Knowledge Distillation-Enhanced Behavior Transformer for Decision-Making of Autonomous Driving.

Autonomous driving has demonstrated impressive driving capabilities, with behavior decision-making playing a crucial role as a bridge between perception and control. Imitation Learning (IL) and Reinforcement Learning (RL) have introduced innovative approaches to behavior decision-making in autonomous driving, but challenges remain. On one hand, RL's policy networks often lack sufficient reasoning ability to make optimal decisions in highly complex and stochastic environments.

Ultrasonographic evaluation of diaphragm fatigue in healthy humans.

Assessment of diaphragm function and fatigue typically relies on the measurement of transdiaphragmatic pressure (P). Although P serves as an index of diaphragm force output, it provides limited information regarding the ability of the muscle to shorten and generate power. We asked whether ultrasonography, combined with P, could be used to quantify changes in diaphragm function attributable to fatigue.

Selective Auditory Attention Detection Using Combined Transformer and Convolutional Graph Neural Networks.

Attention is one of many human cognitive functions that are essential in everyday life. Given our limited processing capacity, attention helps us focus only on what matters. Focusing attention on one speaker in an environment with many speakers is a critical ability of the human auditory system.

Cerebral perfusion alterations in healthy young adults due to two genetic risk factors of Alzheimer's disease: APOE and MAPT.

Functional brain changes such as altered cerebral blood flow occur long before the onset of clinical symptoms in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other neurodegenerative disorders. While cerebral hypoperfusion occurs in established AD, middle-aged carriers of genetic risk factors for AD, including APOE ε4, display regional hyperperfusion due to hypothesised pleiotropic or compensatory effects, representing a possible early biomarker of AD and facilitating earlier AD diagnosis. However, it is not clear whether hyperperfusion already exists even earlier in life.

SegRap2023: A benchmark of organs-at-risk and gross tumor volume Segmentation for Radiotherapy Planning of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma.

Radiation therapy is a primary and effective treatment strategy for NasoPharyngeal Carcinoma (NPC). The precise delineation of Gross Tumor Volumes (GTVs) and Organs-At-Risk (OARs) is crucial in radiation treatment, directly impacting patient prognosis. Despite that deep learning has achieved remarkable performance on various medical image segmentation tasks, its performance on OARs and GTVs of NPC is still limited, and high-quality benchmark datasets on this task are highly desirable for model development and evaluation.

Frame Running as a community-based exercise option for young people with moderate-to-severe walking impairments: a feasibility study.

Frame Running is an adapted community-based exercise option for people with moderate-to-severe walking impairments. This mixed-methods study aimed to examine the feasibility of 1) community-based Frame Running by young people with moderate-to-severe walking impairments and 2) conducting future studies on the impact of Frame Running on functional mobility and cardiometabolic disease risk factors. Weekly training sessions and data collection occurred in two sites.

Spongy-looking microfabrics in the earliest named stromatolite represent deep burial alteration and incipient metamorphism.

The earliest named stromatolite Cryptozoon Hall, 1884 (Late Cambrian, ca. 490 Ma, eastern New York State), was recently re-interpreted as an interlayered microbial mat and non-spiculate (keratosan) sponge deposit. This "classic stromatolite" is prominent in a fundamental debate concerning the significance or even existence of non-spiculate sponges in carbonate rocks from the Neoproterozoic (Tonian) onwards.

Whole-body angular momentum during stair ascent and descent in individuals with and without knee osteoarthritis.

Given the higher fall risk and the fatal sequelae of falls on stairs, it is worthwhile to investigate the mechanism of dynamic balance control in individuals with knee osteoarthritis during stair negotiation. Whole-body angular momentum ([Formula: see text]) is widely used as a surrogate to reflect dynamic balance and failure to constrain [Formula: see text] may increase the fall risk. This study aimed to compare the range of [Formula: see text] between people with and without knee osteoarthritis during stair ascent and descent.

Learning everyday multitasking activities-An online survey about people's experiences and opinions.

Multitasking (MT)-performing more than one task at a time-has become ubiquitous in everyday life. Understanding of how MT is learned could enable optimizing learning regimes for tasks and occupations that necessitate frequent MT. Previous research has distinguished between MT learning regimes in which all tasks are learned in parallel, single-task (ST) learning regimes in which all tasks are learned individually, and mixed learning regimes (Mix) in which MT and ST regimes are mixed.

An Ensemble Deep Learning Approach for EEG-Based Emotion Recognition Using Multi-Class CSP.

In recent years, significant advancements have been made in the field of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), particularly in the area of emotion recognition using EEG signals. The majority of earlier research in this field has missed the spatial-temporal characteristics of EEG signals, which are critical for accurate emotion recognition. In this study, a novel approach is presented for classifying emotions into three categories, positive, negative, and neutral, using a custom-collected dataset.

Spinal Metastases in Non-Seminomatous Germ Cell Testicular Tumors: Prognosis and Integrated Therapeutic Approaches-A Systematic Review with an Institutional Case Illustration.

(1) Background: Testicular cancer, although accounting for only 0.5% to 1% of all solid male cancers, is the most common malignancy in males aged 15 to 35 years. Non-seminomatous germ cell tumors (NSGCT) represent nearly half of all testicular germ cell tumors and are associated with a more aggressive clinical course.

Moving Beyond the Bladder Diary: Does New Technology Now Allow Us to Take Investigation of LUTS Into the Community? ICI-RS 2024.

Context: Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (LUTS) are defined by their distressing effect on patients' day-to-day life. Given the pressures on secondary care resources, LUTS may be overlooked or inadequately assessed and therefore patients may be burdened for an extended period before treatment.

Methods: In a debate held at the International Consultation on Incontinence Research Society (ICI-RS) meeting in Bristol in June 2024, we considered how new technologies might contribute to an expedited, dignified and effective investigation of LUTS.

Impact of Lewy bodies disease on visual skills and memory abilities: from prodromal stages to dementia.

Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and its prodromal presentation with mild cognitive impairment is characterized by prominent deficits in attention/executive domains and in visual processing abilities with relative sparing of memory. Neuropsychological research is continuously refining the tools to define more in detail the patterns of relatively preserved and impaired cognitive abilities that help differential diagnosis between DLB and Alzheimer disease (AD). This review summarizes the main studies exploring specific cognitive tasks investigating different visual processing abilities and verbal memory that better differentiate DLB from AD.

Short report on a 6-week at-home exergaming intervention to improve balance in children with developmental coordination disorder.

Background: Previous studies have evidenced balance training for improving postural control in children with DCD, however none have examined how neuromuscular mechanisms controlling balance might be improved with training.

Aims: To assess the neuromuscular control of balance before and after training in children with DCD.

Methods And Procedures: Eleven children with DCD completed a six-week, game-based intervention to train balance, and lower-limb and core strength.

Exploring How the Kidney BEAM Physical Activity Digital Health Intervention Improved Mental Health-Related Quality of Life for People Living With Kidney Disease.

Introduction: The Kidney BEAM randomized controlled trial reported clinically meaningful and statistically significant improvements in mental health-related quality of life (HRQoL), physical function (sit-to-stand-60, but not the physical component of HRQoL) and patient activation after a 12-week physical activity digital health intervention (DHI). This study explores factors that contributed to the effectiveness of Kidney BEAM through mixed methods analyses.

Methods: Quantitative data analysis was obtained from the recently published primary manuscript.

Hydrated Calcium Silicate Erosion in Sulfate Environments a Molecular Dynamics Simulation Study.

To investigate the micro-mechanism of the erosion of hydrated calcium silicate (C-S-H gel) in a sulfate environment, a solid-liquid molecular dynamics model of C-S-H gel/sodium sulfate was developed. This model employs molecular dynamics methods to simulate the transport processes between C-S-H gel and corrosive ions at concentrations of 5%, 8%, and 10% sodium sulfate (NaSO), aiming to elucidate the interaction mechanism between sulfate and C-S-H gel. The micro-morphology of the eroded samples was also investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM).

Role of Blood P-Tau Isoforms (181, 217, 231) in Predicting Conversion from MCI to Dementia Due to Alzheimer's Disease: A Review and Meta-Analysis.

Blood-based biomarkers are minimally invasive tools to detect the pathological changes of Alzheimer's Disease (AD). This meta-analysis aims to investigate the use of blood-derived p-tau isoforms (181, 217, 231) to predict conversion from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to AD dementia (ADD). Studies involving MCI patients with data on blood p-tau isoforms at baseline and clinical diagnosis at follow-up (≥1 year) were included.

Personalized Profiling of Lipoprotein and Lipid Metabolism Based on 1018 Measures from Combined Quantitative NMR and LC-MS/MS Platforms.

Applications of advanced omics methodologies are increasingly popular in biomedicine. However, large-scale studies aiming at clinical translation are typically siloed to single technologies. Here, we present the first comprehensive large-scale population data combining 209 lipoprotein measures from a quantitative NMR spectroscopy platform and 809 lipid classes and species from a quantitative LC-MS/MS platform.

Associations of step accelerations and cardiometabolic risk markers in early adulthood.

Physical activity (PA) has a positive effect on risk factors related to cardiometabolic health yet amount of PA and time of onset is unclear. Therefore, we investigated the relationship of PA estimates and cardiometabolic risk factors in a large healthy population of an understudied age group of young adults using a standard gravity-based method on body adiposity and risk markers. In 856 (532 women, 324 men, 32-35 years) subjects we evaluated the association of PA and cardiometabolic risk factors in early adulthood.

Understanding lipidomics associations and the lipoprotein-related caveats in population epidemiology.

Mass spectrometry lipidomics is becoming customary to analyse serum/plasma samples in epidemiology. The measurables are molecular constituents of lipoprotein particles, but very little is known on the consequences of adjusting lipidomics data with lipoprotein measures. We studied two population cohorts with 5,657 and 2,036 participants.

Mechanical and thermodynamic routes to the liquid-liquid interfacial tension and mixing free energy by molecular dynamics.

In this study, we carried out equilibrium molecular dynamics (EMD) simulations of the liquid-liquid (LL) interface between two different Lennard-Jones components with varying miscibility, where we examined the relation between the interfacial tension and the free energy to completely isolate the two liquids using both a mechanical and thermodynamic approach. Using the mechanical approach, we obtained a stress distribution around a quasi-one-dimensional EMD system with a flat LL interface. From the stress distribution, we calculated the LL interfacial tension based on Bakker's equation, which uses the stress anisotropy around the interface, and measured how it varied with miscibility.

The effect of arm restriction on dynamic stability and upper-body responses to lateral loss of balance during walking: an observational study.

When losing balance, upper-body movements serve as mechanical aids to regain stability. However, it remains unclear how these movements contribute to dynamic stability during recovery from a lateral loss of balance while walking with arm restriction. We aimed to (i) quantify the effect of arm restriction on gait stability and upper-body velocities and (ii) characterize upper-body kinematic strategies in response to lateral surface translations under different arm restriction conditions.