobromide; LGALS3/Gal3: galectin 3; LMP: lysosomal membrane permeabilization; MTOR: mechanistic target of rapamycin kinase; MYL1: myosin light chain 1; MAP1LC3/LC3: microtubule associated protein 1 light chain 3; MSP: multisystem proteinopathy; PBS: phosphate-buffered saline; PCR: polymerase chain reaction; Quad/Q: quadriceps; RHEB: Ras homolog, mTORC1 binding; SQSTM1: sequestosome 1; TFEB: transcription factor EB; TA: tibialis anterior; siRNA: small interfering RNA; SQSTM1/p62, sequestosome 1; TARDBP/TDP-43: TAR DNA binding protein; TBS: Tris-buffered saline; TXFN, tamoxifen; UBXN6/UBXD1: UBX domain protein 6; VCP: valosin containing protein; WT: wild-type.
Lower-Load is More Effective Than Higher-Load Resistance Training in Increasing Muscle Mass in Young Women.

Franco, CMdC, Carneiro, MAdS, Alves, LTH, Júnior, GNdO, de Sousa, JdFR, and Orsatti, FL. Lower-load is more effective than higher-load resistance training in increasing muscle mass in young women. J Strength Cond Res XX(X): 000-000, 2019-This study was designed to investigate the impact of load (higher vs. lower) performed until or close to volitional fatigue on muscle strength (MS) and fat and bone-free lean mass (FBFM) in young women. To do this, 32 women performed resistance training (RT) in 1 of 2 conditions: lower-load RT (LL; n = 14, age = 24.3 ± 4.8 years and body mass index [BMI] = 23.3 ± 2.8 kg·m) and higher-load RT (HL; n = 18, age = 23.0 ± 3.3 years and BMI = 22.4 ± 3.3 kg·m). Leg FBFM (DXA) and MS (1 repetition maximum-unilateral leg extension [LE]) were evaluated before and after 9 weeks (the first week was used for familiarization) of RT. Both groups performed 3 unilateral exercises (LE, leg curl, and leg press), 3 sets per exercise, 60-90 seconds of rest between sets, 2 days per week. In the LL group, the loads used in the exercises were the loads necessary to perform 30-35 repetitions in the first set. For the HL group, the loads used were the loads necessary to perform 8-10 repetitions in the first set. The LL group showed higher RT volume than the HL. Both groups showed leg muscle mass gains (p < 0.05). However, the LL group was better [p = 0.032 and effect size (eta = 0.14 [large]) than the HL group in leg FBFM gains (LL = 0.3 kg [IC 95%: 0.4 kg; 0.2 kg] and HL = 0.1 kg [IC 95%: 0.2 kg; 0.0 kg]). Both groups showed MS gains, without any difference between them (LL = 3.4 kg [IC 95%: 4.4 kg; 2.5 kg] and HL = 4.2 kg [IC 95%: 5.1 kg; 3.3 kg]; p = 0.239). Thus, lower-load RT is more effective than higher-load RT in increasing FBFM, but not MS in novice young women.
Biochemical and structural characterization of two variants of uncertain significance in the PMS2 gene

Lynch syndrome (LS) is an autosomal dominant inherited disorder that is associated with an increased predisposition to certain cancers caused by loss‐of‐function mutations in one of four DNA mismatch repair (MMR) genes (MLH1, MSH2, MSH6, or PMS2). The diagnosis of LS is often challenged by the identification of missense mutations where the functional effects are not known. These are termed variants of uncertain significance (VUSs) and account for 20%–30% of noncoding and missense mutations. VUSs cause ambiguity during clinical diagnosis and hinder implementation of appropriate medical management. In the current study, we focus on the functional and biological consequences of two nonsynonymous VUSs in PMS2. These variants, c.620G>A and c. 123_131delGTTAGTAGA, result in the alteration of glycine 207 to glutamate (p.Gly207Glu) and the deletion of amino acid residues 42–44 (p.Leu42_Glu44del), respectively. While the PMS2 p.Gly207Glu variant retains in vitro MMR and ATPase activities, PMS2 p.Leu42_Glu44del appears to lack such capabilities. Structural and biophysical characterization using circular dichroism, small‐angle X‐ray scattering, and X‐ray crystallography of the N‐terminal domain of the PMS2 variants indicate that the p.Gly207Glu variant is properly folded similar to the wild‐type enzyme, whereas p.Leu42_Glu44del is disordered and prone to aggregation.
Multi-Type Sensor Placements in Gaussian Spatial Fields for Environmental Monitoring †

As citizens are increasingly concerned about the surrounding environment, it is important for modern cities to provide sufficient and accurate environmental information to the public for decision making in the era of smart cities. Due to the limited budget, we often need to optimize the sensor placement in order to maximize the overall information gain according to certain criteria. Existing work is primarily concerned with single-type sensor placement; however, the environment usually requires accurate measurements of multiple types of environmental characteristics. In this paper, we focus on the optimal multi-type sensor placement in Gaussian spatial field for environmental monitoring. We study two representative cases: the one-with-all case when each station is equipped with all types of sensors and the general case when each station is equipped with at least one type of sensor. We propose two greedy algorithms accordingly, each with a provable approximation guarantee. We evaluated the proposed approach via an application in air quality monitoring scenario in Hong Kong and experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Non Monotonous Effects of Noncovalently Functionalized Graphene Addition on the Structure and Sound Absorption Properties of Polyvinylpyrrolidone (1300 kDa) Electrospun Mats

Graphene is an attractive component for high-performance stimuli-responsive or ‘smart’ materials, shape memory materials, photomechanical actuators, piezoelectric materials and flexible strain sensors. Nanocomposite fibres were produced by electrospinning high molecular weight Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP-1300 kDa) in the presence of noncovalently functionalised graphene obtained through tip sonication of graphite alcoholic suspensions in the presence of PVP (10 kDa). Bending instability of electrospun jet appears to progressively increase at low graphene concentrations with the result of greater fibre stretching that leads to lower fibre diameter and possibly conformational changes of PVP. Further increase of graphene content seams having the opposite effect leading to greater fibre diameter and Raman spectra similar to the pure PVP electrospun mats. All this has been interpreted on the basis of currently accepted model for bending instability of electrospun jets. The graphene addition does not lower the very high sound absorption coefficient, α, close to unity, of the electrospun PVP mats in the frequency range 200–800 Hz. The graphene addition affects, in a non-monotonous manner, the bell shaped curves of α versus frequency curves becoming sharper and moving to higher frequency at the lower graphene addition. The opposite is observed when the graphene content is further increased.
Footprints of adaptive evolution revealed by whole Z chromosomes haplotypes in flycatchers

Detecting positive selection using genomic data is critical to understanding the role of adaptive evolution. Of particular interest in this context is sex chromosomes since they are thought to play a special role in local adaptation and speciation. We sought to circumvent the challenges associated with statistical phasing when using haplotype‐based statistics in sweep scans by benefitting from that whole chromosome haplotypes of the sex chromosomes can be obtained by resequencing of individuals of the hemizygous sex. We analyzed whole Z chromosome haplotypes from 100 females from several populations of four black and white flycatcher species (in birds, females are ZW and males ZZ). Based on integrated haplotype score (iHS) and number of segregating sites by length (nSL) statistics, we found strong and frequent haplotype structure in several regions of the Z chromosome in each species. Most of these sweep signals were population‐specific, with essentially no evidence for regions under selection shared among species. Some completed sweeps were revealed by the cross‐population extended haplotype homozygosity (XP‐EHH) statistic. Importantly, by using statistically phased Z chromosome data from resequencing of males, we failed to recover the signals of selection detected in analyses based on whole chromosome haplotypes from females; instead, what likely represent false signals of selection were frequently seen. This highlights the power issues in statistical phasing and cautions against conclusions from selection scans using such data. The detection of frequent selective sweeps on the avian Z chromosome supports a large role of sex chromosomes in adaptive evolution.
Evaluating Artificial Intelligence Applications in Clinical Settings.

Artificial intelligence (AI)–based systems have been shown to reliably recognize cardiovascular disease risk 1 and diagnose conditions such as diabetic retinopathy 2,3 and melanoma 4 from medical images. These advances in image-based medical diagnosis have been widely publicized in the media and similar tools have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In April of 2018, the FDA approved the first AI device to provide screening decision for a disease (ie, diabetic retinopathy) without assisted interpretation by a clinician. 5 Kanagasingam et al 6 evaluated a similar approach—a convolutional neural network algorithm, a deep learning method—for identifying diabetic retinopathy from medical images in a primary care setting in Midland, Western Australia. Their system correctly classified the 2 severe cases captured in the data (193 patients with diabetes), and misclassified 15 (false-positives) individuals as having diabetic retinopathy. The number of patients needing to be reviewed by an ophthalmologist was less than 10%. These findings demonstrate the potential for these systems to support efficient and improved care, while also highlighting the need for rigorous evaluation in clinical settings.
The Influence of A Mo Addition on the Interfacial Morphologies and Corrosion Resistances of Novel Fe-Cr-B Alloys Immersed in Molten Aluminum

The influence of a Mo addition on the interfacial morphologies and corrosion resistances of novel Fe-Cr-B alloys in molten aluminum at 750 °C was systematically investigated using scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffractometer, electron probe microanalysis, and transmission electron microscopy. The results indicated that Mo could not only strengthen the matrix but also facilitate the formation of borides. Furthermore, the microstructures of Mo-rich M2B boride changed from a local eutectic net-like structure to a typical coarse dendritic structure and a blocky hypereutectic structure with increasing Mo addition. This was true of the blocky Mo-rich M2B boride, rod-like Cr-rich M2B boride and the corrosion products, which had a synergistic effect on retarding of the diffusion of molten aluminum. Notably, the corrosion resistance of the Fe-Cr-B-Mo alloy, with an 8.3 wt. % Mo addition, was 3.8 times higher than that of H13 steel.
Associations between the use of specific psychotropic drugs and all-cause mortality among older adults in Germany: Results of the mortality follow-up of the German National Health Interview and Examination Survey 1998

Background Use of psychotropic drugs is common among older adults. Population-based studies on the associations of psychotropic drug use with mortality are sparse. Objectives To investigate the associations between the use of specific psychotropic drug groups (opioids, antipsychotics, antidepressants and benzodiazepines) and all-cause mortality among community-dwelling older adults in Germany. Methods Participants of the German National Health Interview and Examination Survey 1998 were followed up for mortality from 1997 to 2011. Persons aged 60–79 years with complete data on psychotropic drug use at baseline and on mortality follow-up were considered as study population (N = 1,563). Associations between the use of opioids, antipsychotics, antidepressants and benzodiazepines and all-cause mortality were examined by Cox proportional hazards models adjusted for sociodemographics (sex, age, community size, region, socioeconomic status), life style (smoking, sports, risky alcohol drinking) and health conditions (obesity, disability, history of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, any cancers, any mental disorders) at baseline. Results After a median follow-up of 11.4 years, 21, 18, 23 and 26 deaths were documented among those who used at baseline opioids (n = 39), antipsychotics (n = 30), antidepressants (n = 53) and benzodiazepines (n = 54) with an unadjusted mortality rate (MR) of 57.7, 59.1, 44.6 and 53.7 per 1000 person-years, respectively. Meanwhile, 400 deaths were documented among 1,406 nonusers of any of the above mentioned psychotropic drugs with a MR of 26.7 per 1000 person-years. The age and sex adjusted mortality rate ratios in comparison with nonusers were 2.20 (95% confidence intervals 1.42–3.41), 1.66(1.03–2.70), 1.56(1.06–2.28), and 1.57(1.07–2.31) for the use of opioids, antipsychotics, antidepressants and benzodiazepines, respectively. In the fully adjusted Cox models, use of opioids (hazardous ratio 2.04, 95% confidence intervals 1.07–3.89), antipsychotics (2.15, 1.11–4.15) and benzodiazepines (1.76, 1.09–2.82), but not antidepressants, were significantly associated with an increased risk of mortality. Conclusions Use of opioids, antipsychotics, benzodiazepines is significantly associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality among community-dwelling older adults in Germany. Clinicians should be careful in prescribing these psychotropic drugs to older adults while patients already under psychotropic therapy should well balance the risks and benefits of drug use. Further studies with a larger sample size and information on specific indications for psychotropic drug use and mental comorbidities are required to confirm the findings of the present study.
Effect of Heat Treatment on Repetitively Scanned SLM NiTi Shape Memory Alloy

Selective Laser Melting (SLM) has been implemented to address the difficulties in manufacturing complex nickel titanium (NiTi) structures. However, the SLM production of NiTi is much more challenging than the fabrication of conventional metals. Other than the need to have a high density that leads to excellent mechanical properties, strict chemical compositional control is required as well for the SLM NiTi parts to exhibit desirable phase transformation characteristics. In addition, acquiring a high transformation strain from the produced specimens is another challenging task. In the prior research, a new approach-repetitive scanning-was implemented to achieve these objectives. The repetitively scanned samples demonstrated an average of 4.61% transformation strain when subjected to the tensile test. Nevertheless, there is still room for improvement as the conventionally-produced NiTi can exhibit a transformation strain of about 6%. Hence, post-process heat treatment was introduced to improve the shape memory properties of the samples. The results showed an improvement when the samples were heat treated at a temperature of 400 °C for a period of 5 min. The enhancement in the shape memory behavior of the repetitively scanned samples was mainly attributed to the formation of fine Ni₄Ti₃ metastable precipitates.
Long‐term treatment of older patients with overactive bladder using a combination of mirabegron and solifenacin: a prespecified analysis from the randomized, phase III SYNERGY II study

SYNERGY II was a 12‐month phase III trial in patients with overactive bladder (OAB) symptoms that investigated the safety and efficacy of the combination of mirabegron and solifenacin in comparison with each monotherapy. This analysis evaluated the trial findings using four age subgroups (<65, ≥65, <75, and ≥75 years).