Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Readiness to learn: Characteristics associated with implicit learning aptitude

Cognitive frailty is one of the biggest threats to healthy aging, and yet our basic understanding of cognitive aging is limited in at least two ways. First, while group differences in the cognitive performance of younger vs. older adults are welldocumented, we understand little about the inter-individual variability occurring within age groups, which implies that some individuals are aging more successfully than others in the cognitive domain. Additionally, most cognitive aging research to date has focused on explicit cognitive functions and has neglected an entire subclass of implicit functions that have implications for maintaining health. To begin addressing these limitations, this dissertation examined characteristics related to implicit learning aptitude. The first study showed that a neural characteristic-the strength of intrinsic connectivity between two learning-relevant brain regions (caudate and medial temporal lobe; MTL)--predicted how well young adults subsequently learned a complex regularity. This finding suggests that communication between learning-relevant regions prior to learning is important for understanding inter-individual variability in learning outcomes. The second study examined a behavioral characteristic—dispositional mindfulness—and revealed a novel negative relationship between mindfulness and implicit learning in two healthy adult samples, suggesting that mindfulness may not benefit implicit cognitive functioning. We posited that the negative association between these two variables might be due to the fact that the balance of
Cursos de especialização em Saúde da Família: o que muda no trabalho com a formação?

The persistence of bio-medically oriented practices and the mismatch between training and work are identified as the challenges for the rolling out of Primary Health Care (PHC) in Brazil. This paper analyzes work changes in PHC after following specialization level training courses on community and family health, from the point of view of the trained professionals. It is a qualitative study carried on from 2011 to 2013 in the Federal District (DF) involving doctors, nurses and dentists. Data was collected with the use of digital questionnaires, semistructured interviews and focal groups. From the thematic content analysis, two categories emerged: “a universe of knowledge has opened up” and a “new way of doing things in an adverse working environment”. The context of the PHC in DF is a constraint but the training had the potential to generate professional competences.
Genetic differentiation in populations with different classes of individuals.

I formulate and analyse a model of population structure with different classes of individuals. These different classes may be age classes, other demographic classes, or different types of habitats homogeneously distributed over a geographical area. The value of population differentiation under an island model of dispersal and the increase of differentiation with geographical distance in one- and two-dimensional "isolation by distance" models are then obtained for a generalization of the FST measure of population structure, as a function of "effective" mutation, migration, and population size parameters. The relevant effective subpopulation size is related to the "mutation effective population size" of a single isolated subpopulation and, in models of age-structured populations, to the inbreeding effective population size.
Moral Injury, Suicidal Ideation, and Suicide Attempts in a Military Sample

Moral injury entails emotional distress associated with perceived violations of one’s moral code and has been proposed to be a possible contributor to self-injurious thoughts and behaviors (SITB) among military personnel. Three dimensions of moral injury have previously been empirically derived: transgressions committed by others (Transgressions-Others), transgressions committed by oneself (Transgressions-Self), and perceived betrayal by others (Betrayal). The current study examined the relationship of these dimensions of moral injury with SITB in a clinical sample of 151 active duty military personnel. Transgressions-Other and Transgressions-Self were significantly higher among personnel with a history of suicide attempt relative to history of suicidal ideation and no suicidality (Hedge’s g’s .64). Transgressions-Self was associated with significantly more severe suicidal ideation during the past week (p .018).
Cost-efficient FPGA layered LDPC decoder with serial AP-LLR processing

This paper proposes an FPGA based layered architecture for quasi-cyclic (QC) irregular LDPC decoder. Our approach is based on merging variable and check node processing into one single variable-check node (VCN) unit. Layer message computation is done using a parallel scheme of a number of VCNs equal to the expansion factor of the QC matrix. The proposed architecture is characterized by the serial processing of the a posteriori LLRs by an FPGA specific high frequency VCN unit implementation using ROM memories. In our approach data conversions as well as additions and comparators are replaced by look-up-tables implemented using distributed RAM. In addition to this, other techniques such as: efficient packaging of LLRs messages and check-node message compression as well as the configurable port width of the FPGA's BRAM are used to reduce BRAM block utilization. Throughput increase is achieved by utilizing techniques such as pipelining, parallel processing of multiple VCNs, as well as relatively high working frequency. Implementation results for the WiMAX (1152, 2304) QC irregular LDPC code indicate that the proposed architecture has up to 3x less slices resource utilization and up to 1 order of magnitude less BRAM blocks with respect to other approaches, while maintaining a throughput of several hundreds of Mbps (800 Mbps coded bits). We achieved this without sacrificing flexibility; therefore we can easily adapt our design to accommodate different code rates.
Docking Efficiency Comparison of Surflex, a Commercial Package and Arguslab, a Licensable Freeware

Structure-based lead optimization approaches are increasingly playing a role in the drug-discovery process. Virtual screening by molecular docking has become a largely used approach to lead discovery in the pharmaceutical industry when a high-resolution structure of the biological target of interest is available. The performance of two docking programs (Arguslab and Surflex), for virtual database screening, is studied. Surflex is well recognized commercial package while Arguslab is distributed freely for Windows platforms by Planaria Software. Comparisons of these docking programs and scoring functions using a large and diverse data set of pharmaceutically interesting targets and active compounds are carried out. We focus on the problem of docking and scoring flexible compounds which are sterically capable of docking into a rigid conformation of the receptor. The three dimensional structures of a carefully chosen set of 300 pharmaceutically relevant protein-ligand complexes were used for the comparative study. The results show that Surflex outperforms largely Arguslab in all tests studied.
A comparative study of the effects of retinol and retinoic acid on histological, molecular, and clinical properties of human skin

All‐trans retinol, a precursor of retinoic acid, is an effective anti‐aging treatment widely used in skin care products. In comparison, topical retinoic acid is believed to provide even greater anti‐aging effects; however, there is limited research directly comparing the effects of retinol and retinoic acid on skin.
Distance to the Efficiency Frontier and FDI Spillovers

We establish that domestically owned firms in two alternative models of emerging market economies, the Czech Republic and Russia, have not been converging to the technological frontier set by foreign owned firms. In both countries, the distance of domestic firms to the frontier grew (in all parts of the distribution) from 1992-1994 to 1995-1997 and did not change from 1995-1997 to 1998-2000. However, the distance to the frontier is orders of magnitude greater in Russia than in the Czech Republic throughout 1992-2000. We also find in both countries that domestic firms in industries with a greater share of foreign firms are falling behind more than domestic firms in industries with a smaller foreign presence. However, in the Czech Republic this ? negative spillover? effect is diminished over time, whereas in Russia it continues to cause domestic firms to fall further behind. On the other hand, we find in both countries that foreign firms experience positive spillovers from other foreign firms operating in the same product market. This evidence on the dynamics of efficiency is consistent with the view that economies (firms) need to be more technologically advanced and open to competition in order to be able to gain from foreign presence.
On Bricoleurs and Workers: Young Second-generation Men in Switzerland

The ability to switch easily between different cultures and to bridge different contexts seems to fit second-generation migrants perfectly for the present globalised age. By mixing and synthesising pre-existing elements they appear to be bricoleurs with the notion of impurity and openness. This paper focuses on processes of hybridity and multiple belonging and considers their complexity by taking a biographical view. It analyses two case studies of young Hindu and Muslim men in Switzerland and argues that dealing with different kinds of memberships may sometimes reflect something playful, but can likewise be connected with the notion of a worker, reflecting something rather harmful and stressful. Moreover, the case of these young Hindu and Muslim men illustrates the complexity of power relations.
The cost to managed care of managing pulmonary hypertension

Abstract Objective: To estimate direct medical costs and resource use for commercially-insured patients within two pulmonary hypertension sub-groups: pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH). Research design and methods: Using a retrospective cohort design, subjects (≥18 years) with ICD-9 code 416.0 (PAH or CTEPH) or 416.8 (CTEPH) were identified during 2004–2009 within the MarketScan database. The date of the first observed claim was the index date. Each PAH and CTEPH patient was matched to one-to-five controls without PAH and CTEPH on age, gender, region, and payer type. Patients and controls were continuously enrolled for at least 12 months pre- and 12 months post-index date. Per-patient-per-month costs and resource use were compared using Wilcoxon rank-sum test. Results: PAH patients (1647) and controls (6352) were identified (mean age 63 years, 73% female). Total monthly costs before PAH diagnosis were: PAH patients $2064 vs controls $1094. After PAH diagnosis, PAH patients had significantly higher monthly costs and resource use vs controls: Total costs $4021 vs $1533, outpatient visits 1.1 vs 0.8, inpatient visits 0.7 vs 0.2, prescriptions 3.6 vs 2.7, all p-values <0.05. One hundred and forty-six CTEPH patients and 558 controls were identified (mean age 64 years, 54.8% female). Total monthly costs in the period before CTEPH diagnosis were higher for CTEPH patients ($3895) than controls ($1177). After CTEPH diagnosis, CTEPH patients had significantly higher monthly costs and resource use vs controls: Total costs $6198 vs $1579, Outpatient visits 1.2 vs 0.8, inpatient visits 2 vs 0.2, prescriptions 4.2 vs 2.8, all p-values <0.05. Key limitations: Identification of PAH is complicated, as there exists no precise ICD-9-CM code for the condition. CTEPH diagnosis was based upon claims data and was not verified clinically. Conclusions: CTEPH and PAH patients incurred higher costs and used more resources than controls in the baseline and follow-up periods.
Short-term spontaneous improvement rates in depressed outpatients.

The objectives of the present report were: a) to determine the spontaneous remission rate in depressed outpatients who do not receive antidepressant medication; b) to develop a novel method for obtaining a control group that can be used to gauge the effectiveness of antidepressant medication in clinical practice; and c) to compare response rates from the present sample with outcomes of depressed patients in our practice who were treated with antidepressant medications. By using a naturalistic design, prospective assessments were made on all depressed outpatients. Twenty-five patients who met full criteria for a major depressive episode ended up not taking antidepressant medication for a variety of reasons. "Response" rates to a no-treatment trial were determined with standard outcome criteria using the Clinical Global Impression-Improvement scale. Eight patients (32.0%) had a positive response, 5 patients (20.0%) had a partial response, and 12 patients (48.0%) were nonresponders to a no-treatment trial. These response rates were higher than expected, but significantly lower than what we had found in a cohort of depressed patients who underwent an antidepressant trial (p = .02). Likewise, treatment-resistant patients fared better on pharmacotherapy, though this difference was not statistically significant. These results suggest that the occurrence of spontaneous remissions may be common in clinical practice, and therefore the specific short-term benefits of antidepressant medication in clinical practice may frequently be overestimated. Despite the high rate of spontaneous remission in our sample, the present study allowed us to confirm the effectiveness of antidepressant medication in clinical practice using a novel method for obtaining a control comparison group.
Bittorrent is an auction: analyzing and improving bittorrent's incentives

Incentives play a crucial role in BitTorrent, motivating users to upload to others to achieve fast download times for all peers. Though long believed to be robust to strategic manipulation, recent work has empirically shown that BitTorrent does not provide its users incentive to follow the protocol. We propose an auction-based model to study and improve upon BitTorrent's incentives. The insight behind our model is that BitTorrent uses, not tit-for-tat as widely believed, but an auction to decide which peers to serve. Our model not only captures known, performance-improving strategies, it shapes our thinking toward new, effective strategies. For example, our analysis demonstrates, counter-intuitively, that BitTorrent peers have incentive to intelligently under-report what pieces of the file they have to their neighbors. We implement and evaluate a modification to BitTorrent in which peers reward one another with proportional shares of bandwidth. Within our game-theoretic model, we prove that a proportional-share client is strategy-proof. With experiments on PlanetLab, a local cluster, and live downloads, we show that a proportional-share unchoker yields faster downloads against BitTorrent and BitTyrant clients, and that under-reporting pieces yields prolonged neighbor interest.
Steady-state MSE convergence of LMS adaptive filters with deterministic reference inputs with applications to biomedical signals

We analyze the steady-state mean square error (MSE) convergence of the LMS algorithm when deterministic functions are used as reference inputs. A particular adaptive linear combiner is presented where the reference inputs are any set of orthogonal basis functions-the adaptive orthogonal linear combiner (AOLC). Several authors have applied this structure always considering in the analysis a time-average behavior over one signal occurrence. We make a more precise analysis using the deterministic nature of the reference inputs and their time-variant correlation matrix. Two different situations are considered in the analysis: orthogonal complete expansions and incomplete expansions. The steady-state misadjustment is calculated using two different procedures with equivalent results: the classical one (analyzing the transient behavior of the MSE) and as the residual noise at the output of the equivalent time-variant transfer function of the system. The latter procedure allows a very simple formalism being valid for colored noise as well. The derived expressions for steady-state misadjustment are contrasted with experimental results in electrocardiographic (ECG) signals, giving exact concordance for any value of the step size.
Relationship between Cognitive and Sleep–wake Variables in Asymptomatic Offspring of Patients with Late-onset Alzheimer’s Disease

Early neuropathological changes characteristic of late-onset Alzheimer’s disease (LOAD) involve brain stem and limbic structures that regulate neurovegetative functions, including sleep–wake rhythm. Indeed, sleep pattern is an emerging biomarker and a potential pathophysiological mechanism in LOAD. We hypothesized that cognitively asymptomatic, middle-aged offspring of patients with LOAD (O-LOAD) would display a series of circadian rhythm abnormalities prior to the onset of objective cognitive alterations. We tested 31 children of patients with LOAD (O-LOAD) and 19 healthy individuals without family history of Alzheimer’s disease (control subjects, CS) with basic tests of cognitive function, as well as actigraphy measures of sleep–wake rhythm, cardiac autonomic function, and bodily temperature. Unexpectedly, O-LOAD displayed subtle but significant deficits in verbal episodic memory (Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test delayed recall 10.6 ± 0.4 vs. 8.6 ± 0.6, t = 4.97, df = 49, p < 0.01) and language (Weschler’s vocabulary 51.4 ± 1.3 vs. 44.3 ± 1.5, t = 2.49, df = 49, p < 0.001) compared to CS, even though all participants had results within the clinically normal range. O-LOAD showed a phase-delayed rhythm of body temperature (2.56 ± 0.47 h vs. 3.8 ± 0.26 h, t = 2.48, df = 40, p = 0.031). Cognitive performance in O-LOAD was associated with a series of cardiac autonomic sleep–wake variables; specifically indicators of greater sympathetic activity at night were related to poorer cognition. The present results suggest sleep pattern deserves further study as a potential neurobiological signature in LOAD, even in middle-aged, at risk individuals.
Aortic calcification.

Aortic calcification is a common finding in the elderly, and is usually in the aortic knuckle and descending thoracic aorta, often being associated with atheromatous fusiform dilatation and tortuosity of the aorta. Dense calcification in the ascending aorta is uncommon in atheromatous aortitis but is almost pathognomic of syphilitic aortitis with or without a saccular aneurysm. Calcification in the ascending aorta is readily distinguished from pericardial calcification but on the frontal view may be similar to calcification of the left atrium when grossly dilated as in mitral valve disease. However, the dilated left atrial appendage is more posterior and caudad on the lateral view. Serology was positive for syphilis. Anterior mediastinal cyst and dermoids may calcify but usually are seen in the younger age group. On computed tomography, the calcification is seen to be thick, and there is a collection of fluid between the calcification and aortic lumen margin with a linear defect within the contrast-filled lumen indicating a dissection. The right pulmonary arterial trunk and the left atrium are moderately compressed as well as the main bronchi.
Protein kinase C ϵ stabilizes β-catenin and regulates its subcellular localization in podocytes

Kidney disease has been linked to dysregulated signaling via PKC in kidney cells such as podocytes. PKCα is a conventional isoform of PKC and a well-known binding partner of β-catenin, which promotes its degradation. β-Catenin is the main effector of the canonical Wnt pathway and is critical in cell adhesion. However, whether other PKC isoforms interact with β-catenin has not been studied systematically. Here we demonstrate that PKCϵ-deficient mice, which develop proteinuria and glomerulosclerosis, display lower β-catenin expression compared with PKC wild-type mice, consistent with an altered phenotype of podocytes in culture. Remarkably, β-catenin showed a reversed subcellular localization pattern: Although β-catenin exhibited a perinuclear pattern in undifferentiated wild-type cells, it predominantly localized to the nucleus in PKCϵ knockout cells. Phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate stimulation of both cell types revealed that PKCϵ positively regulates β-catenin expression and stabilization in a glycogen synthase kinase 3β-independent manner. Further, β-catenin overexpression in PKCϵ-deficient podocytes could restore the wild-type phenotype, similar to rescue with a PKCϵ construct. This effect was mediated by up-regulation of P-cadherin and the β-catenin downstream target fascin1. Zebrafish studies indicated three PKCϵ-specific phosphorylation sites in β-catenin that are required for full β-catenin function. Co-immunoprecipitation and pulldown assays confirmed PKCϵ and β-catenin as binding partners and revealed that ablation of the three PKCϵ phosphorylation sites weakens their interaction. In summary, we identified a novel pathway for regulation of β-catenin levels and define PKCϵ as an important β-catenin interaction partner and signaling opponent of other PKC isoforms in podocytes.
Music therapy in the assessment and treatment of autistic spectrum disorder: clinical application and research evidence.

BACKGROUND Children and adolescents with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) presenting with significant limitations in conventional forms of verbal and non-verbal communication are found to respond positively to music therapy intervention involving both active, improvizational methods and receptive music therapy approaches. Improvizational musical activity with therapeutic objectives and outcomes has been found to facilitate motivation, communication skills and social interaction, as well as sustaining and developing attention. The structure and predictability found in music assist in reciprocal interaction, from which tolerance, flexibility and social engagement to build relationships emerge, relying on a systematic approach to promote appropriate and meaningful interpersonal responses. RESULTS Published reports of the value and effectiveness of music therapy as an intervention for children with ASD range from controlled studies to clinical case reports. Further documentation has emphasized the role music therapy plays in diagnostic and clinical assessment. Music therapy assessment can identify limitations and weaknesses in children, as well as strengths and potentials. Research evidence from a systematic review found two randomized controlled trials that examined short-term effects of structured music therapy intervention. Significant effects were found in these studies even with extremely small samples, and the findings are important because they demonstrate the potential of the medium of music for autistic children. Case series studies were identified that examined the effects of improvizational music therapy where communicative behaviour, language development, emotional responsiveness, attention span and behavioural control improved over the course of an intervention of improvizational music therapy.