Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A hybrid platform based on EOG and EEG signals to restore communication for patients afflicted with progressive motor neuron diseases

An efficient alternative channel for communication without overt speech and hand movements is important to increase the quality of life for patients suffering from Amiotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or other illnesses that prevent correct limb and facial muscular responses. Often, such diseases leave the ocular movements preserved for a relatively long time. The aim of this study is to present a new approach for the hybrid system which is based on the recognition of electrooculogram (EOG) and electroencephalogram (EEG) measurements for efficient communication and control. As a first step we show that the EOG-based side of the system for communication and controls is useful for patients. The EOG side of the system has been equipped with an interface including a speller to notify of messages. A comparison of the performance of the EOG-based system has been made with a BCI system that uses P300 waveforms. As a next step, we plan to integrate EOG and EEG sides. The final goal of the project is to realize a unique noninvasive device able to offer the patient the partial restoration of communication and control abilities with EOG and EEG signals.
Changing unbalanced coping profiles-A prospective controlled intervention trial in worksite health promotion

Abstract Effective coping is based upon a broad variety of available strategies and a good balance between instrumental and palliative coping efforts. Thus, stress management training (SMT) should focus on broadening and balancing individual coping-profiles. This study investigated changes in coping profiles after participation in SMT at the worksite. The sample consisted of 82 healthy working persons who participated in a 12-week-SMT and 55 matched controls without intervention. The SMT consisted of six training elements: three of them (assertiveness, cognitive restructuring and time management) addressed instrumental coping and the other three (relaxation, physical activity and scheduling of pleasant activities) focussed on palliative coping. All subjects filled in standardized questionaires on coping, well-being and strain before and after the training. Cluster analyses performed on initial coping scores resulted in a 3-cluster solution: (1) “active flexible coping” (n = 53), (2) “problem-focused coping” (n = 40) and (3) “resignative avoidant coping” (n = 44). Analyses of covariance revealed that SMT-participants of Cluster 2 showed significant improvements regarding emotion-focused coping and those of Cluster 3 regarding problem-focused coping compared to controls of the same cluster. There were also significant associations between these clusterspecific changes of coping and improvements of well-being. In consequence, the SMT improved coping by supplementing one-sided initial coping-profiles.
Factors that Influence Persistence in Science and Engineering Career Aspirations.

The author investigated students' persistence regarding career aspirations in science and engineering (SE) professional careers as a function of race and sex. In a nationally representative sample of 8th graders, persistent racial minority and female students were compared with nonpersistent racial minority and male students regarding their self-concept, parental involvement, socioeconomic status, and academic achievement. Men were more likely than women to persist in SE career aspirations. Persistent students scored higher than did nonpersistent students on all of the variables studied. Academic proficiency and math self-efficacy were 2 of the strongest predictors of persistence in SE careers.
Marital Disruption, Parental Investment, and Children's Academic Achievement

Although previous research has noted the detrimental impact of parents' marital disruption on children's schooling, less is known about whether such detriments are observable prior to the disruption. Based on two waves of a nationally representative longitudinal data set, this study has found that even prior to family dissolution, both boys and girls from families that subsequently dissolve perform less well than their peers whose parents remain married. Families at the predisruption stage are also characterized by a shortage of financial, cultural, human, and social capital, even after demographics are controlled. In addition, some parental investment measures yield a smaller educational return for students whose families subsequently dissolve than for those whose parents remain married. Our results also indicate that the negative postdisruption effects on children's academic achievement can be either largely or completely predicted by performance and investment differences at the predisruption stage.
Current Issues in Anxiety and Depression: Comorbid, Mixed, and Subthreshold Disorders.

Recent attention has been given to the high frequency of coexisting anxiety and depressive symptoms that has served to challenge the more traditional view that these two disorders are typically discrete syndromes. Furthermore, research suggests that less severe states of anxiety and depression continue to be overlooked, despite their capacity to produce significant psychosocial impairment. Given the implications for diagnostic and treatment outcome, psychologists need to be aware of the epidemiology, clinical presentations, and treatment strategies surrounding comorbid and subthreshold anxiety and depression. We review the literature, present issues related to these syndromes, and discuss the implications for diagnostic and clinical activities.
Leadership Role of the School Administrator in Curriculum and Instruction

aspects of his work as planning buildings, securing financial support, and conducting public relations programs than he is in giving leadership to curriculum and instruction. Whether or not this is true, some administrators certainly are confused about the role of administration in relation to instruction. There are administrators who give no attention to the educational program. They are busy with their boards of education, with their building problems, or with some other aspect of their work, and they show no concern for instructional leadership. What is done about instruction in these schools
Multi-Variant Pathway Association Analysis Reveals the Importance of Genetic Determinants of Estrogen Metabolism in Breast and Endometrial Cancer Susceptibility

Despite the central role of estrogen exposure in breast and endometrial cancer development and numerous studies of genes in the estrogen metabolic pathway, polymorphisms within the pathway have not been consistently associated with these cancers. We posit that this is due to the complexity of multiple weak genetic effects within the metabolic pathway that can only be effectively detected through multi-variant analysis. We conducted a comprehensive association analysis of the estrogen metabolic pathway by interrogating 239 tagSNPs within 35 genes of the pathway in three tumor samples. The discovery sample consisted of 1,596 breast cancer cases, 719 endometrial cancer cases, and 1,730 controls from Sweden; and the validation sample included 2,245 breast cancer cases and 1,287 controls from Finland. We performed admixture maximum likelihood (AML)–based global tests to evaluate the cumulative effect from multiple SNPs within the whole metabolic pathway and three sub-pathways for androgen synthesis, androgen-to-estrogen conversion, and estrogen removal. In the discovery sample, although no single polymorphism was significant after correction for multiple testing, the pathway-based AML global test suggested association with both breast (p global = 0.034) and endometrial (p global = 0.052) cancers. Further testing revealed the association to be focused on polymorphisms within the androgen-to-estrogen conversion sub-pathway, for both breast (p global = 0.008) and endometrial cancer (p global = 0.014). The sub-pathway association was validated in the Finnish sample of breast cancer (p global = 0.015). Further tumor subtype analysis demonstrated that the association of the androgen-to-estrogen conversion sub-pathway was confined to postmenopausal women with sporadic estrogen receptor positive tumors (p global = 0.0003). Gene-based AML analysis suggested CYP19A1 and UGT2B4 to be the major players within the sub-pathway. Our study indicates that the composite genetic determinants related to the androgen–estrogen conversion are important for the induction of two hormone-associated cancers, particularly for the hormone-driven breast tumour subtypes.
Asian Americans: Achievements Mask Challenges

This article focuses on the existence of the "glass ceiling" to upward career mobility experienced by Asian Americans in professional occupations. It questions the recent portrayal of Asian Americans as a "model minority" who have "made it" in America. Instead, it shows that despite their good record of achievement, Asian Americans do not reach a level at which they can participate in policy and decision-making responsibilities. This article builds on the emerging glass ceiling literature by Asian American scholars, while examining social/cultural complexities, peculiarities, and nuances in private companies, government agencies, and institutions of higher education.
Association between Bone Mineral Density and LDL Receptor-Related Protein 5 Gene Polymorphisms in Young Korean Men

Recently, It has been reported that the LDL receptor-related protein 5 (LRP5) regulates bone formation, and that mutations of the gene cause osteoporosis-pseudoglioma syndrome or high bone mass phenotypes. However, the mutations cannot explain a genetic trait for osteoporosis in the general population because of their rarity. From 219 Korean men aged 20-34 yr, we looked for six known polymorphisms causing amino acid changes in the LRP5 coding region, and investigated their association with bone mineral density (BMD) at the following anatomical sites: lumbar spine (L2-L4) and the left proximal femur (femoral neck, Ward's triangle, trochanter and shaft). We found that the Q89R polymorphism was significantly associated with BMD at the femoral neck and Ward's triangle (p=0.004 and <0.001, respectively). However, after adjusting for age, weight and height, a statistically significant association only occurred at the Ward's triangle (p=0.043), and a marginal association was observed at the femoral neck (p=0.098). No A400V, V667M, R1036Q and A1525V polymorphisms were found, and no statistically significant association was found between the A1330V polymorphism and BMD at any sites. Although we failed to demonstrate a clear association between the LRP5 polymorphism and peak bone mass in young men, the present study suggests that larger-scale studies on the Q89R polymorphism need to be performed.
Will Products Look More Attractive When Presented Separately or Together?

This research examines whether each of two different options of comparable overall quality will be perceived more positively when presented in isolation and evaluated separately (separate evaluation) or when juxtaposed and evaluated side by side (joint evaluation). Six studies, involving either judgment or choice as the dependent variable, reveal a general principle: If the focal options are already attractive (relative to their natural reference) in separate evaluation, then subjecting these options to joint evaluation will hurt their attractiveness. If the focal options are unattractive (relative to their reference) in separate evaluation, subjecting them to joint evaluation will enhance their attractiveness. Copyright 1998 by the University of Chicago.
Maternal Employment and Adolescents' Academic Achievement: A Developmental Analysis.

Among younger children, maternal employment is associated with diminished school achievement, specifically in White, middle-class boys from two-parent families. This study examined whether and under what conditions maternal employment affects school achievement among high school students. It found that among 2,571 White adolescents living in two-parent families who provided information on parental employment patterns, school grades, and family characteristics (1) upper middle-class and middle-class boys reported lower grades when their mothers were working full time; (2) among upper middle-class boys, both mother's contemporaneous employment and employment during the preschool years were associated with lower grades; (3) upper middle-class and middle-class girls reported no effects of their mothers' contemporaneous employment, but did report lower high school grades when their mothers worked full time during the preschool period; and (4) for upper middle-class boys, their grades were lower when their mothers worked full time throughout the boys' lives than when the mothers increased their work hours over time. The article presents important implications for conceptualizing and studying maternal employment.
Intracellular interactions of umeclidinium and vilanterol in human airway smooth muscle

Background Intracellular mechanisms of action of umeclidinium (UMEC), a long-acting muscarinic receptor antagonist, and vilanterol (VI), a long-acting β2-adrenoceptor (β2R) agonist, were investigated in target cells: human airway smooth-muscle cells (ASMCs). Materials and methods ASMCs from tracheas of healthy lung-transplant donors were treated with VI, UMEC, UMEC and VI combined, or control compounds (salmeterol, propranolol, ICI 118.551, or methacholine [MCh]). Cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) was measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, intracellular free calcium ([Ca2+]i) using a fluorescence assay, and regulator of G-protein signaling 2 (RGS2) messenger RNA using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Results VI and salmeterol (10−12–10−6 M) induced cAMP production from ASMCs in a concentration-dependent manner, which was greater for VI at all concentrations. β2R antagonism by propranolol or ICI 118.551 (10−12–10−4 M) resulted in concentration-dependent inhibition of VI-induced cAMP production, and ICI 118.551 was more potent. MCh (5×10−6 M, 30 minutes) attenuated VI-induced cAMP production (P<0.05), whereas pretreatment with UMEC (10−8 M, 1 hour) restored the magnitude of VI-induced cAMP production. ASMC stimulation with MCh (10−11–5×10−6 M) resulted in a concentration-dependent increase in [Ca2+]i, which was attenuated with UMEC pretreatment. Reduction of MCh-induced [Ca2+]i release was greater with UMEC + VI versus UMEC. UMEC enhanced VI-induced RGS2 messenger RNA expression. Conclusion These data indicate that UMEC reverses cholinergic inhibition of VI-induced cAMP production, and is a more potent muscarinic receptor antagonist when in combination with VI versus either alone.
Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis dysfunction in Alzheimer's disease: lack of association between longitudinal and cross-sectional findings.

OBJECTIVE The authors examined longitudinal hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis function in Alzheimer's disease. METHOD Cortisol levels of 30 patients with Alzheimer's disease and 17 healthy elderly subjects were measured before and after administration of dexamethasone. These measures were repeated at 9-month intervals in the patients with Alzheimer's disease. RESULTS At baseline, cortisol levels were higher in the Alzheimer's disease group before and after dexamethasone administration. Although only two of the four patients whose cortisol levels were not suppressed by dexamethasone also had high cortisol levels before dexamethasone administration, basal and postdexamethasone cortisol levels were correlated. HPA axis dysfunction correlated with severity of dementia at baseline but was not stable longitudinally and did not increase with follow-up. CONCLUSIONS There was no association between longitudinal and cross-sectional findings. The longitudinal data were not consistent with a role for the glucocorticoid cascade hypothesis (that hippocampal cell loss in Alzheimer's disease results in hypercortisolism, which in turn acts as a co-factor in further degeneration) in the pathophysiology of mild and moderate Alzheimer's disease.
Change in the balance of excitatory and inhibitory midline fiber crossing as an explanation for the hopping phenotype in EphA4 knockout mice

Neuronal networks in the spinal cord termed central pattern generators (CPGs) are responsible for the generation of rhythmic movements, such as walking. The axon guidance molecule EphA4 has been suggested to play a role in the configuration of spinal CPG networks in mammals. In EphA4 knockout (EphA4‐KO) mice, the normal alternating walking pattern is replaced by a rabbit‐like hopping gait, which can be reproduced when locomotor‐like activity is induced in the isolated spinal cord. This hopping phenotype has been explained by an abnormal midline crossing of ipsilateral axons. Here, we investigated the nature of this overcrossing in heterozygous EphA4 (EphA4lacZ/+) mice that showed normal alternating gait and homozygous EphA4 (EphA4lacZ/lacZ) mice with hopping gait. Localized lesions showed that the hopping phenotype is maintained by fibers crossing in the ventral commissure. Using transgenic mouse lines in which glutamatergic, GABAergic and glycinergic neurons are intrinsically labeled, we showed a significant increase in the number of crossing excitatory β‐galactosidase‐positive neurons and a decrease in the number of inhibitory neurons crossing the midline in EphA4lacZ/lacZ mice compared with EphA4lacZ/+ mice. These results show that the hopping phenotype is the result of a change in the balance between excitatory and inhibitory signals across the midline and that EphA4‐positive neurons play an essential role in the mammalian CPG.
Supervised semantic indexing

In this article we propose Supervised Semantic Indexing (SSI), an algorithm that is trained on (query, document) pairs of text documents to predict the quality of their match. Like Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI), our models take account of correlations between words (synonymy, polysemy). However, unlike LSI our models are trained with a supervised signal directly on the ranking task of interest, which we argue is the reason for our superior results. As the query and target texts are modeled separately, our approach is easily generalized to different retrieval tasks, such as online advertising placement. Dealing with models on all pairs of words features is computationally challenging. We propose several improvements to our basic model for addressing this issue, including low rank (but diagonal preserving) representations, and correlated feature hashing (CFH). We provide an empirical study of all these methods on retrieval tasks based on Wikipedia documents as well as an Internet advertisement task. We obtain state-of-the-art performance while providing realistically scalable methods.
Impact of a creative arts journal on a medical school community: A qualitative study

The Florida State University College of Medicine (FSUCOM) has created a new creative arts journal called HEAL: Humanism Evolving through Arts and Literature. This study was designed to evaluate the influence creative arts publications may have on students, faculty, and staff of a medical school. The investigators randomly selected 17 participants from 25 volunteers in the HEAL project who agreed to be interviewed. They used consensual qualitative research methods to analyze the data, identifying major areas of impact HEAL had on the faculty, students, and staff. Three major themes were identified: Strengthening Professional Relationships (SPR), Educational Enhancement (EE), and Self-Expression (SE). The following sub-themes were identified: SPR—changed perceptions; SE—artistic self-expression; EE—faculty example, and positive reinforcement of career choice. HEAL is perceived as a valuable part of medical education, and the identified themes can be tested in further research.
Exploring the Role of Autonomy for Exercise and Its Relationship with Mental Well‐Being: A study with non‐academic university employees

Abstract Self‐Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985; Ryan & Deci, 2000) suggests that feeling autonomous towards a given behavior is important for mental well‐being. Despite evidence indicating that regular exercise can contribute to well‐being, little is known about the mechanisms involved. Few studies have examined the role of autonomy in exercise on improvement in well‐being. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to examine the link between autonomy for exercise and well‐being in a sample of 769 non‐academic university employees. Questionnaires measuring exercise motivation, life satisfaction, self‐esteem, job‐related affect, physical self‐worth, and physical satisfaction were completed. Multiple regression analyses showed that autonomous motivation significantly predicted most of the well‐being indicators. Hence, health promoters designing interventions to enhance well‐being through exercise could attempt to increase feelings of autonomy in their participants.
Planning for the Future in Rural and Urban High Schools

Studies of postsecondary aspirations tend to assume that adolescents from different ethnic groups share commonalities of perspective that are unaffected by the areas in which they live and go to school. Largely missing from this literature is a consideration of the intersection of ethnicity, development, and location. This study looks at the ways in which White and Latino students in an urban and a rural high school differ in their perspectives on postsecondary plans according to grade level, ethnicity, and urbanicity. We find a number of differences in student attitudes and behavior depending on whether students attend rural or urban high schools. High school experiences are also moderated by ethnicity across locations. However, with respect to how students want others to see them, students in the rural high school are more like each other than they are like their ethnic counterparts in the urban school. We conclude that, in many respects, both Latino and White students experience schooling and adolescent development differently in rural and urban schools.
EVIDENCE FOR AN OLFACTORY STORE IN WORKING MEMORY

We tested the hypothesis that olfactory information can be temporarily retained in a modality-specific short-term memory system. The results of two experiments using short-term memory tasks supported this hypothesis. Experiment 1 showed an effect of concurrent odour memory on digit recall that was equivalent to the effect of concurrent visual memory and smaller than that of concurrent verbal memory. Experiment 2 showed a detrimental effect of concurrent odour memory on odour recognition, and no effect of concurrent verbal and visual memory tasks. Based on these findings, and on published evidence for rehearsal and imagery of olfactory information, we tentatively conclude that there is a subsystem in working memory dedicated to temporary maintenance of olfactory information.
Disruption of NMDAR-dependent burst firing by dopamine neurons provides selective assessment of phasic dopamine-dependent behavior

Midbrain dopamine (DA) neurons fire in 2 characteristic modes, tonic and phasic, which are thought to modulate distinct aspects of behavior. However, the inability to selectively disrupt these patterns of activity has hampered the precise definition of the function of these modes of signaling. Here, we addressed the role of phasic DA in learning and other DA-dependent behaviors by attenuating DA neuron burst firing and subsequent DA release, without altering tonic neural activity. Disruption of phasic DA was achieved by selective genetic inactivation of NMDA-type, ionotropic glutamate receptors in DA neurons. Disruption of phasic DA neuron activity impaired the acquisition of numerous conditioned behavioral responses, and dramatically attenuated learning about cues that predicted rewarding and aversive events while leaving many other DA-dependent behaviors unaffected.