Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
During the Long Way to Mars: Effects of 520 Days of Confinement (Mars500) on the Assessment of Affective Stimuli and Stage Alteration in Mood and Plasma Hormone Levels

For future interplanetary manned spaceflight, mental issues, as well as physiological problems, must inevitably be considered and solved. Mars500 is a high-fidelity ground simulation experiment that involved 520 days of confined isolation for six multinational crewmembers. This experiment provided a good opportunity to perform psycho-physiological and psycho-social researches on such missions. To investigate emotional responses and psychological adaptation over long-term confinement, the International Affective Pictures System (IAPS) was selected as the visual emotional stimuli in this study. Additional data collected and analyzed included the Profile of Mood States (POMS) questionnaire and the levels of four types of plasma hormones: cortisol, 5-hydroxy tryptamine, dopamine, and norepinephrine. The results demonstrated an obvious bias on valence rating for unpleasant stimuli with time (p<0.05), and the correlation between psychological and biochemical data was identified (p<0.05). Overall, we concluded that the confined crew tended to assign positive ratings to negative pictures with time, which might be driven by a defensive system. There was a stage-changing pattern of psychological adaptation of the Mars500 crew, which is similar to the third-quarter phenomenon.
First and second language similarity can hurt the learning of second-language speech segmentation: The case of prosody

This study investigates whether learning to use prosodic cues to word boundaries in second-language speech segmentation is easier or more difficult if the native and second languages have similar (though non-identical) prosodies than if they have markedly different prosodies. It compares French, Korean, and English listeners’ use of fundamental-frequency rise and lengthening as cues to word-final boundaries in French. Fundamental-frequency rise and lengthening signal word-final boundaries in French and Korean but can signal word-initial boundaries in English. Proficiency-matched Korean-speaking and Englishspeaking second-language learners of French and native French listeners completed a ‘visual-world’ eye-tracking task where fundamental-frequency rise and/or lengthening signaled the final boundary of target words. Results show that the French and English groups used both fundamental-frequency rise and lengthening to locate word-final boundaries in French, whereas the Korean group used only lengthening. We attribute Korean listeners’ non-use of fundamental-frequency rise in French to firstand second-language perceptual assimilation.
Fighting Behavior and Winning National Hockey League Games: A Paradox

To assess a relationship between fighting behavior and winning games in the National Hockey League (NHL), 4,240 NHL game summaries from five consecutive seasons (1987—88—1991–92) were examined. Analysis of the relation between a team's number of major fighting penalties and final league standings gave four significant negative correlations indicating a substantial inverse relationship, i.e., the larger the number of fights, the lower the final standings tended to be, although one significant positive correlation was obtained for those teams finishing in the bottom half of the standings. The results question the popular belief that fighting and winning NHL games are favorably associated. Explanations are suggested.
Charity as a Signal of Trustworthiness

Being perceived as trustworthy comes with substantial economic benefits in many situations. Making other people think you are a trustworthy person may, therefore, be an important motive for charity and other forms of prosocial behavior, provided these activities work as signals of trustworthiness. This paper shows that donating money to an NGO substantially raises the other players' beliefs about the donors’ trustworthiness in a simple trust game. Consequently, donors receive higher transfers. The magnitude of these benefits is substantial.
DISCO analysis: A nonparametric extension of analysis of variance

In classical analysis of variance, dispersion is measured by considering squared distances of sample elements from the sample mean. We consider a measure of dispersion for univariate or multivariate response based on all pairwise distances between-sample elements, and derive an analogous distance components (DISCO) decomposition for powers of distance in (0, 2]. The ANOVA F statistic is obtained when the index (exponent) is 2. For each index in (0, 2), this decomposition determines a nonparametric test for the multi-sample hypothesis of equal distributions that is statistically consistent against general alternatives.
Distinct Neurocognitive Strategies for Comprehensions of Human and Artificial Intelligence

Although humans have inevitably interacted with both human and artificial intelligence in real life situations, it is unknown whether the human brain engages homologous neurocognitive strategies to cope with both forms of intelligence. To investigate this, we scanned subjects, using functional MRI, while they inferred the reasoning processes conducted by human agents or by computers. We found that the inference of reasoning processes conducted by human agents but not by computers induced increased activity in the precuneus but decreased activity in the ventral medial prefrontal cortex and enhanced functional connectivity between the two brain areas. The findings provide evidence for distinct neurocognitive strategies of taking others' perspective and inhibiting the process referenced to the self that are specific to the comprehension of human intelligence.
Epigenetic landscape of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine and associations with gene expression in placenta

ABSTRACT 5-hydroxymethylcystosine (5hmC), is an intermediate product in the DNA demethylation pathway, but may act as a functional epigenetic modification. We have conducted the largest study of site-specific 5hmC in placenta to date using parallel bisulphite and oxidative bisulphite modification with array-based assessment. Incorporating parallel RNA-sequencing data allowed us to assess associations between 5hmC and gene expression, using expression quantitative trait hydroxymethylation (eQTHM) analysis. We identified ~ 47,000 loci with consistently elevated (systematic) 5hmC proportions. Systematic 5hmC was significantly depleted (p < 0.0001) at CpG islands (CGI), and enriched (p < 0.0001) in ‘open sea’ regions (CpG >4 kb from CGI). 5hmC was most and least abundant at CpGs in enhancers and active transcription start sites (TSS), respectively (p < 0.05). We identified 499 significant (empirical-p <0.05) eQTHMs within 1 MB of the assayed gene. At most (75.4%) eQTHMs, the proportion of 5hmC was positively correlated with transcript abundance. eQTHMs were significantly enriched among enhancer CpGs and depleted among CpGs in active TSS (p < 0.05 for both). Finally, we identified 107 differentially hydroxymethylated regions (DHMRs, p < 0.05) across 100 genes. Our study provides insight into placental distribution of 5hmC, and sheds light on the functional capacity of this epigenetic modification in placenta.
Diverse Toxicity Associated with Cardiac Na+/K+ Pump Inhibition: Evaluation of Electrophysiological Mechanisms

(E,Z)-3-((2-Aminoethoxy)imino)androstane-6,17-dione hydrochloride (PST2744) is a novel Na+/K+ pump inhibitor with positive inotropic effects. Compared with digoxin in various experimental models, PST2744 was consistently found to be less arrhythmogenic, thus resulting in a significantly higher therapeutic index. The present work compares the electrophysiological effects of PST2744 and digoxin in guinea pig ventricular myocytes, with the aim to identify a mechanism for their different toxicity. The work showed that 1) the action potential was transiently prolonged and then similarly shortened by both agents; 2) the ratio between Na+/K+ pump inhibition and inotropy was somewhat larger for PST2744 than for digoxin; 3) both agents accelerated inactivation of high-threshold Ca2+ current (I CaL), without affecting its peak amplitude; 4) the transient inward current (I TI) induced by a Ca2+transient in the presence of complete Na+/K+pump blockade was inhibited (−43%) by PST2744 but not by digoxin; 5) the conductance of Na+/Ca2+ exchanger current (I NaCa), recorded under Na+/K+ pump blockade, was only slightly inhibited by PST2744 (−14%) and unaffected by digoxin; and 6) both agents inhibited delayed rectifier currentI Ks (≤−21%); delayed rectifier currentI Kr was inhibited by PST2744 only, but the effect was marginal (−6%). Thus, 1) the higher therapeutic index of PST2744 may be accounted for by inhibition ofI TI, a current directly involved in digitalis-induced arrhythmias. Indeed, the other differences observed concern quantitatively small effects; and 2)I TI suppression by PST2744 may be only partly accounted for by inhibition of the Na+/Ca2+ exchanger.
How do Informed Investors Trade in the Options Market?

We analyzehow informed investors trade in the options market ahead of corp orate news, when they receive private information about (i) the timing of the announcemen t and (ii) its potential impact on stock prices. Our simple framework characterizes the optimal strategy in ter ms of option type, maturity, and strike price that yields the greatest leverage to informed investors and, hen ce, the most “bang for the buck. ” Accounting for uncertainty in the private information signal, as well as ma rket frictions including minimum prices and bidask spreads, we can rank strategies without the need to model risk aversion or price impact. We demonstrate empirically that (i) heterogeneity in unusual options acti vity ahead of significant corporate news (SCNs) is consistent with the predictions of our framework and (ii) informed trading measures derived from our framework improve the predictability of significant corpor ate news events.
Influence of Comorbidities on Therapeutic Progression of Diabetes Treatment in Australian Veterans: A Cohort Study

Background This study assessed whether the number of comorbid conditions unrelated to diabetes was associated with a delay in therapeutic progression of diabetes treatment in Australian veterans. Methodology/Principal Findings A retrospective cohort study was undertaken using data from the Australian Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) claims database between July 2000 and June 2008. The study included new users of metformin or sulfonylurea medicines. The outcome was the time to addition or switch to another antidiabetic treatment. The total number of comorbid conditions unrelated to diabetes was identified using the pharmaceutical-based comorbidity index, Rx-Risk-V. Competing risk regression analyses were conducted, with adjustments for a number of covariates that included age, gender, residential status, use of endocrinology service, number of hospitalisation episodes and adherence to diabetes medicines. Overall, 20134 veterans were included in the study. At one year, 23.5% of patients with diabetes had a second medicine added or had switched to another medicine, with 41.4% progressing by 4 years. The number of unrelated comorbidities was significantly associated with the time to addition of an antidiabetic medicine or switch to insulin (subhazard ratio [SHR] 0.87 [95% CI 0.84–0.91], P<0.001). Depression, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, dementia, and Parkinson's disease were individually associated with a decreased likelihood of therapeutic progression. Age, residential status, number of hospitalisations and adherence to anti-diabetic medicines delayed therapeutic progression. Conclusions/Significance Increasing numbers of unrelated conditions decreased the likelihood of therapeutic progression in veterans with diabetes. These results have implications for the development of quality measures, clinical guidelines and the construction of models of care for management of diabetes in elderly people with comorbidities.
Properties of a nonjunctional current expressed from a rat connexin46 cDNA in Xenopus oocytes

Connexin46 (cxn46) is a gap junctional protein that was cloned from a rat lens cDNA library. Expression of cxn46 in solitary Xenopus oocytes resulted in the development of a large time- and voltage-dependent current that was not observed in noninjected control oocytes or in oocytes injected with mRNA for cxn43 or cxn32. The cxn46-induced current activated at potentials positive to -20 mV. On repolarization to -40 mV, the current deactivated over a period of several seconds. Removal of external calcium caused a marked increase in the amplitude of the cxn46-induced current, shifted the steady-state activation curve to more negative potentials, and altered the kinetics of activation and deactivation. Increasing external calcium had the opposite effect. The ability of cxn46 to induce the formation of cell-to-cell channels was tested in the oocyte pair system. Oocyte pairs injected with cxn46 mRNA + antisense oligonucleotides for Xenopus cxn38 were strongly coupled. In contrast, oocyte pairs injected with antisense alone showed no coupling. The inactivation kinetics of the gap junctional channels resembled the deactivation kinetics of the cxn46-induced current in solitary oocytes.
Work Environment Characteristics and Teacher Well-Being: The Mediation of Emotion Regulation Strategies

Based on an adjusted Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model that considers the mediation of personal resources, this study examined the relationships between two characteristics of teachers’ work environment (i.e., emotional job demands and trust in colleagues) and two indicators of teachers’ well-being (i.e., teaching satisfaction and emotional exhaustion). In particular, the study focused on how emotion regulation strategies (i.e., reappraisal and suppression) mediate these relationships. Data collected from a questionnaire survey of 1115 primary school teachers in Hong Kong was analyzed to test the hypothesized relationships. The results of structural equation modeling indicated that: (1) the emotional job demands of teaching were detrimental to teacher well-being, whereas trust in colleagues was beneficial; (2) both emotion regulation strategies mediated the relationships between both emotional job demands and trust in colleagues and teacher well-being; and (3) teachers who tend to use more reappraisal may be psychologically healthier than those tend to adopt more suppression. These findings support the applicability of the JD-R model to school settings and highlight the role of teachers’ emotion regulation in teachers’ well-being. Implications for the improvement of school environments and teachers’ well-being are identified.
Ethical Issues in Cellular and Molecular Medicine and Tissue Engineering

The objective of tissue engineering is to create or recreate living body parts or organs that will fully integrate with the recipient's body. The advent of tissue engineering as a new field of research with a high potential towards the clinical care of patients from bench to bedside has involved numerous different scientists in various fields of cellular and molecular medicine, material research, engineering, physics, chemistry, computational research and allied disciplines [1–5]. Due to a potentially enormous impact on the health of our society – that is as a whole continuously becoming older – tissue-engineered solutions to circumvent natural degenerative processes have become of great interest. They may aid to maintain a high quality of life in the elderly. This issue has been widely acknowledged, but has created numerous debates also. Many of the techniques applied in research and in practical applications of nowadays tissue engineering approaches [3] with direct or indirect relation to the care of human beings seem to be straight forward and do not offer a sufficient potential for ethical debates [6–8]. Nevertheless, innovative medical research and new technologies always raise ethical and policy concerns. In biomedical research, these issues include the ethical conduct of basic and clinical research as well as the equitable distribution of new therapies [7]. While questions of intellectual property have been widely published in this context, there is limited literature on ethics in cellular and molecular medicine and for the field of tissue engineering [6, 9, 10]. With respect to the ethics of tissue engineering, Derksen and Horstman [11] have suggested that one can roughly distinguish two perspectives. On the one hand, this technology could be considered morally good because tissue engineering is ‘copying nature’. On the other hand, tissue engineering could be considered morally dangerous because it defies nature: bodies constructed in the laboratory are seen as unnatural. The tremendous public attraction that the implantation of cultured chondrocytes in the form of a human ear cartilage (which was implanted under the skin of a nude mouse and that was eventually called auriculosaurus [1]) gained rapidly all over the world is a vivid testimony to the perception of people when confronted with such spectacular and obvious research efforts. Based on the discussion of the engineering of heart valves, authors have proposed that the ethics of tissue engineering should be framed not in terms of ‘natural’ or ‘unnatural’ but in terms of ‘good embodied life’ and ‘lived integrity’[11].
Provisions: Privacy-preserving Proofs of Solvency for Bitcoin Exchanges

Bitcoin exchanges function like banks, securely holding customers' bitcoins on their behalf. Several exchanges have suffered catastrophic losses with customers permanently losing their savings. A proof of solvency demonstrates cryptographically that the exchange controls sufficient reserves to settle each customer's account. We introduce Provisions, a privacy-preserving proof of solvency whereby an exchange does not have to disclose its Bitcoin addresses; total holdings or liabilities; or any information about its customers. We also propose an extension which prevents exchanges from colluding to cover for each other's losses. We have implemented Provisions and it offers practical computation times and proof sizes even for a large Bitcoin exchange with millions of customers.
Low BER performance estimation of LDPC codes via application of importance sampling to trapping sets

We introduce an importance sampling (IS) method that successfully simulates the performance of Low density Parity Check (LDPC) Codes in an AWGN channel at very low bit error rates (BERs). By effectively finding and biasing bit node combinations that are the dominant sources of error events, called trapping sets, the developed technique provokes more frequent decoder failures. Consequently, fewer simulation runs and higher simulation gains are achieved.
Few-Shot Adversarial Domain Adaptation

This work provides a framework for addressing the problem of supervised domain adaptation with deep models. The main idea is to exploit adversarial learning to learn an embedded subspace that simultaneously maximizes the confusion between two domains while semantically aligning their embedding. The supervised setting becomes attractive especially when there are only a few target data samples that need to be labeled. In this few-shot learning scenario, alignment and separation of semantic probability distributions is difficult because of the lack of data. We found that by carefully designing a training scheme whereby the typical binary adversarial discriminator is augmented to distinguish between four different classes, it is possible to effectively address the supervised adaptation problem. In addition, the approach has a high speed of adaptation, i.e. it requires an extremely low number of labeled target training samples, even one per category can be effective. We then extensively compare this approach to the state of the art in domain adaptation in two experiments: one using datasets for handwritten digit recognition, and one using datasets for visual object recognition.
Altered Trunk Position Sense and Its Relation to Balance Functions in People Post-Stroke

Objective: To determine whether trunk position sense is impaired in people with poststroke hemiparesis. Background: Good trunk stability is essential for balance and extremity use during daily functional activities and higher level tasks. Dynamic stability of the trunk requires adequate flexibility, muscle strength, neural control, and proprioception. While deficits of trunk muscle strength have been identified in people post-stroke, it is not clear whether they have adequate postural control and proprioception to ensure a stable foundation of balance to enable skilled extremity use. Trunk position sense is an essential element of trunk postural control. Even a small impairment in trunk position sense may contribute to trunk instability. However, a specific impairment of trunk position sense has not been reported in people post-stroke. Subjects: Twenty subjects with chronic stroke and 21 nonneurologically impaired subjects participated in the study. Main outcome measures: Trunk repositioning error during sitting forward flexion movements was assessed using an electromagnetic movement analysis system, Flock of Birds. Subjects post-stroke were also evaluated with clinical measures of balance (Berg Balance Scale), postural control (Postural Assessment Scale for Stroke), and extremity motor impairment severity (Fugl-Meyer Assessment-Motor Score). Results: There were significant differences in absolute trunk repositioning error between stroke and control groups in both the sagittal (P = 0.0001) and transverse (P = 0.0012) planes. Mean sagittal plane error: post-stroke: 6.9 ± 3.1 degrees, control: 3.2 ± 1.8 degrees; mean transverse plane error: post-stroke 2.1 ± 1.3 degrees, control: 1.0 ± 0.6 degrees. There was a significant negative correlation between sagittal plane absolute repositioning error and the Berg Balance Scale score (r = −0.49, P = 0.03), transverse plane absolute repositioning error and Berg Balance Scale score (r = −0.48, P = 0.03), and transverse plane repositioning error and the Postural Assessment Scale for Stroke score (r = −0.52, P = 0.02) Conclusions: Subjects with poststroke hemiparesis exhibit greater trunk repositioning error than age-matched controls. Trunk position sense retraining, emphasizing sagittal and transverse movements, should be further investigated as a potential poststroke intervention strategy to improve trunk balance and control.