Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cell signal transduction: hormones, neurotransmitters and therapeutic drugs relate to purine nucleotide structure

Abstract Purine nucleotides transduce cell membrane receptor responses and modulate ion channel activity. This is accomplished through conformational change in the structure of nucleotides and cell membrane associated proteins. The aim of this study is to enhance our understanding of nucleotide dependence in regard to signal transduction events, drug action and pharmacological promiscuity. Nucleotides and ligand structures regulating Gα protein subunits, voltage- and ligand-gated ion channels are investigated for molecular similarity using a computational program. Results differentiate agonist and antagonist structures, identify molecular similarity within nucleotide and ligand structures and demonstrate the potential of ligands to regulate nucleotide conformational change. Relative molecular similarity within nucleotides and the ligands of the major receptor classes provides insight into mechanisms of receptor and ion channel regulation. The nucleotide template model has some merit as an initial screening tool in the study and comparison of drug and hormone structures.
Optimal window lengths, features and subsets thereof for freezing of gait classification

Freezing of gait (FoG) is a common gait impairment in Parkinson's disease that puts patients at risk of falls and deteriorates their quality of life. Relief is sought after by evaluating the possibility of wearable systems that detect FoG in real-time and provide gait-reinforcing biofeedback cues. The successful detection relies on the extraction of high quality features, which have to be computed from recent samples of an inertial measurement unit in order to ensure real-time applicability. Unfortunately, the amount of samples considered for a feature's computation, i.e. the data window length, has been subjected to widespread disagreement: With no thorough analysis available, employed window lengths differed by several seconds among implementations. We derive optimal window lengths for a broad number of features used throughout literature by using mutual information as an evaluation metric, and elaborate on a window length's significance in affecting classification performance. With conventional feature selection methods, feature subsets tailored to various machine learning algorithms are established. Relying on these feature subsets for FoG classification, whereby all features are extracted with optimal window lengths, F1-scores increase up to 17.1% for individual classifiers and up to 12.7% on average when compared to previously proposed feature sets that are extracted with sub-optimal window lengths.
Accuracy improvement of submersible charging station stabilization on various depths

Considered paper is dedicated to mathematical modeling and controller parametric synthesis of stabilization system for submersible underwater charging station, which is based on two measurement signals: signal of difference between a charging station speed and a speed of boat hoist; signal of shock absorbing hoist rope tension deviation. These systems were synthesized with several methods, considering an interval parametric uncertainty of a control object. Simulation modeling of synthesized systems was performed. An approach to choosing a method of submersible charging station stabilization is described.
Early progression of disease as a predictor of survival in chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Chemoimmunotherapy for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) promotes clonal evolution of aggressive clones, which in some patients may lead to early progression of disease (POD). We studied the prognostic value of early POD in a cohort of patients with CLL enrolled between 2010 and 2014 in the Connect CLL Registry. Overall, 829 eligible patients receiving first-line therapy were categorized into 3 groups: early POD (progression <2 years after treatment initiation), late POD (progression ≥2 years after treatment initiation), and no POD as of 1 May 2017. Baseline demographics, treatment characteristics, and overall survival (OS) were analyzed. Logistic regression models identified independent predictors of early POD; Cox regression models were used to evaluate the risk of early POD. With a median follow-up of 48.8 months, 209 (25.2%), 162 (19.5%), and 458 (55.3%) patients had early, late, and no POD, respectively. Patients with early POD were older and had inferior response to similar first-line treatment regimens vs late and no POD groups (overall response rate: 53% vs 80% vs 84%). Patients with early POD were more likely to have unfavorable-risk cytogenetics (del[11q]/del[17p]) than patients with no POD (34% vs 20%; P = .04). Early POD was associated with an inferior OS across all patients (hazard ratio, 3.6; 95% confidence interval, 2.6-5.1; P < .01) and in patients treated with fludarabine, cyclophosphamide plus rituximab, and bendamustine plus rituximab (P < .05). Early POD within 2 years of first-line therapy is a robust clinical prognostic factor for inferior OS in patients with CLL. The Connect CLL Registry was registered at www.clinicaltrials. gov as #NCT01081015.
Dual neural networks for kinect camera calibration

Kinect camera, also called as RGB-D sensors, has been widely used in robot vision control system. However, building a complex Kinect camera distortion model is still a challenging issue. In this paper, a Dual Neural Networks for Kinect camera calibration method, according to the characteristics of Kinect camera and the imaging law of point moving along the different axis in the camera coordinate, is proposed. Firstly, IR image, instead of the depth image widely used in the existing calibration method of the Kinect camera, is used to reduce the effect of noise. Then, problem of the camera calibration is considered as nonlinear mapping from 2D image coordinates to the 3D world coordinates and two different neural networks is designed respectively to realize the nonlinear mapping. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed calibration method could provide a more reliable and accurate reconstruction results compared with popular joint calibration methods.
Variability of Lip and Jaw Movements in the Speech of Children and Adults

Abstract One purpose of the present study was to examine displacement variability of lower lip and jaw movements to determine whether sounds that are generally learned earlier and should, therefore, have been practiced more (e. g., stops and nasals) would be less variable than sounds that tend to develop later (e. g., fricatives). It was also of interest to determine whether individual articulators such as the lower lip and the jaw show any differences in displacement variability, given that lower lip gestures may need to be more precise than jaw movements. Repetitions of several labial-initial, CVC stimuli embedded in short phrases produced by three groups of children (5––, 8––, and 11––year-olds) and a group of adults were examined to determine the variability of articulatory gestures. No evidence was found to suggest that fricatives were more variable than stops or nasals for any of the groups. For the children but not the adults, lower lip gestures tended to be more variable than jaw movements.
Physical safety analysis of robot considering impactor shape

This paper proposes an approach to estimate the physical safety of robot in the case of collision with a human by evaluating the contact force and the contact pressure at the surface of the collision which are considered the sole factors that cause the injury. Establishing a nonlinear dynamic collision model we developed a human skin model as a layered contact model with nonlinear elasticity. Also the shape of the impactor (which means the robot part colliding with the human body) is modeled in unlike the previous researches where the effect of the impactor shape is ignored to simplify the analysis by modeling the robot as a point mass. In addition the effect of the inertial distribution of the robot towards the collision is analyzed and modeled using a recursive method. In this paper, a set of nonlinear equations derived from the nonlinear dynamic collision model is solved numerically and simulation results of estimated impact pressure and force during the collision are presented.
Interleaved Switched-Capacitor Bidirectional DC-DC Converter With Wide Voltage-Gain Range for Energy Storage Systems

In this paper, an interleaved switched-capacitor bidirectional dc-dc converter with a high step-up/step-down voltage gain is proposed. The interleaved structure is adopted in the low-voltage side of this converter to reduce the ripple of the current through the low-voltage side, and the series-connected structure is adopted in the high-voltage side to achieve the high step-up/step-down voltage gain. In addition, the bidirectional synchronous rectification operations are carried out without requiring any extra hardware, and the efficiency of the converter is improved. Furthermore, the operating principles, voltage and current stresses, and current ripple characteristics of the converter are analyzed. Finally, a 1 kW prototype has been developed which verifies a wide voltage-gain range of this converter between the variable low-voltage side (50–120 V) and the constant high-voltage side (400 V). The maximum efficiency of the converter is 95.21% in the step-up mode and 95.30% in the step-down mode. The experimental results also validate the feasibility and the effectiveness of the proposed topology.
Cloning and genomic mapping of the mouse matrin 3 gene and its pseudogenes

Matrin 3 forms a family of nuclear proteins together with NP220s. Using cDNA sequences encoding rat matrin 3 as a probe, we isolated genomic clones of mouse matrin 3 gene and its two pseudogenes. The genuine mouse matrin 3 gene has an exon covering the N-terminal one third of matrin 3 with a sequence 99% identical to rat matrin 3 cDNA. The gene was localized to Chromosome 18C by in situ hybridization and mapped at 3.6 cM distal to D18Mit117 and 2.2 cM proximal to D18Mit14 on mouse Chromosome 18 by interspecific backcross analysis. One pseudogene has an exon-like sequence covering the N-terminal half of matrin 3 that is interrupted by an unknown sequence. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) of RNA from mouse liver and brain using unique sequences of the genuine gene and the pseudogene confirmed the expression of only the former. The other pseudogene has a sequence only 80% identical to rat cDNA and is partially deleted and reversed. These pseudogenes were localized to Chromosome 4E2 and 8D2, respectively.
An evidence-based scale for the antecedents of depressive symptoms in Australian adults

Objective: To develop and test a self-reported scale designed to measure the antecedents of depression. Methods: Participants of the Sustainable Mastery of Innovative Lifelong Exercise (SMILE) Tai Chi program were invited to complete the scale for antecedents of depressive symptoms. The scale included questions regarding events/factors the participants have experienced over the past three months and preceded their depressive symptoms. The reliability of the questions was assessed using the Cronbach’s alpha. Principal components analysis was used to examine if there were domains of interest across the scale questions. Results: A total of 126 participants completed the scale. The scale had a good internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = 0.82). Principal components analysis identified three components (life events, psychosocial problems, and physical/health problems) in the scale and the components detected the root categories of depression in more than 56% of the cases. Conclusions: This simple self-administered scale has proven to provide a reliable measure for the antecedent factors of depression in the SMILE Tai Chi cohort; further validation of the scale in different settings is encouraged.
Pedestrian detection in digital videos using committee of motion feature extractors

Human detection in digital images is a challenge because the motion of the camera, background and variations in pose, appearance, clothing and illumination introduce difficulties for person detection. Several pedestrian detectors were proposed recently, such as the Aggregated Channel Features (ACF). These types of detectors are based on features related to the shape of the object. These detectors generate many false alarms. In this paper we propose the use of motion features in the ACF framework to mitigate false alarms emitted. Three motion features are proposed: WSTD, MBH and IMHcd. We combined these features with ACF. Then, committees of classifiers were created from these feature combinations improving original ACF results and reducing false positives per image (FPPI). An improvement on the miss rate for 100 FPPI and on the log-average miss rate was obtained, reducing these values in 19 and 8.46 percentage points respectively on Caltech dataset.
Crystal growth, structure and magnetic properties of Ca10Cr7O28

A detailed diffraction study of Ca10Cr7O28 is presented which adds significant new insights into the structural and magnetic properties of this compound. A new crystal structure type was used where the a and b axes are doubled compared to previous models providing a more plausible structure where all crystallographic sites are fully occupied. The presence of two different valences of chromium was verified and the locations of the magnetic Cr5+ and non-magnetic Cr6+ ions were identified. The Cr5+ ions have spin-12 and form distorted kagome bilayers which are stacked in an ABC arrangement along the c axis. These results lay the foundation for understanding of the quantum spin liquid behavior in Ca10Cr7O28 which has recently been reported in Balz et al (2016 Nat. Phys. 12 942).
Evaluation of serum neutrophil gelatinase–associated lipocalin as a novel biomarker of cardiorenal syndrome in dogs

Worsening renal function and azotemia in patients with heart failure (HF) are strongly associated with disease severity and poor prognosis. Increasing interest in this correlation led to the description and classification of cardiorenal syndrome (CRS). We evaluated the role of neutrophil gelatinase–associated lipocalin (NGAL) in the early detection of CRS in dogs with HF. Ten healthy dogs and 31 dogs admitted with HF were included in our study. NGAL and troponin-I were measured on samples collected on the day of admission; creatinine was measured on admission and again on day 7. The CRS group was defined as subsequently developing renal azotemia. Of 31 dogs with HF, 20 were included in the HF group, and 11 were included in the CRS group. The admission NGAL concentrations of the CRS group were significantly higher than those of other groups (p < 0.001). The severity of HF evaluation based on the modified New York Heart Association classification showed significant correlation with NGAL (p < 0.001) and troponin-I (p = 0.009) concentration. However, only serum NGAL concentration at admission was significantly associated with the development of CRS in dogs with HF (p = 0.021). The admission serum NGAL ≥ 16.0 ng/mL (optimal cutoff value) had a sensitivity of 90.9% and specificity of 90.0% in predicting the development of CRS.
Psychosocial behaviour management programme for home‐dwelling people with dementia: A cluster‐randomized controlled trial

Little is known about the effectiveness of a psychosocial behaviour management programme on home‐dwelling people with dementia. We developed a Behaviour Analytics & Support Enhancement (BASE) programme for care managers and professional caregivers of home care services in Japan. We investigated the effects of BASE on challenging behaviour of home‐dwelling people with dementia.
Electrically tunable soft solid lens inspired by reptile and bird accommodation

Electrically tunable lenses are conceived as deformable adaptive optical components able to change focus without motor-controlled translations of stiff lenses. In order to achieve large tuning ranges, large deformations are needed. This requires new technologies for the actuation of highly stretchable lenses. This paper presents a configuration to obtain compact tunable lenses entirely made of soft solid matter (elastomers). This was achieved by combining the advantages of dielectric elastomer actuation (DEA) with a design inspired by the accommodation of reptiles and birds. An annular DEA was used to radially deform a central solid-body lens. Using an acrylic elastomer membrane, a silicone lens and a simple fabrication method, we assembled a tunable lens capable of focal length variations up to 55%, driven by an actuator four times larger than the lens. As compared to DEA-based liquid lenses, the novel architecture halves the required driving voltages, simplifies the fabrication process and allows for a higher versatility in design. These new lenses might find application in systems requiring large variations of focus with low power consumption, silent operation, low weight, shock tolerance, minimized axial encumbrance and minimized changes of performance against vibrations and variations in temperature.
DICOD: Distributed Convolutional Sparse Coding.

In this paper, we introduce DICOD, a convolutional sparse coding algorithm which builds shift invariant representations for long signals. This algorithm is designed to run in a distributed setting, with local message passing, making it communication efficient. It is based on coordinate descent and uses locally greedy updates which accelerate the resolution compared to greedy coordinate selection. We prove the convergence of this algorithm and highlight its computational speed-up which is super-linear in the number of cores used. We also provide empirical evidence for the acceleration properties of our algorithm compared to state-of-the-art methods.
Race, Ethnicity, and Sepsis: Beyond Adjusted Odds Ratios.

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A comprehensive set of benchmark tests for a land surface model of simultaneous fluxes of water and carbon at both the global and seasonal scale

Abstract. Evaluating the models we use in prediction is important as it allows us to identify uncertainties in prediction as well as guiding the priorities for model development. This paper describes a set of benchmark tests that is designed to quantify the performance of the land surface model that is used in the UK Hadley Centre General Circulation Model (JULES: Joint UK Land Environment Simulator). The tests are designed to assess the ability of the model to reproduce the observed fluxes of water and carbon at the global and regional spatial scale, and on a seasonal basis. Five datasets are used to test the model: water and carbon dioxide fluxes from ten FLUXNET sites covering the major global biomes, atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations at four representative stations from the global network, river flow from seven catchments, the seasonal mean NDVI over the seven catchments and the potential land cover of the globe (after the estimated anthropogenic changes have been removed). The model is run in various configurations and results are compared with the data. A few examples are chosen to demonstrate the importance of using combined use of observations of carbon and water fluxes in essential in order to understand the causes of model errors. The benchmarking approach is suitable for application to other global models.
Association between hyperinsulinaemia and laminitis severity at the time of pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction diagnosis

BACKGROUND Hyperinsulinaemia is the suspected component of insulin dysregulation having the strongest association with laminitis and occurs variably in equids with pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID). OBJECTIVES We hypothesised that magnitude of hyperinsulinaemia correlates with laminitis severity in PPID-affected equids. Furthermore, we hypothesised that owners can be unaware of chronic endocrinopathic laminitis. STUDY DESIGN Cross-sectional study. METHODS Serum insulin concentrations, owner-reported laminitis history and radiographic evidence of laminitis were determined in 38 client-owned horses and ponies with confirmed PPID. Laminitis severity was classified into four categories (normal [nonlaminitic], mild, moderate or severe laminitis) based on degree of distal phalangeal rotation. Animals were also categorised as normoinsulinaemic (<20 μU/ml), mildly hyperinsulinaemic (20-50 μU/ml) and severely hyperinsulinaemic (>50 μU/ml). One-way ANOVA, t tests and Fisher's exact tests were performed. RESULTS While owners reported laminitis in 37% of animals, 76% were laminitic based on study criteria (P = 0.01). Owners reported laminitis more frequently in hyperinsulinaemic vs. normoinsulinaemic animals; recognition increased with severity of hyperinsulinaemia (P = 0.03). Mean insulin concentrations were higher in equids with moderate to severe radiographic laminitis (geometric mean 74.1, 95% confidence interval (CI) 38.4-143.1 uU/ml) vs. those classified radiographically as normal to mild (31.9, 95% CI 21.1-48.1 uU/ml P = 0.03). MAIN LIMITATIONS Dynamic insulin testing was not performed; some normoinsulinaemic animals might have had subtle insulin dysregulation. CONCLUSIONS Although radiographic abnormalities were present in most animals at the time of PPID diagnosis, chronic laminitis remained unrecognised by many owners. Owner awareness of laminitis increased with severity of hyperinsulinaemia and higher insulin concentrations were detected in association with more severe radiographic changes. The Summary is available in Chinese - See Supporting Information.