Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Functional flexibility of infant vocalization and the emergence of language

We report on the emergence of functional flexibility in vocalizations of human infants. This vastly underappreciated capability becomes apparent when prelinguistic vocalizations express a full range of emotional content—positive, neutral, and negative. The data show that at least three types of infant vocalizations (squeals, vowel-like sounds, and growls) occur with this full range of expression by 3–4 mo of age. In contrast, infant cry and laughter, which are species-specific signals apparently homologous to vocal calls in other primates, show functional stability, with cry overwhelmingly expressing negative and laughter positive emotional states. Functional flexibility is a sine qua non in spoken language, because all words or sentences can be produced as expressions of varying emotional states and because learning conventional “meanings” requires the ability to produce sounds that are free of any predetermined function. Functional flexibility is a defining characteristic of language, and empirically it appears before syntax, word learning, and even earlier-developing features presumed to be critical to language (e.g., joint attention, syllable imitation, and canonical babbling). The appearance of functional flexibility early in the first year of human life is a critical step in the development of vocal language and may have been a critical step in the evolution of human language, preceding protosyntax and even primitive single words. Such flexible affect expression of vocalizations has not yet been reported for any nonhuman primate but if found to occur would suggest deep roots for functional flexibility of vocalization in our primate heritage.
Development of Stereotactic Mass Spectrometry for Brain Tumor Surgery

BACKGROUND: Surgery remains the first and most important treatment modality for the majority of solid tumors. Across a range of brain tumor types and grades, postoperative residual tumor has a great impact on prognosis. The principal challenge and objective of neurosurgical intervention is therefore to maximize tumor resection while minimizing the potential for neurological deficit by preserving critical tissue. OBJECTIVE: To introduce the integration of desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry into surgery for in vivo molecular tissue characterization and intraoperative definition of tumor boundaries without systemic injection of contrast agents. METHODS: Using a frameless stereotactic sampling approach and by integrating a 3-dimensional navigation system with an ultrasonic surgical probe, we obtained image-registered surgical specimens. The samples were analyzed with ambient desorption/ionization mass spectrometry and validated against standard histopathology. This new approach will enable neurosurgeons to detect tumor infiltration of the normal brain intraoperatively with mass spectrometry and to obtain spatially resolved molecular tissue characterization without any exogenous agent and with high sensitivity and specificity. RESULTS: Proof of concept is presented in using mass spectrometry intraoperatively for real-time measurement of molecular structure and using that tissue characterization method to detect tumor boundaries. Multiple sampling sites within the tumor mass were defined for a patient with a recurrent left frontal oligodendroglioma, World Health Organization grade II with chromosome 1p/19q codeletion, and mass spectrometry data indicated a correlation between lipid constitution and tumor cell prevalence. CONCLUSION: The mass spectrometry measurements reflect a complex molecular structure and are integrated with frameless stereotaxy and imaging, providing 3-dimensional molecular imaging without systemic injection of any agents, which can be implemented for surgical margins delineation of any organ and with a rapidity that allows real-time analysis.
[A nationwide survey in China on prevalence of asthma in urban children].

OBJECTIVE Asthma is one of the most common chronic disorders in childhood. The prevalence rate of asthma and other atopic diseases have increased steadily in many countries. The present survey was conducted to find out the prevalence of childhood asthma in urban areas in China, and to assess the influence of asthma on patients' social life and their families. METHODS A nationwide randomized survey, covering 43 cities in 31 provinces, on the prevalence of childhood asthma was carried out by the National Pediatric Cooperative Group on Asthma Research from June to October 2000, including a population of 437,873 children aged 0-14 years. Patients who had asthma, infantile asthma, cough variant asthma and questionable asthma (including asthmatic bronchitis) were chosen as subjects. RESULTS Totally 10,065 subjects were screened out as asthma associated children by means of questionnaire to the parents, physical examination and case history review. Among them 7401 (73.53%) children, aged 3 years or more, were diagnosed as asthma of children; 1109 (11.02%) infants and young children, aged less than 3 years, as asthma of infants and young children; 785 (7.80%) as cough variant asthma; and 770 (7.65%) as questionable asthma. The prevalence of the average accumulated asthma of all the 0-14 years old asthma population (including asthma of older children and of infants) in the 31 provinces, 43 cities was 1.97%. Male/female ratio was 1.75:1. There was statistically significant difference in asthma prevalence among the 43 cities, with the highest rate in Chongqing (4.63%) and the lowest in Xining (0.25%). Overall, within China, the prevalence rate in North China was relatively lower (0.99%) and was higher in South China (1.54%), the highest was seen in eastern areas of China (2.37%), 4670 patients (70.00%) of the children had their onset before three years of age. The current 2 years prevalence of Chinese urban children was 1.54%. Thirty-six of the 43 cities had received the same kind of asthma prevalence survey 10 years ago, which made a longitudinal comparison of the two surveys available. For 6370 patients (95.47%) the family members' work was affected because of their asthma attacks. One third of the patients had used inhaler corticosteroids. In about 2/3 of patients the diagnosis of asthma was correct, while only 1/3 patients' cough variant asthma was correct compared with their early diagnosis. Sixteen percent of patients were never diagnosed to have asthmatic diseases previously. CONCLUSIONS There has been a significantly increasing trend of asthma prevalence during the ten years, especially in the older age group. From the data of present survey it was inferred that there has been certain improvement, although not ideal, in the accuracy of diagnosis and in the practice of steroid inhalation therapy by the pediatricians in different cities.
On the uniqueness of extremal vacuum black holes

We prove uniqueness theorems for asymptotically flat, stationary, extremal, vacuum black hole solutions, in four and five dimensions with one and two commuting rotational Killing fields respectively. As in the non-extremal case, these problems may be cast as boundary value problems on the two-dimensional orbit space. We show that the orbit space for solutions with one extremal horizon is homeomorphic to an infinite strip, where the two boundaries correspond to the rotational axes, and the two asymptotic regions correspond to spatial infinity and the near-horizon geometry. In four dimensions, this allows us to establish the uniqueness of extremal Kerr amongst asymptotically flat, stationary, rotating, vacuum black holes with a single extremal horizon. In five dimensions, we show that there is at most one asymptotically flat, stationary, extremal vacuum black hole with a connected horizon, two commuting rotational symmetries and given interval structure and angular momenta. We also provide necessary and sufficient conditions for four- and five-dimensional asymptotically flat vacuum black holes with the above symmetries to be static (valid for extremal, non-extremal and even non-connected horizons).
Specific isoforms of drosophila shroom define spatial requirements for the induction of apical constriction

Vertebrate Shroom proteins define cytoskeletal organization and cellular architecture by binding directly to F‐actin and Rho‐kinase and spatially regulating the activity of nonmuscle myosin II (myosin II). Here, we report characterization and gain‐of‐function analysis of Drosophila Shroom. The dShrm locus expresses at least two protein isoforms, dShrmA and dShrmB, which localize to adherens junctions and the apical membrane, respectively. dShrmA and dShrmB exhibit differing abilities to induce apical constriction that are based on their subcellular distribution and the subsequent assembly of spatially and organizationally distinct actomyosin networks that are dependent on the ability to engage Rho‐kinase and the activity of myosin II. These data show that the differential subcellular distribution of naturally occurring isoforms of Shroom proteins can define both the position and organization of actomyosin networks in vivo. We further hypothesize that differentially positioned contractile arrays have distinct effects on cellular morphologies and behaviors. Developmental Dynamics 239:2078–2093, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Discriminative Classifiers for Language Recognition

Most language recognition systems consist of a cascade of three stages: (1) tokenizers that produce parallel phone streams, (2) phonotactic models that score the match between each phone stream and the phonotactic constraints in the target language, and (3) a final stage that combines the scores from the parallel streams appropriately (M.A. Zissman, 1996). This paper reports a series of contrastive experiments to assess the impact of replacing the second and third stages with large-margin discriminative classifiers. In addition, it investigates how sounds that are not represented in the tokenizers of the first stage can be approximated with composite units that utilize cross-stream dependencies obtained via multi-string alignments. This leads to a discriminative framework that can potentially incorporate a richer set of features such as prosodic and lexical cues. Experiments are reported on the NIST LRE 1996 and 2003 task and the results show that the new techniques give substantial gains over a competitive PPRLM baseline
Parental Country of Birth and Childhood Vaccination Uptake in Washington State

BACKGROUND: Underimmunization of certain immigrant populations can place them at high risk of experiencing vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study between January 1, 2008, and May 1, 2013, among children included in the Washington State Immunization Information System. We assessed receipt of 1 or more doses of measles-containing, hepatitis A, pneumococcal, and diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis-containing vaccines between 12 and 23 months of age. We compared children with 1 or more parents born in Somalia, Ukraine, Russia, Mexico, or India to children with 2 parents born in the United States. Poisson regression models with robust SEs were used to provide prevalence ratios adjusted for maternal education and number of prenatal visits. RESULTS: We identified 277 098 children, including 65 466 with foreign-born parents. Children of Somali-born parents were less likely to be immunized against measles than children of US-born parents (prevalence ratio: 0.82; 95% confidence interval: 0.80–0.84); this decrease became more pronounced over time (P < .01). No such disparity between these groups was observed with other vaccines. Compared with children of US-born parents, children of Ukrainian-born and Russian-born parents were less likely to be immunized, whereas children of Mexican-born and Indian-born parents were more likely to be immunized with any of the specified vaccines. CONCLUSIONS: We found country-specific patterns of immunization that may reflect underlying cultural or other beliefs. Certain immigrant communities with higher rates of immunization refusal may be at risk for vaccine-preventable diseases and require new forms of public health outreach.
Acetylcholine‐evoked currents in cultured neurones dissociated from rat parasympathetic cardiac ganglia.

1. The properties of acetylcholine (ACh)‐activated ion channels of parasympathetic neurones from neonatal rat cardiac ganglia grown in tissue culture were examined using patch clamp recording techniques. Membrane currents evoked by ACh were mimicked by nicotine, attenuated by neuronal bungarotoxin, and unaffected by atropine, suggesting that the ACh‐induced currents are mediated by nicotinic receptor activation. 2. The current‐voltage (I‐V) relationship for whole‐cell ACh‐evoked currents exhibited strong inward rectification and a reversal (zero current) potential of ‐3 mV (NaCl outside, CsCl inside). The rectification was not alleviated by changing the main permeant cation or by removal of divalent cations from the intracellular or extracellular solutions. Unitary ACh‐activated currents exhibited a linear I‐V relationship with slope conductances of 32 pS in cell‐attached membrane patches and 38 pS in excised membrane patches with symmetrical CsCl solutions. 3. Acetylcholine‐induced currents were reversibly inhibited in a dose‐dependent manner by the ganglionic antagonists, mecamylamine (Kd = 37 nM) and hexamethonium (IC50 approximately 1 microM), as well as by the neuromuscular relaxant, d‐tubocurarine (Kd = 3 microM). Inhibition of ACh‐evoked currents by hexamethonium could not be described by a simple blocking model for drug‐receptor interaction. 4. The amplitude of the ionic current through the open channel was dependent on the extracellular Na+ concentration. The direction of the shift in reversal potential upon replacement of NaCl by mannitol indicates that the neuronal nicotinic receptor channel is cation selective and the magnitude suggests a high cation to anion permeability ratio. The cation permeability (PX/PNa) followed the ionic selectivity sequence Cs+ (1.06) greater than Na+ (1.0) greater than Ca2+ (0.93). Anion substitution experiments showed a relative anion permeability, PCl/PNa less than or equal to 0.05. 5. The nicotinic ACh‐activated channels described mediate the responses of postganglionic parasympathetic neurones of the mammalian heart to vagal stimulation.
Structure of Carbon Materials Explored by Local Transmission Electron Microscopy and Global Powder Diffraction Probes

Transmission electron microscopy and neutron or X-ray diffraction are powerful techniques available today for characterization of the structure of various carbon materials at nano and atomic levels. They provide complementary information but each one has advantages and limitations. Powder X-ray or neutron diffraction measurements provide structural information representative for the whole volume of a material under probe but features of singular nano-objects cannot be identified. Transmission electron microscopy, in turn, is able to probe single nanoscale objects. In this review, it is demonstrated how transmission electron microscopy and powder X-ray and neutron diffraction methods complement each other by providing consistent structural models for different types of carbons such as carbon blacks, glass-like carbons, graphene, nanotubes, nanodiamonds, and nanoonions.
The Effects of Build Parameters and Strain Rate on the Mechanical Properties of FDM 3D-Printed Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene

In this paper, the effects of build parameters on the mechanical properties of 3D-printed acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) produced using fused deposition modeling (FDM) are investigated. Full factorial experimental design incorporating a 2-level, 3-factor design with raster angle, layer thickness and interior fill style was carried out. Tensile tests were performed at four different strain rates to determine how the build parameters influence the mechanical properties of the 3-D printed ABS and to assess its strain rate sensitivity under quasi-static loading. It was found that the modulus of toughness of ABS material is most influenced by raster angle, while the interior fill style is the most dominant build parameter that dictates the specimen’s modulus of resilience, yield strength and ultimate tensile strength. At all strain rates, it is further revealed that higher mean values of yield strength, ultimate tensile strength and modulus of resilience were obtained when the interior fill style is solid as opposed to high density. This can be attributed to the denser structure and higher effective cross-sectional area in solid interior fill style in comparison with high density interior fill style. However, the influence of the layer thickness on the investigated mechanical properties was found to be inconsistent. It was noted that specimens built with both 0.254 mm layer thickness and the cross [0°/90°] raster angle had superior mechanical properties when compared to those built with the 0.3302 mm layer thickness and cross [0°/90°] raster angle. This suggests that there is a key interaction between the layer thickness and the raster angle. At any FDM build parameter, it was found that all the mechanical properties investigated in this work exhibited modest sensitivity to strain rates. This study has provided a platform for an appropriate selection of build parameters combinations and strain rates for additive manufacturing of 3D-printed ABS with improved mechanical properties.
Structural and functional alterations in the rat lung following whole thoracic irradiation with moderate doses: Injury and recovery

Purpose: To characterize structural and functional injuries following a single dose of whole-thorax irradiation that might be survivable after a nuclear attack/accident. Methods: Rats were exposed to 5 or 10 Gy of X-rays to the whole thorax with other organs shielded. Non-invasive measurements of breathing rate and arterial oxygen saturation, and invasive evaluations of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, (for total protein, Clara cell secretory protein), vascular reactivity and histology were conducted for at least 6 time points up to 52 weeks after irradiation. Results: Irradiation with 10 Gy resulted in increased breathing rate, a reduction in oxygen saturation, an increase in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid protein and attenuation of vascular reactivity between 4–12 weeks after irradiation. These changes were not observed with the lower dose of 5 Gy. Histological examination revealed perivascular edema at 4–8 weeks after exposure to both doses, and mild fibrosis beyond 20 weeks after 10 Gy. Conclusions: Single-dose exposure of rat thorax to 10 but not 5 Gy X-irradiation resulted in a decrease in oxygen uptake and vasoreactivity and an increase in respiratory rate, which paralleled early pulmonary vascular pathology. Vascular edema resolved and was replaced by mild fibrosis beyond 20 weeks after exposure, while lung function recovered.
Novel approach to the fabrication of Au/silica core–shell nanostructures based on nanosecond laser irradiation of thin Au films on Si

We demonstrate the possibility of producing Au/SiO2 core–shell nanoparticles by nanosecond laser irradiation of thin (5 and 20 nm) Au films on Si. The Au/Si eutectic reaction and dewetting process caused by the fast melting and solidification dynamics induced by the nanosecond laser irradiations are investigated as the origin of the formation of core–shell nanoparticles. Using several microscopic techniques (Rutherford backscattering spectrometry, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and energy filtered transmission electron microscopy) the formation and evolution of the core–shell structures are investigated as a function of the laser fluence in the 500–1500 mJ cm−2 range for both film thicknesses. In particular, the mean height and diameter and surface density evolution of the core–shell structures are quantified and correlated to the laser fluence and Au film thickness.
Longitudinal Study of the Molecular Epidemiology of Campylobacter jejuni in Cattle on Dairy Farms

ABSTRACT Multilocus sequence typing (MLST), an accurate and phylogenetically robust characterization method for population studies of Campylobacter, was applied to Campylobacter jejuni isolates (n = 297) from the fecal samples of cattle from five dairy farms in Cheshire, United Kingdom, collected throughout 2003. The population dynamics of the C. jejuni strains, as identified by the occurrence of sequence types and clonal complexes, demonstrated variations within and between cattle populations over time. Three clonal lineages have emerged to predominate among the cattle isolates, namely, the ST-61 complex (24.2%), ST-21 complex (23.6%), and ST-42 complex (20.5%). This provided further evidence that the ST-61 clonal complex may present a cattle-adapted C. jejuni genotype. In addition, the ST-42 clonal complex may also represent an important cattle-associated genotype. Strong geographical associations for these genotypes were also found among the farms. This is the first longitudinal study and the largest study to date for C. jejuni involving cattle populations using MLST for accurate strain characterization. This study shows the important associations between cattle and C. jejuni clonal complexes ST-61, ST-21, and ST-42, and it suggests that cattle and/or dairy products are likely to be a source of the human Campylobacter gastroenteritis caused by such genotypes. The reported findings have significant implications for the design of effective intervention strategies for disease control and prevention.
Limb-kinetic apraxia in Parkinson disease

To learn if limb-kinetic apraxia (LKA) is associated with Parkinson disease (PD), participants with PD (on medications) and control subjects performed finger tapping (FT), measuring movement speed, and performed coin rotation (CR), measuring precise coordinated but independent finger movements and speed. There were no group differences in FT, a measure of bradykinesia–rigidity, but CR rotation was impaired in PD. Thus, LKA, not related to bradykinesia–rigidity, is associated with PD.
The Effect of $1, $5 and $10 Stakes in an Online Dictator Game

The decision rules underpinning human cooperative behaviour are often investigated under laboratory conditions using monetary incentives. A major concern with this approach is that stake size may bias subjects’ decisions. This concern is particularly acute in online studies, where stakes are often far lower than those used in laboratory or field settings. We address this concern by conducting a Dictator Game using Amazon Mechanical Turk. In this two-player game, one player (the dictator) determines the division of an endowment between himself and the other player. We recruited subjects from India and the USA to play an online Dictator Game. Dictators received endowments of $1, $5 or $10. We collected two batches of data over two consecutive years. We found that players from India were less generous when playing with a $10 stake. By contrast, the effect of stake size among players from the USA was very small. This study indicates that the effects of stake size on decision making in economic games may vary across populations.