Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Executive Function Performance for Children With Epilepsy Localized to the Frontal or Temporal Lobes

Research with adults with epilepsy consistently indicates deficits in executive function (EF). There is less research specific to children with epilepsy and EF. The purpose of this study was to consider EF deficits in children with complex partial epilepsy and complex partial with secondary generalization epilepsy with onset localized to the frontal or temporal lobes. This was a retrospective study of 28 children followed in an outpatient pediatric epilepsy clinic who were consecutively referred for neuropsychological assessment, which included measures of EF. The sample was predominantly White and male, with a mean age of 12.88 years (SD = 1.64) and mean cognitive ability of 89.39 (SD = 13.41). Comparison of right-temporal, left-temporal, and frontal groups yielded significant differences (p = .01) between the left-temporal and frontal groups on the Wisconsin Card-Sorting Test (WCST) Categories with the frontal group demonstrating the greatest deficits. Although mean differences were not significant, the frequency of impaired performance by the frontal group on the Attention/Concentration Index was greater than in the temporal groups. Results indicate that for children with complex partial and complex partial with secondary generalized seizures localized to the frontal and temporal lobes, there is an increased likelihood for impaired EF evident on the WCST, but not on others. Implications of these findings for prevention and intervention are discussed.
Cutaneous immunopathology of long‐standing complex regional pain syndrome

Both increased mast cells numbers and raised immune mediator concentrations indicate immune activation in the affected skin of patients with early complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), but little is known about regional immune cell involvement in late‐stage CRPS. The aim of the current study was to determine skin immune cell populations in long‐standing CRPS.
Sampling skinks and geckos in artificial cover objects in a dry mixed grassland-shrubland with mammalian predator control

Introduced mammalian predators threaten populations of endemic New Zealand lizards but their effects on lizard populations have not been quantified on the mainland. We trialled the use of artificial cover objects (ACOs) for sampling small terrestrial lizards (the skinks Oligosoma maccanni, O. nigriplantare polychroma and O. inconspicuum, and gecko Hoplodactylus maculatus) in three experimental mammal-management treatments: a mammal-proof fence, two sites in an intensive mammal-removal area, and an experimental control site with no mammal removal. These predator control regimes were established in 2005-2006 to protect endangered grand skinks (O. grande) and Otago skinks (O. otagense) at Macraes Flat, North Otago. We (1) counted skinks and geckos found under ACOs on a single day and compared these counts between treatments, and (2) estimated lizard population sizes (N) based on capture-mark-recapture (CMR) of lizards under ACOs in daily and weekly sampling sessions. Our results provide baseline data of the abundance of the small lizard species shortly after implementation of predator management. Single-day counts of skinks were significantly higher inside the mammal fence compared with the experimental control. No consistent differences were found between the other treatments. Significantly more skinks were counted in gully habitats than in ridge habitats. , counts of skinks from the first day of CMR, and the total number of individuals caught were correlated, but these relationships must be validated with independent data. Few geckos were caught unless ACOs were placed near rock outcrops. Only two skinks but 25% of geckos moved between adjacent ACOs (5-m spacing). The recapture rate of skinks was low; captures declined when ACOs were checked daily but not when they were checked weekly. Because of potential biases of these methods, we propose to compare counts in ACOs and based on CMR in ACOs with based on CMR in pitfall traps with 3-m spacing.
Meaningful Results for Information Retrieval in the MEANING Project

The goal of the MEANING project (IST-2001-34460) is to develop tools for the automatic acquisition of lexical knowledge that will help Word Sense Disambiguation (WSD). The acquired lexical knowledge from various sources and various languages is stored in the Multilingual Central Repository (MCR) (Atserias et al 04), which is based on the design of the EuroWordNet database. The MCR holds wordnets in various languages (English, Spanish, Italian, Catalan and Basque), which are interconnected via an Inter-LingualIndex (ILI). In addition, the MCR holds a number of ontologies and domain labels related to all concepts. During the MEANING project, the MCR has been enriched in various cycles. This paper describes the integration and evaluation of the MCR in a commercial classification and (cross-lingual) information retrieval system, developed by Irion Technologies. We carried out a series of task-based evaluations on English and Spanish news collections, for which indexes were built with and without the results of MEANING. The evaluations show that both recall and precision are significantly higher when using the enriched semantic networks in combination with WSD.
Social class in asthma and allergic rhinitis: a national cohort study over three decades

The aim of this study was to assess whether the association with social class differed between allergic rhinitis and asthma and whether these associations have changed over time. The Swedish Military Service Conscription Register was linked to two other national registers for 1,247,038 male conscripts in successive cohorts born between 1952 and 1977. The percentage of asthma cases associated with allergic rhinitis was 15% in the oldest cohort and 44% in the youngest cohort. Low socio-economic status (SES) was associated with an increased risk (assessed as odds ratio) of asthma without allergic rhinitis (1.14, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.11–1.17) but a slightly reduced risk of asthma with allergic rhinitis (0.96, 95% CI 0.93–1.00). The risk of allergic rhinitis was 0.84, 95% CI 0.82–0.85. A positive interaction between SES and year of birth occurred in all three conditions. Low SES was related to a reduced risk of asthma with allergic rhinitis in the earliest cohort (0.72, 95% CI 0.53–0.82) but a slightly increased risk in the most recent cohort (1.07, 95% CI 1.01–1.14). In conclusion, the role of social class has changed over time. The steepest increase in asthma and allergic rhinitis occurred in conscripts with a low socio-economic status.
Fingerprint indoor location simulator for AAL

In AAL environments, a key issue is to know the location of a user in order to provide the required services quickly and efficiently. A good location system is the one that is able to locate an individual in the shortest time, with acceptable accuracy and spending the least resources as possible. In this context, it seems interesting to analyze in depth the existing location systems in order to optimize both their location procedures and the cost due to deployment. There are many ways to locate an individual indoors. This research is focused on Fingerprint based location procedure, making a comprehensive analysis of it, generating a broad and diverse set of assumptions and issues related to all the elements of the location process based on it. A tool called PosSimulator has been developed to help designers and AAL system evaluators choose the best deployment for a specific environment, taking into account the economic and installation cost and the position accuracy. PosSimulator has been designed regardless the technology used to acquire the information required to locate. It has been used in a test environment. There has been carried out an extensive battery of tests to extract answers or approaches to all the issues raised and research hypotheses, looking for clear trends in the accuracy of the location and observable connections among the various parameters in which the fingerprint based localization process is divided. For the test environment, it has been determined the best combination of all parameters.
Evaluation of octree regional spatial normalization method for regional anatomical matching

The goal of regional spatial normalization is to remove anatomical differences between individual three‐dimensional (3D) brain images by warping them to match features of a standard brain atlas. Processing to fit features at the limiting resolution of a 3D MR image volume is computationally intensive, limiting the broad use of full‐resolution regional spatial normalization. In Kochunov et al. (1999: NeuroImage 10:724–737), we proposed a regional spatial normalization algorithm called octree spatial normalization (OSN) that reduces processing time to minutes while targeting the accuracy of previous methods. In the current study, modifications of the OSN algorithm for use in human brain images are described and tested. An automated brain tissue segmentation procedure was adopted to create anatomical templates to drive feature matching in white matter, gray matter, and cerebral‐spinal fluid. Three similarity measurement functions (fast‐cross correlation (CC), sum‐square error, and centroid) were evaluated in a group of six subjects. A combination of fast‐CC and centroid was found to provide the best feature matching and speed. Multiple iterations and multiple applications of the OSN algorithm were evaluated to improve fit quality. Two applications of the OSN algorithm with two iterations per application were found to significantly reduce volumetric mismatch (up to six times for lateral ventricle) while keeping processing time under 30 min. The refined version of OSN was tested with anatomical landmarks from several major sulci in a group of nine subjects. Anatomical variability was appreciably reduced for every sulcus investigated, and mean sulcal tracings accurately followed sulcal tracings in the target brain. Hum. Brain Mapping 11:193–206, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Cerebral Blood Flow during Spontaneous and Cholinergically Induced Behavioral States in the Sheep Fetus

The sleep-wake cycle has been studied extensively in both adult and fetal mammalian species with emphasis in different areas. Fetal studies have focused on characterization of behavioral states and responses to challenges such as hypoxia, and there have been relatively fewer studies that have investigated the control of fetal behavioral state. The objective of this study was to determine whether cerebral blood flow during cholinergically induced fetal behavioral states was similar to that during spontaneous fetal behavioral states in chronically catheterized near-term sheep fetuses. Injection of carbachol (1.25 μg) into the cisterna magna increased the duration of the subsequent low-voltage electrocortical epoch. Scopolamine infusion (0.3 mg) increased the duration of the subsequent high-voltage electrocortical activity epoch. Cerebral blood flow and oxygen delivery were higher during both spontaneous and carbachol-induced low-voltage/rapid eye movement behavioral state than during spontaneous and scopolamine-induced high-voltage/non–rapid eye movement behavioral state. Thus, pharmacologic manipulation of fetal behavioral state induced a state that resembled spontaneous fetal behavioral state both electrophysiologically and metabolically. This study shows that inducing extended periods of a desired fetal behavioral state is possible and that this method may be used to study their function.
Inhibiting Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase in Enteric Glia Restores Electrogenic Ion Transport in Mice With Colitis.

BACKGROUND & AIMS Disturbances in the control of ion transport lead to epithelial barrier dysfunction in patients with colitis. Enteric glia regulate intestinal barrier function and colonic ion transport. However, it is not clear whether enteric glia are involved in epithelial hyporesponsiveness. We investigated enteric glial regulation of ion transport in mice with trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid- or dextran sodium sulfate-induced colitis and in Il10(-/-) mice. METHODS Electrically evoked ion transport was measured in full-thickness segments of colon from CD1 and Il10(-/-) mice with or without colitis in Ussing chambers. Nitric oxide (NO) production was assessed using amperometry. Bacterial translocation was investigated in the liver, spleen, and blood of mice. RESULTS Electrical stimulation of the colon evoked a tetrodotoxin-sensitive chloride secretion. In mice with colitis, ion transport almost completely disappeared. Inhibiting inducible NO synthase (NOS2), but not neuronal NOS (NOS1), partially restored the evoked secretory response. Blocking glial function with fluoroacetate, which is not a NOS2 inhibitor, also partially restored ion transport. Combined NOS2 inhibition and fluoroacetate administration fully restored secretion. Epithelial responsiveness to vasoactive intestinal peptide was increased after enteric glial function was blocked in mice with colitis. In colons of mice without colitis, NO was produced in the myenteric plexus almost completely via NOS1. NO production was increased in mice with colitis, compared with mice without colitis; a substantial proportion of NOS2 was blocked by fluoroacetate administration. Inhibition of enteric glial function in vivo reduced the severity of trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid-induced colitis and associated bacterial translocation. CONCLUSIONS Increased production of NOS2 in enteric glia contributes to the dysregulation of intestinal ion transport in mice with colitis. Blocking enteric glial function in these mice restores epithelial barrier function and reduces bacterial translocation.
Reduced functional connectivity within and between ‘social’ resting state networks in autism spectrum conditions

Individuals with Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC) have difficulties in social interaction and communication, which is reflected in hypoactivation of brain regions engaged in social processing, such as medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), amygdala and insula. Resting state studies in ASC have identified reduced connectivity of the default mode network (DMN), which includes mPFC, suggesting that other resting state networks incorporating ‘social’ brain regions may also be abnormal. Using Seed-based Connectivity and Group Independent Component Analysis (ICA) approaches, we looked at resting functional connectivity in ASC between specific ‘social’ brain regions, as well as within and between whole networks incorporating these regions. We found reduced functional connectivity within the DMN in individuals with ASC, using both ICA and seed-based approaches. Two further networks identified by ICA, the salience network, incorporating the insula and a medial temporal lobe network, incorporating the amygdala, showed reduced inter-network connectivity. This was underlined by reduced seed-based connectivity between the insula and amygdala. The results demonstrate significantly reduced functional connectivity within and between resting state networks incorporating ‘social’ brain regions. This reduced connectivity may result in difficulties in communication and integration of information across these networks, which could contribute to the impaired processing of social signals in ASC.
Effective drug combination for Caenorhabditis elegans nematodes discovered by output-driven feedback system control technique

An engineering approach yields a highly potent combination of four antinematode drugs at lower dosages than individual drugs. Infections from parasitic nematodes (or roundworms) contribute to a significant disease burden and productivity losses for humans and livestock. The limited number of anthelmintics (or antinematode drugs) available today to treat these infections are rapidly losing their efficacy as multidrug resistance in parasites becomes a global health challenge. We propose an engineering approach to discover an anthelmintic drug combination that is more potent at killing wild-type Caenorhabditis elegans worms than four individual drugs. In the experiment, freely swimming single worms are enclosed in microfluidic drug environments to assess the centroid velocity and track curvature of worm movements. After analyzing the behavioral data in every iteration, the feedback system control (FSC) scheme is used to predict new drug combinations to test. Through a differential evolutionary search, the winning drug combination is reached that produces minimal centroid velocity and high track curvature, while requiring each drug in less than their EC50 concentrations. The FSC approach is model-less and does not need any information on the drug pharmacology, signaling pathways, or animal biology. Toward combating multidrug resistance, the method presented here is applicable to the discovery of new potent combinations of available anthelmintics on C. elegans, parasitic nematodes, and other small model organisms.
Increased serum cartilage oligomeric matrix protein levels and decreased patellar bone mineral density in patients with chondromalacia patellae

Background: Chondromalacia patellae is a potentially disabling disorder characterised by features of patellar cartilage degradation. Objective: To evaluate markers of cartilage and bone turnover in patients with chondromalacia patellae. Methods: 18 patients with chondromalacia patellae were studied. Serum cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (s-COMP) and bone sialoprotein (s-BSP) levels were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and compared with those of age and sex matched healthy control subjects. Periarticular bone mineral density (BMD) of both knee joints was assessed by dual energy x ray absorptiometry (DXA). Results: s-COMP levels were significantly raised in all patients with chondromalacia patellae compared with healthy control subjects (p=0.0001). s-BSP levels did not differ significantly between the groups (p=0.41). BMD of the patella was significantly reduced in patients with chondromalacia patellae compared with the control subjects (p=0.016). In patients with bilateral chondromalacia patellae, BMD of the patella was lower in the more symptomatic knee joint (p=0.005). Changes in periarticular BMD were localised to the patella and were not present in femoral regions. Neither s-COMP (p=0.18) nor s-BSP (p=0.40) levels correlated with patellar BMD. Conclusions: Increased s-COMP levels, reflecting cartilage degradation, and reduced BMD localised to the patella may represent clinically useful markers in the diagnosis and monitoring of patients with chondromalacia patellae. Measures of cartilage degradation did not correlate with loss of patellar bone density, suggesting dissociated pathophysiological mechanisms.
Female-Headed Households and Poverty : Evidence from the National Family Health Survey

This paper estimates whether female-headed households are poorer than their male-headed counterparts, using household data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) for the year 2005-06. I use poverty measures that reflect on people’s permanent income such as housing condition, wealth index and standard of living index, and argue that these measures could be more informative about the chronic living condition of people than the official measure based on consumption expenditure. Employing probit and logit estimations, the results from the analysis provide evidence that the relationship between female-headed households and poverty depends on the choice of poverty measure. Specifically, poverty measures based on the housing condition and the wealth indices show that female-headed households are less poor than male-headed households. However, based on the standard of living index measure of poverty, female-headed households are marginally poorer than their male-headed counterparts.
INTERACTION OF NONLINEAR NUMERICAL MODEL OF SFRC SLAB AND NONLINEAR NUMERICAL SUBSOIL MODEL

Experimental measurements of the concrete slab in interaction with subsoil are compared with numerical analysis based on Finite Element Method FEM. Experimental measurements are conducted with using an experimental device constructed at the Faculty of Civil Engineering VSB – Technical University of Ostrava. In the article, several types of nonlinearities enter into FEM analysis. Subsoil-structure interaction requires an iterative solution procedure and therefore structural nonlinearity. Material nonlinearity was used in the numerical model of the slab. This model also allows the creation and development of cracks in concrete similar as during the experimental load test. Material nonlinearity was also used in the numerical model subsoil to ensure of apposite subsoil behavior. The purpose of this paper is to compare resulting deformation of the slab with values observed during experimental loading test. It was concluded that the good agreement between the experimental results and numerical simulation was observed.
Electrical conduction between the right atrium and the left atrium via the musculature of the coronary sinus.

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to determine whether the coronary sinus (CS) musculature has electrical connections to the right atrium (RA) and left atrium (LA) and forms an RA-LA connection. METHODS AND RESULTS Six excised dog hearts were perfused in a Langendorff preparation. A 20-electrode catheter (2-4-2-mm spacing center to center) was placed along the CS. Excision of the pulmonary veins provided access to the LA, and a second 20-electrode catheter was placed along the LA endocardium opposite the CS catheter. An incision opened the CS longitudinally, and microelectrodes were inserted into the CS musculature and adjacent LA myocardium. Continuous CS musculature was visible along a 35+/-9-mm length of the CS beginning at the ostium. During lateral LA pacing, CS electrodes recorded double potentials, a rounded, low-frequency potential followed by a sharp potential. The rounded initial potential propagated in the lateral-to-septal direction and represented "far-field" LA activation (timing coincided with adjacent LA potentials and with action potentials recorded from microelectrodes in adjacent LA cells). The sharp potential represented CS activation (timing coincided with action potentials recorded from CS musculature). A distal LA-CS connection (earliest sharp potential in the CS during lateral LA pacing) was located 26+/-7 mm from the ostium. During RA pacing posterior to the CS ostium, CS electrodes recorded septal-to-lateral activation of the high-frequency potential, with slightly later activation of the rounded potential (LA activation). Incisions surrounding the CS ostium isolating the ostium from the RA had no effect on the CS musculature and LA potentials during RA pacing within the isolated segment containing the CS ostium. RA pacing outside the isolated segment delayed activation of the CS musculature until after LA activation, confirming that the RA-CS connection was located in the region of the CS ostium as well as confirming the presence of the LA-CS connection. CONCLUSIONS In canine hearts, the CS musculature is electrically connected to the RA and the LA and forms an RA-LA connection.