Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Deep Multi-Spectral Registration Using Invariant Descriptor Learning

In this work, we propose a deep-learning approach for aligning cross-spectral images. Our approach utilizes a learned descriptor invariant to different spectra. Multi-modal images of the same scene capture different characteristics and therefore their registration is challenging. To that end, we developed a feature-based approach for registering visible (VIS) to Near-Infra-Red (NIR) images. Our scheme detects corners by Harris and matches them by a patch-metric learned on top of a network trained using the CIFAR-10 dataset. As our experiments demonstrate, we achieve accurate alignment of cross-spectral images with sub-pixel accuracy. Comparing to contemporary state-of-the-art, our approach is more accurate in the task of VIS to NIR registration.
Labor costs, labor informality and income distribution in Colombia and Chile, 1984-2009

The labor costs regulations such as the minimum wage, the contributions to social security and the payroll taxes has been the subject of intense debates and academic discussion because the distortions and inefficiencies they may cause on the labor markets. Colombia has one of the onerous labor regulations in the region both because of their relatively high minimum wage and the elevated contributions to social security and payroll taxes. Chile, in contrast, has a flatter structure of non wage labor costs with few labor costs different from the wage in charge of the employers. So as to determine the impact of labor costs on informality, size of the workplace and labor earnings we estimate a simultaneous model using three stage least squares for Colombia and Chile. After calculating the reduce form of the model we perform several simulations. We find that the changes in the labor regulations of the last two decades have deeply affected the functioning and outcomes of the labor markets. In the Chilean case such regulation has contributed to hinder informality among the non skilled workers, to incentive the placement of workers in relatively large firms being at the same time neutral in distributional terms. The Colombian labor regulation of the last 20 years has promoted informality among the non skilled, prompted formality among the skilled, confined the non skilled in small firms and deeply contributed to the rise of concentration of labor earnings.
Pediatric stress-related seizures: conceptualization, evaluation, and treatment of nonepileptic seizures in children and adolescents

Purpose of review Nonepileptic seizures are seizure-like symptoms that occur in the absence of epileptogenic brain activity. They can cause severe compromise of daily function and impede development in children, and are frequently misdiagnosed, leading to inadequate or potentially harmful medical treatment. This review will characterize nonepileptic seizures, identify associated factors, propose to a reconceptualization of the phenomenon as stress-related seizures, and suggest guidelines for valid diagnosis and intervention. Recent findings Nonepileptic seizures occur in 10 to 20% of children who present to epilepsy centers, and are more common in females. Early intervention improves prognosis. Factors associated are physical, sexual and other trauma, family dysfunction, and other acute or chronic stressors. They are frequently misdiagnosed and inappropriately treated. Therapy redirecting preoccupation with worries has been effective. Summary Nonepileptic seizures are best conceptualized and referred to as stress-related seizures. Long Term Video-EEG Monitoring (LTM) is the gold standard for diagnosis. Diagnosis and intervention requires collaboration between primary care physicians, neurologists, and medically oriented clinicians providing individual and family psychotherapeutic intervention.
Surveying Clinicians by Web

The versatility, speed, and reduced costs with which web surveys can be conducted with clinicians are often offset by low response rates. Drawing on best practices and general recommendations in the literature, we provide an evidence-based overview of methods for conducting online surveys with providers. We highlight important advantages and disadvantages of conducting provider surveys online and include a review of differences in response rates between web and mail surveys of clinicians. When administered online, design-based features affect rates of survey participation and data quality. We examine features likely to have an impact including sample frames, incentives, contacts (type, timing, and content), mixed-mode approaches, and questionnaire length. We make several recommendations regarding optimal web-based designs, but more empirical research is needed, particularly with regard to identifying which combinations of incentive and contact approaches yield the highest response rates and are the most cost-effective.
The Functional Topography of the Sacroiliac Joint

This work analyzes the motion permitted by the topography of the sacro-iliac joint surface. Gross contour profiles of the joint were recorded in the frontal and sagittal planes. Best-fit axes of rotation for each contour profile were obtained by statistical methods and were compared with those reported in the literature. There was considerable scatter of the locations of the most likely centers, or axes, of rotation in the frontal and sagittal planes. Were motion to occur about these axes, the articular surfaces would first separate by a distance sufficient to allow them to move over one another. Energy would be needed to separate the joint surfaces being pulled together by the surrounding ligaments. Thus, the sacroiliac joint may function as a shock-absorbing structure by virtue of energy absorbed in the ligamentous tissue.
Gefitinib (ZD1839) therapy for advanced bronchioloalveolar lung cancer (BAC): Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) Study S0126.

7014 Background: BAC, a non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) subtype with distinctive clinical, pathologic, and radiographic characteristics, is increasing in incidence, especially among younger non-smoking women. Based on analysis of EGFR pathway expression patterns in BAC specimens from the SWOG Lung repository (Franklin, ASCO 2003) and anecdotal reports of prolonged complete response (CR) of advanced stage BAC to gefitinib, SWOG initiated S0126 to determine potential clinical, radiographic, pathologic, and molecular markers predictive of outcome under the influence of gefitinib therapy. METHODS 138 eligible patients (102 chemo-naive, 36 previously treated) were enrolled. Gefitinib 500 mg PO QD was given until evidence of progression or prohibitive toxicity. RESULTS Median age: 68.0 (range 34.3-88.6); 51% female; PS 0/1: 86%. Among 67 chemo-naive patients with measurable disease, the response rate (RR) by RECIST is 21%, with 6% CR. In 21 previously treated patients with measurable disease, RR is 10% (0% CR). Data on response by computer assisted image analysis will be presented. Median survival is 12 and 10 months for chemo-naïve and previously treated patients, respectively (p=NS). One year survival is ∼50% in each subgroup. TOXICITY acneiform rash and diarrhea as previously described; potential grade 5 toxicity in three cases of patients with increasing pulmonary consolidation, possible interstitial lung disease secondary to treatment versus disease progression and/or infection. Subset analyses show prolonged survival in females (16 vs 7 months, p=.003) and patients with rash (12 vs 5 months, p=.01). For molecular correlative studies, see Franklin: ASCO 04. CONCLUSIONS 1) Gefitinib demonstrates single-agent activity in advanced BAC in both chemo-naïve and previously treated patients; 2) S0126 represents a large clinical and pathologic database of BAC, and as such is a resource for improving understanding of this unique NSCLC subset; 3) Further studies of EGFR inhibitors in BAC are warranted. (CA32102, CA38926) [Table: see text].
IFN‐γ‐Mediated Inhibition of COX‐2 Expression in the Placenta from Term and Preterm Labor Pregnancies

Problem: The inflammatory‐anti‐inflammatory cytokine network is thought to play a critical role in regulated progression and termination of pregnancy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of interferon (IFN)‐γ on the expression of Cyclooxygenase (COX)‐2 and production of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) in the human placenta from term and preterm labor deliveries.
Multiple fault diagnosis in analog circuits using the indirect compensation theorem

A method for the multiple faults diagnosis in linear analog circuits is presented in this paper. The proposed approach is based upon the concept named by the indirect compensation theorem. This theorem is reducing the procedure of fault diagnosis in the analog circuit to the symbolic analysis process. An extension of the indirect compensation theorem for the linear subcircuit is proposed. The indirect compensation provides equivalent replacement of the n-ports subcircuit by n norators and n fixators of voltages and currents. The proposed multiple faults diagnosis techniques can be used for evaluation of any kind of terminal characteristics of the two-port network. For calculation of the circuit determinant expressions, the Generalized Parameter Extraction Method is implemented. The main advantage of the analysis method is that it is cancellation free. It requires neither matrix nor ordinary graph description of the circuit. The process of symbolic circuit analysis is automated by the freeware computer program Cirsym which can be used online. The experimental results are presented to show the efficiency and reliability of the proposed technique.
Emergence of social complexity among coastal hunter-gatherers in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile

The emergence of complex cultural practices in simple hunter-gatherer groups poses interesting questions on what drives social complexity and what causes the emergence and disappearance of cultural innovations. Here we analyze the conditions that underlie the emergence of artificial mummification in the Chinchorro culture in the coastal Atacama Desert in northern Chile and southern Peru. We provide empirical and theoretical evidence that artificial mummification appeared during a period of increased coastal freshwater availability and marine productivity, which caused an increase in human population size and accelerated the emergence of cultural innovations, as predicted by recent models of cultural and technological evolution. Under a scenario of increasing population size and extreme aridity (with little or no decomposition of corpses) a simple demographic model shows that dead individuals may have become a significant part of the landscape, creating the conditions for the manipulation of the dead that led to the emergence of complex mortuary practices.
Botulinum toxin A modulates afferent fibers in neurogenic detrusor overactivity

Background: Although botulinum toxin (BoNT/A) injected into the detrusor muscle improves overactive bladder symptoms in patients with neurogenic detrusor overactivity, how it does so remains unclear. In this study, we investigated whether BoNT/A improves detrusor overactivity by modulating bladder afferent activity.
Simulation and control of biped locomotion-GA optimization

The paper deals with the problem of biped locomotion control in the sagittal plane. A model of the biped with five linked rigid bodies is developed to simulate the system dynamics. This model has four joints of revolution, one at each link. A steady state genetic algorithm is used to find the necessary torques in each joint to obtain a desired trajectory for the biped's trunk center of mass. Each of the individuals in the GA consists of a set of command sequences given to the biped, the fitness being obtained through simulation of the resulting motion and its comparison to the desired trajectory.
Bradykinin protects against brain microvascular endothelial cell death induced by pathophysiological stimuli

The morphological and functional integrity of the microcirculation is compromised in many cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, stroke, and sepsis. Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEi), which are known to favor bradykinin (BK) bioactivity by reducing its metabolism, may have a positive impact on preventing the microvascular structural rarefaction that occurs in these diseases. Our study was designed to test the hypothesis that BK, via B2 receptors (B2R), protects the viability of the microvascular endothelium exposed to the necrotic and apoptotic cell death inducers H2O2 and LPS independently of hemodynamics. Expression (RT‐PCR and radioligand binding) and functional (calcium mobilization with fura‐2AM, and p42/p44MAPK and Akt phosphorylation assays) experiments revealed the presence of functional B2R in pig cerebral microvascular endothelial cells (pCMVEC). In vitro results showed that the cytocidal effects of H2O2 and LPS on pCMVEC were significantly decreased by a BK pretreatment (MTT and crystal violet tests, annexin‐V staining/FACS analysis), which was countered by the B2R antagonist HOE 140. BK treatment coincided with enhanced expression of the cytoprotective proteins COX‐2, Bcl‐2, and Cu/ZnSOD. Ex vivo assays on rat brain explants showed that BK impeded (by ∼40%) H2O2‐induced microvascular degeneration (lectin‐FITC staining). The present study proposes a novel role for BK in microvascular endothelial protection, which may be pertinent to the complex mechanism of action of ACEi explaining their long‐term beneficial effects in maintaining vascular integrity. J. Cell. Physiol. 222:168–176, 2010. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Functional and biochemical characteristics of a murine interleukin 2 receptor‐inducing factor

High density (resting) murine Lyt‐2+ T cells exposed in vitro to the ligand concanavalin A (Con A) remain interleukin 2 (IL2) unresponsive, i.e. do not express functional IL2 receptors, unless reconstituted with accessory cells. This finding provides a bio‐assay to define functional and biochemical characteristics of an IL2 receptor‐inducing factor (RIF). RIF bioactivity as secreted from the macrophage cell line P388‐D1 is associated with a trypsin‐sensitive protein of 44 kDa which does not need to be glycosylated and which binds to and can be eluted from hydroxylapatite and phenyl‐Sepharose. While both RIF and IL1 are produced by accessory cells the lymphokines separate from each other according to functional and biochemical criteria.
The role of granulosa and theca cell interactions in ovarian structure and function

The term paracrine control has recently become very fashionable in the field of endocrinology: however, no study has yet clarified directly the role of paracrine activity in the functional and morphological development of endocrine organs. We developed a culture system in which two types of cells were allowed to attach to opposite sides of a collagen membrane in order to observe cellular communication directly and used it to explore the role of granulosa and theca cell interactions in ovarian structure and function.
Protection between different serotypes of bovine rotavirus in gnotobiotic calves: specificity of serum antibody and coproantibody responses

In a previous study, different U.S. isolates of bovine rotavirus were studied for their serotypes and cross-protective properties (G. N. Woode, N. E. Kelso, T. F. Simpson, S. K. Gaul, L. E. Evans, and L. Babiuk, J. Clin. Microbiol. 18:358-364, 1983). Three viruses belonging to two different serotype groups were used as vaccines in gnotobiotic calves, which were subsequently challenged with B641 or B223, representing the two bovine serotypes. In the present work, the experiments were repeated with more calves and the specificity of their antibody responses was measured and compared with the results of the protection studies. Protection between different serotypes occurred under both homologous and heterologous conditions but was not directly serotype dependent. B223 virus showed both homologous and heterologous protection against B223 and B641 challenge viruses. This was a one-way reaction, as B641 did not induce protection against B223. Neonatal calf diarrhea virus vaccine produced neither homologous (against B641) nor heterologous (against B223) protection. The plaque reduction neutralization titers of serum antibody and coproantibody did not predict a state of protection against the challenge virus. Calves vaccinated with neonatal calf diarrhea virus or B641 developed neutralizing antibodies to their respective heterologous challenge viruses but were not protected. After challenge, the boosted coproantibody plaque reduction neutralization response to the original vaccine virus was greater than that to the challenge virus.
Recognition Dynamics in the Brain under the Free Energy Principle

Abstract We formulate the computational processes of perception in the framework of the principle of least action by postulating the theoretical action as a time integral of the variational free energy in the neurosciences. The free energy principle is accordingly rephrased, on autopoetic grounds, as follows: all viable organisms attempt to minimize their sensory uncertainty about an unpredictable environment over a temporal horizon. By taking the variation of informational action, we derive neural recognition dynamics (RD), which by construction reduces to the Bayesian filtering of external states from noisy sensory inputs. Consequently, we effectively cast the gradient-descent scheme of minimizing the free energy into Hamiltonian mechanics by addressing only the positions and momenta of the organisms' representations of the causal environment. To demonstrate the utility of our theory, we show how the RD may be implemented in a neuronally based biophysical model at a single-cell level and subsequently in a coarse-grained, hierarchical architecture of the brain. We also present numerical solutions to the RD for a model brain and analyze the perceptual trajectories around attractors in neural state space.
Islet Amyloid Polypeptide: A Review of Its Biology and Potential Roles in the Pathogenesis of Diabetes Mellitus

Islet amyloidosis (IA) is the principal lesion in the endocrine pancreas of human beings with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) and in the similar forms of diabetes mellitus in domestic cats and macaques. As such, the delineation of the pathogenesis of this form of amyloidosis may be crucial to the understanding of the development and progression of NIDDM. Islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP) is a recently discovered polypeptide that is the principal constituent of IA in human beings, cats, and macaques. IAPP is produced by the pancreatic β-cells and is co-packaged with insulin in the β-cell secretory vesicles. Immunohistochemical and physiologic evidence supports the notion that the β-cells are heterogenous with respect to their relative contents of insulin and IAPP. Therefore, although IAPP is co-secreted with insulin in response to a variety of well-known insulin secretogogues, the molar ratio of these two proteins that is released from the islets may vary, depending upon the glucose concentration and prevailing metabolic milieu. IAPP is highly conserved among mammalian species and has about 45% homology to another neuropeptide, calcitonin gene-related peptide. IAPP is encoded by a single-copy gene located, in the human being, on chromosome 12. IAPP is expressed as a 93 (murine)–89 (human)-amino acid prepropolypeptide that is processed enzymatically, resulting in the removal of amino- and carboxy-terminal propeptide segments. The 20–29 region of the IAPP molecule is most important in the ability of IAPP to form amyloid fibrils. The role of IAPP and IA in the pathogenesis of human NIDDM and similar forms of diabetes mellitus in cats and macaques may involve several possible mechanisms, including 1) direct physical/chemical damage to β-cells, resulting in necrosis and loss of functional islet tissue, 2) biologic activities of IAPP that oppose those of insulin or abnormally suppress insulin secretion, and 3) interference by IA deposits of passage of insulin out of β-cells and/or entrance of glucose and other secretogogues into the islet. The roles of each of these possible mechanisms have yet to be demonstrated. In addition, the physiological significance of the apparent IAPP deficiency in both insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and NIDDM is currently unknown.
Implementing the AHP multi-criteria decision approach in buying an apartment in Jordan

Abstract Buying an apartment or a house is an important step in everyone’s life worldwide, to reach a settled and stable life. Several criteria are considered when buying an apartment or a house. In Jordan, apartments are customers’ preferred choices because of financial circumstances. It is not easy for a person to decide on the apartment’s specifications such as location, design, building design and finances. This study assists people in selecting an appropriate apartment using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), which is considered an important multi-criteria decision-making approach. Data used in this study were collected in Jordan; however, people worldwide can benefit from this study. The methodology used is twofold. First, feedback was considered from five investors in the real estate sector in Jordan about specifications that customers consider when buying an apartment. Second, several customers were asked about their preferences in a dream apartment using a pairwise comparison questionnaire, which was collected from 305 participants to obtain the priorities of 10 different apartment alternatives found in the Jordanian real estate market. The AHP technique is used to analyse the collected data to assist customers in reaching the best purchase decision.
Psychometric properties of the Hebrew version of the Zarit Caregiver Burden Scale short version

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Hebrew version of the Zarit Burden Interview (H-ZBI) short version. Method: Cross-sectional research methodology was used to measure the caregiver burden felt by informal family caregivers of cognitively intact but physically frail older family members. Data of this study were drawn from two convenience samples that included altogether 456 dyads of family caregivers and care recipients in Israel. Caregivers included adult children, spouses, and other relatives of the care recipients. Results: The H-ZBI short version demonstrated good psychometric properties similar to those of the English version. Internal consistency of Cronbach's alpha was high (α = 0.85) and the measure showed good convergent and exploratory validity due to significant correlations with Caregiving Burden Scale, caregivers’ quality of life (World Health Organization Quality of Life, WHOQOL-Brief), perceived health and economic statuses, as well as with health and functional statuses of care recipients. Factor analysis showed two loading factors. Conclusions: The scale can be a useful screening instrument for professionals working with family caregivers to assess the degree of burden felt by family caregivers who provide long-term care for physically frail older adults. The scale also provides indications of the need for professional intervention when burden is great and negatively affects the caregivers’ quality of life.