Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Experience of adults with upper-limb difference and their views on sensory feedback for prostheses: a mixed methods study

Background Upper-limb prostheses are regularly abandoned, in part due to the mismatch between user needs and prostheses performance. Sensory feedback is among several technological advances that have been proposed to reduce device abandonment rates. While it has already been introduced in some high-end commercial prostheses, limited data is available about user expectations in relation to sensory feedback. The aim of this study is thus to use a mixed methods approach to provide a detailed insight of users’ perceptions and expectations of sensory feedback technology, to ensure the addition of sensory feedback is as acceptable, engaging and ultimately as useful as possible for users and, in turn, reduce the reliance on compensatory movements that lead to overuse syndrome. Methods The study involved an online survey (N = 37) and video call interviews (N = 15) where adults with upper-limb differences were asked about their experience with limb difference and prosthesis use (if applicable) and their expectations about sensory feedback to prostheses. The survey data were analysed quantitatively and descriptively to establish the range of sensory feedback needs and their variations across the different demographics. Reflexive thematic analysis was performed on the interview data, and data triangulation was used to understand key behavioural issues to generate actionable guiding principles for the development of sensory feedback systems. Results The survey provided a list of practical examples and suggestions that did not vary with the different causes of limb difference or prosthesis use. The interviews showed that although sensory feedback is a desired feature, it must prove to have more benefits than drawbacks. The key benefit mentioned by participants was increasing trust, which requires a highly reliable system that provides input from several areas of the hand rather than just the fingertips. The feedback system should also complement existing implicit feedback sources without causing confusion or discomfort. Further, the effect sensory feedback has on the users’ psychological wellbeing was highlighted as an important consideration that varies between individuals and should therefore be discussed. The results obtained were used to develop guiding principles for the design and implementation of sensory feedback systems. Conclusions This study provides a mixed-methods research on the sensory feedback needs of adults with upper-limb differences, enabling a deeper understanding of their expectations and worries. Guiding principles were developed based on the results of a survey and interviews to inform the development and assessment of sensory feedback for upper-limb prostheses.
Determination of 15N/14N of Ammonium, Nitrite, Nitrate, Hydroxylamine, and Hydrazine Using Colorimetric Reagents and Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization–Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS)

15N/14N analysis for aqueous N species is a powerful tool for obtaining insights into the global N cycle, but the procedure is cumbersome and laborious. The combined use of colorimetric reagents and MALDI-TOF MS, designated color MALDI-TOF MS, enabled us to determine the 15N atom% of common aqueous N species without laborious sample preparation and chromatographic separation steps; for instance, the 15N atom% of NO2− can be determined from >1,000 liquid samples daily at <$1 (U.S.) per 384 samples for routine analysis. ABSTRACT In the nitrogen (N) cycle, nitrogenous compounds are chemically and biologically converted to various aqueous and gaseous N species. The 15N-labeling approach is a powerful culture-dependent technique to obtain insights into the complex nitrogen transformation reactions that occur in cultures. In the 15N-labeling approach, the fates of supplemented 15N- and/or unlabeled gaseous and aqueous compounds are tracked by mass spectrometry (MS) analysis, whereas MS analysis of aqueous N species requires laborious sample preparation steps and is performed using isotope-ratio mass spectrometry, which requires an expensive mass spectrometer. We developed a simple and high-throughput MS method for determining the 15N atoms percent of NH4+, NO2−, NO3−, NH2OH, and N2H4, where liquid samples (<0.5 mL) were mixed with colorimetric reagents (naphthylethylenediamine for NO2−, indophenol for NH4+, and p-aminobenzaldehyde for N2H4), and the mass spectra of the formed N complex dyes were obtained by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization–time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) MS. NH2OH and NO3− were chemically converted to NO2− by iodine oxidation and copper/hydrazine reduction reaction, respectively, prior to the above colorimetric reaction. The intensity of the isotope peak (M + 1 or M + 2) increased when the N complex dye was formed by coupling with a 15N-labeled compound, and a linear relationship was found between the determined 15N/14N peak ratio and 15N atom% for the tested N species. The developed method was applied to bacterial cultures to examine their N-transformation reactions, enabling us to observe the occurrence of NO2− oxidation and NO3− reduction in a hypoxic Nitrobacter winogradskyi culture. IMPORTANCE 15N/14N analysis for aqueous N species is a powerful tool for obtaining insights into the global N cycle, but the procedure is cumbersome and laborious. The combined use of colorimetric reagents and MALDI-TOF MS, designated color MALDI-TOF MS, enabled us to determine the 15N atom% of common aqueous N species without laborious sample preparation and chromatographic separation steps; for instance, the 15N atom% of NO2− can be determined from >1,000 liquid samples daily at <$1 (U.S.) per 384 samples for routine analysis. This convenient MS method is a powerful tool that will advance our ability to explore the N-transformation reactions that occur in various environments and biological samples.
Design and Testing of Wireless Motion Gauges for Two Collaborative Robot Arms

Abstract Most existing robot performance evaluation methods focus on single robotic arms performing independent motion tasks. In this paper, a motion gauge is proposed to evaluate the symmetrical coordinated-motion performance between two robotic arms. For this evaluation, the proposed device monitors the relative distance between the two robotic arms in real-time, which is used to evaluate the coordinated-motion errors with respect to accuracy, and repeatability between the two arms. The proposed metrology device is composed of two linear displacement sensors sliding on a linear rail, two ball-and-socket magnetic couplers for mounting to robotic arms, and a wireless communication module for data transmission. For validation, the proposed system monitored the two robotic arms programmed to simulate symmetrical coordinated motions.
UWB-MIMO DGS loaded patch antenna with low profile for millimeter-wave applications

Abstract A multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna with a defective ground surface (DGS) is proposed for next-generation millimeter-wave communication. The designed antenna consists of a pair of mushroom shape radiating units with two square ring-loaded defected common ground plane. The antenna is printed on duroid-5880 high-frequency laminates (loss tangent 0.0009, relative permittivity 2.2). Significant bandwidth ranges from 31.6 GHz to 48.8 GHz (impedance bandwidth of 43.17%) is obtained during the investigation of the antenna. The introduced MIMO antenna exhibits a low mutual coupling (|S21|, |S12| < −20) dB with the incorporation of DGS. The antenna performance parameters defined as return loss, radiation pattern, gain, the radiation efficiency is examined. Many diversity parameters are also discussed in terms of mutual coupling, envelop correlation coefficient (ECC < 0.002), diversity gain (DG > 9.995), and channel capacity loss (CCL < 0.3 bits/sec/Hz) across the ultra-wide band (UWB) frequencies. Simulated results are verified by the measured results, and good agreement is observed between them. These distinguishable attributes with the simple configuration model the propound MIMO antenna suitable for millimeter-wave applications.
Nucleotide augmentation for machine learning-guided protein engineering

Machine learning-guided protein engineering is a rapidly advancing field. Despite major experimental and computational advances however, collecting protein genotype (sequence) and phenotype (function) data remains time and resource intensive. As a result, the quality and quantity of training data is often a limiting factor in developing machine learning models. Data augmentation techniques have been successfully applied to the fields of computer vision and natural language processing, however, there is a lack of such augmentation techniques for biological sequence data. Towards this end we develop nucleotide augmentation (NTA), which leverages natural nucleotide codon degeneracy to augment protein sequence data in a biologically meaningful way. As a proof of concept for protein engineering, we apply NTA to train machine learning models with benchmark data sets of protein genotype and phenotype, revealing performance gains on par and surpassing benchmarks models, even when only using a fraction of the training data. NTA also enables substantial improvements for classification tasks under heavy class imbalance. Availability and implementation The code to use NTA and to reproduce the analyses in this study is publicly available at https://github.com/minotm/NTA
POPEYE directly regulates bHLH Ib genes and its own expression

Iron (Fe) is an essential trace element for plants. When suffering from Fe deficiency, plants modulate the expression of Fe deficiency responsive genes. POPEYE (PYE) is a key bHLH transcription factor involved in Fe homeostasis. However, the molecular mechanism of PYE regulating the Fe deficiency response remains elusive. We found that the over-expression of PYE attenuates the expression of Fe deficiency responsive genes. PYE directly represses the transcription of bHLH Ib genes (bHLH38, bHLH39, bHLH100, and bHLH101) by associating with their promoters. Although PYE contains an Ethylene response factor-associated Amphiphilic Repression (EAR) motif, it does not interact with the transcriptional corepressors TOPLESS/TOPLESS-RELATED (TPL/TPRs). Subcellular localization analysis indicated that PYE localizes in both the cytoplasm and nucleus. PYE contains a Nuclear Export Signal (NES) which is required for the cytoplasmic localization of PYE. The mutation of NES amplifies the repression function of PYE, resulting in downregulation of Fe deficiency responsive genes. Co-expression assays indicated that bHLH IVc members (bHLH104, bHLH105/ILR3, and bHLH115) facilitate the nuclear accumulation of PYE. Conversely, PYE indirectly represses transcription activation ability of bHLH IVc. Additionally, PYE directly negatively regulates its own transcription. This study provides insights into the complicated Fe deficiency response signaling pathway and enhances the understanding of PYE functions. Short summary PYE is a negative regulator of Fe homeostasis; however, it was still unclear how PYE integrates the Fe deficiency response signaling. Our study shows that conditional nuclear localization of PYE is crucial for Fe homeostasis. PYE not only negatively regulates FIT-dependent Fe uptake genes by directly targeting bHLH Ib genes, but also negatively regulates its own expression.
ScrapPaper: A web scrapping method to extract journal information from PubMed and Google Scholar search result using Python

This paper introduces a program called ScrapPaper, a simple Python script that use web-scraping method to extract journal information from PubMed and Google Scholar search results page. Currently the motivation behind the program development is trying to solve a problem to obtain scientific literatures information especially the title and link and save as a list for further use such as in meta-analysis and comparative study of literatures. ScrapPaper advantage that it is simple to use with no prior programming experience and get the results ready within minutes (depending on the total search result). Web-scrapping is a very powerful method to extract information from the web and ScrapPaper employ several server friendly approaches accessing both PubMed and Google Scholar site.
Putting life history theory to the test - the estimation of reproductive values from field data

Quantifying fitness is important to understand adaptive evolution. Reproductive values are useful for making fitness comparisons involving different categories of individuals, like males and females. By definition, the reproductive value of a category is the expected per capita contribution of the members of that category to the gene pool of future generations. Life history theory reveals how reproductive values can be determined via the estimation of life-history parameters, but this requires intricate algebraic calculations. Recently, a more intuitive, pedigree-based method has become popular, which estimates the genetic contributions of individuals to future generations by tracking their descendants down the pedigree. Here we compare both methods. We implement various life-history scenarios (for which the “true” reproductive values can be calculated) in individual-based simulations, use the simulation data to estimate reproductive values with both methods, and compare the results with the true target values. We show that the pedigree-based estimation of reproductive values is either systematically biased (and hence inaccurate), or very imprecise. This holds even for simple life histories and under idealized conditions. In contrast, the traditional algebraic method estimates reproductive values with high accuracy and precision. Lay Summary To study evolution in empirical systems it is important to accurately and precisely measure fitness. Here, using simulations, we compare two methods for estimating fitness and test their accuracy and precision. One estimates life-history parameters and calculates a fitness proxy using complex algebra. The other method estimates genetic contribution to future generations by tracking descendants down the pedigree. We conclude that the pedigree method is unreliable, while the algebraic method is accurate and precise.
“Drinkers Like Me”: A Thematic Analysis of Comments Responding to an Online Article About Moderating Alcohol Consumption

Background There has been media coverage surrounding the dangers of heavy drinking and benefits of moderation, with TV and radio presenter, Adrian Chiles, documenting his experience of moderating alcohol consumption in an online article for the Guardian. By analysing the comments in response to Chiles’ article, this study aimed to explore (i) posters’ (someone who has posted a comment in response to the article) attitudes or beliefs toward moderating alcohol and (ii) posters’ experiences of moderating or abstaining from alcohol. Method A secondary qualitative analysis of online comments in response to an article about moderating alcohol consumption. Main outcome measures: Comments (n = 784) in response to a United Kingdom online news article about moderating alcohol consumption were extracted and inductive thematic analysis was used. Results For aim one, two themes were developed; “general attitudes toward drinking” and “general attitudes toward reducing consumption”. These themes reflect negative perceptions of alcohol and issues around changing attitudes. For aim two, three themes were developed: “moderation vs. abstention”, “reflection on past drinking behaviours”, and “current drinking behaviours”. These themes represent posters’ experiences and implications changing their drinking habits. Conclusion Our analysis provides a novel insight into perceptions and experiences of moderating or abstaining from alcohol. Alcohol is embedded within United Kingdom culture, creating difficulties for those who choose to moderate or abstain from alcohol. Our analysis highlights the need for public health to focus on shifting the current drinking culture, through clearer drinking guidelines and a wider availability of alcohol-free alternatives.
The comparison of one-cycle control applied in different topologies of active power filter

Active power filter with one-cycle control reduces cost and simplifies circuit structure, because it eliminates the need of detecting AC line voltage, load current, and also no need for multipliers. In recent years, one-cycle control applied to single-phase and three-phase APF has been attracted much attention, and many improved control methods based on the traditional control methods can enhance APF compensation performance better. In this paper, various topologies and control strategies of one-cycle control applied to single-phase and three-phase APF are introduced, and the advantages and disadvantages as well as application occasion are compared.
Current Status of Probiotics as Supplements in the Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Diseases

Probiotics play an important role against infectious pathogens via their effects on the epithelium, the production of antimicrobial compounds, and competitive exclusion. Administration of probiotic supplements may reduce the risk of infectious diseases and the use of antibiotics, hence contributing to a reduction or a delay of the development of multi-resistant bacteria. Infection is a constant concern for people who experience recurrent infections, and antibiotic treatment usually fails due to antibiotic resistance. Therefore, an infection can lead to severe illness and hospitalization if left untreated. A growing number of studies have demonstrated promising results for a variety of probiotic strains used to prevent or treat acute and recurrent infectious diseases, but additional standardized clinical research is needed.
Gaze Strategies in Driving–An Ecological Approach

Human performance in natural environments is deeply impressive, and still much beyond current AI. Experimental techniques, such as eye tracking, may be useful to understand the cognitive basis of this performance, and “the human advantage. ” Driving is domain where these techniques may deployed, in tasks ranging from rigorously controlled laboratory settings through high-fidelity simulations to naturalistic experiments in the wild. This research has revealed robust patterns that can be reliably identified and replicated in the field and reproduced in the lab. The purpose of this review is to cover the basics of what is known about these gaze behaviors, and some of their implications for understanding visually guided steering. The phenomena reviewed will be of interest to those working on any domain where visual guidance and control with similar task demands is involved (e.g., many sports). The paper is intended to be accessible to the non-specialist, without oversimplifying the complexity of real-world visual behavior. The literature reviewed will provide an information base useful for researchers working on oculomotor behaviors and physiology in the lab who wish to extend their research into more naturalistic locomotor tasks, or researchers in more applied fields (sports, transportation) who wish to bring aspects of the real-world ecology under experimental scrutiny. Part of a Research Topic on Gaze Strategies in Closed Self-paced tasks, this aspect of the driving task is discussed. It is in particular emphasized why it is important to carefully separate the visual strategies driving (quite closed and self-paced) from visual behaviors relevant to other forms of driver behavior (an open-ended menagerie of behaviors). There is always a balance to strike between ecological complexity and experimental control. One way to reconcile these demands is to look for natural, real-world tasks and behavior that are rich enough to be interesting yet sufficiently constrained and well-understood to be replicated in simulators and the lab. This ecological approach to driving as a model behavior and the way the connection between “lab” and “real world” can be spanned in this research is of interest to anyone keen to develop more ecologically representative designs for studying human gaze behavior.
Phenotypic Spectrum and Prognosis of Epilepsy Patients With GABRG2 Variants

Objective This study aimed to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the genetic and phenotypic aspects of GABRG2-related epilepsy and its prognosis and to explore the potential prospects for personalized medicine. Methods Through a multicenter collaboration in China, we analyzed the genotype-phenotype correlation and antiseizure medication (ASM) of patients with GABRG2-related epilepsy. The three-dimensional protein structure of the GABRG2 variant was modeled to predict the effect of GABRG2 missense variants using PyMOL 2.3 software. Results In 35 patients with GABRG2 variants, 22 variants were de novo, and 18 variants were novel. The seizure onset age was ranged from 2 days after birth to 34 months (median age: 9 months). The seizure onset age was less than 1 year old in 22 patients (22/35, 62.9%). Seizure types included focal seizures (68.6%), generalized tonic-clonic seizures (60%), myoclonic seizures (14.3%), and absence seizures (11.4%). Other clinical features included fever-sensitive seizures (91.4%), cluster seizures (57.1%), and developmental delay (45.7%). Neuroimaging was abnormal in 2 patients, including dysplasia of the frontotemporal cortex and delayed myelination of white matter. Twelve patients were diagnosed with febrile seizures plus, eleven with epilepsy and developmental delay, two with Dravet syndrome, two with developmental and epileptic encephalopathy, two with focal epilepsy, two with febrile seizures, and four with unclassified epilepsy. The proportions of patients with missense variants in the extracellular region and the transmembrane region exhibiting developmental delay were 40% and 63.2%, respectively. The last follow-up age ranged from 11 months to 17 years. Seizures were controlled in 71.4% of patients, and 92% of their seizures were controlled by valproate and/or levetiracetam. Conclusion The clinical features of GABRG2-related epilepsy included seizure onset, usually in infancy, and seizures were fever-sensitive. More than half of the patients had cluster seizures. Phenotypes of GABRG2-related epilepsy were ranged from mild febrile seizures to severe epileptic encephalopathies. Most patients with GABRG2 variants who experienced seizures had a good prognosis. Valproate and levetiracetam were effective treatments for most patients.
Complete Response to Combined Chemotherapy and Anti-PD-1 Therapy for Recurrent Gallbladder Carcinosarcoma: A Case Report and Literature Review

Background Gallbladder carcinosarcoma (GBCS) is a rare and aggressive malignancy with extremely poor prognosis. Although surgery is regarded as the primary therapy for GBCS, the effective therapeutic strategies for unresected lesions have been poorly defined. Case Presentation We presented a case of a 74-year-old male who underwent radical resection of gallbladder carcinoma at a local hospital. Seven months later, he was admitted to our hospital due to right upper abdominal discomfort. Postoperative radiological examinations showed multiple hepatic lesions, hilar lymph node metastasis, and main portal vein tumor thrombus. The pathological consultation results confirmed GBCS and immunohistochemical examinations revealed PD-L1 expression in 20% of tumor cells. Then, the patient received chemotherapy (Gemcitabine plus Oxaliplatin, GEMOX) in combination with anti-PD-1 therapy. After nine courses of the combination therapy, complete regression of the tumors was achieved with no evidence of relapse till now. Conclusions We, for the first time, reported a patient with recurrent GBCS who benefited from the combined chemotherapy and immunotherapy, providing a potential effective management strategy for the refractory malignant tumor.