Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Factors influencing Northern Hemisphere winter mean atmospheric circulation anomalies during the period 1960 / 61 to 2001 / 02

Influences from the Tropics, the stratosphere and the specification of observed sea surface temperature and sea-ice (SSTSI) on Northern Hemisphere winter mean circulation anomalies during the period 1960/61 to 2001/02 are studied using a relaxation technique applied to the ECMWF model. On interannual time-scales, the Tropics strongly influence the Pacific sector but also the North Atlantic sector, although weakly. The stratosphere is found to be influential on the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) on interannual time-scales but is less important over the Pacific sector. Adding the observed SSTSI to the tropical relaxation runs generally improves the model performance on interannual time-scales but degrades/enhances the model’s ability to capture the 42-year trend over the Pacific/Atlantic sector. While relaxing the stratosphere to the reanalysis fails to capture the trend over the whole 42-year period, the stratosphere is shown to be influential on the upward trend of the NAO index from 1965 to 1995, but with reduced amplitude compared to previous studies. Influence from the Tropics is found to be important for the trend over both time periods and over both sectors although, across all experiments, we can account for only 30% of the amplitude of the hemispheric trend. Copyright c © 2012 Royal Meteorological Society
Clinical utility of the UCSD Performance-Based Skills Assessment—Brief (UPSA-B) in adults living with HIV: Associations with neuropsychological impairment and patient-reported everyday functioning difficulties

Objective Requiring only 10–15 minutes to complete, the UCSD Performance-Based Skills Assessment (UPSA-B) has high clinical utility as a brief measure of functional capacity. This study aimed to validate the UPSA-B in adults living with HIV/AIDS (HIV+), and identify whether the UPSA-B can be used as an indicator of functional dependence in this population. Method One hundred and three HIV+ adults and 91 HIV- adults completed a comprehensive neuropsychological and neuromedical battery, including a self-report measure of functional status (IADL Dependence vs. IADL Independence), an objective measure of functional capacity (UPSA-B), and a self-report measure of mood states including a subscale related to cognitive difficulties (Profile of Mood States [POMS]-Confusion/Bewilderment subscale). Results HIV+ participants had significantly lower UPSA-B scores than their HIV- counterparts (p = 0.02), although this fell to a trend (p = 0.08) when including covariates. Among the HIV+ group, higher UPSA-B scores were related to better neuropsychological ability, but unrelated to self-reported functional independence. Conversely, UPSA-B scores were unrelated to participant-reported cognitive difficulties on the POMS Confusion/Bewilderment subscale. An ROC curve was generated to determine the optimal UPSA-B value for discriminating between normal neuropsychological functioning versus neuropsychological impairment, with results indicating an optimal cutoff of 79. The UPSA-B identified HIV+ persons with cognitive impairment with 70.9% accuracy. Conclusions The UPSA-B was able to differentiate neuropsychological impairment from no impairment among HIV+ participants and holds promise as a clinical screening tool in this population. However, indicators of functional disability among adults living with HIV is still not well understood and is likely multifactorial in nature. These data highlight the complex interplay between objective functional capacity, neurocognitive ability, subjective cognitive symptoms, and functional dependence.
Illness-specific and general perceptions of social relationships in adjustment to Rheumatoid Arthritis: The Role of Interpersonal Expectations

Background: Adjustment to rheumatoid arthritis (RA) may be made more difficult when patients are unable to meet the expectations of family and friends about how well they are coping. Purpose: This study investigated the influence of illness-specific interpersonal expectations and general indices of social interactions on depressive symptoms among 39 women with RA (M age = 46.9 years; M disease duration = 11.2 years). Methods: Female patients with RA and their spouses were recruited from an outpatient rheumatology clinic at an urban university hospital. Participants completed questionnaires at home and returned them to the research staff in prepaid, stamped envelopes.Results: Results showed a significant correlation between spousal expectations and patients’ perceived inability to meet them. Further, hierarchical regression analyses indicated that even when controlling for disease severity and traditional measures of social interactions (e.g., social support, perceived criticism, and general quality of the dyadic relationship), patient’s perceived inability to meet spousal expectations contributed unique variance in depressive symptoms.Conclusions: These results suggest that adjustment to RA is not due entirely to the general features of social relationships, but additionally reflect specific aspects of the chronic illness milieu where spousal expectations and the patient’s perceived inability to meet them are also related to adjustment.
Pirating conserved phage mechanisms promotes promiscuous staphylococcal pathogenicity island transfer

Targeting conserved and essential processes is a successful strategy to combat enemies. Remarkably, the clinically important Staphylococcus aureus pathogenicity islands (SaPIs) use this tactic to spread in nature. SaPIs reside passively in the host chromosome, under the control of the SaPI-encoded master repressor, Stl. It has been assumed that SaPI de-repression is effected by specific phage proteins that bind to Stl, initiating the SaPI cycle. Different SaPIs encode different Stl repressors, so each targets a specific phage protein for its de-repression. Broadening this narrow vision, we report here that SaPIs ensure their promiscuous transfer by targeting conserved phage mechanisms. This is accomplished because the SaPI Stl repressors have acquired different domains to interact with unrelated proteins, encoded by different phages, but in all cases performing the same conserved function. This elegant strategy allows intra- and inter-generic SaPI transfer, highlighting these elements as one of nature’s most fascinating subcellular parasites.
New evidence for preserved somatosensory pathways in complete spinal cord injury: A fMRI study

Trauma to the spinal cord rarely results in complete division of the cord with surviving nerves sometimes remaining silent or failing to function normally. The term motor or sensory discomplete has been used to describe this important but unclassified subgroup of complete SCI. Importantly, silent motor or sensory pathways may contribute to aversive symptoms (spasticity, pain) or improved treatment success. To demonstrate more objectively the presence of subclinical preserved somatosensory pathways in clinically complete SCI, a cross‐sectional study using functional MRI (fMRI) was undertaken. The presence of brain activation following innocuous brushing of an insensate region below‐injury (great toe) was analyzed in 23 people (19 males (83%), mean ± SD age 43 ± 13 years) with clinically complete (AIS A) SCI with (n = 13) and without (n = 10) below‐level neuropathic pain and 21 people without SCI or pain (15 males (71%); mean ± SD age 41 ± 14 years). Location appropriate, significant fMRI brain activation was detected in 48% (n = 11/23) of subjects with clinically complete SCI from below‐injury stimulation. No association was found between the presence of subclinical sensory pathways transmitting innocuous mechanical stimuli (dorsal column medical lemniscal) and below‐level neuropathic pain (χ2 = 0.034, P = 0.9). The high prevalence of sensory discomplete injuries (∼50% complete SCI) strengthens the case to explore inclusion of this category into the international SCI taxonomy (ISNCSCI). This would ensure more widespread inclusion of discomplete SCI in ongoing pain and motor recovery research. Neurophysiological tests such as fMRI may play a role in this process. Hum Brain Mapp 39:588–598, 2018. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
The Efficacy of 3 Months Self Care Intervention on Modifiable Risk Factors among Women Who Planning Pregnancy: A Quasi- Experimental Study

Context: Preconception care includes a set of preventive or therapeutic interventions and it aims to identify and relieve the biomedical, behavioral and social risks that threaten the mother’s health or pregnancy outcome. Women can participate in the preconception counseling to minimize the risks. Aims: This study aimed to determine the effect of preconception counseling based on self- care interventions on the modifiable risk factors of women who planning pregnancy. Settings and Design: A quasi- experimental one group pre-test ans posttest design was used to assess the effectiveness of preconception counseling on 40 women who planning pregnancy. The tools used in this study included demographic questionnaire and questionnaire of modifiable risk factors in women who planning pregnancy based on March of Dimes preconception health indicators. The ethical approval was achieved from the Research Ethics Committee of Alborz University of Medical Sciences (ABZUMS.REC.1395.15). Results: Friedman’s results showed the significant change in average score of modifiable risk factors before and after counseling based on self-care interventions in domains areas of general health, lifestyle, nutrition and physical activity (p<0.0001). Also, repeated measures results showed the effectiveness of consulting on body mass index indicator after 3 months. Conclusions: Performance of women in the area of preconception indicators was not enough. As a result, health care providers, especially midwives and midwifery consultants, should consider the proper and full implementation of required consultations before pregnancy based on the necessities of women.
Tobacco Use Decreases Visual Sensitivity in Schizophrenia

Smoking prevalence in patients who are diagnosed with schizophrenia (SCZ) is higher than in the general population. Chronic tobacco use in SCZ patients may reduce the side effects of antipsychotic drugs, thus serving as a self-medication for such side effects. Understanding the ways in which chronic tobacco use influences visual sensitivity has clinical implications, which may serve as a tool for non-invasively diagnosing early-stage visual processing deficits. The present study evaluated the effects of chronic tobacco use on visual sensitivity in SCZ patients. Our purpose was to provide new directions for future research, mainly psychophysical and electrophysiological studies. In the present study, 40 smoker controls (SC), 20 SCZ tobacco users, and 20 SCZ tobacco nonusers were recruited from the Psychosocial Care Center. Visual sensitivity was compared between both SCZ groups and the SC group. Patients with SCZ who were chronic tobacco users presented lower visual sensitivity for chromatic (p < 0.001) and achromatic (p < 0.001) stimuli compared with the other groups. Our findings highlight the need to evaluate possible addictive behavior in patients with SCZ, which may contribute to public policies that seek to improve the quality of life of SCZ patients and their families.
Comorbidity-Polypharmacy Score Predicts In-Hospital Complications and the Need for Discharge to Extended Care Facility in Older Burn Patients

Advancing age is associated with increased mortality despite smaller burn size. Chronic conditions are common in the elderly with resulting polypharmacy. The Comorbidity-Polypharmacy Score (CPS) facilitates quantitative assessment of the severity of comorbid conditions, or physiologic age. Burn injury in older patients is associated with increasing morbidity and mortality and the CPS may be predictive of outcomes such as mortality, ICU and hospital LOS, complications, and final hospital disposition. Our goal was to evaluate the predictive value of CPS for outcomes in the elderly burn population. A retrospective study was undertaken of 920 burn patients with age ≥45 admitted with acute burn injuries (January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2012). CPS was calculated by adding preinjury comorbidities and medications. Subjects were stratified into three groups according to CPS severity. Data collected included demographics, total body surface area burned (TBSA), presence of inhalation injury, ICU/hospital length of stay, complications, discharge disposition, and mortality. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed. The mean age was 55.7; 72.9% were males; the mean initial TBSA was 6.93%; and mean CPS was 8.01. The risk of in-hospital complications is independently associated with CPS (OR 1.35). CPS (OR 1.81) was an independent predictor of discharge to a facility CPS but not of mortality. While increasing CPS was associated with lower TBSA, mortality remained unchanged. CPS is an independent predictor of in-hospital complications and need for transfer to extended care facilities in older burn patients, which can be determined at the stage of admission to help direct patient management.
A Neurobiological Model of Borderline Personality Disorder: Systematic and Integrative Review

AbstractBorderline personality disorder (BPD) is a severe mental disorder with a multifactorial etiology. The development and maintenance of BPD is sustained by diverse neurobiological factors that contribute to the disorder’s complex clinical phenotype. These factors may be identified using a range of techniques to probe alterations in brain systems that underlie BPD. We systematically searched the scientific literature for empirical studies on the neurobiology of BPD, identifying 146 articles in three broad research areas: neuroendocrinology and biological specimens; structural neuroimaging; and functional neuroimaging. We consolidate the results of these studies and provide an integrative model that attempts to incorporate the heterogeneous findings. The model specifies interactions among endogenous stress hormones, neurometabolism, and brain structures and circuits involved in emotion and cognition. The role of the amygdala in BPD is expanded to consider its functions in coordinating the brain’s dynamic evaluation of the relevance of emotional stimuli in the context of an individual’s goals and motivations. Future directions for neurobiological research on BPD are discussed, including implications for the Research Domain Criteria framework, accelerating genetics research by incorporating endophenotypes and gene × environment interactions, and exploring novel applications of neuroscience findings to treatment research.
ParlAI: A Dialog Research Software Platform

We introduce ParlAI (pronounced “par-lay”), an open-source software platform for dialog research implemented in Python, available at http://parl.ai. Its goal is to provide a unified framework for sharing, training and testing dialog models; integration of Amazon Mechanical Turk for data collection, human evaluation, and online/reinforcement learning; and a repository of machine learning models for comparing with others’ models, and improving upon existing architectures. Over 20 tasks are supported in the first release, including popular datasets such as SQuAD, bAbI tasks, MCTest, WikiQA, QACNN, QADailyMail, CBT, bAbI Dialog, Ubuntu, OpenSubtitles and VQA. Several models are integrated, including neural models such as memory networks, seq2seq and attentive LSTMs.
Phosphorus imbalance in the global ocean?

The phosphorus budget of the prehuman modern ocean is constrained applying the most recent estimates of the natural riverine, eolian, and ice‐rafted input fluxes; the phosphorus burial in marine sediments; and the hydrothermal removal of dissolved phosphate from the deep ocean. This review of current flux estimates indicates that the phosphorus budget of the ocean is unbalanced since the accumulation of phosphorus in marine sediments and altered oceanic crust exceeds the continental input of particulate and dissolved phosphorus. The phosphorus mass balance is further tested considering the dissolved phosphate distribution in the deep water column, the marine export production of particulate organic matter, rain rates of phosphorus to the seafloor, benthic dissolved phosphate fluxes, and the organic carbon to phosphorus ratios in marine particles. These independent data confirm that the phosphate and phosphorus budgets were not at steady state in the prehuman global ocean. The ocean is losing dissolved phosphate at a rate of ≥11.6 × 1010 mol yr−1 corresponding to a decline in the phosphate inventory of ≥4.5% kyr−1. Benthic data show that phosphate is preferentially retained in pelagic deep‐sea sediments where extended oxygen exposure times favor the degradation of particulate organic matter and the uptake of phosphate in manganese and iron oxides and hydroxides. Enhanced C: P regeneration ratios observed in the deep water column (>400 m water depth) probably reflect the preferential burial of phosphorus in pelagic sediments. Excess phosphate is released from continental margin sediments deposited in low‐oxygen environments. The dissolved oxygen threshold value for the enhanced release of dissolved phosphate is ∼20 μM. Benthic phosphate fluxes increase drastically when oxygen concentrations fall below this value.
Project reach: Piloting a risk-tailored smoking cessation intervention for lung screening

The purpose of this study was to explore the feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of a telephone-based smoking cessation intervention for lung screening patients. Participants (N = 39) were enrolled in a single-arm pilot study of a four-session telephone-based intervention. Self-report measures were completed at baseline, post-intervention, and 3-month follow-up. Participants were long-term smokers; 62 percent were not motivated to quit. Twenty-three percent attempted quitting, 29 percent decreased their smoking, and 11 percent reported abstinence. Confidence increased (p < .001) and there were trends toward increased importance (p = .09) and comparative disease risk (p = .02). This intervention was acceptable and associated with improvements in smoking-related beliefs and behaviors.
Childhood adversities and adult psychiatric disorders in the national comorbidity survey replication I: associations with first onset of DSM-IV disorders.

CONTEXT Although significant associations of childhood adversities (CAs) with adult mental disorders have been documented consistently in epidemiological surveys, these studies generally have examined only 1 CA per study. Because CAs are highly clustered, this approach results in overestimating the importance of individual CAs. Multivariate CA studies have been based on insufficiently complex models. OBJECTIVE To examine the joint associations of 12 retrospectively reported CAs with the first onset of DSM-IV disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication using substantively complex multivariate models. DESIGN Cross-sectional community survey with retrospective reports of CAs and lifetime DSM-IV disorders. SETTING Household population in the United States. PARTICIPANTS Nationally representative sample of 9282 adults. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Lifetime prevalences of 20 DSM-IV anxiety, mood, disruptive behavior, and substance use disorders assessed using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. RESULTS The CAs studied were highly prevalent and intercorrelated. The CAs in a maladaptive family functioning (MFF) cluster (parental mental illness, substance abuse disorder, and criminality; family violence; physical abuse; sexual abuse; and neglect) were the strongest correlates of disorder onset. The best-fitting model included terms for each type of CA, number of MFF CAs, and number of other CAs. Multiple MFF CAs had significant subadditive associations with disorder onset. Little specificity was found for particular CAs with particular disorders. Associations declined in magnitude with life course stage and number of previous lifetime disorders but increased with length of recall. Simulations suggest that CAs are associated with 44.6% of all childhood-onset disorders and with 25.9% to 32.0% of later-onset disorders. CONCLUSIONS The fact that associations increased with length of recall raises the possibility of recall bias inflating estimates. Even considering this, the results suggest that CAs have powerful and often subadditive associations with the onset of many types of largely primary mental disorders throughout the life course.
CNNs based multi-modality classification for AD diagnosis

Accurate and early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) plays a significant part for the patient care and development of future treatment. Magnetic Resonance Image (MRI) and Positron Emission Tomography (PET) neuroimages are effective modalities that can help physicians to diagnose AD. In past few years, machine-learning algorithm have been widely studied on the analyses for multi-modality neuroimages in quantitation evaluation and computer-aided-diagnosis (CAD) of AD. Most existing methods extract the hand-craft features after image preprocessing such as registration, segmentation and feature extraction, and then train a classifier to distinguish AD from other groups. This paper proposes to construct multi-level convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to gradually learn and combine the multi-modality features for AD classification using MRI and PET images. First, the deep 3D-CNNs are constructed to transform the whole brain information into compact high-level features for each modality. Then, a 2D CNNs is cascaded to ensemble the high-level features for image classification. The proposed method can automatically learn the generic features from MRI and PET imaging data for AD classification. No rigid image registration and segmentation are performed on the brain images. Our proposed method is evaluated on the baseline MRI and PET images from Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) database on 193 subjects including 93 Alzheimer's disease (AD) subjects and 100 normal controls (NC) subjects. Experimental results and comparison show that the proposed method achieves an accuracy of 89.64% for classification of AD vs. NC, demonstrating the promising classification performance.
Correlated Disorder in YBCO and Composite YBCO Films Revealed by Means of Synchrotron X-Ray Diffraction

The presence of lattice <italic>correlated disorder</italic> in real materials places further demands on the understanding of the structure–function relationship. The study of this disorder is quite challenging, since it can be due to various and interconnected reasons. This requires advanced probes able to measure <italic>weak</italic> structural features. Thanks to synchrotron radiation features, nowadays, it is possible to visualize structural disorder alongside its spatial distribution and time dynamics. In this context, we aim to characterize thin-film superconducting YBa<sub>2</sub>Cu<sub>3</sub>O<sub>7-</sub><italic><sub>x</sub></italic>, whose structure is particularly rich. Indeed, here, the nanogranularity related to superlattices, distribution of dopants, and strain-induced stoichiometry inhomogeneity are coupled with the intrinsic granularity arising from the material island growth mode, which leads to small grains (∼200 nm) and a large network of grain boundaries. X-ray Grazing incidence diffraction has been used to visualize low-dimensional lattice disorder in optimally doped YBa<sub>2</sub>Cu <sub>3</sub>O<sub>7-</sub><italic><sub>x</sub></italic> with inclusion of BaZrO<sub>3</sub> nanodefects grown on SrTiO <sub>3</sub> single crystals. The results are expected to shade light on interplay of lattice disorder and the electronic quantum coherence in the superconducting state.