Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lost in the Social World: How Social Cognitive Deficits Affect Social Functioning of People with Asperger Syndrome

Were we to visualise autism spectrum disorders as a continuum, Asperger syndrome (AS) would be situated at one of its extremes. What appears to determine each individual’s position in this continuum is his or her symptomatology. In the case of AS symptomatology presents itself more discretely. According to Barthelemy (2000), the abovementioned symptomatology can be grouped in three major areas: a) difficulties in development of social interaction; b) difficulties in verbal and nonverbal communication; and c) presence of fixated interests, routines or rituals and repetitive behaviours. Being a developmental disorder, symptoms vary according to age. While some features tend to disappear with time, others only appear in a posterior stage of development and the changes can be spectacular (Frith, 2006). Citing Frith (2006, p. 16), “the autism affects the development, as well as the development affects autism”. Besides the variability on behaviour, there is also great diversity at a cognitive level, which can range from a medium or superior level of intelligence to profound mental retardation. Approximately 60% of autistic children present an Intelligence Quotient [IQ] under 50; 20% between 50 and 70 and 20% above 70 (Ritvo & Freeman, 1978). More recent data points to the presence of mental retardation in 75% of the cases (Barthelemy, 2000). The existence of a normal level of intelligence (IQ above 70) is the variable that distinguishes classic cases of autism from those considered as the “High Functioning Autism” or the person with AS. However, it is not yet clear if there are significant differences between “High Functioning Autism” and AS from the point of view of cognitive and behavioural profile. According to the working group that is preparing the fifth edition of DSM-V (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2010), the current field of research reflects two views: 1) That AS is not substantially different from other forms of ‘high functioning’ autism; i.e. Asperger’s is the part of the autism spectrum with good formal language skills and good (at least verbal) IQ, noting that ‘high functioning’ autism is itself a vague term, with underspecification of the area of ‘high functioning’ (performance IQ, verbal IQ, adaptation or symptom severity); 2) That AS is distinct from other subgroups within the autism spectrum: e.g. Klin et al. (2005) suggest the lack of differentiating findings reflects the need for a more stringent approach, with a more nuanced view of onset patterns and early language.
The Pathophysiological Impact of HLA Class Ia and HLA-G Expression and Regulatory T Cells in Malignant Melanoma: A Review

Malignant melanoma, a very common type of cancer, is a rapidly growing cancer of the skin with an increase in incidence among the Caucasian population. The disease is seen through all age groups and is very common in the younger age groups. Several studies have examined the risk factors and pathophysiological mechanisms of malignant melanoma, which have enlightened our understanding of the development of the disease, but we have still to fully understand the complex immunological interactions. The examination of the interaction between the human leucocyte antigen (HLA) system and prognostic outcome has shown interesting results, and a correlation between the down- or upregulation of these antigens and prognosis has been seen through many different types of cancer. In malignant melanoma, HLA class Ia has been seen to influence the effects of pharmaceutical drug treatment as well as the overall prognosis, and the HLA class Ib and regulatory T cells have been correlated with tumor progression. Although there is still no standardized immunological treatment worldwide, the interaction between the human leucocyte antigen (HLA) system and tumor progression seems to be a promising focus in the way of optimizing the treatment of malignant melanoma.
The human homologue of rat NG2, a chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan, is not expressed on the cell surface of normal hematopoietic cells but is expressed by acute myeloid leukemia blasts from poor-prognosis patients with abnormalities of chromosome band 11q23.

In our efforts to produce monoclonal antibodies that recognize cell-surface antigens expressed by hematopoietic precursor and stromal cells, we generated a monoclonal antibody, 7.1, which recognizes a 220- to 240-kD cell-surface protein whose N-terminal amino acid sequence is identical to the rat NG2 chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan molecule. This chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan, previously reported to be expressed by human melanoma cells, was not found to be expressed by normal hematopoietic cells, nor was it expressed on the cell surface of cell lines of hematopoietic origin including cell lines with 11q23 abnormalities. It was found on the cell surface of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) blasts and cell lines derived from nonhematopoietic tissues. Samples of leukemic marrow from 166 children with AML enrolled on Childrens Cancer Group protocol 213 were evaluated for cell-surface expression of this proteoglycan molecule. In 18 of 166 (11%) patient samples, greater than 25% of leukemic blasts expressed the NG2 molecule. These 18 patients had a poorer outcome with respect to survival (P = .002) and event-free survival (P = .035) with an actuarial survival at 4 years of 16.7%. Blast cell expression of the NG2 molecule was strongly associated with French-American-British M5 morphology (P < .0001) and abnormalities in chromosome band 11q23, site of the MLL gene. These results show that the NG2 molecule is expressed by malignant hematopoietic cells that have abnormalities in chromosome band 11q23, suggesting that antibody 7.1 may be useful in the rapid identification of this group of poor-prognosis patients.
Physical Origin of Stress-Induced Leakage Currents in Ultra-Thin Silicon Dioxide Films

The physical origin of stress-induced leakage currents (SILC) in ultra-thin SiO 2 films is described. Assuming a two-step trapassisted tunneling process accompanied with an energy relaxation process of trapped electrons, conditions of trap sites which are origin of SICL are quantitatively found. It is proposed that the trap site location and the trap state energy can be explained by a mean-free-path of hole in SiO 2 films and an atomic structure of the trap site by the O vacancy model.
Work and Learning: The Implications for Thai Transnational Distance Learners

The paper describes a qualitative study concerning the experiences of nine Thai transnational distance learners enrolled in doctoral programs in Australian universities while working in higher educational contexts in their own country. Data were collected from participant journals, an open questionnaire and dialogic email communications. The study revealed that the workplace is an important influence upon the nature and quality of the learning experience largely through issues relating to finance, time management and technology or other resources. Learning, in turn, influences the workplace with individuals operating as educational change agents applying their learning about student centred methods to classroom practice. The findings are likely to be of interest to both Australian and Thai educators as postgraduate distance programs continue to be marketed in Thailand.
Invariant Extended Kalman Filter: theory and application to a velocity-aided attitude estimation problem

A new version of the extended Kalman filter (EKF) is proposed for nonlinear systems possessing symmetries. Instead of using a linear correction term based on a linear output error, it uses a geometrically adapted correction term based on an invariant output error; in the same way the gain matrix is not updated from of a linear state error, but from an invariant state error. The benefit is that the gain and covariance equations converge to constant values on a much bigger set of trajectories than equilibrium points as is the case for the EKF, which should result in a better convergence of the estimation. This filter is applied to the practically relevant problem of estimating the velocity and attitude of a moving rigid body, e.g. an aircraft, from GPS velocity, inertial and magnetic measurements. In this context it can be seen as an extension of the ¿multiplicative EKF¿ often used for quaternion estimation.
Phenotypic selection and regulation of reproduction in different environments in wild barley

Plasticity of the phenotypic architecture of wild barley, Hordeum spontaneum, was studied in response to water and nutrient stress. Direct and indirect selection on several vegetative and reproductive traits was estimated and path analysis used to reveal how regulating pathways via maternal investment differed between environments. Vegetative traits displayed differential regulating effect on fitness across experimental environments: (1) increase in size was selected for under optimal conditions and under water stress, but not under nutrient stress; (2) allocation to root biomass was selected for under optimal conditions, but it had no effect under nutrient stress and was strongly selected against when water was limiting; (3) delayed onset of reproduction was selected under nutrient limitation whereas earlier onset was selected under water stress. The regulating effect of reproductive traits on final reproductive output also differed across treatments, operating either at the ‘early’ stage of plant development through varying the number of initiated spikelets per spike (no stress and water stress treatment) or at the ‘late’ developmental stage adjusting the fertile spikelet weight (no stress and nutrient stress treatment). Reproductive output was regulated via seed abortion under no stress and water stress treatments. Although the underlying mechanism of the regulation through abortion has yet to be discovered, the specific mechanism of abortion under water stress appears to be different from that under optimal conditions. Our results demonstrate that not only is the character architecture in wild barley plastic and sensitive to changing availability of water and nutrients, but the regulating mechanism of maternal investment is also environmentally sensitive.
Optimal Experimental Design for Diffusion Kurtosis Imaging

Diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) is a new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) model that describes the non-Gaussian diffusion behavior in tissues. It has recently been shown that DKI parameters, such as the radial or axial kurtosis, are more sensitive to brain physiology changes than the well-known diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) parameters in several white and gray matter structures. In order to estimate either DTI or DKI parameters with maximum precision, the diffusion weighting gradient settings that are applied during the acquisition need to be optimized. Indeed, it has been shown previously that optimizing the set of diffusion weighting gradient settings can have a significant effect on the precision with which DTI parameters can be estimated. In this paper, we focus on the optimization of DKI gradients settings. Commonly, DKI data are acquired using a standard set of diffusion weighting gradients with fixed directions and with regularly spaced gradient strengths. In this paper, we show that such gradient settings are suboptimal with respect to the precision with which DKI parameters can be estimated. Furthermore, the gradient directions and the strengths of the diffusion-weighted MR images are optimized by minimizing the Crame¿r-Rao lower bound of DKI parameters. The impact of the optimized gradient settings is evaluated, both on simulated as well as experimentally recorded datasets. It is shown that the precision with which the kurtosis parameters can be estimated, increases substantially by optimizing the gradient settings.
Supplementi dietetici di calcio nei soggetti sani : rischi e benefici

Recentemente sono stati sollevati dubbi sulla sicurezza cardiovascolare delle terapie orali con supplemento di calcio assunte da milioni di persone quotidianamente. Nonostante sia esile l'evidenza che il calcio eserciti un effetto positivo sulla riduzione del rischio di frattura, le linee guida sull'osteoporosi continuano a promuovere la terapia orale con calcio, presumendo che 'male non fa'. Ma una più attenta analisi dei trial randomizzati controllati (RCT) e degli studi osservazionali evidenzia la presenza di un aumento significativo, seppure modesto, del rischio cardiovascolare nei soggetti sani che assumono supplementi di calcio. L'obiettivo di questo articolo è di sintetizzare i dati più recenti per evidenziare che questo aumento del rischio cardiovascolare potrebbe essere causato proprio dal supplemento di calcio nei soggetti sani. Parole chiave: malattie cardiovascolari, supplementi di calcio
Design and Implementation of a Sensorless Multilevel Inverter With Reduced Part Count

This letter proposes a single-phase nine-level (9L) inverter topology suitable for grid-connected renewable energy systems. The proposed inverter is realized using a T-type neutral-point-clamped inverter connected in cascade to a floating capacitor (FC) H-bridge. Additionally, two low-frequency switches are added across the dc-link enabling the inverter to generate a 9L waveform. A sensorless voltage control based on redundant switching state is developed and embedded with PWM controller, which is responsible for regulating the FC voltage at one-quarter of the dc source voltage. The proposed PWM technique employs the generation of 9L waveform without using any voltage sensor, thereby reducing the complexity of the overall control scheme. This, in turn, will make the overall system appealing for various industrial applications. In comparison to conventional and recent topologies, generation of the 9L waveform using a lower number of components is the notable contribution. Another important feature of the proposed inverter is that if FC H-bridge fails, it can be bypassed, and the inverter can still operate as a 5L inverter at its nominal power rating. Furthermore, a comprehensive comparison study is included which confirms the merits of the proposed inverter against those of other state-of-the-art topologies. Finally, simulation and experimental results are included for validating the feasibility of the proposed system.
Sleep duration and circulating adipokine levels.

INTRODUCTION Short sleep duration is associated with systemic inflammation and diabetes; however the mechanisms by which reduced sleep leads to these complications are unclear. One possibility is sleep may impact secretion of adipocyte derived hormones that regulate inflammation and insulin resistance. In this study we assessed the association between sleep duration and 3 adipokine levels. METHODS A total of 561 adults from the Cleveland Family Study underwent standardized laboratory polysomnography followed by a morning fasting blood draw assayed for leptin, visfatin, and retinol binding protein-4 (RBP4) levels. RESULTS The cohort had an age of 44.5 (16.1) years and total sleep time (TST) of 6.2 (1.3) hours (mean [SD]). Each hour reduction in TST was associated with a 10% increase in leptin (P = 0.01) and a 14% increase in visfatin levels (P = 0.03) in analyses adjusted for age, gender, and race. After additional adjustment for obesity, sleep apnea severity, hypertension, and diabetes, each hour reduction in TST was associated with a 6% increase in leptin (P = 0.01) and a 14% increase in visfatin levels (P = 0.02). Leptin increased by 15% (P = 0.01) and visfatin increased by 31% (P = 0.05) for every 1-h decrease in REM sleep. In contrast, no association between sleep duration and RBP4 was found. CONCLUSIONS Reduced sleep and reduced REM sleep are associated with elevations in leptin and visfatin, 2 adipokines associated with inflammation and insulin resistance. Further investigation of the effect of sleep on adipose tissue function should be pursued.
Effect of fully characterized unsteady flow on population growth of the dinoflagellate Lingulodinium polyedrum

Dinoflagellate population growth is inhibited by fluid motion, which is typically characterized by some average flow property, regardless if the flow is steady or unsteady. This study compares the effect of fully characterized steady and unsteady flow on net population growth of the red tide dinoflagellate Lingulodinium polyedrum. The unsteady flow fields were generated using oscillatory laminar Couette flow and characterized analytically to provide complete knowledge of the fluid shear exposure over space and time throughout the chamber. Experimental conditions were selected so all cells experienced a similar shear exposure regardless of their position within the chamber. Unsteady flow with maximum shears of 6.4 s−1 and 6.7 s−1 and an average absolute shear of 4 s−1, comparable with levels found at the ocean surface on a windy day, resulted in higher levels of growth inhibition than for steady Couette flow with shears of 4 and 8 s−1. Over the parameter space studied, growth inhibition increased with increasing treatment duration (5–120 min) but was insensitive to oscillation period (60–600 s) or whether the unsteady flow changed in direction. These results indicate that over the parameter space studied, unsteady flow is more inhibitory to net growth than steady flow, for the same average flow conditions, and demonstrate that flow characterization on the basis only of average flow properties is inadequate for comparing population growth in unsteady and steady flows.
Human Beta Casein Fragment (54–59) Modulates M. bovis BCG Survival and Basic Transcription Factor 3 (BTF3) Expression in THP-1 Cell Line

Immunostimulatory peptides potentiate the immune system of the host and are being used as a viable adjunct to established therapeutic modalities in treatment of cancer and microbial infections. Several peptides derived from milk protein have been reported to induce immunostimulatory activity. Human β -casein fragment (54–59), natural sequence peptide (NS) carrying the Val-Glu-Pro-Ile-Pro-Tyr amino acid residues, was reported to activate the macrophages and impart potent immunostimulatory activity. In present study, we found that this peptide increases the clearance of M. bovis BCG from THP-1 cell line in vitro. The key biomolecules, involved in the clearance of BCG from macrophage like, nitric oxide, pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, were not found to be significantly altered after peptide treatment in comparison to the untreated control. Using proteomic approach we found that BTF3a, an isoform of the Basic Transcription Factor, BTF3, was down regulated in THP-1 cell line after peptide treatment. This was reconfirmed by real time RT-PCR and western blotting. We report the BTF3a as a novel target of this hexapeptide. Based on the earlier findings and the results from the present studies, we suggest that the down regulation of BTF3a following the peptide treatment may augment the M. bovis BCG mediated apoptosis resulting in enhanced clearance of M. bovis BCG from THP-1 cell line.
A pilot study of iron depletion as adjuvant therapy in chronic hepatitis C patients not responding to interferon

The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of iron depletion obtained by phlebotomy to enhance interferon response in 11 patients who had failed to respond to a standard 3-month interferon treatment. Despite a significant effect on serum aminotransferase levels, there was no effect on viremia, and iron depletion was unable to trigger interferon response.
Nonlinear characteristics of leakage current for flashover monitoring of ice-covered suspension insulators

This paper investigates nonlinear characteristics of leakage current (LC) for analyzing and monitoring AC flashover performance of ice-covered suspension insulators. The experiments were carried out in a cold climate room of CIGELE Laboratories according to the methods recommended by IEEE Std. 1783/2009. The maximum withstand voltage (VMW = 81 kVrms) and minimum flashover voltage (VMF = 84 kVrms) were obtained to reflect electrical performance of suspension insulators under a most dangerous ice type. The ice accretion process, the length, width and number of icicles associated with the appearance of partial discharges were observed and discussed to present the final formation of a relatively uniform ice layer and vertical icicles along the insulator string. This ice-covered insulator string was characterized by air gaps on the grounded-side shed space and complete ice bridging of the other shed spaces, which have significant influence on the development of arcing discharges leading to flashover. Nonlinear characteristics of LC were analyzed by using a recurrent plot (RP) technique, which graphically gives nonlinear variations of LC on RP maps as well as nonlinear indicators for quantitative prediction of the flashover. The obtained results reveal that dynamic behavior (initiation, propagation, extinguishment and re-ignition) of arcing discharges on ice-covered suspension insulators can be visually reflected by the texture transition of RP maps of LC, which correlate with different stages during the flashover process. The quantitative indicators including a recurrence rate (RR) value lower than 0.24 and a deterministic (DET) value lower than 0.965 are proposed as the predictive values to indicate the highest probability of flashover occurrence. The results obtained will be helpful to predict most hazards of ice-covered outdoor insulators; this is one of monitoring methods based on LC characteristic analysis.
Crucial Role for Ca2+/Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase-II in Regulating Diastolic Stress of Normal and Failing Hearts via Titin Phosphorylation

Rationale: Myocardial diastolic stiffness and cardiomyocyte passive force (Fpassive) depend in part on titin isoform composition and phosphorylation. Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase-II (CaMKII) phosphorylates ion channels, Ca2+-handling proteins, and chromatin-modifying enzymes in the heart, but has not been known to target titin. Objective: To elucidate whether CaMKII phosphorylates titin and modulates Fpassive in normal and failing myocardium. Methods and Results: Titin phosphorylation was assessed in CaMKII&dgr;/&ggr; double-knockout (DKO) mouse, transgenic CaMKII&dgr;C-overexpressing mouse, and human hearts, by Pro-Q-Diamond/Sypro-Ruby staining, autoradiography, and immunoblotting using phosphoserine-specific titin-antibodies. CaMKII-dependent site-specific titin phosphorylation was quantified in vivo by mass spectrometry using stable isotope labeling by amino acids in cell culture mouse heart mixed with wild-type (WT) or DKO heart. Fpassive of single permeabilized cardiomyocytes was recorded before and after CaMKII-administration. All-titin phosphorylation was reduced by >50% in DKO but increased by up to ≈100% in transgenic versus WT hearts. Conserved CaMKII-dependent phosphosites were identified within the PEVK-domain of titin by quantitative mass spectrometry and confirmed in recombinant human PEVK-fragments. CaMKII also phosphorylated the cardiac titin N2B-unique sequence. Phosphorylation at specific PEVK/titin N2B-unique sequence sites was decreased in DKO and amplified in transgenic versus WT hearts. Fpassive was elevated in DKO and reduced in transgenic compared with WT cardiomyocytes. CaMKII-administration lowered Fpassive of WT and DKO cardiomyocytes, an effect blunted by titin antibody pretreatment. Human end-stage failing hearts revealed higher CaMKII expression/activity and phosphorylation at PEVK/titin N2B-unique sequence sites than nonfailing donor hearts. Table. Titin Phosphosites Downregulated in CaMKII&dgr;/&ggr; DKO vs WT Mouse Hearts, Identified by Quantitative Mass Spectrometry Conclusions: CaMKII phosphorylates the titin springs at conserved serines/threonines, thereby lowering Fpassive. Deranged CaMKII-dependent titin phosphorylation occurs in heart failure and contributes to altered diastolic stress.