gebhart/patrepeval huggingface dataset:
Assessment of the usefulness of the fenestration method in cases of disc extrusion in the cervical and thoraco-lumbar spine in chondrodystrophic dogs. (2008)

The aim of this paper was to assess the effectiveness of treatment of Type I (according to Hansen) intervertebral disc extrusion using the fenestration method. The evaluated clinical material included 37 chondrodystrophic dogs in which multiple fenestration (from 2 to 6 intervertebral spaces) was performed. Dachshunds comprised 86.5% of patients. All dogs were administered corticosteroids during the operation. A mass similar to a slightly jelly-like yogurt, cottage cheese or plaster-like consistency was extracted. In one case a post-surgical pyogenic infection of the wound occured. In two cases, a deterioration in the neurological state followed the fenestration procedure of the cervical spine. In one case of thoraco-lumbar spine fenestration, a deterioration of clinical state was found. Recovery was observed after disc extrusion from the cervical spine in 8 out of 11 dogs, from the thoraco-lumbar spine in 12 out of 14 dogs with the 2nd grade clinical signs and in 11 out of 12 dogs with the 3rd grade clinical sings. In 6 dogs, recurrence of first or second grade clinical signs occurred, but only half of them had to undergo treatment. The probability of dog recovery did not depend on the degree of symptom intensity in a statistically significant way (p=0.11) or on the duration of the disease before the surgical treatment (p=0.87).
Pressure-sensitive paint as a distributed optical microphone array (2006)

Pressure-sensitive paint is presented and evaluated in this paper as a quantitative technique for measurement of acoustic pressure fluctuations. This work is the culmination of advances in paint technology, which enable unsteady measurements of fluctuations over 10 kHz at pressure levels as low as 125 dB. Pressure-sensitive paint may be thought of as a nanoscale array of optical microphones with a spatial resolution limited primarily by the resolution of the imaging device. Thus, pressure-sensitive paint is a powerful tool for making high-amplitude sound pressure measurements. In this work, the paint was used to record ensemble-averaged, time-resolved, quantitative measurements of two-dimensional mode shapes in an acoustic resonance cavity. A wall-mounted speaker generated nonlinear, standing acoustic waves in a rigid enclosure measuring 216 mm wide, 169 mm high, and 102 mm deep. The paint recorded the acoustic surface pressures of the (1,1,0) mode shape at 1.3 kHz and a sound pressure level of 145.4 dB. Results from the paint are compared with data from a Kulite pressure transducer and with linear acoustic theory. The paint may be used as a diagnostic technique for ultrasonic tests where high spatial resolution is essential, or in nonlinear acoustic applications such as shock tubes. a)Currently at the Dept. of Aeronautics, U.S. Air Force Academy.
Non-uniform adaptive angular spectrum method and its application to neural network assisted coherent beam combining (2021)

Increasing the number of laser beams that can be coherently combined requires accurate and fast algorithms for compensating phase and alignment errors. The paper proposes to use a Fully Connected Artificial Neural Network (FCANN) to correct the beam positioning perturbations by evaluating the beam shifts and tilts from two images taken at slightly different locations. Then, since it is practically impossible to have a large enough experimental dataset to train the neural network, this approach required developing an accurate and fast simulation method to evaluate the beam propagation in arbitrary directions, overcoming the limitations occurring when the computation must be repeated a large number of times. The numerical approach is a variant of the Angular Spectrum (AS) method, called Non Uniform ADaptive Angular Spectrum (NUADAS) method, which relies on the combination of non-uniform and adaptive Fourier transform algorithms to allow the computation of an arbitrary field distribution in a plane that is shifted and tilted with respect to the source. The parallel implementation of the NUADAS method is discussed and the numerical and experimental validations are presented. Then, an FCANN is trained using the synthetic dataset generated with the NUADAS method and the results are discussed, demonstrating the viability of the proposed approach not only for coherent beam combing, but also in other beam alignment applications.
Generating Multi-label Discrete Patient Records using Generative Adversarial Networks (2017)

Access to electronic health record (EHR) data has motivated computational advances in medical research. However, various concerns, particularly over privacy, can limit access to and collaborative use of EHR data. Sharing synthetic EHR data could mitigate risk. In this paper, we propose a new approach, medical Generative Adversarial Network (medGAN), to generate realistic synthetic patient records. Based on input real patient records, medGAN can generate high-dimensional discrete variables (e.g., binary and count features) via a combination of an autoencoder and generative adversarial networks. We also propose minibatch averaging to efficiently avoid mode collapse, and increase the learning efficiency with batch normalization and shortcut connections. To demonstrate feasibility, we showed that medGAN generates synthetic patient records that achieve comparable performance to real data on many experiments including distribution statistics, predictive modeling tasks and a medical expert review. We also empirically observe a limited privacy risk in both identity and attribute disclosure using medGAN.
A dynamic, embodied paradigm to investigate the role of serotonin in decision-making (2013)

Serotonin (5-HT) is a neuromodulator that has been attributed to cost assessment and harm aversion. In this review, we look at the role 5-HT plays in making decisions when subjects are faced with potential harmful or costly outcomes. We review approaches for examining the serotonergic system in decision-making. We introduce our group's paradigm used to investigate how 5-HT affects decision-making. In particular, our paradigm combines techniques from computational neuroscience, socioeconomic game theory, human-robot interaction, and Bayesian statistics. We will highlight key findings from our previous studies utilizing this paradigm, which helped expand our understanding of 5-HT's effect on decision-making in relation to cost assessment. Lastly, we propose a cyclic multidisciplinary approach that may aid in addressing the complexity of exploring 5-HT and decision-making by iteratively updating our assumptions and models of the serotonergic system through exhaustive experimentation.
Preparation of a Platinum and Palladium/Polyimide Nanocomposite Film as a Precursor of Metal-Doped Carbon Molecular Sieve Membrane via Supercritical Impregnation (2004)

The synthesis of a Pt- and Pd-nanoparticle-dispersed polyimide film as a precursor for the preparation of a metal-doped carbon molecular sieve (CMS) membrane for hydrogen separation has been performed. Impregnation of Pt(II) acetylacetonate and Pd(II) acetylacetonate dissolved in supercritical CO2 yielded Pt and Pd nanoparticles (diameters 12 and 5 nm, respectively) that were highly dispersed inside polyimide films under optimized conditions. The impregnation temperature and varieties of polyimide films strongly influenced the dispersion of the metal particles. The Pd-doped CMS membrane was successfully prepared from the polyimide and Pd(II) acetylacetonate composite. It showed good hydrogen separation performance.
Venous Thrombosis in an Outpatient Oncologic Center (2009)

Venous thrombosis is most commonly acute and involves the lower extremity and the deep venous system above the knee. When VT involves the upper extremity, it is usually associated with a CVC. Pulmonary embolism is almost exclusively associated with lower-extremity VT and can occur despite anticoagulation therapy.
A Practical and Predictive Two-metric System for Characterizing the Color Rendering Properties of Light Sources Used for Architectural Applications (2010)

Two convenient metrics, color rendering index (CRI), the industry standard, and gamut area index (GAI) can be used successfully together, but not separately, to characterize the color rendering properties of electric light sources.
Myeloperoxidase (2000)

This review covers recent advances in the biology of myeloperoxidase. Mechanisms of posttranslational processing and how these fail in some of the common deficiency mutants are discussed. We also review the enzymology that points to myeloperoxidase having a number of physiologic substrates in addition to chloride and the evidence that it produces hypochlorous acid in the neutrophil phagosome in sufficient quantities to be bactericidal. Evidence is accumulating that myeloperoxidase-derived oxidants modify biologic macromolecules and cell-regulatory pathways and that they play a role in atherosclerosis. Investigation of disease incidence in relation to a polymorphism in the promoter region of the gene has produced interesting associations. These links with inflammatory diseases can now be pursued further using specific biomarkers of myeloperoxidase activity.
New Synthetic Method for Indole-2-carboxylate and Its Application to the Total Synthesis of Duocarmycin SA (2004)

The sequential coupling and cyclization reactions between aryl halides and methyl propiolate were investigated. The electron-withdrawing groups on the aromatic ring are essential for producing the methyl indole-2-carboxylate derivatives. On the other hand, the presence of an extra methyl propiolate and Pd(PPh3)4 were required to provide an efficient catalytic system for the cyclization reactions. This reaction was used for the total synthesis of duocarmycin SA.
Learning based automatic face annotation for arbitrary poses and expressions from frontal images only (2009)

Statistical approaches for building non-rigid deformable models, such as the active appearance model (AAM), have enjoyed great popularity in recent years, but typically require tedious manual annotation of training images. In this paper, a learning based approach for the automatic annotation of visually deformable objects from a single annotated frontal image is presented and demonstrated on the example of automatically annotating face images that can be used for building AAMs for fitting and tracking. This approach employs the idea of initially learning the correspondences between landmarks in a frontal image and a set of training images with a face in arbitrary poses. Using this learner, virtual images of unseen faces at any arbitrary pose for which the learner was trained can be reconstructed by predicting the new landmark locations and warping the texture from the frontal image. View-based AAMs are then built from the virtual images and used for automatically annotating unseen images, including images of different facial expressions, at any random pose within the maximum range spanned by the virtually reconstructed images. The approach is experimentally validated by automatically annotating face images from three different databases.
Stem curvature and load angle influence the initial relative bone‐implant motion of cementless femoral stems (1993)

A 6 df measurement system was used to investigate the initial relative bone-implant motion of two types of cementless total hip replacement femoral components-a straight stem and a curved stem. Five pairs of fresh frozen femurs from human cadavers were tested with loads applied to the femoral head at angles characteristic of level walking, stair-climbing, and rising from a chair. The most important findings were that (a) the resultant proximal translations were twice as high with the straight stem as with the curved stem at load angles encountered in stair-climbing and rising from a chair, (b) both stem types had more motion at load angles encountered in stair-climbing and rising from a chair than in level walking, with the increases ranging from 3 to 14-fold, (c) there was as much as 66-fold more motion distally than proximally, and (d) the amount of interface motion varied by 5-fold between the medial and lateral surfaces of the distal part of the implant because of the combined effects of translation and rotation. The amount of initial bone-implant motion of the femoral component was found to be particularly sensitive to off-axis loading; this suggests that stair-climbing and rising from a chair should be avoided in the early postoperative period when a cementless porous-coated femoral stem has been used.
Modélisation électrique d'une VMC double flux et optimisation de sa commande pour l'efficacité énergétique (2010)

National audience
Enzymes That Hydrolyze Fungal Cell Wall Polysaccharides (1969)

Abstract An endo-α-d-(1 → 3)-glucanase capable of hydrolyzing various α-(1 → 3)-glucans has been isolated and purified from the culture filtrate of the cellulolytic fungus Trichoderma viride, and its specificity has been examined. Of the compounds tested only those with α-(1 → 3)-glucosidic linkages were attacked, and the enzymatic hydrolysis occurred with retention of configuration of the anomeric carbon atom involved in cleavage. Some properties of the enzyme have been investigated. Optimum pH and temperature for activity are 4.5 and 50°, respectively. The values of Km and Vmax under standard assay conditions are 4.6 x 10-2 m glucose equivalents and 0.16 µmole of glucose equivalent per min. The molecular weight of the enzyme estimated by column chromatography on Sephadex G-100 was found to be approximately 47,000. Zn++ and Fe++ were found to be reversible inhibitors of the enzyme while Ag+ and Hg+ abolished activity irreversibly. The use of this enzyme in structural carbohydrate chemistry is discussed.
Emerging therapies for osteoporosis (2000)

Osteoporosis is a condition which affects approximately one in four postmenopausal women and one in ten elderly men. Fractures resulting from the decrease in bone mass which characterises this disease are very costly in both financial and human terms. It has been known for many years that oestrogen treatment, or hormone replacement therapy (HRT), prevents bone loss and osteoporosis. However, many women do not tolerate the numerous side effects, or are concerned by the possibility of increased rate of breast cancer. Calcitonin has also been used for some years to treat osteoporosis, in spite of the drawbacks associated with a protein therapeutic. Since 1996, alendronate, a member of the bisphosphonate class of antiresorptive agents, has been available for the treatment and, subsequently, the prevention of osteoporosis. Despite a difficult dosing regimen and gastrointestinal side effects, alendronate is widely prescribed. The more recent introduction of a selective oestrogen receptor modulator, raloxifene, provides an additional option for both prevention and treatment of the disease. However, there remains a need for highly efficacious antiresorptive agents with an excellent safety and tolerability profile. In addition, there are no bone-forming agents currently available, which are needed to treat patients with very low bone mass who are at high risk of fracture. There are currently numerous agents in clinical development in the classes mentioned above. In addition, there are many novel approaches to the modulation of bone resorption and formation in the discovery and/or early development phases. These include inhibitors of osteoclast adhesion, protease and kinase inhibitors, and receptor antagonists as well as some protein agents. The status of these emerging therapies is discussed in this review.
A Retinoblastoma Allele That Is Mutated at Its Common E2F Interaction Site Inhibits Cell Proliferation in Gene-Targeted Mice (2014)

The retinoblastoma protein (pRB) is best known for regulating cell proliferation through E2F transcription factors. In this report, we investigate the properties of a targeted mutation that disrupts pRB interactions with the transactivation domain of E2Fs. Mice that carry this mutation endogenously (Rb1(ΔG)) are defective for pRB-dependent repression of E2F target genes. Except for an accelerated entry into S phase in response to serum stimulation, cell cycle regulation in Rb1(ΔG/ΔG) mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) strongly resembles that of the wild type. In a serum deprivation-induced cell cycle exit, Rb1(ΔG/ΔG) MEFs display a magnitude of E2F target gene derepression similar to that of Rb1(-/-) cells, even though Rb1(ΔG/ΔG) cells exit the cell cycle normally. Interestingly, cell cycle arrest in Rb1(ΔG/ΔG) MEFs is responsive to p16 expression and gamma irradiation, indicating that alternate mechanisms can be activated in G1 to arrest proliferation. Some Rb1(ΔG/ΔG) mice die neonatally with a muscle degeneration phenotype, while the others live a normal life span with no evidence of spontaneous tumor formation. Most tissues appear histologically normal while being accompanied by derepression of pRB-regulated E2F targets. This suggests that non-E2F-, pRB-dependent pathways may have a more relevant role in proliferative control than previously identified.
Two differential frequency‐dependent mechanisms regulating tonic firing of thalamic reticular neurons (2008)

Transmission through the thalamus activates circuits involving the GABAergic neurons of the thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN). TRN cells receive excitatory inputs from thalamocortical and corticothalamic cells and send inhibitory projections to thalamocortical cells. The inhibitory output of TRN neurons largely depends on the level of excitatory drive to these cells but may also be partly under the control of mechanisms intrinsic to the TRN. We examined two such possible mechanisms, short-term plasticity at glutamatergic synapses in the TRN and intra-TRN inhibition. In rat brain slices, responses of TRN neurons to brief trains of stimuli applied to glutamatergic inputs were recorded in voltage- or current-clamp mode. In voltage clamp, TRN cells showed no change in alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methylisoxazole-4-propionic acid (AMPA) receptor-mediated excitatory postsynaptic current amplitudes to stimulation at non-gamma frequencies (< 30 Hz), simulating background activity, but exhibited short-term depression in these amplitudes to stimulation at gamma frequencies (> 30 Hz), simulating sensory transmission. In current clamp, TRN cells increased their spike outputs in burst and tonic firing modes to increasing stimulus-train frequencies. These increases in spike output were most likely due to temporal summation of excitatory postsynaptic potentials. However, the frequency-dependent increase in tonic firing was attenuated at gamma stimulus frequencies, indicating that the synaptic depression selectively observed in this frequency range acts to suppress TRN cell output. In contrast, intra-TRN inhibition reduced spike output selectively at non-gamma stimulus frequencies. Thus, our data indicate that two intrinsic mechanisms play a role in controlling the tonic spike output of TRN neurons and these mechanisms are differentially related to two physiologically meaningful stimulus frequency ranges.
A computational model for early assessment of padded furniture comfort performance (2012)

Seating comfort has always been a primary issue in the design of padded furniture pieces. This paper proposes a computational model-based methodology to assist the designer willing to take comfort into account as a primary requirement for padded furniture design. The methodology is based on a virtual mannequin, which can be tailored to reproduce the average target user, and the complete assembly of the main elements composing a typical armchair. Since contact pressure distribution is recognized to be strictly related to seating comfort perception, the contact occurring between these components, during the seating act, was simulated by means of a finite element solver and the resulting contact pressure distribution was computed. Several simulations were carried out with reference to a set of different armchair layout and materials; the obtained results showed a reasonable agreement with the experimental data recorded by means of a capacitive mat. Finally, by using an exemplificative criterion based on comfort-related pressure distribution parameters, the authors demonstrate the possibility of selecting the best-performing configurations prior to building a physical prototype. The proposed approach, tested on a complex seat and a wide range of possible materials, can be considered of general applicability since 1) the virtual mannequin, as opposed to what is reported in a number of scientific works, is not requested to closely resemble a single test subject, and 2) the selected seat structure and seat components encompass the most commonly used ones for this kind of product so that a few generally applicable considerations can be drawn.
Cardiovascular effects of lead exposure. (2008)

Several epidemiological and clinical studies have found a link between chronic lead exposure and elevated blood pressure. In addition, a few population studies have shown possible connection between lead exposure and other cardiovascular disorders including ischaemic coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular accidents, and peripheral vascular disease. The causal link between chronic lead exposure and hypertension (HTN) has been confirmed by several studies in experimental animals. In addition, the effects of lead on the heart and vascular function have been explored in a limited number of in vivo and in vitro studies. The in vivo, ex vivo and in vitro studies conducted in laboratory animal, cultured cells and isolated tissues have helped to elucidate many of the mechanisms by which lead exposure can cause HTN and cardiovascular disease. This review is intended to provide an overview of the epidemiology and the underlying mechanisms of lead-associated HTN and cardiovascular disease.
Simultaneous task allocation and planning for temporal logic goals in heterogeneous multi-robot systems (2018)

This paper describes a framework for automatically generating optimal action-level behavior for a team of robots based on temporal logic mission specifications under resource constraints. The proposed approach optimally allocates separable tasks to available robots, without requiring a priori an explicit representation of the tasks or the computation of all task execution costs. Instead, we propose an approach for identifying sub-tasks in an automaton representation of the mission specification and for simultaneously allocating the tasks and planning their execution. The proposed framework avoids the need to compute a combinatorial number of possible assignment costs, where each computation itself requires solving a complex planning problem. This can improve computational efficiency compared with classical assignment solutions, in particular for on-demand missions where task costs are unknown in advance. We demonstrate the applicability of the approach with multiple robots in an existing office environment and evaluate its performance in several case study scenarios.