Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Early Detection of Alzheimer’s Disease with Cognitive Neuroscience Methods

Recently, the exploration of human brain function was examined in cognitive neuroscience and brain science. Along with the development of engineering technology, such as measurement technology, information technology, and artificial intelligence, we can record the brain activity on the timeframe of milliseconds or at the level of a single neuron to examine basic visual function or high level brain function (e.g., memory, language, or attention). In this chapter, we introduce a new research field that combines engineering and cognitive neuroscience, which was named "Neuromedical Engineering". We focused our research on five topics: 1. tactile perception and neurology (Yang et al., 2011a, 2011b, 2011c, 2010a, 2011; Wu et al., 2010a, 2011); 2. attention and cognitive brain function (Wu & Li, 2009) and multisensory integration (Li et al, 2009a, 2010a, 2010b; Touge et al., 2008; Wu & Kakura, 2010; Wu et al., 2009); 3. basic visual cognition (Li et al., 2009b; Wu et al., 2011; Yan et al., 2011); 4. language (Cai et al., 2007; Li et al., 2011a, 2011b; Wu et al., 2007); and 5. tactile perception and rehabilitation (Bai et al., 2010). Focusing on these five topics, we provide information on human brain function and neurology. Furthermore, using these cognitive and neurological methods, we are challenging the topic of “Early Detection of Alzheimer’s Disease with Cognitive Neuroscience Methods”. The earliest symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) involves learning, memory or planning problems. Currently, no medical tests are available to diagnose AD conclusively premortem. However, several studies have used cognitive tasks (i.e., visuospatial tasks and language tasks) to discover preclinical cognitive markers of AD. These studies demonstrated that the cognitive deficits of AD can possibly be detected during a preclinical period that spans several years. In addition, numerous neuropathological, electrophysiological and neuroimaging studies support the hypothesis that cognitive deficits in AD are related to a possible disconnection between cortical areas. In this chapter, we describe current studies and possible future experiments on the early diagnosis method using cognitive and functional imaging testing to help with the clinical diagnosis of AD. People with AD die an average of four to six years after diagnosis, but the duration of the disease can vary from three to 20 years. As shown in Fig. 1, the rate of cognitive decline in patients with AD was faster than healthy subjects after a specific point (before diagnosis). This specific point may be detectable using memory and planning tasks, such as visuospatial and language tasks. Recent studies have demonstrated that the cognitive deficits of AD can be detected using some simplex cognitive tests.
Protection against muscle damage in competitive sports players: the effect of the immunomodulator AM3

Strenuous physical exercise of the limb muscles commonly results in damage, especially when that exercise is intense, prolonged and includes eccentric contractions. Many factors contribute to exercise-induced muscle injury and the mechanism is likely to differ with the type of exercise. Competitive sports players are highly susceptible to this type of injury. AM3 is an orally administered immunomodulator that reduces the synthesis of proinflammatory cytokines and normalizes defective cellular immune fractions. The ability of AM3 to prevent chronic muscle injury following strenuous exercise characterized by eccentric muscle contraction was evaluated in a double-blind and randomized pilot study. Fourteen professional male volleyball players from the First Division of the Spanish Volleyball League volunteered to take part. The participants were randomized to receive either placebo (n = 7) or AM3 (n = 7). The physical characteristics (mean±s) of the placebo group were as follows: age 25.7±2.1 years, body mass 87.2±4.1 kg, height 1.89±0.07 m, maximal oxygen uptake 65.3±4.2 ml · kg−1 · min−1. Those of the AM3 group were as follows: age 26.1±1.9 years, body mass 85.8±6.1 kg, height 1.91±0.07 m, maximal oxygen uptake 64.6±4.5 ml · kg−1 · min−1. All participants were evaluated for biochemical indices of muscle damage, including concentrations of aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, creatine kinase (CK) and its MB fraction (CK-MB), myoglobin, lactate dehydrogenase, urea, creatinine and γ-glutamyltranspeptidase, both before and 30 days after treatment (over the peak of the competitive season). In the placebo group, competitive exercise (i.e. volleyball) was accompanied by significant increases in creatine kinase (494±51 to 560±53 IU · l−1, P < 0.05) and myoglobin (76.8±2.9 to 83.9±3.1 μg · l−1, P < 0.05); aspartate aminotransferase (30.8±3.0 to 31.1±2.9 IU · l−1) and lactate dehydrogenase (380±31 to 376±29 IU · l−1) were relatively unchanged after the 30 days maximum effort. AM3 not only inhibited these changes, it led to a decrease from baseline serum concentrations of creatine kinase (503±49 to 316±37 IU · l−1, P < 0.05) and myoglobin (80.1±3.2 to 44.1±2.6 IU · l−1, P < 0.05), as well as aspartate aminotransferase (31.1±3.3 to 26.1±2.7 IU · l−1, P < 0.05) and lactate dehydrogenase (368±34 to 310±3 IU · l−1, P < 0.05). The concentration of CK-MB was also significantly decreased from baseline with AM3 treatment (11.6±1.2 to 5.0±0.7 IU · l−1, P < 0.05), but not with placebo (11.4±1.1 to 10.8±1.4 IU · l−1). In conclusion, the use of immunomodulators, such as AM3, by elite sportspersons during competition significantly reduces serum concentrations of proteins associated with muscle damage.
Working with the television on: an investigation into media multitasking

Many people can now bring the office home in the evening and work on a laptop computer while watching television. We conducted a lab-study to investigate the impact that this media multitasking habit has on stress and our ability to stay engaged with the content of a television show. Participants were required to complete a stressful mental arithmetic task, designed to simulate a demanding work-related activity, while watching a segment of a television documentary. To reflect the different ways that people can media multitask, participants were asked either to perform the work task continuously (concurrent multitasking), or during bursts (sequential multitasking). Results show that working on the stressful task was stressful ' it did not matter whether the television was on or not, nor did it matter how the tasks were interleaved. There was some evidence that sequentially interleaving tasks allowed participants to maintain their engagement with the television show. Overall though the results of this preliminary study suggest that if people want to relax and become engrossed in a television show they should avoid working on a secondary device at the same time.
The rise and fall of satellites in galaxy clusters

We use N-body simulations to study the infall of dark matter haloes onto rich clusters of galaxies. After identification of all cluster progenitors in the simulations, we select those haloes which accrete directly onto the main cluster progenitor. We construct the mass function of these merging satellites, and calculate the main orbital parameters for the accreted lumps. The average circularity of the orbits is epsilon = 0.5, while either radial or almost circular orbits are equally avoided. More massive satellites move along slightly more eccentric orbits, with lower specific angular momentum and a smaller pericentre. We find that the infall of satellites onto the main cluster progenitor has a very anisotropic distribution. This anisotropy is to a large extent responsible for the shape and orientation of the final cluster and of its velocity ellipsoid. At the end of the simulations, the major axis of the cluster is aligned both with that of its velocity ellipsoid, and with the major axis of the ellipsoid defined by the satellite infall pattern, to 30 degrees on average. We also find that, in lower mass clusters, a higher fraction of the final virial mass is provided by small, dense satellites. These sink to the centre of the parent cluster and so enhance its central density. This mechanism is found to be partially responsible for the correlation between halo masses and characteristic overdensities, recently highlighted by Navarro, Frenk & White (1996).
Content Based Image Retrieval based on Wavelet Transform coefficients distribution

In this paper we propose a content based image retrieval method for diagnosis aid in medical fields. We characterize images without extracting significant features by using distribution of coefficients obtained by building signatures from the distribution of wavelet transform. The research is carried out by computing signature distances between the query and database images. Several signatures are proposed; they use a model of wavelet coefficient distribution. To enhance results, a weighted distance between signatures is used and an adapted wavelet base is proposed. Retrieval efficiency is given for different databases including a diabetic retinopathy, a mammography and a face database. Results are promising: the retrieval efficiency is higher than 95% for some cases using an optimization process.
Late outcomes in children with Langerhans cell histiocytosis

Introduction Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) is a rare disease with diverse clinical courses. Despite improvement in survival outcomes in the recent decades, sequelae of the disease remain a concern. This study aimed to provide information on the long-term outcomes in patients with LCH, particularly on the sequelae and any associated factors. Method Medical records of patients with diagnosis of LCH and being managed in our centre were retrospectively reviewed. Data on the courses of illness, mortality, intervention, types and time of late events were collected and analysed. Results 70 patients were included with a mean observation time of 12 years (median 10.7 years, range 1–31.3 years). Sequelae related to LCH were present in 56% (n=39), being more common in multisystem diseases and patients with reactivations. Prevalence of sequelae is as follows: orthopaedic related 27%, diabetes insipidus 19%, growth retardation 13%, cosmetic 10%, neurological 7%, hearing 7%, anterior pituitary hormone deficiency 7%, hepatobiliary 4% and ophthalmological 3%. Neurological sequelae could manifest even 10 years after initial diagnosis of LCH. Reactivations, presence of central nervous system (CNS) risk lesions and treatment with radiotherapy were associated with a higher rate of sequelae. The cumulative incidence of reactivation was 34%. Most reactivations occurred in the first 2.5 years after diagnosis. Conclusion Sequelae were common after LCH, although some were mild. Neurological sequelae could be particularly severe and debilitating. Vigilant long-term follow-up would be essential for optimising patient outcomes. Further studies on the prevention and treatment of CNS disease of LCH are warranted.
Extracting Lexical Reference Rules from Wikipedia

This paper describes the extraction from Wikipedia of lexical reference rules, identifying references to term meanings triggered by other terms. We present extraction methods geared to cover the broad range of the lexical reference relation and analyze them extensively. Most extraction methods yield high precision levels, and our rule-base is shown to perform better than other automatically constructed baselines in a couple of lexical expansion and matching tasks. Our rule-base yields comparable performance to Word-Net while providing largely complementary information.
A sensitive mutation‐specific screening technique for GNAS1 mutations in cases of fibrous dysplasia: the first report of a codon 227 mutation in bone

Aims: To report on the mutation‐specific restriction enzyme digest (MSRED) method using paraffin‐embedded tissue as a means of detecting GNAS1 mutations in fibrous dysplasia (FD), and to determine if any of the reported GNAS1 mutations in endocrine neoplasms, not previously documented in FD, can be found in FD.
Fidelity of Intervention of English/Language Arts Elementary Curriculum for Gifted Students

Recent research has shown that implementation of innovative programs at the classroom level continues to be a major challenge. The purpose of this study was to examine the types of modifications made during implementation of two curriculum units in two different setting types (i.e., self-contained, pull-out) to identify areas that should be considered when developing curriculum for gifted learners served through various service delivery models. Following two cohorts of third-grade teachers implementing two language arts units, results indicate that teachers made choices to modify the curricula in detrimental ways more often than in productive ways, with pull-out classroom teachers making more negative modifications. Findings of the study suggest that modifying curriculum appears to be inevitable. To utilize research-based curriculum in educational settings, teachers should be provided knowledge about how to modify the curriculum for their setting to not detract from the intended learning goals, as well as understand the essential curricular components that should not be modified.
Street rehab: Linking accessibility and rehabilitation

As part of the Accessible Routes from Crowdsourced Cloud Services project (ARCCS) we conducted a series of experiments using the ARCCS sensor to identify push style of wheelchair users. The aim of ARCCS is to make use of a set of well-calibrated sensors to establish a processing chain that then provides ground truth of known accuracy about location, the nature of the environment, and physiological effort. In this paper we focus on two classification problems 1) The push style employed by people as they push themselves and 2) Whether the person is being pushed by an attendant or pushing themselves (independent of push style). Solving the first enables us to develop a level of granularity to pushing classification which transcends rehabilitation and accessibility. The first problem was solved using a wrist-mounted ARCCS sensor, and the second using a wheel-mounted ARCCS sensor. Push styles were classified between semi-circular and arc styles in both indoor and outdoor environments with a high-decrees of precision and recall (>95%). The ARCCS sensor also proved capable of discerning attendant from self-propulsion with near perfect accuracy and recall, without the need for a body-worn sensor.
Syntax Augmented Machine Translation via Chart Parsing with Integrated Language Modeling

We present a hierarchical phrase-based translation model which annotates and generalizes existing phrase translations with syntactic categories derived from parsing the target side of a parallel corpus. We associate target parse trees for each training sentence pair with a search lattice constructed from the existing phrase translations on the corresponding source sentence, and consider techniques to produce a syntactically motivated bilingual synchronous grammar. We describe refinements to a chart based decoder and k-best extraction techniques to effectively parse the resulting grammar, which contains up to 4000 syntax-derivated nonterminals, producing translations that achieve significant improvements over Pharaoh, a stateof-the-art phrase based system, on the Europarl French-to-English task (Koehn and Monz, 2005).
Managing Mixed Messages

The organizational landscape is changing for sexual minorities in U.S. workplaces. A dramatic increase in organizational policy protections reflects a broader societal shift toward social acceptance of sexual diversity. However, as participant narratives demonstrate, discrimination and bias are still present in contemporary organizations. As such, sexual minority employees must manage their sexual identities in a changing environment that is rife with mixed messages. In this study, 20 employees from across the United States in a variety of occupations described policies and communication with coworkers as influential to their sexual identity management. Using the framework of the communication theory of identity, gaps between communal frame communication (organizational policy) and relational frame communication (coworker communication) resulted in mixed messages participants had to discursively navigate to manage their sexual identities. Implications for practitioners and scholars are discussed.
Influence of chronic intrauterine exposure to alcohol on structurally normal hearts

Abuse of alcohol during pregnancy is known to cause alcoholic embryopathy and congenital cardiac disease. We sought to establish if there were any cardiac abnormalities to be found in patients known to have alcoholic embryopathy, but with structurally normal hearts. We reviewed the electrocardiograms and echocardiographic data of 347 such patients without congenital cardiac disease. A shortened QT interval was found in half of the cases. The left ventricular diameter was small in one quarter of all patients, independent from age, gender, and the degree of alcoholic embryopathy. We conclude that intrauterine exposure to alcohol as a primary toxin can lead to minor cardiac abnormalities, even in the absence of structural congenital cardiac disease.
Childhood Trauma, Dissociation and Alcohol/Other Drug Abuse Among Lesbian Women

Abstract Nineteen lesbian women with a history of alcohol/other drug abuse completed the Self-Report Version of the Dissociative Disorders Interview Schedule and the Dissociative Experiences Scale. Of the 19 women, 100% reported childhood physical and/or sexual abuse, 89% met criteria for major depressive disorder, and 58% for borderline personality disorder. In comparison, in a sample of 39 women in treatment at a hospital-based chemical dependency program, 58% reported childhood physical and/or sexual abuse, 72% met criteria for depression, and 44% met criteria for borderline personality disorder. The two groups did not differ on rates of these disorders or on a number of other symptom clusters. However, the lesbian women reported significantly more childhood abuse. More data from larger samples are required in order to determine whether lesbian women with alcohol/other drug abuse consistently report higher rates of childhood abuse than the base rate for women with alcohol/other drug abuse in general.
Breathing sediments: The control of diffusive transport across the sediment—water interface by periodic boundary‐layer turbulence

We performed combined in situ measurements of bottom boundary‐layer turbulence and of diffusive oxygen fluxes at the sediment‐water interface in a medium‐sized mesotrophic lake. The turbulence was driven by internal seiching with a period of 18 h. This periodic forcing, a prominent feature of enclosed water bodies, led to distinct deviations of the structure and the dynamics of the bottom boundary layer from the classical law‐of‐the‐wall theory. A major feature was a phase lag between the current velocity and the turbulent energy dissipation of approximately 10% of the seiching period (1.5–2 h). The oxygen flux into the sediment was controlled by the diffusive boundary layer, the thickness of which varied between 0.16 and 0.84 mm during the course of a seiching period, and was strongly affected by the periodic bottom boundary‐layer turbulence. The rate of dissipation of turbulent energy in the bottom boundary layer allowed us to define the Batchelor length for dissolved oxygen, which quantifies the smallest scales of oxygen fluctuations and provides an appropriate scaling for the diffusive boundary‐layer thickness and the corresponding oxygen fluxes. An analysis of the governing time scales revealed the importance of turbulence in controlling the small‐scale spatial heterogeneity of the diffusive fluxes. Higher turbulence causes the diffusive boundary layer (DBL) to follow the sediment topography more smoothly, resulting in an increased area‐averaged flux due to the greater effective surface area.
The effect of cognitive flexibility on task switching and language switching

Aims: The present study aimed at investigating whether cognitive flexibility plays the same role in language switching as in task switching. Design: Cognitive flexibility (CF) of 52 low proficiency Chinese (L1)–English (L2) bilinguals was assessed by the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task. These bilinguals were then subdivided in 26 high- and 26 low-CF participants. Both groups performed a task-switching (Simon switch task) and a language-switching task (picture-naming task). The former task required participants to press a button congruent or incongruent to the pointing direction of an arrow, while in the latter participants had to name pictures in their L1 and L2. Data and analysis: Both response latencies and accuracy scores were obtained. Afterwards switch costs (i.e. longer latencies or reduced accuracy for switch in contrast to repeat trials) were calculated. Findings: Results of the Simon switch task showed that switch costs for congruent and incongruent trials were symmetrical in the high-CF group, whereas the low-CF group showed larger switch costs for congruent than incongruent trials. Similarly, results of the language-switch task showed symmetrical switch costs for naming pictures in their L1 and L2 for the high-CF group, but L1 switch costs were larger than L2 ones in the low-CF group. These findings indicate that cognitive flexibility can modulate switch costs of two different switching tasks. This is in line with the inhibitory control model and the task-set inertia theory which assume that cognitive flexibility might modulate the symmetry of different types of switch costs via inhibition. This study provides first direct evidence that cognitive flexibility plays a comparably important role in language switching as well as in task switching. Thus, cognitive flexibility can be beneficial for low proficiency bilinguals’ inhibitory control during task switching and language switching.
STEME: efficient EM to find motifs in large data sets

MEME and many other popular motif finders use the expectation–maximization (EM) algorithm to optimize their parameters. Unfortunately, the running time of EM is linear in the length of the input sequences. This can prohibit its application to data sets of the size commonly generated by high-throughput biological techniques. A suffix tree is a data structure that can efficiently index a set of sequences. We describe an algorithm, Suffix Tree EM for Motif Elicitation (STEME), that approximates EM using suffix trees. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first application of suffix trees to EM. We provide an analysis of the expected running time of the algorithm and demonstrate that STEME runs an order of magnitude more quickly than the implementation of EM used by MEME. We give theoretical bounds for the quality of the approximation and show that, in practice, the approximation has a negligible effect on the outcome. We provide an open source implementation of the algorithm that we hope will be used to speed up existing and future motif search algorithms.