Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The HMG box transcription factor gene Sox14 marks a novel subset of ventral interneurons and is regulated by sonic hedgehog.

Cell-type diversity along the dorsoventral axis of the developing neural tube is influenced by factors secreted by groups of cells at the dorsal and ventral midline. Upon reception of these signals, precursor cells express specific sets of transcription factors which, in turn, play critical roles in cell-type specification. Here we report the cloning and characterization of Sox14, a novel and highly conserved member of the Sry-related Sox transcription factor gene family, in mouse and chick. Sox14 expression is restricted to a limited population of neurons in the developing brain and spinal cord of both species. Sox14 marks a subset of interneurons at a defined dorsoventral position adjacent to ventral motor neurons in the spinal cord. In vivo grafting of chick notochord tissue to ectopic positions adjacent to the developing spinal cord altered the expression domain of Sox14. Furthermore, expression of Sox14 in spinal cord explants was found to be regulated by Sonic hedgehog in a dose-dependent manner. These data implicate a novel class of transcription factors in dorsoventral cell-type specification in the spinal cord.
Socioeconomic Status, School Quality, and National Economic Development: A Cross‐National Analysis of the “Heyneman‐Loxley Effect” on Mathematics and Science Achievement

L'interaction entre reproduction sociale, production du capital humain et developpement economique national est un objet de recherche majeur dans le cadre d'une etude comparative transnationale. Dans le cadre d'une opposition entre pays developpes, l'auteur tente de comprendre a quel niveau le developpement national economique influence le processus de reproduction sociale en milieu scolaire a travers la production du capital humain. L'influence de l'origine sociale et de l'environnement scolaire sur le rendement dans deux matieres, en science et mathematiques est illustree ici a travers la publication de donnees statistiques.
Comparing walk-in and call-responsive donors in a national and a private hospital in Nairobi.

BACKGROUND The non-remunerated donors in many of Kenya's hospital blood banks are either call responsive (CR) or walk-in (WI) donors. These donors impact differently on the national blood transfusion services. OBJECTIVE To examine the walk-in (WI) and call responsive (CR) donors' influence on the national blood transfusion services. DESIGN A retrospective study. SETTING A national referral and a private hospital in Nairobi, Kenya. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Donor's age, sex, whether walk in or responded to a call to donate for a relative or emergency blood requirement and test results of; HIV, HBsAg, syphilis and HCV. RESULTS Between April 1999 and April 2000, 10,295 persons donated blood either responding to a call or walked in. The national referral hospital had 8,563 (83%) and private hospital 1,732 (17%). In total, 2.5% were WI and 97.5% CR. The lowest age of donors were CR 15, and WI 18 years. Of 1,138 (11.1%) rejected were 4.6% WI and 11.2% CR donors. The infections 5.8% HIV, 4% HBSAg, 1.2% VDRL and 0.2% HCV were statistically significant in WI compared to CR (p=0.002), also in female compared to male donors (p=0.001). CONCLUSION This study shows that walk in donors were fewer than call responsive but had less rates of transfusion associated infections.
Can mean platelet volume play a role in evaluating the severity of acute pancreatitis?

AIM To investigate serum mean platelet volume (MPV) levels in acute pancreatitis (AP) patients and assess whether MPV effectively predicts the disease severity of AP. METHODS We included 117 consecutive patients with AP as the AP group and 34 consecutive patients with colorectal polyps (before endoscopic treatment) as the control group. Complete blood counts, liver function, platelet indices (MPV), coagulation parameters, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and C-reactive protein (CRP) were measured on days 1, 2, 3 and 7 after admission. Receiver operating characteristic curves were used to compare the sensitivity and specificity of MPV, white blood cell (WBC), LDH and CRP in predicting AP severity. The Modified Glasgow Prognostic Score (mGPS) and the 2012 revised Atlanta criteria were used to evaluate disease severity in AP. RESULTS MPV levels were significantly lower in the AP group than in the control group on day 1 (P = 0.000), day 2 (P = 0.029) and day 3 (P = 0.001) after admission. In addition, MPV values were lower on day 1 after admission than on day 2 (P = 0.012), day 3 (P = 0.000) and day 7 (P = 0.002) in all AP patients. Based on the mGPS, 78 patients (66.7%) were diagnosed with mild and 39 patients (33.3%) with severe AP. There was no significant difference in mean MPV levels between patients diagnosed with mild and severe AP based on the mGPS (P = 0.424). According to the 2012 revised Atlanta criteria, there were 98 patients (83.8%) without persistent organ failure (OF) [non-severe acute pancreatitis (non-SAP) group] and 19 patients (16.2%) with persistent OF (SAP group). MPV levels were significantly lower in the SAP group than in the non-SAP group on day 1 after admission (P = 0.002). On day 1 after admission using a cut-off value of 6.65 fL, the overall accuracy of MPV for predicting SAP according to the 2012 revised Atlanta criteria (AUC = 0.716) had a sensitivity of 91.8% and a specificity of 47.4% and was superior to the accuracy of the traditional markers WBC (AUC = 0.700) and LDH (AUC = 0.697). CONCLUSION MPV can be used at no additional cost as a useful, non-invasive biomarker that distinguishes AP with persistent OF from AP without persistent OF on day 1 of hospital admission.
The analysis of QT interval and repolarization morphology of the heart in chronic exposure to lead

There are no common recommendations regarding electrocardiographic monitoring in occupationally exposed workers. Therefore, the present study was designed to investigate whether exposure to lead results in an increase of selected electrocardiography (ECG) pathologies, such as QT interval prolongation and repolarization disorders, in occupationally exposed workers. The study group included 180 workers occupationally exposed to lead compounds. The exposed group was divided according to the median of the mean blood lead level (PbBmean) calculated based on a series of measurements performed during 5-year observation period (35 µg/dl) into two subgroups: low exposure (LE, PbBmean = 20.0–35.0 µg/dl) and high exposure (HE, PbBmean = 35.1–46.4 µg/dl). The control group consisted of 69 healthy workers without occupational exposure to lead. ECG evaluation included the analysis of heart rate (HR), QT interval and repolarization abnormalities. Mean QT interval was significantly greater in the exposed population than in the control group by 2%. In the HE group, mean QT interval was significantly greater than in the control group by 4% and significantly different from those noted in the LE group. Positive correlations between QT interval and lead exposure indices were also reported. Besides, there was a negative correlation between HR and blood lead level. Increased concentration of lead in the blood above 35 μg/dl is associated with the QT interval prolongation, which may trigger arrhythmias when combined with other abnormalities, such as long QT syndrome. Therefore, electrocardiographic evaluation should be a part of a routine monitoring of occupationally exposed populations.
Introduction of HIV post-exposure prophylaxis for sexually abused children in Malawi

Aims: To improve the care of children who are victims of child sexual abuse (CSA) by routinely assessing eligibility for HIV post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) and to investigate the feasibility, safety, and efficacy of such treatment started in a paediatric emergency department in Malawi. Methods: Children presenting to the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, Blantyre between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2004 with a history of alleged CSA were assessed for eligibility for HIV PEP and followed prospectively for six months. Results: A total of 64 children presented with a history of alleged CSA in the 12 month period; 17 were offered PEP. The remainder were not offered PEP because of absence of physical signs of abuse (n = 20), delay in presentation beyond 72 hours from assault (n = 11), repeated sexual abuse in the preceding six months (n = 15), and HIV infection found on initial testing (n = 1). No family refused an HIV test. No side effects due to antiretroviral therapy were reported. Of the 17 children commenced on PEP, 11 returned for review after one month, seven returned at three months, and two of 15 returned at six months post-assault. None have seroconverted. Conclusions: In a resource-poor setting with a high HIV prevalence, HIV PEP following CSA is acceptable, safe, and feasible. HIV PEP should be incorporated in to national guidelines in countries with a high community prevalence of HIV infection.
Development of transitivity: some findings and problems of analysis.

Verbal and concrete transitivity tests were presented to 320 subjects between 8 and 18 years of age. 2 criterion measures, correctness of answer and justification for answer, were employed. Both measures reflected an increase in transitive reasoning with increasing age; correct answers were not necessarily associated with adequate justifications, nor were incorrect answers with inadequate justifications. More correct answers, but less adequate justifications, were obtained with the concrete test; test differences were partly due to encoding difficulties introduced in verbal test. Analysis of the discrepancy between criterion measures indicates the importance of the process-achievement distinction for experimental developmental analysis.
Electromagnetic form factor of the pion from twisted-mass lattice QCD at N f = 2

We present a lattice calculation of the electromagnetic form factor of the pion obtained using the tree-level Symanzik improved gauge action with two flavors of dynamical twisted Wilson quarks. The simulated pion masses range approximately from 260 to 580 MeV, and the lattice box sizes are chosen in order to guarantee that M pi L greater than or similar to 4. Accurate results for the form factor are obtained using all-to-all quark propagators evaluated by a stochastic procedure. The momentum dependence of the pion form factor is investigated up to values of the squared four-momentum transfer Q(2)similar or equal to 0.8 GeV2 and, thanks to the use of twisted boundary conditions, down to Q(2)similar or equal to 0.05 GeV2. Volume and discretization effects on the form factor appear to be within the statistical errors. Our results for the pion mass, decay constant and form factor are analyzed using (continuum) chiral perturbation theory at next-to-next-to-leading order. The extrapolated value of the pion charge radius is (phys)=0.456 +/- 0.030(stat)+/- 0.024(syst) in nice agreement with the experimental result. The extrapolated values of the pion form factor agree very well with the experimental data up to Q(2)similar or equal to 0.8 GeV2 within uncertainties which become competitive with the experimental errors for Q(2)greater than or similar to 0.3 GeV2. The relevant low-energy constants appearing in the chiral expansion of the pion form factor are extracted from our lattice data, which come essentially from a single lattice spacing, adding the experimental value of the pion scalar radius in the fitting procedure. Our findings are in nice agreement with the available results of chiral perturbation theory analyses of pi-pi scattering data as well as with other analyses of our collaboration.
CEO Overconfidence in Real Estate Markets: A Curse or A Blessing?

This paper studies the influence of CEO overconfidence on firms’ financial performance and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the US real estate investment trust (REIT) market. CEO overconfidence has been shown to have both negative and positive influences on firms. This paper is the first to combine the two sides in a single framework. We find that firms with overconfident CEOs tend to have better CSR performance. In addition, better CSR performance can increase firms’ financial performance, but this positive relationship is undermined by the existence of overconfident CEOs. Our results not only shed light on the two sides of CEO overconfidence in the real estate sector, but also provide a new prospective for research on the CSR–financial performance relationship.
Fractal geometry and vertebral compression fractures

Cancellous bone in postmenopausal osteoporosis is characterized by widely spaced and disconnected trabeculae. These architectural changes may disproportionately increase bone fragility compared with the decrease in bone mass alone. To determine whether there is an independent architectural contribution to fracture risk, we applied fractal geometry to the cancellous bone in osteoporosis. Fractal objects have recurrent, branching patterns that are quantified by a fractal dimension D, that describes how the object fills space. Photomicrographs of transiliac bone biopsy specimens were digitized, and D was calculated from the negative of the straight portion of the slope of the log of the number of pixels containing boundary points versus the log of the pixel size over a range of pixel sizes. The results were compared with the cancellous bone histomorphometry in 31 individuals, aged 19–80 years, who were healthy before sudden death. D was inversely related to age (r = −0.72, p < 0.0001) and trabecular spacing (r = −0.87; p < 0.0001) and directly related to bone area (r = 0.86, p < 0.0001) and trabecular number (r = 0.83, p < 0.0001). We then examined 12 healthy volunteers and 12 patients with vertebral compression fractures as a result of osteoporosis who were matched for age and cancellous bone area. The patients with fractures had a 7.9% lower mean value for D (1.224 ± 0.085 SD versus 1.329 ± 0.125, p < 0.026). Other markers of the cancellous architecture, such as trabecular width, separation, and number, were not different between the matched groups. D was more than 1 SD below the normal mean value in 50% of the fracture cases and in only 1 of the nonfracture cases (p < 0.025). Applied to cancellous bone, fractal geometry may discriminate more effectively between fracture and nonfracture cases than measurement of bone area and help accent the impact of architecture on bone fragility. The single expression, D, greatly simplifies description of the spatial distribution of cancellous bone and thus has a potential role in the computer‐assisted histologic investigation of osteoporosis.
Mechanical and psychological influences on the 'feel' of a golf shot

Modem day sports players enjoy an ever-increasing range of equipment from which to choose and their selection is often based on physical and technical parameters, such as power, speed, distance and accuracy. In an attempt to increase their market shate, manufactuters have applied advanced technologies to the design and development of sports equipment to increase the 'perfonnance' of their products. These benefits may only be realised, however, if the player feels physically and psychologically comfortable using the equipment and these factors can only be investigated through the assessment of subjective human perceptions. Focusing on a group of elite golfers, this study presents a formalised approach for eliciting and structuring players' descriptions of their perception of sports equipment in use. Qualitative methods of inquiry were used to generate perceptions from a group of professional golfers (n = 15) during play testing. Ten dimensions of a golf shot of significance to the players emerged from an inductive analysis of their responses. In addition, fifteen themes emerged which suggested that there were relationships between the dimensions. A new technique, entitled structuted relationship modelling, was developed to illustrate these associations. From the results, a postal questionnaire was designed to determine the feel of an 'ideal' golf shot and the relative importance of the emergent dimensions from a wider sample of golfers. Initial testing was conducted to investigate variations in the duration of a golf impact with different equipment and the subsequent effect on the golfers' perceptions. Clubhead type, ball construction, ball compression and clubhead speed were all found to have a significant effect on impact duration but, despite the perceptions they reported, golfers were unable to accurately perceive the differences. Characteristics of the feel of a golf shot related to the sound or vibration from impact were investigated further during a series of tests where objective data measured from impact was correlated with the perceptions of golfers, measured using rating scales. In a study of tactile sensations, the sound of the impact was masked and the measured vibration was correlated with golfers ratings of the feel of the shot. In a study of the sound of a golf shot, the sound from impact was measured at two locations and correlated with the golfers responses. In both studies, significant correlations were discovered between parameters of the sound and vibration and the golfers' ratings, the strongest correlations being with the sound data. llis is the first study to identify all of the characteristics of a golf shot that influence a golfer's perception of the equipment and to analyse so extensively the subjective and objective data from impact
Embodied Simulation Theory: Imagination and Narrative

The timely and thought-provoking essay by Siri Hustvedt provides a fascinating account of the relationship between imagination and memory and discusses this relationship against the background of different disciplines like psychoanalysis, cognitive neuroscience, and phenomenology. Hustvedt sheds new light from the inside on the process of artistic creativity by emphasizing that the bodily affective self is at the roots of the narrative self. In the present commentary, I present and briefly discuss recent scientific results corroborating Hustvedt’s thesis and propose how embodied simulation theory can account for many aspects of the relationship between artistic production and its aesthetic experience.
Distinguishing family-level and child-level influences on the development of depression and aggression in children at risk

Abstract This study examined family-level and child-level influences on diversity in depression and aggression among children at risk. Data were from 144 children aged 7–14 years. A procedure introduced by Lavori, Keller, Beardslee, and Dorer (1988) was used to correct for the inclusion of more than one child from each family. Family-level influences examined were maltreatment and parental psychopathology. Maladjustment was highest in children of psychiatrically ill parents from maltreating homes and lowest in children of psychiatrically ill parents from nonmaltreating homes. Child-level influences examined were social cognition, intelligence, early developmental difficulties, sex, and age. Independent of family risk status, younger male children with high social-cognitive skills and no early developmental difficulties were least depressed. Child characteristics were less predictive of aggression. Overall, this study shows that efforts to explain diversity in high-risk children's development benefit from attending to all the offspring of high-risk parents and to multiple interacting family risk factors.
Immunization against poliomyelitis with living attenuated virus.

“No man can answer for his courage who has never been in danger. ” LaRoche The immunization of man against poliomyelitis with preparations of living attenuated virus has been practiced by myself and my associates for the past five and one-half years (Koprowski et al., 1952). All the results of the study cannot even be summarized in this lecture and, while I shall review some past events, I intend to concentrate on taking an inventory of the present. Strains of virus. Three attenuated strains of virus have been used for the immunization of human subjects: two, the TN strain (Koprowski et al., 1952) and MEF1 strain (Roca-Garcia et al., 1952; Roca-Garcia and Jervis, 1955) represent Type II, and one, the SM strain (Koprowski et al., 1954a), represents Type I. The TN strain is a rodent-adapted virus.
"Constructing Europe? The Evolution of French, British, and German Nation-State Identities"

This article tackles the following puzzle. Why is it that we cannot observe much Europeanization of 'Anglo-Saxon exceptionalism' over the past fifty years, while 'Germanness' has spelt European since the end of the 1950s and 'French exceptionalism', at least recently, also comes in European colours? We argue that a combination of three factors accounts for this variation in the extent to which nation state identities have become European. The first condition is that any new idea about political order, in order to be considered legitimate, must resonate with core elements of older visions of the political order such as 'state-centred republicanism' in France, 'parliamentary democracy and external sovereignty' in Great Britain, and 'federalism, democracy and social market economy' in Germany. These older understandings of political order therefore delimit the degree to which 'Europe' can be incorporated in given nation state identities. The second condition is that new visions about political order circulat.
DeepStack: Expert-Level Artificial Intelligence in No-Limit Poker

Artiﬁcial intelligence has seen a number of breakthroughs in recent years, with games often serving as signiﬁcant milestones. A common feature of games with these successes is that they involve information symmetry among the players, where all players have identical information. This property of perfect information , though, is far more common in games than in real-world problems. Poker is the quintessential game of imperfect information , and it has been a longstanding challenge problem in artiﬁcial intelligence. In this paper we introduce DeepStack, a new algorithm for imperfect information settings such as poker. It combines recursive reasoning to handle information asymmetry, decomposition to focus computation on the relevant decision, and a form of intuition about arbitrary poker situations that is automatically learned from self-play games using deep learning. In a study involving dozens of participants and 44,000 hands of poker, DeepStack becomes the ﬁrst computer program to beat professional poker players in heads-up no-limit Texas hold’em. Furthermore, we show this approach dramatically reduces worst-case exploitability compared to the abstraction paradigm that has been favored for over a decade. Games have long served as a benchmark and set of milestones for progress in artiﬁcial
Vocabulary Levels and Size of Malaysian Undergraduates

Vocabulary is a fundamental requirement of language acquisition, and its competence enables independent reading and effective language acquisition. Effective language use requires adequate level of vocabulary knowledge; therefore, efforts must be made to identify students’ vocabulary base for greater efficiency and competency in the language. Students with limited vocabulary size may fail to comprehend the contents of the reading materials and their learning may be impaired. This study had aimed to address this concern and sets out to examine the vocabulary knowledge, i.e. in terms of vocabulary level and size of undergraduates at a private university in Malaysia, where English is the medium of instruction. 120 first year undergraduates from three academic programs, who participated in this study, sat for the Nation and Laufer’s (1999), Version A of Productive Vocabulary Levels Test, which is recommended and used for diagnostic purposes. The findings show that almost none of the students have acquired the vocabulary required at UWL, and most of them managed to acquire only a 2000 word level at Level A. At UWL, a larger proportion fell on the lower scale, implicating that their vocabulary knowledge is insufficient to cope with the reading text and possibly with the studies at the university.