Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Separate Representation of Stimulus Frequency, Intensity, and Duration in Auditory Sensory Memory: An Event-Related Potential and Dipole-Model Analysis

The present study analyzed the neural correlates of acoustic stimulus representation in echoic sensory memory. The neural traces of auditory sensory memory were indirectly studied by using the mismatch negativity (MMN), an event-related potential component elicited by a change in a repetitive sound. The MMN is assumed to reflect change detection in a comparison process between the sensory input from a deviant stimulus and the neural representation of repetitive stimuli in echoic memory. The scalp topographies of the MMNs elicited by pure tones deviating from standard tones by either frequency, intensity, or duration varied according to the type of stimulus deviance, indicating that the MMNs for different attributes originate, at least in part, from distinct neural populations in the auditory cortex. This result was supported by dipole-model analysis. If the MMN generator process occurs where the stimulus information is stored, these findings strongly suggest that the frequency, intensity, and duration of acoustic stimuli have a separate neural representation in sensory memory.
Personality traits of emergency physicians and paramedics

Objective Personality influences behaviour and decision-making. This may play a particular role in emergency medical personnel (EMP) dealing with critical situations. So far very little is known about personality traits that distinguish paramedics (PM) and emergency physicians (EP) from other medical staff. Methods A questionnaire including the ultra-short version of the Hamburg Personality Inventory (HPA) was distributed to EP, PM, medical doctors not practicing emergency medicine (MD) and medical students (MS). Results 274 EPs, 245 PMs, 48 MDs and 60 MSs returned the questionnaire. Four personality clusters in EPs and PMs were identified and to be found largely independent from demographic and job-related variables. For both groups one cluster revealed personality characteristics that seem particularly suitable for EMP (‘resilient crisis manager’). ‘Anxious’ and ‘insecure’ personality traits were found in two clusters in PMs and in one cluster in EPs. Mental health problems in the participants or their relatives or the experience of loss increased scores in the dimensions neuroticism and openness. Conclusions The personality characteristics of EPs and PMs are not homogenous and do not differ substantially from those of MDs and MSs. 50–70% of EMP can be characterised as ‘resilient and stable’, up to 30–40% as ‘anxious and insecure’. The presence of mental health problems in participants or their relatives or the experience of loss may lead to openness for new experiences and alternative behaviour or – on the other hand – may trigger feelings of insecurity and/or anxiety in emergency situations.
Impact of agricultural management practices on soil organic carbon: simulation of Australian wheat systems

Quantifying soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics at a high spatial and temporal resolution in response to different agricultural management practices and environmental conditions can help identify practices that both sequester carbon in the soil and sustain agricultural productivity. Using an agricultural systems model (the Agricultural Production Systems sIMulator), we conducted a high spatial resolution and long‐term (122 years) simulation study to identify the key management practices and environmental variables influencing SOC dynamics in a continuous wheat cropping system in Australia's 96 million ha cereal‐growing regions. Agricultural practices included five nitrogen application rates (0–200 kg N ha−1 in 50 kg N ha−1 increments), five residue removal rates (0–100% in 25% increments), and five residue incorporation rates (0–100% in 25% increments). We found that the change in SOC during the 122‐year simulation was influenced by the management practices of residue removal (linearly negative) and fertilization (nonlinearly positive) – and the environmental variables of initial SOC content (linearly negative) and temperature (nonlinearly negative). The effects of fertilization were strongest at rates up to 50 kg N ha−1, and the effects of temperature were strongest where mean annual temperatures exceeded 19 °C. Reducing residue removal and increasing fertilization increased SOC in most areas except Queensland where high rates of SOC decomposition caused by high temperature and soil moisture negated these benefits. Management practices were particularly effective in increasing SOC in south‐west Western Australia – an area with low initial SOC. The results can help target agricultural management practices for increasing SOC in the context of local environmental conditions, enabling farmers to contribute to climate change mitigation and sustaining agricultural production.
Declining Clinical Course of Psychotic Disorders Over the Two Decades Following First Hospitalization: Evidence From the Suffolk County Mental Health Project.

OBJECTIVE Kraepelin considered declining course a hallmark of schizophrenia, but others have suggested that outcomes usually stabilize or improve after treatment initiation. The authors investigated this question in an epidemiologically defined cohort with psychotic disorders followed for 20 years after first hospitalization. METHOD The Suffolk County Mental Health Project recruited first-admission patients with psychosis from all inpatient units of Suffolk County, New York (response rate, 72%). Participants were assessed in person six times over two decades; 373 completed the 20-year follow-up (68% of survivors); 175 had schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder. Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF), psychotic symptoms, and mood symptoms were rated at each assessment. Month 6, when nearly all participants were discharged from the index hospitalization, was used as a reference. RESULTS In the schizophrenia group, mean GAF scores declined from 49 at month 6 to 36 at year 20. Negative and positive symptoms also worsened (Cohen's d values, 0.45-0.73). Among participants without schizophrenia, GAF scores were higher initially (a mean of approximately 64) but declined by 9 points over the follow-up period. Worsening began between years 5 and 8. Neither aging nor changes in antipsychotic treatment accounted for the declines. In all disorders, depression improved and manic symptoms remained low across the 20 years. CONCLUSIONS The authors found substantial symptom burden across disorders that increased with time and ultimately may undo initial treatment gains. Previous studies have suggested that better health care delivery models may preempt this decline. In the United States, these care needs are often not met, and addressing them is an urgent priority.
Semantic Information Retrieval: A Comparative Experimental Study of NLP Tools and Language Resources for Arabic

In this paper, we try to exploit the semantic richness of Arabic language for Information Retrieval (IR). The semantics of Arabic words may be extracted from dictionaries or corpora, which are analyzed and minded using Natural Language Processing (NLP) and text mining tools. This allows modeling the contextual dependencies between words, which help identify the meaning of queries in the search process. Thus, the queries are enriched by semantic knowledge, which enhances search performance. In this context, this paper describes a text mining-based approach for Arabic semantic IR, which considers senses of query terms. Experiments and results based on a standard Arabic Test collection are discussed through this communication. In the one hand, we compare dictionary versus corpus-based approaches for modeling semantics. On the other hand, we compare some Arabic NLP tools in the preprocessing step. Thus, we study the effect of Arabic morphology on the semantic interpretation of queries.
A pilot randomized controlled trial of a commercial diet and exercise weight loss program in minority breast cancer survivors

Obesity is associated with poorer breast cancer outcomes and losing weight postdiagnosis may improve survival. As Hispanic and black women have poorer breast cancer prognosis than non‐Hispanic whites diagnosed at similar age and stage, and have higher rates of obesity, effective weight loss strategies are needed. We piloted a randomized, waitlist‐controlled, crossover study to examine the effects and feasibility of the commercial Curves weight loss program among Hispanic, African American and Afro‐Caribbean breast cancer survivors.
Nicotine Overrides DNA Damage-Induced G1/S Restriction in Lung Cells

As an addictive substance, nicotine has been suggested to facilitate pro-survival activities (such as anchorage-independent growth or angiogenesis) and the establishment of drug resistance to anticancer therapy. Tobacco smoking consists of a variety of carcinogens [such as benzopyrene (BP) and nitrosamine derivatives] that are able to cause DNA double strand breaks. However, the effect of nicotine on DNA damage-induced checkpoint response induced by genotoxins remains unknown. In this study, we investigated the events occurred during G1 arrest induced by γ-radiation or BP in nicotine-treated murine or human lung epithelial cells. DNA synthesis was rapidly inhibited after exposure to γ-radiation or BP treatment, accompanied with the activation of DNA damage checkpoint. When these cells were co-treated with nicotine, the growth restriction was compromised, manifested by upregulation of cyclin D and A, and attenuation of Chk2 phosphorylation. Knockdown of cyclin D or Chk2 by the siRNAs blocked nicotine-mediated effect on DNA damage checkpoint activation. However, nicotine treatment appeared to play no role in nocodazole-induced mitotic checkpoint activation. Overall, our study presented a novel observation, in which nicotine is able to override DNA damage checkpoint activated by tobacco-related carcinogen BP or γ-irradiation. The results not only indicates the potentially important role of nicotine in facilitating the establishment of genetic instability to promote lung tumorigenesis, but also warrants a dismal prognosis for cancer patients who are smokers, heavily exposed second-hand smokers or nicotine users.
Histology and immunohistochemistry of severe inflammatory bowel disease versus lymphoma in the ferret (Mustela putorius furo)

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a common disorder of ferrets (Mustela putorius furo) that may progress to lymphoma. Although routine histology is used to distinguish between these diseases, misclassifications may occur. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) is commonly used to distinguish between IBD and lymphoma in small animals. The objective of our study was to determine the agreement in the diagnosis reached solely using hematoxylin and eosin (HE)-stained, full-thickness sections versus using a combination of HE and IHC. Enteric sections from 44 ferrets previously diagnosed with IBD or intestinal lymphoma and 3 control ferrets were analyzed by pathologists with expertise in ferrets. A pathologist blinded to the original diagnosis assessed the same HE-stained sections. Analysis was then repeated using HE sections in parallel with sections stained using antibodies against CD3 and CD79a. No significant difference was found between the original HE diagnosis and the HE diagnosis reached by the blinded pathologist (p = 0.91) or between the blinded pathologist’s HE versus HE with IHC diagnosis (p = 0.16). In the 2 cases where disagreement was present, IHC was pivotal in reaching a final diagnosis. There was no significant age (p = 0.29) difference between diagnoses; however, significantly more male ferrets were affected with IBD than females (p = 0.004). Immunophenotype of the lymphoma was not correlated with predilection for location in the intestinal wall (p = 0.44). Results suggest that although IHC is not necessary to distinguish IBD from intestinal lymphoma in ferrets, it can be useful a definitive diagnosis in cases of severe IBD.
Orthopedic Injuries Following the East Azerbaijan Earthquake

Background Evaluating demographic characteristics, distribution and types of orthopedic injuries following major earthquakes may be helpful in future planning for disasters. Objectives This study aimed to analyze data from trauma patients with extremity injury resulting from the earthquakes of East Azerbaijan, Iran. Patients and Methods Medical records of 686 patients admitted to Shohada hospital, Trauma Center of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences were reviewed. There were 200 patients with extremity injury assessed. Demographic characteristics and patterns of injuries in these patients were evaluated. Results In this study, there were 105 females (52.5%) and 95 males (47.5%), out of which, 6 (3%) patients with associated severe head injuries died. The most common sites of injury were lower extremities (81 patients, 41.5% of total victims) while 32 patients (16%) suffered from both upper and lower extremity injuries. Open Fractures were seen in lower extremities of 26 (13%) patients. Compartment syndrome was observed in 3 (1.5%) patients with lower limb fractures. Also, 42 (21%) patients living in Tabriz were injured while they were running away (falling down the stairs and jumping out of windows). Conclusions Extremity injuries especially open fractures of lower limbs account for the majority of hospitalized victims. Compartment syndrome is one of the main problems that should be addressed. Our study demonstrates that people still need more education regarding earthquakes and the government should direct more attention to this issue.
Lemmatization and Lexicalized Statistical Parsing of Morphologically-Rich Languages: the Case of French

This paper shows that training a lexicalized parser on a lemmatized morphologically-rich treebank such as the French Treebank slightly improves parsing results. We also show that lemmatizing a similar in size subset of the English Penn Treebank has almost no effect on parsing performance with gold lemmas and leads to a small drop of performance when automatically assigned lemmas and POS tags are used. This highlights two facts: (i) lemmatization helps to reduce lexicon data-sparseness issues for French, (ii) it also makes the parsing process sensitive to correct assignment of POS tags to unknown words.
Purification, size separation and ionic fnctionalization of halloysite nanotubes

Halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) are tubular clay minerals, with unique chemical composition and surface charge that can be utilized in composite materials for various applications. However, it is critical to utilize well-defined, non-agglomerated HNTs to obtain homogenous nanocomposites. Additionally, functionalization of HNTs by organosilanes improves their physicochemical and mechanical properties. Here, two studies regarding the preparation of HNTs with enhanced characteristics were carried out. First, the purification and size separation of HNTs were introduced by three hierarchical procedures: alkaline treatment, ultrasonication, and three-step viscosity gradient centrifugation. Secondly, the ionic functionalization of HNTs was examined using an ionic solution though the coupling reaction between an organosilane, 3-(Triethoxysilyl)propyl isocyanate (ISO) and an N-Methyltaurine sodium salt (N-MTSS), as the grafting agent. DLS, FE-SEM, XRD, FTIR, and TGA were used to characterize the size distribution, morphology, structure, chemical and thermal behavior of all HNTs, respectively. Raw HNTs (150 – 1103 nm in length) that exist in the form of relatively large agglomerations were considerably broken, and cut in individual nanotubes during the alkaline treatment and ultrasonication. Impurities have been successfully removed from pure HNTs (average length of 126 – 179 nm) by a three-step centrifugation. Characterization of ionically functionalized HNTs showed that although modification did not affect the structure of HNTs, modified samples were well-dispersed compared to unmodified ones, indicating the improvement of dispersion behavior due to the ionically charged outer surface. In addition, most suitable conditions for ISO and N-MTSS reaction, along with pirhana and oxygen plasma pre-treatment of HNTs illustrated the highest level of grafting on HNT surface.
Towards Fair Sharing of Block Storage in a Multi-tenant Cloud

A common problem with disk-based cloud storage services is that performance can vary greatly and become highly unpredictable in a multi-tenant environment. A fundamental reason is the interference between workloads co-located on the same physical disk. We observe that different IO patterns interfere with each other significantly, which makes the performance of different types of workloads unpredictable when they are executed concurrently. Unpredictability implies that users may not get a fair share of the system resources from the cloud services they are using. At the same time, replication is commonly used in cloud storage for high reliability. Connecting these two facts, we propose a cloud storage system designed to minimize workload interference without increasing storage costs or sacrificing the overall system throughput. Our design leverages log-structured disk layout, chain replication and a workload-based replica selection strategy to minimize interference, striking a balance between performance and fairness. Our initial results suggest that this approach is a promising way to improve the performance and predictability of cloud storage.
Clinical and Nutritional Outcomes in Children With Idiopathic Superior Mesenteric Artery Syndrome

Objective: There are no available data for outcomes in children's idiopathic superior mesenteric artery syndrome (SMAS) strictly treated conservatively. The aim of the study was to evaluate clinical and nutritional outcome in children with idiopathic SMAS. Patients and Methods: A 1-year prospective observation study of effects of treatment and outcome was performed in 27 children (8 boys, 19 girls) with idiopathic SMAS who underwent an upper gastrointestinal (UGI) series, ultrasound measurement of the aortomesenteric angle, treatment, clinical assessment, growth evaluation, and regular clinical visits for more than 12 months. Results: Mean age of the patients was 11.77 ± 2.15 years. The major clinical complaints were postprandial pain or fullness (88.9%), vomiting (55.6%), and early satiety (51.9%). Eight patients (29.6%) had weight loss. The UGI series revealed typical features of SMAS. The aortomesenteric angle on ultrasound was 10° to 19°. The height of most patients (92.6%) was above the 10th percentile, whereas 15 (55.6%) patients weighed below the 10th percentile. Six patients underwent surgical intervention (3 for obstruction and 3 for persistent anorexia with weight loss), and their clinical symptoms and weight status improved steadily during the follow-up months. Among the 21 patients not subject to surgical intervention, 11 (52.4%) experienced a reduction of symptoms >50% after 3 months of treatment, and weight-for-age percentile increased significantly after 6 months of treatment. Overall, a significant increase in the weight-for-age status was seen in the patients with surgical treatment or with medication only after 6 and 12 months of treatment. Conclusions: An aortomesenteric angle <20° is a constant phenomenon in children with idiopathic SMAS. A duodenojejunostomy can effectively relieve the obstructive symptoms, such as anorexia, and improve nutritional status, whereas long-term medical treatment may aid in relieving the clinical symptoms, promoting appetite, and improving nutritional status in pediatric patients with idiopathic SMAS.
MicroRNA-Mediated Transformation by the Kaposi's Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus Kaposin Locus

ABSTRACT The human oncogenic Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) expresses a set of ∼20 viral microRNAs (miRNAs). miR-K10a stands out among these miRNAs because its entire stem-loop precursor overlaps the coding sequence for the Kaposin (Kap) A/C proteins. The ectopic expression of KapA has been reported to lead to transformation of rodent fibroblasts. However, these experiments inadvertently also introduced miR-K10a, which raises the question whether the transforming activity of the locus could in fact be due to miR-K10a expression. To answer this question, we have uncoupled miR-K10a and KapA expression. Our experiments revealed that miR-K10a alone transformed cells with an efficiency similar to that when it was coexpressed with KapA. Maintenance of the transformed phenotype was conditional upon continued miR-K10a but not KapA protein expression, consistent with its dependence on miRNA-mediated changes in gene expression. Importantly, miR-K10a taps into an evolutionarily conserved network of miR-142-3p targets, several of which are expressed in 3T3 cells and are also known inhibitors of cellular transformation. In summary, our studies of miR-K10a serve as an example of an unsuspected function of an mRNA whose precursor is embedded within a coding transcript. In addition, our identification of conserved miR-K10a targets that limit transformation will point the way to a better understanding of the role of this miRNA in KSHV-associated tumors. IMPORTANCE Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is a human tumor virus. The viral Kaposin locus has known oncogenic potential, which has previously been attributed to the encoded KapA protein. Here we show that the virally encoded miR-K10a miRNA, whose precursor overlaps the KapA-coding region, may account for the oncogenic properties of this locus. Our data suggest that miR-K10a mimics the cellular miRNA miR-142-3p and thereby represses several known inhibitors of oncogenic transformation. Our work demonstrates that functional properties attributed to a coding region may in fact be carried out by an embedded noncoding element and sheds light on the functions of viral miR-K10a.
Modeling Tidal Streams in Evolving Dark Matter Halos

We explore whether stellar tidal streams can provide information on the secular, cosmological evolution of the Milky Way's gravitational potential and on the presence of subhalos. We carry out long-term (Δt ~ tHubble) N-body simulations of disrupting satellite galaxies in a semianalytic Galaxy potential in which the dark matter halo and the subhalos evolve according to a ΛCDM cosmogony. All simulations are constrained to end up with the same position and velocity at present. Our simulations account for (1) the secular evolution of the host halo's mass, size, and shape, (2) the presence of subhalos, and (3) dynamical friction. We find that tidal stream particles respond adiabatically to the Galaxy growth, so that, at present, the energy and angular momentum distribution is exclusively determined by the present Galaxy potential. In other words, all present-day observables can only constrain the present mass distribution of the Galaxy independent of its past evolution. We also show that if the full phase-space distribution of a tidal stream is available, we can accurately determine (1) the present Galaxy's shape and (2) the amount of mass loss from the stream's progenitor, even if this evolution spanned a cosmologically significant epoch.