Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Less Graft-Versus-Host Disease after Rabbit Antithymocyte Globulin Conditioning in Unrelated Bone Marrow Transplantation for Leukemia and Myelodysplasia: Comparison with Matched Related Bone Marrow Transplantation

One of the major drawbacks for unrelated donor (UD) bone marrow transplantation (BMT) is graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Despite results from randomized trials, antithymocyte globulin (ATG) is not routinely included for GVHD prophylaxis in UD BMT by many centers. One of ways to demonstrate the usefulness of rabbit ATG in UD BMT is to evaluate how its results approximate to those observed in matched related (MRD) BMT. Therefore, we compared the outcomes between UD BMT with rabbit ATG (Thymoglobulin) for GVHD prophylaxis (n = 25) and MRD BMT (n = 91) for leukemia and myelodysplasia. All but one patient received a myeloablative conditioning regimen. Grades II–IV acute GVHD were similar (39.5% vs. 36%, p = 0.83); however, MRD BMT recipients developed more moderate-severe chronic GVHD (36.5% vs. 8.6%, p = 0.01) and GVHD-related deaths (32.5% vs. 5.6%, p = 0.04). UD BMT independently protected against chronic GVHD (hazard ratio 0.23, p = 0.04). The 6-month transplant-related mortality, 1-year relapse incidence, and 5-year survival rates were similar between patients with non-advanced disease in the MRD and UD BMT groups, 13.8% vs. 16.6% (p = 0.50), 20.8% vs. 16.6% (p = 0.37), and 57% vs. 50% (p = 0.67), respectively. Stable full donor chimerism was equally achieved (71.3% vs. 71.4%, p = 1). Incorporation of rabbit ATG in UD BMT promotes less GVHD, without jeopardizing chimerism evolution, and may attain similar survival outcomes as MRD BMT for leukemia and myelodysplasia especially in patients without advanced disease.
Frontal lobe hypometabolism predicts cognitive decline in patients with lacunar infarcts.

BACKGROUND A proportion of patients with subcortical lacunes will suffer progressive cognitive dysfunction, but the basis for this decline is controversial and little is known about predicting cognitive decline in these patients. Studies of Alzheimer disease have shown that imaging measures of temporal and parietal metabolism and blood flow predict disease course. OBJECTIVE To determine whether regional cerebral glucose metabolism predicts cognitive decline by testing 2 opposing hypotheses: (1) temporoparietal activity predicts decline (based on the idea that concomitant Alzheimer disease causes decline) vs (2) frontal hypometabolism predicts decline (based on evidence that subcortical frontal circuits are especially vulnerable to small vessel ischemia). DESIGN Prospective cohort study. SETTING University outpatient dementia center. PATIENTS A convenience sample of 26 patients with radiologically defined lacunes and baseline cognitive function ranging from normal to moderately demented. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Regional cerebral metabolism was quantitated in the form of atrophy-corrected positron emission tomographic activity ratios in cortical regions that were defined a priori. Patients were followed up at a mean of 1.8 years, and the dependent variable was rate of change in the Mini-Mental State Examination score. RESULTS Bilateral and right hemisphere dorsolateral frontal metabolism significantly predicted cognitive decline, with right dorsolateral frontal metabolism explaining 19% of the variance. No other positron emission tomographic region was a significant predictor, nor were demographic variables or baseline Mini-Mental State Examination scores significant predictors. CONCLUSION Cognitive decline in patients with lacunes may result in part from progressive vascular compromise in subcortical frontal circuits.
Data Farming Methods for Temporal Data Mining

Many temporal data mining projects use the existing data collected for various purposes, ranging from routinely collected data to process improvement projects and data required for regulatory purposes. In some cases, the set of considered features might be large (a wide data set) and sufficient for extraction of knowledge. In other cases the data set might be narrow and insufficient to extract meaningful knowledge or the data may not even exist. Mining wide data sets has received wide attention in the literature. Many models and algorithms for feature selection have been developed for wide data sets. Determining features for which data should be collected in the absence of an existing data set or its partial availability (a narrow set) has not been sufficiently addressed in the literature, especially for temporal data. Yet, this issue is of paramount importance as the interest in data mining is growing. The process and methods used to determine the most appropriate features for data collection and subsequent data analysis are referred to as data farming. This paper provides a foundation for the development of data farming science for temporal analysis of data.
Mitomycin-C Application Before versus After Scleral Flap Dissection in Trabeculectomy; a Randomized Clinical Trial

Purpose: To compare trabeculectomy with mitomycin-C (MMC) application before versus after scleral flap dissection in terms of corneal endothelial cell loss and surgical outcomes. Methods: In this double blind clinical trial, patients were randomized to MMC 0.02% application before (group A) or after (group B) scleral flap dissection. The main outcome measure was corneal endothelial cell density; secondary outcome measures included IOP, glaucoma medications, success rates (IOP ≤21 and ≤18 mmHg, defined as criterion 1 and 2, respectively) and complications. Results: Overall, 99 eyes of 99 subjects including 72 male and 27 female subjects were operated and followed for at least 6 months. The study groups were comparable in terms of baseline variables. Outcomes of surgery were similar at six months in terms of IOP (11.8±5.8 vs. 11.7±5.5 mmHg, P=0.88) and number of medications (0.2 ±0.6 vs 0.1±0.4, P=0.45). Overall success was comparable at months 1 and 3, but higher in group B at month 6 (82.0% vs. 63.3%, P=0.036 for criterion 1 and 78.9% vs. 59.2%, P=0.044 for criterion 2). Hypotony was more prevalent in group B (8.0% versus 2.0%) but the difference was not significant (P=0.38). Endothelial cell density loss (2.2±7.3 vs 0.9±6.3%, P=0.567) was comparable between the study groups. Conclusion: Corneal endothelial loss following trabeculectomy was comparable with MMC application before and after scleral flap dissection. The sequences were comparable in terms of postoperative IOP and glaucoma medications. Overall success rate was higher at six months in group B and the rate of hypotony was also higher, although insignificantly.
A Survey of Knowledge, Individual Perceived Risk, General Perceived Risk, and Behavioral Intentions Regarding Hepatitis B among Students in the Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Health at Shahrekord Islamic Azad University in 2014

Background Hepatitis B is the most common cause of liver disease, and medical students are a risk group for the disease given their future occupations. Objectives The aim of the study was to assess of predictors of hepatitis B in the Faculty of nursing, midwifery and health at Shahrekord Islamic Azad University in 2014. Materials and Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted with 300 students from the Faculty of nursing, midwifery and health at Shahrekord Islamic Azad University. The students answered questionnaires with items covering demographic characteristics, individual knowledge, public risk perception, perceived personal risk, and behavioral intentions regarding hepatitis B. The data were analyzed with SPSS version 18 software. Results The mean knowledge score of the students was 4.77 ± 1.71, the mean public risk perception score was 24.22 ± 3.44, the mean perceived personal risk score was 6.51 ± 1.97, and the mean behavioral intention score was 12.06 ± 2.97. There were significant differences in the mean knowledge scores in terms of gender, level of awareness, and level of education. There were also differences in the mean behavioral intention scores in terms of gender and field of study, the mean perceived personal risk scores in terms of level of education and field of study, and the mean public risk perception scores in terms of field of study. Conclusions According to the results of this study, it is necessary to implement educational intervention in order to allow students to identify risk factors and overcome barriers to understanding the implications of the disease in this context.
De Novo Transcriptome Sequencing and Analysis for Venturia inaequalis, the Devastating Apple Scab Pathogen

Venturia inaequalis is the causal agent of apple scab, one of the most devastating diseases of apple. Due to several distinct features, it has emerged as a model fungal pathogen to study various aspects of hemibiotrophic plant pathogen interactions. The present study reports de novo assembling, annotation and characterization of the transcriptome of V. inaequalis. Venturia transcripts expressed during its growth on laboratory medium and that expressed during its biotrophic stage of infection on apple were sequenced using Illumina RNAseq technology. A total of 94,350,055 reads (50 bp read length) specific to Venturia were obtained after filtering. The reads were assembled into 62,061 contigs representing 24,571 unique genes. GO analysis suggested prevalence of genes associated with biological process categories like metabolism, transport and response to stimulus. Genes associated with molecular function like binding, catalytic activities and transferase activities were found in majority. EC and KEGG pathway analyses suggested prevalence of genes encoding kinases, proteases, glycoside hydrolases, cutinases, cytochrome P450 and transcription factors. The study has identified several putative pathogenicity determinants and candidate effectors in V. inaequalis. A large number of transcripts encoding membrane transporters were identified and comparative analysis revealed that the number of transporters encoded by Venturia is significantly more as compared to that encoded by several other important plant fungal pathogens. Phylogenomics analysis indicated that V. inaequalis is closely related to Pyrenophora tritici-repentis (the causal organism of tan spot of wheat). In conclusion, the findings from this study provide a better understanding of the biology of the apple scab pathogen and have identified candidate genes/functions required for its pathogenesis. This work lays the foundation for facilitating further research towards understanding this host-pathogen interaction.
Absence of the predisposing factors and signs and symptoms usually associated with overreaching and overtraining in physical fitness centers

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the occurrence of the well‐known predisposing factors and signs and symptoms usually associated with either overreaching or overtraining syndrome in physical fitness centers in São Paulo City, Brazil. METHOD: A questionnaire consisting of 13 question groups pertaining to either predisposing factors (1‐7) or signs and symptoms (8‐13) was given to 413 subjects. The general training schedule of the volunteers was characterized by workout sessions of 2.18 ± 0.04 h for a total of 11.0 ± 0.3 h/week for 33 ± 2 months independent of the type of exercise performed (walking, running, spinning, bodybuilding and stretching). A mean score was calculated ranging from 1 (completely absent) to 5 (severe) for each question group. A low occurrence was considered to be a question group score lower than 4, which was observed in all 13 question groups. RESULTS: The psychological evaluation by POMS Mood State Questionnaire indicated a normal non‐inverted iceberg. The hematological parameters, creatine kinase activity, cortisol, total testosterone and free testosterone concentrations were within the normal ranges for the majority of the volunteers selected for this analysis (n = 60). CONCLUSION: According to the questionnaire score analysis, no predisposing factors or signs and symptoms usually associated with either overreaching or overtraining were detected among the members of physical fitness centers in São Paulo City, Brazil. This observation was corroborated by the absence of any significant hematological or stress hormone level alterations in blood analyses of the majority of the selected volunteers (n = 60).
Opposing Changes in Phosphorylation of Specific Sites in Synapsin I During Ca2+-Dependent Glutamate Release in Isolated Nerve Terminals

Synapsins are major neuronal phosphoproteins involved in regulation of neurotransmitter release. Synapsins are well established targets for multiple protein kinases within the nerve terminal, yet little is known about dephosphorylation processes involved in regulation of synapsin function. Here, we observed a reciprocal relationship in the phosphorylation–dephosphorylation of the established phosphorylation sites on synapsin I. We demonstrate that, in vitro, phosphorylation sites 1, 2, and 3 of synapsin I (P-site 1 phosphorylated by cAMP-dependent protein kinase; P-sites 2 and 3 phosphorylated by Ca2+–calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II) were excellent substrates for protein phosphatase 2A, whereas P-sites 4, 5, and 6 (phosphorylated by mitogen-activated protein kinase) were efficiently dephosphorylated only by Ca2+–calmodulin-dependent protein phosphatase 2B–calcineurin. In isolated nerve terminals, rapid changes in synapsin I phosphorylation were observed after Ca2+entry, namely, a Ca2+-dependent phosphorylation of P-sites 1, 2, and 3 and a Ca2+-dependent dephosphorylation of P-sites 4, 5, and 6. Inhibition of calcineurin activity by cyclosporin A resulted in a complete block of Ca2+-dependent dephosphorylation of P-sites 4, 5, and 6 and correlated with a prominent increase in ionomycin-evoked glutamate release. These two opposing, rapid, Ca2+-dependent processes may play a crucial role in the modulation of synaptic vesicle trafficking within the presynaptic terminal.
of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society Title Are People Successful at Learning Sequential Decisions on a Perceptual Matching Task ?

Sequential decision-making tasks are commonplace in our ev eryday lives. We report the results of an experiment in which human subjects were trained to perform a perceptual matchin g task, an instance of a sequential decision-making task. We u se two benchmarks to evaluate the quality of subjects’ learnin g. One benchmark is based on optimal performance as defined by a dynamic programming procedure. The other is based on an adaptive computational agent that uses a reinforcemen t learning method known as Q-learning to learn to perform the task. Our analyses suggest that subjects learned to perform the perceptual matching task in a near-optimal manner at the end of training. Subjects were able to achieve near-optimal performance because they learned, at least partially, the c ausal structure underlying the task. Subjects’ learning curves w re broadly consistent with those of model-based reinforcemen tlearning agents that built and used internal models of how th eir actions influenced the external environment. We hypothesiz e that, in general, people will achieve near-optimal perform ances on sequential decision-making tasks when they can detect th effects of their actions on the environment, and when they ca n represent and reason about these effects using an internal m e tal model.
A DOA Based Speaker Diarization System for Real Meetings

This paper presents a speaker diarization system that estimates who spoke when in a meeting. Our proposed system is realized by using a noise robust voice activity detector (VAD), a direction of arrival (DOA) estimator, and a DOA classifier. Our previous system utilized the generalized cross correlation method with the phase transform (GCC-PHAT) approach for the DOA estimation. Because the GCC-PHAT can estimate just one DOA per frame, it was difficult to handle speaker overlaps. This paper tries to deal with this issue by employing a DOA at each time-frequency slot (TFDOA), and reports how it improves diarization performance for real meetings / conversations recorded in a room with a reverberation time of 350 ms.
Teacher professional identity as multidimensional: mapping its components and examining their associations with general pedagogical beliefs

Abstract Research on teachers’ professional identity integrates many constructs that are treated independently in most cases. This study described the associations between components of teacher professional identity and their association with teachers’ general pedagogical beliefs. Secondary teachers (n = 236) completed a survey about several components of their identity (self-efficacy beliefs, motivation to become a teacher, affective commitment and perceived type of expertise) and general pedagogical beliefs (constructivist and direct transmission). Multidimensional scaling revealed that the components could be mapped on two dimensions: form of motivation and degree of subject specificity. The resulting map revealed four meaningful groups of components. Furthermore, whereas direct transmission general pedagogical beliefs were found to be strongly tied to an identity grounded in the subject taught, constructivist beliefs were independent of identity components. This study provides new insight into the structure of teacher professional identity and its relevance for teaching.
Genetic Predisposition in NAFLD and NASH: Impact on Severity of Liver Disease and Response to Treatment

Liver fat deposition related to systemic insulin resistance defines non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) which, when associated with oxidative hepatocellular damage, inflammation, and activation of fibrogenesis, i.e. non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), can progress towards cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Due to the epidemic of obesity, NAFLD is now the most frequent liver disease and the leading cause of altered liver enzymes in Western countries. Epidemiological, familial, and twin studies provide evidence for an element of heritability of NAFLD. Genetic modifiers of disease severity and progression have been identified through genome-wide association studies. These include the Patatin-like phosholipase domain-containing 3 (PNPLA3) gene variant I148M as a major determinant of inter-individual and ethnicity-related differences in hepatic fat content independent of insulin resistance and serum lipid concentration. Association studies confirm that the I148M polymorphism is also a strong modifier of NASH and progressive hepatic injury. Furthermore, a few large multicentre case-control studies have demonstrated a role for genetic variants implicated in insulin signalling, oxidative stress, and fibrogenesis in the progression of NAFLD towards fibrosing NASH, and confirm that hepatocellular fat accumulation and insulin resistance are key operative mechanisms closely involved in the progression of liver damage. It is now important to explore the molecular mechanisms underlying these associations between gene variants and progressive liver disease, and to evaluate their impact on the response to available therapies. It is hoped that this knowledge will offer further insights into pathogenesis, suggest novel therapeutic targets, and could help guide physicians towards individualised therapy that improves clinical outcome.
Event Detection in Twitter using Aggressive Filtering and Hierarchical Tweet Clustering

Twitter has become as much of a news media as a social network, and much research has turned to analyzing its content for tracking real-world events, from politics to sports and natural disasters. This paper describes the techniques we employed for the SNOW Data Challenge 2014, described in [Pap14]. We show that aggressive filtering of tweets based on length and structure, combined with hierarchical clustering of tweets and ranking of the resulting clusters, achieves encouraging results. We present empirical results and discussion for two different Twitter streams focusing on the US presidential elections in 2012 and the recent events about Ukraine, Syria and the Bitcoin, in February 2014.
Quadratic neural unit for adaptive prediction of transitions among local attractors of Lorenz system

The goal of the paper is to demonstrate an adaptive prediction of trajectory transitions between local attractors of deterministic chaotic systems using low-dimensional dynamic quadratic neural unit with periodically forced neural inputs. The forthcoming transitions of higher dimensional chaotic systems are predicted by a low dimensional discrete dynamic neural unit implemented as a special adaptive forced oscillator. The real-time sample-by-sample evaluation of complex system behavior is based on monitoring of parameters of an adaptive model during its adaptation. The behavior of chaotic systems in the state-space is adaptively transformed to system behavior in an approximated parameter-space using special higher order nonlinear neural unit forced with periodical inputs. Added forcing inputs naturally allow a low dimensional dynamic neural unit to better approximate higher dimensional behavior; the forcing neural inputs are initially configured upon analysis of frequency spectra of the evaluated time series. It is demonstrated that monitoring of system parameters during adaptation of a dynamic neural architecture can reveal important attributes of complex behavior in real time, and should be considered as a novel methodology for early detection of transients between local attractors of higher dimensional chaotic systems (transient chaos) by lower dimensional adaptive evaluating systems, i.e. a neural unit with forcing inputs. The stable learning technique combining consequent adaptation of the static and dynamic neural unit is discussed. Results are shown on the application of monitoring and detection of significant transitions among local basins of attraction in deterministic chaotic time series generated first by Lorenz system in a chaotic mode and second by a high dimensional complex nonlinear dynamic system.
Exploring Intentional Forgetting: Using novel Think/No-think paradigms to investigate memory suppression

Individual differences in thought suppression are explored in three separate, but related, research efforts. A survey study generated novel insight into the relationship between personality traits and personal beliefs regarding thought suppression, and four separate novel Think/No-think paradigms were used to explore relationships between laboratory measures of memory suppression and personality traits. The survey study utilized a novel inventory, the Retrospective-Prospective Suppression Inventory, to determine individual beliefs regarding use of thought suppression in everyday life. Personality traits that have been implicated in the efficacy of laboratory thought suppression were measured and compared between participants who varied in selfreported thought suppression tendencies and efficacy. Individuals who reported engaging in successful suppression in everyday life were less neurotic, ruminative, and experienced fewer intrusive thoughts than individuals who reported unsuccessful suppressive attempts. The findings suggests that the high-ends of the neuroticism and intrusive thought spectra are occupied by individuals who unsuccessfully attempt everyday suppression, while successful suppressors differ minimally from individuals who report avoiding suppression in everyday life. In two experiments memory for contextual information associated with items that were rehearsed or suppressed was examined, using two novel paradigms. Experiment 1 found participants generally unable to suppress items situated within a matrix of 9 items, and that contextual information associated with the items was recalled with great difficulty regardless of suppression or rehearsal. The design of Experiment 1 was then simplified from using a matrix of 9 items, to using sets of 3 items (i.e., item triads) for Experiment 2. Experiment 2 found participants generally unable to suppress items situated within item-triads, and contextual information remained unaffected by suppression and rehearsal.