Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comorbid childhood gender identity disorder in a boy with Asperger syndrome

IN AUTISTIC PSYCHOPATHY, Hans Asperger described that ‘the autistic personality is an extreme variant of male intelligence’. Consistent with this notion, Baron-Cohen proposed the ‘extreme male brain theory of autism’. By quoting this theory, gender dysphoria in female subjects with Asperger syndrome (AS) could be explained logically. But a literature search yielded no boys with AS and gender identity disorder (GID). Hereby we present such a case. Informed written consent was obtained from the patient’s parents. A 5-year-old boy was referred to Child Psychiatry, Sapporo Ayuminosono because of his poor social skills. He had no peri-/neonatal complications. In his infancy he passed early motor and language landmarks without significant delay. Single words were developed at the age of 1 year and communicative phrases were observed at 2.2 years of age. Preoccupations with specific colors and figures were observed. He had limited interaction with others, difficulty in developing peer relationships and was underresponsive in social situations. He liked making his own rules and frequently lost his temper when these were broken. On the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-III he had a full-scale IQ of 92 (verbal IQ 90, performance IQ 96) at the age of 7.6 years. Although his appearance was obviously that of a boy, he spoke in a girlish manner and covered his mouth with a hand when he laughed, as female individuals commonly do. He had very limited interaction with boys and his preferred playmates were girls. He was not interested in stereotypical boy’s toys and had a marked preoccupation with feminine activities. He liked cute characters in TV animations and always painted cute girls surrounded with many lovely hearts and flowers. At home he tended to dress in girlish clothes and wear a ribbon in his hair. He regretted being a boy and often showed his desire to be a girl and asserted that he would grow up into a woman. These symptoms have been observed throughout the follow-up period of more than 2 years. Based on these symptoms, we diagnosed him as having AS and GID in accordance with the ICD-10 criteria. Most of the gender-related symptoms in autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) could be related to behavioral and psychological characteristics of autism. For example, a boy with ASD might have a sense of belonging to the female sex after being bullied by male peers. Transvestism in ASD may arise from a preoccupation with specific clothes such as a flared skirt which satisfies their tactile sensation. In their youth, ASD subjects can sometimes develop a unique confusion of identity that occasionally expands to gender-related problems. But these views do not explain the present case. For the diagnosis of GID in ASD, sufficient language abilities and sufficient follow-up time are essential. The present case fulfills these requirements. If the present patient continues to have genderrelated symptoms into adulthood, we would need to treat him following an international standard.
Développement des capacités à traiter des transformations faciales chez l'enfant

Dans le but d'eprouver la theorie de Carey (1981) selon laquelle il y aurait un changement qualitatif dans la strategie de traitement des visages a l'âge de dix ans, nous avons effectue quatre experiences visant a examiner la capacite d'enfants d'âges differents a reconnaitre des visages ayant subi des transformations naturelles, soit transitoires (modifications de la taille, de la pose ou de l'expression; port d'accessoires) soit permanentes (changements lies a l'âge). Nous avons aussi etudie leur capacite a ordonner des visages selon l'âge. La forme des evolutions est differente selon la complexite de ces transformations. Les modifications de taille, par exemple, ne posent pas de problemes aux enfants âges d'environ six ans, alors que les transformations liees a l'âge sont difficiles meme a dix ans
Patterns of contraceptive use among Mexican-origin women

BACKGROUND Mexican women in the United States (US) have higher rates of fertility compared to other ethnic groups and women in Mexico. Whether variation in women’s access to family planning services or patterns of contraceptive use contributes to this higher fertility has received little attention. OBJECTIVE We explore Mexican women’s contraceptive use, taking into account women’s place in the reproductive life course. METHODS Using nationally representative samples from the US (National Survey of Family Growth) and Mexico (Encuesta National de la Dinámica Demográfica), we compared the parity-specific frequency of contraceptive use and fertility intentions for non-migrant women, foreign-born Mexicans in the US, US-born Mexicans, and whites. RESULTS Mexican women in the US were less likely to use IUDs and more likely to use hormonal contraception than women in Mexico. Female sterilization was the most common method among higher parity women in both the US and Mexico, however, foreign-born Mexicans were less likely to be sterilized, and the least likely to use any permanent contraceptive method. Although foreign-born Mexicans were slightly less likely to report that they did not want more children, differences in method use remained after controlling for women’s fertility intentions. CONCLUSION At all parities, foreign-born Mexicans used less effective methods. These findings suggest that varying access to family planning services may contribute to variation in women’s contraceptive use. COMMENTS Future studies are needed to clarify the extent to which disparities in fertility result from differences in contraceptive access.
Utilizing Embeddings for Ad-hoc Retrieval by Document-to-document Similarity

Latent semantic representations of words or paragraphs, namely the embeddings, have been widely applied to information retrieval (IR). One of the common approaches of utilizing embeddings for IR is to estimate the document-to-query (D2Q) similarity in their embeddings. As words with similar syntactic usage are usually very close to each other in the embeddings space, although they are not semantically similar, the D2Q similarity approach may suffer from the problem of "multiple degrees of similarity". To this end, this paper proposes a novel approach that estimates a semantic relevance score (SEM) based on document-to-document (D2D) similarity of embeddings. As Word or Para2Vec generates embeddings by the context of words/paragraphs, the D2D similarity approach turns the task of document ranking into the estimation of similarity between content within different documents. Experimental results on standard TREC test collections show that our proposed approach outperforms strong baselines.
An Automatic Framework for Detecting and Characterizing Performance Degradation of Software Systems

Software systems that run continuously over a long time have been frequently reported encountering gradual degradation issues. That is, as time progresses, software tends to exhibit degraded performance, deflated service capacity, or deteriorated QoS. Currently, the state-of-the-art approach of Mann-Kendall Test & Seasonal Kendall Test & Sen's Slope Estimator & Seasonal Sen's Slope Estimator (MKSK) detects and characterizes degradation via a combination of techniques in statistical trend analysis. Nevertheless, we pinpoint some drawbacks of MKSK in this paper: 1) MKSK cannot be automated for large scale software degradation analysis, 2) MKSK estimates the degradation trend of software in an oversimplified linear way, 3) MKSK is sensitive to noise, and 4) MKSK suffers from high computational complexity. To overcome all these limitations, we propose a more advanced approach called Modified Cox-Stuart Test & Iterative Hodrick-Prescott Filter (CSHP). The superiority of our CSHP approach over MKSK is validated through extensive Monte Carlo simulations, as well as a real performance dataset measured from 99 real-world web servers.
The use of guidelines in menu interface design: Evaluation of a draft standard

This paper reports a case study of the evaluation of the effectiveness of a draft standard containing human factors guidelines for menu interface design. Three designers were given a week to study the guidelines, before spending a day using the guidelines to redesign a menu interface. They were asked to justify their design in terms of the guidelines. The designers made errors or had difficulties with 91% of the guidelines. The cause of the errors and difficulties was analysed, which enabled recommendations for improvements to be made. Despite the difficulties with interpretation of the guidelines, the resulting interfaces only violated an average of 11% of the guidelines which could be assessed. It is concluded that it was difficult for the designers to integrate detailed design guidelines with their existing experience.
Naming Speed, Letter-Sound Automaticity, and Acquiring Blending Skills among Students with Moderate Intellectual Disabilities

NAMING SPEED, LETTER-SOUND AUTOMATICITY, AND ACQUIRING BLENDING SKILLS AMONG STUDENTS WITH MODERATE INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES by Dawn H. Davis Students with moderate intellectual disabilities (MoID) typically are not taught decoding skills because they have difficulty mastering critical blending skills. In response to this skill deficit among students with MoID, an Initial Phonics instructional sequence was created that included student development of rapid and automatic retrieval of taught letter-sound correspondences to a level of mastery before teaching the skill of blending. For each of 16 students with MoID (ages 6-15), mastery criterion of letter-sound automaticity phases was determined by their individual naming speed as measured by the Rapid Object Naming (RON) subtest of the Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing (CTOPP). Visual analysis of graphically displayed single-case data revealed a functional relation between simultaneous prompting procedures and letter-sound correspondences, automaticity, and blending acquisition for all students. Furthermore, the use of hierarchical linear growth modeling (HLGM) revealed statistical significance for: (a) the impact of daily instruction on the development of letter-sound correspondences, automaticity, and blending in terms of average student growth per instructional session, (b) variability between student growth trajectories within automaticity and blending phases, (c) student pretest scores on RON as an explanatory variable for differences between growth trajectories within automaticity treatment phases, and (d) the extent to which the number of sessions to mastery within automaticity phases and student age predicted acquisition of blending skills. The purpose of identifying explanatory/predictor variables was to classify cognitive predictors for students with MoID who successfully acquire blending skills. NAMING SPEED, LETTER-SOUND AUTOMATICITY, AND ACQUIRING BLENDING SKILLS AMONG STUDENTS WITH MODERATE INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES by Dawn H. Davis
Hyperferritinemia as a Diagnostic Marker for Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome

Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is an emerging viral disease in East Asia with high mortality. Few studies have examined markers that suggest SFTS in febrile patients. To determine useful biochemical markers for SFTS, patients aged 18 years or older with SFTS or microbiologically confirmed community-onset bacteremia with thrombocytopenia (BT) at presentation between June 2013 and December 2015 were included from two tertiary university hospitals in Republic of Korea retrospectively. Eleven patients with SFTS and 62 patients with bacteremia and thrombocytopenia were identified in the study period. Age and sex did not show significant difference among two groups. Fever was more commonly observed but comorbidities were less common in SFTS than in BT (P < 0.05, each). The areas under the curves of serum ferritin, C-reactive protein, white blood cell count, serum procalcitonin, and fibrinogen were above 0.9, indicating the discriminative power of these biomarkers (1.000, 0.991, 0.963, 0.931, and 0.934, resp., all P < 0.05). The optimal cutoff value of serum ferritin was 3,822 ng/mL in this study. These results suggest that hyperferritinemia is a typical laboratory feature of SFTS, and the serum ferritin level can be used as a marker for clinicians suspecting SFTS.
Reaction of Acylated Homoserine Lactone Bacterial Signaling Molecules with Oxidized Halogen Antimicrobials

ABSTRACT Oxidized halogen antimicrobials, such as hypochlorous and hypobromous acids, have been used extensively for microbial control in industrial systems. Recent discoveries have shown that acylated homoserine lactone cell-to-cell signaling molecules are important for biofilm formation in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, suggesting that biofouling can be controlled by interfering with bacterial cell-to-cell communication. This study was conducted to investigate the potential for oxidized halogens to react with acylated homoserine lactone-based signaling molecules. Acylated homoserine lactones containing a 3-oxo group were found to rapidly react with oxidized halogens, while acylated homoserine lactones lacking the 3-oxo functionality did not react. The Chromobacterium violaceum CV026 bioassay was used to determine the effects of such reactions on acylated homoserine lactone activity. The results demonstrated that 3-oxo acyl homoserine lactone activity was rapidly lost upon exposure to oxidized halogens; however, acylated homoserine lactones lacking the 3-oxo group retained activity. Experiments with the marine alga Laminaria digitata demonstrated that natural haloperoxidase systems are capable of mediating the deactivation of acylated homoserine lactones. This may illustrate a natural defense mechanism to prevent biofouling on the surface of this marine alga. The Chromobacterium violaceum activity assay illustrates that reactions between 3-oxo acylated homoserine lactone molecules and oxidized halogens do occur despite the presence of biofilm components at much greater concentrations. This work suggests that oxidized halogens may control biofilm not only via a cidal mechanism, but also by possibly interfering with 3-oxo acylated homoserine lactone-based cell signaling.
KDOQI US Commentary on the 2017 KDIGO Clinical Practice Guideline Update for the Diagnosis, Evaluation, Prevention, and Treatment of Chronic Kidney Disease-Mineral and Bone Disorder (CKD-MBD).

Chronic kidney disease-mineral and bone disorder (CKD-MBD) encompasses laboratory and bone abnormalities and vascular calcification and has deleterious effects on clinical outcomes. KDOQI (Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative), an initiative of the National Kidney Foundation, addressed this issue with the publication of a clinical practice guideline for bone metabolism and disease in CKD in 2003, and 2 years later, a new definition and classification scheme for CKD-MBD was developed following a KDIGO (Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes) Controversies Conference. The initial KDIGO guideline on CKD-MBD was then published in 2009. New evidence was subsequently reviewed at the 2013 KDIGO Controversies Conference, and in 2017, KDIGO issued a clinical practice guideline update for the diagnosis, evaluation, prevention, and treatment of CKD-MBD. This commentary presents the views of the KDOQI CKD-MBD work group convened by the National Kidney Foundation. The KDOQI work group agrees with most of the KDIGO guideline update recommendations, particularly the suggestions regarding bone mineral density testing, joint assessments of longitudinal trends in mineral metabolism markers, and dietary phosphate counseling focused on phosphate additives. However, the KDOQI work group has some concerns about the suggestions related to hypocalcemia and hypercalcemia, phosphate-binder choice, and treatment of abnormal parathyroid hormone concentrations. The overall goal of this commentary is to provide a broad discussion for the US nephrology community regarding CKD-MBD and its diagnosis, prevention, and treatment.
The Supernova Rate-Velocity Dispersion Relation in the Interstellar Medium

We investigate the relationship between the velocity dispersion of the gas and the supernova (SN) rate and feedback efficiency with three-dimensional numerical simulations of SN-driven turbulence in the interstellar medium (ISM). Our simulations aim to explore the constancy of the velocity dispersion profiles in the outer parts of galactic disks at ~6-8 km s-1 and the transition to the starburst regime, i.e., high star formation rates (SFRs) associated with high velocity dispersions. With our fiducial value of the SN feedback efficiency (i.e., ϵ = 0.25, corresponding to an injected energy per SN of 0.25 × 1051 ergs), our results show that (1) SN driving leads to constant velocity dispersions of σ ~ 6 km s-1 for the total gas and σ ~ 3 km s-1 for the H I gas, independent of the SN rate, for values of the rate between 0.01 and 0.5 the Galactic value (ηG); (2) the position of the transition to the starburst regime (i.e., location of sharp increase in the velocity dispersion) at around SFR/area ≃ 5 × 10-3 to 10-2 M☉ yr-1 kpc-2 observed in the simulations is in good agreement with the transition to the starburst regime in the observations (e.g., NGC 628 and NGC 6949); (3) for the high SN rates, no H I gas is present in the simulations box; however, for the total gas velocity dispersion, there is good agreement between the models and the observations; (4) at the intermediate SN rates (η/ηG ~ 0.5-1), taking into account the thermal broadening of the H I line helps reach a good agreement in that regime between the models and the observations; and (5) for η/ηG < 0.5, σ and σ fall below the observed values by a factor of ~2. However, a set of simulations with different values of ϵ indicates that, for larger values of the SN feedback efficiencies, velocity dispersions of the H I gas of the order of 5-6 km s-1 can be obtained, in closer agreement with the observations. The fact that for η/ηG < 0.5, the H I gas velocity dispersions are a factor of ~2 smaller than the observed values could result from the fact that we might have underestimated the SN feedback efficiency. On the other hand, it might also be an indication that other physical processes couple to the stellar feedback in order to produce the observed level of turbulence in galactic disks.
The response of SiC fibres to vacuum plasma spraying and vacuum hot pressing during the fabrication of titanium matrix composites

Vacuum plasma spraying (VPS) and vacuum hot pressing (VHP) have been used to fabricate Ti‐6Al‐4V matrix composite material reinforced longitudinally with DERA Sigma C coated SiC 1140+ fibres. VPS of Ti‐6Al‐4V onto Sigma 1140+ SiC fibres caused no fibre/matrix interfacial reaction. During VHP a fibre/matrix reaction occurred, producing a mixture of fine (< 50 nm) TiCx (x ≤ 1) adjacent to the fibre coating and coarse‐grained (0.3–0.5 μm) equiaxed TiCx adjacent to the Ti matrix. A decrease in C concentration with increasing distance from the C coating is proposed, and is consistent with the evidence presented. A similar thickness and morphology of reaction product arose from conventional foil–fibre foil processing, but the matrix coated fibre/hot isostatic pressing process led to a slightly thicker reaction layer. The TiCx reaction product acted as a diffusion barrier, inhibiting further reaction more effectively than in experiments on earlier SiC fibres having a C coating.
Corticostriatal Contributions to Musical Expectancy Perception

This study investigates the functional neuroanatomy of harmonic music perception with fMRI. We presented short pieces of Western classical music to nonmusicians. The ending of each piece was systematically manipulated in the following four ways: Standard Cadence (expected resolution), Deceptive Cadence (moderate deviation from expectation), Modulated Cadence (strong deviation from expectation but remaining within the harmonic structure of Western tonal music), and Atonal Cadence (strongest deviation from expectation by leaving the harmonic structure of Western tonal music). Music compared with baseline broadly recruited regions of the bilateral superior temporal gyrus (STG) and the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). Parametric regressors scaled to the degree of deviation from harmonic expectancy identified regions sensitive to expectancy violation. Areas within the BG were significantly modulated by expectancy violation, indicating a previously unappreciated role in harmonic processing. Expectancy violation also recruited bilateral cortical regions in the IFG and anterior STG, previously associated with syntactic processing in other domains. The posterior STG was not significantly modulated by expectancy. Granger causality mapping found functional connectivity between IFG, anterior STG, posterior STG, and the BG during music perception. Our results imply the IFG, anterior STG, and the BG are recruited for higher-order harmonic processing, whereas the posterior STG is recruited for basic pitch and melodic processing.
Bone mass acquisition in healthy children

Although 80% of the variance in bone mass is determined genetically, there are many other factors which influence the accumulation of bone in early life and affect future risks of osteoporosis. This review considers the genetic, fetal, and environmental influences on bone mass acquisition in healthy children, and highlights important areas where paediatricians may have a role by counselling children and their families to adopt a healthy lifestyle which promotes bone health.
The Effect of Rate Control on Speech Rate and Intelligibility of Dysarthric Speech

Purpose: This study investigated the effect of rate control methods (RCMs) on speaking rate (SR), articulation rate (AR), and intelligibility in dysarthric speakers. Method: Nineteen dysarthric patients (7 unilateral upper motor neuron dysarthria, 6 hypokinetic, 3 flaccid, 3 ataxic) participated. SR, AR and intelligibility ratings were determined on the basis of 1-min recorded reading passages. Seven RCMs were applied: voluntary rate control, hand tapping, alphabet board, pacing board and delayed auditory feedback with a delay of 50, 100 and 150 ms. Results: Almost all methods resulted in lower mean SRs and ARs (p < 0.05). Rate control did not improve overall intelligibility of the dysarthric population. However, a meaningful increase of intelligibility was found in 5 participants. This study indicates that the effect of rate control on intelligibility is independent of habitual speech rate and type of dysarthria. Degree of intelligibility may be an influencing factor. The most effective methods are: voluntary rate control, alphabet board, hand tapping and pacing board. Conclusion: RCMs do result in lower speech rates. Some dysarthric individuals do benefit from one or more RCMs, but rate control may also have an inverse effect on intelligibility.