Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Neural correlates of segmental and tonal information in speech perception

The Chinese language provides an optimal window for investigating both segmental and suprasegmental units. The aim of this cross‐linguistic fMRI study is to elucidate neural mechanisms involved in extraction of Chinese consonants, rhymes, and tones from syllable pairs that are distinguished by only one phonetic feature (minimal) vs. those that are distinguished by two or more phonetic features (non‐minimal). Triplets of Chinese monosyllables were constructed for three tasks comparing consonants, rhymes, and tones. Each triplet consisted of two target syllables with an intervening distracter. Ten Chinese and English subjects were asked to selectively attend to targeted sub‐syllabic components and make same‐different judgments. Direct between‐group comparisons in both minimal and non‐minimal pairs reveal increased activation for the Chinese group in predominantly left‐sided frontal, parietal, and temporal regions. Within‐group comparisons of non‐minimal and minimal pairs show that frontal and parietal activity varies for each sub‐syllabic component. In the frontal lobe, the Chinese group shows bilateral activation of the anterior middle frontal gyrus (MFG) for rhymes and tones only. Within‐group comparisons of consonants, rhymes, and tones show that rhymes induce greater activation in the left posterior MFG for the Chinese group when compared to consonants and tones in non‐minimal pairs. These findings collectively support the notion of a widely distributed cortical network underlying different aspects of phonological processing. This neural network is sensitive to the phonological structure of a listener's native language. Hum. Brain Mapping 20:185–200, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Comparison of Fluoride Uptake Produced by Tray and Flossing Methods in vitro

The purposes of this study were to compare: (i) the fluoride (F) uptake by enamel in approximal areas of teeth when the F agent was applied in vitro via a tray or a flossing technique; and (ii) the effectiveness of two treatments -acidulated phosphate fluoride (APF) alone and CaHPO4 ·2H2O (DCPD)-forming pre-treatment followed by APF. Groups of three teeth (one premolar and two molars) were mounted in impression compounds simulating their oral configuration. In the tray group, teeth received one four-minute treatment by means of custom-formed trays. In the flossing group, the approximal areas of teeth were flossed for 40 sec twice daily for three days with an absorbent floss wetted with the treatment solution. All teeth were incubated in a saliva-like solution except during treatment. At the end of the three-day period, teeth were unmounted and washed in I mol/L KOH for 24 hours. The F uptake was calculated from biopsy data obtained before and after the treatment. The results showed that (i) DCPD-APF produced significantly greater F uptake than APF alone in both the tray and flossing methods, and (ii) the flossing technique produced significantly greater F uptake in the approximal areas than the tray method for either treatment.
Changes of Oxidative Stress, Glutathione, and Its Dependent Antioxidant Enzyme Activities in Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma before and after Tumor Resection

The changes in and relationship between oxidative stress and the glutathione (GSH) antioxidant system in the plasma and tissues of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) before and after tumor resection have not been clearly determined. We investigated the changes in oxidative stress, GSH status and its dependent antioxidant enzyme activities in HCC patients before and after tumor resection, and to determine the association of oxidative stress with GSH and its dependent antioxidant enzyme activities in plasma and tissues. This study employed a cross-sectional design. Forty-four men and 16 women with HCC were recruited. Fasting blood was drawn on the day before the tumor resection and one month after the tumor resection. HCC tissue and adjacent normal liver tissue were obtained at the time of surgical resection. Patients had significantly increased plasma malondialdehyde (MDA) and oxidized-low density lipoprotein levels but decreased GSH and oxidized GSH levels before tumor resection compared with the corresponding post-resection values. GSH and trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) levels and activities of GSH peroxidase were significantly increased while MDA level was significantly lower in HCC tissue when compared with the adjacent normal tissue. The pre-resection plasma MDA level was significantly correlated with pre-resection plasma GSH concentration, and MDA level in HCC and adjacent normal tissues. Pre-resection plasma GSH concentration was significantly correlated with GSH and TEAC level in HCC tissue. HCC patients had increased oxidative stress, decreased GSH, and lower dependent antioxidant capacities before tumor resection. However, hepatocellular tumor had increased GSH and TEAC levels as well as GSH peroxidase activities which might protect itself against increased oxidative stress.
Chinese Anti鄄 Cancer a Ssociation

ABO blood type has been associated with risk of several malignancies. However, results are not consistent. In this population鄄 based case鄄 control study including 1204 incident endometrial cancer cases and 1212 population controls, we examined the association of self鄄 reported serologic blood type with endometrial cancer risk using a logistic regression model. Women with endometrial cancer were more likely to have blood type A. Compared to women with blood type O, the adjusted odds ratios for endometrial cancer were 1.00 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.79-1.28] for type B, 1.24 (95% CI, 0.90-1.69) for type AB, and 1.50 (95% CI, 1.19-1.90) for type A. A significant dose鄄 response relationship was observed for cancer risk and level of antigen A (P for trend = 0.0003). The positive association of blood type A with cancer risk was observed regardless of menopausal status, body mass index, oral contraceptive use, or family cancer history. Our results suggest that ABO blood type may be involved in the development of endometrial cancer. Since Aird. [1] first reported an association between blood type A and gastric cancer in 1953, numerous reports have documented a high incidence of cancers of the stomach [2]
Optometric practice in Norway: a cross-sectional nationwide study.

PURPOSE To describe optometric practitioners and their encountering patients. METHODS All members of the Norwegian Association of Optometrists working in the community (n = 761) were invited to participate in a questionnaire survey; questionnaire responders (n = 508) were asked to take part in a practice registration. Data collection was carried out between November 2004 and May 2005 using a questionnaire and a practice registration form. RESULTS Five hundred and eight optometrists responded to the questionnaire; of these 212 participated in the practice registration, in which 4052 patient encounters were recorded. All optometrists reported taking patient history in the areas of vision and ocular health; 55% asked questions about general health for all patients. More than 80% collaborated with general practitioners and ophthalmologists. The patient encounters were with 1699 men and 2216 women; 60% of patients were aged 45 years or older. Patients reported a history of ocular disease and other conditions of relevance for ocular health in 12% and 17% of encounters, respectively. One per cent had low vision [best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) < 0.33] and 2% were visually impaired (BCVA < 0.5). Ophthalmoscopy was performed for 88% of patients; dilated fundus examinations were carried out for 2%; clinical findings of cataract were reported for 11%; and retinopathy was suspected in 3%. Six per cent of patients were referred to a general practitioner or ophthalmologist. CONCLUSION Optometrists generally collaborate with general practitioners and ophthalmologists. They take history, investigate and assess patients with ocular problems. A significant number of patients had primary or secondary ocular disease. This illustrates the role of optometrists as healthcare workers.
Early-life reproduction is associated with increased mortality risk but enhanced lifetime fitness in pre-industrial humans

The physiology of reproductive senescence in women is well understood, but the drivers of variation in senescence rates are less so. Evolutionary theory predicts that early-life investment in reproduction should be favoured by selection at the cost of reduced survival and faster reproductive senescence. We tested this hypothesis using data collected from preindustrial Finnish church records. Reproductive success increased up to age 25 and was relatively stable until a decline from age 41. Women with higher early-life fecundity (ELF; producing more children before age 25) subsequently had higher mortality risk, but high ELF was not associated with accelerated senescence in annual breeding success. However, women with higher ELF experienced faster senescence in offspring survival. Despite these apparent costs, ELF was under positive selection: individuals with higher ELF had higher lifetime reproductive success. These results are consistent with previous observations in both humans and wild vertebrates that more births and earlier onset of reproduction are associated with reduced survival, and with evolutionary theory predicting trade-offs between early reproduction and later-life survival. The results are particularly significant given recent increases in maternal ages in many societies and the potential consequences for offspring health and fitness.
Convergence of Least-Squares Learning in Environments with Hidden State Variables and Private Information

We study the convergence of recursive least-squares learning schemes in economic environments in which there is private information. The presence of private information leads to the presence of hidden state variables from the viewpoint of particular agents. By applying theorems of Ljung, we extend some of our earlier results to characterize conditions under which a system governed by least-squares learning will eventually converge to a rational expectations equilibrium. We apply insights from the learning results to formulate and compute the equilibrium of a version of Townsend's model.
Spatially Periodic Patterns of Synchrony in Lattice Networks

We consider n-dimensional Euclidean lattice networks with nearest neighbor coupling architecture. The associated lattice dynamical systems are infinite systems of ordinary differential equations, the cells, indexed by the points in the lattice. A pattern of synchrony is a finite-dimensional flow-invariant subspace for all lattice dynamical systems with the given network architecture. These subspaces correspond to a classification of the cells into k classes, or colors, and are described by a local coloring rule, named balanced coloring. Previous results with planar lattices show that patterns of synchrony can exhibit several behaviors such as periodicity. Considering sufficiently extensive couplings, spatial periodicity appears for all the balanced colorings with k colors. However, there is not a direct way of relating the local coloring rule and the coloring of the whole lattice network. Given an n-dimensional lattice network with nearest neighbor coupling architecture, and a local coloring rule with k c.
Roles of Motorcycle Type and Protective Clothing in Motorcycle Crash Injuries

Background. The aims of this study were to identify subgroups of motorcyclists with a higher accident risk and evaluate the efficiency of protective clothing for preventing injuries. Methods. A 1-year prospective study of motorcycle crashes was conducted beginning in June 2012. Participants were patients involved in motorcycle crashes and admitted to our emergency department. Results. A total of 226 patients were included in the study. In total, 174 patients were involved in crashes with light motorcycles. Patients involved in a motorcycle accident without a helmet had a higher incidence of head and maxillofacial trauma. Motorcycle jackets were not protective for systemic injuries (P > 0.05) or upper extremity fractures (P > 0.05). Motorcycle pants (P > 0.05) and motorcycle shoes (P > 0.05) were not protective against leg and foot fractures. However, motorcycle protective clothes were protective against soft-tissue injuries (P = 0.001). Conclusion. Riders of heavy motorcycles rode more safely than riders of light motorcycles. Light motorcycle riders were the most vulnerable and comprised the largest percentage of motorcyclists. Helmets may be effective for preventing head and facial injuries. Other protective clothes were not effective against fractures or systemic injuries.
Nurses' Knowledge of and Attitude to Electroconvulsive Therapy

Abstract: The relationship between the nurse and patient is usually close. The nature of nursing means that nurses spend more hours with patients than other health care professionals. Therefore, nurses' knowledge of and attitude to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is important because it is likely formed through close contact with patients; conversely, nurses' knowledge and attitudes will be conveyed to patients. There have been several studies exploring the topic of nurses' knowledge of and attitudes to ECT, but results are contradictory. Objectives: To explore nurses' knowledge of and attitude to ECT and to find whether knowledge and experience of ECT correlated with more positive attitudes to the treatment. Method: This was a questionnaire study including 211 registered and student nurses working in a London Mental Health Trust. It included knowledge and attitude scales and questions about experience and demography. Results: There was a highly significant correlation between knowledge of and more positive attitudes to ECT. The more years in mental health, higher grade, and the greater number of patients undergoing ECT they had had contact with correlated with more knowledge. The number of patients they had had contact with and the closeness of that contact correlated with more positive attitudes. Registered nurses had more knowledge and more positive attitudes than student nurses. Conclusion: The relationship between attitudes and knowledge is complex. However, for nurses to provide appropriate support to patients undergoing ECT, they need to gain knowledge and experience of the therapy early in their careers.
A beautiful noise: women’s coital vocalizations

BackgroundSexual arousal is accompanied by some typical physiological reaction patterns. Another typical feature of sexual intercourse is the sounds produced commonly by women [coital vocalizations (CV)]. The literature on this aspect of female sexuality is meager. It will be useful to add some knowledge to this field as absence of CV usually reflects a defect in the sexual relations, which can have a negative impact on both partners. Participants and methodsOne hundred married women attending the outpatient clinic of Benha University Hospital, Egypt, participated in this study. A self-report questionnaire, designed by the investigators, was used. It included 20 questions covering different aspects of CV. ResultsThe most common type of CV was moan/groan, followed by words. CV were mainly produced by women, most commonly occurring during thrusting, and most women believed that CV accelerated their husbands’ ejaculation. Also, most women believed that CV increased desire for further sexual activity and increased satisfaction with intercourse. CV did not change with age in most women. Sexual performance appeared to be more gratifying for the women in group I (CV producers) than for the women in group II (nonvocalizers). This is evidenced by the higher figures for sexual activity obtained from group I, for example higher coital frequency, more frequent desire, and a better ability to lubricate and to reach an orgasm. However, there was no statistically significant difference in these figures between both groups. ConclusionWe got the impression that women producing CV seem to be better sexual partners. They enjoy the act more and bring more joy and satisfaction to their partners. Clinically, the wife, in cases of sexual dysfunction, should be informed of the importance of CV and may be advised to vocalize for herself and her partner’s satisfaction.
A method for effectively comparing gene effects in multiple conditions in RNAi and expression-profiling research.

AIM To develop a new analytical method to address the issues of traditional contrast analysis for comparing gene effects in RNAi and expression-profiling research. METHODS & RESULTS I propose a new method consisting of contrast variable, standardized mean of contrast (SMC) and c(+)-probability analysis for comparing gene effects in multiple conditions. Compared with traditional contrast analysis, this new method has the following major advantages: it directly addresses the primary question of interest, namely the assessment of the strength of comparison; SMC and c(+)-probability capture data variability and are robust to sample size. The simulation and application studies show that traditional contrast analysis produces misleading results and erroneous conclusions whereas the new method produces reasonable results and sensible conclusions. CONCLUSIONS The new method may have a broad utility in comparing gene effects in multiple conditions including selecting hits in RNAi research and identifying differential expression in microarray experiments.
Influence of Maternal Gestational Treatment with Mycobacterial Antigens on Postnatal Immunity in an Experimental Murine Model

Background It has been proposed that the immune system could be primed as early as during the fetal life and this might have an impact on postnatal vaccination. Therefore, we addressed in murine models whether gestational treatment with mycobacterial antigens could induce better immune responses in the postnatal life. Methods/Findings BALB/c mice were treated subcutaneously (s.c.) at the second week of gestation with antigen (Ag)85A or heparin-binding hemagglutinin (HBHA) in the absence of adjuvant. Following birth, offspring mice were immunized intranasally (i.n.) with the same antigens formulated with the adjuvant cholera toxin (CT) at week 1 and week 4. One week after the last immunization, we assessed antigen-specific recall interferon gamma (IFN-γ) responses by in vitro restimulation of lung-derived lymphocytes. Protection against infection was assessed by challenge with high dose Mycobacterium bovis Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) given i.n. We found that recall IFN-γ responses were higher in the offspring born to the treated mother compared to the untreated-mother. More importantly, we observed that the offspring born to the treated mother controlled infection better than the offspring born to the untreated mother. Since the gestational treatment was done in absence of adjuvant, essentially there was no antibody production observed in the pregnant mice and therefore no influence of maternal antibodies was expected. We hypothesized that the effect of maternal treatment with antigen on the offspring occurred due to antigen transportation through placenta. To trace the antigens, we conjugated fluorescent nanocrystals with Ag85A (Qdot-ITK-Ag85A). After inoculation in the pregnant mice, Qdot-ITK-Ag85A conjugates were detected in the liver, spleen of pregnant females and in all the fetuses and placentas examined. Conclusion The fetal immune system could be primed in utero by mycobacterial antigens transported through the placenta.
Risk of Hemorrhage in Patients With Untreated Spetzler-Martin Grade IV and V Arteriovenous Malformations: A Long-term Follow-up Study in 63 Patients

BACKGROUND: Treatment of Spetzler-Martin Grade IV and V brain arteriovenous malformations (ie, high-grade AVMs) carries a high risk of morbidity and even mortality. However, little is known about the behavior of these lesions if left untreated. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the natural history of patients with high-grade AVMs. METHODS: Patients with untreated high-grade AVMs admitted to our center between 1952 and 2005 were followed from admission until death, AVM rupture, or initiation of treatment. Rates of rupture and various risk factors were analyzed using Kaplan-Meier life table analyses and Cox proportional hazards models. Functional outcome was assessed 1 year after possible AVM rupture using the Glasgow Outcome Scale. RESULTS: Sixty-three patients with a mean follow-up time of 11.0 years (range, 1 month to 39.6 years) were identified. Twenty-three patients (37%) experienced a subsequent rupture. The average annual rate of rupture was 3.3%. In patients with hemorrhagic presentation, the annual rate was 6.0%, compared to 1.1% in patients with unruptured AVMs (P = .001, log-rank test; hazard ratio, 5.09 [1.40-18.5, 95% CI]; P = .013, multivariate Cox regression model). One year after the first subsequent rupture, 6 patients (26%) had died, and 9 (39%) had moderate or severe disability. CONCLUSION: Untreated high grade AVMs presenting with hemorrhage have a significant risk of subsequent rupture, and their rupture carries a higher risk of case fatality and permanent morbidity than AVMs in general. The risks associated with their treatment should be appraised in light of perilous natural history.
Fetal and Childhood Exposure to Phthalate Diesters and Cognitive Function in Children Up to 12 Years of Age: Taiwanese Maternal and Infant Cohort Study

Few studies have examined the association between environmental phthalate exposure and children’s neurocognitive development. This longitudinal study examined cognitive function in relation to pre-and postnatal phthalate exposure in children 2–12 years old. We recruited 430 pregnant women in their third trimester in Taichung, Taiwan from 2001–2002. A total of 110, 79, 76, and 73 children were followed up at ages 2, 5, 8, and 11, respectively. We evaluated the children’s cognitive function at four different time points using the Bayley and Wechsler tests for assessing neurocognitive functions and intelligence (IQ). Urine samples were collected from mothers during pregnancy and from children at each follow-up visit. They were analyzed for seven metabolite concentrations of widely used phthalate esters. These esters included monomethyl phthalate, monoethyl phthalate, mono-butyl phthalate, mono-benzyl phthalate, and three metabolites of di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, namely, mono-2-ethylhexyl phthalate, mono(2-ethyl-5-hydroxyhexyl) phthalate, and mono(2-ethyl-5-oxohexyl) phthalate. We constructed a linear mixed model to examine the relationships between the phthalate metabolite concentrations and the Bayley and IQ scores. We found significant inverse associations between the children’s levels of urinary mono(2-ethyl-5-oxohexyl) phthalate and the sum of the three metabolites of di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate and their IQ scores (β = -1.818; 95% CI: -3.061, -0.574, p = 0.004 for mono(2-ethyl-5-oxohexyl) phthalate; β = -1.575; 95% CI: -3.037, -0.113, p = 0.035 for the sum of the three metabolites) after controlling for maternal phthalate levels and potential confounders. We did not observe significant associations between maternal phthalate exposure and the children’s IQ scores. Children’s but not prenatal phthalate exposure was associated with decreased cognitive development in the young children. Large-scale prospective cohort studies are needed to confirm these findings in the future.