Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Time Context of Cue-Outcome Associations Represented by Neurons in Perirhinal Cortex

The perirhinal cortex (PRh), which has extensive connections with diverse brain sites, may contribute to semantic memory by associating various types of information about objects. However, the extent of the types of associations in which PRh participates is unknown. In the present study, we let monkeys experience a consistent contingency between visual cues and different types of outcomes (water reward and sound-only acknowledgment) in a particular time context for many days and then recorded neuronal activities from PRh and area TE, which is the major source of visual inputs to PRh. We found that PRh cells represented the outcome type in their responses to the visual cues only in the time context in which the monkeys had experienced the cue-outcome contingency. In contrast, TE cells represented the outcome information whenever the cue appeared (i.e., independently from the related time context). These results showed that PRh cells represented not only the cue-outcome contingency but also the time context in which the monkeys had experienced the contingency. We conclude that PRh is not specific to the representation of sensory and associative properties of objects themselves but may represent broader information about objects, including the time context in which the objects are associated with particular outcomes.
Effects of rolling technical factors on microstructures and mechanical properties of aluminum foils

The effects of rolling driving methods and technical factors on the microstructures and mechanical properties of aluminum foils based on the industrial trials were studied by TEM, tensile test and texture analysis. The results show that there exist obvious dynamic recovery and primary location re-crystallization phenomena in the aluminum foils during high-speed rolling. Meanwhile the phenomena become more obvious as the rolling speed or the reduction increases, especially in the asymmetrical rolling process with single-roller driving, the dynamic primary location recrystallization is more likely to come into being. The effects of the dynamic recovery phenomena and the dynamic primary location recrystallization on the comprehensive final product ratio and the quality of aluminum foils were discussed.
Buying health: assessing the impact of a consumer-side vegetable subsidy on purchasing, consumption and waste

Abstract Objective To measure the impact of a reimbursement-based consumer subsidy on vegetable expenditures, consumption and waste. Design Two-arm randomized controlled trial; two-week baseline observation period, three-week intervention period. Participants’ vegetable expenditures, consumption and waste were monitored using receipts collection and through an FFQ. During the intervention period, the treatment group received reimbursement of up to 50 US dollars ($) for purchased vegetables. Setting Participants were solicited from Palo Alto, CA, USA using materials advertising a ‘consumer behavior study’ and a small participation incentive. To prevent selection bias, solicitation materials did not describe the specific behaviour being evaluated. Subjects One hundred and fifty potential participants responded to the solicitations and 144 participants enrolled in the study; 138 participants completed all five weekly surveys. Results Accounting for the control group (n 69) and the two-week baseline period, the intervention significantly impacted the treatment group’s (n 69) vegetable expenditures (+$8·16 (sd 2·67)/week, P<0·01), but not vegetable consumption (+1·3 (sd 1·2) servings/week, P=0·28) or waste (−0·23 (sd 1·2) servings/week, P=0·60). Conclusions The consumer subsidy significantly increased participants’ vegetable expenditures, but not consumption or waste, suggesting that this type of subsidy might not have the effects anticipated. Reimbursement-based consumer subsidies may therefore not be as useful a policy tool for impacting vegetable consumption as earlier studies have suggested. Moreover, moderation analysis revealed that the subsidy’s effect on participants’ vegetable expenditures was significant only in men. Additional research should seek to determine how far reaching gender-specific effects are in this context. Further research should also examine the effect of a similar consumer subsidy on high-risk populations and explore to what extent increases in participants’ expenditures are due to the purchase of more expensive vegetables, purchasing of vegetables during the study period that were consumed outside the study period, or a shift from restaurant vegetable consumption to grocery vegetable consumption.
Does Response Inhibition Have Pre- and Postdiagnostic Utility in Parkinson's Disease?

ABSTRACT. Parkinson's disease (Pd) is the second most prevalent degenerative neurological condition worldwide. Improving and sustaining quality of life is an important goal for Parkinson's patients. Key areas of focus to achieve this goal include earlier diagnosis and individualized treatment. In this review the authors discuss impulse control in Pd and examine how measures of impulse control from a response inhibition task may provide clinically useful information (a) within an objective test battery to aid earlier diagnosis of Pd and (b) in postdiagnostic Pd, to better identify individuals at risk of developing impulse control disorders with dopaminergic medication.
An efficient words typing P300-BCI system using a modified T9 interface and random forest classifier

The conventional P300-based character spelling BCI system consists of a character presentation paradigm and a classification system. In this paper, we propose modifications to both in order to increase the word typing speed and accuracy. In the paradigm part, we have modified the T9 (Text on Nine keys) interface which is similar to the keypad of mobile phones being used for text messaging. Then we have integrated a custom-built dictionary to give word suggestions to a user while typing. The user can select one out of the given suggestions to complete word typing. Our proposed paradigms significantly reduce the word typing time and make words typing more convenient by typing complete words with only few initial character spellings. In the classification part we have adopted a Random Forest (RF) classifier. The RF improves classification accuracy by combining multiple decision trees. We conducted experiments with five subjects using the proposed BCI system. Our results demonstrate that our system increases typing speed significantly: our proposed system took an average time of 1.83 minutes per word, while typing ten random words, whereas the conventional spelling required 3.35 minutes for the same words under the same conditions, decreasing the typing time by 45.37%.
Applying extracellular vesicles based therapeutics in clinical trials – an ISEV position paper

Extracellular vesicles (EVs), such as exosomes and microvesicles, are released by different cell types and participate in physiological and pathophysiological processes. EVs mediate intercellular communication as cell-derived extracellular signalling organelles that transmit specific information from their cell of origin to their target cells. As a result of these properties, EVs of defined cell types may serve as novel tools for various therapeutic approaches, including (a) anti-tumour therapy, (b) pathogen vaccination, (c) immune-modulatory and regenerative therapies and (d) drug delivery. The translation of EVs into clinical therapies requires the categorization of EV-based therapeutics in compliance with existing regulatory frameworks. As the classification defines subsequent requirements for manufacturing, quality control and clinical investigation, it is of major importance to define whether EVs are considered the active drug components or primarily serve as drug delivery vehicles. For an effective and particularly safe translation of EV-based therapies into clinical practice, a high level of cooperation between researchers, clinicians and competent authorities is essential. In this position statement, basic and clinical scientists, as members of the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV) and of the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) program of the European Union, namely European Network on Microvesicles and Exosomes in Health and Disease (ME-HaD), summarize recent developments and the current knowledge of EV-based therapies. Aspects of safety and regulatory requirements that must be considered for pharmaceutical manufacturing and clinical application are highlighted. Production and quality control processes are discussed. Strategies to promote the therapeutic application of EVs in future clinical studies are addressed.
Dengue and chikungunya infections in travelers

Purpose of review Dengue and chikungunya are arboviruses that have caused major outbreaks and infected travelers, and both can be associated with fever and rash. We review the recent epidemiology of dengue and chikungunya infections and discuss their clinical presentations, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. We highlight the findings in travelers. Recent findings Globally dengue is one of the most common infections associated with travel, and incidence has increased in the Americas in recent years, especially in Brazil. Chikungunya has caused dramatic outbreaks in the Indian Ocean islands since 2004, and has spread to south and south-east Asia. Dengue virus and chikungunya virus also possess the potential to cause autochthonous transmission in temperate regions of developed countries due to the presence of the vector mosquito, Aedes albopictus. Such an outbreak (chikungunya infection) did occur in 2007 in Italy. A mutation in chikungunya virus (A226V) appears to improve virus survival in Aedes albopictus and also increase its virulence. Summary The findings assist in differentiating dengue and chikungunya from other acute febrile illnesses and from each other. The findings also illustrate potential outbreaks in nonendemic countries, important toward developing control and prevention strategies.
Stress Detection Using Low Cost Heart Rate Sensors

The automated detection of stress is a central problem for ambient assisted living solutions. The paper presents the concepts and results of two studies targeted at stress detection with a low cost heart rate sensor, a chest belt. In the device validation study (n = 5), we compared heart rate data and other features from the belt to those measured by a gold standard device to assess the reliability of the sensor. With simple synchronization and data cleaning algorithm, we were able to select highly (>97%) correlated, low average error (2.2%) data segments of considerable length from the chest data for further processing. The protocol for the clinical study (n = 46) included a relax phase followed by a phase with provoked mental stress, 10 minutes each. We developed a simple method for the detection of the stress using only three time-domain features of the heart rate signal. The method produced accuracy of 74.6%, sensitivity of 75.0%, and specificity of 74.2%, which is impressive compared to the performance of two state-of-the-art methods run on the same data. Since the proposed method uses only time-domain features, it can be efficiently implemented on mobile devices.
Reverse Mathematics and Π1 2 Comprehension

Abstract We initiate the reverse mathematics of general topology. We show that a certain metrization theorem is equivalent to Π1 2 comprehension. An MF space is defined to be a topological space of the form MF(P) with the topology generated by {N p ∣ p ϵ P}. Here P is a poset, MF(P) is the set of maximal filters on P, and N p = {F ϵ MF(P) ∣ p ϵ F }. If the poset P is countable, the space MF(P) is said to be countably based. The class of countably based MF spaces can be defined and discussed within the subsystem ACA0 of second order arithmetic. One can prove within ACA0 that every complete separable metric space is homeomorphic to a countably based MF space which is regular. We show that the converse statement, “every countably based MF space which is regular is homeomorphic to a complete separable metric space,” is equivalent to . The equivalence is proved in the weaker system . This is the first example of a theorem of core mathematics which is provable in second order arithmetic and implies Π1 2 comprehension.
A trial of short incubation, broad-area photodynamic therapy for facial actinic keratoses and diffuse photodamage.

BACKGROUND There is no completely satisfactory treatment for multiple actinic keratoses (AKs). OBJECTIVE To evaluate the efficacy of short incubation, broad-area application of delta-aminolevulinic acid followed by exposure to activating light-photodynamic therapy (delta-ALA/PDT) for treatment of AKs and background photodamage. The benefit of pretreatment with 40% urea cream to enhance penetration and the use of topical 3% lidocaine hydrochloride to decrease discomfort were also evaluated. METHODS Eighteen patients with at least 4 nonhypertrophic facial AKs and mild to moderate diffuse facial photodamage were enrolled in the study. For 7 days, 40% urea cream or vehicle was applied to half of the treatment area, and then delta-ALA was applied to the entire area for 1, 2, or 3 hours. Lidocaine hydrochloride (3%) or vehicle cream was also applied to the entire area 45 minutes before exposure to 10 J/cm(2) of blue light. Pain,phototoxic reactions, AK counts, and photodamage improvement were evaluated 1 day, 1 week, and 1 month after treatment in all patients and after 5 months in 10 patients. RESULTS All patients experienced mild to moderate discomfort during treatment and moderate phototoxic effects for 1 week. At 1 and 5 months there was significant reduction in AKs in all groups and significant improvement of several photodamage parameters. Different delta-ALA application times and pretreatment with urea cream or lidocaine had no significant effect on the results. CONCLUSIONS This delta-ALA/PDT protocol is safe and effective for AK treatment as well as for improving photodamage. Further studies with a larger cohort, longer follow-up, and histologic confirmation of the clinical data would be of value.
The effect of granulocyte colony stimulating factor on neutrophil functions in children with neutropenia after chemotherapy in the course of neoplasma.

PURPOSE Granulocyte-colony stimulating factor stimulates proliferation and maturation of granulocyte precursor cells. The influence of this hematopoietic factor on phagocytic function of granulocytes was performed in in vitro experiments. The aim was to find, whether G-CSF applicated to children with neutropenia after chemotherapy influences phagocytic functions of neutrophils and whether evaluated parameters depend on a time of G-CSF injection? MATERIAL AND METHODS The investigation was conducted on a group of 26 children with cancer, treated with granulocyte-colony stimulating factor in the cause of neutropenia after chemotherapy. The control group included 29 healthy children. The blood was taken before the stimulator injection and after 2 and 5 granulocyte-colony stimulating factor injections. The percentage of phagocyting cells and the phagocytic index of granulocytes were determined in heparinized whole blood samples. Oxygen metabolism was evaluated in the absence and presence endotoxin by nitroblue tetrazolium reduction. RESULTS It was found that granulocyte-colony stimulating factor activates phagocytic functions of neutrophils by normalizing low values of phagocytic index and number of granulocytes, reducing dye nitroblue tetrazolium reduction and increasing the number of phagocytic cells. CONCLUSION Based on obtained results we can conclude that granulocyte-colony stimulating factor apart from granulopoiesis stimulation can also increase phagocytic and oxidative capacity of granulocytes after chemotherapy.
The face of schadenfreude: Differentiation of joy and schadenfreude by electromyography

The present study investigated whether the facial expression of the social emotion schadenfreude, the pleasant emotion which arises in response to another’s misfortune, can be differentiated from the facial expression of joy. Schadenfreude was induced by videos displaying unsuccessful penalty shots of Dutch soccer players and joy by successful penalty shots of German soccer players. Thirty-two participants watched videos while the activity of four facial muscles was recorded electromyographically. Furthermore, they judged each stimulus according to valence, arousal, joy, schadenfreude and sadness. Electromyography (EMG) results revealed that schadenfreude expressions did not differ from joy with regard to involved muscles (increase of Musculus zygomaticus major and M. orbicularis oculi activity, decrease of M. corrugator supercilii activity, no activity change of M. frontalis medialis). Furthermore, facial reactions developed fast in both conditions and EMG indicated stronger reactions in the schadenfreude condition, but according to ratings participants felt more pleasure in the joy condition.
Glucocorticoid-induced alterations in phosphatidylcholine metabolism in mouse lymphoma cells, L5178Y, in vitro.

Summary Prednisolone inhibited incorporation of choline-methyl-14C into the phospholipid fraction of mouse lymphoma L5178Y grown in culture. The logarithmically growing cells were cultured in choline-deficient media and were then pulse labeled with choline-methyl-14C either in the presence or in the absence of the steroid. In both, controls as well as hormone-treated cultures, chromatographic separation of the acid-soluble fraction revealed that 95 to 98% of the radioactivity was associated with phosphorylcholine and that only a small amount was present as either cytidine diphosphate choline or choline. The labeled material in the lipid fraction consisted mainly of phosphatidylcholine (96 to 97%) with the remaining radioactivity as either lysophosphatidylcholine or sphingomyelin. Under such conditions the inhibition of choline incorporation was detected as early as 10 min after steroid addition to the labeling medium. The inhibition of choline-methyl-14C incorporation was dependent on steroid concentration and was limited to the steroids that were active as growth inhibitors of this cell strain. The inhibition of choline incorporation was reflected also in the plasma membrane. No such effects were observed when labeled glucose was used as the source of label.
Mathematical modeling of complex regulatory networks

Cellular regulation comprises overwhelmingly complex interactions between genes and proteins that ultimately will only be rendered understandable by employing formal approaches. Developing large-scale mathematical models of such systems in an efficient and reliable way, however, requires careful evaluation of structuring principles for the models, of the description of the system dynamics, and of the experimental data basis for adjusting the models to reality. We discuss these three aspects of model development using the example of cell cycle regulation in yeast and suggest that capturing complex dynamic networks is feasible despite incomplete (quantitative) biological knowledge.
On the density of scattered translates of the general multiquadric in C ( [ a , b ] )

This note concerns density properties of the general multiquadric, (x + c2)k−1/2, where k is a fixed natural number. We establish that scattered translates of the general multiquadric are dense in C([a, b]), where a and b are finite. As a corollary, we show that scattered translated of the general multiquadric are dense in the function spaces L([a, b]), for 1 ≤ p <∞.
What Motivates Consumers to Write Online Travel Reviews?

The Web provides a fertile ground for word-of-mouth communication and more and more consumers write about and share product-related experiences online. Given the experiential nature of tourism, such first-hand knowledge communicated by other travelers is especially useful for travel decision making. However, very little is known about what motivates consumers to write online travel reviews. A Web-based survey using an online consumer panel was conducted to investigate consumers' motivations to write online travel reviews. Measurement scales to gauge the motivations to contribute online travel reviews were developed and tested. The results indicate that online travel review writers are mostly motivated by helping a travel service provider, concerns for other consumers, and needs for enjoyment/positive self-enhancement. Venting negative feelings through postings is clearly not seen as an important motive. Motivational differences were found for gender and income level. Implications of the findings for online travel communities and tourism marketers are discussed.
The evolution of female mate choice by sexual conflict

Although empirical evidence has shown that many male traits have evolved via sexual selection by female mate choice, our understanding of the adaptive value of female mating preferences is still very incomplete. It has recently been suggested that female mate choice may result from females evolving resistance rather than attraction to males, but this has been disputed. Here, we develop a quantitative genetic model showing that sexual conflict over mating indeed results in the joint evolution of costly female mate choice and exaggerated male traits under a wide range of circumstances. In contrast to traditional explanations of costly female mate choice, which rely on indirect genetic benefits, our model shows that mate choice can be generated as a side–effect of females evolving to reduce the direct costs of mating.
Dose‐dependent T cell tolerance to an immunodominant self peptide

We have previously described a model of tolerance to self peptides in a mouse transgenic (Tg) line producing secreted hen egg‐white lysozyme (HEL). The HEL cDNA was placed under the control of a ubiquitous promoter expressed early in embryogenesis, so that HEL should be present in Tg mice throughout the development of the immune system. Since individual HEL Tg mice express different amounts of serum HEL, we were previously able to show that H‐2d mice with HEL blood level > 10 ng/ml are tolerant to HEL and to the immunodominant (ID) peptide 108–116. However, autoreactive T lymphocytes recognizing the HEL subdominant (SD) peptides 74–96 and 1–18 still persist and the SD‐specific responses disappear at higher blood HEL concentrations. In the present work, we have studied HEL Tg H‐2d mice with HEL serum levels < 10 ng/ml (HEL‐low Tg animals). We find that 50% of Tg animals with HEL blood concentration < 2 ng/ml are responsive to HEL in T cell proliferation assays, although these responses are lower than those seen in non‐Tg control mice. The HEL‐specific T lymphocytes react only with 15‐mer overlapping peptides encompassing the single H‐2d ID region of HEL (residues 102–122); whereas the 9‐mer minimal ID peptide 108–116, which strongly triggers non‐Tg T cells, is unable to stimulate auto‐reactive T cells in vitro from HEL‐low Tg mice. Altogether, our results suggest that T lymphocytes specific for the minimal ID peptide are deleted or inactivated, while T cell clones of lower affinity and reacting with epitopes on longer peptides persist. Thus, the high affinity ID peptide‐specific T cell clones can be negatively selected even in the presence of low amounts of HEL.
Cobot implementation of virtual paths and 3D virtual surfaces

Cobots are devices for human/robot interaction, in which axes of motion are coupled to one another by computer-controlled continuously variable transmissions rather than individually driven by servomotors. We have recently built a cobot with a three-dimensional workspace and a 3-revolute parallelogram-type mechanism. Here we present the control methods for the display of virtual surfaces and for free mode in which the cobot endpoint moves as if it were unconstrained. We provide experimental results on the performance of the free, virtual path, and virtual surface controllers.