Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Predation sharpens the adaptive peaks: survival trade-offs in sympatric sticklebacks

This study tests whether living in different lake habitats in benthic and limnetic sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus complex) has resulted in divergence of antipredator traits and habitat-associated survival trade-offs. Adult benthics were larger than limnetics, had poorly developed defensive armour and showed no tendency to school with conspecifics. Limnetics, in contrast, were smaller, had well developed defensive armour and demonstrated strong schooling behaviour. In littoral arenas, juvenile limnetics were significantly more vulnerable than juvenile benthics to predation by adult benthics and backswimmers (Notonecta sp.) but not dragonfly larvae (Aeshna sp.). This pattern was reversed in open water arenas when adult benthics and limnetics were exposed to diving avian predators, double-crested cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus). These findings show that divergence in antipredator traits between benthic and limnetic sticklebacks has accompanied divergence in foraging traits, resulting in survival trade-offs in addition to those previously observed for foraging success and growth rates across habitats.
Improving functional disability and cognition in Parkinson disease

Objectives: To examine the efficacy of an integrative cognitive training program (REHACOP) to improve cognition, clinical symptoms, and functional disability of patients with Parkinson disease (PD). Methods: Forty-two patients diagnosed with PD in Hoehn & Yahr stages 1 to 3 were randomly assigned to either the cognitive training group (REHACOP) or the control group (occupational activities) for 3 months (3 sessions, 60 min/wk). Primary outcomes were change on processing speed, verbal memory, visual memory, executive functioning, and theory of mind. Secondary outcomes included changes on neuropsychiatric symptoms, depression, apathy, and functional disability. The trial was registered with clinicaltrials.gov (NCT02118480). Results: No baseline group differences were found. Bootstrapped analysis of variance results showed significant differences in the mean change scores between the REHACOP group and control group in processing speed (0.13 [SE = 0.07] vs −0.15 [SE = 0.09], p = 0.025), visual memory (0.10 [SE = 0.10] vs −0.24 [SE = 0.09], p = 0.011), theory of mind (1.00 [SE = 0.37] vs −0.27 [SE = 0.29], p = 0.013), and functional disability (−5.15 [SE = 1.35] vs 0.53 [SE = 1.49], p = 0.012). Conclusions: Patients with PD receiving cognitive training with REHACOP demonstrated statistically significant and clinically meaningful changes in processing speed, visual memory, theory of mind, and functional disability. Future studies should consider the long-term effect of this type of intervention. These findings support the integration of cognitive training into the standard of care for patients with PD. Classification of evidence: This study provides Class II evidence that for patients with PD, an integrative cognitive training program improves processing speed, visual memory, theory of mind, and functional disability.
Determination of Risk Factors for Pre-eclampsia and Eclampsia in a Tertiary Hospital of India: A Case Control Study

Background: Preeclampsia and eclampsia (PE) are pregnancy specific syndromes that contribute to maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality. The identification of its predisposing factors in the pre-pregnancy and initial stage of pregnancy will help in reducing the morbidity and mortality. Aim: The aim of this study is to determine the risk factors for PE among pregnant women in a tertiary level hospital. Materials and Methods: In this study, 122 women who delivered beyond 22 weeks of gestation and diagnosed as preeclampsia or eclampsia were selected. Simultaneously, 122 controls with no diagnosis of preeclampsia or eclampsia were selected from the post natal ward. Cases and controls were administered the same pre-tested questionnaire containing different risk factors. Results and Conclusion: Logistic regression was applied in the statistical analysis. The factors that were found to be significant predictors of risk for development of PE were family history of preeclampsia (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 18.57 [1.93-178.16], P = 0.011), higher calorie intake (adjusted OR 14.12 [6.41-43.23] body mass index (adjusted P < 0.001), employment (adjusted OR 6.35 [1.56-25.82] P = 0.010], less protein intake (adjusted OR 3.87 [1.97-8.01] P < 0.001), increased OR 5.86 [02.48-13.8] P < 0.001), mild physical activities (adjusted OR 3.46 [1.06-11.24] P = 0.039). Past history of hypertension and diabetes mellitus were also associated with development of PE.
Community Studies and Re-Studies in the 21st Century: Methodological Challenges and Strategies for the Future

This article looks at the background to community studies and the case for community re-studies. It examines the contribution of such research to understanding different dimensions of social change. The discussion highlights a number of challenges for such research, given changes in the meaning of community and the social contexts in which people experience everyday life. The article uses a particular research study to highlight some of the strengths and limitations associated with re-studies. It develops a number of strategies for developing community-based research, building on issues arising from industrial change and globalization and concludes with an assessment of possible futures for work in the community studies tradition.
A Plan-Based Model for Response Generation in Collaborative Task-Oriented Dialogues

This paper presents a plan-based architecture for response generation in collaborative consultation dialogues, with emphasis on cases in which the system (consultant) and user (executing agent) disagree. Our work contributes to an overall system for collaborative problem-solving by providing a plan-based framework that captures the Propose-Evaluate-Modify cycle of collaboration, and by allowing the system to initiate subdialogues to negotiate proposed additions to the shared plan and to provide support for its claims. In addition, our system handles in a unified manner the negotiation of proposed domain actions, proposed problem-solving actions, and beliefs proposed by discourse actions. Furthermore, it captures cooperative responses within the collaborative framework and accounts for why questions are sometimes never answered.
Assessing Attitudes Toward Dying and Death: Psychometric Considerations

In the 50 years of research in death attitudes, clear gains have been made in the measurement of death concerns and competencies, leading to the development and validation of several scales whose more extensive use could improve the conceptual yield of research in this area. In this article, we review these promising instruments, focusing on nine general questionnaires for measuring death anxiety, fear, threat, depression, and acceptance, and four specialized measures of death self-efficacy and coping, readiness for death, and desire for hastened death. We also offer an orientation to non-questionnaire based techniques for the assessment of death attitudes (e.g., narrative measures, repertory grids, behavioral observations, death personifications and drawings), and close with a note on international developments that hold promise for improved cultural awareness of the role of death attitudes in human life.
Universal Rate-Efficient Scalar Quantization

Scalar quantization is the most practical and straightforward approach to signal quantization. However, it has been shown that scalar quantization of oversampled or compressively sensed signals can be inefficient in terms of the rate-distortion tradeoff, especially as the oversampling rate or the sparsity of the signal increases. In this paper, we modify the scalar quantizer to have discontinuous quantization regions. We demonstrate that with this modification it is possible to achieve exponential decay of the quantization error as a function of the oversampling rate instead of the quadratic decay exhibited by current approaches. Our approach is universal in the sense that prior knowledge of the signal model is not necessary in the quantizer design, only in the reconstruction. Thus, we demonstrate that it is possible to reduce the quantization error by incorporating side information on the acquired signal, such as sparse signal models or signal similarity with known signals. In doing so, we establish a relationship between quantization performance and the Kolmogorov entropy of the signal model.
Acquisition of an Agrobacterium Ri Plasmid and Pathogenicity by Other α-Proteobacteria in Cucumber and Tomato Crops Affected by Root Mat

ABSTRACT Root mat of cucumbers and tomatoes has previously been shown to be caused by Agrobacterium radiobacter strains harboring a root-inducing Ri plasmid (pRi). Nine other pRi-harboring α-Proteobacteria have subsequently been isolated from root mat-infected crops. Fatty acid profiling and partial 16S rRNA sequence analysis identified three of these strains as being in the genus Ochrobactrum, five as being in the genus Rhizobium, and one as being in the genus Sinorhizobium. An in vitro pathogenicity test involving inoculation of cucumber cotyledons was developed. All pRi-harboring α-Proteobacteria induced typical root mat symptoms from the cotyledons. Average transformation rates for rhizogenic Ochrobactrum (46%) and Rhizobium (44%) strains were lower than those observed for rhizogenic A. radiobacter strains (64%). However, individual strains from these three genera all had transformation rates comparable to those observed from cotyledons inoculated with a rhizogenic Sinorhizobium strain (75%).
Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience Integrative Neuroscience Extracting Kinematic Parameters for Monkey Bipedal Walking from Cortical Neuronal Ensemble Activity

The ability to walk may be critically impacted as the result of neurological injury or disease. While recent advances in brain–machine interfaces (BMIs) have demonstrated the feasibility of upper-limb neuroprostheses, BMIs have not been evaluated as a means to restore walking. Here, we demonstrate that chronic recordings from ensembles of cortical neurons can be used to predict the kinematics of bipedal walking in rhesus macaques – both offl ine and in real time. Linear decoders extracted 3D coordinates of leg joints and leg muscle electromyograms from the activity of hundreds of cortical neurons. As more complex patterns of walking were produced by varying the gait speed and direction, larger neuronal populations were needed to accurately extract walking patterns. Extraction was further improved using a switching decoder which designated a submodel for each walking paradigm. We propose that BMIs may one day allow severely paralyzed patients to walk again. A neuroprosthetic for the restoration of locomotion could be designed in several different ways. For example, a very simplifi ed interface could be built, extracting only speed and directional information from neural activity, and offl oading all precise movement control to onboard computerized systems. However, such a neuroprosthetic would not offer much more functionality to the user than a motorized wheelchair. Alternatively, a far more ambitious neuroprosthetic could attempt to extract control signals for every articulated joint in the robotic prosthetic, trusting the user to learn to control every aspect of the limb's usage. However, much of balance and postural adjustments involve involuntary mechanisms (Deliagina and Orlovsky, 2002; Grillner et al., 2007; Maki and McIlroy, 2007), and the lack of perfect decoding and sensory feedback could result in falls and injuries. Our approach takes the middle ground, if we can decode key walking parameters: step time, step length, foot location, and leg orientation, while offl oading other automatic-level controls: foot orientation, load placement, balance, and safety concerns to onboard computerized systems, then we can achieve a BMI that follows the general commands of the user while enforcing stability, and overriding motions and confi gurations likely to result in falls. We have therefore extended our laboratory's BMI approach (Carmena et al., 2003; Lebedev and Nicolelis, 2006; Wessberg et al., 2000) to investigate whether cortical activity can be utilized to extract the kinematics of bipedally walking rhesus macaques.
MENINGIOMAS OF THE FORAMEN MAGNUM.

M ENINGIOMAS arising at the foramen magnum produce a clinical syndrome which may be difficult to distinguish from other lesions of this region which are less amenable to therapy. The radiologic diagnosis of these tumors, by which a definitive diagnosis can be made, has received heretofore only brief attention in the literature. 15 What might be called the syndrome of compression of the cord at the foramen magnum was emphasized first by Elsberg and Strauss, 1~ Abrahamson and Grossman/and later elaborated by Symonds and Meadows/4 A clinical pattern was evident, characterized by cervico-occipital pain, weakness of the ipsilateral arm, atrophy of the small muscles of the hand, spastic paraparesis, disturbance of sense of position (especially in the upper extremities) and a paucity of cranial-nerve findings. Further general discussion on the matter of compressive spinal-cord lesions of this region was given by Cushing 6 (pp. 87-99; 171-180), Elsberg s (pp. ~97-301), Love et al. ~3 and more specifically regarding meningiomas and neurofibromas arising in this region, the works of Dodge et al. 7 and Martin and Kleyntjens 16 are pertinent. A number of authors 1,1~ have chosen to follow Cushing's 6 (p. 88) example of dividing these tumors into a variety arising above the foramen magnum--"craniospinal"-and those arising below the foramen magnum--"spinocranial. " In our opinion the former group, of which we studied a number of examples, presents as a posterior-fossa syndrome, the peculiarities of which have
Rescue of HIV-1 Release by Targeting Widely Divergent NEDD4-Type Ubiquitin Ligases and Isolated Catalytic HECT Domains to Gag

Retroviruses engage the ESCRT pathway through late assembly (L) domains in Gag to promote virus release. HIV-1 uses a PTAP motif as its primary L domain, which interacts with the ESCRT-I component Tsg101. In contrast, certain other retroviruses primarily use PPxY-type L domains, which constitute ligands for NEDD4-type ubiquitin ligases. Surprisingly, although HIV-1 Gag lacks PPxY motifs, the release of HIV-1 L domain mutants is potently enhanced by ectopic NEDD4-2s, a native isoform with a naturally truncated C2 domain that appears to account for the residual titer of L domain-defective HIV-1. The reason for the unique potency of the NEDD4-2s isoform has remained unclear. We now show that the naturally truncated C2 domain of NEDD4-2s functions as an autonomous Gag-targeting module that can be functionally replaced by the unrelated Gag-binding protein cyclophilin A (CypA). The residual C2 domain of NEDD4-2s was sufficient to transfer the ability to stimulate HIV-1 budding to other NEDD4 family members, including the yeast homologue Rsp5, and even to isolated catalytic HECT domains. The isolated catalytic domain of NEDD4-2s also efficiently promoted HIV-1 budding when targeted to Gag via CypA. We conclude that the regions typically required for substrate recognition by HECT ubiquitin ligases are all dispensable to stimulate HIV-1 release, implying that the relevant target for ubiquitination is Gag itself or can be recognized by divergent isolated HECT domains. However, the mere ability to ubiquitinate Gag was not sufficient to stimulate HIV-1 budding. Rather, our results indicate that the synthesis of K63-linked ubiquitin chains is critical for ubiquitin ligase-mediated virus release.
Barriers and facilitators to implementation of a metabolic monitoring protocol in hospital and community settings for second-generation antipsychotic-treated youth.

OBJECTIVE 1) Assess perceived barriers associated with metabolic monitoring in second-generation antipsychotic (SGA)-treated youth; and 2) Propose a metabolic monitoring protocol (MMP) and implementation strategies. METHOD Online surveys were created for community mental health teams (CMHTs) and BC Children's Hospital (BCCH) with questions designed to evaluate knowledge of physical health care, confidence, communication with primary care, and practical issues. RESULTS 26/50 (52%) of CMHT and 44/111 (40%) of BCCH surveys were completed. While both groups agreed that monitoring is their responsibility, 26% of CMHTs and 35% of BCCH professionals agreed that providing information about SGA side-effects would influence medication adherence. CMHTs reported lower overall confidence and more practical issues as monitoring barriers. While higher overall confidence was reported at BCCH, there was still a substantial proportion (23%) of hospital professionals who reported not knowing what parameters to monitor and how frequently. Communication with primary care, including inadequate systems for sharing results and identifying responsibility for acting on abnormal results, appear to be common barriers shared by both settings. CONCLUSIONS Barriers to metabolic monitoring were more frequently reported by CMHTs who had limited access to nursing staff. We propose hands-on training, educational resources, pre-printed orders, and regular quality assurance evaluation as facilitators to promote MMP uptake.
Effects of local compression on peroneal nerve function in humans

A new apparatus was developed to compress the anterior compartment selectively and reproducibly in humans. Thirty‐five normal volunteers were studied to determine short‐term thresholds of local tissue pressure that produce significant neuromuscular dysfunction. Local tissue fluid pressure adjacent to the deep peroneal nerve was elevated by the compression apparatus and continuously monitored for 2–3 h by the slit catheter technique. Elevation of tissue fluid pressure to within 35–40 mm Hg of diastolic blood pressure (∼40 mm Hg of in situ pressure in our subjects) elicited a consistent progression of neuromuscular deterioration including, in order, (a) gradual loss of sensation, as assessed by Semmes‐Weinstein monofilaments, (b) subjective complaints, (c) reduced nerve conduction velocity, (d) decreased action potential amplitude of the extensor digitorum brevis muscle, and (e) motor weakness of muscles within the anterior compartment. Generally, higher intracompartmental pressures caused more rapid deterioration of neuromuscular function. In two subjects, when in situ compression levels were 0 and 30 mm Hg, normal neuromuscular function was maintained for 3 h. Threshold pressures for significant dysfunction were not always the same for each functional parameter studied, and the magnitudes of each functional deficit did not always correlate with compression level. This variable tolerance to elevated pressure emphasizes the need to monitor clinical signs and symptoms carefully in the diagnosis of compartment syndromes. The nature of the present studies was short term; longer term compression of myoneural tissues may result in dysfunction at lower pressure thresholds.
Methadone Clients, Crime, and Substance Use

Self-report criminal activity in a sample of 86 methadone-maintained opioid addicts is examined. Of the participants, 52% report some criminal offending, with drug-related and property crimes accounting for the majority of the offending. One quarter of the females in the sample were involved in prostitution. Of all the demographic factors used in this study, only gender discriminated between the sample in terms of level of offending, with females reporting the highest crime rates. Heroin use and crime measures were also associated, with persistent criminality related to the continued use of heroin. An analysis of the heroin use–criminality association found that only female gender predicted both increased rates of heroin use and increased rates of criminality. Implications of this finding are discussed.
Shape model fitting algorithm without point correspondence

In this paper, we present a Mean Shift algorithm that does not require point correspondence to fit shape models. The observed data and the shape model are represented as mixtures of Gaussians. Using a Bayesian framework, we propose to model the likelihood using the Euclidean distance between the two Gaussian mixture density functions while the latent variables are modelled with a Gaussian prior. We show the performance of our MS algorithm for fitting a 2D hand model and a 3D Morphable Model of faces to point clouds.
Will Radiation-Induced Bystander Effects or Adaptive Responses Impact on the Shape of the Dose Response Relationships at Low Doses of Ionizing Radiation?

Radiation induced bystander effects and adaptive responses are two phenomena that modulate cellular responses to low doses of ionizing radiation. Bystander effects generally exaggerate the effects of low doses of radiation by eliciting detrimental effects in non-irradiated cells, thus making the target for radiation effects greater than the volume irradiated. Adaptive responses on the other hand indicate that low doses of radiation can reduce damage induced by a second challenging dose. The potential impact of these two low dose effects on the shape of the dose response relationship will be discussed.
Suitability of T1Gd as the “dGEMRIC index” at 1.5T and 3.0T

Delayed gadolinium‐enhanced MRI of cartilage (dGEMRIC) is based on the theory that Gd‐DTPA2− will distribute in inverse relation to cartilage glycosaminoglycan (GAG). T1Gd (T1 after penetration of a 0.2 mmol/kg dose of Gd‐DTPA2−) has been used as the dGEMRIC index, although (1/T1Gd–1/T1o) should be more representative of Gd‐DTPA2− concentration (where T1o = T1 before contrast). T1o and T1Gd were measured in 20 volunteers at both 1.5T and 3T and the correlation between the metrics of T1Gd and (1/T1Gd–1/T1o) was calculated. There was a high correlation coefficient between the two metrics at both field strengths, with R = 0.94, 0.93, and 0.90 for central medial femur, posterior medial femur, and medial tibia, respectively, at 1.5T and 0.87, 0.94, 0.96 at 3T. In all cases P < 0.0001. Therefore, these data suggest that, for native cartilage, the current practice of measuring T1Gd (but not also T1o) is adequate at both 1.5T and 3T. Magn Reson Med 58:830–834, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Agency: Its Role In Mental Development

Part 1 Symbols, Models and Connections. Symbol-Processing and "the language of thought". Mental Models. Connectionism. Why Connectionism is the Representational Theory Best Places to Model Action. "Working from the Outside in". Part 2 Knowledge of Objects Self-world Dualism and the Waterdown Piaget. The Four Features and the Experience of Agency. What the Four Features Give Us. Self-locating Thought and "Externatlity". Search, Dishabituation and "Representation Permanance" in Infancy. Answering Some Objections. Some Empirical Issues. Computational Modelling of Object Permanence. Part 3 Action and Our Knowledge of Minds. Mental Unity. Bodily- awareness, Selfhood and Ownership. Agency and the Acquisition of a "Theory of Mind". "Executive" Versus "Theory-theory" Accounts of Developmental Transitions - the 6-7 transition and the 3-4 Tranistion. Autism, Executive Dysfunctions and "Mind Blindness".