Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Alpha-Band Hypersynchronization in Progressive Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Magnetoencephalography Study

People with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) show a high risk to develop Alzheimer's disease (AD; Petersen et al., 2001). Nonetheless, there is a lack of studies about how functional connectivity patterns may distinguish between progressive (pMCI) and stable (sMCI) MCI patients. To examine whether there were differences in functional connectivity between groups, MEG eyes-closed recordings from 30 sMCI and 19 pMCI subjects were compared. The average conversion time of pMCI was 1 year, so they were considered as fast converters. To this end, functional connectivity in different frequency bands was assessed with phase locking value in source space. Then the significant differences between both groups were correlated with neuropsychological scores and entorhinal, parahippocampal, and hippocampal volumes. Both groups did not differ in age, gender, or educational level. pMCI patients obtained lower scores in episodic and semantic memory and also in executive functioning. At the structural level, there were no differences in hippocampal volume, although some were found in left entorhinal volume between both groups. Additionally, pMCI patients exhibit a higher synchronization in the alpha band between the right anterior cingulate and temporo-occipital regions than sMCI subjects. This hypersynchronization was inversely correlated with cognitive performance, both hippocampal volumes, and left entorhinal volume. The increase in phase synchronization between the right anterior cingulate and temporo-occipital areas may be predictive of conversion from MCI to AD.
Self-learning experience in transbronchial needle aspiration in diagnosis of intrathoracic lymphadenopathy.

BACKGROUND Lack of a training program and experience result in underutilized transbronchial needle aspiration (TBNA). Pulmonologists who are not graduated from Europe or the United States might have little chance to learn and gain experience in this procedure. OBJECTIVE To determine the authors' diagnostic yield from self-learning TBNA in diagnosis of intrathoracic lymphadenopathy. MATERIAL AND METHOD After reviewing a videotape recorded TBNA procedure repetitively and receiving training in tracheobronchial lung model, the authors performed TBNA according to standard techniques using 21-guage cytology needles connected to a flexible bronchoscope in diagnosis of intrathoracic lymphadenopathy and performed data collection on all TBNA procedures at Ramathibodi Hospital, a tertiary university hospital in Bangkok, Thailand between January 1, 2006 and December 31, 2007. RESULTS Thirty-eight consecutive patients were examined Twenty-seven nodes (71.1%) were malignancies and II nodes (28.9%) were benign diseases. During the first 6-month, the authors' diagnostic yield and frequency of adequate specimens were low. With some modification of the TBNA technique and learning experience, the frequency of inadequate specimens significant decreased from 36.4% to 0% (p = 0.03). Although the diagnostic yield increased from 45.5% to 84.6%, it did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.09). No complication, in either the patients or the bronchoscopes, was found. CONCLUSION TBNA is a safe procedure that can be self-mastered by pulmonologists with interest, intent, and who exert themselves. TBNA performance will be improved over time with practice.
Screening of blood donors for erythrocyte alloantibodies

Abstract Objective To assess the prevalence of the anti-red blood cell antibodies in the donor population of Delhi. Methods This prospective study was conducted in Regional Blood Transfusion Centre (RBTC), Lady Hardinge Medical College (LHMC) and associated hospitals from March 2010 to March 2011. Antibody screening of all donor serum/plasma was performed as routine immunohaematological procedure. Any positive sera were further investigated to identify the specificity of irregular erythrocyte antibody by commercially available red cell panel (ID-Dia Panel, Diamed-ID Microtyping System). The titres and thermal amplitude of the identified antibodies were evaluated. Results A total of 7756 donors were screened, of which 7648 donors were males (98.6%) and 108 were females (1.4%). The maximum number of donors belonged to age group of 26–30 years. A total of four donors showed presence of alloantibodies in their serum (0.05%). On antibody identification, two of them were anti-C, one was anti-Lewisa antibody and one was autoantibody. Discussion This study was conducted to highlight the significance of detecting irregular erythrocyte antibodies in healthy donors.
Incidence and Risk Factors of Silent Brain Infarcts in the Population-Based Rotterdam Scan Study

Background and Purpose— The prevalence of silent brain infarcts in healthy elderly people is high, and these lesions are associated with an increased risk of stroke. The incidence of silent brain infarcts is unknown. We investigated the incidence and cardiovascular risk factors for silent brain infarcts. Methods— The Rotterdam Scan Study is a prospective, population-based cohort study of 1077 participants 60 to 90 years of age. All participants underwent cranial MRI in 1995 to 1996, and 668 participants had a second MRI in 1999 to 2000 (response rate, 70%) with a mean interval of 3.4 years. We assessed cardiovascular risk factors by interview and physical examination at baseline. Associations between risk factors and incident silent infarcts were analyzed by multiple logistic regression. Results— Ninety-three participants (14%) had ≥1 new infarcts on the second MRI; of these, 81 had only silent and 12 had symptomatic infarcts. The incidence of silent brain infarcts strongly increased with age and was 5 times higher than that of symptomatic stroke. A prevalent silent brain infarct strongly predicted a new silent infarct on the second MRI (age- and sex-adjusted odds ratio, 2.9; 95% confidence interval, 1.7 to 5.0). Age, blood pressure, diabetes mellitus, cholesterol and homocysteine levels, intima-media thickness, carotid plaques, and smoking were associated with new silent brain infarcts in participants without prevalent infarcts. Conclusions— The incidence of silent brain infarcts on MRI in the general elderly population strongly increases with age. The cardiovascular risk factors for silent brain infarcts are similar to those for stroke.
News selection criteria in the digital age: Professional norms versus online audience metrics

On newspaper websites, journalists can observe the preferences of the audience in unprecedented detail and for low costs, based on the audience clicks (i.e. page views) for specific news articles. This article addresses whether journalists use this information to cater to audience preferences in their news selection choices. We analyzed the print and online editions of five national newspapers from the Netherlands with a mixed-method approach. Using a cross-lagged analysis covering 6 months, we found that storylines of the most-viewed articles were more likely to receive attention in subsequent reporting, which indicates that audience clicks affect news selection. However, based on interviews with editors we found that they consider the use of this information for news selection to conflict with professional norms. We elaborate on the implications of this discrepancy in the norms and behaviors of journalists, and project directions for future studies.
Particularly efficient star formation in M33

The Star Formation (SF) rate in galaxies is an important parameter at all redshifts and evolutionary stages of galaxies. In order to understand the increased SF rates in intermediate redshift galaxies one possibility is to study star formation in local galaxies with properties frequently found at this earlier epoch like low metallicity and small size. We present sensitive observations of the molecular gas in M 33, a small Local Group spiral at a distance of 840 kpc which shares many of the characteristics of the intermediate redshift galaxies. The observations were carried out in the CO(2–1) line with the HERA heterodyne array on the IRAM 30 m telescope. A 11 � × 22 � region in the northern part of M 33 was observed, reaching a detection threshold of a few 10 3 M� . The correlation in this field between the CO emission and tracers of SF (8 µm, 24 µm, Hα, FUV) is excellent and CO is detected very far North, showing that molecular gas forms far out in the disk even in a small spiral with a subsolar metallicity. One major molecular cloud was discovered in an interarm region with no HI peak and little if any signs of SF – without a complete survey this cloud would never have been found. The radial dependence of the CO emission has a scale length similar to the dust emission, less extended than the Hα or FUV. If, however, the N(H2)/ICO ratio varies inversely with metallicity, then the scale length of the H2 becomes similar to that of the Hα or FUV. Comparing the SF rate to the H2 mass shows that M 33, like the intermediate redshift galaxies it resembles, has a significantly higher SF efficiency than large local universe spirals. The data presented here also provide an ideal test for theories of molecular cloud formation and cover a new region in parameter space, where Σstars < Σgas. We find that a simple pressure-based prescription for estimating the molecular to atomic gas fraction does not perform well for M 33, at least in the outer parts. On the other hand, we show that the molecular gas fraction is influenced by (i) the total Hydrogen column density, dominated in M 33 by the HI, and (ii) the galactocentric distance.
Effects of icodextrin on the peritoneal membrane.

orrhage associated with hypertensive stroke by echo-planar gradientecho T2*-weighted MRI. Stroke 2000; 31: 1646–1650 25. Cho A. -H, Lee S.B. , Han S.J. et al. Impaired kidney function and cerebral microbleeds in patients with acute ischemic stroke. Neurology 2009; 73: 1645–1648 26. Shima H, Ishimura E, Naganuma T et al. Cerebral microbleeds in predialysis patients with chronic kidney disease. Nephrol Dial Transplant 2010; 25: 1554–1559 27. Nakatani T, Naganuma T, Uchida J et al. Silent cerebral infarction in hemodialysis patients. Am J Nephrol 2003; 23: 86–90 28. Thompson CS, Hakim AM. Living beyond our physiological means: small vessel disease of the brain is an expression of a systemic failure in arteriolar function: a unifying hypothesis. Stroke 2009; 40: e322 29. O'Rourke MF, Safar ME. Relationship between aortic stiffening and microvascular disease in brain and kidney: cause and logic of therapy. Hypertension 2005; 46: 200–204
Deciphering the genetic architecture of variation in the immune response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection

Tuberculosis (TB) is a major public health problem. One-third of the world's population is estimated to be infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB), the etiological agent causing TB, and active disease kills nearly 2 million individuals worldwide every year. Several lines of evidence indicate that interindividual variation in susceptibility to TB has a heritable component, yet we still know little about the underlying genetic architecture. To address this, we performed a genome-wide mapping study of loci that are associated with functional variation in immune response to MTB. Specifically, we characterized transcript and protein expression levels and mapped expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) in primary dendritic cells (DCs) from 65 individuals, before and after infection with MTB. We found 198 response eQTL, namely loci that were associated with variation in gene expression levels in either untreated or MTB-infected DCs, but not both. These response eQTL are associated with natural regulatory variation that likely affects (directly or indirectly) host interaction with MTB. Indeed, when we integrated our data with results from a genome-wide association study (GWAS) for pulmonary TB, we found that the response eQTL were more likely to be genetically associated with the disease. We thus identified a number of candidate loci, including the MAPK phosphatase DUSP14 in particular, that are promising susceptibility genes to pulmonary TB.
“bromocriptine reduced the incidence and severity of clinically significant OHSS in high-risk patients without affecting the pregnancy rates.(2)” Yours sincerely,

I read the recent publication on ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) with great interest. (1) Rajesh et al concluded that “gonadotropin doses at stimulation should start at 150 iu or less in women below 35 years of age, with a step-up of 37.5 iu, as necessary. (1)” There are some points to note about this research. First, as a retrospective study, it might not be possible to control the confounding factors as well as the quality of all laboratory analyses. Second, it is interesting to compare the results of this study with a recent publication that documented the use of bromocriptine. (2) It is reported that “bromocriptine reduced the incidence and severity of clinically significant OHSS in high-risk patients without affecting the pregnancy rates. (2)”
Identification and Characterization of Odorant Binding Proteins in the Forelegs of Adelphocoris lineolatus (Goeze)

The chemosensory system is essential for insects to detect exogenous compounds, and odorant binding proteins (OBPs) play crucial roles in odorant binding and transduction. In the alfalfa plant bug Adelphocoris lineolatus, an important pest of multiple crops, our understanding of the physiological roles of antenna-biased OBPs has increased dramatically, whereas OBPs related to gustation have remained mostly unexplored. In this study, we employed RNA sequencing and RACE PCR methods to identify putative OBPs from the adult forelegs of both sexes. Eight candidate OBPs were identified, and three OBPs (AlinOBP15, 16, and 17) were novel. Full-length sequence alignment and phylogenetic analyses suggested that these three candidate OBPs had characteristics typical of the insect OBP family. AlinOBP16 and 17 displayed six highly conserved cysteines, placing them in the classic OBP subfamily, whereas AlinOBP15 resembled AlinOBP14 and clustered with the Plus-C clade. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) revealed distinct and significant tissue- and sex-biased expression patterns. AlinOBP15 was highly expressed in female heads, and AlinOBP16 and 17 were strongly expressed in female antennae. In particular, AlinOBP11, the most abundant OBP gene in our foreleg transcriptome dataset, was predominately expressed in adult legs. Furthermore, four types of sensilla hairs were observed on the forelegs of adult A. lineolatus, including sensilla trichodea, setae, and two types of sensilla chaetica (Sch1 and Sch2). Anti-AlinOBP11 antiserum strongly labeled the outer sensillum lymph of Sch2, implying that it has important gustatory functions in A. lineolatus. Our current findings provide evidence that OBPs can be functionally expressed in the tarsal gustatory sensilla of hemipteran mirid species, broadening our understanding of OBP chemosensory function in insects and facilitating the discovery of new functional targets for the regulation of insect host-searching behaviors.
Hospitalization in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Objective: As ALS progresses, extensive supportive care is required, including multidisciplinary outpatient care and hospitalization. The authors studied the causes, health care utilization, and outcomes for hospitalized patients with ALS. Methods: With use of the 1996 Nationwide Inpatient Sample, an administrative database representing 20% of U.S. hospitals, 1,600 hospitalizations in patients with ALS were identified and compared with 5,364,728 non-ALS hospitalizations. Results: The most common concurrent diagnoses in patients with ALS were dehydration and malnutrition (574 patients, 36%), pneumonia (507 patients, 32%), and respiratory failure (398 patients, 25%). Only 38% of patients with ALS were discharged to home without home health care compared with 73% of patients with non-ALS. Fifteen percent of patients with ALS died in the hospital compared with 3% of non-ALS patients. The average length of hospital stay and charges were greater for patients with ALS than for non-ALS patients (8.4 days and $19,810 for ALS patients and 5.4 days and $11,924 for non-ALS patients). Mortality was significantly associated with emergency room admission (versus nonemergency admission; OR = 1.60), increasing age (per year; OR = 1.03), respiratory failure (OR = 3.37), and pneumonia (OR = 2.02) (p < 0.01 for all comparisons). Conclusions: Patients with ALS have lengthy and costly hospital admissions, a high in-hospital mortality rate, and few routine discharges. Recognition of the issues that precipitate hospitalization may allow development of preventive strategies.
Multimodal Measurements Fusion for Surface Material Categorization

Sound and acceleration measurements are two classes of sensing modalities which frequently occur in surface material categorization. Their fusion problem is extremely important in many practical scenarios, since they provide different properties about materials. In this paper, we investigate the multimodal measurements fusion categorization problem exhibiting nontrivial challenges that there does not exist sample-to-sample pairing relation between sound and acceleration measurements. To this end, we design a dictionary learning model that can simultaneously learn the projection subspace and the latent common dictionary for the different measurements. Furthermore, an optimization algorithm is developed to effectively solve the common dictionary learning problem. Based on the obtained solutions, the fusion categorization algorithm can be easily developed. Finally, we perform experimental validations on the publicly available data set to show the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Agenda Setting in the Partisan TV News Context

This study examines the agenda setting of candidates’ attributes and its relationship with polarized candidate evaluation among TV news viewers. Content analyses of candidates’ affective attributes during the 2012 presidential election indicate partisan imbalance from CNN’s Anderson Cooper and Fox’s Special Report. NBC Nightly News was relatively balanced. Watching a particular program was positively associated with attribute agenda setting by each program. Also, agenda setting by the Fox program was positively related to viewers’ polarized candidate evaluations, whereas agenda setting by the NBC program was negatively associated. Implications of the partisan TV news context for agenda-setting theory are discussed.
Social marginalization of overweight children.

BACKGROUND Overweight is the most common health problem that faces children and adolescents. Although the correlation among overweight, low self-esteem, and depression is well known, social isolation among overweight children and adolescents has not been studied. OBJECTIVE To investigate social networks of overweight and normal-weight adolescents in a large, nationally representative sample. DESIGN Cross-sectional, nationally representative cohort study. Population A total of 90 118 adolescents aged 13 to 18 years who were enrolled in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, of which a 1:5 subsample was selected for detailed in-home assessment, including height and weight measurements (n = 17 557). Overweight was defined according to body mass index (>95th percentile for age and sex). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES This analysis focuses on the number of friendship nominations each adolescent received from other adolescents. The number of friendship nominations and other social network measures were calculated using statistical software. RESULTS Overweight adolescents were more likely to be socially isolated and to be peripheral to social networks than were normal-weight adolescents. Although overweight adolescents listed similar numbers of friends as normal-weight adolescents, overweight adolescents received significantly fewer friendship nominations from others than were received by normal-weight adolescents (mean [SE] number of friendship nominations, 3.39 [0.08] vs 4.79 [0.04]; P<.001). Overweight adolescents were also more likely to receive no friendship nominations than were normal-weight adolescents (odds ratio, 1.71; 95% confidence interval, 1.39-2.20). Decreased television viewing (P<.001), increased levels of sports participation (P<.001), and increased participation in school clubs (P<.001) were associated with significantly more friendship nominations and higher network centrality scores among both overweight and normal-weight adolescents. CONCLUSIONS Many overweight adolescents are socially marginalized. Such isolation may aggravate the social and emotional consequences of overweight in this age group.
Remittances and Social Spending

Remittances are a significant source of foreign exchange for developing economies. I argue that remittances, due to their compensation and insurance functions, will increase the general income level and economic security of recipients, thereby reducing their perceived income risk. Over time, this will dampen demand from recipients for government taxation and social insurance. Therefore, I expect increases in income remitted to an economy to result in reduced levels of social welfare transfers at the macro-level. This dynamic can help us to understand spending patterns in developing democracies, and the absence of demand for social security transfers in countries with high levels of inequality and economic insecurity. I test this argument with a sample of 18 Latin American states, over the period 1990 to 2009, and subject the central causal mechanism to a battery of statistical tests. The results of these tests provide strong support for this argument.
Partly colored or almost white? Racial intermediacy and identificational ambivalence of grown children of Korean immigrants

Prior research suggests that Asian Americans fall between whites and African Americans in the American racial stratification system. However, scholars know relatively little about how this position shapes Asian Americans’ understandings of racial discrimination. This article examines the discourses surrounding individual experiences of racism among Korean Americans and the association between discourses and Korean Americans’ intermediate race position. Drawing upon 69 in-depth interviews with 1.5- and second-generation Korean Americans, I identify three discursive subgroups: honorary whites, racial intermediaries, and racial progressives. The tendency to deny, minimize, or acknowledge the significance of experienced racism characterizes the three groups. A critical discourse analysis reveals that the largest subgroup employs discourse minimizing racism, reflecting the respondents’ ambivalent racial identification. These respondents do not consider themselves part of a minority, yet say they are not white. Findings suggest that the Korean Americans’ racial ambivalence is closely associated with racial intermediacy.