Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Traits of empathy and anger: implications for psychopathy and other disorders associated with aggression

Empathy and anger are two social emotions that modulate an individual's risk for aggression. Empathy is an emotional reaction to another individual's emotional state. Anger is an emotional reaction to threat, frustration or social provocation. Reduced empathy, seen in psychopathy, increases the risk for goal-directed aggression. Atypically increased anger (i.e. irritability), seen in conditions like disruptive mood dysregulation disorder and borderline personality disorder, increases the risk for reactive aggression. In this paper, I will outline core neurocognitive functions that correspond to empathy and which are compromised in individuals with psychopathic traits. In addition, I will outline neurocognitive functions involved in either the generation or regulation of anger and which are compromised in psychiatric conditions at increased risk for irritability/reactive aggression. It can be hoped that improved understanding of empathy and anger will lead to better assessment tools and improved interventions to reduce aggression risk. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Diverse perspectives on diversity: multi-disciplinary approaches to taxonomies of individual differences’.
Income, occupation and education: Are they related to smoking behaviors in China?

Background The association between socioeconomic status (SES) and smoking behaviors may differ across countries. This study aimed to estimate the association between socioeconomic status (income, occupation and education) and multiple measures of smoking behaviors among the Chinese elderly population. Methods Using data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study in 2013, we examined the relationship between socioeconomic status and smoking behaviors through multivariate regression analysis. Sample selection models were applied to correct for sample selection bias. Smoking behaviors were measured by four indicators: smoking status, cigarette consumption, health risks related to smoking, and smoking dependence. Analyses were stratified by gender and urban-rural residence. Results Among Chinese people aged 45 years or older, smokers accounted for 40% of the population in 2013, smoking 19 cigarettes per day. It was also found that 79% of smokers were at an increased health risk. Overall, although the influence of income on smoking behaviors was small and even insignificant, occupation and education levels were significantly associated with smoking behaviors. Managers or professionals were more likely to smoke, however there was no significant relationship with smoking dependence. Individuals with higher educational attainment were less likely to be associated with smoking behaviors. In addition, gender and urban-rural differences existed in the relationship between SES and smoking behaviors. Conclusions Smoking disparities among diverse levels of socioeconomic status existed but varied greatly by SES indicators and population characteristics. Tobacco control policies in China should be increasingly focused on populations with low socioeconomic status in order to break the link between socioeconomic disadvantage and smoking behaviors. Further actions should mitigate inequalities in education, improve the social culture of cigarette use, and tailor interventions based on characteristics of the population.
Genomic Diversity and Evolution of the Fish Pathogen Flavobacterium psychrophilum

Flavobacterium psychrophilum, the etiological agent of rainbow trout fry syndrome and bacterial cold-water disease in salmonid fish, is currently one of the main bacterial pathogens hampering the productivity of salmonid farming worldwide. In this study, the genomic diversity of the F. psychrophilum species is analyzed using a set of 41 genomes, including 30 newly sequenced isolates. These were selected on the basis of available MLST data with the two-fold objective of maximizing the coverage of the species diversity and of allowing a focus on the main clonal complex (CC-ST10) infecting farmed rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) worldwide. The results reveal a bacterial species harboring a limited genomic diversity both in terms of nucleotide diversity, with ~0.3% nucleotide divergence inside CDSs in pairwise genome comparisons, and in terms of gene repertoire, with the core genome accounting for ~80% of the genes in each genome. The pan-genome seems nevertheless “open” according to the scaling exponent of a power-law fitted on the rate of new gene discovery when genomes are added one-by-one. Recombination is a key component of the evolutionary process of the species as seen in the high level of apparent homoplasy in the core genome. Using a Hidden Markov Model to delineate recombination tracts in pairs of closely related genomes, the average recombination tract length was estimated to ~4.0 Kbp and the typical ratio of the contributions of recombination and mutations to nucleotide-level differentiation (r/m) was estimated to ~13. Within CC-ST10, evolutionary distances computed on non-recombined regions and comparisons between 22 isolates sampled up to 27 years apart suggest a most recent common ancestor in the second half of the nineteenth century in North America with subsequent diversification and transmission of this clonal complex coinciding with the worldwide expansion of rainbow trout farming. With the goal to promote the development of tools for the genetic manipulation of F. psychrophilum, a particular attention was also paid to plasmids. Their extraction and sequencing to completion revealed plasmid diversity that remained hidden to classical plasmid profiling due to size similarities.
First Occurrence of Diabetes, Chronic Kidney Disease, and Hypertension Among North American HIV-Infected Adults, 2000–2013

Background There remains concern regarding the occurrence of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) among individuals aging with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), but few studies have described whether disparities between demographic subgroups are present among individuals on antiretroviral therapy (ART) with access to care. Methods We assessed the first documented occurrence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM), chronic kidney disease (CKD), and treated hypertension (HTN) by age, sex, and race within the North American AIDS Cohort Collaboration on Research and Design (NA-ACCORD). HIV-infected adults (≥18 years) who initiated ART were observed for first NCD occurrence between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2013. Cumulative incidences as of age 70 were estimated accounting for the competing risk of death; Poisson regression was used to compare rates of NCD occurrence by demographic subgroup. Results We included >50000 persons with >250000 person-years of follow-up. Median follow-up was 4.7 (interquartile range, 2.4–8.1) years. Rates of first occurrence (per 100 person-years) were 1.2 for DM, 0.6 for CKD, and 2.6 for HTN. Relative to non-black women, the cumulative incidences were increased in black women (68% vs 51% for HTN, 52% vs 41% for DM, and 38% vs 35% for CKD; all P < .001); this disparity was also found among men (73% vs 60% for HTN, 44% vs 34% for DM, and 30% vs 25% for CKD; all P < .001). Conclusions Racial disparities in the occurrence of DM, CKD, and HTN emphasize the need for prevention and treatment options for these HIV populations receiving care in North America.
Patterns of Self-care in Adults With Heart Failure and Their Associations With Sociodemographic and Clinical Characteristics, Quality of Life, and Hospitalizations: A Cluster Analysis

Background: Self-care is important in heart failure (HF) treatment, but patients may have difficulties and be inconsistent in its performance. Inconsistencies in self-care behaviors may mirror patterns of self-care in HF patients that are worth identifying to provide interventions tailored to patients. Objectives: The aims of this study are to identify clusters of HF patients in relation to self-care behaviors and to examine and compare the profile of each HF patient cluster considering the patient’s sociodemographics, clinical variables, quality of life, and hospitalizations. Methods: This was a secondary analysis of data from a cross-sectional study in which we enrolled 1192 HF patients across Italy. A cluster analysis was used to identify clusters of patients based on the European Heart Failure Self-care Behaviour Scale factor scores. Analysis of variance and &khgr;2 test were used to examine the characteristics of each cluster. Results: Patients were 72.4 years old on average, and 58% were men. Four clusters of patients were identified: (1) high consistent adherence with high consulting behaviors, characterized by younger patients, with higher formal education and higher income, less clinically compromised, with the best physical and mental quality of life (QOL) and lowest hospitalization rates; (2) low consistent adherence with low consulting behaviors, characterized mainly by male patients, with lower formal education and lowest income, more clinically compromised, and worse mental QOL; (3) inconsistent adherence with low consulting behaviors, characterized by patients who were less likely to have a caregiver, with the longest illness duration, the highest number of prescribed medications, and the best mental QOL; (4) and inconsistent adherence with high consulting behaviors, characterized by patients who were mostly female, with lower formal education, worst cognitive impairment, worst physical and mental QOL, and higher hospitalization rates. Conclusion: The 4 clusters identified in this study and their associated characteristics could be used to tailor interventions aimed at improving self-care behaviors in HF patients.
Evolutionary genomics of yeast pathogens in the Saccharomycotina

Saccharomycotina comprises a diverse group of yeasts that includes numerous species of industrial or clinical relevance. Opportunistic pathogens within this clade are often assigned to the genus Candida but belong to phylogenetically distant lineages that also comprise non-pathogenic species. This indicates that the ability to infect humans has evolved independently several times among Saccharomycotina. Although the mechanisms of infection of the main groups of Candida pathogens are starting to be unveiled, we still lack sufficient understanding of the evolutionary paths that led to a virulent phenotype in each of the pathogenic lineages. Deciphering what genomic changes underlie the evolutionary emergence of a virulence trait will not only aid the discovery of novel virulence mechanisms but it will also provide valuable information to understand how new pathogens emerge, and what clades may pose a future danger. Here we review recent comparative genomics efforts that have revealed possible evolutionary paths to pathogenesis in different lineages, focusing on the main three agents of candidiasis worldwide: Candida albicans, C. parapsilosis and C. glabrata. We will discuss what genomic traits may facilitate the emergence of virulence, and focus on two different genome evolution mechanisms able to generate drastic phenotypic changes and which have been associated to the emergence of virulence: gene family expansion and interspecies hybridization.
An anisotropic, viscoplastic power law for face-centred cubic crystals: comparative evaluations in the Goss and Brass orientations of channel die compression

An anisotropic, viscoplastic power law is introduced and applied to analysis of the Goss and Brass orientations, and compared with predictions from rate-independent theory and experiment. The structure of the new power law is so chosen that it has the capability of approaching rate-independent results for lattice rotation and crystal shearing, after finite rotation about the load axis, in the range of unstable lattice orientations in (110) channel die compression. (Rate-independent predictions of shear and lattice rotation are in good to very good agreement with experiments on aluminium and copper in that range, whereas classic isotropic power-law results are not.) It is established that, for sufficiently large power-law exponent n, the new anisotropic, elasto-viscoplastic theory predicts: (i) lattice stability in each of the Goss and Brass orientations, consistent with both experiment and rate-independent theory; (ii) zero crystal shear in the Goss orientation, also consistent with both; (iii) finite shear in the Brass orientation, in very good agreement with experiment and rate-independent theory; and (iv) a lateral-constraint stress that remains essentially elastic in both orientations, as predicted by rate-independent theory and close to experimental measurements for aluminium and copper in the Brass orientation.
Vascular endothelial growth factor gene polymorphisms and the risk of renal cell carcinoma: Evidence from eight case-control studies

Background Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) protein plays important role in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) development and progression. VEGF gene polymorphisms can alter the protein concentrations and might be associated with renal cell carcinoma risk. However, the results of studies investigating the association between VEGF polymorphisms and renal cell carcinoma risk are inconsistent. Thus, a meta-analysis was performed. Methods We selected eligible studies via electronic searches. Only high-quality studies were included based on specific inclusion criteria and the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS). Results Eight studies primarily focusing on seven polymorphisms were included in our meta-analysis. Our results showed dramatically high risks for renal cell carcinoma were found regarding most genetic models and alleles of the +936C/T polymorphism (except CT vs. CC). In addition, significant increased renal cell carcinoma risks were found regarding all genetic models and alleles of the -2578C/A polymorphism. However, no significant associations were found between renal cell carcinoma risk and the +1612G/A, -460T/C, -634G/C, -405G/C or -1154G/A polymorphisms. Conclusions Our meta-analysis indicates that the +936C/T and -2578C/A polymorphisms of VEGF are associated with an increased risk for renal cell carcinoma. Additional rigorous analytical studies are needed to confirm our results.
A HAD family phosphatase CSP-6 regulates the circadian output pathway in Neurospora crassa

Circadian clocks are ubiquitous in eukaryotic organisms where they are used to anticipate regularly occurring diurnal and seasonal environmental changes. Nevertheless, little is known regarding pathways connecting the core clock to its output pathways. Here, we report that the HAD family phosphatase CSP-6 is required for overt circadian clock output but not for the core oscillation. The loss of function Δcsp-6 deletion mutant is overtly arrhythmic on race tubes under free running conditions; however, reporter assays confirm that the FREQUENCY-WHITE COLLAR COMPLEX core circadian oscillator is functional, indicating a discrete block between oscillator and output. CSP-6 physically interacts with WHI-2, Δwhi-2 mutant phenotypes resemble Δcsp-6, and the CSP-6/WHI-2 complex physically interacts with WC-1, all suggesting that WC-1 is a direct target for CSP-6/WHI-2-mediated dephosphorylation and consistent with observed WC-1 hyperphosphorylation in Δcsp-6. To identify the source of the block to output, known clock-controlled transcription factors were screened for rhythmicity in Δcsp-6, identifying loss of circadian control of ADV-1, a direct target of WC-1, as responsible for the loss of overt rhythmicity. The CSP-6/WHI-2 complex thus participates in the clock output pathway by regulating WC-1 phosphorylation to promote proper transcriptional/translational activation of adv-1/ADV-1; these data establish an unexpected essential role for post-translational modification parallel to circadian transcriptional regulation in the early steps of circadian output.
A General-Purpose Multiphase/Multispecies Model to Predict the Spread, Percutaneous Hazard, and Contact Dynamics for Nonporous and Porous Substrates and Membranes

A computational model to solve the coupled transport equations with chemical reaction and phase change for a liquid sessile droplet or the contact and spread of a sessile droplet between two approaching porous or non-porous surfaces, is developed. The model is general therefore it can be applied to toxic chemicals (contact hazard), drug delivery through porous organs and membranes, combus‐ tion processes within porous material, and liquid movements in the ground. The equation of motion and the spread of the incompressible liquid available on the primary surface for transfer into the contacting surface while reacting with other chemicals (or water) and/or the solid substrate are solved in a finite difference domain with adaptive meshing. The comparison with experimental data demon‐ strated the model is robust and accurate. The impact of the initial velocity on the spread topology and mass transfer into the pores is also addressed.
Physiological and performance changes in national and international judo athletes during block periodization training

Block periodization (BP) has been proposed as an alternative approach for application in the context of high-level sports. Despite its growing acceptance, there is no empirical evidence of BP adoption in high-level judo athletes. Therefore, this study aimed to compare the maximal strength, muscle power, judo-specific performances, and hormonal concentration changes of state/national level (NG) and international level (IG) judo athletes subjected to BP. Twenty-one elite judo athletes (international level = 10; 21.7±1.9 years, 167.2±7.6 cm, 67.6±9.4 kg, 15.7±1.9 years of practice; national level = 11; 21.9±3.0 years, 167.5±9.1 cm, 71.8±16.5, 15.9±3.0 years of practice) were subjected to 13-week BP training (5-week accumulation phase [ACP], 5-week transmutation phase [TP], and 3-week realization phase [RP]). The judo-specific performance (SJFT) increased as there was observed a decrease in the SJFT index (final heart rate [HR] (bpm) + HR1 min after the test divided by the number of throws) for both NG (effect size [ES] = 0.83) and IG (ES = 0.53) from ACP to TP (p < 0.05). The row exercise maximal strength decreased (p < 0.05; ES = 1.35) after the ACP but returned to the baseline level after the TP, for the whole group (ES = 1.39). The athletes did seem to cope appropriately with the demands of BP, as besides increases in SJFT performance no significant changes were observed for cortisol and testosterone concentrations. This is the first study to demonstrate that judo athletes from different competitive levels subjected to BP improved SJFT, likely due to an appropriate balance between training loads and recovery. Thus, the BP approach may be a useful alternative periodization strategy for high-level judo athletes.
Computer aided detection and classification of acute lymphoblastic leukemia cell subtypes based on microscopic image analysis

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a cancer that starts from the early version of white blood cells called lymphocytes in the bone marrow. It can spread to different parts of the body rapidly and if not treated, would probably be deadly within a couple of months. Leukemia cells are categorized into three types of L1, L2, and L3. The cancer is detected through screening of blood and bone marrow smears by pathologists. But manual examination of blood samples is a time‐consuming and boring procedure as well as limited by human error risks. So to overcome these limitations a computer‐aided detection system, capable of discriminating cancer from noncancer cases and identifying the cancerous cell subtypes, seems to be necessary. In this article an automatic detection method is proposed; first cell nucleus is segmented by fuzzy c‐means clustering algorithm. Then a rich set of features including geometric, first‐ and second‐order statistical features are obtained from the nucleus. A principal component analysis is used to reduce feature matrix dimensionality. Finally, an ensemble of SVM classifiers with different kernels and parameters is applied to classify cells into four groups, that is noncancerous, L1, L2, and L3. Results show that the proposed method can be used as an assistive diagnostic tool in laboratories.
A novel mutation of the C-terminal amino acid of FUS (Y526C) strengthens FUS gene as the most frequent genetic factor in aggressive juvenile ALS

Abstract Although amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) typically occurs around 60 years, numerous publications report an onset of ALS before the age of 25 years that define juvenile ALS (jALS). Over the last decade, growing literature mentioned jALS with an aggressive evolution which are mainly linked to the FUS gene. We report here the case of a 25-year-old woman with a bulbar onset ALS that progressed in less than 12 months to invasive ventilation due to respiratory failure; Genetic screening identified a new mutation in the FUS gene that lies within the last codon. After reading the literature, it might be legitimate to consider that jALS linked to FUS mutations represent a specific entity different from both classical jALS and adult ALS linked to FUS gene. This should encourage clinician to firstly screen the FUS gene in the presence of a sporadic ALS that occurs before the age of 25 and with an aggressive profile of evolution.
A New Design of Binary MDS Array Codes With Asymptotically Weak-Optimal Repair

Binary maximum distance separable (MDS) array codes are a special class of erasure codes for distributed storage that not only provides fault tolerance with minimum storage redundancy but also achieves low computational complexity. They are constructed by encoding <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$k$ </tex-math></inline-formula> information columns into <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$r$ </tex-math></inline-formula> parity columns, in which each element in a column is a bit, such that any <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$k$ </tex-math></inline-formula> out of the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$k+r$ </tex-math></inline-formula> columns suffice to recover all information bits. In addition to providing fault tolerance, it is critical to improve repair performance in practical applications. Specifically, if a single column fails, then our goal is to minimize the repair bandwidth by downloading the least amount of bits from <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$d$ </tex-math></inline-formula> healthy columns, where <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$k\leq d\leq k+r-1$ </tex-math></inline-formula>. If one column of an MDS code is failed, it is known that we need to download at least <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$1/(d-k+1)$ </tex-math></inline-formula> fraction of the data stored in each of the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$d$ </tex-math></inline-formula> healthy columns. If this lower bound is achieved for the repair of the failure column from accessing arbitrary <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$d$ </tex-math></inline-formula> healthy columns, we say that the MDS code has optimal repair. However, if such lower bound is only achieved by <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$d$ </tex-math></inline-formula> specific healthy columns, then we say the MDS code has weak-optimal repair. In this paper, we propose two explicit constructions of binary MDS array codes with more parity columns (i.e., <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$r\geq 3$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) that achieve asymptotically weak-optimal repair, where <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$k+1\leq d\leq k+\lfloor (r-1)/2\rfloor $ </tex-math></inline-formula>, and “asymptotic” means that the repair bandwidth achieves the minimum value asymptotically in <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$d$ </tex-math></inline-formula>. Codes in the first construction have odd number of parity columns and asymptotically weak-optimal repair for anyone information failure, while codes in the second construction have even number of parity columns and asymptotically weak-optimal repair for any one column failure.