Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Quantitative Evaluation and Visualization of Lumbar Foraminal Nerve Root Entrapment by Using Diffusion Tensor Imaging: Preliminary Results

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: DTI can provide valuable structural information that may become an innovative tool in evaluating lumbar foraminal nerve root entrapment. The purpose of this study was to visualize the lumbar nerve roots and to measure their FA in healthy volunteers and patients with lumbar foraminal stenosis by using DTI and tractography with 3T MR imaging. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eight patients with lumbar foraminal stenosis and 8 healthy volunteers underwent 3T MR imaging. In all subjects, DTI was performed with echo-planar imaging at a b-value of 800 s/mm2 and the lumbar nerve roots were visualized with tractography. Mean FA values in the lumbar nerve roots were quantified on DTI images. RESULTS: In all subjects, the lumbar nerve roots were clearly visualized with tractography. In all patients, tractography also showed abnormalities such as tract disruption, nerve narrowing, and indentation in their course through the foramen. Mean FA values were significantly lower in entrapped roots than in intact roots. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrated that DTI and tractography of human lumbar nerves can visualize and quantitatively evaluate lumbar nerve entrapment with foraminal stenosis. We believe that DWI is a potential tool for the diagnosis of lumbar nerve entrapment.
A genome-wide association study identified new variants associated with the risk of chronic hepatitis B.

UNLABELLED Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is the predominant risk factor for chronic hepatitis B (CHB), liver cirrhosis (LC) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Recently, several genome-wide association studies (GWASs) of CHB identified human leukocyte antigen (HLA) loci, including HLA-DP and HLA-DQ in Asian populations, as being associated with the risk of CHB. To confirm and identify the host genetic factors related to CHB infection, we performed another GWAS using a higher-density chip in Korean CHB carriers. We analyzed 1400 samples from Korean population (400 CHB cases and 1000 population controls) using a higher-density GWAS chip [1 140 419 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)]. In subsequent replication analysis, we further analyzed in an independent study of a Korean CHB cohort consisting of 2909 Korean samples (971 cases and 1938 controls). Logistic regression methods were used for statistical analysis adjusting for age and sex as covariates. This study identified two new risk-associated loci for CHB on the HLA region of chromosome 6, e.g. rs652888 on euchromatic histone-lysine-methyltransferase 2 (EHMT2, P = 7.07 × 10(-13)) and rs1419881 on transcription factor 19 (TCF19, P = 1.26 × 10(-18)). Conditional analysis with nearby HLA CHB loci that were previously known, confirmed the independent genetic effects of these two loci on CHB. CONCLUSION The GWAS and the subsequent validation study identified new variants associated with the risk of CHB. These findings may advance the understanding of genetic susceptibility to CHB.
Sublethal doses of Bacillus anthracis lethal toxin inhibit inflammation with lipopolysaccharide and Escherichia coli challenge but have opposite effects on survival.

BACKGROUND On the basis of the findings of previous in vitro studies, we hypothesized that anthrax lethal toxin (LeTx) would have anti-inflammatory effects in vivo. METHODS We investigated the effects of sublethal doses of LeTx in rats receiving intravascular challenge with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or intratracheal challenge with Escherichia coli. RESULTS In rats receiving 24-h infusions of LPS, compared with control rats, pretreatment with high or low sublethal doses of LeTx 3 h before infusion produced similar patterns of reduction in the hazards ratio (HR) of survival at 168 h (0.60 [95% confidence interval {CI}, 0.37-0.98]; P=.03, for the doses combined). LeTx increased mean arterial blood pressure throughout the period of LPS infusion (P=.001); decreased the levels of 10 of 13 cytokines assessed (i.e., interleukin [IL]-1 alpha , IL-1 beta , IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, interferon- gamma , tumor necrosis factor- alpha , granulocyte macrophage-colony-stimulating factor, migratory inhibitory protein [MIP]-1 alpha , MIP-2, MIP-3 alpha , and RANTES) at 2 h; decreased all 13 cytokine levels at 8 h; decreased only 4 cytokine levels at 24 h; and decreased the plasma level of nitric oxide (NO) at 8 h and 24 h but not at 2 h (P< or =.02, for the effect of LeTx, across time, on both cytokine levels and the NO level). Although pretreatment with LeTx before challenge with E. coli altered mean arterial blood pressure, cytokine levels, and the NO level in a pattern similar to that noted in association with LPS infusion, it increased the HR in a pattern different from that associated with LPS (4.36 [95% CI, 0.3-63.4]; P=.04, for the effects of LeTx with LPS vs. E. coli). CONCLUSION Inhibition of inflammation with LeTx can occur in vivo, and, although beneficial with noninfectious stimuli, it may be harmful with bacteria.
Mathematical Models for Possible Roles of Oxytocin and Oxytocin Receptors in Autism

This paper develops mathematical models examining possible roles of oxytocin and oxytocin receptors in the development of autism. This is done by demonstrating that mathematical operations on normalized data from the Stanford study, which establishes a correspondence between severity of autism in children and their oxytocin blood levels, generate a graph that is the same as the graph of mathematical operations on a normalized theoretical model for the severity of autism. This procedure establishes the validity of the theoretical model and the significance of oxytocin receptors in autism. A steady-state model follows, explaining the constant baseline concentrations of oxytocin observed in the cerebral spinal fluid and blood in terms of the neuromodulation by oxytocin of oxytocin receptors on the magnocellular neurons that produce oxytocin in nuclei in the hypothalamus. The implications of these models for possible roles of oxytocin and oxytocin receptors in autism are considered for several unrelated conditions that may be associated with autism. These are oxytocin receptor desensitization and downregulation as factors during labor in offspring autism development; reductions in the oxytocin receptor numbers in the fixed oxytocin receptor expression that occurs before birth; MAST Immune System disease; and the excess number of dendritic spines from lack of pruning observed in brains of autistic people. Research into the feasibility of generating magnocellular neurons and other neurons from adult stem cells is suggested as a way of doing in vitro studies of oxytocin and oxytocin receptors to assess the validity of theories presented in this paper.
Inhibitory Control and Cognitive Flexibility in Children With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Executive functions are a set of cognitive operations that enable direct behaviors to goals. Deficits in executive functioning have been associated with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The purpose of this study was to describe the performance of children diagnosed with ADHD in tasks of inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility. Thirty children were divided into 2 groups: clinical and control. The Five Digits Test and the Wisconsin Classification Card Test were used as psychological instruments. A questionnaire with a description of daily behaviors was answered by the caregivers of the children. The results indicated that the group of patients with ADHD presented worse performance than the control group in Five Digits Test tasks. No significant differences were observed between the groups in the Wisconsin Classification Card Test. In the caregivers’ view, children with ADHD have difficulties controlling motor behavior and inhibiting inappropriate behaviors in social relationships, and ordinary children may have behaviors of not being organized with their personal objects. The effect size was considered small for the study findings. Children with ADHD may require more time than ordinary children to perform the same task. Investigations of larger samples are required to confirm this data.
Parental involvement and health risk behaviours among school-going adolescents in six African countries

The aim of this study was to assess the association between parental involvement (support and monitoring) and health risk behaviours among adolescents in six African countries. Data were from the cross-sectional Global School-Based Student Health Survey (GSHS) which sampled a total of 16 587 adolescents (mean age 14.6 years, SD = 1.6) from 2009 to 2013. In multivariable regression analyses, adjusted for relevant variables, higher levels of parental involvement were negatively associated with substance use (smoking, other tobacco use, drunkenness and illicit drug use) and violence (being bullied, in a physical fight), injury and truancy. Only high-level parental involvement was associated with use of contraception at most recent sex. Interventions for reducing various health risk behaviours should consider the positive impact of parental involvement.
Introduction: What is the Philosophy of Science

What is the philosophy of science? It is the application of philosophical methods to philosophical problems as they arise in the context of the sciences. That's not a particularly helpful answer as it stands, but at least it allows us to break our original question into parts: What are the methods of philosophy? What are philosophical problems? How do these problems arise within different scientific fields?
Research Synopsis

My research lies in the area of Natural Language Processing (NLP), a highly interdisciplinary field of study comprising of concepts and ideas from Artificial Intelligence, Linguistic Theory and Statistics. Naturally occurring instances of human language, be it text or speech, are growing at an exponential rate given the popularity of the Web and social media. In addition, people are increasingly becoming more and more reliant on their computers to search, filter, process and, in some cases, even understand the subset of such instances they encounter in their daily lives. Given both these factors, I believe that NLP as an area of scholarly exploration has never been more relevant than it is today.
Episodic Simulation of Future Events in Dependent and Non-dependent Daily Cannabis Users

OVERVIEW: This thesis investigates the Episodic Simulation of Future Events (ESoFE) within two populations; cannabis users and individuals diagnosed with psychosis. Part one provides a narrative synthesis of literature investigating the hypothesis that individuals with psychosis show an impairment in ESoFE. Psychosis spectrum studies investigating ESoFE in analogue samples with psychotic traits were also included. Evidence was found for individuals with psychosis to demonstrate an impairment on some measures of ESoFE, but only under certain task conditions. Preliminary evidence for an ESoFE enhancement in analogue samples with psychotic traits was also identified. In light of the methodological inconsistencies across studies, recommendations are made for the development of a standardised ESoFE measure, as well as for the literature to be organised around an agreed taxonomy of future-orientated cognition. Part two is an empirical paper examining how cannabis use affects ESoFE in both dependent and non-dependent daily cannabis users. Both cannabis-using groups were compared with non-cannabis-using controls on an ESoFE task which required participants to imagine future events related to cue sentences. ESoFE differences were observed between the two cannabis-using groups, but not between either cannabis-using group and controls. Non-dependent users provided richer descriptions of their cannabis related future events than dependent users, and this was taken as evidence for a cannabis ESoFE ‘bias’ in non-dependent users relative to dependent users. The findings have potential implications for treatment programmes requiring cannabis-dependent individuals to project themselves into the future. Part three provides an appraisal of the research process, including an account of why the research area was chosen, critical reflections on the methodology, and some concluding reflections on how the author’s experiences of research and clinical practice have enriched one another. This was a joint project with fellow DClinPsy student, Ruth Braidwood (Braidwood, 2017). Jon Waldron (MSc student) was also involved in recruitment and data collection. See Appendix 1 for a breakdown of contributions.
The effect of network characteristics on e-health Telehaptics applications; Application of suture gestures in distributed virtual surgical environment

The combination of surgical simulation and haptic interfaces provides a powerful platform for reproducing the visual and motor sensations that a surgeon experiences during a surgical operation. With the wide availability of information technologies and new, robust telecommunication technologies, remote tele-guidance for learning surgical procedures has become feasible for more effectively employing expertise through remote instruction. The current study employs an interaction analysis approach adapted to telehaptic collaboration/guidance solutions in surgical suturing task training, so we aim to identify not only the influence of the network parameters on telehaptic guidance but also on the e-learning of gestures.
Dietary essential fatty acids and brain function: a developmental perspective on mechanisms

Brain development is a complex interactive process in which early disruptive events can have long-lasting effects on later functional adaptation. It is a process that is dependent on the timely orchestration of external and internal inputs through sophisticated intra- and intercellular signalling pathways. Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFA), specifically arachidonic acid and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), accrue rapidly in the grey matter of the brain during development, and brain fatty acid (FA) composition reflects dietary availability. Membrane lipid components can influence signal transduction cascades in various ways, which in the case of LCPUFA include the important regulatory functions mediated by the eicosanoids, and extend to long-term regulation through effects on gene transcription. Our work indicates that FA imbalance as well as specific FA deficiencies can affect development adversely, including the ability to respond to environmental stimulation. For example, although the impaired water-maze performance of mice fed a saturated-fat diet improved in response to early environmental enrichment, the brains of these animals showed less complex patterns of dendritic branching. Dietary n-3 FA deficiency influences specific neurotransmitter systems, particularly the dopamine systems of the frontal cortex. We showed that dietary deficiency of n-3 FA impaired the performance of rats on delayed matching-to-place in the water maze, a task of the type associated with prefrontal dopamine function. We did not, however, find an association over a wider range of brain DHA levels and performance on this task. Some, but not all, studies of human infants suggest that dietary DHA may play a role in cognitive development as well as in some neurodevelopmental disorders; this possibility has important implications for population health.
A Comparative Analysis of Japanese and Western NDEs

Abstract: Decades of studies on near-death experiences (NDEs) have reveals both cross-cultural and culture-specific features (Kellehear, 2009) and that it is important to determine which aspects are attributed to the physiological, biological, or psychological mechanisms shared by all humans and which aspects are of cultural origin. In this article, we examine Japanese NDEs and compare their features with generalizations based on observations of Western NDEs. The main differences between Japanese and Western NDEs are the interpretation of the light and the concomitant lack of interaction with it, the image of heaven, and the absence of the life review. We suggest that these characteristics are accounted for in terms of cultural differences.
Automatic Construction of 3D Basic-Semantic Models of Inhabited Interiors Using Laser Scanners and RFID Sensors

This paper is focused on the automatic construction of 3D basic-semantic models of inhabited interiors using laser scanners with the help of RFID technologies. This is an innovative approach, in whose field scarce publications exist. The general strategy consists of carrying out a selective and sequential segmentation from the cloud of points by means of different algorithms which depend on the information that the RFID tags provide. The identification of basic elements of the scene, such as walls, floor, ceiling, windows, doors, tables, chairs and cabinets, and the positioning of their corresponding models can then be calculated. The fusion of both technologies thus allows a simplified 3D semantic indoor model to be obtained. This method has been tested in real scenes under difficult clutter and occlusion conditions, and has yielded promising results.
Using Twitter data to provide qualitative insights into pandemics and epidemics

Background: One area of public health research specialises in examining public views and opinions surrounding infectious disease outbreaks. Although interviews and surveys are valid sources of this information, views and opinions are necessarily generated by the context, rather than spontaneous. As such, social media has increasingly been viewed as legitimate source of pragmatic, unfiltered public opinion. Objectives: This research attempts to better understand how users converse about infectious disease outbreaks on the social media platform Twitter. The study was undertaken in order to address a gap in knowledge because previous empirical studies that have analysed infectious disease outbreaks on Twitter have focused on employing quantitative methods as the primary form of data analysis. After analysing individual cases on Ebola, Zika, and swine flu, the study performs an important comparison in the types of discussions taking place on Twitter and is the first empirical study to do so. Methods: A number of pilot studies were initially designed and conducted in order to help inform the main study. The study then manually labels tweets on infectious disease outbreaks assisted by the qualitative analysis programme NVivo, and performs an analysis using the Health Belief Model, concepts around information theory, and a number of sociological principles. The data were purposively sampled according to when Google Trends Data showed a heightened interest in the respective outbreaks, and a case study approach was utilised. Results: A substantial number of themes were uncovered which were not reported in previous literature, demonstrating the potential of qualitative methodologies for extracting greater insight into public health opinions from Twitter data. The study noted several limitations of Twitter data for use in qualitative research. However, results demonstrated the potential of Twitter to identify discussions around infectious diseases that might not emerge in an interview and/or which might not be included in a survey.
Old and new ether-drift experiments: a sharp test for a preferred frame

Motivated by the critical remarks of several authors, we have re-analyzed the classical ether-drift experiments with the conclusion that the small observed deviations should not be neglected. In fact, within the framework of Lorentzian Relativity, they might indicate the existence of a preferred frame relatively to which the Earth is moving with a velocity v_earth\sim 200$ km/s (value projected in the plane of the interferometer). We have checked this idea by comparing with the modern ether-drift experiments, those where the observation of the fringe shifts is replaced by the difference \Delta \nu in the relative frequencies of two cavity-stabilized lasers, upon local rotations of the apparatus or under the Earth's rotation. It turns out that, even in this case, the most recent data are consistent with the same value of the Earth's velocity, once the vacuum within the cavities is considered a physical medium whose refractive index is fixed by General Relativity. We thus propose a sharp experimental test that can definitely resolve the issue. If the small deviations observed in the classical ether-drift experiments were not mere instrumental artifacts, by replacing the high vacuum in the resonating cavities with a dielectric gaseous medium (e.g. air), the typical measured \Delta\nu\sim 1 Hz should increase by orders of magnitude. This expectation is consistent with the characteristic modulation of a few kHz observed in the original experiment with He-Ne masers. However, if such enhancement would not be confirmed by new and more precise data, the existence of a preferred frame can be definitely ruled out.
NAACL HLT 2009 Unsupervised and Minimally Supervised Learning of Lexical Semantics

Supervised word sense disambiguation requires training corpora that have been tagged with word senses, and these word senses typically come from a pre-existing sense inventory. Space limitations imposed by dictionary publishers have biased the field towards lists of discrete senses for an individual lexeme. This approach does not capture information about relatedness of individual senses. How important is this information to knowing which sense distinctions are critical for particular types of NLP applications? How much does sense relatedness affect automatic word sense disambiguation performance? Recent psycholinguistic evidence seems to indicate that closely related word senses may be represented in the mental lexicon much like a single sense, whereas distantly related senses may be represented more like discrete entities. These results suggest that, for the purposes of WSD, closely related word senses can be clustered together into a more general sense with little meaning loss. This talk will describe the relatedness of verb senses and its impact on NLP applications and WSD components as well as recent psycholinguistic research results.
Instructed illiteracy reveals expertise-effects on unconscious processing

We used a new methodological approach to investigate whether top-down influences like expertise determine the extent of unconscious processing. This approach does not rely on preexisting differences between experts and novices, but instructs essentially the same task in a way that either addresses a domain of expertise or not. Participants either were instructed to perform a lexical decision task (expert task) or to respond to a combination of single features of word and non-word stimuli (novel task). The stimuli and importantly also the mapping of responses to those stimuli, however, were exactly the same in both groups. We analyzed congruency effects of masked primes depending on the instructed task. Participants performing the expert task responded faster and less error prone when the prime was response congruent rather than incongruent. This effect was significantly reduced in the novel task, and even reversed when excluding identical prime-target pairs. This indicates that the primes in the novel task had an effect on a perceptual level, but were not able to impact on response activation. Overall, these results demonstrate an expertise-based top-down modulation of unconscious processing that cannot be explained by confounds that are otherwise inherent in comparisons between novices and experts.