Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of Training Loads on Stress Tolerance and Mucosal Immunity in High-Intensity Functional Fitness Athletes

ABSTRACT Purpose: This study aimed to analyze the effects of training load on stress tolerance (ST) and secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA) in male and female high-intensity functional fitness (HIFF) athletes during two different 10 and consecutive weekly training volume loads [higher (week 1) and lower volume (week 2)]. Methods: 14 athletes [7 males: 29.3 (±5.8) years; 86.3 (±8.2) kg and 176.8 (±3.8) cm and 7 females: 32.7 (±4.4) years; 60.0 (±6.7) kg and 162.5 (±5.9) cm] participated. The ST, assessed by Daily Analysis of Life Demand in Athletes questionnaire (DALDA) and Saliva sampling were performed in four time-points (pre (T1) and post (T2) week 1; pre (T3) and post (T4) week 2). Results: Female athletes showed a decrease in ST (symptoms of stress) from 15 T1 to T3 [F(3,36) = 7.184, p˂ 0.001, ηp2 = 0.374], without difference in male athletes (p > .05). There is a significant difference of SIgA concentration [F(3.36) = 3.551; p = . 024; ηp2 = 0.228], with a significant decrease in female athletes group in T2 compared to T1 (p = .013) and T4 (p = .023). In addition, the different training volume loads did not impact mucosal immunity in male athletes (p > .05). Conclusion: The current findings suggest that higher HIFF volume results in decreased ST and SIgA concentration in female 20 athletes and a subsequent decrease in training volume loads contributed to restoring these variables.
Development of a novel machine learning‐based weighted modeling approach to incorporate Salmonella enterica heterogeneity on a genetic scale in a dose–response modeling framework

Estimating microbial dose–response is an important aspect of a food safety risk assessment. In recent years, there has been considerable interest to advance these models with potential incorporation of gene expression data. The aim of this study was to develop a novel machine learning model that considers the weights of expression of Salmonella genes that could be associated with illness, given exposure, in hosts. Here, an elastic net‐based weighted Poisson regression method was proposed to identify Salmonella enterica genes that could be significantly associated with the illness response, irrespective of serovar. The best‐fit elastic net model was obtained by 10‐fold cross‐validation. The best‐fit elastic net model identified 33 gene expression–dose interaction terms that added to the predictability of the model. Of these, nine genes associated with Salmonella metabolism and virulence were found to be significant by the best‐fit Poisson regression model (p < 0.05). This method could improve or redefine dose–response relationships for illness from relative proportions of significant genes from a microbial genetic dataset, which would help in refining endpoint and risk estimations.
Janus kinase inhibitors for hidradenitis suppurativa: expanding the therapeutic toolbox

suppurativa in Denmark]. Ugeskr Laeger 1998; 160:847–9 (in Danish). 6 Ingram JR, Collins H, Atkinson MD, Brooks CJ. The prevalence of hidradenitis suppurativa is shown by the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) Databank to be one per cent of the population of Wales. Br J Dermatol 2020; 183:950–2. 7 Prens LM, Bouwman K, Troelstra LD et al. New insights in hidradenitis suppurativa from a population-based Dutch cohort: prevalence, smoking behaviour, socioeconomic status and comorbidities. Br J Dermatol 2022; 186:814–22.
Implementación computacional de un robot móvil con procesamiento distribuido

Autonomous mobile robots are devices capable of moving and manage themselves in various environments, known or unknown, with little human supervision. This complex and inert electromechanic structure gains life when the software properly relates hardware components to achieve and carry out certain behaviors according to the circumstances. This software has takes information from sensors and knowledge, both historical and inmediate, and then produce proper control effects in accordance to the established behavioral and planification strategy. These tasks are accomplished through adecuate computational treatment, which turns to be very complex. We will describe the development of distributed information processment, regarding hardware and software with the aim of achieving most efficient robot control. In this document we will present the implementation of the computer architecture of an experimental robotic platform developed in LARMMA2 laboratories. We will present a novelty in this kind of distributed architecture, as we will work with elemental processors (microcontrollers) controlling different parts of the robot parallely and concurrently, and communicating asinchronically with each other in order to accomplish high level objectives, through dedicated and point to point communication canals, without using a common bus as the tradicional architectural structure establishes. It is important to indicate that an autonomous mobile robot was planned and built physically, and significant progress was made on the establishment of an important variant for the selected navegation system based on the established mathematical model.
Epitalon protects against post-ovulatory aging-related damage of mouse oocytes in vitro

The developmental potential of oocytes decreases with time after ovulation in vivo or in vitro. Epitalon is a synthetic short peptide made of four amino acids (alanine, glutamic acid, aspartic acid, and glycine), based on a natural peptide called epithalamion extracted from the pineal gland. It is a potent antioxidant, comparable to melatonin, that may confer longevity benefits. The current study aims to test the protective effects of Epitalon on the quality of post-ovulatory aging oocytes. Epitalon at 0.1mM was added to the culture medium, and the quality of oocytes was evaluated at 6h, 12h, and 24h of culture. We found that 0.1mM Epitalon reduced intracellular reactive oxygen species. Epitalon treatment significantly decreased frequency of spindle defects and abnormal distribution of cortical granules during aging for 12h and 24h, while increased mitochondrial membrane potential and DNA copy number of mitochondria, thus decreasing apoptosis of oocytes by 24h of in vitro aging. Our results suggest that Epitalon can delay the aging process of oocytes in vitro via modulating mitochondrial activity and ROS levels.
Low-dose IL-2 therapy limits the reduction in absolute numbers of peripheral lymphocytes in systemic lupus erythematosus patients with infection

Abstract Background Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a heterogeneous autoimmune disorder characterized by disturbed cellular and humoral immune responses. Dysregulations of immune system and immunosuppressive medications predispose SLE patients to infection. This study aims to investigate the alterations and absolute concentrations of lymphocyte subpopulations in SLE patients with different infection and their responses of low-dose IL-2 therapy. Methods A total of 333 patients with SLE without recent infection, 162 patients suffering infection, and age and sex-matched 132 healthy controls (HCs) were recruited. Of them, 54 SLE patients (including 41 non-infected group and 13 infected group) received a 5-day course of low-dose IL-2 administration at a dose of 0.5 million IU per day. Lymphocyte subpopulations were analyzed by flow cytometry. Results Patients with SLE had lower levels of lymphocyte subpopulations in peripheral blood such as T, B, NK, CD4 + T, CD8+ T, Th1, Th2, Th17, and Treg cells, and the reduction in these cells was more obvious in patients with infection (p <.05 to p <.01). Low-dose IL-2 effectively expanded T (p <.001), B (p <.001), CD4 + T (p <.01), CD8 + T (p <.001), Th1 (p <.01), Th17 (p <.1), and Treg cells (p <.01) of SLE patients, these cells were comparable to that of HCs after the IL-2 treatment. Conclusions Patients with SLE had insufficiency of circulating lymphocyte subsets. This phenomenon was more obverse in those accompanying infection, suggesting the low concentration of lymphocytes may be used as indicators of high infection risk in SLE patients. Low-dose IL-2 induced expansion of Treg cells and NK cells, which may contribute to the restoration of immune homeostasis in SLE patients.
Transarterial Radioembolization as an Effective Local Treatment Modality for Liver Metastasis of Thyroid Cancer

Transarterial radioembolization (TARE) has recently emerged as a new therapeutic option for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. Microspheres impregnated with the radioisotope yttri-um-90 ( 90 Y) are selectively delivered through the hepatic artery, which feeds the tumor. 90 Y, a β-emitting isotope with a short half-life (2.67 days), exerts powerful anti-cancer effects, with the emitted β particles having mean and maximum tissue pene tration depths of 2.5 and 10 mm, respectively [1]. Here, we re-port a patient who presented with poorly differentiated thyroid cancer (PDCA) with lung, liver, and bone metastases and was successfully treated with TARE for liver metastases. A 55-year-old man was referred for a huge neck mass and was suspected of having metastatic thyroid cancer. The primary thyroid mass in the right lobe invaded the trachea, and very large ipsilateral metastatic lymph nodes encased the right common carotid artery. A bone-destructive mass in the anterior mediastinum extended to the upper mediastinum and compressed
Genome-based, phenotypic and chemotaxonomic classification of Faecalibacterium strains: proposal of three novel species Faecalibacterium duncaniae sp. nov., Faecalibacterium hattorii sp. nov. and Faecalibacterium gallinarum sp. nov.

Faecalibacterium prausnitzii is one of the most important butyrate-producing bacteria in the human gut. Previous studies have suggested the presence of several phylogenetic groups, with differences at the species level, in the species, and a taxonomic re-evaluation is thus essential for further understanding of ecology of the important human symbiont. Here we examine the phenotypic, physiological, chemotaxonomic and phylogenomic characteristics of six F. prausnitzii strains (BCRC 81047T=ATCC 27768T, A2-165T=JCM 31915T, APC918/95b=JCM 39207, APC942/30-2=JCM 39208, APC924/119=JCM 39209 and APC922/41-1T=JCM 39210T) deposited in public culture collections with two reference strains of Faecalibacterium butyricigenerans JCM 39212T and Faecalibacterium longum JCM 39211T. Faecalibacterium sp. JCM 17207T isolated from caecum of broiler chicken was also included. Three strains of F. prausnitzii (BCRC 81047T, JCM 39207 and JCM 39209) shared more than 96.6 % average nucleotide identity (ANI) and 69.6 % digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH) values, indicating that the three strains are members of the same species. On the other hand, the remaining three strains of F. prausnitzii (JCM 31915T, JCM 39208 and JCM 39210T) were clearly separated from the above three strains based on the ANI and dDDH values. Rather, JCM 39208 showed ANI and dDDH values over the cut-off values of species discrimination (>70 % dDDH and >95-96 % ANI) with F. longum JCM 39211T, whereas JCM 31915T, JCM 39210T and JCM 17207T did not share dDDH and ANI values over the currently accepted cut-off values with any of the tested strains, including among them. Furthermore, the cellular fatty acid patterns of these strains were slightly different from other F. prausnitzii strains. Based on the collected data, F. prausnitzii JCM 31915T, F. prausnitzii JCM 39210T and Faecalibacterium sp. JCM 17207T represent three novel species of the genus Faecalibacterium, for which the names Faecalibacterium duncaniae sp. nov. (type strain JCM 31915T=DSM 17677T=A2-165T), Faecalibacterium hattorii sp. nov. (type strain JCM 39210T=DSM 107841T=APC922/41-1T) and Faecalibacterium gallinarum sp. nov. (type strain JCM 17207T=DSM 23680T=ic1379T) are proposed.
Exploring the association of dietary patterns with the risk of hypertension using principal balances analysis and principal component analysis

Abstract Objective: In the field of nutritional epidemiology, principal component analysis (PCA) has been used extensively in identifying dietary patterns. Recently, compositional data analysis (CoDA) has emerged as an alternative approach for obtaining dietary patterns. We aimed to directly compare and evaluate the ability of PCA and principal balances analysis (PBA), a data-driven method in CoDA, in identifying dietary patterns and their associations with the risk of hypertension. Design: Cohort study. A 24-h dietary recall questionnaire was used to collect dietary data. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to analyse the association between dietary patterns and hypertension. Setting: 2004 and 2009 China Health and Nutrition Survey. Participants: A total of 3892 study participants aged 18–60 years were included as the subjects. Results: PCA and PBA identified five patterns each. PCA patterns comprised a linear combination of all food groups, whereas PBA patterns included several food groups with zero loadings. The coarse cereals pattern identified by PBA was inversely associated with hypertension risk (highest quintile: OR = 0·74 (95 % CI 0·57, 0·95); P for trend = 0·037). None of the five PCA patterns was associated with hypertension. Compared with the PCA patterns, the PBA patterns were clearly interpretable and accounted for a higher percentage of variance in food intake. Conclusions: Findings showed that PBA might be an appropriate and promising approach in dietary pattern analysis. Higher adherence to the coarse cereals dietary pattern was associated with a lower risk of hypertension. Nevertheless, the advantages of PBA over PCA should be confirmed in future studies.
Aberrant dynamic structure–function relationship of rich‐club organization in treatment‐naïve newly diagnosed juvenile myoclonic epilepsy

Neuroimaging studies have shown that juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) is characterized by impaired brain networks. However, few studies have investigated the potential disruptions in rich‐club organization—a core feature of the brain networks. Moreover, it is unclear how structure–function relationships dynamically change over time in JME. Here, we quantify the anatomical rich‐club organization and dynamic structural and functional connectivity (SC–FC) coupling in 47 treatment‐naïve newly diagnosed patients with JME and 40 matched healthy controls. Dynamic functional network efficiency and its association with SC–FC coupling were also calculated to examine the supporting of structure–function relationship to brain information transfer. The results showed that the anatomical rich‐club organization was disrupted in the patient group, along with decreased connectivity strength among rich‐club hub nodes. Furthermore, reduced SC–FC coupling in rich‐club organization of the patients was found in two functionally independent dynamic states, that is the functional segregation state (State 1) and the strong somatomotor‐cognitive control interaction state (State 5); and the latter was significantly associated with disease severity. In addition, the relationships between SC–FC coupling of hub nodes connections and functional network efficiency in State 1 were found to be absent in patients. The aberrant dynamic SC–FC coupling of rich‐club organization suggests a selective influence of densely interconnected network core in patients with JME at the early phase of the disease, offering new insights and potential biomarkers into the underlying neurodevelopmental basis of behavioral and cognitive impairments observed in JME.
Collaborative execution of exploration and tracking using move value estimation for robot teams (mvert)

This work presents Move Value Estimation for Robot Teams (MVERT), an architecture specifically designed for selecting low-level actions for multi-agent teams. The design goal for MVERT is to produce reasonable performance that takes advantage of a heterogeneous team while maintaining computational efficiency. MVERT is fully distributed—each agent selects actions based on its knowledge and knowledge provided it by teammates. Each robot approximates the expected next-step teammate contributions and, given these predictions, each robot can select its action to maximize the team's progress. MVERT represents progress with mathematical value functions that map state and robot task performance models to a numerical value representing mission utility. Many action selection approaches (optimal trajectory planning, for example) in large state-spaces may be computationally prohibitive, particularly for online mission replanning. However, taking advantage of a team's multi-agent nature to provide efficiency requires consideration of teammate contributions. Thus, in selecting an action with MVERT, each robot approximates the next-step contributions of teammates by applying their sensing models, task capabilities, and current poses in the value functions. The robot then evaluates its candidate actions by applying the value functions and its own sensor models. The action resulting in the overall highest-valued pose is selected and executed. Performance in each task is described by an individual value function. State includes current locations of teammates and objects in the environment. Performance models include task capabilities and sensor models. Value functions may be any mathematical representation of task performance. To determine an actions' overall value, independent task values are combined by weighted average. Weighting each task's value allows prioritizing tasks in accordance with desired performance. As progress reduces potential for improving value on some tasks, the weights automatically shift focus to the other tasks. Weights can be dynamically adapted as mission needs change. MVERT has been applied in simulation and on physical robots for mapping, dynamic target tracking, and complex multi-task missions (planetary exploration). MVERT improves team mission performance time and completeness compared to individual action selection and greatly improves computation time compared to a one-step optimal. MVERT produces contextually appropriate actions for successfully performing complex multi-task, multi-robot missions.
Effect of a novel compressible artificial disk on biomechanical performance of cervical spine: A finite element study

Spinal interbody fusion is the most common surgery for treatment of disk degeneration, but the increased stress on adjacent level has been noted. Disk replacement has become an alternative strategy for dealing with problem of disk degeneration. Compressibility of an intact intervertebral disk is contributive to protect spinal structure, but certain mechanism has seldom been preserved in most of the commercial products of ball-and-socket-styled artificial disks. A novel compressible artificial disk design for cervical spine has been developed and compared the biomechanical behaviors with intact and incompressible models by finite element method. Physiological loadings have been applied for evaluating the biomechanical performances in different implant designs. Compressible mechanism represented a similar kinematic behavior to intact cervical spine model. Greater mobility and larger facet joint contact force were observed in incompressible disk model. Biomechanical performances of cervical artificial disk with compressible mechanism may be better reproduced to those of intact cervical spine under physiological loadings. With adequate assigned structural stiffness of the compressible mechanism in the artificial disk, the concept is worth considering for further cervical artificial disk designs.
RF‐DC converter for HF RFID sensing applications powered by a near‐field loop antenna

In this paper, an RF‐DC converter operating at 13.56 MHz (HF radio frequency identification (RFID) frequency band) is presented. Its architecture provides RF to load isolation, reducing the losses due to the reverse saturation current and improving the sensitivity. Fed by a loop antenna, the RF‐DC converter is made by a Dickson's RF‐DC rectifier and an additional Pelliconi's charge pump driven by a fully integrated 50 kHz ring oscillator realized using an application‐specific integrated circuit (ASIC). The input RF signal from the reader is converted to DC supply voltage and stored on a 1 μF capacitor. Mathematical model of the converter is developed and verified through measurements. Silicon prototypes of the ASIC have been realized in 350 nm complementary metal‐oxide semiconductor technology. Measurements have been done on 10 different samples showing an output voltage in the range of 0.5 V–3.11 V in correspondence of an RF input signal power in the range of −19 dBm–0 dBm. These output voltage levels are suitable to power HF RFID sensing platforms and sensor nodes of body sensor networks.
Can Total Quality Management Exist in Cyber Security: Is It Present? Are We Safe?

This chapter examines the threats in cyber security. It identifies the risk of cyber attacks and argues the inability to defend against those threats in a cyber security program. The introduction provides a brief history of cyber security and how the information highway arrived at this point in cyber security. The first analysis examines the threats in cyber security in personal, private, and government computer systems. The second analysis examines the approaches to attacking those systems. The third analysis examines threats against private companies and government agencies. The final analysis examines major threats to cyber security.
Realizing Large Shape Deformations of a Flying Continuum Robot With a Passive Rotating Nozzle Unit That Enlarges Jet Directions in Three-Dimensional Space

Flexible continuum robots have considerable potential for use in exploring intricate spaces, and their ability to make large body shape deformations can increase the inspection area. We previously proposed a jet-actuated flying continuum robot for extinguishing fires. The main challenge in implementing large shape deformations is accommodating the twisting of the body that results from the deformation. To address this problem, we proposed a two-dimensional passive rotating nozzle unit that can expand the directionality of net force against torsion; however, it has not yet been tested on a flying robot. In this study, we achieved the large shape deformations of a jet-actuated flying continuum robot using an improved passive rotating nozzle unit that can handle three-dimensional (3D) force. First, we developed a model of the improved nozzle unit and confirmed that the unit can increase the net force direction. Herein, the design strategy for the rotary damper to handle the instability that arises from motor limitations is discussed. The stabilized flight controller was applied to a continuum robot with the nozzle unit. Simulation results showed that the 2 m robot could perform large head bends (from 0° to 135°). Although the previous fixed nozzle unit twisted by approximately 40°, which made the extra movable range of the nozzles effectively zero, the proposed nozzle unit maintained the movable range to avoid twisting. We experimentally confirmed that the nozzle unit can expand the direction of the 3D net force, and that a large shape bending of approximately ±90° can be achieved using a 1.6 m flying robot.