Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Posttraumatic Stress, Academic Performance, and Future Orientation as Pathways to Community Violence Exposure and Sexual Risk among African American Youth in Chicago's Southside

Abstract Posttraumatic stress, low academic performance, and future orientation as pathways from community violence exposure to sexual risk-taking behavior were examined among 753 African American youth in a large urban school district, ranging from ages of 13 to 24 years. Youth completed a self-report instrument. Youth completed a self-report instrument of Exposure to Violence Probe, University of California at Los Angeles’ PTSD Reaction Index Adolescent Version, and Coopersmith’s Self-Esteem Scale. Structural equation modeling was performed to examine relationships among the major study variables. Results indicated that community violence exposure was not directly associated with sexual risk behavior. However, community violence exposure had a significantly positive impact on posttraumatic stress, which was associated with low future orientation and sexual risk behavior. Findings suggest that targeted interventions need to consider variables that mediate the association between violence exposure and sexual risk behavior, which can reduce poor sexual health outcomes among urban youth who are exposed to violence in their community.
Regulation of MyD88 Aggregation and the MyD88-dependent Signaling Pathway by Sequestosome 1 and Histone Deacetylase 6*

MyD88 is an essential adaptor molecule for Toll-like receptors (TLRs) and interleukin (IL)-1 receptor. MyD88 is thought to be present as condensed forms or aggregated structures in the cytoplasm, although the reason has not yet been clear. Here, we show that endogenous MyD88 is present as small speckle-like condensed structures, formation of which depends on MyD88 dimerization. In addition, formation of large aggregated structures is related to cytoplasmic accumulation of sequestosome 1 (SQSTM1; also known as p62) and histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6), which are involved in accumulation of polyubiquitinated proteins. A gene knockdown study revealed that SQSTM1 and HDAC6 were required for MyD88 aggregation and exhibited a suppressive effect on TLR ligand-induced expression of IL-6 and NOS2 in RAW264.7 cells. SQSTM1 and HDAC6 were partially involved in suppression of several TLR4-mediated signaling events, including activation of p38 and JNK, but they hardly affected degradation of IκBα (inhibitor of nuclear factor κB). Biochemical induction of MyD88 oligomerization induced recruitment of SQSTM1 and HDAC6 to the MyD88-TRAF6 signaling complex. Repression of SQSTM1 and HDAC6 enhanced formation of the MyD88-TRAF6 complex and conversely decreased interaction of the ubiquitin-specific negative regulator CYLD with the complex. Furthermore, ubiquitin-binding regions on SQSTM1 and HDAC6 were essential for MyD88 aggregation but were not required for interaction with the MyD88 complex. Thus, our study reveals not only that SQSTM1 and HDAC6 are important determinants of aggregated localization of MyD88 but also that MyD88 activates a machinery of polyubiquitinated protein accumulation that has a modulatory effect on MyD88-dependent signal transduction.
Oligodeoxynucleotides lacking CpG dinucleotides mediate Toll‐like receptor 9 dependent T helper type 2 biased immune stimulation

Oligodeoxynucleotides (ODN) with unmethylated CpG dinucleotides mimic the immune stimulatory activity of bacterial DNA in vertebrates and are recognized by Toll‐like receptor 9 (TLR9). It is also possible to detect immune activation with certain phosphorothioate sequences that lack CpG motifs. These ODN are less potent than CpG ODN and the mechanism by which they stimulate mammalian leucocytes is not understood. We here provide several lines of evidence demonstrating that the effects induced by non‐CpG ODN are mediated by TLR9. First, non‐CpG ODN could not stimulate cytokine secretion from the splenocytes of TLR9‐deficient (TLR9–/–) mice. Second, immunization of TLR9+/+ but not TLR9–/– mice with non‐CpG ODN enhanced antigen‐specific antibody responses, although these were T helper type 2 (Th2)‐biased. Third, reactivity to non‐CpG ODN could be reconstituted by transfection of human TLR9 into non‐responsive cells. In addition, we define a new efficient immune stimulatory motif aside from the CpG dinucleotide that consists of a 5′‐TC dinucleotide in a thymidine‐rich background. Non‐CpG ODN containing this motif induced activation of human B cells, but lacked stimulation of Th1‐like cytokines and chemokines. Our study indicates that TLR9 can mediate either efficient Th1‐ or Th2‐dominated effects depending on whether it is stimulated by CpG or certain non‐CpG ODN.
Combination leflunomide and methotrexate in refractory rheumatoid arthritis: a biologic sparing approach

Background: In resource-constrained settings where biologic agents are not widely available, there are limited therapeutic options for patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) refractory to other synthetic disease modifying antirheumatic (DMARD) therapies. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of leflunomide (LEF) with methotrexate (MTX) in refractory RA. Methods: A retrospective record review of adult RA patients treated with LEF/MTX. Demographic details, adverse reactions, and the 3-variable 28 joint disease activity score (DAS28-3) were recorded at initiation of LEF/MTX therapy, and after 4 and 12 months of treatment. Results: Of 194 patients, most were middle-aged seropositive Black African females, with established disease [mean (standard deviation, SD) disease duration 9.4 (8.2) years] and time on previous DMARDs of 7.0 (5.5) years. Before adding LEF, the mean (SD) dose of MTX was 21.7 (3.5) mg/week, and 87.6% of patients used low dose oral corticosteroids. A good or moderate EULAR response was achieved by 44% and 42% of patients, and the retention rate was 71%. Major infections were seen in 6 patients: comprising 2 deaths, 3 cases of leucopaenia and septicaemia and 1 case of tuberculosis. Hepatotoxicity (n = 3), intolerable gastrointestinal symptoms (n = 3), and hypertension (n = 17) were the most common problems. Predictors of remission or low disease activity at 12 months was a baseline DAS28-3 ⩽ 5.5 [odds ratio (OR) = 2.7; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.1–5.6; p = 0.01]. Conclusions: LEF/MTX was effective in the majority of patients in this cohort of mainly Black African women who failed other combination synthetic DMARDs, particularly in those with moderate disease activity at the time of addition of LEF. Infections and hypertension were important complications. In a setting where biologic DMARDs are not readily accessible, the combination of LEF/MTX is a cost-effective approach.
Combining part of speech induction and morphological induction

Linguistic information is useful in natural language processing, information retrieval and a multitude of sub-tasks involving language analysis. Two types of linguistic information in all languages are part of speech and morphology. Part of speech information reflects syntactic structure and can assist in tasks such as speech recognition, machine translation and word sense disambiguation. Morphological information describes the structure of words and has application in automated spelling correction, natural language generation and information retrieval for morphologically complex languages. Machine learning methods in natural language processing acquire linguistic information from corpora of natural language text. While supervised learning algorithms are trained on texts that have been annotated with linguistic features, induction algorithms learn linguistic information from unannotated corpora. Such algorithms avoid any requirement for linguistically annotated training data a resource that is highly time-intensive to produce. However, in learning from unannotated corpora, only limited sources of information are available. In practice, part of speech induction methods usually learn from distributional evidence about the contexts in which words occur. In contrast, morphological induction methods tend to be based on the orthographic structure of the words in the corpus. However, a word’s morphological form and syntactic function often correlate: a word’s morphology may indicate its syntactic function and vice versa. Thus, both distributional and orthographic evidence may be useful for both tasks. This thesis investigates the extent to which the information induced by one learner can be used to bootstrap the other: specifically, whether the incorporation of explicit annotations from one learner can improve the performance of the other.
Neuroenhancement with Vitamin B12—Underestimated Neurological Significance

Vitamin B12 is a cofactor of methionine synthase in the synthesis of methionine, the precursor of the universal methyl donor S-Adenosylmethionine (SAMe), which is involved in different epigenomic regulatory mechanisms and especially in brain development. A Vitamin B12 deficiency expresses itself by a wide variety of neurological manifestations such as paraesthesias, skin numbness, coordination disorders and reduced nerve conduction velocity. In elderly people, a latent Vitamin B12 deficiency can be associated with a progressive brain atrophy. Moderately elevated concentrations of homocysteine (>10 µmol/L) have been associated with an increased risk of dementia, notably Alzheimer’s disease, in many cross-sectional and prospective studies. Raised plasma concentrations of homocysteine is also associated with both regional and whole brain atrophy, not only in Alzheimer’s disease but also in healthy elderly people. Clinician awareness should be raised to accurately diagnose and treat early Vitamin B12 deficiency to prevent irreversible structural brain damage.
A wind tunnel study of gliding flight in the pigeon Columba livia

1. A technique for training pigeons to fly in a tilting wind tunnel is described, and a method of determining lift and drag in gliding flight is explained. 2. Drag measurements were made on wingless bodies and preserved feet in supplementary experiments. The results were used to analyse the measured total drag of live pigeons into ( a ) body drag, ( b ) foot drag, ( c ) induced drag, and ( d ) wing profile drag. 3. As speed is increased, gliding pigeons drastically reduce their wing span, wing area and aspect ratio. The increased induced drag resulting from this is more than offset by a very large reduction in wing profile drag. 4. Although the lift: drag ratio is at best 5.5-6.0, changes of wing area and shape keep it near its maximum, up to speeds at least twice the minimum gliding speed.
A novel algorithm for ship detection in SAR imagery based on the wavelet transform

Carrying out an effective control of fishing activities is essential to guarantee a sustainable exploitation of sea resources. Nevertheless, as the regulated areas are extended, they are difficult and time consuming to monitor by means of traditional reconnaissance methods such as planes and patrol vessels. On the contrary, satellite-based synthetic aperture radar (SAR) provides a powerful surveillance capability allowing the observation of broad expanses, independently from weather effects and from the day and night cycle. Unfortunately, the automatic interpretation of SAR images is often complicated, even though undetected targets are sometimes visible by eye. Attending to these particular circumstances, a novel approach for ship detection is proposed based on the analysis of SAR images by means of the discrete wavelet transform. The exposed method takes advantage of the difference of statistical behavior among the ships and the surrounding sea, interpreting the information through the wavelet coefficients in order to provide a more reliable detection. The analysis of the detection performance over both simulated and real images confirms the robustness of the proposed algorithm.
Audiovisual Synchrony Improves Motion Discrimination via Enhanced Connectivity between Early Visual and Auditory Areas

Audiovisual synchrony enables integration of dynamic visual and auditory signals into a more robust and reliable multisensory percept. In this fMRI study, we investigated the neural mechanisms by which audiovisual synchrony facilitates shape and motion discrimination under degraded visual conditions. Subjects were presented with visual patterns that were rotated by discrete increments at irregular and unpredictable intervals while partially obscured by a dynamic noise mask. On synchronous trials, each rotation coincided with an auditory click. On asynchronous trials, clicks were noncoincident with the rotational movements (but with identical temporal statistics). Subjects discriminated shape or rotational motion profile of the partially hidden visual stimuli. Regardless of task context, synchronous signals increased activations bilaterally in (1) calcarine sulcus (CaS) extending into ventral occipitotemporal cortex and (2) Heschl's gyrus extending into planum temporale (HG/PT) compared with asynchronous signals. Adjacent to these automatic synchrony effects, synchrony-induced activations in lateral occipital (LO) regions were amplified bilaterally during shape discrimination and in the right posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) during motion discrimination. Subjects' synchrony-induced benefits in motion discrimination significantly predicted blood oxygenation level-dependent synchrony effects in V5/hMT+. According to dynamic causal modeling, audiovisual synchrony increased connectivity between CaS and HG/PT bidirectionally, whereas shape and motion tasks increased forwards connectivity from CaS to LO or to pSTS, respectively. To increase the salience of partially obscured moving objects, audiovisual synchrony may amplify visual activations by increasing the connectivity between low level visual and auditory areas. These automatic synchrony-induced response amplifications may then be gated to higher order areas according to behavioral relevance and task context.
Oral monteleukast in urticaria induced by nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs

© 2007 The Authors 1275 JEADV 2007, 21, 1253–1302 Journal compilation © 2007 European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology B-S Kim,† S-H Kim,† S-J Kim,† B-S Jang,† M-B Kim,† C-K Oh,† Y-W Kwon,‡ K-S Kwon*† †Department of Dermatology, Pusan National University School of Medicine, Busan, South Korea, and ‡Laboratory of Immunopathology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA, *Corresponding author, Department of Dermatology, Pusan National University, School of Medicine, 1-10 Ami-dong, Seo-Ku, Busan, 602-739, South Korea, tel. +82 51 240 7338; fax +82 51 245 9467; E-mail: kwonks@pusan.ac. kr
RF-IDraw

Prior work in RF-based positioning has mainly focused on discovering the absolute location of an RF source, where state-of-the-art systems can achieve an accuracy on the order of tens of centimeters using a large number of antennas. However, many applications in gaming and gesture based interface see more benefits in knowing the detailed shape of a motion. Such trajectory tracing requires a resolution several fold higher than what existing RF-based positioning systems can offer. This paper shows that one can provide a dramatic increase in trajectory tracing accuracy, even with a small number of antennas. The key enabler for our design is a multi-resolution positioning technique that exploits an intrinsic tradeoff between improving the resolution and resolving ambiguity in the location of the RF source. The unique property of this design is its ability to precisely reconstruct the minute details in the trajectory shape, even when the absolute position might have an offset. We built a prototype of our design with commercial off-the-shelf RFID readers and tags and used it to enable a virtual touch screen, which allows a user to interact with a desired computing device by gesturing or writing her commands in the air, where each letter is only a few centimeters wide.
Effects of Walnut Consumption on Endothelial Function in Type 2 Diabetic Subjects

OBJECTIVE To determine the effects of daily walnut consumption on endothelial function, cardiovascular biomarkers, and anthropometric measures in type 2 diabetic individuals. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS This study was a randomized, controlled, single-blind, crossover trial. Twenty-four participants with type 2 diabetes (mean age 58 years; 14 women and 10 men) were randomly assigned to one of the two possible sequence permutations to receive an ad libitum diet enriched with 56 g (366 kcal) walnuts/day and an ad libitum diet without walnuts for 8 weeks. Subjects underwent endothelial function testing (measured as flow-mediated dilatation [FMD]) and assessment of cardiovascular biomarkers before and after each 8-week treatment phase. The primary outcome measure was the change in FMD after 8 weeks. Secondary outcome measures included changes in plasma lipids, A1C, fasting glucose, insulin sensitivity, and anthropometric measures. RESULTS Endothelial function significantly improved after consumption of a walnut-enriched ad libitum diet compared with that after consumption of an ad libitum diet without walnuts (2.2 ± 1.7 vs. 1.2 ± 1.6%; P = 0.04). The walnut-enriched diet increased fasting serum glucose and lowered serum total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol from baseline (10.0 ± 20.5 mg/dl, P = 0.04; −9.7 ± 14.5 mg/dl, P < 0.01; and −7.7 ± 10 mg/dl, P < 0.01, respectively), although these changes were not significant compared with those for an ad libitum diet without walnuts. There were no significant changes in anthropometric measures, plasma A1C, and insulin sensitivity. CONCLUSIONS A walnut-enriched ad libitum diet improves endothelium-dependent vasodilatation in type 2 diabetic individuals, suggesting a potential reduction in overall cardiac risk.
Alcohol interventions for mandated college students: A meta-analytic review.

OBJECTIVE When college students violate campus alcohol policies, they typically receive disciplinary sanctions that include alcohol education or counseling. This meta-analysis evaluated the efficacy of these "mandated interventions" to prevent future alcohol misuse. METHOD Studies were included if they evaluated an individual- or group-level intervention, sampled students mandated to an alcohol program, used a pretest-posttest design, and assessed alcohol use as an outcome. Thirty-one studies with 68 separate interventions (N = 8,621 participants; 35% women; 85% White) were coded by independent raters with respect to sample, design, methodological features, and intervention content; the raters also calculated weighted mean effect sizes, using random-effects models. A priori predictors were examined to explain variability in effect sizes. RESULTS In the 5 studies that used assessment-only control groups, mandated students reported significantly less drinking relative to controls (between-groups contrasts), d+ ranged from 0.13-0.20 for quantity and intoxication outcomes. In the 31 studies that provided within-group contrasts, significant effects were observed for all outcomes in the short-term (i.e., ≤ 3 months postintervention), with d+ ranging from 0.14-0.27; however, fewer significant effects appeared at longer follow-ups. Four commercially available intervention protocols (i.e., BASICS, e-CHUG, Alcohol 101, and Alcohol Skills Training Program) were associated with risk reduction. CONCLUSIONS Providing mandated interventions to students who violate campus alcohol policies is an effective short-term risk reduction strategy. Continued research is needed to maintain initial gains, identify the most useful intervention components, and determine the cost-effectiveness of delivery modes. (PsycINFO Database Record
Relationship between intracranial pressure as measured by an epidural intracranial pressure monitoring system and optic nerve sheath diameter in healthy dogs.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the association between ultrasonographically measured optic nerve sheath diameter (ONSD) and acute increases in intracranial pressure (ICP) as measured by an epidural intracranial pressure monitoring system (EICPMS) in healthy dogs. ANIMALS 6 young healthy dogs. PROCEDURES An EICPMS connected to a pressure monitor was used to generate a continuous pressure waveform in each anesthetized dog. A 22-gauge IV catheter was inserted into the brain parenchyma through the contralateral parietal bone, and 0.5 to 2.0 mL of anticoagulated autologous blood was injected at predetermined intervals. At baseline (immediately after EICPMS placement) and following each injection, the ICP as indicated by EICPMS was recorded, and 3 ultrasonographic images of the optic nerve sheath of each eye were obtained. The ONSD was measured at maximum diameter and at 5 mm caudal to the optic disk. RESULTS In linear models, the maximum ONSD was positively associated with increasing ICP. Specifically, the rate of maximum ONSD increase was greater for pressures ≤ 20 mm Hg above baseline (0.0534 mm/1 mm Hg ICP increase) than for pressures > 40 mm Hg above baseline (0.0087 mm/1 mm Hg ICP increase). The relationship of ICP to maximum ONSD was slightly nonlinear and best explained by comparison of fractional polynomial regression models. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE ICP was positively and nonlinearly associated with increasing maximum ONSD, especially when ICP was ≤ 20 mm Hg above baseline, supporting the conclusion that ultrasonographic measurement of maximum ONSD may provide a noninvasive monitoring tool for evaluation of ICP in dogs. Further research is needed to assess the utility of these measurements in clinical patients.
Financial Factors and Manufacturing Exports:Theory and Firm-level Evidence From Egypt

This paper focuses on the effects of financial factors on manufacturing firms' export participation. Using a simple dynamic discrete choice model, we first present the intuition according to which financial constraints reduce the probability of exporting. Then, based on a panel of Egyptian manufacturing firms over the 2003-2008 period, we estimate the impact of financial constraints on export market participation. Our main results show that, unlike financial liquidity, financial constraints reduce the export participation of Egyptian firms. In addition, financial constraints equally have a negative impact on alternative measures of the export activity, namely the export intensity and the time firm take before starting to export
Can different measures of intelligence be used interchangeably? A comparison of the Wechsler and Stanford-Binet scales

The Wechsler and Stanford Binet scales are among the most commonly used tests of intelligence. In clinical practice, they often seem to be used interchangeably. This paper reports the results of two studies that compared the most recent editions of two Wechsler scales (WPPSI-III and WISC-IV) with the Stanford-Binet Fifth Edition (SB5). The participants in the first study were 36 typically developing 4-year-old children who completed the WPPSI-III and SB5 in counter-balanced order. Although correlations of composite scores ranged from r = . 59 to r = . 82 and were similar to those reported for earlier versions of the two instruments, more than half the sample had a score discrepancy greater than 10 points across the two instruments. In the second study, the WISC-IV and SB5 were administered to 30 children aged 12-14 years. There was a significant difference between Full Scale IQs on the two measures, with scores being higher on the WISC-IV. Differences between the two verbal scales were also significant and favoured the WISC-IV. There were moderate correlations of Full Scale IQs (r = .58) and Nonverbal IQs (r = .54) but the relationship between the two Verbal scales was not significant. For some children, notable score differences led to different categorisations of their level of intellectual ability The findings suggest that the Wechsler and Stanford Binet scales cannot be presumed to be interchangeable. The discussion focuses on how psychologists might reconcile large differences in test scores and the need for caution when interpreting and comparing test results.