Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mental Workload Alters Heart Rate Variability, Lowering Non-linear Dynamics

Mental workload is known to alter cardiovascular function leading to increased cardiovascular risk. Nevertheless, there is no clear autonomic nervous system unbalance to be quantified during mental stress. We aimed to characterize the mental workload impact on the cardiovascular function with a focus on heart rate variability (HRV) non-linear indexes. A 1-h computerized switching task (letter recognition) was performed by 24 subjects while monitoring their performance (accuracy, response time), electrocardiogram and blood pressure waveform (finger volume clamp method). The HRV was evaluated from the beat-to-beat RR intervals (RRI) in time-, frequency-, and informational- domains, before (Control) and during the task. The task induced a significant mental workload (visual analog scale of fatigue from 27 ± 26 to 50 ± 31 mm, p < 0.001, and NASA-TLX score of 56 ± 17). The heart rate, blood pressure and baroreflex function were unchanged, whereas most of the HRV parameters markedly decreased. The maximum decrease occurred during the first 15 min of the task (P1), before starting to return to the baseline values reached at the end of the task (P4). The RRI dimension correlation (D2) decrease was the most significant (P1 vs. Control: 1.42 ± 0.85 vs. 2.21 ± 0.8, p < 0.001) and only D2 lasted until the task ended (P4 vs. Control: 1.96 ± 0.9 vs. 2.21 ± 0.9, p < 0.05). D2 was identified as the most robust cardiovascular variable impacted by the mental workload as determined by posterior predictive simulations (p = 0.9). The Spearman correlation matrix highlighted that D2 could be a marker of the generated frustration (R = –0.61, p < 0.01) induced by a mental task, as well as the myocardial oxygen consumption changes assessed by the double product (R = –0.53, p < 0.05). In conclusion, we showed that mental workload sharply lowered the non-linear RRI dynamics, particularly the RRI correlation dimension.
Retail vs. Private Investors: Are Gains and Losses Perceived Differently?

The aim of this paper is to test whether the investors' initial starting capitals and the macroeconomic context may influence their gains and losses perception. To this purpose, our analysis, for the first time in the literature on the topic, considers and compares two samples of investors, private and retail, examined in two different years, 2015 and 2009. Based on the answers obtained from specifically devised questionnaires, the paper is organised in three steps of analysis to: 1) test the differences in gain and loss perception; 2) check the level of satisfaction/dissatisfaction in situations of gain and loss; 3) test the tendency to preserve the status quo. The results obtained demonstrate that private and retail investors perceive gains and losses differently, even if a convergence over the years between the two samples examined is observed. Maintaining the status quo is the main goal for private investors.
Oral Route Driven Acute Trypanosoma cruzi Infection Unravels an IL-6 Dependent Hemostatic Derangement

Oral transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiologic agent of Chagas disease, is presently the most important route of infection in Brazilian Amazon. Other South American countries have also reported outbreaks of acute Chagas disease associated with food consumption. A conspicuous feature of this route of transmission is presenting symptoms such as facial and lower limbs edema, in some cases bleeding manifestations and risk of thromboembolism are evident. Notwithstanding, studies that address this route of infection are largely lacking regarding its pathogenesis and, more specifically, the crosstalk between immune and hemostatic systems. Here, BALB/c mice were orally infected with metacyclic trypomastigotes of T. cruzi Tulahuén strain and used to evaluate the cytokine response, primary and secondary hemostasis during acute T. cruzi infection. When compared with control uninfected animals, orally infected mice presented higher pro-inflammatory cytokine (TNF-α, IFN-γ, and IL-6) serum levels. The highest concentrations were obtained concomitantly to the increase of parasitemia, between 14 and 28 days post-infection (dpi). Blood counts in the oral infected group revealed concomitant leukocytosis and thrombocytopenia, the latter resulting in increased bleeding at 21 dpi. Hematological changes paralleled with prolonged activated partial thromboplastin time, Factor VIII consumption and increased D-dimer levels, suggest that oral T. cruzi infection relies on disseminated intravascular coagulation. Remarkably, blockade of the IL-6 receptor blunted hematological abnormalities, revealing a critical role of IL-6 in the course of oral infection. These results unravel that acute T. cruzi oral infection results in significant alterations in the hemostatic system and indicates the relevance of the crosstalk between inflammation and hemostasis in this parasitic disease.
Weighted ego network for forming hierarchical structure of road networks

Studies on the structural properties of road network and its close relationship with the traffic flow distribution have received intensive interdisciplinary attention. However, most of these attempts were theoretical. It is also a challenge to understand the relationship between the structure and morphology of a road network and peoples' movement. We developed a new methodology to deal with this challenge in this study. The first attempt was to apply the ego network analysis (which is rooted in social science) to the formation of hierarchical road networks. Then, the ego network was improved to become weighted ego network by assigning a weight to each of the links in a network. A measure called weighted average centrality rank is developed to define the order of links in a complex network. The ego network and the weighted ego network are both evaluated with a notional network and two sets of real-life road networks. Traffic flow data were used as a benchmark for the evaluation of the two approaches. The results show that they both perform well. But the hierarchies formed by weighted ego network analysis are more consistent with the real-life traffic flow, and the improvement is clearly observable.
Sexual Functioning and Opioid Maintenance Treatment in Women. Results From a Large Multicentre Study

Opioid maintenance treatment (OMT) is the most widespread therapy for both females and males opioid addicts. While many studies have evaluated the OMT impact on men’s sexuality, the data collected about the change in women’s sexual functioning is still limited despite the fact that it is now well-known that opioids - both endogenous and exogenous - affect the endocrine system and play an important role in sexual functioning. The present study aims to determine how OMT with buprenorphine (BUP) or methadone (MTD) affects sexual health in women; examining also any possible emerging correlation between sexual dysfunction (SD), type of opioid and patients’ mental health. This multi-center study case recruited 258 female volunteers attending Italian public Addiction Outpatients Centers that were stabilized with OMT for at least 3 months. SD was assessed with the Arizona Sexual Experience Scale. The twelve-item General Health Questionnaire was used to assess participants’ mental health conditions. The results show that 56.6% of women receiving OMT for at least 3 months presented SD without significant differences between MTD e BUP groups. The majority of the subjects with SD have a poorer quality of intimate relationships and worse mental health than the average. To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the largest report on the presence of SDs in women as a side effects of MTD and BUP used in OMT. Since SDs cause difficulties in intimate relationships, lower patients’ quality of life and interfere with OMT beneficial outcomes, we recommend that women undertaking an opioid therapy have routine screening for SD and we highlight the importance to better examine opioid-endocrine interactions in future studies in order to provide alternative potential treatments such as the choice of opioid, opioid dose reduction and hormone supplementation.
Validating Automated Sentiment Analysis of Online Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Patient Texts: An Exploratory Study

Introduction Sentiment analysis may be a useful technique to derive a user’s emotional state from free text input, allowing for more empathic automated feedback in online cognitive behavioral therapy (iCBT) interventions for psychological disorders such as depression. As guided iCBT is considered more effective than unguided iCBT, such automated feedback may help close the gap between the two. The accuracy of automated sentiment analysis is domain dependent, and it is unclear how well the technology is applicable to iCBT. This paper presents an empirical study in which automated sentiment analysis by an algorithm for the Dutch language is validated against human judgment. Methods A total of 493 iCBT user texts were evaluated on overall sentiment and the presence of five specific emotions by an algorithm, and by 52 psychology students who evaluated 75 randomly selected texts each, providing about eight human evaluations per text. Inter-rater agreement (IRR) between algorithm and humans, and humans among each other, was analyzed by calculating the intra-class correlation under a numerical interpretation of the data, and Cohen’s kappa, and Krippendorff’s alpha under a categorical interpretation. Results All analyses indicated moderate agreement between the algorithm and average human judgment with respect to evaluating overall sentiment, and low agreement for the specific emotions. Somewhat surprisingly, the same was the case for the IRR among human judges, which means that the algorithm performed about as well as a randomly selected human judge. Thus, considering average human judgment as a benchmark for the applicability of automated sentiment analysis, the technique can be considered for practical application. Discussion/Conclusion The low human-human agreement on the presence of emotions may be due to the nature of the texts, it may simply be difficult for humans to agree on the presence of the selected emotions, or perhaps trained therapists would have reached more consensus. Future research may focus on validating the algorithm against a more solid benchmark, on applying the algorithm in an application in which empathic feedback is provided, for example, by an embodied conversational agent, or on improving the algorithm for the iCBT domain with a bottom-up machine learning approach.
Chinese Corporate Debt and Credit Misallocation*

This paper analyzes various data, especially that of 4 million Chinese manufacturing company samples during the period of 1998 to 2013, to present detailed evidence regarding two questions of China's leverage issue. First, where is the leverage? We find that within the 16-year period, most sample firms have been significantly deleveraged, with the average leverage ratio declining from 65 percent in 1998 to 51 percent in 2013. In contrast, only several thousand companies have significantly leveraged, mostly large-scale, state-owned, listed firms. Second, has the change of leverage been supported by the firms’ fundamentals? We find that for private firms, changes of firm characteristics are consistent with their leverage changes, whereas firm-level factors can hardly explain the leverage of state-owned enterprises. We provide further evidence from aggregate-level data, which suggest that the huge amount of credit being allocated to the state sector is the reason for the declining credit efficiency in China.
Abscopal Effects in Radio-Immunotherapy—Response Analysis of Metastatic Cancer Patients With Progressive Disease Under Anti-PD-1 Immune Checkpoint Inhibition

Immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI) targeting the programmed death receptor 1 (PD-1) has shown promising results in the fight against cancer. Systemic anti-tumor reactions due to radiation therapy (RT) can lead to regression of non-irradiated lesions (NiLs), termed “abscopal effect” (AbE). Combination of both treatments can enhance this effect. The aim of this study was to evaluate AbEs during anti-PD-1 therapy and irradiation. We screened 168 patients receiving pembrolizumab or nivolumab at our center. Inclusion criteria were start of RT within 1 month after the first or last application of pembrolizumab (2 mg/kg every 3 weeks) or nivolumab (3 mg/kg every 2 weeks) and at least one metastasis outside the irradiation field. We estimated the total dose during ICI for each patient using the linear quadratic (LQ) model expressed as 2 Gy equivalent dose (EQD2) using α/β of 10 Gy. Radiological images were required showing progression or no change in NiLs before and regression after completion of RT(s). Images must have been acquired at least 4 weeks after the onset of ICI or RT. The surface areas of the longest diameters of the short- and long-axes of NiLs were measured. One hundred twenty-six out of 168 (75%) patients received ICI and RT. Fifty-three percent (67/126) were treated simultaneously, and 24 of these (36%) were eligible for lesion analysis. AbE was observed in 29% (7/24). One to six lesions (mean = 3 ± 2) in each AbE patient were analyzed. Patients were diagnosed with malignant melanoma (MM) (n = 3), non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) (n = 3), and renal cell carcinoma (RCC) (n = 1). They were irradiated once (n = 1), twice (n = 2), or three times (n = 4) with an average total EQD2 of 120.0 ± 37.7 Gy. Eighty-two percent of RTs of AbE patients were applied with high single doses. MM patients received pembrolizumab, NSCLC, and RCC patients received nivolumab for an average duration of 45 ± 35 weeks. We demonstrate that 29% of the analyzed patients showed AbE. Strict inclusion criteria were applied to distinguish the effects of AbE from the systemic effect of ICI. Our data suggest the clinical existence of systemic effects of irradiation under ICI and could contribute to the development of a broader range of cancer treatments.
Effects of National Science and Technology Programs on Innovation in Chinese Firms*

This paper aims to evaluate whether national science and technology programs in China help boost private investment in research and development and improve firms’ productive efficiency and innovation performance. The empirical analysis is based on a survey of 443 innovative firms in China during the period of 2008–11. A matching estimator together with a difference-in-difference approach is employed to investigate the effect of undertaking national science and technology programs. The results show that the effectiveness of national science and technology programs may be over-estimated. There are also heterogeneous effects across firms of different sizes and ownership and with different programs.
Money Demand in a Dollarized Economy: Evidence from Laos PDR

This paper uses a time series perspective to examine the determinants and stability of the money demand function in the case of Laos PDR. An autoregressive distributed lag bounds testing approach to cointegration in the presence of structural breaks and Granger causality in a vector error correction method framework are applied to data covering the period 1992:Q1 to 2013:Q4. The results indicate that the money demand function is stable when exchange rate fluctuations are incorporated, and the causality analysis reveals that there is a feedback effect between money demand and the exchange rate in the long run. This implies that the exchange rate plays an important role in influencing money demand in the case of a dollarized economy such as that of Laos.
Robotic Urologic Surgery in Infants: Results and Complications

Over the last 30 years, robotic surgery has evolved into the preferred surgical approach for many operative cases. Robotics has been associated with lower pain scales, shorter hospitalizations, and improved cosmesis (1, 2). However, its acceptance in pediatrics have been hampered by longer operative times, smaller working space, and limited fine surgical instruments. Many find these challenges even more pronounced when performing robotic surgery in infants (i.e., children <1 year old). Although the data in infants is less robust, many studies have shown benefits similar to the adult population. Specifically, multiple reports of robotic surgery in infants have shown lower postoperative analgesic use. Additionally, hospital stays are shorter, which may lead to quicker return to work for parents and guardians. Multiple reports have shown low complication rates of robotic surgery in infants. When complications have occurred, they are usually Clavien Grade 1 and 2, with occasional grade 3. Often the complications are not from the robotic technique, but are linked to other factors such as the ureteral stents (3, 4). Most importantly, the success rates of surgery are comparable to open surgery. This chapter will review indications for the most common urologic robotic surgeries performed in infants. Also, we will review reported results and complications of robotic surgery in children, with specific attention to the infant population. However, data focused only on infants is limited. Many studies have some infant patients, but their results are often mixed with all pediatric patients.
Frequency-Dependent Spatial Distribution of Functional Hubs in the Human Brain and Alterations in Major Depressive Disorder

Alterations in large-scale brain intrinsic functional connectivity (FC), i.e., coherence between fluctuations of ongoing activity, have been implicated in major depressive disorder (MDD). Yet, little is known about the frequency-dependent alterations of FC in MDD. We calculated frequency specific degree centrality (DC) – a measure of overall FC of a brain region – within 10 distinct frequency sub-bands accessible from the full range of resting-state fMRI BOLD fluctuations (i.e., 0.01–0.25 Hz) in 24 healthy controls and 24 MDD patients. In healthy controls, results reveal a frequency-specific spatial distribution of highly connected brain regions – i.e., hubs – which play a fundamental role in information integration in the brain. MDD patients exhibited significant deviations from the healthy DC patterns, with decreased overall connectedness of widespread regions, in a frequency-specific manner. Decreased DC in MDD patients was observed predominantly in the occipital cortex at low frequencies (0.01–0.1 Hz), in the middle cingulate cortex, sensorimotor cortex, lateral parietal cortex, and the precuneus at middle frequencies (0.1–0.175 Hz), and in the anterior cingulate cortex at high frequencies (0.175–0.25 Hz). Additionally, decreased DC of distinct parts of the insula was observed across low, middle, and high frequency bands. Frequency-specific alterations in the DC of the temporal, insular, and lateral parietal cortices correlated with symptom severity. Importantly, our results indicate that frequency-resolved analysis within the full range of frequencies accessible from the BOLD signal – also including higher frequencies (>0.1 Hz) – reveals unique information about brain organization and its changes, which can otherwise be overlooked.
Exploring the Kinetic and Thermodynamic Relationship of Charge Transfer Reactions Used in Localized Electrodeposition and Patterning in a Scanning Bipolar Cell

Bipolar electrochemistry involves spatial separation of charge balanced reduction and oxidation reactions on an electrically floating electrode, a result of intricate coupling of the work piece with the ohmic drop in the electrochemical cell and to the thermodynamics and kinetics of the respective bipolar reactions. When paired with a rastering microjet electrode, in a scanning bipolar cell (SBC), local electrodeposition and patterning of metals beneath the microjet can be realized without direct electrical connections to the workpiece. Here, we expand on prior research detailing electrolyte design guidelines for electrodeposition and patterning with the SBC, focusing on the relationship between kinetics and thermodynamics of the respective bipolar reactions. The kinetic reversibility or irreversibility of the desired deposition reaction influences the range of possible effective bipolar counter reactions. For kinetically irreversible deposition systems (i.e., nickel), a wider thermodynamic window is available for selection of the counter reaction. For kinetically reversible systems (i.e., copper or silver) that can be easily etched, tight thermodynamic windows with a small downhill driving force for spontaneous reduction are required to prevent metal patterns from electrochemical dissolution. Furthermore, additives used for the bipolar counter reaction can influence not only the kinetics of deposition, but also the morphology and microstructure of the deposit. Cyclic voltammetry measurements help elucidate secondary parasitic reduction reactions occurring during bipolar nickel deposition and describe the thermodynamic relationship of both irreversible and reversible bipolar couples. Finally, finite element method simulations explore the influence of bipolar electrode area on current efficiency and connect experimental observations of pattern etching to thermodynamic and kinetic relationships.
Evaluation of Relationship Between Sleep Bruxism and Headache Impact Test-6 (HIT-6) Scores: A Polysomnographic Study

Sleep bruxism (SB) is a masticatory muscle activity during sleep characterized by teeth clenching or grinding and/or bracing or thrusting of the mandible. Morning headache is considered as a common symptom of SB; however, the relationship between SB and headache and its impact on patient's life is not clear. Therefore, the present study aimed to assess the relationship between SB using polysomnography with video/audio recording and Headache Impact Test-6 (HIT-6) scores. SB was evaluated in respondents by single-night diagnostic polysomnography with video/audio recording. The study found that Bruxism Episode Index was similar in the group with significant impact of headache on patient's life (HIT-6 score ≥ 50) and in group with little or no impact (HIT-6 score < 50). A statistically significant positive correlation was observed between bruxism associated with arousal and HIT-6 score (r = 0.51, p < 0.05) and between mixed bruxism and HIT-6 score (r = 0.58, p < 0.05) in the subgroup with phasic bruxism. The results indicated the relationship between SB and impact of severity of headache on the patient's life measured by HIT-6 is only modest. It was also found that the impact of severity of headache measured by HIT-6 is altered only in those with phasic bruxism and is associated with arousal. Further research should elucidate the factors influencing the relationship between SB and headache. Trial Registration: Clinical Trials NCT03083405, WMU1/2017, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03083405