Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Proficiency Differences in Syntactic Processing of Monolingual Native Speakers Indexed by Event-related Potentials

Abstract Although anecdotally there appear to be differences in the way native speakers use and comprehend their native language, most empirical investigations of language processing study university students and none have studied differences in language proficiency, which may be independent of resource limitations such as working memory span. We examined differences in language proficiency in adult monolingual native speakers of English using an ERP paradigm. ERPs were recorded to insertion phrase structure violations in naturally spoken English sentences. Participants recruited from a wide spectrum of society were given standardized measures of English language proficiency, and two complementary ERP analyses were performed. In between-groups analyses, participants were divided on the basis of standardized proficiency scores into lower proficiency and higher proficiency groups. Compared with lower proficiency participants, higher proficiency participants showed an early anterior negativity that was more focal, both spatially and temporally, and a larger and more widely distributed positivity (P600) to violations. In correlational analyses, we used a wide spectrum of proficiency scores to examine the degree to which individual proficiency scores correlated with individual neural responses to syntactic violations in regions and time windows identified in the between-groups analyses. This approach also used partial correlation analyses to control for possible confounding variables. These analyses provided evidence for the effects of proficiency that converged with the between-groups analyses. These results suggest that adult monolingual native speakers of English who vary in language proficiency differ in the recruitment of syntactic processes that are hypothesized to be at least in part automatic as well as of those thought to be more controlled. These results also suggest that to fully characterize neural organization for language in native speakers it is necessary to include participants of varying proficiency.
High ALT levels predict viremia in anti-HCV-positive HD patients if a modified normal range of ALT is applied.

AIMS Some studies have reported that ALT determination is of little value in the study of chronic hepatitis C in hemodialysis (HD) patients. This could be due to the fact that ALT values are lower in HD patients than in healthy individuals; ALT in HCV infection follows a fluctuating pattern and the HCV viremia may be intermittent. The aim of this study was to establish the reference ALT values in a large group of hepatitis-free HD patients, and to determine their role in predicting viremia in anti-HCV-positive HD patients. METHODS Four subject groups were studied: group I, patients with normal renal function (n = 88); group II, hepatitis-free HD patients (n = 218); group III, non-viremic anti-HCV+ HD patients (n = 9); and group IV, viremic anti-HCV+ HD patients (n = 24). The ALT used for calculation purposes was the mean value of the twelve previous months for each individual patient. PCR screening for HCV-RNA was performed at least twice for anti-HCV+ patients; these were deemed viremic (HCV-RNA+) if at least one screening was positive, and non-viremic (HCV-RNA) if all PCR results were negative. RESULTS Mean ALT in group II was lower than in subjects with normal renal function (15.6 +/- 12 vs. 22.7 +/- 18 IU/l, p < 0.05). No significant differences were observed between group III and group II (17.7 +/- 6 vs. 15.6 +/- 6 IU/l, ns). ALT levels in group IV patients were higher than those of groups II and III (38.5 +/- 39 IU/l, p < 0.05). The upper limit (mean + 2 SD and 95th percentile) for ALT in hepatitis-free HD patients was 27 IU/l. Sensitivity of a mean ALT value > or = 27 IU/l in the diagnosis of HCV viremia was 50%, and specificity was 100%. The positive predictive value of this test in the diagnosis of hepatitis C viremia was 100%. CONCLUSIONS ALT values are lower in HD patients and a high ALT level can constitute an excellent tool in predicting viremia in anti-HCV-positive HD patients once other causes of liver disease have been excluded.
Matriliny Transformed: Family, Law and Ideology in Twentieth Century Travancore

The book under review is a welcome addition to the subject of dowry which has been dealt with comprehensively. Moreover, written in a noncliched language, it is a delight to read and both specialists and layreaders will find it interesting. It has contextualized the dowry system in historical, social, political and scriptural contexts. And this is what makes the book really useful for scholars. But one does feel that Sheel should have also discussed the forced state.reforms during the Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi the only time when giving and taking of dowry had taken a beating under state surveillance.
Preinfarction Angina Reduces Infarct Size in ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction Treated With Percutaneous Coronary Intervention

Background—Preinfarction angina may act as a clinical surrogate of ischemic preconditioning that may reduce infarct size and improve mortality in the setting of thrombolytic therapy for ST-elevation myocardial infarction. However, the benefits of preinfarction angina in the setting of primary percutaneous coronary intervention with stenting is inconclusive because of the greater achievement of infarct artery patency and speed of reperfusion. Methods and Results—To identify a homogeneous population, we performed a retrospective analysis of 1031 patients admitted with a first ST-elevation myocardial infarction with ischemic times between 1 and 6 hours who received primary percutaneous coronary intervention. We identified 245 patients who had occluded arteries on presentation, of which 79 patients had documented preinfarction angina defined as chest pain within 24 hours of infarction. Infarct size was measured as the peak creatine kinase level, a metric supported in a subgroup by late enhancement on cardiac magnetic resonance imaging. Patients with preinfarction angina (n=79) had a 50% reduction in infarct size compared with those patients without preinfarction angina (n=166) by both peak creatine kinase (1094±75 IU/L versus 2270±102 IU/L; P<0.0001) and creatine kinase area under curve (18 420±18 941 versus 36 810±21 741 IU/h per liter; P<0.0001) despite having identical ischemic times (185±8 minutes versus 181±5 minutes; P=0.67) and angiographic area at risk (24.1±1.2% versus 25.3±0.9%; P=0.43). There was an absolute 4% improvement in left ventricular ejection fraction before discharge in those patients with preinfarction angina (P<0.02). Conclusions—The occurrence of preinfarction angina is associated with significant myocardial protection in the setting of primary percutaneous coronary intervention with stenting during ST-elevation myocardial infarction. Because preinfarction angina is relatively common, it is important that these patients be identified in clinical trials investigating therapies designed to reduce reperfusion injury and infarct size.
End‐of‐life experiences of family caregivers of deceased patients with cancer: A nation‐wide survey

The purpose of this study was (a) to describe the end‐of‐life experience of family caregivers of cancer patients, (b) to describe talking about death and dying of the patient to minor children, and (c) to examine the association of family caregivers' experiences by their characteristics and talking about death and dying of the patient.
Development of plaque techniques for titration and neutralization tests with African horse-sickness virus.

Factors affe:::ting plaque formation of African horse-sickness (AHS) virus in monkey kidney stable (MS) cells were studied, and the technique of plaque assay was standardizd. Methods for neutralization tests and purification of virus using the plaque te::h.nique were also established. Using a standard:zed technique, sensitivity of plaque method was compared with tissue culture infective dose and titrationby intracerebral inoculations in mice. The structures of plaques produced by several strains of AHS virus were compared. Differences were found in titer and size of plaque of the virus cultures in MS cell lines purified by cloning. The addition of protamine sulfate into the nutrient agar increased the size of plaques, Methyl cellulose was al50 used in place of agar.
Effects of Early Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibition on Cardiac Gene Expression After Acute Myocardial Infarction

Background —ACE inhibition after myocardial infarction (MI) has been shown to have beneficial effects on cardiac anatomy and function. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of ACE inhibition on cardiac gene expression after MI. Methods and Results —Rats were randomized to receive captopril or no treatment 1 day after MI. Eight weeks later, cardiac function and hemodynamics were measured by use of indwelling catheters and perivascular flow probes. Myocardial gene expression was assessed with DNA microarrays and real-time reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction. The ratios of heart and left ventricular weights to body weight were significantly increased by MI and normalized by captopril. Cardiac index and stroke volume index were lower in the untreated MI group than in sham controls but were normal in the MI+captopril group. Thirty-seven genes were found to be differentially expressed between the untreated MI group and sham controls; 31 were induced and 6 repressed. Captopril partially or completely inhibited changes in 10 of the genes. The 37 genes clustered into 11 functional groups, and 6 had ≥1 genes whose expression was modified by ACE inhibition. Conclusions —ACE inhibition after MI inhibits cardiac hypertrophy, preserves cardiac function, and attenuates changes in myocardial gene expression. Gene expression profiling reveals, however, that some elements of the pathophysiology may be unaffected by the treatment and be targets for new therapies.
Hardiness and Outcome of Self-catheterisation Training (HOST): protocol for an observational study exploring the effects of personality traits in women on ability to learn clean intermittent self-catheterisation

Introduction Clean intermittent self-catheterisation (CISC) is the recommended first-line management of voiding dysfunction; however, psychological factors involved in acceptance and take up are often neglected. There is a tendency to discuss the success of CISC in relation to factors that affect teaching and learning, with subsequent success or failure being attributed to these. There is limited research investigating what extent, personality traits impact on a woman's willingness to learn CISC and subsequent mastery of the technique. Method and analysis All women attending a tertiary urogynaecology department as eligible for CISC will be invited to participate in the study. Over the 14-month recruitment period, an estimated 130 women will be involved. The participants will complete a series of self-reported questionnaires. Personality types will be assessed using The Hardiness Scale and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. The impact of urinary symptoms and CISC on quality of life (QoL) will be measured using an electronic pelvic-floor assessment questionnaire (ePAQ). Success and mastery will be measured by recording the number of hospital appointments and the length of time taken to learn. Confidence will be measured using the Likert scale. A sample of 20 women will be invited to participate in semi-structured in-depth interviews to explore women's views and experiences of CISC. Ethics and dissemination Regulatory approvals will be in place prior to the start of the study. Good clinical practice guidelines will be followed throughout. Eligibility and training for CISC will be undertaken in accordance to individualised care plans in line with unit protocol and will not be influenced by the study. Trial data will be anonymised and participant confidentiality will be maintained. The Study findings will be disseminated through publications in relevant journals and will be presented at multiprofessional conferences and scientific meetings.
Comparative Law

The English word " trust" is often used in the Swiss language untranslated as a foreign word, in a sense which is very different from the one in the original language. In Switzerland the word " trust" means something like " a monopolised concern having subsidiary companies, which abandoning their individual economic existence, are fused together with the parent company to such a unity that its centralised management has a monopolistic control of the market. " ' However, if we wish to speak about " trust " in Switzerland in the Anglo-American sense we translate the word into German with Treuhand, in French with fiducie,* in Italian with fiducia. Seen purely from the legal standpoint, there is a great difference between our Treuhand and the trust of Anglo-American law. In Swiss law the trustee is of little importance. Nevertheless the Treuhand is quite common here, but in the arbitrary, contractual form. By " trustee " we understand a person " to which rights are entrusted with the purpose that this person will use them in the interest of the settlor, in accordance with the latter's instructions. " Speaking of the Treuhand we distinguish between the Treugeber (in English settlor, in French fiduciant, in Italian flduciante), the Treuhander (in English trustee, in French flduciaire, in Italian flduciario) and the Begunstigter (in English beneficiary, in French benefidaire, in Italian beneflciario). According to Swiss law all things and rights can be entrusted to somebody, provided they are not of highly personal nature and therefore intransmissible. Through this action the trustee gets full ownership, if it concerns things, and if rights are transmitted (for instance claims) he becomes a full authority (creditor). The legal relationship between the trustee and the settlor falls under the law of obligations and not of the law of things. The settlor, however, has a claim against the trustee, which is that the latter
Podcasting lectures Formative evaluation strategies helped identify a solution to a learning dilemma

At some point in their educations, students must learn copious amounts of information. To do this, they use a variety of well-known strategies such as study groups, note-taking services, and videotapes of lectures. In fall 2004, a group of first-year dental students at the University of Michigan (U-M) School of Dentistry asked to have all dental school lectures videotaped and recordings made available on a Web site. The students doubted their ability to accurately summarize in their notes the quantity of information presented in lectures. The students thought that reviewing a video recording of each lecture would help them better retain the biomedical information presented. The Office of Dental Informatics is responsible for the development, implementation, and evaluation of learning-technology activities in the school. This includes faculty development, course Web pages, research with and about learning technology, and the formative and summative evaluation of learning technology projects. The office is also responsible for the acquisition, installation, and operation of classroom and computer lab equipment. In response to the students’ request, the Dental Informatics group applied formative evaluation strategies to determine the ultimate solution. The group determined that podcasting audio recordings of lectures provided a better technology solution for the students’ needs than the originally requested video recordings.
OR Forum - An Algorithmic Approach to Linear Regression

Linear regression models are traditionally built through trial and error to balance many competing goals such as predictive power, interpretability, significance, robustness to error in data, and sparsity, among others. This problem lends itself naturally to a mixed integer quadratic optimization (MIQO) approach but has not been modeled this way because of the belief in the statistics community that MIQO is intractable for large scale problems. However, in the last 25 years (1991–2015), algorithmic advances in integer optimization combined with hardware improvements have resulted in an astonishing 450 billion factor speedup in solving mixed integer optimization problems. We present an MIQO-based approach for designing high quality linear regression models that explicitly addresses various competing objectives and demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach on both real and synthetic data sets.
Methotrexate polyglutamates as a marker of patient compliance and clinical response in psoriasis: a single‐centre prospective study

Summary Background Methotrexate is activated by the sequential addition of glutamic acid residues to form methotrexate polyglutamates (MTXPG1–5). MTXPG1–5 inhibit enzymes of the folate–purine–pyrimidine pathways, and longer‐chain MTXPG3–5 species are more active.
OpenSky report 2016: Facts and figures on SSR mode S and ADS-B usage

This paper provides up-to-date statistics on SSR Mode S and 1090ES ADS-B usage from the OpenSky Network. By analyzing the large host of real-world data collected by OpenSky, we provide insights on the current composition of Mode S downlink communications, aircraft equipage, interrogation patterns and much more. We publish up-to-date, empirically validated numbers on the status of the ongoing ADS-B deployment based on data collected over large areas in Europe, North America, and New Zealand, and categorize these aircraft by incorporating publicly available data sources.
Ready, Willing, and Able: A Developmental Approach to College Access and Success

How can an understanding of adolescent development inform strategies and practices for supporting first-generation college goers? In "Ready, Willing, and Able," Mandy Savitz-Romer and Suzanne Bouffard focus on the developmental tasks and competencies that young people need to develop in order to plan for and succeed in higher education. These include identity development, articulating aspirations and expectations, forming and maintaining strong peer and adult relationships, motivation and goal-setting, and self-regulatory skills, such as planning. The authors challenge the predominant approach of giving young people information and leaving it to them to figure out how to apply it. They show how well-intended college-access efforts can miss the mark for instance, by focusing on students who already see themselves as college material, rather than working to help all students develop a college-going identity. In addition, most college-access programs and practices focus almost exclusively on providing academic preparation and financial support. In "Ready, Willing, and Able," Savitz-Romer and Bouffard call for a new approach: one that emphasizes the key developmental tasks and processes of adolescence and integrates them into existing college-access practices in meaningful ways. Rather than treating young people as passive recipients of services, they argue, adults can engage them as active agents in the construction of their own futures. "
Effects of shielding the radiosensitive superficial organs of ORNL pediatric phantoms on dose reduction in computed tomography

In computed tomography (CT), some superficial organs which have increased sensitivity to radiation, receive doses that are significant enough to be matter of concern. Therefore, in this study, the effects of using shields on the amount of dose reduction and image quality was investigated for pediatric imaging. Absorbed doses of breasts, eyes, thyroid and testes of a series of pediatric phantoms without and with different thickness of bismuth and lead were calculated by Monte Carlo simulation. Appropriate thicknesses of shields were chosen based on their weights, X-ray spectrum, and the amount of dose reduction. In addition, the effect of lead shield on image quality of a simple phantom was assessed quantitatively using region of interest (ROI) measurements. Considering the maximum reduction in absorbed doses and X-ray spectrum, using a lead shield with a maximum thickness of 0.4 mm would be appropriate for testes and thyroid and two other organs (which are exposed directly) should be protected with thinner shields. Moreover, the image quality assessment showed that lead was associated with significant increases in both noise and CT attenuation values, especially in the anterior of the phantom. Overall, the results suggested that shielding is a useful optimization tool in CT.
Females prefer to associate with males with longer intromittent organs in mosquitofish

Sexual selection is a major force behind the rapid evolution of male genital morphology among species. Most within-species studies have focused on sexual selection on male genital traits owing to events during or after copulation that increase a male's share of paternity. Very little attention has been given to whether genitalia are visual signals that cause males to vary in their attractiveness to females and are therefore under pre-copulatory sexual selection. Here we show that, on average, female eastern mosquitofish Gambusia holbrooki spent more time in association with males who received only a slight reduction in the length of the intromittent organ (‘gonopodium’) than males that received a greater reduction. This preference was, however, only expressed when females chose between two large males; for small males, there was no effect of genital size on female association time.
Regulation of microtubule minus-end dynamics by CAMSAPs and Patronin

Significance Many microtubule (MT) plus-end regulators have been described, but regulation of MT minus-ends remains poorly understood. Recently, the related calmodulin-regulated spectrin-associated proteins (CAMSAPs) CAMSAP2/3 (vertebrate) and Patronin (Drosophila) were shown to bind minus-ends, but their effects on MT dynamics in vitro have not been studied. Here, by using in vitro assays, we show that minus-end binding and stabilization are properties of all CAMSAPs. However, their effects on minus-end growth and decoration are variable among different members of this family. Together, these studies solidify the role of CAMSAPs/Patronin as MT minus-end regulatory proteins and reveal how evolution has tuned their activities to affect minus-ends in distinct ways. The microtubule (MT) cytoskeleton plays an essential role in mitosis, intracellular transport, cell shape, and cell migration. The assembly and disassembly of MTs, which can occur through the addition or loss of subunits at the plus- or minus-ends of the polymer, is essential for MTs to carry out their biological functions. A variety of proteins act on MT ends to regulate their dynamics, including a recently described family of MT minus-end binding proteins called calmodulin-regulated spectrin-associated protein (CAMSAP)/Patronin/Nezha. Patronin, the single member of this family in Drosophila, was previously shown to stabilize MT minus-ends against depolymerization in vitro and in vivo. Here, we show that all three mammalian CAMSAP family members also bind specifically to MT minus-ends and protect them against kinesin-13–induced depolymerization. However, these proteins differ in their abilities to suppress tubulin addition at minus-ends and to dissociate from MTs. CAMSAP1 does not interfere with polymerization and tracks along growing minus-ends. CAMSAP2 and CAMSAP3 decrease the rate of tubulin incorporation and remain bound, thereby creating stretches of decorated MT minus-ends. By using truncation analysis, we find that somewhat different minimal domains of CAMSAP and Patronin are involved in minus-end localization. However, we find that, in both cases, a highly conserved C-terminal domain and a more variable central domain cooperate to suppress minus-end dynamics in vitro and that both regions are required to stabilize minus-ends in Drosophila S2 cells. These results show that members of the CAMSAP/Patronin family all localize to and protect minus-ends but have evolved distinct effects on MT dynamics.