Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Plasma melatonin is reduced in Huntington's disease

This study was undertaken to determine whether the production of melatonin, a hormone regulating sleep in relation to the light/dark cycle, is altered in Huntington's disease. We analyzed the circadian rhythm of melatonin in a 24‐hour study of cohorts of control, premanifest, and stage II/III Huntington's disease subjects. The mean and acrophase melatonin concentrations were significantly reduced in stage II/III Huntington's disease subjects compared with controls. We also observed a nonsignificant trend toward reduced mean and acrophase melatonin in premanifest Huntington's disease subjects. Onset of melatonin rise was significantly more temporally spread in both premanifest and stage II/III Huntington's disease subjects compared with controls. A nonsignificant trend also was seen for reduced pulsatile secretion of melatonin. Melatonin concentrations are reduced in Huntington's disease. Altered melatonin patterns may provide an explanation for disrupted sleep and circadian behavior in Huntington's disease, and represent a biomarker for disease state. Melatonin therapy may help the sleep disorders seen in Huntington's disease. © 2014 The Authors. Movement Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.
Presurgical Orthopedics in Cleft Lip and Palate Care

Cleft lip and palate is one of the most common birth defects occurring 1 of every 700 live births. Historically, cleft lip and palate care typically involves the use of presurgical infant orthopedics appliances (PIOA) fabricated by a pediatric dentist as an adjunct to the overall management of the defect approximate the cleft segments prior to surgical repair. However, the necessity of presurgical orthopedics in managing the resulting orofacial deformity is still one that elicits discussion by craniofacial teams due to the variety of methodologies available and the inconsistency in long-term results produced by these devices. Nonetheless, presurgical orthopedics used for patients with cleft lip and palate remains primarily focused on four types' devices which have produced varied results; however, there are other techniques which offer promising results. In spite of contradictory findings, presurgical orthopedics is believed to be a vital influence on growth in cleft life and palate deformities.
Meta-analysis of the relationship between HIV infection and risk for depressive disorders.

OBJECTIVE Each of 10 published studies investigating the relationship between HIV infection and risk for depressive disorders concluded that HIV-positive individuals are at no greater risk for depression than comparable HIV-negative individuals. This study used meta-analytic techniques to further examine the relationship between depressive disorders and HIV infection. METHOD Meta-analytic techniques were used to aggregate and reanalyze the data from 10 studies that compared HIV-positive and HIV-negative individuals for rates of major depressive disorder (N=2,596) or dysthymic disorder (N=1,822). RESULTS The frequency of major depressive disorder was nearly two times higher in HIV-positive subjects than in HIV-negative comparison subjects. On the other hand, findings were inconclusive with regard to dysthymic disorder. Rates of depression do not appear to be related to the sexual orientation or disease stage of infected individuals. CONCLUSIONS Although the majority of HIV-positive individuals appear to be psychologically resilient, this meta-analysis provides strong evidence that HIV infection is associated with a greater risk for major depressive disorder. Future research should focus on identifying pathways of risk and resilience for depression within this population.
Women directors and IPO underpricing: evidence from Indian markets

Purpose – This paper aims to fill the gap of the relatively under-researched impact of women directors on initial public offering (IPO) underpricing in developing countries. Gender diversity is an important emerging issue within the corporate governance literature. Recently, there has been a growing thrust on gender-diverse boards. However, their proportion on corporate boards is low worldwide. The paper examines the influence of women directors on the underpricing phenomenon pervasive in the IPO context. Design/methodology/approach – Gender diversity is an important emerging issue within the corporate governance literature. Recently, there has been a growing thrust on gender diverse boards. However, their proportion on corporate boards is low worldwide. The impact of women directors on IPO underpricing in developing countries remains relatively under-researched. This paper aims to fill this gap in research. The paper examines the influence of women directors on the underpricing phenomenon pervasive in th.
Marital Satisfaction, Parental Stress, and Child Behavior Problems among Parents of Young Children with Developmental Delays

Studies have found that low marital satisfaction, parenting stress, and child behavior problems are linked in families of children with developmental delays (DD). However, previous investigations examining the relationships between parenting stress, child behavior problems, and marital satisfaction rarely examine the interrelationships of these three variables simultaneously, and the samples used are often restricted in terms of age and ethnicity, limiting generalizability. The primary aim of the study was to examine the associations between marital satisfaction, child behavior problems, and parenting stress in a diverse sample of parents of young children with DD. The study included 44 parents of children ages 2.5 to 5 years with DD and high levels of behavior problems who participated in a larger study looking at the impact of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) in reducing parenting stress and child behavior problems. Marital satisfaction was significantly related to both parenting stress and child behavior problems, where parents with lower marital satisfaction reported higher parenting stress and child behavior problems. Additionally, preliminary analyses indicated that marital quality significantly moderated changes in child behavior problems from pre- to posttreatment but did not moderate changes in parenting stress as a result of the MBSR intervention.
Single mothers: Stress, coping, and social support

Measures of economic hardship, coping, self-esteem, and social support from friends and co-workers predicted nearly 25% of the variation in financial strain in a sample of 83 single mothers in New York City. Social support appeared to function as a protector in the face of stress, though evidence for the buffer effect was meager. Support from co-workers and friends rather than family was positively related to well-being. Self-esteem strongly affected the well-being of single mothers, accounting for a unique 5% of the variation in strain. Implications for community psychologists are discussed.
An introduction for system developers to volunteer roles in crisis response and recovery

Technological advances, such as software tools for citizen reporting, first responder support, and online collaborative information management and mapping, are enabling new or improved forms of volunteering in humanitarian crisis. However, the change is largely driven by the technical community and many proposed solutions are never integrated into community response efforts, indicating mismatches between designs and real world needs. This paper offers readers with a technical background insight into roles, goals and constraints of humanitarian crisis response. In particular, we present three seemingly conflicting views regarding how citizens can contribute to response activities as spontaneous volunteers. With examples from two field studies and grounded in literature review, we integrate the three viewpoints into a framework explaining how the roles of volunteers and trained professionals shift with increasing severity and scale of a crisis. Based on this framework, we also discuss high-level opportunities for supporting crisis response with new software tools.
Effect of Shade and Light Curing Mode on the Degree of Conversion of Silorane-Based and Methacrylate-Based Resin Composites

Statement of Problem: The degree of conversion depends on the material composition, light source properties, distance from light source, light intensity, curing time, and other factors such as shade and translucency. Objectives: In the present study, we evaluated the effects of different light-curing modes and shades of methacrylate and silorane-based resin composites on the degree of conversion of resin composites (DC). Materials and Methods: The methacrylate-based (Filtek Z250, 3M, ESPE) and low-shrinkage silorane-based (Filtek P90, 3M, ESPE) resin composites were used in three groups as follows: group 1-Filtek Z250 (shade A3), group 2-Filtek Z250 (shade B2), and group 3-Filtek P90 (shade A3). We used a light-emitting diode (LED) curing unit for photopolymerization. 10 samples were prepared in each group to evaluate the degree of conversion; 5 samples were cured using soft-start curing mode, and the other 5 were cured using standard curing mode. The DC of the resin composites was measured using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The data were analyzed using Kruskal Wallis and one-way ANOVA statistical tests. Results: The degree of conversion of silorane-based resin composite was 70 - 75.8% and that of methacrylate-based resin composites was 60.2 - 68.2% (p = 0.009). The degree of conversion of the composite with brighter colour (B2) was statistically more than the darker composite (A3). Higher degree of conversion was achieved applying the standard curing mode. Conclusions: The results of the study showed that the colour and type of the resin composite and also the curing mode influence the degree of conversion of resin composites.
Medical treatment of 145 cases of gastric dilatation in rabbits

Gastric dilatation is an acute and life-threatening condition in pet rabbits commonly caused by an intestinal obstruction with pellets of compressed hair. Surgery is normally considered to be the treatment of choice to alleviate the obstruction. However, for various reasons such as restrictions by the owner, a high anaesthetic risk due to the critical condition of the patient or concurrent diseases, surgical treatment may be impossible. In a three-year period, 145 cases of gastric dilatation were treated medically with a combination of metoclopramide, metamizole, balanced fluid electrolyte solution with glucose and syringe feeding. No gender or breed predisposition could be noted. Four animals were euthanased, three of them directly after diagnosis. Eleven animals died, eight of them on the day of presentation. The medical treatment was successful in 130 cases (89 per cent) with a mean treatment time of three days. The animals were released from hospital when eating and defecating normally. Although the use of medical treatment of gastric dilatation has to be thoroughly considered, especially regarding the severity of obstruction, the painfulness and the animal's welfare, the good survival rate observed with these animals makes it a good option for all cases where surgical treatment is contraindicated.
The meaning of public opinion: citizens' constructions of political reality

Analyse des liens entre la communication de masse et la formation de l'opinion publique : comment les citoyens concoivent le role des medias dans le processus de formation de l'opinion publique. Etude particuliere aupres d'un groupe d'Americains, qui explore la facon dont ces personnes conceptualisent les frontieres entre la presse, l'Etat et le public
Influence of neuromuscular fatigue on accelerometer load in elite Australian football players.

PURPOSE To determine the impact of neuromuscular fatigue (NMF) assessed from variables obtained during a countermovement jump on exercise intensity measured with triaxial accelerometers (load per minute [LPM]) and the association between LPM and measures of running activity in elite Australian Football. METHODS Seventeen elite Australian Football players performed the Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test level 2 (Yo-Yo IR2) and provided a baseline measure of NMF (flight time:contraction time [FT:CT]) from a countermovement jump before the season. Weekly samples of FT:CT, coaches' rating of performance (votes), LPM, and percent contribution of the 3 vectors from the accelerometers in addition to high-speed-running meters per minute at >15 km/h and total distance relative to playing time (m/min) from matches were collected. Samples were divided into fatigued and nonfatigued groups based on reductions in FT:CT. Percent contributions of vectors to LPM were assessed to determine the likelihood of a meaningful difference between fatigued and nonfatigued groups. Pearson correlations were calculated to determine relationships between accelerometer vectors and running variables, votes, and Yo-Yo IR2 score. RESULTS Fatigue reduced the contribution of the vertical vector by (mean ± 90% CI) -5.8% ± 6.1% (86% likely) and the number of practically important correlations. CONCLUSIONS NMF affects the contribution of individual vectors to total LPM, with a likely tendency toward more running at low speed and less acceleration. Fatigue appears to limit the influence of the aerobic and anaerobic qualities assessed via the Yo-Yo IR2 test on LPM and seems implicated in pacing.
The Witnesses: War Crimes and the Promise of Justice in The Hague

Impunity has been a recurrent feature of those who carry out crimes against humanity, genocide and other gross human rights violations in the twentieth and twenty-fi rst centuries. Most perpetrators of these crimes get away with it, and from Chechnya to Darfur, continue to do so. In looking for mechanisms to punish and prevent such crimes, the international tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda along with the International Criminal Court take on great importance. Eric Stover’s Th e Witnesses: War Crimes and the Promise of Justice in Th e Hague includes interviews and analysis of the experiences of witnesses at the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia (ICTY). Stover compellingly describes the difficulty of trying to achieve some form of justice for victims and their communities within the complex workings of the international tribunal. Th is volume is an outgrowth of Stover’s participation in the Communities in Crisis Project: Justice, Accountability, and Social Reconstruction in Rwanda and Yugoslavia and builds upon decades of fi eldwork. Over four years, the author conducted a series of interviews with thirty-three ICTY staff members. Also, and this is the unique perspective of this volume, Stover interviews eighty-seven individuals most of whom were noncombatants who experienced and/or witnessed war crimes ranging from rape to torture to ethnic cleansing and who testifi ed at the ICTY. Th e sample is small (by the end of 2004 over two thousand witnesses testifi ed before the ICTY) and includes sixty-two Bosnian Muslims, twenty Croats, and fi ve Bosnian Serbs. Interviews occur a relatively short time after the witnesses testify, providing much needed information on the difficulties of bearing witness. What is it like to be a witness at an international criminal tribunal?
A Novel Carry-Look Ahead Approach to a Unified BCD and Binary Adder/Subtractor

Increasing prominence of commercial, financial and Internet-based applications, which process decimal data, there is an increasing interest in providing hardware support for such data. In this paper, new architecture for efficient binary and binary coded decimal (BCD) adder/subtracter is presented. This employs a new method of subtraction unlike the existing designs which mostly use 10's complements, to obtain a much lower latency. Though there is a necessity of correction in some cases, the delay overhead is minimal. A complete discussion about such cases and the required logic to process is presented. The architecture is run-time reconfigurable to facilitate both BCD and binary operations, including signed and unsigned numbers. The proposed circuits are compared (both qualitatively as well as quantitatively) with the existing circuits in literature and are shown to perform better. Simulation results show that the proposed architecture is at least 11% faster than the existing designs.
Seasonal and site specific variation in the component community structure of intestinal helminths in Apodemus sylvaticus from three contrasting habitats in south-east England

Abstract Seasonal fluctuations in the prevalence and abundance of infection with intestinal helminths were studied in Apodemus sylvaticus (wood mouse, n = 399), from three contrasting habitats in southern England, to test the hypothesis that both intrinsic (host sex, age) and extrinsic (season, site) factors influence parasite species richness and abundance. Five species of helminths were recovered but only one of these (Capillaria murissylvatici) was site-specific (Dungeness). Total species richness was therefore 5 at Dungeness and 4 at the other two sites. Mean species richness was 1.4, but in adult mice there was a pronounced difference between the sites, and an independent highly significant effect of season. Syphacia stroma and Corrigia vitta both showed marked differences between sites in respect of prevalence and abundance of infection. Capillaria murissylvatici was encountered at Dungeness mostly in the spring whereas seasonal changes in abundance ofS. stroma were consistent across all three sites. Seasonal fluctuations in the abundance of Catenotaenia pusilla were compounded by differences between sites. Host sex was not a significant factor in any species, although a posteriorianalysis of S. stromaworm burdens for the Isle of Wight site revealed a moderate local sex effect. Overall the principal determinants of variation in helminth burdens were the extrinsic factors, site and season.
Effects of Case Marking and Word Order on Sentence Parsing in Finnish: An Eye Fixation Analysis

Effects of case marking and word order on syntactic parsing in Finnish were examined by registering readers’ eye fixation patterns while they read single sentences for comprehension. Target nouns appearing towards the beginning of the sentence took one of three grammatical roles: subject, object, or adverbial. The subject phrase in the sentence-initial position is the canonical order in Finnish, but the two other word orders are less frequent. In one experimental condition, the grammatical role of the target noun was signalled by a case inflection attached to the preceding adjective modifier; in the second condition this was not the case. The results showed a facilitation effect in sentence parsing due to case marking. Similarly, there was an effect of word order, where the canonical SVO order was associated with greater processing ease than were non-canonical word orders. The two factors interacted so that there was no effect of case marking for the SVO order, but a significant case marking effect for the two marked word orders. The same pattern of results showed up as both immediate and delayed effects. The results speak against the notion of head licensing proposed by Abney (1989) and Prichett (1991).
School Reentry Following Traumatic Brain Injury

Successful school reentry following traumatic brain injury (TBI) is critical to recovery. Physical, cognitive, behavioral, academic, and social problems can affect a child's school performance after a TBI. However, early intervention has the potential to improve child academic outcomes and promote effective coping with any persistent changes in functioning. The purpose of this article is to review the topic of school reentry after a childhood TBI. The authors describe 4 essential principles to planning a positive reentry to school: assessment, multidisciplinary teaming, facilitation of peer interactions, and planning for the provision and withdrawal of support. The authors delineate a sequence of steps for promoting school reentry and review existing school reentry programs. The authors also discuss barriers to the school reentry process and possible solutions. The article concludes with a case study that highlights some of the challenges of school reentry and the benefits of using interactive videoconferencing to link rehabilitation and community-based treatment teams during the reentry process.
The Effect of Political Discussion in Producing Informed Citizens: The Roles of Information, Motivation, and Elaboration

Recent studies have demonstrated a strong empirical relationship between political discussion and political knowledge. However, as of yet there has been no clear discussion or demonstration of how political discussion translates into increased political knowledge. The present study proposes three explanations--exposure (similar to the two step flow), anticipatory elaboration (linking work on uses and gratifications and news information processing), and discussion-generated elaboration (focusing on how discussion itself can influence information processing)--for this observed empirical relationship. In order to test these three explanations, data from the 2000 ANES and a local community survey during the 1996 presidential election were employed. Findings suggest that the direct relationship between discussion and knowledge may be mediated through motivations and information processing behaviors. These findings support the anticipatory elaboration and discussion-generated elaboration explanations while ques.
Cooperation between Area 17 Neuron Pairs Enhances Fine Discrimination of Orientation

We examined 66 complex cells in area 17 of cats that were paralyzed and anesthetized with propofol and N2O. We studied changes in ensemble responses for small (<10°) and large (>10°) differences in orientation. Examination of temporal resolution and discharge history revealed advantages in discrimination from both dependent (e.g., synchronization) and independent (e.g., bursting) interspike interval properties. For 27 pairs of neurons, we found that the average cooperation (the advantage gained from the joint activity) was 57.6% for fine discrimination of orientation but <5% for gross discrimination. Dependency (probabilistic quantification of the interaction between the cells) was measured between 29 pairs of neurons while varying orientation. On average, the dependency tuning for orientation was 35.5% narrower than the average firing rate tuning. The changes in dependency around the peak orientation (at which the firing rate remains relatively constant) lead to substantial cooperation that can improve discrimination in this region. The narrow tuning of dependency and the cooperation provide evidence to support a population-encoding scheme that is based on biologically plausible mechanisms and that could account for hyperacuities.