Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Rorschach Evaluation of Personality and Emotional Characteristics in Adolescents With Migraine Versus Epilepsy and Controls

The literature examining primary headache, including migraine, in adolescents, has pointed out the key role played by a wide range of psychiatric disorders in reducing the patients’ quality of life. Moreover, pioneering studies showed that preexisting personality characteristics, specific emotion regulation styles and psychological-psychiatric difficulties are likely to increase the risk of the onset, maintenance, and outcome of headache. Still personality issues in migraine have been poorly studied, in particular in children and adolescents. This study aims, therefore, to investigate the specific characteristics of personality, and in particular emotion regulation and coping strategies, in adolescent with migraine, comparing them with age-matched patients with idiopathic epilepsy and healthy adolescents. 52 adolescents (age: 11–17) were assessed using a multi-method test battery, which included a self-report questionnaire (the youth self-report), a proxy-report (child behavior checklist) along with a projective personality test, the Rorschach Test, administered and scored according to the Exner comprehensive system. The results showed specific personality characteristics in adolescents with migraine, revealing a marked difficulty in modulating and regulating affections through thoughts and reflections, resorting instead to impulsive acts and maladaptive coping strategies, thus revealing a vague and immature perception of reality. Differently from adolescents belonging to the general population, but similarly to patients with epilepsy, adolescents with migraine perceive a high situational stress, probably related to the condition of suffering from chronic disease. They have, therefore, a lower self-consideration and self-esteem along with a poorer insight regarding themselves as well as the relations with others. In line with previous findings, these preliminary results suggest the need for further research on ample samples, using also standardized projective test in order to better understand the pathogenesis of psychological difficulties in patients with migraine. As a clinical implication, the results seem to indicate that providing a psychological integrated approach can play a pivotal role in the assessment and treatment of adolescent with migraine, in order to improve the outcome and the quality of life of the young patients.
Halloysite nanotubes as a novel nanofiller for poly mer nanocomposites

Introduction Polymer clay nanocomposites have been widely investigated by various researchers (Giannelis, 1996; Alexandre and Dubois, 2000; Bhattacharya and Bhowmick, 2008). The nanocomposites with nanosized clay particles obtained by dispersion, were reported to exhibit high mechanical properties, enhanced thermal stability, improved gas barrier properties, high flame retardency, decreased solvent uptake as well as increased chemical and shape memory properties. Recently, halloysites have been characterized by many researchers for use as fillers for polymer materials and containers for drug delivery applications (Churchman and Theng, 1984; Levis and Deasy, 2002; Joussein et al., 2005; Joussein et al., 2007; Ismail et al., 2009). HNT is a kind of aluminosilicate clay (Al2Si2O5(OH)4 H2O with 1:1 layer) with hollow micro and nanotubular structure, and is mined from natural deposits in countries such as China, New Zealand, America, Brazil and France. Recently Du et al. (2006) reported that HNTs have typical dimensions of, 10–50 nm in outer diameter, 5–20 nm in inner diameter with 2–40 μm in length. Halloysite, a 1:1 clay mineral chemically similar to kaolinite shows tubular morphology but also spherical, platy and semi rolled forms (Churchman and Theng, 1984; Joussein et al., 2005). HNTs have been widely used during recent years to reinforce polymer matrices such as epoxy resins (Deng et al., 2008), polypropylene (Ning et al., 2007), polyamide (Marney et al., 2008) and styrene rubber (Guo et al., 2008). In addition, HNTs are far less expensive than CNTs and can be mined from deposits as a raw material. In our previous work (Ismail et al., 2008; Ismail et al., 2009; Pasbakhsh et al., 2009b, 2009a; Pasbakhsh et al., 2010) we have studied the effect of the HNT loading on the properties of EPDM nanocomposites and found a very uniform dispersion of HNTs within the EPDM even at high HNT loading (30-100 phr).
Diabetic foot – what can we learn from leprosy? Legacy of Dr Paul W. Brand

Leprosy and diabetes, though two very different conditions, may both result in severe loss of sensation in the feet, which are then a great risk of painless injury and ulceration. Seminal observations made by the late Dr Paul W. Brand, a surgeon working with leprosy patients in South India in the mid‐20th century, resulted in the subsequent development of treatments to manage insensitive foot ulcers that are today entirely applicable to patients with diabetes. As a consequence of his research, the recognition of the relationship between insensitivity, repetitive pressures and skin breakdown has helped our understanding of the aetiopathogenesis of neuropathic foot lesions in diabetes: the development of the total contact cast and other casting devices to treat such lesions forms the basis of management of diabetic foot lesions with off‐loading devices that are widely used in the 21st century in diabetic foot clinics around the world. Moreover, observations by Brand that the foot ‘heats up before it breaks down’ resulted in more recent research showing that self‐skin temperature monitoring might help reduce the incidence of recurrent neuropathic foot ulcers in diabetes. In summary, Brand's understanding of ‘the gift of pain’ that, when lost, results in the late complications of diabetic neuropathy has guided the prevention, diagnosis and management of diabetic foot problems in the 21st century. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Differential effects of α-catenin on the invasion and radiochemosensitivity of human colorectal cancer cells

Driven by genetic and epigenetic alterations, progression, therapy resistance and metastasis are frequent events in colorectal cancer (CRC). Although often speculated, the function of cell-cell contact for radiochemosensitivity, particularly associated with E-cadherin/catenin complex, warrants further clarification. In this study, we investigated the role of the E-cadherin/catenin complex proteins under more physiological three-dimensional (3D) cell culture conditions in a panel of CRC cell lines. In contrast to floating spheroids and growth in the laminin-rich matrix, collagen type 1 induced the formation of two distinct growth phenotypes, i.e., cell groups and single cells, in 5 out of the 8 CRC cell lines. Further characterization of these subpopulations revealed that, intriguingly, cell-cell contact proteins are important for invasion, but negligible for radiochemosensitivity, proliferation and adhesion. Despite the generation of genomic and transcriptomic data, we were unable to elucidate the mechanisms through which α-catenin affects collagen type 1 invasion. In a retrospective analysis of patients with rectal carcinoma, a low α-catenin expression trended with overall survival, as well as locoregional and distant control. Our results suggest that the E-cadherin/catenin complex proteins forming cell-cell contacts are mainly involved in the invasion, rather than the radiochemosensitivity of 3D grown CRC cells. Further studies are warranted in order to provide a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms controlling cell-cell adhesion in the context of radiochemoresistance.
Cribriform neuroepithelial tumor: molecular characterization of a SMARCB1‐deficient non‐rhabdoid tumor with favorable long‐term outcome

Rhabdoid phenotype and loss of SMARCB1 expression in a brain tumor are characteristic features of atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumors (ATRT). Rare non‐rhabdoid brain tumors showing cribriform growth pattern and SMARCB1 loss have been designated cribriform neuroepithelial tumor (CRINET). Small case series suggest that CRINETs may have a relatively favorable prognosis. However, the long‐term outcome is unclear and it remains uncertain whether CRINET represents a distinct entity or a variant of ATRT. Therefore, 10 CRINETs were clinically and molecularly characterized and compared with 10 ATRTs of each of three recently described molecular subgroups (i.e. ATRT‐TYR, ATRT‐SHH and ATRT‐MYC) using Illumina Infinium HumanMethylation450 arrays, FISH, MLPA, and sequencing. Furthermore, outcome was compared to a larger cohort of 27 children with ATRT‐TYR. Median age of the 6 boys and 4 girls harboring a CRINET was 20 months. On histopathological examination, all CRINETs demonstrated a cribriform growth pattern and distinct tyrosinase staining. On unsupervised cluster analysis of methylation data, all CRINETs examined exclusively clustered within the ATRT‐TYR molecular subgroup. As ATRT‐TYR, CRINETs mainly showed large heterozygous 22q deletions (9/10) and SMARCB1 mutations of the other allele. In two patients, SMARCB1 mutations were also present in the germline. Estimated mean overall survival in patients with CRINETs was 125 months (95% confidence interval 100–151 months) as compared to only 53 (33–74) months in patients with ATRTs of the ATRT‐TYR subgroup (Log‐Rank P < 0.05). In conclusion, CRINET represents a SMARCB1‐deficient non‐rhabdoid tumor, which shares molecular similarities with the ATRT‐TYR subgroup but has distinct histopathological features and favorable long‐term outcome.
Seasonal Food Scarcity Prompts Long-Distance Foraging by a Wild Social Bee

Foraging is an essential process for mobile animals, and its optimization serves as a foundational theory in ecology and evolution; however, drivers of foraging are rarely investigated across landscapes and seasons. Using a common bumblebee species from the western United States (Bombus vosnesenskii), we ask whether seasonal decreases in food resources prompt changes in foraging behavior and space use. We employ a unique integration of population genetic tools and spatially explicit foraging models to estimate foraging distances and rates of patch visitation for wild bumblebee colonies across three study regions and two seasons. By mapping the locations of 669 wild-caught individual foragers, we find substantial variation in colony-level foraging distances, often exhibiting a 60-fold difference within a study region. Our analysis of visitation rates indicates that foragers display a preference for destination patches with high floral cover and forage significantly farther for these patches, but only in the summer, when landscape-level resources are low. Overall, these results indicate that an increasing proportion of long-distance foraging bouts take place in the summer. Because wild bees are pollinators, their foraging dynamics are of urgent concern, given the potential impacts of global change on their movement and services. The behavioral shift toward long-distance foraging with seasonal declines in food resources suggests a novel, phenologically directed approach to landscape-level pollinator conservation and greater consideration of late-season floral resources in pollinator habitat management.
Thimerosal-Containing Hepatitis B Vaccination and the Risk for Diagnosed Specific Delays in Development in the United States: A Case-Control Study in the Vaccine Safety Datalink

Background: Within the first 3 years of life, the brain develops rapidly. Its development is characterized by critical developmental periods for speech, vision, hearing, language, balance, etc.; and alteration in any of the processes occurring in those critical periods can lead to specific delays in development. Aims: The present study evaluated the potential toxic effects of organic-mercury exposure from Thimerosal (49.55% mercury by weight) in childhood vaccines and its hypothesized possible relationship with specific delays in development. Materials and Methods: A hypothesis testing case-control study was undertaken to evaluate the relationship between exposure to Thimerosal-containing hepatitis B vaccines administered at specific intervals in the first 6 months among cases diagnosed with specific delays in development and controls born between 1991-2000, utilizing data in the Vaccine Safety Datalink database. Results: Cases were significantly more likely than controls to have received increased organic-mercury from Thimerosal-containing hepatitis B vaccine administered in the first, second, and sixth month of life. Conclusion: Though routine childhood vaccination may be an important public health tool to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with infectious diseases, the present study supports an association between increasing organic-mercury exposure from Thimerosal-containing childhood vaccines and the subsequent risk of specific delays in development among males and females.
Pricing and power control for energy‐efficient radio resource management in cognitive femtocell networks

Cognitive femtocell has been considered as a promising technique that can improve the capacity and the utilization of spectrum efficiency in wireless networks because of the short transmission distance and low transmit power. In this paper, we study the win–win solution of energy‐efficient radio resource management in cognitive femtocell networks, where the macrocell tries to maximize its revenue by adjusting spectrum utilization price while the femtocells try to maximize their revenues by dynamically adjusting the transmit power. When the spectrum utilization price is given by macrocell, we formulate the power control problem of standalone femtocells as an optimization problem and introduce a low‐complexity iteration algorithm based on gradient‐assisted binary search algorithm to solve it. Besides, non‐cooperative game is used to formulate the power control problem between collocated femtocells in a collocated femtocell set, and then low complexity and widely used gradient‐based iteration algorithm is applied to obtain the Nash‐equilibrium solution. Specially, asymptotic analysis is applied to find the approximate spectrum utilization price in macrocell, which can greatly reduce the computational complexity of the proposed energy‐efficient radio resource management scheme. Finally, extensive simulation results are presented to verify our theoretical analysis and demonstrate the performance of the proposed scheme. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Variability and predictability in a zooplankton community: The roles of disturbance and dispersal

ABSTRACT Disturbances are expected to increase variability and/or decrease predictability in ecosystems, while dispersal (or immigration) may have positive or negative effects on ecosystem stability. We conducted a mesocosm experiment with pelagic zooplankton to examine the independent and interactive effects of a nutrient pulse and immigration from neighbouring lakes on (a) temporal variation in the mesocosm communities and (b) variation among spatial replicates. Surprisingly, nutrient enrichment had no significant effect on among-replicate variability in algal or zooplankton biomass, and it decreased both among-replicate variability in zooplankton community composition and temporal variability of algal biomass (measured as the coefficient of variation). The nutrient pulse increased temporal variation in zooplankton biomass but decreased temporal change in relative species abundances. However, both these effects depended on dispersal, suggesting a context-dependent role of dispersal in community stability. We discuss the importance of considering multiple measures and aspects of community variability.
Financial Markets, Banks' Cost of Funding, and Firms' Decisions: Lessons from Two Crises

We test whether adverse changes to banks’ market valuations during the financial and sovereign debt crises, and the associated increase in banks’ cost of funding, affected firms’ real decisions. Using new data linking over 3,000 non-financial Italian firms to their bank(s), we find that increases in banks’ CDS spreads, and decreases in their equity valuations, resulted in lower investment, employment, and bank debt for younger and smaller firms. Importantly, these effects dominate those of banks’ balance-sheet variables. We also show that higher CDS spreads led to lower aggregate investment, employment, and a less efficient resource allocation.
Mean platelet volume and red cell distribution width levels in initial evaluation of panic disorder

Background As the relationship between psychological stress and platelet activation has been widely studied in recent years, activated platelets lead to certain biochemical changes, which occur in the brain in patients with mental disorders. However, data relating to the mean platelet volume (MPV) in patients with panic disorder (PD) are both limited and controversial. Herein, we aimed to evaluate, for the first time, the red cell distribution width (RDW) levels combined with MPV levels in patients with PD. Patients and methods Between January 2012 and June 2015, data of 30 treatment-naïve patients (16 females, 14 males; mean age: 37±10 years; range: 18–59 years) who were diagnosed with PD and 25 age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers (10 females, 15 males; mean age: 36±13 years; range: 18–59 years) (control group) were retrospectively analyzed. The white blood cell count (WBC), MPV, and RDW levels were measured in both groups. Results The mean WBC, MPV, and RDW levels were 9,173.03±2,400.31/mm3, 8.19±1.13 fl, and 12.47±1.14%, respectively, in the PD group. These values were found to be 7,090.24±1,032.61, 6.85±0.67, and 11.63±0.85, respectively, in the healthy controls. The WBC, MPV, and RDW levels were significantly higher in the patients with PD compared to the healthy controls (P=0.001, P=0.001, and P=0.003, respectively). However, there was no significant difference in the platelet number between the patients with PD and healthy controls (P>0.05). Conclusion Our study results are the first to demonstrate that the RDW levels combined with MPV levels significantly increase among patients with PD. We believe that increased RDW and MPV levels can be used as a novel marker for PD.
Host Genotype Shapes the Foliar Fungal Microbiome of Balsam Poplar (Populus balsamifera)

Foliar fungal communities of plants are diverse and ubiquitous. In grasses endophytes may increase host fitness; in trees, their ecological roles are poorly understood. We investigated whether the genotype of the host tree influences community structure of foliar fungi. We sampled leaves from genotyped balsam poplars from across the species' range, and applied 454 amplicon sequencing to characterize foliar fungal communities. At the time of the sampling the poplars had been growing in a common garden for two years. We found diverse fungal communities associated with the poplar leaves. Linear discriminant analysis and generalized linear models showed that host genotypes had a structuring effect on the composition of foliar fungal communities. The observed patterns may be explained by a filtering mechanism which allows the trees to selectively recruit fungal strains from the environment. Alternatively, host genotype-specific fungal communities may be present in the tree systemically, and persist in the host even after two clonal reproductions. Both scenarios are consistent with host tree adaptation to specific foliar fungal communities and suggest that there is a functional basis for the strong biotic interaction.
Using in situ flow cytometry images of ciliates and dinoflagellates for aquatic system monitoring

Short-period variability in plankton communities is poorly documented, especially for variations occurring in specific groups in the assemblage because traditional analysis is laborious and time-consuming. Moreover, it does not allow the high sampling frequency required for decision making. To overcome this limitation, we tested the submersible CytoSub flow cytometer. This device was anchored at a distance of approximately 10 metres from the low tide line at a depth of 1.5 metres for 12 hours to monitor the plankton at a site in the biological reserve of Barra da Tijuca beach, Rio de Janeiro. Data analysis was performed with two-dimensional scatter plots, individual pulse shapes and micro images acquisition. High-frequency monitoring results of two interesting groups are shown. The abundance and carbon biomass of ciliates were relatively stable, whereas those from dinoflagellates were highly variable along the day. The linear regression of biovolume measures between classical microscopy and in situ flow cytometry demonstrate high degree of adjustment. Despite the success of the trial and the promising results obtained, the large volume of images generated by the method also creates a need to develop pattern recognition models for automatic classification of in situ cytometric images.
Impact of onset-to-groin puncture time within three hours on functional outcomes in mechanical thrombectomy for acute large-vessel occlusion

Introduction Endovascular treatment for acute ischemic stroke with acute large-vessel occlusion (ALVO) has established benefits, and rapid treatment is vital for mechanical thrombectomy in ALVO. Time from onset of stroke to groin puncture (OTP) is a practical and useful clinical marker, and OTP should be shortened to obtain the maximum benefit of thrombectomy. Objective The aim of the present study was to assess the impact of early treatment of anterior circulation stroke within three hours after symptom onset and to evaluate the role of OTP in determining outcomes after endovascular therapy. Methods Consecutive patients with acute stroke due to major artery (internal carotid or middle cerebral arteries) occlusion who underwent endovascular recanalization between March 2014 and January 2017 were retrospectively evaluated. Patients were stratified by OTP into three categories: 0–≤3 h, >3–≤6 h, and >6 h. The primary outcome measure was a 90-day modified Rankin scale score of 0–2 (good outcome). Results Data were analyzed from 100 patients (mean age, 76.6 years; mean National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score, 17). Groin puncture occurred within 0–≤3 h in 51 patients, >3–≤6 h in 28, and >6 h in 21. Median OTP in each group was 126 min (range, 57–168 min), 238 min (range, 186–360 min) and 728 min (range, 365–1492 min), respectively. On multivariable logistic regression analysis, category of OTP represented an independent predictor of patient outcome (adjusted odds ratio, 0.48; 95% confidence interval, 0.25–0.93; p = 0.029). Conclusions OTP is a prehospital and in-hospital workflow-based indicator. In this single-center study, OTP was found to independently affect functional outcomes after endovascular stroke treatment.
Convex concentration inequalities and forward-backward stochastic calculus

Given $(M_t)_{t\in \mathbb{R}_+}$ and $(M^*_t)_{t\in \mathbb{R}_+}$ respectively a forward and a backward martingale with jumps and continuous parts, we prove that $E[\phi (M_t+M^*_t)]$ is non-increasing in $t$ when $\phi$ is a convex function, provided the local characteristics of $(M_t)_{t\in \mathbb{R}_+}$ and $(M^*_t)_{t\in \mathbb{R}_+}$ satisfy some comparison inequalities. We deduce convex concentration inequalities and deviation bounds for random variables admitting a predictable representation in terms of a Brownian motion and a non-necessarily independent jump component