ahmedabdelwahed/Medical_papers_title_and_abstract_NLP_dataset huggingface dataset:
Retinal Microaneurysm Detection Through Local Rotating Cross-Section Profile Analysis

A method for the automatic detection of microaneurysms (MAs) in color retinal images is proposed in this paper. The recognition of MAs is an essential step in the diagnosis and grading of diabetic retinopathy. The proposed method realizes MA detection through the analysis of directional cross-section profiles centered on the local maximum pixels of the preprocessed image. Peak detection is applied on each profile, and a set of attributes regarding the size, height, and shape of the peak are calculated subsequently. The statistical measures of these attribute values as the orientation of the cross-section changes constitute the feature set that is used in a naive Bayes classification to exclude spurious candidates. We give a formula for the final score of the remaining candidates, which can be thresholded further for a binary output. The proposed method has been tested in the Retinopathy Online Challenge, where it proved to be competitive with the state-of-the-art approaches. We also present the experimental results for a private image set using the same classifier setup.
A Novel Single-Step Approach for Self-Coherent Tomography Using Semidefinite Relaxation

This letter presents a novel single-step approach for self-coherent tomography using semidefinite relaxation. Phase retrieval for scattered fields is not required. The general solver can be used to solve the corresponding convex optimization problem and image the target. Both man-made and experimental data is exploited to demonstrate the performance of the proposed approach. The imaging results illustrate the benefit of bringing the state-of-the-art mathematics to inverse scattering or diffraction tomography.
Sound Event Detection Using Multiple Optimized Kernels

Sound event detection (SED) has been widely applied in real world applications. Convolutional recurrent neural network based SED approaches have achieved state-of-the-art performance. However, the convolution process is typically performed by using a fixed sized kernel, which adversely affects the detection accuracy especially when the acoustic features of different event classes are characterized by high variations. To deal with this, this article proposes a sound event detection technique using a convolutional recurrent neural network framework with multiple convolutional kernels of different sizes. The top performing kernels are selected from a kernel pool based on the unsupervised clustering errors and the accuracies of the temporarily trained models. Afterwards, the selected kernels are fed to multiple convolution layers to deal with the acoustic feature variations. Experimental results on different subsets of AudioSet, namely the DCASE Challenge 2017 Task 4 and DCASE Challenge 2018 Task 4, demonstrate the performance of the proposed approach compared to state-of-the-art systems.
A 210 GHz dual-gate FET mixer MMIC with > 2 dB conversion gain, high LO-to-RF isolation, and low LO-drive requirements

We demonstrate the first active mixer monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) with Positive conversion gain beyond 200 GHz. The presented dual-gate topology is realized in a 100 nm gate length metamorphic high electron mobility transistor technology. Without any pre- or post-amplification, the down-conversion mixer achieves >2 dB conversion gain and >16 dB local oscillation to radio frequency (LO-to-RF) isolation at 210 GHz, outperforming state-of-the-art resistive MMIC mixers. The conversion gain becomes positive for LO power levels larger than 0 dBm, making the mixer suitable for being driven by an MMIC-based frequency doubler. A comparison to state-of-the-art G-band mixers is given.
Histone deacetylase inhibitors as antidiabetic agents: Advances and opportunities

The loss of function or dysfunction of β-cells in the pancreas, attributed to the development of diabetes, involve alterations in genetic and epigenetic signatures. Recent evidences highlight the pathophysiological role of histone deacetylases (HDACs) in type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Indeed, most HDAC members have been linked to critical pathogenic events in diabetes, including redox imbalance, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) homeostasis perturbation, onset of oxidative stress and inflammation, which ultimately deteriorate β-cell function. Accumulating evidence highlights the inhibition of HDACs as a prospective therapeutic strategy. Several chemically synthesized small molecules have been investigated for their specific ability to inhibit HDACs (reffered as HDAC inibitors) in various experimental studies. This review provides insights into the critical pathways involved in regulating different classes of HDACs. Further, the intricate signaling networks between HDACs and the stress mediators in diabetes are also explored. We exhaustively sum up the inferences from various investigations on the efficiency of HDAC inhibitors in managing diabetes and its associated complications.
Genome-wide identification, characterization, and expression analysis of UDP-glycosyltransferase genes associated with secondary metabolism in alfalfa ( Medicago sativa L.)

Uridine diphosphate glycosyltransferases (UGTs) are enzymes that catalyze glycosylation modifications and play an essential role in regulating plant metabolism. Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is the most important legume in the world due to its high yields and protein content; however, the UGT genes in alfalfa have not yet been studied. Identifying UGT genes with metabolic roles in alfalfa is essential for identifying and modifying genetic traits that are relevant to yield and quality. In this study, 90 of the 239 UGT genes identified from the alfalfa "Zhongmu No. 1" genome database were found to be related to secondary metabolism, and a series of gene family characterization analyses were conducted on each. The results demonstrated that all 90 UGT genes were unevenly distributed on eight chromosomes with few introns and that tandem duplications were the crucial driving force expanding the UGT family in alfalfa. Notably, the 90 UGT genes can be clustered into ten evolutionary groups which contain specific PSPG motifs, and genes in these ten groups have specific tissue expressions. This suggests that the UGT genes in each group could have similar glycosylation roles corresponding to analogous secondary metabolites in alfalfa. Additionally, multiple cis-acting elements found in MsUGT promoter regions, such as phytohormone and flavonoids, indicate that 90 UGT members could be induced by these features, which are also related to secondary metabolism. Therefore, our study identified 90 UGT members inten evolutionary groups that are likely related to glycosylation modifications with secondary metabolites in alfalfa. These findings help uncover pivotal regulatory mechanisms associated with secondary metabolism in plant yield and quality and contribute to genetic modification and breeding in alfalfa and other plant species.
Metabolic labeling of cardiomyocyte-derived small extracellular-vesicle (sEV) miRNAs identifies miR-208a in cardiac regulation of lung gene expression

Toxoplasma gondii uracil phosphoribosyltransferase (UPRT) converts 4-thiouracil (4TUc) into 4-thiouridine (4TUd), which is incorporated into nascent RNAs and can be biotinylated, then labelled with streptavidin conjugates or isolated via streptavidin-affinity methods. Here, we generated mice that expressed T. gondii UPRT only in cardiomyocytes (CM UPRT mice) and tested our hypothesis that CM-derived miRNAs (CM miRs) are transferred into remote organs after myocardial infarction (MI) by small extracellular vesicles (sEV) that are released from the heart into the peripheral blood (PB sEV). We found that 4TUd was incorporated with high specificity and sensitivity into RNAs isolated from the hearts and PB sEV of CM UPRT mice 6 h after 4TUc injection. In PB sEV, 4TUd was incorporated into CM-specific/enriched miRs including miR-208a, but not into miRs with other organ or tissue-type specificities. 4TUd-labelled miR208a was also present in lung tissues, especially lung endothelial cells (ECs), and CM-derived miR-208a (CM miR-208a) levels peaked 12 h after experimentally induced MI in PB sEV and 24 h after MI in the lung. Notably, miR-208a is expressed from intron 29 of α myosin heavy chain (αMHC), but αMHC transcripts were nearly undetectable in the lung. When PB sEV from mice that underwent MI (MI-PB sEV) or sham surgery (Sham-PB sEV) were injected into intact mice, the expression of Tmbim6 and NLK, which are suppressed by miR-208a and cooperatively regulate inflammation via the NF-κB pathway, was lower in the lungs of MI-PB sEV-treated animals than the lungs of animals treated with Sham-PB sEV or saline. In MI mice, Tmbim6 and NLK were downregulated, whereas endothelial adhesion molecules and pro-inflammatory cells were upregulated in the lung; these changes were significantly attenuated when the mice were treated with miR-208a antagomirs prior to MI surgery. Thus, CM UPRT mice enables us to track PB sEV-mediated transport of CM miRs and identify an miR-208a-mediated mechanism by which myocardial injury alters the expression of genes and inflammatory response in the lung.
Correlation-aware adversarial domain adaptation and generalization

Domain adaptation (DA) and domain generalization (DG) have emerged as a solution to the domain shift problem where the distribution of the source and target data is different. The task of DG is more challenging than DA as the target data is totally unseen during the training phase in DG scenarios. The current state-of-the-art employs adversarial techniques, however, these are rarely considered for the DG problem. Furthermore, these approaches do not consider correlation alignment which has been proven highly beneficial for minimizing domain discrepancy. In this paper, we propose a correlation-aware adversarial DA and DG framework where the features of the source and target data are minimized using correlation alignment along with adversarial learning. Incorporating the correlation alignment module along with adversarial learning helps to achieve a more domain agnostic model due to the improved ability to reduce domain discrepancy with unlabeled target data more effectively. Experiments on benchmark datasets serve as evidence that our proposed method yields improved state-of-the-art performance. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
An Autoregressive Doppler Spread Estimator for Fading Channels

Doppler spread causes a significant performance degradation in fast-fading mobile communication systems. This paper proposes a novel Doppler estimation scheme that uses a damped sinusoid to approximate the autocorrelation of the fading channel. Subsequently, an Autoregressive (AR) model is used for the damped sinusoid and the parameters of the model are related to the Doppler value. The superiority of the proposed estimation method over existing state-of-the-art methods is demonstrated using numerical simulations. The proposed scheme is promising in vehicular communication systems.
IGF-1 Regulates Vertebral Bone Aging Through Sex-Specific and Time-Dependent Mechanisms

Advanced aging is associated with increased risk of bone fracture, especially within the vertebrae, which exhibit significant reductions in trabecular bone structure. Aging is also associated with a reduction in circulating levels of insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1). Studies have suggested that the reduction in IGF-1 compromises healthspan, whereas others report that loss of IGF-1 is beneficial because it increases healthspan and lifespan. To date, the effect of decreases in circulating IGF-1 on vertebral bone aging has not been thoroughly investigated. Here, we delineate the consequences of a loss of circulating IGF-1 on vertebral bone aging in male and female Igf(f/f) mice. IGF-1 was reduced at multiple specific time points during the mouse lifespan: early in postnatal development (crossing albumin-cyclic recombinase [Cre] mice with Igf(f/f) mice); and in early adulthood and in late adulthood using hepatic-specific viral vectors (AAV8-TBG-Cre). Vertebrae bone structure was analyzed at 27 months of age using micro-computed tomography (μCT) and quantitative bone histomorphometry. Consistent with previous studies, both male and female mice exhibited age-related reductions in vertebral bone structure. In male mice, reduction of circulating IGF-1 induced at any age did not diminish vertebral bone loss. Interestingly, early-life loss of IGF-1 in females resulted in a 67% increase in vertebral bone volume fraction, as well as increased connectivity density and increased trabecular number. The maintenance of bone structure in the early-life IGF-1-deficient females was associated with increased osteoblast surface and an increased ratio of osteoprotegerin/receptor-activator of NF-κB-ligand (RANKL) levels in circulation. Within 3 months of a loss of IGF-1, there was a 2.2-fold increase in insulin receptor expression within the vertebral bones of our female mice, suggesting that local signaling may compensate for the loss of circulating IGF-1. Together, these data suggest the age-related loss of vertebral bone density in females can be reduced by modifying circulating IGF-1 levels early in life.
The Use of Psychedelics in the Treatment of Medical Conditions: An Analysis of Currently Registered Psychedelics Studies in the American Drug Trial Registry

Although early therapeutic research on psychedelics dates back to the 1940s, this field of investigation was met with many cultural and legal challenges in the 1970s. Over the past two decades, clinical trials using psychedelics have resumed. Therefore, the goal of this study was to (1) better characterize the recent uptrend in psychedelics in clinical trials and (2) identify areas where potentially new clinical trials could be initiated to help in the treatment of widely prevalent medical disorders. A systematic search was conducted on the clinicaltrials.gov database for all registered clinical trials examining the use of psychedelic drugs and was both qualitatively and quantitatively assessed. Analysis of recent studies registered in clinicaltrials.gov was performed using Pearson's correlation coefficient testing. Statistical analysis and visualization were performed using R software. In totality, 105 clinical trials met this study's inclusion criteria. The recent uptrend in registered clinical trials studying psychedelics (p = 0.002) was similar to the uptrend in total registered clinical trials in the registry (p < 0.001). All trials took place from 2007 to 2020, with 77.1% of studies starting in 2017 or later. A majority of clinical trials were in phase 1 (53.3%) or phase 2 (25.7%). Common disorders treated include substance addiction, post-traumatic stress disorder, and major depressive disorder. Potential research gaps include studying psychedelics as a potential option for symptomatic treatment during opioid tapering. There appears to be a recent uptrend in registered clinical trials studying psychedelics, which is similar to the recent increase in overall trials registered. Potentially, more studies could be performed to evaluate the potential of psychedelics for symptomatic treatment during opioid tapering and depression refractory to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors.
A Coherence-Based Algorithm for Optimizing Rank-1 Grassmannian Codebooks

Aniterative algorithm for the numerical optimization of rank-1 Grassmannian codebooks is presented. This algorithm achieves the same results as the current state-of-the-art algorithm, but requires a median of 9.52 times less computation time. This improvement is achieved by reformulating the optimization problem to directly minimize coherence instead of maximizing the Euclidean distance between codewords, thereby removing the need to consider large numbers of complex antipodals. The runtime improvement achieved allows the optimization of the larger codebooks required in many applications.
PLADE: A Plane-Based Descriptor for Point Cloud Registration With Small Overlap

Traditional point cloud registration methods require large overlap between scans, which imposes strict constraints on data acquisition. To facilitate registration, users have to carefully position scanners to ensure sufficient overlap. In this article, we propose to use high-level structural information (i.e., plane/line features and their interrelationship) for registration, which is capable of registering point clouds with small overlap, allowing more freedom in data acquisition. We design a novel plane-/line-based descriptor dedicated to establishing structure-level correspondences between point clouds. Based on this descriptor, we propose a simple but effective registration algorithm. We also provide a data set of real-world scenes containing a larger number of scans with a wide range of overlap. Experiments and comparisons with state-of-the-art methods on various data sets reveal that our method is superior to existing techniques. Though the proposed algorithm outperforms state-of-the-art methods on the most challenging data set, the point cloud registration problem is still far from being solved, leaving significant room for improvement and future work.
Congenital Pseudarthrosis of the Clavicle: A Case Report and a Hypothesis for the Right-Side Predominance

Congenital pseudarthrosis of the clavicle (CPC) is rare. It predominantly affects the right side for an unknown reason. Most of the reported cases are diagnosed outside the neonatal period. Only two CPC cases have been reported in Saudi Arabia, where both were diagnosed during childhood. Here, we present the case of a Saudi male newborn with right-sided CPC. The diagnosis was made shortly after birth because of the uneventful cesarean delivery and painless clavicular lump. Fetuses prefer keeping their head in a right lateral position which may be a plausible explanation for the right-side predominancy in the CPC.
Modeling Techniques and Control Strategies for Jack-Up Rig: A State of the Art and Challenges

In recent years, for many offshore projects, including offshore oil and gas exploration and offshore wind farm construction, it is necessary to control the position of elevating of Jack-up Rig (JuR) in stable and balanced control. Designing the elevating control systems of JuR is an upcoming technology, which is extensively used in offshore drilling and other marine structures. To maintain the position of platforms from displacement, the jacking system is used automatically to control and stabilize the position of the JuR in sea state disturbances. In recent years, the theory of modern control has been studied and developed in terms of robustness and stability to achieve greater accuracy and reduce the movement of the platform caused by environmental disturbance and other affecting factors. This paper presents a state-of-the-art review of approaches for JuR control strategies and architectures. In addition, it recommends possible control principles and makes a matching between the advantages and disadvantages of existing literature. Some details for future research on control challenges are discussed in this paper.
Self-Defensive Antimicrobial Surfaces Using Polymyxin-Loaded Poly(styrene sulfonate) Microgels

Self-defensive antimicrobial surfaces are of interest because they can inhibit bacterial colonization while minimizing unnecessary antimicrobial release in the absence of a bacterial challenge. One self-defensive approach uses self-assembly to first deposit a submonolayer coating of polyelectrolyte microgels and subsequently load those microgels by complexation with small-molecule antimicrobials. The microgel/antimicrobial complexation strength is a key parameter that controls the ability of the antimicrobial both to remain sequestered within the microgels when exposed to medium and to release in response to a bacterial challenge. Here we study the relative complexation strengths of two FDA-approved cationic antibiotics─colistin (polymyxin E) and polymyxin B─with microgels of poly(styrene sulfonate) (PSS). These polymyxins are similar cyclic polypeptides with +5 charge at pH 7.4. However, polymyxin B substitutes an aromatic ring for a dimethyl moiety in colistin, and this aromaticity can influence complexation via π and hydrophobic interactions. Coarse-grained molecular dynamics shows that the free-energy change associated with polymyxin B/PSS complexation is more negative than that of colistin/PSS complexation. Experimentally, in situ optical microscopy of microgel deswelling shows that both antibiotics load quickly from low-ionic-strength phosphate buffer. The enhanced polymyxin B/PSS complexation strength is then manifested by subsequent exposure to flowing antibiotic-free buffer with varying NaCl concentration. Microgels loaded with polymyxin B remain stably deswollen to higher salt concentrations than do colistin/PSS microgels. Importantly, exposing loaded microgels to E. coli in nutrient-free-flowing phosphate buffer shows that bacteria are killed by physical contact with the loaded microgels consistent with the contact-transfer mechanism of self-defensiveness. In vitro culture experiments show that these same surfaces, nevertheless, support the adhesion, spreading and proliferation of human fetal osteoblasts. These findings suggest a pathway to create a self-defensive antimicrobial surface effective under physiological conditions based on the nonmetabolic bacteria-triggered release of FDA-approved antibiotics.
Spatial Regulation Control of Oxygen Metabolic Consumption in Mouse Brain

The mammalian brain relies on significant oxygen metabolic consumption to fulfill energy supply, brain function, and neural activity. In this study, in vivo electrochemistry is combined with physiological and ethological analyses to explore oxygen metabolic consumption in an area of the mouse brain that includes parts of the primary somatosensory cortex, primary motor cortex, hippocampus, and striatum. The oxygen levels at different locations of this boundary section are spatially resolved by measuring the electrical current in vivo using ingeniously designed anti-biofouling carbon fiber microelectrodes. The characteristics of the current signals are further interpreted by simultaneously recording the physiological responses of the mice. Additionally, ethological tests are performed to validate the correlation between oxygen levels and mouse behavior. It is found that high-dose caffeine injection can evoke spatial variability in oxygen metabolic consumption between the four neighboring brain regions. It is proposed that the oxygen metabolic consumption in different brain regions is not independent of each other but is subject to spatial regulation control following the rules of "rank of brain region" and "relative distance." Furthermore, as revealed by in vivo wireless electrochemistry and ethological analysis, mice are at risk of neuronal damage from long-term intake of high-dose caffeine.
The soundscapes of Baja California Sur: Preliminary results from the Canon de Santa Teresa rock art landscape

This article argues that the recent emphasis on quantitative methods should also include the application of rigorous science-based methodologies for the study of sound and acoustics among past communities. The benefits of including methods developed in acoustical physics have been shown with the analysis of the rock art landscape in the Canon de Santa Teresa gorge in Baja California Sur (Mexico), where the Great Mural rock art tradition was produced. Thanks to a thorough examination of a series of monaural and binaural acoustic parameters, we have been able to conclude that the artists selected the best sonic landscapes in which to create their rock art, both paintings and carvings, especially the latter. We have also been able to demonstrate that the sector of the canyon with a special concentration of two profusely painted caves, Cueva Pintada and Las Flechas, is precisely that with the most favorable acoustic conditions in the whole tested area.