Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Socio-cognitive understanding: a strength or weakness in Down's syndrome?

BACKGROUND Social understanding is often thought to be relatively 'protected' in children with Down's syndrome (DS) and to underlie the outgoing personality characteristically attributed to them. This paper draws together findings from our studies of behaviours during object concept testing, generally considered a theoretically 'pure' measure of early cognitive ability, and from more recent work focusing on two key socio-cognitive skills: recognising facial expressions of emotion and collaborative learning. Age range of children studied was 4 months to 18 years. METHODS Using standardised hiding tasks, object concept ability was assessed cross-sectionally and longitudinally in children with DS and in age- or stage-matched typically developing (TD) children. Stability of cognitive advances was assessed and similarities/differences in developmental pathways explored. In the emotion recognition studies, the ability to distinguish six primary emotions was measured, with performance compared with that of developmentally-matched TD children and age-matched children with intellectual disabilities of similar severity but differing aetiology [non-specific intellectual disability (NSID) or fragile X syndrome (FXS)]. In the collaborative learning study, the impact on sorting skills of working with a peer on a conceptually related task was measured, with outcomes compared in DS, NSID and TD child pairings. RESULTS Evidence of counterproductive, socially-based strategies being inappropriately applied by children with DS in learning contexts was found in both the object concept and collaborative learning studies, along with inefficient use of current cognitive and linguistic abilities. Emotion recognition weaknesses were also identified, although deficits were relative rather than absolute and individual variability was marked. CONCLUSIONS In line with emerging evidence from other research teams, findings suggest possible difficulties in some core aspects of interpersonal functioning in DS, with both qualitative and quantitative differences in how social cognition develops and is applied in learning contexts. Implications for development and for behavioural phenotype theory are briefly discussed.
Oxidized LDL as a biomarker in metabolic syndrome

Objective: To study the correlation of lipids and lipoprotein indices with special reference to oxidized LDL in study subjects. Material and Methods: Study comprised of total 124 subjects. 104 symptomatic cases either sex age between 20-80 years were recruited, of which, 10 were type-2 diabetes mellitus(Type- 2DM), 63 were with metabolic syndrome (MS), and 31 were type-2 diabetes mellitus with hypertension (Type-2DM+HT). Total 20, age and sex matched normal healthy subjects were recruited and served as control group for the present study. Results: Comparing the mean OxLDL of four groups (Type-2DM, MS, Type-2DM+HT and normal), by one way ANOVA showed significantly (p<0.001) differences among the groups. Further, Bonferroni test showed that the mean OxLDL rose significantly (p<0.001) in cases (Type-2DM, MS and Type-2DM+HT) groups as compared to normal group but no differences were observed among the cases. Conlusion: It is concluded that OxLDL may serves as better predictive biomarker in metabolic syndrome individuals.
Energetics, bonding mechanism, and electronic structure of metal-ceramic interfaces: Ag/MgO(001).

Electronic-structure total-energy investigations for the metal-ceramic interface system Ag/MgO(001) show that the preferred adsorption site for the overlayer Ag atom is above the O site of the clean MgO(001) surface. The binding energy of the overlayer Ag atom on the MgO(001) surface is 0.3 eV/atom (0.64 J/${\mathrm{m}}^{2}$). No significant charge transfer is found between the overlayer Ag and the MgO(001) substrate, and the interface effect on the MgO(001) substrate is limited to the interface layer. The Ag overlayer shows typical metal features in the electronic band structure as well as in the charge distributions. The interface O atom is slightly metallized, i.e., the occupied states at the Fermi energy have hybridized O-Ag character. Compared with the O, the Mg is less influenced by the Ag.
Calcium Release Flux Underlying Ca2+ Sparks of Frog Skeletal Muscle

An algorithm for the calculation of Ca2+ release flux underlying Ca2+ sparks (Blatter, L.A., J. Hüser, and E. Ríos. 1997. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 94:4176–4181) was modified and applied to sparks obtained by confocal microscopy in single frog skeletal muscle fibers, which were voltage clamped in a two-Vaseline gap chamber or permeabilized and immersed in fluo-3–containing internal solution. The performance of the algorithm was characterized on sparks obtained by simulation of fluorescence due to release of Ca2+ from a spherical source, in a homogeneous three-dimensional space that contained components representing cytoplasmic molecules and Ca2+ removal processes. Total release current, as well as source diameter and noise level, was varied in the simulations. Derived release flux or current, calculated by volume integration of the derived flux density, estimated quite closely the current used in the simulation, while full width at half magnitude of the derived release flux was a good monitor of source size only at diameters >0.7 μm. On an average of 157 sparks of amplitude >2 U resting fluorescence, located automatically in a representative voltage clamp experiment, the algorithm reported a release current of 16.9 pA, coming from a source of 0.5 μm, with an open time of 6.3 ms. Fewer sparks were obtained in permeabilized fibers, so that the algorithm had to be applied to individual sparks or averages of few events, which degraded its performance in comparable tests. The average current reported for 19 large sparks obtained in permeabilized fibers was 14.4 pA. A minimum estimate, derived from the rate of change of dye-bound Ca2+ concentration, was 8 pA. Such a current would require simultaneous opening of between 8 and 60 release channels with unitary Ca2+ currents of the level recorded in bilayer experiments. Real sparks differ from simulated ones mainly in having greater width. Correspondingly, the algorithm reported greater spatial extent of the source for real sparks. This may again indicate a multichannel origin of sparks, or could reflect limitations in spatial resolution.
Joint TDMA/CSMA scheduling for solving the bottleneck issue in Wireless Mesh Networks

We consider a multi-hop wireless mesh network composed by routers which route traffic to the Internet through several gateway. In such network, a bottleneck phenomenon limits the performances around the gateways, the network capacity does not scale with its size. In this work, we propose a traffic scheduling strategy around the gateways in a 802.11-based wireless mesh network. We distinguish two kinds of nodes according to their location in the network and the medium sharing strategy used: those located within k-hop of the gateway run a TDMA medium access protocol while the nodes further run a CSMA/CA MAC layer. We investigate on the impact of the size of the TDMA area on the network capacity when an optimal scheduling is implemented. Through extensive simulations, it is shown that network capacity, fairness and packet loss rate are improved by our approach.
The effect of early age heat conditioning and some feeding programs for heat-stressed broiler chicks on: 1 - productive performance.

The beneficial effect of raising ambient temperature at early age, some feeding programs and their combination in improving productivity of broiler chicks under summer season stress conditions was examined. A total of 144 one -day -old commercial broiler chicks were used in the present study. They were divided into two groups of 72 birds each. The first group was subjected to 38°C ±1° for 24hrs at day5 post-hatching (heat conditioning group, H.C) while the second group was kept as a control (non heat conditioning group, N.H.C). At day7 birds were individually weighed, wing banded and then divided into four sub groups with approximately similar initial body weight. The sub groups were1qualitative (70%) feed restriction (F.R) on days 7, 8 and 9 post-hatching, 2feed withdrawal (F.W.D) for 24hrs on day 9, 3supplemental vitamin C (Vit. C) from 21 to 42 day of age and then 4-the control group. Results indicate that average body weight, weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio were significantly affected at 42 days old. It is concluded from the present results that subjecting broiler chicks to early age heat conditioning at 5days old or using some feeding programs (F.R, F.W.D and Vit. C) during hot environmental temperatures could improve the productivity of broiler chicks under summer stress conditions.
Apoptosis and its correlation with proliferative activity in rectal cancer

Alterations in the normal control of apoptosis and cell proliferation are important factors in multistep colorectal carcinogenesis. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of apoptosis and cell proliferation in rectal cancers and to examine their relationship to clinicopathological variables and expression of bcl‐2 and p53.
Studies on gastric digestion of protein and carbohydrate, gastric secretion and exocrine pancreatic secretion in the growing pig

1. Six pigs, initially of 35 kg mean live weight, were each fitted with a re-entrant cannula. This was formed on either side of a short pouch of duodenum into which the pancreatic duct opened and which contained a simple cannula linked to the centre of the re-entrant cannula. 2. Each pig received two diets: diet A was based on wheat starch, sucrose and casein, while diet B was based on barley and soya-bean meal. The diets were given in equal amounts at 12 h intervals. 3. Digesta and pancreatic juice were collected continuously during three 12 h periods for each pig on each diet. 4. Mean duodenal output: dietary intake values for diets A and B respectively were: digesta 1·80, 2·86; dry matter 1·05, 1·03; nitrogen 1·05, 1·06; trichloroacetic acid (TCA)-soluble N 7·69, 9·10; glucose 0·97, 0·89. For diet A the proportion of TCA-soluble N in total N rose from 13 to 50% during 12 h, while it was approximately 50% throughout 12 h for diet B. 5. Mean total pepsin (EC 3.4.23.1) activities (units/24 h) were 760449 (diet A) and 1466571 (diet B). 6. Salivary and gastric secretions were calculated to be approximately 4 and 8 kg/24 h for diets A and B respectively. 7. Mean flows in pancreatic juice (g/24 h) for diets A and B respectively were: juice 1204, 2182; protein 10·94, 12·10; N 1·98, 2·14; ash 9·46, 17·31; sodium 3·88, 6·91; potassium 0·23, 0·54: calcium 0·031, 0·046; phosphorus 0·024, 0·026. 8. Mean total enzyme activities (units × 10−3/24 h) for diets A and B respectively were: trypsin (EC 3.4.21.4) 138, 114; chymotrypsin (EC 3.4.21.1) 84, 84; carboxypeptidase A (EC 3.4.2.1) 5, 4; carboxypeptidase B (EC 3.4.2.2) 15, 17; amylase (EC 3.2.1.1) 1061, 981. 9. It was calculated that the minimum amount of endogenous N from saliva and gastric secretion was 0·3–0·6 g in 24 h. This assumes no absorption of N occurred anterior to the duodenal cannula.
Entropy bounds and black hole remnants.

We rederive the universal bound on entropy with the help of black holes while allowing for Unruh-Wald buoyancy. We consider a box full of entropy lowered toward and then dropped into a Reissner-Nordstr\"om black hole in equilibrium with thermal radiation. We avoid the approximation that the buoyant pressure varies slowly across the box, and compute the buoyant force exactly. We find, in agreement with independent investigations, that the neutral point generically lies very near the horizon. A consequence is that in the generic case the Unruh-Wald entropy restriction is neither necessary nor sufficient for enforcement of the generalized second law. Another consequence is that generically the buoyancy makes only a negligible contribution to the energy bookkeeping, so that the original entropy bound is recovered if the generalized second law is assumed to hold. The number of particle species does not figure in the entropy bound, a point that has caused some perplexity. We demonstrate by explicit calculation that, for an arbitrarily large number of particle species, the bound is indeed satisfied by cavity thermal radiation in the thermodynamic regime, provided vacuum energies are included. We also show directly that thermal radiation in a cavity in D-dimensional space also respects the bound regardless of the value of D. As an application of the bound we show that it strongly restricts the information capacity of the posited black hole remnants, so that they cannot serve to resolve the information paradox.
Distribution of Symbiotic Genotypes in Rhizobium leguminosarum biovar viciae Populations Isolated Directly from Soils

The distribution of symbiotic (Sym) plasmid types across background genotypes was investigated in two field populations of Rhizobium leguminosarum biovar viciae isolated directly from soils. PCR-based methods were used to characterize the background genotypes and the Sym gene types. Identical Sym gene types were associated with a variable range of background genotypes, while the same background genotype could harbor distinct Sym gene types. Random distributions of Sym gene types in the background genotypes were observed in the two soil populations. These results suggest that Sym plasmid transfer is less restricted than previously thought on the basis of the analysis of strains isolated from legume nodules.
DIPHTHERIA IMMUNITY IN VICTORIA

A survey of diphtheria immunity in Victoria carried out by means of the Schick test in all age groups has shown a considerable difference in immunity between State school children and private school children and a very high proportion of nonimmune adults. The proportion of Schick‐positive persons varies from an average of 9% in children to almost 60% in the age group 40 to 49 years and drops again to 30% in the elderly. Comparisons of immunity are made between rural and urban populations and between those born in Australia and overseas. The immunization histories of those tested have been evaluated, compared and related to the test results. The implications of this rather alarming lack of immunity are discussed.
Advanced Glycation End Products and Ultrastructural Changes in Corneas of Long-term Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Monkeys

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the ultrastructural corneal changes of chronic diabetic monkeys and explore the relationship between advanced glycation end products and ultrastructural changes in diabetic corneas. Methods: A total of 8 cynomolgus monkeys were used in this experiment. Four monkeys were induced into insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus for 4 years. Four age-matched healthy monkeys were used as the controls. Ultrathin sections obtained from the corneas were examined by transmission electron microscopy. Results: Advanced glycation end product immunoreactivity was observed in the epithelial cells, epithelial basement membrane, and stromal keratocytes of diabetic corneas, whereas advanced glycation end product immunoreactivity was not found in the corresponding area in normal corneas. Abnormal collagen fibril bundles of variable thickness were identified in corneal stroma in all diabetic monkeys. Epithelial and endothelial cell degeneration was also observed in 1 diabetic monkey. Conclusions: Abnormal aggregates of collagen fibrils in stromal matrix were common among long-term diabetic monkeys, and the formation of the abnormal collagen fibril aggregates might result from excessive nonenzymatic glycosylation.
Trends in Out-of-Hospital Deaths Due to Coronary Heart Disease in Sweden (1991 to 2006)

Background— Case fatality associated with a first coronary event is often underestimated when only those who survive to reach a hospital are considered. Few studies have examined long-term trends in case fatality associated with a major coronary event that occurs out of the hospital. Methods and Results— Record linkage documented all case subjects 35 to 84 years of age in Sweden during 1991 to 2006 with a first major coronary event (out-of-hospital coronary death or hospitalization for acute myocardial infarction). Of the 384 597 cases identified, 111 319 (28.9%) died out of the hospital, and another 36 552 (9.5%) died in the hospital or within 28 days of hospitalization. From 1991 to 2006, out-of hospital deaths as a proportion of all major coronary events declined from 30.5% to 25.6% (adjusted mean annual decrease 2.2%, 95% confidence interval 2.1% to 2.4%), however, with a larger decline in 28-day case fatality in hospitalized cases (adjusted mean annual decrease 5.8%, 95% confidence interval 5.5% to 6.0%). As a result of the faster decline in in-hospital deaths, the relative contribution of out-of-hospital deaths to overall case fatality increased, particularly among younger individuals (eg, among those 35 to 54 years of age, no more than 10.8% of all deaths occurred in hospitalized cases during 2003–2006). Although female sex (odds ratio 0.85, 95% confidence interval 0.83 to 0.87) and older age (odds ratio 0.972, 95% confidence interval 0.971 to 0.974 per year) were associated with lower risk for initial out-of-hospital death, each successive calendar year was associated with increased risk (odds ratio 1.041, 95% confidence interval 1.038 to 1.044). Conclusions— The great majority of all fatal coronary events occur outside the hospital, and this proportion is increasing, particularly among younger individuals.
Influence of Intensity and Duration of Regulated Deficit Irrigation on Erythroneura elegantula (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) on Grape

ABSTRACT We conducted studies in a Paso Robles, CA, grape (Vitis vinifera L.) vineyard in 2002 and 2003 to estimate the impact of regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) intensity and duration on western grape leafhopper, Erythroneura elegantula Osborn. Treatments were based on deficit intensity, 50 and 25% of standard irrigation (moderate and severe deficits, respectively), and deficit duration, 3 or 6 wk time, initiated at the grape phenological stage of berry set. The standard irrigation served as the control, and was intended to be as close to 100% of evapotranspiration (1.0 ETc) for grape in this area. Each week we took counts of leafhopper nymphs and estimated stomatal conductance, and at the end of each leafhopper generation we counted live, hatched and parasitized leafhopper eggs. Second generation leafhopper nymphal density was lowered by about 38 and 70% in 2002 and 2003, respectively, but in 2003 only the severe deficit had a negative effect on the third generation. This same pattern was seen in oviposition: second generation egg density was reduced by about 44% in the deficit treatments, but in the third generation only the severe deficit was lower than the control. There was little difference between the 3 vs. 6 wk duration in nymphal or egg density. The differences among treatments in second generation peak nymphal density were greater than the differences in second generation hatched eggs, suggesting that in addition to egg mortality, the deficits also affected nymphal mortality. Management strategies for maintaining leafhopper density low in the second generation and third generations include maintaining a sub-1.0 ETc irrigation strategy after the main RDI period, or reinstating the RDI to correspond to the third generation.
Culture impacts the magnitude of the emotion-induced memory trade-off effect

ABSTRACT The present study assessed the extent to which culture impacts the emotion-induced memory trade-off effect. This trade-off effect occurs because emotional items are better remembered than neutral ones, but this advantage comes at the expense of memory for backgrounds such that neutral backgrounds are remembered worse when they occurred with an emotional item than with a neutral one. Cultures differ in their prioritisation of focal object versus contextual background information, with Westerners focusing more on objects and Easterners focusing more on backgrounds. Americans, a Western culture, and Turks, an Eastern-influenced culture, incidentally encoded positive, negative, and neutral items placed against neutral backgrounds, and then completed a surprise memory test with the items and backgrounds tested separately. Results revealed a reduced trade-off for Turks compared to Americans. Although both groups exhibited an emotional enhancement in item memory, Turks did not show a decrement in memory for backgrounds that had been paired with emotional items. These findings complement prior ones showing reductions in trade-off effects as a result of task instructions. Here, we suggest that a contextual-focus at the level of culture can mitigate trade-off effects in emotional memory.
Targeted Deep Sequencing Reveals No Definitive Evidence for Somatic Mosaicism in Atrial Fibrillation

Background—Studies of ⩽15 atrial fibrillation (AF) patients have identified atrial-specific mutations within connexin genes, suggesting that somatic mutations may account for sporadic cases of the arrhythmia. We sought to identify atrial somatic mutations among patients with and without AF using targeted deep next-generation sequencing of 560 genes, including genetic culprits implicated in AF, the Mendelian cardiomyopathies and channelopathies, and all ion channels within the genome. Methods and Results—Targeted gene capture and next-generation sequencing were performed on DNA from lymphocytes and left atrial appendages of 34 patients (25 with AF). Twenty AF patients had undergone cardiac surgery exclusively for pulmonary vein isolation and 17 had no structural heart disease. Sequence alignment and variant calling were performed for each atrial–lymphocyte pair using the Burrows–Wheeler Aligner, the Genome Analysis Toolkit, and MuTect packages. Next-generation sequencing yielded a median 265-fold coverage depth (interquartile range, 64–369). Comparison of the 3 million base pairs from each atrial–lymphocyte pair revealed a single potential somatic missense mutation in 3 AF patients and 2 in a single control (12 versus 11%; P=1). All potential discordant variants had low allelic fractions (range, 2.3%–7.3%) and none were detected with conventional sequencing. Conclusions—Using high-depth next-generation sequencing and state-of-the art somatic mutation calling approaches, no pathogenic atrial somatic mutations could be confirmed among 25 AF patients in a comprehensive cardiac arrhythmia genetic panel. These findings indicate that atrial-specific mutations are rare and that somatic mosaicism is unlikely to exert a prominent role in AF pathogenesis.