Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The role of historical environmental information in perceptions and management of an urban river

Environmental history can be defined as the study of past relationships between people and natural environments. Descriptions of ecosystems prior to their anthropogenic degradation (reference conditions) and their past degradation are increasingly used to set conservation goals. To a much lesser extent environmental history has been used to evaluate past environmental management. This thesis evaluates the potential of historical information to describe an ecosystem’s reference conditions, degradation and recovery and the interrelated social, economic, technological and legislative factors which drove these changes. It also assesses the potential for the dissemination of historical information to influence public perceptions of an ecosystem’s present conditions and their predictions for its future. It uses the River Don as a case study of a system that has been both highly valued and severely degraded by local people over centuries and has seen substantial restoration over recent decades. The key findings are: 1) historical biological records are of limited value in describing historical community composition due to recording biases; 2) historical newspaper articles provide much information on past relationships between people and the river but neglect some important environmental degradation issues; 3) local people’s historical knowledge of the river influence their perceptions in ways which may foster support for its restoration; 4) reading historical rather than current information on the River Don under experimental conditions leads participants to hold more negative views about the river’s current environmental state but does not affect their expectations regarding the river’s future or their intentions to visit it. This research provides further evidence that historical information is valuable for planning environmental restoration but is often limited by sparsity and bias. It indicates that historical knowledge has the potential to foster support for conservation but further research is needed to better understand the relationship between historical knowledge and support for conservation.
Patients' views on the quality of health care for rheumatoid arthritis.

OBJECTIVE To study the experiences and views of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) on the quality of health care received in primary and secondary care. METHOD Semi-structured interviews with 26 individual patients with RA; these were stratified by sex, ethnicity and disease duration, based on the treated prevalence cohort of patients attending two outpatient clinics in South East England. RESULTS Patients highlighted four main factors which influenced their attitude and approach towards hospital staff and the treatment offered: (i) their past experiences with the National Health Service (NHS), (ii) their own health beliefs, (iii) professional attitudes (e.g. listening to patients, receiving feedback on disease processes) and (iv) organizational aspects (e.g. good communication between health professionals) which would make their visits to the outpatient clinic easier. CONCLUSION Most patients no longer see themselves as passive recipients of care. They appreciate acknowledgement from health care professionals of their contribution towards management of their own chronic illness, and welcome a more equal dialogue with health care staff. This is consistent with the emphasis of the Department of Health document on 'Supporting People with Long-term Conditions' such as RA.
Polymorphic Allele of Human IRGM1 Is Associated with Susceptibility to Tuberculosis in African Americans

An ancestral polymorphic allele of the human autophagy-related gene IRGM1 is associated with altered gene expression and a genetic risk for Crohn's Disease (CD). We used the single nucleotide polymorphism rs10065172C/T as a marker of this polymorphic allele and genotyped 370 African American and 177 Caucasian tuberculosis (TB) cases and 180 African American and 110 Caucasian controls. Among African Americans, the TB cases were more likely to carry the CD-related T allele of rs10065172 (odds ratio of 1.54; 95% confidence interval, 1.17–2.02; P<0.01) compared to controls. Our finding suggests that this CD-related IRGM1 polymorphic allele is also associated with human susceptibility to TB disease among African Americans.
Genetic and Environmental Contributions to Functional Connectivity Architecture of the Human Brain

One of the grand challenges faced by neuroscience is to delineate the determinants of interindividual variation in the comprehensive structural and functional connection matrices that comprise the human connectome. At present, this endeavor appears most tractable at the macroanatomic scale, where intrinsic brain activity exhibits robust patterns of synchrony that recapitulate core functional circuits at the individual level. Here, we use a classical twin study design to examine the heritability of intrinsic functional network properties in 101 twin pairs, including network activity (i.e., variance of a network's specific temporal fluctuations) and internetwork coherence (i.e., correlation between networks' specific temporal fluctuations). Five of 7 networks exhibited significantly heritable (23.3–65.2%) network activity, 6 of the 21 internetwork coherences were significantly heritable (25.6–42.0%), and 11 of the 21 internetwork coherences were significantly influenced by common environmental factors (18.0–47.1%). These results suggest that the source of interindividual variation in functional connectome has a modular architecture: individual modules represented by intrinsic connectivity networks are genetic controlled, while environmental factors influence the interplays between the modules. This work further provides network-specific hypotheses for discovery of the specific genetic and environmental factors influencing functional specialization and integration of the human brain.
Interference of cardiac pacemaker and implantable cardioverter-defibrillator activity during electronic dental device use.

BACKGROUND The authors conducted a study to determine if electromagnetic interference of cardiac pacemaker and implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) activity occurs during the operation of electronic dental devices. METHODS The authors tested nine electronic dental devices in vitro to assess their ability to interfere with the function of two pacemakers and two ICDs as determined by electrocardiographic telemetry. RESULTS The pacing activity of both pacemakers and the dual-chamber ICD were inhibited during operation of the battery-operated composite curing light at between 2 and 10 centimeters from the generator or leads. The use of the ultrasonic scaler interfered with the pacing activity of the dual-chamber pacemaker at between 17 and 23 cm from the generator or leads, the single-chamber pacemaker at 15 cm from the generator or leads and both ICDs at 7 cm from the leads. The operation of the ultrasonic cleaning system interfered with the activity of the dual-chamber pacemaker at between 15 and 23 cm from the generator or leads, and of the single-chamber pacemaker at 12 cm. Operation of the electric toothbrush, electrosurgical unit, electric pulp tester, high- and low-speed handpieces, and an amalgamator did not alter pacing function. CONCLUSION Select electronic dental devices interfere with pacemakers' and ICDs' sensing and pacing activity in vitro. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS Use of the ultrasonic scaler, ultrasonic cleaning system and battery-operated composite curing light may produce deleterious effects in patients who have pacemakers or ICDs.
Air-sea gas exchange in tidal fronts

Strong tidal currents in the Fraser Estuary, BC, Canada, cause intense flow-topography interaction around islands and over shallow sills. At Boundary Pass, a steep sill forms a pronounced barrier for flow of dense water from the Paciflc Ocean into the Strait of Georgia. The processes at the sill control the renewal of deep and intermediate water in the Strait. The strong flood tidal flow forces dense water to flow over the sill. It then meets a fresh surface layer just downstream of the sill crest and subducts underneath the fresh water, setting up a hydraulic sill flow with an arrested upper layer. Vertical current speeds at the downstream side of the sill reach up to 0.75 m s“ ,̂ and intense detrainment of dense water from the lower into the upper layer causes a volume loss of 60% over a distance of 200 m. Surface waves travelling into the convergence zone (tidal front) over the sill crest tend to steepen and break due to wave-current interaction. The breaking waves inject gas bubbles, which either rise back to the sea surface or dissolve completely, depending on their rise speed and the strength of the vertical currents. Bubbles injected close to the plunge point of the dense water mass are drawn down by the extreme currents to depths of up to 160 m, enhancing air-sea gas exchange. The hydraulic flow, wave-current interaction, and gas bubble behaviour are described with simple models. They are used to interpret extensive ship-board measurements during two cruises in the Fraser estuary and help in the understanding of the physical processes involved in air-sea gas exchange in tidal fronts. The oxygen flux in the tidal front at Boundary Pass is compared with other oxygen sources in the Fraser Estuary and shows tha t tidal fronts
Effect of Arthrospira (Spirulina) maxima on Cadmium-Chloride-Induced Alterations in Sexual Behavior and Fertility in Male Wistar Rats

Chronic exposure to potentially toxic elements (PTEs) such as cadmium (Cd) leads to male reproductive toxicity through the generation of oxidative stress. Spirulina Arthrospira maxima (AM) is a cyanobacterium that has been consumed since ancient times for its high nutritional value, and in recent years for its antiviral, hepatoprotective, hypoglycemic, anticancer, and antioxidant effects, among others. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of AM against the damage to reproductive health induced by Cd. A total of 48 10-week-old sexually experienced male Wistar rats were distributed in five groups (n = 8): control; vehicle (tween-water); cadmium chloride (CdCl2) 5 mg/kg; and three doses of AM (100, 200 and 400 mg/kg) + CdCl2 5 mg/kg. All treatments were orally administered once a day for 36 consecutive days. At the end, sexual behavior was evaluated, and semen, testicle, and blood samples were obtained to analyze sperm quality, enzymatic activity, and testosterone levels, respectively. Rats exposed to Cd showed a decrease in sexual behavior, as well as in the quality of reproductive health, and an increase in oxidative stress; while rats exposed simultaneously to AM + Cd showed an improvement in all this parameters. Based on our results, we believe that the mechanism by which AM exerts its effect could be attributed to the presence of phycobiliproteins. These compounds are responsible for exerting an antioxidant effect and chelating effect on elements such as Cd.
Baseline Religion Involvement Predicts Subsequent Salivary Cortisol Levels Among Male But not Female Black Youth

Background: Compared to Whites, Blacks are exposed to higher levels of chronic stress in the United States. As a result, major Black-White differences exist in the baseline and response of cortisol. Yet, the potential association between baseline religiosity and subsequent cortisol levels of Blacks are not known. Objectives: In the current study we aimed to determine the association between baseline religious behaviors and daytime salivary cortisol level among male and female Black youth. Materials and Methods: With a longitudinal design, data came from wave 1 (1994) and wave 6 (2000) of a cohort from an urban area in the Midwest of the United States. The study followed 227 Black adolescents (109 males and 118 females) for six years. Socio-demographics and religious behaviors (frequency of participation in religious activities) were measured at baseline. Base morning cortisol level at wave 6 was the outcome. We fitted a linear regression model to test the association between baseline religiosity at wave 1 and cortisol level at wave 6, while baseline age, socio-economics, and psychological symptoms were controlled. Results: In the pooled sample, frequency of participation in religious activities at baseline was negatively associated with mean cortisol level at follow up (r = -0.29, P > 0.01) among all, males (r = -0.38, P > 0.01), but not females (r = -.20, P > 0.05). Frequency of participation in religious activities remained a significant predictor of subsequent cortisol level (b = -0.283, 95% CI = -.107 - -0.022) while the effect of age, socioeconomics, and psychological symptoms were controlled. We could only find such an association among male Black youth (b = -0.368, 95% CI = -0.148 - -0.024) but not female Black youth (b = -0.229, 95% CI = -.113 - 0.011). Conclusions: Religiosity has been used as a coping mechanism among Blacks. Religiosity may also be related to stress regulation among Black youth. Future studies need to test complex associations between race, sex, religiosity, chronic stress, coping, and function of hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA). It is not known whether male Black youth who are and those who are not religious differently cope with stress associated with daily discrimination and living in disadvantaged neighborhoods.
Identification and validation of extracellular vesicle reference genes for the normalization of RT‐qPCR data

Abstract Extracellular vesicles (EVs) contain a plethora of biomolecules, including nucleic acids, with diverse diagnostic and therapeutic application potential. Although reverse transcription‐quantitative PCR (RT‐qPCR) is the most widely applied laboratory technique to evaluate gene expression, its applicability in EV research is challenged by the lack of universal and stably present reference genes (RGs). In this study, we identify, validate and establish SNRPG, OST4, TOMM7 and NOP10 as RGs for the normalization of EV‐associated genes by RT‐qPCR. We show the stable presence of SNRPG, OST4, TOMM7 and NOP10 in multiple cell lines and their secreted EVs (n = 12) under different (patho)physiological conditions as well as in human‐derived biofluids (n = 3). Enzymatic treatments confirm the presence of SNRPG, OST4, TOMM7 and NOP10 inside EVs. In addition, the four EV‐associated RGs are stably detected in a size‐range of EV subpopulations. RefFinder analysis reveals that SNRPG, OST4, TOMM7 and NOP10 are more stable compared to RGs established specifically for cultured cells or tissues such as HMBS, YWHAZ, SDHA and GAPDH. In summary, we present four universal and stably present EV‐associated RGs to enable normalization and thus steer the implementation of RT‐qPCR for the analysis of EV‐associated RNA cargo for research or clinical applications.
DiSMEC: Distributed Sparse Machines for Extreme Multi-label Classification

Extreme multi-label classification refers to supervised multi-label learning involving hundreds of thousands or even millions of labels. Datasets in extreme classification exhibit fit to power-law distribution, i.e. a large fraction of labels have very few positive instances in the data distribution. Most state-of-the-art approaches for extreme multi-label classification attempt to capture correlation among labels by embedding the label matrix to a low-dimensional linear sub-space. However, in the presence of power-law distributed extremely large and diverse label spaces, structural assumptions such as low rank can be easily violated. In this work, we present DiSMEC, which is a large-scale distributed framework for learning one-versus-rest linear classifiers coupled with explicit capacity control to control model size. Unlike most state-of-the-art methods, DiSMEC does not make any low rank assumptions on the label matrix. Using double layer of parallelization, DiSMEC can learn classifiers for datasets consisting hundreds of thousands labels within few hours. The explicit capacity control mechanism filters out spurious parameters which keep the model compact in size, without losing prediction accuracy. We conduct extensive empirical evaluation on publicly available real-world datasets consisting upto 670,000 labels. We compare DiSMEC with recent state-of-the-art approaches, including - SLEEC which is a leading approach for learning sparse local embeddings, and FastXML which is a tree-based approach optimizing ranking based loss function. On some of the datasets, DiSMEC can significantly boost prediction accuracies - 10% better compared to SLECC and 15% better compared to FastXML, in absolute terms.
Quadrature oscillator using operational transresistance amplifier

Quadrature oscillator based on the operational transresistance amplifier (OTRA) is presented in this paper. The proposed quadrature oscillator circuit uses two OTRAs as main active building blocks and a few external passive components to generate the oscillations. The circuit provides independent control over the condition of oscillation and frequency of oscillation. A prototype circuit is implemented on a laboratory breadboard using commercially available current feedback operational amplifier ICs (AD844 AN) and passive components are connected externally and tested for waveform generation. Both the SPICE simulation and experimental results are given to verify the theoretical analysis.
Anatomical Mapping of White Matter Hyperintensities (WMH): Exploring the Relationships Between Periventricular WMH, Deep WMH, and Total WMH Burden

Background and Purpose— MRI segmentation and mapping techniques were used to assess evidence in support of categorical distinctions between periventricular white matter hyperintensities (PVWMH) and deep WMH (DWMH). Qualitative MRI studies generally identify 2 categories of WMH on the basis of anatomical localization. Separate pathophysiologies and behavioral consequences are often attributed to these 2 classes of WMH. However, evidence to support these empirical distinctions has not been rigorously sought. Methods— MRI analysis of 55 subjects included quantification of WMH volume, mapping onto a common anatomical image, and spatial localization of each WMH voxel. WMH locations were then divided into PVWMH and DWMH on the basis of distance from the lateral ventricles and correlations, with total WMH volume determined. Periventricular distance histograms of WMH voxels were also calculated. Results— PVWMH and DWMH were highly correlated with total WMH (R2>0.95) and with each other (R2>0.87). Mapping of all WMH revealed smooth expansion from around central cerebrospinal fluid spaces into more distal cerebral white matter with increasing WMH volume. Conclusion— PVWMH, DWMH, and total WMH are highly correlated with each other. Moreover, spatial analysis failed to identify distinct subpopulations for PVWMH and DWMH. These results suggest that categorical distinctions between PVWMH and DWMH may be arbitrary, and conclusions regarding individual relationships between causal factors or behavior for PVWMH and DWMH may more accurately reflect total WMH volume relationships.
Modeling a Generic Tone‐mapping Operator

Although several new tone‐mapping operators are proposed each year, there is no reliable method to validate their performance or to tell how different they are from one another. In order to analyze and understand the behavior of tone‐mapping operators, we model their mechanisms by fitting a generic operator to an HDR image and its tone‐mapped LDR rendering. We demonstrate that the majority of both global and local tone‐mapping operators can be well approximated by computationally inexpensive image processing operations, such as a per‐pixel tone curve, a modulation transfer function and color saturation adjustment. The results produced by such a generic tone‐mapping algorithm are often visually indistinguishable from much more expensive algorithms, such as the bilateral filter. We show the usefulness of our generic tone‐mapper in backward‐compatible HDR image compression, the black‐box analysis of existing tone mapping algorithms and the synthesis of new algorithms that are combination of existing operators.
MEG and EEG data analysis with MNE-Python

Magnetoencephalography and electroencephalography (M/EEG) measure the weak electromagnetic signals generated by neuronal activity in the brain. Using these signals to characterize and locate neural activation in the brain is a challenge that requires expertise in physics, signal processing, statistics, and numerical methods. As part of the MNE software suite, MNE-Python is an open-source software package that addresses this challenge by providing state-of-the-art algorithms implemented in Python that cover multiple methods of data preprocessing, source localization, statistical analysis, and estimation of functional connectivity between distributed brain regions. All algorithms and utility functions are implemented in a consistent manner with well-documented interfaces, enabling users to create M/EEG data analysis pipelines by writing Python scripts. Moreover, MNE-Python is tightly integrated with the core Python libraries for scientific comptutation (NumPy, SciPy) and visualization (matplotlib and Mayavi), as well as the greater neuroimaging ecosystem in Python via the Nibabel package. The code is provided under the new BSD license allowing code reuse, even in commercial products. Although MNE-Python has only been under heavy development for a couple of years, it has rapidly evolved with expanded analysis capabilities and pedagogical tutorials because multiple labs have collaborated during code development to help share best practices. MNE-Python also gives easy access to preprocessed datasets, helping users to get started quickly and facilitating reproducibility of methods by other researchers. Full documentation, including dozens of examples, is available at http://martinos.org/mne.
Relationship of Swimming Distance, Expectancy, and Performance to Mood States of Competitive Athletes

This study focused on the relationship between normal and abbreviated training sessions for young competitive swimmers and acute changes in mood. Several potential moderators of the relationship between exercise and mood also were examined. 25 girls and 23 boys, swimmers between the ages of 12 and 25 years, completed a shortened version of the Profile of Mood States before and after normal-distance and taper practices. An hypothesized interaction between distance training and acute changes in scores on Total Mood Disturbance was significant. During normal-distance practices, scores on Mood Disturbance increased from pre- to postpractice. Analyses of the individual subscales indicated that swimmers' scores increased for Fatigue and decreased for Vigor. In abbreviated practice sessions, athlete's scores on Total Mood Disturbance showed no change from pre- to postpractice. The specific subscales, however, showed positive changes for Depression, Confusion, and Tension. The mood changes related to practice distance were not influenced by the possible moderating factors of expectancy or performance times. Thus, even for highly trained competitive swimmers, exercising at or near maximal physical capability is associated with few positive changes in mood scores. Shorter-distance swims that do not tax endurance are preferable, if mood enhancement is a goal.
Generalized inverse of the Laplacian matrix and some applications

The generalized inverse L† of the Laplacian matrix of a connected graph is examined and some of its properties are established. In some physical and chemical considerations the quantity rij = {L†)ii + (L†)jj — (L†)ij - (L†)ji is encountered; it is called resistance distance. Based on the results obtained for L† we prove some previously known and deduce some new properties of the resistance distance.