Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Late talking toddlers : relating early phonological development to later language advance

Background. Expressive Late talkers are identified as children with an unusually small productive vocabulary for their age, in the absence of any other known neurological, sensory or cognitive deficit. Their lexical delay has been found to be associated with phonetic delay. Aims. The two primary goals of this study are (1) to provide intensive analyses of phonetic and phonological characteristics of late talkers (LTs) at the end of the single word period as a basis for comparing their speech with that of typically developing children (TDs), not at the same age but at the same developmental point; (2) to compare the relative phonological, lexical, morphological and syntactic advance of the same two groups 14 months later, based on analysis of spontaneous language use, and to relate this advance to phonetic and phonological resources at the earlier measurement point. Methods and procedures. Time 1 analyses included assessment of volubility, size of consonant inventory, percent consonants correct and extent of consonant variegation and of the use of selected prosodic patterns or ‘templates’. Time 2 analyses assessed advance in phonology (percent consonants correct), lexicon (diversity of verb and function word types), morphology (provision of obligatory morphemes) and syntax (MLU, IPSyn). Outcomes and results. Although three groups differing in age at achieving Time 1 lexical criterion were identified (TDs, LTs and ‘transitional’ LTs or TLTs), there is little evidence of group differences in other measures of linguistic advance at either sampling point, when the groups are compared at the same lexical level. Exploratory statistical analyses using Canonical Correlations revealed that a combination of high age at Time 1, small consonant inventory and low phonetic variegation are strong predictors of low accuracy in consonant use and relatively poor lexicon, morphology and syntax at Time 2, while dependence on a limited set of phonological patterns at Time 1 was significantly correlated more specifically with slower morphological advance at Time 2. Conclusions and implications. The study found that, once the groups are equated for lexical level, the linguistic skills of LTs as a group are not distinguishable from those of TDs in either the early period of phonological development or the year following the end of the single-word period. Nevertheless, based on the relation of Time 1 to Time 2 measures within individuals, the study also demonstrates that phonetic and phonological knowledge and skills constitute a key foundation for later linguistic advance, as regards grammar as well as phonology.
A commutable cytomegalovirus calibrator is required to improve the agreement of viral load values between laboratories.

BACKGROUND Viral load testing for cytomegalovirus (CMV) is an important diagnostic tool for the management of transplant recipients and immunocompromised individuals; however, inconsistency among laboratories in quantitative measurements of viral load limits interinstitutional comparisons. These inconsistencies stem from the lack of assays cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration, the absence of international standards, the wide variety of CMV-extraction and -detection methods, and differences in materials used for calibration. A critical component of standardization is the use of calibrators that are traceable and commutable. METHODS Bland-Altman plots and prediction ellipses were used to test the commutability of 2 CMV calibrators for 2 different quantification methods. RESULTS Tests with 2 methods showed 1 calibrator to be commutable and the other to be noncommutable. The results for the commutable calibrator were within the 95% prediction interval of the clinical samples in the Bland-Altman plot and within the 95% prediction ellipse for a simulated commutable calibrator, whereas the results for the noncommutable calibrator were not within these prediction intervals. When used to calibrate patient results, only the commutable calibrator, the OptiQuant CMV(tc) Calibration Panel, significantly improved the comparability of viral loads for the 2 different measurement methods. CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrates that an important goal in the effort to improve healthcare for patients with CMV-related disease is the establishment of traceable and commutable reference materials, including both calibrators and controls.
Strings in AdS3 and the SL(2,R) WZW model. III. Correlation functions

We consider correlation functions for string theory on AdS3. We analyze their singularities and we provide a physical interpretation for them. We explain which worldsheet correlation functions have a sensible physical interpretation in terms of the boundary theory. We consider the operator product expansion of the four-point function and we find that it factorizes only if a certain condition is obeyed. We explain that this is the correct physical result. We compute correlation functions involving spectral flowed operators and we derive a constraint on the amount of winding violation.
The importance of being modest

In this chapter, we consider modesty and its importance. We begin by defining modesty, proceed to argue that being modest is hard work, and then lay out some reasons why this is so. Next, we make the case that modesty correlates with, and may even cause, several desirable outcomes—intrapersonal, interpersonal, and group. We conclude by attempting to reconcile the discrepancies between two empirical literatures, one suggesting that modesty entails social and mental health benefits, the other suggesting that self-enhancement does.
Beyond the Mummy Track? Part-time Rights, Gender, and Career-Family Dilemmas

Statutory rights to part-time work are increasingly discussed and institutionalized, but have been little empirically investigated. On the basis of a survey of Swedish parents (n = 1900), the article explores the usage and usefulness of the right to work hour reductions in relation to career-family dilemmas. The results show that the gender composition of the workplace affects both mothers’ and fathers’ likelihood of reducing work hours. Mothers who reduce work hours experience lower work-family conflict but stronger fears of negative career repercussions. For fathers, the implications of work hour reductions vary with the gender composition of the workplace. Meanwhile, the division of housework is related both to the likelihood of reducing work hours and to its implications. The analysis suggests that even when a statutory right to part-time is provided, workplace norms and men’s participation in housework are crucial for changing gender patterns.
A rapid shallow breathing index threshold of 85 best predicts extubation success in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients with hypercapnic respiratory failure.

Background The rapid shallow breathing index (RSBI) is used clinically to help predict a patient's likelihood of successful liberation from mechanical ventilation (MV). However, the traditional threshold (<105 breaths/min/L) may underperform in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We sought to determine the optimal RSBI threshold for COPD patients to improve the diagnostic accuracy for predicting successful ventilator liberation. Methods This was a prospective observational multicenter study of COPD patients [according to Global initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) criteria] admitted to the Medical ICUs of eight academic medical centers. All patients were intubated for hypercapnic respiratory failure and met the American Thoracic Society/European Respiratory Society guidelines to participate in a weaning trial. Ventilator weaning was conducted according to a defined protocol. RSBI was measured through the ventilator after 120 minutes of spontaneous breathing trial (SBT). Results Ninety patients were included (39 males and 51 females). Forty-three patients (48%) were successfully extubated whereas 47 patients (52%) failed extubation. Significant differences were observed between groups for duration-of-intubation [duration of intubation (DoI); P<0.0001], spontaneous tidal volume (VT) (P=0.03), and the ratio of dynamic-to-static compliance (P=0.005). The RSBI threshold of ≤85 breaths/min/L performed best: area under curve (AUC) receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves 0.91, sensitivity 95.6%, specificity 90.4%, positive predictive value (PPV) 95.5%, and negative predictive value (NPV) 90.6%. , positive likelihood ratio (LR+) 5.48, negative likelihood ratio (LR-) 0.25, and the diagnostic accuracy 91.7%. In post-ROC analyses, DoI and hospital length-of-stay (LOS) did not impact performance. Conclusions In COPD patients intubated with hypercapnia, RSBI ≤85 breaths/min/L outperformed the widely used threshold <105 breaths/min/L, yielding a 95.5% probability of extubation success, independent of ventilation duration or hospital LOS.
Differential changes in impulsivity and sensation seeking and the escalation of substance use from adolescence to early adulthood

Abstract Recent evidence suggests that impulsivity and sensation seeking are not stable risk factors for substance use among adolescents and early adults but rather that they undergo significant developmental maturation and change. Further, developmental trends of both personality facets may vary across individuals. In the current investigation, we used longitudinal data from ages 15 to 26 on 5,632 individuals drawn from the offspring generation of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to examine whether interindividual differences in intraindividual change in impulsivity and sensation seeking predicted the escalation of alcohol, marijuana, and cigarette use in adolescence and early adulthood. Latent growth curve models revealed significant individual differences in rates of change in both personality and substance use. Age-related changes in personality were positively associated with individual differences in substance-use change. Individuals who declined more slowly in impulsivity increased in alcohol, marijuana, and cigarette more rapidly, whereas individuals who declined more slowly in sensation seeking increased more rapidly in alcohol use only. Although risk for substance use across the population may peak during adolescence and early adulthood, this risk may be highest among those who decline more gradually in impulsivity.
Probing Individual Environmental Bacteria for Viruses by Using Microfluidic Digital PCR

Matching environmental phage with single, uncultured bacterial host cells reveals remarkable species specificity. Viruses may very well be the most abundant biological entities on the planet. Yet neither metagenomic studies nor classical phage isolation techniques have shed much light on the identity of the hosts of most viruses. We used a microfluidic digital polymerase chain reaction (PCR) approach to physically link single bacterial cells harvested from a natural environment with a viral marker gene. When we implemented this technique on the microbial community residing in the termite hindgut, we found genus-wide infection patterns displaying remarkable intragenus selectivity. Viral marker allelic diversity revealed restricted mixing of alleles between hosts, indicating limited lateral gene transfer of these alleles despite host proximity. Our approach does not require culturing hosts or viruses and provides a method for examining virus-bacterium interactions in many environments.
Maternal corticosterone exposure in the mouse programs sex‐specific renal adaptations in the renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system in 6‐month offspring

Short‐term maternal corticosterone (Cort) administration at mid‐gestation in the mouse reduces nephron number in both sexes while programming renal and cardiovascular dysfunction in 12‐month male but not female offspring. The renal renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system (RAAS), functions in a sexually dimorphic manner to regulate both renal and cardiovascular physiology. This study aimed to identify if there are sex‐specific differences in basal levels of the intrarenal RAAS and to determine the impact of maternal Cort exposure on the RAAS in male and female offspring at 6 months of age. While intrarenal renin concentrations were higher in untreated females compared to untreated males, renal angiotensin II concentrations were higher in males than females. Furthermore, basal plasma aldosterone concentrations were greater in females than males. Cort exposed male but not female offspring had reduced water intake and urine excretion. Cort exposure increased renal renin concentrations and elevated mRNA expression of Ren1, Ace2, and Mas1 in male but not female offspring. In addition, male Cort exposed offspring had increased expression of the aldosterone receptor, Nr3c2 and renal sodium transporters. In contrast, Cort exposure increased Agtr1a mRNA levels in female offspring only. This study demonstrates that maternal Cort exposure alters key regulators of renal function in a sex‐specific manner at 6 months of life. These finding likely contribute to the disease outcomes in male but not female offspring in later life and highlights the importance of renal factors other than nephron number in the programming of renal and cardiovascular disease.
Emergence of exponentially small reflected waves

We study the time-dependent scattering of a quantum mechanical wave packet at a barrier for energies larger than the barrier height, in the semi-classical regime. More precisely, we are interested in the leading order of the exponentially small scattered part of the wave packet in the semiclassical parameter when the energy density of the incident wave is sharply peaked around some value. We prove that this reflected part has, to leading order, a Gaussian shape centered on the classical trajectory for all times soon after its birth time. We give explicit formulas and rigorous error bounds for the reflected wave for all of these times.
Early-Life Gut Bacteria Associate with IL-4−, IL-10− and IFN-γ Production at Two Years of Age

Microbial exposure early in life influences immune maturation and potentially also the development of immune-mediated disease. Here we studied early-life gut colonization in relation to cytokine responses at two years of age. Fecal samples were collected from infants during the first two months of life. DNA was extracted from the fecal samples and Bifidobacterium (B.) adolescentis, B. breve, B. bifidum, a group of lactobacilli (L. casei, L. paracasei and L. rhamnosus) as well as Staphylococcus (S.) aureus were detected with real time PCR. Peripheral mononuclear cells were stimulated with phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) and numbers of IL-4−, IL-10− and IFN-γ secreting cells were evaluated using ELISpot. We further stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells with bacterial supernatants in vitro and assessed the IL-4−, IL-10− and IFN-γ inducing capacity by flow cytometry and ELISA. Early S. aureus colonization associated with higher numbers of IL-4− (p = 0.022) and IL-10 (p = 0.016) producing cells at two years of age. In contrast to colonization with S. aureus alone, co-colonization with lactobacilli associated with suppression of IL-4− (p = 0.004), IL-10− (p = 0.004) and IFN-γ (p = 0.034) secreting cells. In vitro stimulations of mononuclear cells with bacterial supernatants supported a suppressive role of L. rhamnosus GG on S. aureus-induced cytokine responses. We demonstrate that the early gut colonization pattern associates with the PHA-induced cytokine profile at two years of age and our in vitro findings support that specific bacterial species influence the T helper cell subsets. This suggests that dysbiosis in the early microbiota may modulate the risk of developing inflammatory conditions like allergy.
The pattern of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus in Saudi Arabia: a descriptive epidemiological analysis of data from the Saudi Ministry of Health

Purpose This study describes the epidemiology of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in Saudi Arabia. Patients and methods Epidemiological analysis was performed on data from all MERS-CoV cases recorded by the Saudi Ministry of Health between June 6, 2013 and May 14, 2014. The frequency of cases and deaths was calculated and adjusted by month, sex, age group, and region. The average monthly temperature and humidity of infected regions throughout the year was also calculated. Results A total of 425 cases were recorded over the study period. The highest number of cases and deaths occurred between April and May 2014. Disease occurrence among men (260 cases [62%]) was higher than in women (162 cases [38%]), and the case fatality rate was higher for men (52%) than for women (23%). In addition, those in the 45–59 years and ≥60 years age groups were most likely to be infected, and the case fatality rate for these people was higher than for other groups. The highest number of cases and deaths were reported in Riyadh (169 cases; 43 deaths), followed by Jeddah (156 cases; 36 deaths) and the Eastern Region (24 cases; 22 deaths). The highest case fatality rate was in the Eastern Region (92%), followed by Medinah (36%) and Najran (33%). MERS-CoV infection actively causes disease in environments with low relative humidity (<20%) and high temperature (15°C–35°C). Conclusion MERS-CoV is considered an epidemic in Saudi Arabia. The frequency of cases and deaths is higher among men than women, and those above 45 years of age are most affected. Low relative humidity and high temperature can enhance the spread of this disease in the entire population. Further analytical studies are required to determine the source and mode of infection in Saudi Arabia.
MicroRNA-613 inhibits cell growth, migration and invasion of papillary thyroid carcinoma by regulating SphK2

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have emerged as important gene regulators and are recognized as key players in carcinogenesis. In this study, we investigated the biological function and mechanism of miR-613 in the regulation of papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) development. We found that miR-613 was downregulated in PTC cell lines and tissues, and overexpression of miR-613 significantly suppressed PTC cell growth, migration and invasion in vitro and inhibited tumor growth in vivo. We identified the gene for sphingosine kinase 2 (SphK2) as a direct target of miR-613. Overexpression of miR-613 significantly repressed SphK2 expression by directly targeting its 3′-untranslated regions (3′-UTR) and restoration of SphK2 reversed the inhibitory effects of miR-613 on PTC cell growth and invasion. Taken together, our results indicated that miR-613 functions as a tumor suppressor in PTC and its suppressive effect is mediated by repressing SphK2 expression.
MicroRNA miR-29c Down-Regulation Leading to De-Repression of Its Target DNA Methyltransferase 3a Promotes Ischemic Brain Damage

Recent studies showed that stroke extensively alters cerebral microRNA (miRNA) expression profiles and several miRNAs play a role in mediating ischemic pathophysiology. We currently evaluated the significance of miR-29c, a highly expressed miRNA in rodent brain that was significantly down-regulated after focal ischemia in adult rats as well as after oxygen-glucose deprivation in PC12 cells. Bioinformatics indicated that DNA methyltransferase 3a (DNMT3a) is a major target of miR-29c and co-transfection with premiR-29c prevented DNMT3a 3′UTR vector expression. In PC12 cells, treatment with premiR-29c prevented OGD-induced cell death (by 58±6%; p<0.05). Furthermore, treatment with antagomiR-29c resulted in a 46±5% cell death in PC12 cells. When rats were treated with premiR-29c and subjected to transient focal ischemia, post-ischemic miR-29c levels were restored and the infarct volume decreased significantly (by 34±6%; p<0.05) compared to control premiR treated group. DNMT3a siRNA treatment also significantly curtailed the post-OGD cell death in PC12 cells (by 54±6%; p<0.05) and decreased the post-ischemic infarct volume in rats (by 30±5%; p<0.05) compared to respective control siRNA treated groups. The miR-29c gene promoter showed specific binding sites for the transcription factor REST and the miR-29c promoter vector expression was curtailed when cotransfected with a REST expressing plasmid. Furthermore, treatment with REST siRNA prevented the post-ischemic miR-29c down-regulation and DNMT3a induction in PC12 cells and curtailed ischemic cell death (by 64±9%; p<0.05) compared to control siRNA treatment. These studies suggest that miR-29c is a pro-survival miRNA and its down-regulation is a promoter of ischemic brain damage by acting through its target DNMT3a. Furthermore, REST is an upstream transcriptional controller of miR-29c and curtailing REST induction prevents miR-29c down-regulation and ischemic neuronal death.
Implementing Turing Machines in Dynamic Field Architectures

Cognitive computation, such as e.g. language processing, is conventionally regarded as Turing computation, and Turing ma- chines can be uniquely implemented as nonlinear dynamical systems using generalized shifts and subsequent Godel encoding of the sym- bolic repertoire. The resulting nonlinear dynamical automata (NDA) are piecewise affine-linear maps acting on the unit square th at is partitioned into rectangular domains. Iterating a single p oint, i.e. a microstate, by the dynamics yields a trajectory of, in princ iple, in- finitely many points scattered through phase space. Therefo re, the NDAs microstate dynamics does not necessarily terminate in contrast to its counterpart, the symbolic dynamics obtained from the rectan- gular partition. In order to regain the proper symbolic inte rpretation, one has to prepare ensembles of randomly distributed microstates with rectangular supports. Only the resulting macrostate evolution corresponds then to the original Turing machine computation. How- ever, the introduction of random initial conditions into a d etermin- istic dynamics is not really satisfactory. As a possible sol ution for this problem we suggest a change of perspective. Instead of looking at point dynamics in phase space, we consider functional dynam- ics of probability distributions functions (p.d.f.s) over phase space. This is generally described by a Frobenius-Perron integral transfor- mation that can be regarded as a neural field equation over the unit square as feature space of a dynamic field theory (DFT). Solvi ng the Frobenius-Perron equation, yields that uniform p.d. f.s wi th rectangu- lar support are mapped onto uniform p.d. f.s with rectangular support, again. Thus, the symbolically meaningful NDA macrostate dynam- ics becomes represented by iterated function dynamics in DFT; hence we call the resulting representation dynamic field automata.
Increased Kappa/Lambda Hybrid Antibody in Serum Is a Novel Biomarker Related to Disease Activity and Inflammation in Rheumatoid Arthritis

The κ/λ hybrid antibodies in normal human serum were reported recently, but their clinical relevance has not yet been explored. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is one of the major joint diseases, and the early diagnosis and treatment of RA remain a challenge. Here, we developed a double-sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay system to quantify relative serum κ/λ hybrid antibody levels in RA patients, osteoarthritis (OA) patients, and healthy controls (HC) in order to assess their potential use as a serological biomarker of early disease and clinical activity and to preliminarily investigate their immunomodulatory roles in RA. Surprisingly, we found that κ/λ hybrid antibody was markedly increased in both early and established RA. Serum κ/λ hybrid antibody levels were significantly correlated with clinical indexes and inflammatory markers in RA. Further analysis showed a positive correlation between κ/λ hybrid antibody levels and the 28-joint disease activity score (DAS28). In conclusion, serum κ/λ hybrid antibodies in RA were identified for the first time. High levels of κ/λ hybrid antibody may be a useful tool in distinguishing early RA from OA and HC. We suggest κ/λ hybrid antibody as a marker for disease activity. The increased κ/λ hybrid antibodies were associated with inflammatory conditions in RA.