Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Changes in Auditory Feedback Connections Determine the Severity of Speech Processing Deficits after Stroke

We compared brain structure and function in two subgroups of 21 stroke patients with either moderate or severe chronic speech comprehension impairment. Both groups had damage to the supratemporal plane; however, the severe group suffered greater damage to two unimodal auditory areas: primary auditory cortex and the planum temporale. The effects of this damage were investigated using fMRI while patients listened to speech and speech-like sounds. Pronounced changes in connectivity were found in both groups in undamaged parts of the auditory hierarchy. Compared to controls, moderate patients had significantly stronger feedback connections from planum temporale to primary auditory cortex bilaterally, while in severe patients this connection was significantly weaker in the undamaged right hemisphere. This suggests that predictive feedback mechanisms compensate in moderately affected patients but not in severely affected patients. The key pathomechanism in humans with persistent speech comprehension impairments may be impaired feedback connectivity to unimodal auditory areas.
Amphetamine abuse. Pattern and effects of high doses taken intravenously

Abuse of amphetamines administered intravenously has become a well established and extensive form of drug abuse. The abuse potential of these drugs when taken by the intravenous route is greater than when taken orally and is comparable to that of heroin or cocaine. Tolerance builds rapidly and an abstinence syndrome develops which leads to a typical pattern in which the user takes the drug continuously and in immense doses for about five days during which he does not sleep. During this time he gradually becomes more paranoid and disorganized. He then desists for a day or two and falls into a prolonged semicomatose state. Upon awakening he is still lethargic and feels the need to resume his drug for a new round.
First-order logic with two variables and unary temporal logic

We investigate the power of first-order logic with only two variables over /spl omega/-words and finite words, a logic denoted by FO/sup 2/. We prove that FO/sup 2/ can express precisely the same properties as linear temporal logic with only the unary temporal operators: "next", "previously", "sometime in the future", and "sometime in the past", a logic we denote by unary-TL. Moreover, our translation from FO/sup 2/ to unary-TL converts every FO/sup 2/ formula to an equivalent unary-TL formula that is at most exponentially larger, and whose operator depth is at most twice the quantifier depth of the first-order formula. We show that this translation is optimal. While satisfiability for full linear temporal logic, as well as for unary-TL, is known to be PSPACE-complete, we prove that satisfiability for FO/sup 2/ is NEXP-complete, in sharp contrast to the fact that satisfiability for FO/sup 3/ has non-elementary computational complexity. Our NEXP time upper bound for FO/sup 2/ satisfiability has the advantage of being in terms of the quantifier depth of the input formula. It is obtained using a small model property for FO/sup 2/ of independent interest, namely: a satisfiable FO/sup 2/ formula has a model whose "size" is at most exponential in the quantifier depth of the formula. Using our translation from FO/sup 2/ to unary-TL we derive this small model property from a corresponding small model property for unary-TL. Our proof of the small model property for unary-TL is based on an analysis of unary-TL types.
Chondrogenic potential of subpopulations of cells expressing mesenchymal stem cell markers derived from human synovial membranes

In this study we analyzed the chondrogenic potential of subpopulations of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) derived from human synovial membranes enriched for CD73, CD106, and CD271 markers. Subpopulations of human synovial membrane MSCs enriched for CD73, CD106, and CD271 markers were isolated using a cytometry sorter and characterized by flow cytometry for MSC markers. The expression of Sox9, Nanog, and Runx2 genes by these cells was measured by reverse transcriptase‐polymerase chain reaction. The chondrogenesis of each subpopulation was assessed by culturing the cells in a defined medium to produce spontaneous spheroid formation and differentiation towards chondrocyte‐like cells. The examination of the spheroids by histological and immunohistochemical analyses for collagen type II (COL2), aggrecan, collagen type I (COL1), metalloprotease 13 (MMP13), and collagen type X (COLX) levels were performed to assess their chondrogenesis capacity. The adipogenesis and osteogenesis potential of each subpopulation was determined using commercial media; the resulting cells were stained with oil red O or red alizarin to test the degree of differentiation. The subpopulations had different profiles of cells positive for the MSC markers CD44, CD69, CD73, CD90, and CD105 and showed different expression levels of the genes Sox9, Nanog, and Runx2 involved in chondrogenesis, undifferentiation, and osteoblastogenesis, respectively. Immunohistochemical analysis demonstrated that COL1, COL2, COLX, MMP13, and aggrecan were expressed in the spheroids as soon as 14 days of culture. The CD271+ subpopulation expressed the highest levels of COL2 staining compared to the other subpopulations. CD105 and Runx2 were shown by immunohistochemistry and genetic analysis to have significantly higher expression CD271+ subpopulation than the other subpopulations. Spheroids formed from CD271‐enriched and CD73‐enriched MSCs from normal human synovial membranes mimic the native cartilage extracellular matrix more closely than CD106+ MSCs and are possible candidates for use in cartilage tissue engineering. Both cell types have potential for promoting the differentiation of MSCs into chondrocytes, presenting new possibilities for achieving intrinsic cartilage repair. J. Cell. Biochem. 111: 834–845, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Higher-Order Beliefs, Confidence, and Business Cycles

This paper presents a model of business cycles driven by shocks to agents’ beliefs about economic fundamentals. Agents are hit both by common and idiosyncratic shocks. Common shocks act as confidence shocks, which cause economy-wide optimism or pessimism and consequently, aggregate fluctuations in real variables. Idiosyncratic shocks generate dispersed information, which prevents agents from perfectly inferring the state of the economy. Crucially, asymmetric information induces the infinite regress problem, that is, agents need to forecast the forecasts of others. We develop a method that can solve the infinite regress problem without approximation. Even though agents face a complicated learning problem, the equilibrium policy can be represented by a small number of state variables. Theoretically, we prove that the persistence of aggregate output is increasing in the degree of information frictions and strategic complementarity, and there is a hump-shaped relationship between the variance of output and the variance of the confidence shock. Quantitatively, our model with confidence shocks can match a number of the key business cycle moments.
A comparison of principal component analysis and factor analysis strategies for uncovering pleiotropic factors

Principal component analysis (PCA) and factor analysis (FA) are often used to uncover genetic factors that contribute to complex disease phenotypes. The purpose of such an analysis is to distill a genetic signal from a large number of correlated phenotype measurements. That signal can then be used in genetic analyses (e.g. linkage analysis), presumably leading to greater success at finding genes than one would achieve with any one raw trait. Although both PCA and FA have been used this way, there has been no comparison of their performance in the literature. We compared the ability of these two procedures to extract unobserved underlying genetic components from complex simulated data on nuclear families. We first simulated seven underlying genetic and environmentally determined traits. Then we derived two sets of 50 complex (observed) traits using algebraic combinations of the underlying components. We next performed PCA and FA on the complex traits. We assessed two aspects of the performance of the methods: (1) ability to detect the underlying genetic components; (2) whether the methods worked better when applied to raw traits or to residuals (after regressing out significant environmental covariates). Our results indicate that both the methods behave similarly in most cases, although FA generally produced factors that had stronger correlations with the underlying traits. We also found that using residuals in PCA or FA analyses greatly increased the probability that the PCs or factors detected common genetic components instead of common environmental factors, except if there was statistical interaction between genetic and environmental factors. Genet. Epidemiol. 2009. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
OR/MS Content and Visibility in AACSB-Accredited US Business Programs

In 1997, an INFORMS task force published the results of a study measuring the damage done to operations research/management science (OR/MS) content in business schools after the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) removed OR/MS from its requirements in 1991. Their results were not encouraging. To investigate the current status of OR/MS, we conducted two related analyses to profile both the overall visibility of OR/MS in AACSB-accredited business schools and the content and delivery of existing MBA courses. Our results show small visibility (less than 10 percent) in terms of departments, programs, and concentrations. Approximately 40 percent of the schools studied, however, show one or more courses devoted to OR/MS. We found evidence of widespread use of computer modeling in MBA courses by both instructors and students. MBA students, however, appear to have low levels of involvement in constructing OR/MS applications and presenting their results. Finally, we found instructors" attitudinal responses regarding their MBA teaching experiences to be remarkably positive.
The Southern African Centre for Infectious Disease Surveillance: A One Health Consortium

Formed in 2008, the Southern African Centre for Infectious Disease Surveillance (SACIDS) is a One Health consortium of academic and research institutions involved with infectious diseases of humans and animals. Operating in partnership with world-renowned centres of research in industrialised countries, its mission is to harness innovations in science and technology for improving southern Africa's capacity to detect, identify, monitor (DIM) and manage the risk posed by infectious diseases of humans, animals, and ecosystems. The consortium's major capacity development activities include a series of One Health-based Master of Science (MSc) courses and a five-year DIM-driven research program. Additionally, SACIDS organized Africa's first One Health conference, in July 2011. This paper describes these and other major activities that SACIDS has undertaken to improve infectious disease surveillance across southern Africa. The paper also describes the role and collaboration of SACIDS with other national, regional and international consortia/networks that share a vision and interest in promoting novel approaches to infectious disease surveillance and outbreak response.
Ensemble: A Tool for Performance Modeling of Applications in Cloud Data Centers

We introduce Ensemble, a runtime framework and associated tools for building application performance models on-the-fly. These dynamic performance models can be used to support complex, highly dimensional resource allocation, and/or what-if performance inquiry in modern heterogeneous environments, such as data centers and Clouds. Ensemble combines simple, partially specified, and lower-dimensionality models to provide good initial approximations for higher dimensionality application performance models. We evaluated Ensemble on industry-standard and scientific applications. The results show that Ensemble provides accurate, fast, and flexible performance models even in the presence of significant environment variability.
Functional neuroanatomical substrates of altered reward processing in major depressive disorder revealed by a dopaminergic probe.

CONTEXT The pathophysiology of major depressive disorder (MDD) includes disturbances in several neuroanatomical substrates and neurotransmitter systems. The challenge is to elucidate the brain mechanisms of MDD behavioral symptoms, chiefly those of anhedonia. OBJECTIVES To visualize the neuroanatomical substrates implicated in altered reward processing in MDD, using functional magnetic resonance imaging in combination with a dopaminergic probe (a 30-mg dose of oral dextroamphetamine sulfate) to stimulate the brain reward system; and to test the hypothesis that a hypersensitive response to dextroamphetamine in MDD involves the prefrontal cortex and the striatum. DESIGN AND INTERVENTIONS Among subjects with MDD and healthy control subjects, functional magnetic resonance imaging data were collected before and after single-blind administration of dextroamphetamine. SETTING Subjects were recruited through local newspaper advertisements and by word of mouth. PARTICIPANTS Twelve depressed subjects (mean age, 34.83 years; male-female ratio, 6:6) met criteria for MDD according to the DSM-IV, were not taking antidepressants, and had no comorbid Axis I disorders. Twelve control subjects (mean age, 29.33 years; male-female ratio, 5:7) were healthy volunteers without a history of Axis I disorders. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Functional magnetic resonance imaging blood oxygen level-dependent activation was measured during a controlled task, and dextroamphetamine-induced subjective effects were assessed using the Addiction Research Center Inventory. RESULTS Subjects with MDD had a hypersensitive response to the rewarding effects of dextroamphetamine (2-fold increase; t(21) = 2.74, P = . 01), with altered brain activation in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and the orbitofrontal cortex and the caudate and putamen (F(1,44) = 11.93, P = . 001). CONCLUSION Dopamine-related neuroanatomical substrates are involved in altered reward processing in MDD, shedding light on the neurobiology of the anhedonic symptoms in MDD and suggesting these substrates as future therapeutic targets.
Glomuvenous malformation (glomangioma) and venous malformation: distinct clinicopathologic and genetic entities.

OBJECTIVES To develop clinical criteria that permit clinical distinction between inherited glomuvenous malformation (GVM), known as glomangioma, and inherited cutaneomucosal venous malformation and to test these criteria on sporadic lesions. DESIGN Clinical data were compiled for 1685 patients with inherited or sporadic cutaneous venous anomalies. Based on a cohort of patients with a mutation in the TIE2 or glomulin gene or a histologic diagnosis, we defined clinical criteria for inherited GVM and cutaneomucosal venous malformation. We then applied these criteria to sporadic cases in a blinded manner and genetically or histologically confirmed this clinical diagnosis whenever possible. RESULTS Glomuvenous malformations accounted for 5.1% of venous anomalies and were frequently inherited (63.8%), whereas venous malformations were rarely familial (1.2%). Glomuvenous malformations were nodular and scattered, or plaque-like and segmental, with color varying from pink to purplish dark blue, whereas most venous malformations (VMs) were soft, blue, and often localized vascular lesions. Glomuvenous malformations were mainly located on the extremities and involved skin and subcutis, whereas VMs commonly affected muscles and joints (P<.001). Glomuvenous malformations had a distinct raised, often hyperkeratotic cobblestone-like appearance and could not be completely emptied by compression, unlike VMs. Glomuvenous malformations were painful by compression, whereas VMs were painful on awakening, after activity, or with hormonal changes. Elastic compressive garments aggravated pain in GVMs, in contrast to VMs. CONCLUSIONS This large series of patients with superficial venous anomalies established clinical features that distinguish VMs and GVMs. This differential diagnosis is essential, as the outcome and the treatment for GVMs differ.
Visualizing Fuzzy Overlapping Communities in Networks

An important feature of networks for many application domains is their community structure. This is because objects within the same community usually have at least one property in common. The investigation of community structure can therefore support the understanding of object attributes from the network topology alone. In real-world systems, objects may belong to several communities at the same time, i.e., communities can overlap. Analyzing fuzzy community memberships is essential to understand to what extent objects contribute to different communities and whether some communities are highly interconnected. We developed a visualization approach that is based on node-link diagrams and supports the investigation of fuzzy communities in weighted undirected graphs at different levels of detail. Starting with the network of communities, the user can continuously drill down to the network of individual nodes and finally analyze the membership distribution of nodes of interest. Our approach uses layout strategies and further visual mappings to graphically encode the fuzzy community memberships. The usefulness of our approach is illustrated by two case studies analyzing networks of different domains: social networking and biological interactions. The case studies showed that our layout and visualization approach helps investigate fuzzy overlapping communities. Fuzzy vertices as well as the different communities to which they belong can be easily identified based on node color and position.
Manganese absorption by water hyacinth and its study as a raw material in nanotechnology.

Metal presence is a serious pollution problem in natural or treated water. The water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) is an aquatic plant known for its high capacity to absorb metals. However, to use water hyacinths in a sustainable pollution removal process, the parameters that affect the process of metal absorption and the disposal of the contaminated organic matter must be studied; these being the aims of this work. Water hyacinth assays were carried out in distilled water and the influence of Mn initial concentrations (Co: 10, 50, 100mg/L) and initial pH (pHo: 3, 5, 7) were analyzed. Parameters such as pH, electric conductivity (EC), and residual Mn were also measured. At the end of every assay, Mn was quantified in the different sections of the water hyacinth (root “R”, petiole “P” and leaf “L”) by atomic absorption spectrometry, and the presence of metal aggregates was detected by TEM microscopy. E. crassipes did not neutralize its growing medium. The EC was not a good control parameter for absorption, increased with time. The water hyacinth was capable of efficiently removing Mn from the solutions. It can be seen two phases of absorption (a rapid one followed by a slow absorption phase nearly linear). With increasing Co, the absorbed Mn increased, but the percentage of absorption during the rapid phase diminished. The final percentage of absorption increased with pHo independently of Co. The water hyacinth is capable of effectively translocating Mn. The bioconcentration factor (BCF) diminished with Co, and increased with pHo. www.witpress. com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 135, © 2010 WIT Press Water Pollution X 243 doi:10.2495/WP100211 Finally, aggregates of Mn were detected in nanometric size (between 5 and 20nm) in all the sections, being suggested that E. crassipes can turn as raw material in nanotechnology.
Benefits of Nut Consumption on Insulin Resistance and Cardiovascular Risk Factors: Multiple Potential Mechanisms of Actions

Epidemiological and clinical studies have indicated that nut consumption could be a healthy dietary strategy to prevent and treat type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and related cardiovascular disease (CVD). The objective of this review is to examine the potential mechanisms of action of nuts addressing effects on glycemic control, weight management, energy balance, appetite, gut microbiota modification, lipid metabolism, oxidative stress, inflammation, endothelial function and blood pressure with a focus on data from both animal and human studies. The favourable effects of nuts could be explained by the unique nutrient composition and bioactive compounds in nuts. Unsaturated fatty acids (monounsaturated fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids) present in nuts may play a role in glucose control and appetite suppression. Fiber and polyphenols in nuts may also have an anti-diabetic effect by altering gut microbiota. Nuts lower serum cholesterol by reduced cholesterol absorption, inhibition of HMG-CoA reductase and increased bile acid production by stimulation of 7-α hydroxylase. Arginine and magnesium improve inflammation, oxidative stress, endothelial function and blood pressure. In conclusion, nuts contain compounds that favourably influence glucose homeostasis, weight control and vascular health. Further investigations are required to identify the most important mechanisms by which nuts decrease the risk of T2DM and CVD.
Effects of clay on the morphology of poly(acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene) and polypropylene nanocomposites

The effects of clay on the morphology of the poly(acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene) (ABS)/polypropylene (PP) nanocomposites were investigated. From the studies of wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis of the ABS/PP (70/30) nanocomposites with clay, it was observed that most of the clay existed in the ABS matrix because of the good affinity between the ABS and clay which contained benzyl group. From the studies of the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis, the size of the PP droplet decreased with clay from 16.7 to 5.6 μm when the clay was added up to 4.0 phr. When the clay content was increased, the droplet of the dispersed phase (PP) was shown to elongated structure. The elongated structure could be explained by the decrease of the viscosity ratio of the PP and continuous phase (ABS) with clay, which corresponded to the increase of the viscosity of the continuous phase (ABS/clay). From the results of the SEM, TEM, and WAXD analysis, it is suggested that the increase of the viscosity of the continuous phase (ABS/clay) is mainly due to the location of clay in the ABS matrix. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 47:1671–1677, 2007. © 2007 Society of Plastics Engineers
Smartphone Application for the Analysis of Prosodic Features in Running Speech with a Focus on Bipolar Disorders: System Performance Evaluation and Case Study

Bipolar disorder is one of the most common mood disorders characterized by large and invalidating mood swings. Several projects focus on the development of decision support systems that monitor and advise patients, as well as clinicians. Voice monitoring and speech signal analysis can be exploited to reach this goal. In this study, an Android application was designed for analyzing running speech using a smartphone device. The application can record audio samples and estimate speech fundamental frequency, F0, and its changes. F0-related features are estimated locally on the smartphone, with some advantages with respect to remote processing approaches in terms of privacy protection and reduced upload costs. The raw features can be sent to a central server and further processed. The quality of the audio recordings, algorithm reliability and performance of the overall system were evaluated in terms of voiced segment detection and features estimation. The results demonstrate that mean F0 from each voiced segment can be reliably estimated, thus describing prosodic features across the speech sample. Instead, features related to F0 variability within each voiced segment performed poorly. A case study performed on a bipolar patient is presented.