Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Decrease in scale invariance of activity fluctuations with aging and in patients with suprasellar tumors

ABSTRACT Motor activity in healthy young humans displays intrinsic fluctuations that are scale-invariant over a wide range of time scales (from minutes to hours). Human postmortem and animal lesion studies showed that the intact function of the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) is required to maintain such scale-invariant patterns. We therefore hypothesized that scale invariance is degraded in patients treated for suprasellar tumors that compress the SCN. To test the hypothesis, we investigated 68 patients with nonfunctioning pituitary macroadenoma and 22 patients with craniopharyngioma, as well as 72 age-matched healthy controls (age range 21.0–70.6 years). Spontaneous wrist locomotor activity was measured for 7 days with actigraphy, and detrended fluctuation analysis was applied to assess correlations over a range of time scales from minutes to 24 h. For all the subjects, complex scale-invariant correlations were only present for time scales smaller than 1.5 h, and became more random at time scales 1.5–10 h. Patients with suprasellar tumors showed a larger decrease in correlations at 1.5–10 h as compared to healthy controls. Within healthy subject, gender and age >33 year were associated with attenuated scale invariance. Conversely, activity patterns at time scales between 10 and 24 h were significantly more regular than all other time scales, and this was mostly associated with age. In conclusion, scale invariance is degraded in healthy subjects at the ages of >33 year as characterized by attenuation of correlations at time scales 1.5–10 h. In addition, scale invariance was more degraded in patients with suprasellar tumors as compared to healthy subjects.
A Lag in Speech Motor Coordination During Sentence Production Is Associated With Stuttering Persistence in Young Children.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to determine if indices of speech motor coordination during the production of sentences varying in sentence length and syntactic complexity were associated with stuttering persistence versus recovery in 5- to 7-year-old children. Methods We compared children with persistent stuttering (CWS-Per) with children who had recovered (CWS-Rec), and children who do not stutter (CWNS). A kinematic measure of articulatory coordination, lip aperture variability (LAVar), and overall movement duration were computed for perceptually fluent sentence productions varying in length and syntactic complexity. Results CWS-Per exhibited higher LAVar across sentence types compared to CWS-Rec and CWNS. For the participants who successfully completed the experimental paradigm, the demands of increasing sentence length and syntactic complexity did not appear to disproportionately affect the speech motor coordination of CWS-Per compared to their recovered and fluent peers. However, a subset of CWS-Per failed to produce the required number of accurate utterances. Conclusions These findings support our hypothesis that the speech motor coordination of school-age CWS-Per, on average, is less refined and less mature compared to CWS-Rec and CWNS. Childhood recovery from stuttering is characterized, in part, by overcoming an earlier occurring maturational lag in speech motor development.
Under cover: causes, effects and implications of Hsp90‐mediated genetic capacitance

The environmentally responsive molecular chaperone Hsp90 assists the maturation of many key regulatory proteins. An unexpected consequence of this essential biochemical function is that genetic variation can accumulate in genomes and can remain phenotypically silent until Hsp90 function is challenged. Notably, this variation can be revealed by modest environmental change, establishing an environmentally responsive exposure mechanism. The existence of diverse cryptic polymorphisms with a plausible exposure mechanism in evolutionarily distant lineages has implications for the pace and nature of evolutionary change. Chaperone‐mediated storage and release of genetic variation is undoubtedly rooted in protein‐folding phenomena. As we discuss, proper protein folding crucially affects the trajectory from genotype to phenotype. Indeed, the impact of protein quality‐control mechanisms and other fundamental cellular processes on evolution has heretofore been overlooked. A true understanding of evolutionary processes will require an integration of current evolutionary paradigms with the many new insights accruing in protein science. BioEssays 26:348–362, 2004. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Semi-supervised distance metric learning for person re-identification

As a fundamental task in automated video surveillance, person re-identification, which has received increasing attention in recent years, aims to match people across non-overlapping camera views in a multi-camera surveillance system. It has been reported that KISS metric learning has been followed by most of the previous supervised work because of its state of the art performance for person re-identification on VIPeR dataset. However, given only a small number of labeled image pairs available for training, the matching model certainly suffers from unstable learning process and poor matching result. To address this serious practical issue, we proposed a novel semi-supervised KISS metric learning (SS-KISS) approach which makes use of unlabeled data to improve the re-identification performance by 1) combining both global and local information to select the most confident image pairs from the unlabeled data; 2) using an ensemble approach, which explores advantages of supervised and unsupervised learning by reconciling two matching models on which labeled and un-labeled data to an optimal one via smart weighting schema. Extensive experiments have been conducted on three datasets: VIPeR, ETHZ, and i-LiDS, experimental results demonstrate that our approach achieves a sound performance in the case of small amount of labeled data.
Correction to “On the causes and modes of exhumation and lateral growth of the Alps”

Figure 5. Compiled and contoured ages of fission tracks in zircons and apatites. (a) Apatite fission track ages in the central and Western Alps, redrawn after Fügenschuh and Schmid [2003], Keller et al. [2006], Reinecker et al. [2008], and Vernon et al. [2008]. (b) Zircon fission tracks in the central and Western Alps. Sources are the same as in Figure 5a. (c) Zircon fission track ages in the Eastern Alps. Compiled after Dunkl et al. [2003], Fodor et al. [2008], Fügenschuh et al. [1997], Most [2003], Stöckhert et al. [1999], Viola et al. [2001], and Wölfler et al. [2008]. Ages are normalized to a height of 1000 m on the base of exhumation rates published and/or calculated from the cited papers. (d) Apatite fission track ages in the Eastern Alps. Compiled after Dunkl et al. [2003], Fodor et al. [2008], Foeken et al. [2007], Fügenschuh et al. [1997], Grundmann and Morteani [1985], Hejl [1998],Most [2003], Staufenberg [1987], Stöckhert et al. [1999], Viola et al. [2001], and Wölfler et al. [2008]. Ages are normalized to a height of 1000 m on the base of exhumation rates published and/or calculated from the papers quoted above. TECTONICS, VOL. 29, TC1001, doi:10.1029/2009TC002633, 2010 Click Here for Full Article
Combined Analysis of Interleukin-10 Gene Polymorphisms and Protein Expression in Children With Cerebral Palsy

Background Interleukin-10 (IL-10) is an important anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive cytokine, and it has indispensable functions in both the onset and development of inflammatory disorders. The association between persistent inflammation and the development of cerebral palsy (CP) has attracted much attention. Objective The purpose of this study was to investigate whether IL-10 gene polymorphisms and plasma protein expression are associated with CP and to analyze the role of IL-10 in CP. Methods A total of 282 CP patients and 197 healthy controls were genotyped for IL-10 polymorphisms (rs1554286, rs1518111, rs3024490, rs1800871, and rs1800896). Among them, 95 CP patients and 93 healthy controls were selected for plasma IL-10 measurement. Results The differences in the rs3024490 (p = 0.033) and rs1800871 (p = 0.033) allele frequencies of IL-10 were determined between CP patients and controls. The frequencies of allele and genotype between CP patients with spastic tetraplegia and normal controls of IL-10 polymorphisms showed significant differences for rs1554286, rs151811, rs3024490, rs1800871, and rs1800896 (pallele = 0.015, 0.009, 0.006, 0.003, and 0.006, pgenotype = 0.039, 0.018, 0.027, 0.012, and 0.03, respectively). The plasma IL-10 protein level in CP patients was higher than normal controls (9.13 ± 0.77 vs. 6.73 ± 0.63 pg/ml, p = 0.017). IL-10 polymorphisms and protein association analysis showed that the TT genotype had higher plasma IL-10 protein levels compared to the GG + GT genotype at rs3024490 (11.14 ± 7.27 vs. 7.44 ± 6.95 pg/ml, p = 0.045, respectively) in CP cases. Conclusion These findings provide an important contribution toward explaining the pleiotropic role of IL-10 in the complex etiology of CP.
Association between objectively measured static standing and low back pain – a cross-sectional study among blue-collar workers*

Abstract This study aims to investigate the cross-sectional association between objectively measured total time and temporal patterns of static standing (short bouts: 0–5 min; moderate bouts: >5–10 min; and long bouts: >10 min) during work and leisure and low back pain (LBP) among 698 blue-collar workers. Workers reported LBP on a 0–10 scale. The association between time spent on static standing and LBP was tested with linear regression. A positive association with LBP intensity was found for long bouts of static standing (β = 0.27) during total day (work + leisure), and total static standing time at leisure (β = 0.12). No significant associations were found for static standing during work and LBP intensity. These findings indicate that particularly long bouts of static standing over the entire day contribute to LBP in blue-collar workers. Practitioner Summary: The association between LBP and static standing time was investigated. This study indicates that prolonged time standing during total day and standing during leisure are positively associated with LBP among blue-collar workers. Therefore, practitioners should consider long periods of standing as a potential risk factor for LBP.
Prospective observation of 41 perforations of the Schneiderian membrane during sinus floor elevation.

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to follow 41 intraoperative perforations of the Schneiderian membrane during sinus floor elevation and to identify potential differences from patients without perforations. MATERIAL AND METHODS Two hundred and one sinus floor elevations were performed at the department of oral and maxillofacial surgery of the University Hospital of Schleswig-Holstein in the years 2005 and 2006. Forty-one intraoperative perforations (20.4%) were documented and treated according to the following scheme: defects smaller than 5 mm were covered with a collagen membrane. Larger defects were additionally sutured. Particulated jawbone mixed 50 : 50 with bone substitute (25 cases) and a 50 : 50 mix of particulated iliac crest bone and BioOss (six cases) mainly served as graft material in the perforation group. In 12 cases, implants were installed at the time of sinus grafting, and in 27 cases, a second operation was performed. RESULTS Four sinus lift procedures had to be discontinued intraoperatively. Over a mean control interval of 162 days, one implant of the 93 inserted had to be replaced in the perforation group. After 1 year, the implant survival rate was 14 out of 14 in the perforation group vs. 81/92 in the control group. CONCLUSIONS With appropriate treatment, intraoperative sinus membrane perforations did not represent an elevated risk for implant loss, infectious complications or displacement of graft material in the investigated population.
Efficacy, tolerability, and safety of oral paliperidone extended release in the treatment of schizophrenia: a 24-week, open-label, prospective switch study in different settings in Taiwan

Purpose Paliperidone extended release (ER) is an oral psychotropic treatment formulated to release paliperidone at a controlled, gradually ascending rate. We evaluated the efficacy and safety of switching to paliperidone ER in Taiwanese patients with schizophrenia who were unresponsive or intolerant to previous antipsychotic therapy. Patients and methods This was a 24-week, open-label, single-arm, multicenter, Phase IV trial. Based on consulting psychiatrists’ judgment, patients were deemed eligible for the switch to paliperidone ER; the switch was achieved by cross-tapering, using a recommended starting dose of 6 mg. Eligibility considerations included lack of efficacy, tolerability, and/or adherence to previous oral antipsychotic medication. Results Of the 297 enrolled patients, 178 (59.5%) completed the study. The main reasons for discontinuation included insufficient efficacy (8.7%), patient decision (8.4%), and adverse events (AEs; 6.4%). Improvements in the: Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale total score and Clinical Global Impression-Severity score were observed only in patients treated at medical centers and not in those treated at psychiatric hospitals. The most common AEs were insomnia, headache, constipation, and extrapyramidal syndrome. One or more serious AEs were reported in 11 (3.7%) patients; none resulted in death. No significant changes in body weight, plasma glucose, or lipid levels were observed. Conclusion Switching to paliperidone ER was effective and well tolerated for up to 24 weeks in patients with schizophrenia who were unresponsive or intolerant to previous antipsychotic therapy. The observed differences in treatment between psychiatric hospitals and medical centers with regard to dosage and titration of paliperidone ER warrant further investigation.
A rare life-threatening disease: unilateral kidney compressed by huge chronic spontaneous retroperitoneal hemorrhage

Objectives To study an uncommon life-threatening disease, spontaneous retroperitoneal and perirenal hemorrhage. Case descriptions A 69-year-old male presented with pain in the left waist and back of 1 month duration. The renal abscess was suspected by magnetic resonance imaging before operation. The perirenal hematoma was cleaned by operation. In another case, the patient had a functional solitary left kidney compressed by a huge retroperitoneal mass and uropenia appeared. Results The first patient died of adult respiratory distress syndrome after surgery. The second patient died of cardiac insufficiency and pulmonary embolism on the second day after evacuation of retroperitoneal hematoma. Conclusion Conservative surgery, such as selective arterial embolization, is a reasonable approach in patients with chronic spontaneous retroperitoneal and perirenal space hemorrhage and with poor general condition. We strongly recommend drainage or interventional therapy, but not a major surgery, in patients with poor condition.
The diagnostic utility of procalcitonin, interleukin-6 and interleukin-8, and hyaluronic acid in the Norwegian consensus definition for early-onset neonatal sepsis (EONS)

Introduction A key challenge in identifying serious bacterial infection in new born infants is the nonspecific clinical presentation of early-onset neonatal sepsis (EONS). Routinely used C-reactive protein, white blood cell count, and platelets are nonspecific. We assessed the diagnostic utility of single biomarkers or combinations of procalcitonin (PCT), interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, and hyaluronic acid (HA) in newborn infant with EONS, and in human umbilical cord blood (HUCB) from deliveries with chorioamnionitis. Materials and methods Blood was collected from term infants with strictly defined EONS (group 1, n=15), healthy term infants (group 2, n=15), and the umbilical vein from pregnancies with suspected chorioamnionitis (group 3, n=8), and from healthy pregnancies with no signs of infection (group 4, n=15). Results Neonatal plasma PCT and IL-8 showed good predictive value (90% and 83%) for EONS, and the combination of IL-6 or HA with PCT increased the predictability to 87% and 90%, respectively. PCT, IL-6, IL-8, and HA were 8.4-, 4.5-, 3.6-, and 1.9-fold higher when compared with plasma levels in noninfected neonates. PCT, IL-6, and IL-8 in HUCB predicted chorioamnionitis and fever in the delivering mother (89%, 83%, and 72%, respectively). HA was a poor predictor (59%), but its predictability increased in combination with PCT, IL-8, or IL-6. In HUCB from chorioamnionitic deliveries, IL-6, IL-8, and PCT were 23-, 14-, and 2.4-fold higher, respectively, when compared with HUCB from healthy deliveries. There was no correlation between C-reactive protein, white blood cell, and platelet count with PCT, IL-6, IL-8, or HA. Conclusion In neonates that fulfilled the Norwegian consensus definition of neonatal sepsis, PCT, IL-6, and IL-8, but not HA, have the potential to improve our management of neonates at risk. Except for PCT and IL-8, both with a predictability of >80% in neonatal plasma, combinations of biomarkers increased the predictability for EONS and chorioamnionitis.
Modified split-step fourier method for compensation of nonlinear fibre impairments

In this paper, we investigate a modified split-step Fourier method to enable computationally-efficient digital nonlinearity compensation for a coherently-detected 112 Gb/s polarization multiplexed quadrature phase shifted keying transmission over a 1,600 km link (20×80 km) with no inline compensation. We report up to 80% reduction in required stages to perform nonlinear compensation, in comparison to the conventional back-propagation algorithm. This method takes into account the correlation between adjacent symbols at a given instant using a weighted-average approach to enable practical digital nonlinearity compensation.
Neutrino oscillations in space within a solvable model

We study neutrino oscillations in space within a realistic model in which both the source and the target are considered to be stationary having Gaussian-form localizations. The model admits an exact analytic solution in field theory which may be expressed in terms of complementary error functions, thereby allowing for a quantitative discussion of quantum-mechanical (coherent) versus statistical (incoherent) uncertainties. The solvable model provides an insightful framework in addressing questions related to propagation and oscillation of neutrinos that may not be attainable by the existing approaches. We find a novel form of plane-wave behaviour of neutrino oscillations if the localization spread of the source and target states due to quantum mechanics is of macroscopic size but much smaller than neutrinos' oscillation length. Finally, we discuss the limits on the coherence length of neutrino oscillations and find that they mainly arise from uncertainties of statistical origin.
Maternal metabolic adaptations are necessary for normal offspring growth and brain development

Several metabolic adaptations emerge during pregnancy and continue through lactation, including increases in food intake and body weight, as well as insulin and leptin resistance. These maternal adaptations are thought to play a role in offspring viability and success. Using a model of attenuated maternal metabolic adaptations induced by ablation of the Socs3 gene in leptin receptor expressing cells (SOCS3 KO mice), our study aimed to investigate whether maternal metabolic changes are required for normal offspring development, and if their absence causes metabolic imbalances in adulthood. The litters were subjected to a cross‐fostering experimental design to distinguish the prenatal and postnatal effects caused by maternal metabolic adaptations. Males either born or raised by SOCS3 KO mice showed reduced body weight until 8 weeks of life. Both adult males and females born or raised by SOCS3 KO mice also had lower body adiposity. Despite that, no significant changes in energy expenditure, glucose tolerance or insulin resistance were observed. However, males either born or raised by SOCS3 KO mice showed reduced brain mass in adulthood. Furthermore, animals born from SOCS3 KO mice also had lower proopiomelanocortin fiber density in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus. In conclusion, these findings indicate that the commonly observed metabolic changes in pregnancy and lactation are necessary for normal offspring growth and brain development.
Challenging The Primacy Of Lectures:The Dissonance Between Theory And Practice In University Teaching

Current practice in universities foregrounds the traditional lecture, tutorial, examination approach to teaching. The nature of currently-accepted practice in course design and administration is considered through an examination of the influence on universities of historical views about knowledge. These findings are contrasted with current research about learning and learning environments, and the dissonances explored in terms of the concepts of theory-in-use and espoused theory. Recommendations are then made about appropriate ways to design educationally-sound learning environments in higher education. Finally, this paper questions why lectures are largely viewed as the core of the learning process, and why university teaching and learning practices continue to be resistant to, and often inconsistent with, fundamental principles of learning developed through sustained scholarly enquiry.
Bacterial virulence phenotypes of Escherichia coli and host susceptibility determine risk for urinary tract infections

Risk for urinary tract infections is determined by a combination of host susceptibility determinants and diverse Escherichia coli phenotypes. Examining the many facets of Escherichia coli Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are most commonly caused by uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC). In a new study, Schreiber et al. undertook an interdisciplinary analysis of an extensive panel of UTI-associated E. coli strains. They discovered strain-dependent variation in the colonization of two mouse models of UTI. The expression of conserved bacterial behaviors, such as metabolism and motility, diverged markedly among these strains and was a better predictor of bladder colonization than carriage of any set of genes, including previously identified putative urovirulence factors. These findings suggest that UTI risk is determined by the pairing of variable host susceptibilities with bacterial virulence phenotypes governed by both gene content and expression. Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are caused by uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) strains. In contrast to many enteric E. coli pathogroups, no genetic signature has been identified for UPEC strains. We conducted a high-resolution comparative genomic study using E. coli isolates collected from the urine of women suffering from frequent recurrent UTIs. These isolates were genetically diverse and varied in their urovirulence, that is, their ability to infect the bladder in a mouse model of cystitis. We found no set of genes, including previously defined putative urovirulence factors (PUFs), that were predictive of urovirulence. In addition, in some patients, the E. coli strain causing a recurrent UTI had fewer PUFs than the supplanted strain. In competitive experimental infections in mice, the supplanting strain was more efficient at colonizing the mouse bladder than the supplanted strain. Despite the lack of a clear genomic signature for urovirulence, comparative transcriptomic and phenotypic analyses revealed that the expression of key conserved functions during culture, such as motility and metabolism, could be used to predict subsequent colonization of the mouse bladder. Together, our findings suggest that UTI risk and outcome may be determined by complex interactions between host susceptibility and the urovirulence potential of diverse bacterial strains.