Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
No differences between group versus individual treatment of childhood anxiety disorders in a randomised clinical trial.

BACKGROUND The present study compares an individual versus a group format in the delivery of manualised cognitive-behavioural therapy (FRIENDS) for children with anxiety disorders. Clinically referred children (aged 8 to 12) diagnosed with Separation Anxiety Disorder (n = 52), Generalised Anxiety Disorder (n = 37), Social Phobia (n = 22) or Specific Phobia (n = 16) were randomly assigned to individual (n = 65) or group (n = 62) treatment. METHOD Analyses were conducted separately for the intent-to-treat sample and the sample of children who completed treatment. Analyses included chi-square comparisons and regression analyses with treatment format as a predictor. RESULTS Forty-eight percent of the children in the individual versus 41% in the group treatment were free of any anxiety disorder at post-treatment; 62% versus 54% were free of their primary anxiety disorder. Regression analyses showed no significant difference in outcome between individual and group treatment. CONCLUSIONS Children improved in both conditions. Choice between treatments could be based on pragmatic considerations such as therapeutic resources, referral rates, and the preference of the parents and the child.
Evoked potentials in the diagnostics of central nervous system disorders in diabetic patients

Background. Patients with diabetes suffer central nervous system (CNS) damage which is difficult to diagnose. Examination of evoked potentials (EP) - bioelectric responses of the nervous system to external sensory (SEP), acoustic (BAEP) or visual (VEP) stimuli - may be used to assess CNS dysfunction. Material and methods. We performed VEP and SEP studies in the median (SEPm) and the tibial (SEPt) nerves in 90 patients with type 1 and 2 diabetes using the four-channel device Premiereplus. EP were estimated according to the presence of peripheral polyneuropathy, glycemic control, sex and diabetes type. The diagnosis of peripheral polyneuropathy was established by clinical examination according to the Neuropathy Disability Scale (NDS). Results. Abnormal SEP were found in 25% of patients without the clinical symptoms of neuropathy. Abnormal SEPt were found in 64.4% of patients and abnormal SEPm and VEP in 31.1% of patients. Abnormal VEP were more common in patients with clinical signs of peripheral polyneuropathy (P = 0.004), insufficient glycaemic control (P < 0.02), type 2 diabetes (P = 0.004, right eye; P = 0.001, left eye) and in the elderly patients (P < 0.001). Abnormal SEPt (P < 0.05) and SEPm (P < 0.01) correlated with age and SEPt additionally correlated with the presence of peripheral polyneuropathy (P 0.0053). Conclusions. Examination of evoked potential in patients with diabetes allows to diagnose subclinical CNS damage. The more frequent occurrence of abnormal tibial verus median nerve bioelectric response probably results from the difference in length between the two nerves. Examination of VEP seems to be more useful for the evaluation of the effects glycaemic control on CNS function than examination of evoked potentials from the peripheral nerves.
Maximizing Throughput with Multiple Power Levels in a Random Access Infrastructure-Less Radio System

We propose and analyse a new random access protocol with multiple power levels selection schemes for infrastructureless wireless networks. In these networks, mobile nodes may communicate with each other without a central entity (base station), where each mobile node will be either in a transmitting mode or in a receiving mode or in an idle mode. Throughput with random power levels selection scheme is derived in terms of the transmission probability of each mobile node, receiving probability of each mobile node and the number of power levels. Throughput with optimum power levels selection scheme is also derived and compared with the previous one. Results show that the optimum transmission probability of each mobile node to achieve the maximum throughput depends only on the number of power levels. The maximum throughput region is devised in terms of transmission probability of each mobile node and the number of power levels. The proposed new random access protocol is truly distributive in nature and can be easily implemented in infrastructure-less wireless access systems without requiring any centralized control.
A Kernel Between Sets of Vectors

In various application domains, including image recognition, it is natural to represent each example as a set of vectors. With a base kernel we can implicitly map these vectors to a Hilbert space and fit a Gaussian distribution to the whole set using Kernel PCA. We define our kernel between examples as Bhattacharyya's measure of affinity between such Gaussians. The resulting kernel is computable in closed form and enjoys many favorable properties, including graceful behavior under transformations, potentially justifying the vector set representation even in cases when more conventional representations also exist.
Diffusion-Weighted Imaging in Stroke Attributable to Internal Carotid Artery Dissection: The Significance of Vessel Patency

Background and Purpose— In stroke attributable to spontaneous dissection of the internal carotid artery (sICAD), arterial patency may influence the pattern and extent of cerebral ischemia. Methods— In 40 consecutive patients with stroke caused by sICAD, we compared the number, size and pattern of cerebral diffusion-weighted imaging lesions between patients with stenotic sICAD (n=15) and occlusive sICAD (n=25). Results— Patients with stenotic sICAD had more ischemic lesions (median 5, interquartile range 1 to 10) than patients with occlusive sICAD (2, 1 to 3; P=0.014). Lesion diameters were larger in occlusive sICAD (62, 50 to 99 mm) than in stenotic sICAD (25, 10 to 50 mm; P=0.007). Border-zone infarction occurred only in stenotic sICAD (7/15, 47%). Most patients with occlusive sICAD had territorial infarcts (22/25, 88%). Conclusions— In stroke attributable to sICAD, diffusion-weighted imaging characteristics may be influenced by the patency of the carotid artery. Differences in the pathogenesis of cerebral ischemia might exist between patients with stenotic and those with occlusive sICAD.
CD4 cell count as a surrogate endpoint in HIV clinical trials: a meta‐analysis of studies of the AIDS Clinical Trials Group

Objective:To evaluate initial changes in CD4 cell count as a surrogate endpoint for clinical outcome in HIV-infected patients. Design:Meta-analysis of all relevant Phase II and III randomized clinical trials undertaken by the Adult AIDS Clinical Trials Group. Methods:Individual patient data were obtained from each clinical trial, and the difference between a pair of treatments in their effect on clinical outcome (AIDS or death, or death alone) during 2 years of follow-up was evaluated. The proportion of treatment effect explained (PTE) was the proportion of this difference explained by the change in CD4 cell count 6 months after starting treatment, evaluated using proportional hazards models. A weighted average PTE across treatment comparisons was obtained. The association between the difference between treatments in clinical outcome, expressed as hazard ratio, and the difference in mean change in CD4 cell count was evaluated using regression analysis. Results:There were 15 clinical trials involving 24 treatment comparisons. The weighted average PTE for both progression to AIDS or death was 0.16 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.07–0.26] and for death was 0.10 (95% CI, 0.00–0.20). There were significant associations between treatment differences in effect on AIDS or death, and on death alone, and the difference in mean change in CD4 cell count. A difference in mean change in CD4 cell count of 30 or 40 × 106/l or more in favor of the test treatment indicated with high probability that there was a corresponding difference in progression to AIDS or death. Conclusions:The small PTE suggest that other mechanisms of drug action not captured by initial change in CD4 cells are important. CD4 cell count is a weak surrogate endpoint, but has some value as an aid for screening treatments for drug development or preliminary regulatory approval.
Serum resistin is related to plasma HDL cholesterol and inversely correlated with LDL cholesterol in diabetic and obese humans.

OBJECTIVES Plasma cholesterol, triglycerides and serum resisistin may all be influenced by diabetes and obesity, but their associations remain unclear. Therefore, we put forward a hypothesis that serum lipids might be parallel to resistin, as they all reflect the metabolic status of obese humans. DESIGN AND SETTING We measured the concentrations of resistin, total cholesterol (TC), HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C), LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) and triglycerides (TG) in 134 obese non-diabetic (73 women and 61 men) and 65 obese diabetic (33 women, 32 men) humans, and examined their interrelations. Obesity was defined according to the WHO criterion (BMI, ≥ 30 kg/m²) The presence of diabetes was the only differentiating factor between two groups of frankly obese humans. RESULTS Non-diabetic vs. diabetic, median and interquartile range, respectively: resistin (ng/mL) 26.08, 16.09 vs. 22.37, 14.54, p=0.736; TC (mmol/L) 5.02, 1.39 vs. 5.16, 1.56, p=0.374; HDL-C (mmol/L): 1.10, 0.41 vs. 1.02, 0.47 p<0.05; LDL-C (mmol/L): 3.00, 1.05 vs. 3.00, 1.30 p=0.978; TG (mmol/L) 1.70, 1.43 vs.1. 95, 1.81 p<0.05. To investigate the interrelations between resistin and lipids, a simple regression analysis was used, and the results were for resistin & TC, HDL-C, LDL-C, and TG, respectively: in the whole cohort r=-0.1364, p=0.0670, r=0.1514, p=0.0437, r=-0.2573, p=0.0006, r=0.0434, p=0.5597; in non-diabetics: r=-0.2067, p=0.0213, r=0.1023, p=0.2621, r=-0.2399, p=0.0083 and r=0.0288, p=0.7497; in diabetics r=0.0280, p=0.8360, r=0.2267, p=0.0929, r=-0.2933, p=0.0298, r=0.1349, p=0.3127. CONCLUSIONS In diabetic and non-diabetic subjects the atherogenic LDL cholesterol shows an inverse correlation with resistin, whereas the protective anti-atherosclerotic HDL cholesterol is positively correlated with resistin.
The Gene for Aromatase, a Rate-Limiting Enzyme for Local Estrogen Biosynthesis, Is a Downstream Target Gene of Runx2 in Skeletal Tissues

ABSTRACT The essential osteoblast-related transcription factor Runx2 and the female steroid hormone estrogen are known to play pivotal roles in bone homeostasis; however, the functional interaction between Runx2- and estrogen-mediated signaling in skeletal tissues is minimally understood. Here we provide evidence that aromatase (CYP19), a rate-limiting enzyme responsible for estrogen biosynthesis in mammals, is transcriptionally regulated by Runx2. Consistent with the presence of multiple Runx2 binding sites, the binding of Runx2 to the aromatase promoter was demonstrated in vitro and confirmed in vivo by chromatin immunoprecipitation assays. The bone-specific aromatase promoter is activated by Runx2, and endogenous aromatase gene expression is upregulated by Runx2 overexpression, establishing the aromatase gene as a target of Runx2. The biological significance of the Runx2 transcriptional control of the aromatase gene is reflected by the enhanced estrogen biosynthesis in response to Runx2 in cultured cells. Reduced in vivo expression of skeletal aromatase gene and low bone mineral density are evident in Runx2 mutant mice. Collectively, these findings uncover a novel link between Runx2-mediated osteoblastogenic processes and the osteoblast-mediated biosynthesis of estrogen as an osteoprotective steroid hormone.
Psychopathology in 7‐year‐old children: Differences in maternal and paternal ratings and the genetic epidemiology

The assessment of children's psychopathology is often based on parental report. Earlier studies have suggested that rater bias can affect the estimates of genetic, shared environmental and unique environmental influences on differences between children. The availability of a large dataset of maternal as well as paternal ratings of psychopathology in 7‐year old children enabled (i) the analysis of informant effects on these assessments, and (ii) to obtain more reliable estimates of the genetic and non‐genetic effects. DSM‐oriented measures of affective, anxiety, somatic, attention‐deficit/hyperactivity, oppositional‐defiant, conduct, and obsessive‐compulsive problems were rated for 12,310 twin pairs from the Netherlands Twin Register by mothers (N = 12,085) and fathers (N = 8,516). The effects of genetic and non‐genetic effects were estimated on the common and rater‐specific variance. For all scales, mean scores on maternal ratings exceeded paternal ratings. Parents largely agreed on the ranking of their child's problems (r 0.60–0.75). The heritability was estimated over 55% for maternal and paternal ratings for all scales, except for conduct problems (44–46%). Unbiased shared environmental influences, i.e., on the common variance, were significant for affective (13%), oppositional (13%), and conduct problems (37%). In clinical settings, different cutoffs for (sub)clinical scores could be applied to paternal and maternal ratings of their child's psychopathology. Only for conduct problems, shared environmental and genetic influences explain an equal amount in differences between children. For the other scales, genetic factors explain the majority of the variance, especially for the common part that is free of rater bias. © 2016 The Authors. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
On the dimensionality of odor space

There is great interest in understanding human olfactory experience from a principled and quantitative standpoint. The comparison is often made to color vision, where a solid framework with a three-dimensional perceptual space enabled a rigorous search for the underlying neural pathways, and the technological development of lifelike color display devices. A recent, highly publicized report claims that humans can discriminate at least 1 trillion odors, which exceeds by many orders of magnitude the known capabilities of color discrimination. This claim is wrong. I show that the failure lies in the mathematical method used to infer the size of odor space from a limited experimental sample. Further analysis focuses on establishing how many dimensions the perceptual odor space has. I explore the dimensionality of physical, neural, and perceptual spaces, drawing on results from bacteria to humans, and propose some experimental approaches to better estimate the number of discriminable odors. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.7554/eLife.07865. 001
A Decision-Making Framework for Ozone Pollution Control

In this paper, an intelligent decision-making framework (DMF) is developed to help decision makers identify cost-effective ozone control policies. High concentrations of ozone at the ground level continue to be a serious problem in numerous U.S. cities. Our DMF searches for dynamic and targeted control policies that require a lower total reduction of emissions than current control strategies based on the “trial and error” approach typically employed by state government decision makers. Our DMF utilizes a rigorous stochastic dynamic programming (SDP) formulation and incorporates an atmospheric chemistry module to model how ozone concentrations change over time. Within the atmospheric chemistry module, methods from design and analysis of computer experiments are employed to create SDP state transition equation metamodels, and critical dimensionality reduction is conducted to reduce the state-space dimension in solving our SDP problem. Results are presented from a prototype DMF for the Atlanta metropolitan region.
Sequential and Simultaneous Immunization of Rabbits with HIV-1 Envelope Glycoprotein SOSIP.664 Trimers from Clades A, B and C

We have investigated the immunogenicity in rabbits of native-like, soluble, recombinant SOSIP.664 trimers based on the env genes of four isolates of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1); specifically BG505 (clade A), B41 (clade B), CZA97 (clade C) and DU422 (clade C). The various trimers were delivered either simultaneously (as a mixture of clade A + B trimers) or sequentially over a 73-week period. Autologous, Tier-2 neutralizing antibody (NAb) responses were generated to the clade A and clade B trimers in the bivalent mixture. When delivered as boosting immunogens to rabbits immunized with the clade A and/or clade B trimers, the clade C trimers also generated autologous Tier-2 NAb responses, the CZA97 trimers doing so more strongly and consistently than the DU422 trimers. The clade C trimers also cross-boosted the pre-existing NAb responses to clade A and B trimers. We observed heterologous Tier-2 NAb responses albeit inconsistently, and with limited overall breath. However, cross-neutralization of the clade A BG505.T332N virus was consistently observed in rabbits immunized only with clade B trimers and then boosted with clade C trimers. The autologous NAbs induced by the BG505, B41 and CZA97 trimers predominantly recognized specific holes in the glycan shields of the cognate virus. The shared location of some of these holes may account for the observed cross-boosting effects and the heterologous neutralization of the BG505.T332N virus. These findings will guide the design of further experiments to determine whether and how multiple Env trimers can together induce more broadly neutralizing antibody responses.
Yeast α-Glucosidase Inhibitory Phenolic Compounds Isolated from Gynura medica Leaf

Gynura medica leaf extract contains significant amounts of flavonols and phenolic acids and exhibits powerful hypoglycemic activity against diabetic rats in vivo. However, the hypoglycemic active constituents that exist in the plant have not been fully elaborated. The purpose of this study is to isolate and elaborate the hypoglycemic activity compounds against inhibition the yeast α-glucosidase in vitro. Seven phenolic compounds including five flavonols and two phenolic acids were isolated from the leaf of G. medica. Their structures were identified by the extensive NMR and mass spectral analyses as: kaempferol (1), quercetin (2), kaempferol-3-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (3), kaempferol-3-O-rutinoside (4), rutin (5), chlorogenic acid (6) and 3,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid methyl ester (7). All of the compounds except 1 and 3 were isolated for the first time from G. medica. Compounds 1–7 were also assayed for their hypoglycemic activity against yeast α-glucosidase in vitro. All of the compounds except 1 and 6 showed good yeast α-glucosidase inhibitory activity with the IC50 values of 1.67 mg/mL, 1.46 mg/mL, 0.38 mg/mL, 0.10 mg/mL and 0.53 mg/mL, respectively.
On generating Bayesian nets from small local qualitative data for software development effort and quality prediction

The aim of this paper is to investigate if it is possible to build accurate Bayesian net models for software development effort and quality prediction under two assumptions for model generation: (1) no expert knowledge is incorporated, (2) only small local qualitative data is used. Models generated in this study provide predictions with medium level of accuracy, yet still keeping the literature average. Thus, they can be used to make only rough estimations at the early software development stage. However, they can be a useful base for detailed models incorporating expert knowledge and tailored for individual needs.
Mutations in Conserved Regions of the Predicted RAG2 Kelch Repeats Block Initiation of V(D)J Recombination and Result in Primary Immunodeficiencies

ABSTRACT The V(D)J recombination reaction is composed of multiple nucleolytic processing steps mediated by the recombination-activating proteins RAG1 and RAG2. Sequence analysis has suggested that RAG2 contains six kelch repeat motifs that are predicted to form a six-bladed β-propeller structure, with the second β-strand of each repeat demonstrating marked conservation both within and between kelch repeat-containing proteins. Here we demonstrate that mutations G95R and ΔI273 within the predicted second β-strand of repeats 2 and 5 of RAG2 lead to immunodeficiency in patients P1 and P2. Green fluorescent protein fusions with the mutant proteins reveal appropriate localization to the nucleus. However, both mutations reduce the capacity of RAG2 to interact with RAG1 and block recombination signal cleavage, therefore implicating a defect in the early steps of the recombination reaction as the basis of the clinical phenotype. The present experiments, performed with an extensive panel of site-directed mutations within each of the six kelch motifs, further support the critical role of both hydrophobic and glycine-rich regions within the second β-strand for RAG1-RAG2 interaction and recombination signal recognition and cleavage. In contrast, multiple mutations within the variable-loop regions of the kelch repeats had either mild or no effects on RAG1-RAG2 interaction and hence on the ability to mediate recombination. In all, the data demonstrate a critical role of the RAG2 kelch repeats for V(D)J recombination and highlight the importance of the conserved elements of the kelch motif.
Real-Time Dynamic Transit Signal Priority Optimization for Coordinated Traffic Networks Using Genetic Algorithms and Artificial Neural Networks

Transit signal priority (TSP) has gained popularity in providing public transportation buses with preferential treatment at signalized intersections. Many studies have addressed its implementation in prompting enhanced public transportation service, such as reducing person delay and reducing transit travel time. However, most TSP implementations are done at the intersection level. Only a few studies have addressed the problem of integrating signal priority in coordinated real-time traffic signal control systems. A particular problem in this case is the uncertainty of predicting transit movements when considering the variability of dwell times at service stops. This study presents the development of a real-time traffic signal control integrating traffic signal timing optimization and TSP control using genetic algorithms (GA) and artificial neural networks (ANN) modeling. The GA is used to find near-optimal signal timings. Six different signal control systems were evaluated: fixed-time control with and without standard TSP, actuated signal control with and without standard TSP, real-time GA-based control without TSP, and real-time GA-based with advanced TSP logic. The standard TSP is implemented at the intersection level, by providing either early green (red truncation) or green extension strategies whenever a bus exists. A traffic signal control system that incorporates GA to optimize the fitness function and ANN for transit travel time prediction is developed. A microscopic simulation environment using VISSIM 4.3 simulation environment is used to test the previously mentioned six traffic control systems. The simulation results show that the proposed control system can reduce transit vehicle delay and improve schedule adherence. The reductions in delay and schedule adherence are statistically significant.
Crosstalk between Wnt/β-Catenin and NF-κB Signaling Pathway during Inflammation

Besides its important role in embryonic development and homeostatic self-renewal in adult tissues, Wnt/β-catenin signaling exerts both anti-inflammatory and proinflammatory functions. This is, at least partially, due to either repressing or enhancing the NF-κB pathway. Similarly, the NF-κB pathway either positively or negatively regulates Wnt/β-catenin signaling. Different components of the two pathways are involved in this crosstalk, forming a complex regulatory network. This review summarizes our current understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the cross-regulation between the two pathways and discusses their involvement in inflammation and inflammation-associated diseases such as cancer.