Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Randomized Trial of Dialectical Behavior Therapy in High-Risk Suicidal Veterans.

OBJECTIVE Despite advances in suicide prevention implemented throughout the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) including the hiring of Suicide Prevention Coordinators (SPCs) at every VA hospital, enhanced monitoring, and the availability of 24-hour crisis hotline services, suicide by veterans remains a critical problem affecting 20 veterans daily. Few empirically based treatment strategies for suicide prevention for postdeployment military personnel exist. This study aimed to test whether dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), one of the few psychosocial treatments with proven efficacy in diminishing suicidal behavior in individuals with personality disorder, can be applied to veterans irrespective of personality diagnosis. METHODS From January 2010 to December 2014, 91 nonpsychotic veterans at high risk for suicide (61 men, 30 women) were randomly assigned to a 6-month treatment trial at a veterans' medical center comparing standard DBT to treatment as usual (TAU) and followed for 6 months after trial completion. Primary outcome was suicide attempts, measured with the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale, and secondary outcomes were suicide ideation, depression, hopelessness, and anxiety. There were no exclusions pertaining to substance abuse, homelessness, or medical comorbidity. RESULTS Both DBT and TAU resulted in improvements in suicidal ideation, depression, and anxiety during the course of the 6-month treatment trial that did not differ between treatment arms. Survival analyses for suicide attempts and hospitalizations did not differ between treatment arms. However, DBT subjects utilized significantly more individual mental health services than TAU subjects (28.5 ± 19.6 vs 14.7 ± 10.9, F₁,₇₇ = 11.60, P = .001). CONCLUSIONS This study is the first to examine 6-month DBT in a mostly male, veteran population. Increased mental health treatment service delivery, which included enhanced monitoring, outreach, and availability of a designated SPC, did not yield statistically significant differences in outcome for veterans at risk for suicide in TAU as compared to the DBT treatment arm. However, both treatments had difficulty with initial engagement post-hospitalization. Future studies examining possible sex differences and strategies to boost retention in difficult-to-engage, homeless, and substance-abusing populations are indicated. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02462694.
CMOS receiver with equalizer and CDR for short-reach optical communications

This paper presents an optical receiver for short reach applications through low-cost plastic optical fiber. The limited bandwidth caused by the fiber and the external photodiode is compensated by a new adaptive equalizer based on the spectrum balancing technique. A clock and data recovery circuit is included that minimizes jitter and metastability using a new multi-level bang-bang architecture. The prototype, implemented in a standard 0.18-μm CMOS process, achieves 1.25 Gb/s with a power under 110 mW at only 1 V.
[Changing patterns of surgical treatment for glaucoma in the Eye Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University during the past ten years].

Objective: To investigate the patterns of surgical treatment for patients with glaucoma in the Eye Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University from 2005 to 2014. Methods: Retrospective case series about 6 781 glaucoma patients (7 751 eyes) who received surgical treatment from January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2014 in the Eye Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University. Among them, 2 869 were males and 3 912 were females, aged (62±14) years. The data of patients' demographic information, diagnosis and surgical procedures [trabeculectomy, aqueous shunts of ExPRESS and Ahmed for extraocular reservoir, cataract extraction with intraocular lens (IOL) implantation, and combined operations for glaucoma and cataract] were collected and the patterns of surgical treatment were evaluated. SPSS 21.0 statistical software was used, mainly for statistical description of the data. Results: The ratio of trabeculectomies increased between 2005 and 2009, from 48.2% (95/197) to 57.7% (488/846), but decreased to 21.1% (220/1 041) in 2014. The ratio of aqueous shunts of ExPRESS and Ahmed increased to 6.1% (63/1 041) and 7.6% (79/1 041) from 2005 to 2014, respectively. The ratio of cataract extraction with IOL implantation increased to 28.4% (294/1 036) in 2012, but decreased to 21.6% (225/1 041) in 2014. The ratio of combined operations for glaucoma and cataract decreased to 6.6% (47/717) from 2005 to 2010, and increased to 36.6% (381/1 041) in 2014. Over the decade, the ratio of cataract extraction with goniosynechialysis increased from 2.4% (15/623) to 17.7% (184/1 041). The rate of iridotectomy decreased to 0.2% (2/1041) in 2014. Conclusions: Trabeculectomy, cataract surgery and combined surgery for glaucoma with cataract were still the mainstream of glaucoma surgery in the Eye Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University from 2005 to 2014. And the ratio of cataract extraction with IOL implantation, aqueous shunts of ExPRESS and Ahmed, and combined operation for glaucoma and cataract rapidly increased, with cataract extraction with goniosynechialysis increasing most rapidly and becoming the mainstream procedure of treatment for glaucoma and cataract. Inversely, the rate of trabeculectomies and iridotectomies decreased dramatically over this period. (Chin J Ophthalmol, 2018, 54: 184-188).
Ocular oncology: advances in retinoblastoma, uveal melanoma and conjunctival melanoma

Background Retinoblastoma, uveal and conjunctival melanomas are important malignancies within the remit of ocular oncology. Outlined are the diagnostic features and management principles, as well as advancements in the field and current challenges. Sources of data Original papers, reviews and guidelines. Areas of agreement Most eyes with retinoblastoma (International Intraocular Retinoblastoma Classification (IIRC) Group A-D) are salvaged, whereas advanced cases (Group E) remain a challenge. Despite a high rate of local tumour control in uveal melanoma, metastatic spread commonly occurs. Conjunctival melanoma is treated by complete resection, but high rates of local recurrence occur, with the possibility of systemic relapse and death. Areas of controversy Use of the IIRC in retinoblastoma, and systemic screening in melanomas. Growing points Utilization of novel treatment modalities in retinoblastoma and an increasing understanding of the genetic basis of melanomas. Areas timely for developing research Improvements in chemotherapy delivery in retinoblastoma and prognostic tests in melanomas.
Fact Checking in Community Forums

Community Question Answering (cQA) forums are very popular nowadays, as they represent effective means for communities around particular topics to share information. Unfortunately, this information is not always factual. Thus, here we explore a new dimension in the context of cQA, which has been ignored so far: checking the veracity of answers to particular questions in cQA forums. As this is a new problem, we create a specialized dataset for it. We further propose a novel multi-faceted model, which captures information from the answer content (what is said and how), from the author profile (who says it), from the rest of the community forum (where it is said), and from external authoritative sources of information (external support). Evaluation results show a MAP value of 86.54, which is 21 points absolute above the baseline.
Advances and Applications in Bioinformatics and Chemistry Dovepress Modena: a Multi-objective Rna Inverse Folding

Artificially synthesized RNA molecules have recently come under study since such molecules have a potential for creating a variety of novel functional molecules. When designing artificial RNA sequences, secondary structure should be taken into account since functions of noncoding RNAs strongly depend on their structure. RNA inverse folding is a methodology for computationally exploring the RNA sequences folding into a user-given target structure. In the present study, we developed a multi-objective genetic algorithm, MODENA (Multi-Objective DEsign of Nucleic Acids), for RNA inverse folding. MODENA explores the approximate set of weak Pareto optimal solutions in the objective function space of 2 objective functions, a structure stability score and structure similarity score. MODENA can simultaneously design multiple different RNA sequences at 1 run, whose lowest free energies range from a very stable value to a higher value near those of natural counterparts. MODENA and previous RNA inverse folding programs were benchmarked with 29 target structures taken from the Rfam database, and we found that MODENA can successfully design 23 RNA sequences folding into the target structures; this result is better than those of the other benchmarked RNA inverse folding programs. The multi-objective genetic algorithm gives a useful framework for a functional biomolecular design. Executable files of MODENA can be obtained at
High Rate of Treatment Completion in Program Settings With 12-Dose Weekly Isoniazid and Rifapentine for Latent Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection

Background Randomized controlled trials have demonstrated that the newest latent tuberculosis (LTBI) regimen, 12 weekly doses of directly observed isoniazid and rifapentine (3HP), is as efficacious as 9 months of isoniazid, with a greater completion rate (82% vs 69%); however, 3HP has not been assessed in routine healthcare settings. Methods Observational cohort of LTBI patients receiving 3HP through 16 US programs was used to assess treatment completion, adverse drug reactions, and factors associated with treatment discontinuation. Results Of 3288 patients eligible to complete 3HP, 2867 (87.2%) completed treatment. Children aged 2-17 years had the highest completion rate (94.5% [155/164]). Patients reporting homelessness had a completion rate of 81.2% (147/181). In univariable analyses, discontinuation was lowest among children (relative risk [RR], 0.44 [95% confidence interval {CI}, .23-.85]; P = .014), and highest in persons aged ≥65 years (RR, 1.72 [95% CI, 1.25-2.35]; P < .001). In multivariable analyses, discontinuation was lowest among contacts of patients with tuberculosis (TB) disease (adjusted RR [ARR], 0.68 [95% CI, .52-.89]; P = .005) and students (ARR, 0.45 [95% CI, .21-.98]; P = .044), and highest with incarceration (ARR, 1.43 [95% CI, 1.08-1.89]; P = .013) and homelessness (ARR, 1.72 [95% CI, 1.25-2.39]; P = .001). Adverse drug reactions were reported by 1174 (35.7%) patients, of whom 891 (76.0%) completed treatment. Conclusions Completion of 3HP in routine healthcare settings was greater overall than rates reported from clinical trials, and greater than historically observed using other regimens among reportedly nonadherent populations. Widespread use of 3HP for LTBI treatment could accelerate elimination of TB disease in the United States.
Progranulin deficiency leads to prolonged persistence of macrophages, accompanied with myofiber hypertrophy in regenerating muscle

Skeletal muscle has an ability to regenerate in response to injury due to the presence of satellite cells. Injury in skeletal muscle causes infiltration of pro-inflammatory macrophages (M1 macrophages) to remove necrotic myofibers, followed by their differentiation into anti-inflammatory macrophages (M2 macrophages) to terminate the inflammation. Since both M1 and M2 macrophages play important roles, coordinated regulation of their kinetics is important to complete muscle regeneration successfully. Progranulin (PGRN) is a pluripotent growth factor, having a protective role against the inflamed tissue. In the central nervous system, PGRN regulates inflammation by inhibiting the activation of microglia. Here we used muscle injury model of PGRN-knockout (PGRN-KO) mice to elucidate whether it has a role in the kinetics of macrophages during muscle regeneration. We found the prolonged persistence of macrophages at the late phase of regeneration in PGRN-KO mice, and these macrophages were suggested to be M2 macrophages since this was accompanied with an increased CD206 expression. We also observed muscle hypertrophy in PGRN-KO mice at the late stage of muscle regeneration. Since M2 macrophages are known to have a role in maturation of myofibers, this muscle hypertrophy may be due to the presence of increased number of M2 macrophages. Our results suggest that PGRN plays a role in the regulation of kinetics of macrophages for the systemic progress of muscle regeneration.
Oestrogen receptor β ligand acts on CD11c+ cells to mediate protection in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis

Oestrogen receptor beta (ERβ) ligand treatment is neuroprotective in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. Kim et al. provide insights into the underlying mechanisms by showing that ERβ-ligand treatment has direct effects on ERβ in bone marrow-derived CD11c+ myeloid dendritic cells and macrophages, resulting in modulation of the inflammatory CNS microenvironment.
Time knowledge difficulties following treatment for malignant cerebellar tumors

ABSTRACT In children treated for malignant cerebellar tumors, there are only a few studies investigating temporal skills, despite the role of the cerebellum in time processing being generally acknowledged. Children’s time knowledge has been defined as the correct representation and use of familiar time units. The present study compares time knowledge in 38 children treated for malignant cerebellar tumors (mean age 11.6 years) with 105 typically-developing (TD) children. The performances on all time knowledge subtests were significantly lower in the tumor group. The results also confirm a lower mean IQ in the children treated for cerebellar tumors, related to slower processing speed and poorer performance on working memory and non-verbal tasks. However, the lower IQ does not explain the considerable difficulties in the acquisition of time knowledge. These results are discussed in the light of the role of the cerebellum in time processing and in the context of two different models of temporal processing: the internal clock model and the neural network state model.
Assessing Omitted Confounder Bias in Multilevel Mediation Models

ABSTRACT To draw valid inference about an indirect effect in a mediation model, there must be no omitted confounders. No omitted confounders means that there are no common causes of hypothesized causal relationships. When the no-omitted-confounder assumption is violated, inference about indirect effects can be severely biased and the results potentially misleading. Despite the increasing attention to address confounder bias in single-level mediation, this topic has received little attention in the growing area of multilevel mediation analysis. A formidable challenge is that the no-omitted-confounder assumption is untestable. To address this challenge, we first analytically examined the biasing effects of potential violations of this critical assumption in a two-level mediation model with random intercepts and slopes, in which all the variables are measured at Level 1. Our analytic results show that omitting a Level 1 confounder can yield misleading results about key quantities of interest, such as Level 1 and Level 2 indirect effects. Second, we proposed a sensitivity analysis technique to assess the extent to which potential violation of the no-omitted-confounder assumption might invalidate or alter the conclusions about the indirect effects observed. We illustrated the methods using an empirical study and provided computer code so that researchers can implement the methods discussed.
Reliability-Weighted Integration of Audiovisual Signals Can Be Modulated by Top-down Attention

Abstract Behaviorally, it is well established that human observers integrate signals near-optimally weighted in proportion to their reliabilities as predicted by maximum likelihood estimation. Yet, despite abundant behavioral evidence, it is unclear how the human brain accomplishes this feat. In a spatial ventriloquist paradigm, participants were presented with auditory, visual, and audiovisual signals and reported the location of the auditory or the visual signal. Combining psychophysics, multivariate functional MRI (fMRI) decoding, and models of maximum likelihood estimation (MLE), we characterized the computational operations underlying audiovisual integration at distinct cortical levels. We estimated observers’ behavioral weights by fitting psychometric functions to participants’ localization responses. Likewise, we estimated the neural weights by fitting neurometric functions to spatial locations decoded from regional fMRI activation patterns. Our results demonstrate that low-level auditory and visual areas encode predominantly the spatial location of the signal component of a region’s preferred auditory (or visual) modality. By contrast, intraparietal sulcus forms spatial representations by integrating auditory and visual signals weighted by their reliabilities. Critically, the neural and behavioral weights and the variance of the spatial representations depended not only on the sensory reliabilities as predicted by the MLE model but also on participants’ modality-specific attention and report (i.e., visual vs. auditory). These results suggest that audiovisual integration is not exclusively determined by bottom-up sensory reliabilities. Instead, modality-specific attention and report can flexibly modulate how intraparietal sulcus integrates sensory signals into spatial representations to guide behavioral responses (e.g., localization and orienting).
Impacts of Postdam Land Use/Land Cover Changes on Modification of Extreme Precipitation in Contrasting Hydroclimate and Terrain Features

AbstractUnderstanding the impact of postdam climate feedbacks, resulting from land use/land cover (LULC) variability, on modification of extreme precipitation (EP) remains a challenge for a twenty-first-century approach to dam design and operation. In this study, the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS, version 6.0) was used, involving a number of predefined LULC scenarios to address the important question regarding dams and their impoundments: How sensitive are the hydroclimatology and terrain features of a region in modulating the postdam response of climate feedbacks to EP? The study region covered the Owyhee Dam/Reservoir on the Owyhee River watershed (ORW), located in eastern Oregon. A systematic perturbation of the relative humidity in the initial and boundary condition of the model was carried out to simulate EP. Among the different LULC scenarios used in the simulation over the ORW, irrigation expansion in the postdam era resulted in an increase in EP up to 6% in the 72-h precipitation tota.
Short template switch events explain mutation clusters in the human genome

Resequencing efforts are uncovering the extent of genetic variation in humans and provide data to study the evolutionary processes shaping our genome. One recurring puzzle in both intra- and inter-species studies is the high frequency of complex mutations comprising multiple nearby base substitutions or insertion-deletions. We devised a generalized mutation model of template switching during replication that extends existing models of genome rearrangement, and used this to study the role of template switch events in the origin of such mutation clusters. Applied to the human genome, our model detects thousands of template switch events during the evolution of human and chimp from their common ancestor, and hundreds of events between two independently sequenced human genomes. While many of these are consistent with the template switch mechanism previously proposed for bacteria but not thought significant in higher organisms, our model also identifies new types of mutations that create short inversions, some flanked by paired inverted repeats. The local template switch process can create numerous complex mutation patterns, including hairpin loop structures, and explains multi-nucleotide mutations and compensatory substitutions without invoking positive selection, complicated and speculative mechanisms, or implausible coincidence. Clustered sequence differences are challenging for mapping and variant calling methods, and we show that detection of mutation clusters with current resequencing methodologies is difficult and many erroneous variant annotations exist in human reference data. Template switch events such as those we have uncovered may have been neglected as an explanation for complex mutations because of biases in commonly used analyses. Incorporation of our model into reference-based analysis pipelines and comparisons of de novo-assembled genomes will lead to improved understanding of genome variation and evolution.
Psychomotor Ability and Short-term Memory, and Reading and Mathematics Achievement in Children

Objective The aim of our study was to examine whether the findings from previous research, indicating the role of short-term memory as a mediator of the relationship between motor coordination and academic achievement in adolescents, is also evident in a younger child population. Method The study utilized a quantative cross-sectional design involving 133 children aged 8-12. The McCarron Assessment of Neuromuscular Development (MAND) provided four indicators of psychomotor ability (Finger Nose, Walking, Balancing, and Jumping). The Woodcock-Johnson Cognitive battery and the Automated Working Memory Assessment (AWMA) provided two measures of short-term memory (Numbers Reversed and Digit Recall) and the WJIII Achievement battery provided two measures of reading achievement (Letter-word Identification and Passage Comprehension) and two measures of mathematics achievement (Applied Problems and Calculation). Structural equation modeling was used, controlling for age, processing speed, crystallized, and fluid intelligence where appropriate. Results The results found support for the hypothesis that short-term memory fully mediates the relationship between psychomotor ability and reading and mathematics achievement. Conclusion These findings indicate the significant affect of psychomotor ability on learning outcomes and consequently the need to assess these in considering learning difficulties, and as such these findings also advance understanding of developmental neural mechanisms underpinning the relationships.