Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Unbiased comparison of sample size estimates from longitudinal structural measures in ADNI

Structural changes in neuroanatomical subregions can be measured using serial magnetic resonance imaging scans, and provide powerful biomarkers for detecting and monitoring Alzheimer's disease. The Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) has made a large database of longitudinal scans available, with one of its primary goals being to explore the utility of structural change measures for assessing treatment effects in clinical trials of putative disease‐modifying therapies. Several ADNI‐funded research laboratories have calculated such measures from the ADNI database and made their results publicly available. Here, using sample size estimates, we present a comparative analysis of the overall results that come from the application of each laboratory's extensive processing stream to the ADNI database. Obtaining accurate measures of change requires correcting for potential bias due to the measurement methods themselves; and obtaining realistic sample size estimates for treatment response, based on longitudinal imaging measures from natural history studies such as ADNI, requires calibrating measured change in patient cohorts with respect to longitudinal anatomical changes inherent to normal aging. We present results showing that significant longitudinal change is present in healthy control subjects who test negative for amyloid‐β pathology. Therefore, sample size estimates as commonly reported from power calculations based on total structural change in patients, rather than change in patients relative to change in healthy controls, are likely to be unrealistically low for treatments targeting amyloid‐related pathology. Of all the measures publicly available in ADNI, thinning of the entorhinal cortex quantified with the Quarc methodology provides the most powerful change biomarker. Hum Brain Mapp, 2012. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Adverse event management in patients with relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma taking pomalidomide plus low‐dose dexamethasone: A pooled analysis

Heavily pretreated patients with relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma are susceptible to treatment‐related adverse events (AEs). Managing AEs are important to ensure patients continue therapy long enough to receive the best clinical benefit. Data from the MM‐002, MM‐003, and MM‐010 trials were pooled to further characterize the safety profile of pomalidomide plus low‐dose dexamethasone and AE management.
The tumor necrosis factor family member TNFSF14 (LIGHT) is required for resolution of intestinal inflammation in mice.

BACKGROUND & AIMS The pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is associated with a dysregulated mucosal immune response. Expression of the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) superfamily member 14 (TNFSF14, also known as LIGHT [homologous to lymphotoxins, exhibits inducible expression, and competes with HSV glycoprotein D for HVEM, a receptor expressed by T lymphocytes]) on T cells is involved in their activation; transgenic expression of LIGHT on T cells in mice promotes inflammation in multiple organs, including intestine. We investigated the roles for LIGHT in recovery from intestinal inflammation in mice. METHODS We studied the role of LIGHT in intestinal inflammation using Tnfsf14(-/-) and wild-type mice. Colitis was induced by transfer of CD4(+)CD45RB(high) T cells into Rag1(-/-) or Tnfsf14(-/-)Rag1(-/-) mice, or by administration of dextran sulfate sodium to Tnfsf14(-/-) or wild-type C57BL/6J mice. Mice were weighed, colon tissues were collected and measured, and histology analyses were performed. We measured infiltrating cell populations and expression of cytokines, chemokines, and LIGHT. RESULTS After administration of dextran sulfate sodium, Tnfsf14(-/-) mice developed more severe colitis than controls, based on their reduced survival, accelerated loss of body weight, and histologic scores. LIGHT protected mice from colitis via the lymphotoxin β receptor and was expressed mainly by myeloid cells in the colon. Colons of Tnfsf14(-/-) mice also had increased accumulation of innate immune cells and higher levels of cytokines than colons from control mice. LIGHT, therefore, appears to regulate inflammation in the colon. CONCLUSIONS Tnfsf14(-/-) mice develop more severe colitis than control mice. LIGHT signals through the lymphotoxin β receptor in the colon to regulate the innate immune response and mediate recovery from intestinal inflammation.
eMedical Teacher

Cheating and dishonesty seem to be all around us, with an ever-unravelling litany of athletes, bankers, manufacturers and politicians cheating to advance their own interests. The use of immoral means for self-advancement has long been a serious misdemeanour within academia world and the digital world offers more and more ways both to cheat and to uncover cheating. While staying within the rules (probably), this edition of eMT looks at cheating in medical education in a digital age and the ways in which it and we are changing as a result.
The Potential Role of Music in Second Language Learning: A Review Article

The effects of musical activities on non-musical domains have recently sparked much research. Whereas the benefits of music for native language abilities are well established, the effect on second language (L2) is not yet fully explored. This review discusses articles suggesting the transfer effect of music on L2 phonological and reading skills. Through the analysis of research literature, it examines; (1) the extent of transfer to specific L2 skills, the nature of necessary music training, the effect of native language on musicality and L2, and the role of working memory in the transfer effect. While the discussed papers provide promising insights into the music-L2 relationship, due to the little research done in this area it is difficult to generalize the results to overall L2 learning.
Effect of a Parenting Intervention on Foster Care Reentry After Reunification Among Substance-Affected Families: A Quasi-Experimental Study

Although parental substance abuse has been identified as a risk factor for poor foster care outcomes, current research on effective interventions is limited. A few studies have shown that parenting interventions improved parenting skills and family functioning and decreased time to reunification among children in foster care due to parental substance abuse. However, more research is needed to evaluate whether these interventions positively impact reentry rates. Using propensity score analyses to establish a matched comparison group, survival analyses evaluated the relationship between participation in a parenting intervention, the Strengthening Families Program (SFP), and reentry among a sample of 493 children previously reunified with their parents. The overall reentry rate was 20.9%. Analyses indicated that there was no difference in reentry rates between the SFP (23.7%) and comparison groups (18.6%). Significant predictors of reentry were child behavior problems, family poverty, and reunification between 15 and 18 months from removal.
Distinguishing influence-based contagion from homophily-driven diffusion in dynamic networks

Node characteristics and behaviors are often correlated with the structure of social networks over time. While evidence of this type of assortative mixing and temporal clustering of behaviors among linked nodes is used to support claims of peer influence and social contagion in networks, homophily may also explain such evidence. Here we develop a dynamic matched sample estimation framework to distinguish influence and homophily effects in dynamic networks, and we apply this framework to a global instant messaging network of 27.4 million users, using data on the day-by-day adoption of a mobile service application and users' longitudinal behavioral, demographic, and geographic data. We find that previous methods overestimate peer influence in product adoption decisions in this network by 300–700%, and that homophily explains >50% of the perceived behavioral contagion. These findings and methods are essential to both our understanding of the mechanisms that drive contagions in networks and our knowledge of how to propagate or combat them in domains as diverse as epidemiology, marketing, development economics, and public health.
Perceived prevalence of teasing and bullying predicts high school dropout rates.

This prospective study of 276 Virginia public high schools found that the prevalence of teasing and bullying (PTB) as perceived by both 9th-grade students and teachers was predictive of dropout rates for this cohort 4 years later. Negative binomial regression indicated that one standard deviation increases in student- and teacher-reported PTB were associated with 16.5% and 10.8% increases in the number of dropouts, respectively, after controlling for the effects of other predictors, including school size, student body poverty and minority composition, community crime rates, and performance on standardized achievement testing. The predictive values of student and teacher perceptions of PTB were comparable in magnitude to the predictive values for other commonly recognized correlates of dropout rates. These results provide new evidence that the prevalence of peer victimization in high school is an important factor in high school academic performance. Language: en
I ’ ll cross that bridge if I get to it : Focusing on the Near ( Certain ) Future

In many important economic decisions under uncertainty, the expected-utility maximizing choice is ex post optimal only if certain later states are reached. We investigate whether, outside of discounting, subjects are biased towards options faring well in early-period comparisons. We conduct neutral-context laboratory experiments to systematically investigate this bias and its interaction with an endowment bias. We find that the ordering of payoffs matters. Compared to a frame in which a single draw from a known distribution determines subject outcome, a frame making explicit the temporal ordering of payoffs decreases choice of the option whose ex post optimality requires reaching later states. We also find a strong endowment effect. We conclude with the implication of these findings on annuity choice by a recent retiree, as both of these biases work against annuity purchase by the 401(k)-endowed retiree. JEL Classification: C91, D14, D81, G22, J26
Cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers in the differential diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease from other cortical dementias

Background Considering that most semantic dementia (SD) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) patients show no post-mortem Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers may be of value for distinguishing these patients from those with AD. Additionally, biomarkers may be useful for identifying patients with atypical phenotypic presentations of AD, such as posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) and primary progressive non-fluent or logopenic aphasia (PNFLA). Methods The authors investigated CSF biomarkers (beta-amyloid 1–42 (Aβ42), total tau (T-tau) and phosphorylated tau (P-tau)) in 164 patients with AD (n=60), PCA (n=15), behavioural variant FTD (n=27), SD (n=19), PNFLA (n=26) and functional cognitive disorders (FCD, n=17). The authors then examined the diagnostic value of these CSF biomarkers in distinguishing these patients from those with AD. Results The P-Tau/Aβ42 ratio was found to be the best biomarker for distinguishing AD from FTD and SD, with a sensitivity of 91.7% and 98.3%, respectively, and a specificity of 92.6% and 84.2%, respectively. As expected, biomarkers were less effective in differentiating AD from PNFLA and PCA, as significant proportions of PCA and PNFLA patients (60% and 61.5%, respectively) had concurrent alterations of both T-tau/Aβ42 and P-Tau/Aβ42 ratios. None of the FCD patients had a typical AD CSF profile or abnormal T-tau/Aβ42 or P-Tau/Aβ42 ratios. Conclusion The P-Tau/Aβ42 ratio is a useful tool to distinguish AD from both FTD and SD, which are known to involve pathological processes distinct from AD. Biomarkers could be useful for identifying patients with an atypical AD phenotype that includes PNFLA and PCA.
Deletion of the VP16 open reading frame of herpes simplex virus type 1

VP16 (also called Vmw65 and alpha TIF) is a structural protein of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) that trans-induces HSV-1 immediate-early gene transcription. This report describes an HSV-1 VP16 deletion mutant that was constructed and propagated in a cell line transformed with a VP16 expression vector. The VP16 deletion mutant replicated like wild-type HSV-1 during infection of the VP16-expressing cell line. Deletion mutant virions propagated in this cell line contained wild-type, cell-derived VP16 protein that was recruited during virion assembly and was functional for immediate-early gene trans-induction. The mutant failed to replicate during subsequent infection of cells that do not express VP16, as determined in plaque assays and single-step replication assays. The deletion mutant induced nearly normal levels of viral DNA synthesis and capsid production during these infections, but it induced slightly lower levels of viral DNA encapsidation and appeared by transmission electron microscopy to be defective in further steps of virion maturation. A genetic revertant of the deletion mutant that was restored for VP16-coding sequences exhibited fully wild-type replication properties in both VP16-expressing and nonexpressing cells. The absence of VP16 protein synthesis at late times of HSV-1 infection prevents the production of infectious progeny virus and correlates with a profound defect in HSV-1 particle assembly.
Concerted Cultivation? Parenting Values, Education and Class Diversity

The article presents an analysis of new empirical evidence on parenting values and orientations to children’s education and social class. A survey of parents with children involved in organized activities was undertaken, followed by a series of semi-structured interviews with a sample strategically identified with reference to both social class and subjective orientations to education. We argue that within recent literature there has been a tendency towards overstating the internal homogeneity of middle-class and working-class experiences. Our data reveal diverse parental orientations to their children’s education within, as well as across, classes. We analyse this diversity in relation to varied circumstances, and draw out some implications for theories of inequality.
On Functional Brain Asymmetries in Perceptual Priming

Brain asymmetries in implicit memory were studied using a perceptual identification priming paradigm. At the study phase, Subjects rated either the readability or the likeability of words. At the test phase, perceptual priming for these words was measured by presenting stimuli briefly either in the left or in the right visual hemifield. The typeface of the words was varied between the study and test. The orientation task manipulation at the study phase did not influence priming, although it had a powerful effect on a test of explicit memory. Priming effects were form-specific: words which were studied in the same typeface as they were tested were primed more strongly than words which were studied in a different typeface. No hemispheric asymmetries were observed in form-specific priming, but in general, priming was greater in the right hemifield/left hemisphere. These findings suggest that the hemispheres are equally effective in analysing and storing form-specific information at the early stages of word recognition process. Asymmetries favoring the left hemisphere may develop at a higher, more abstract level of presemantic visual word form processing.
Transatlantic student exchange between Canada and Europe: experiences from the CEIHPAL project

International student mobility amongst and between countries has become increasingly common and forms a central feature of the global higher education system. This paper examines the key learning experiences relating to the student mobility component of the Canadian-European Initiative for Health Promotion Advanced Learning (CEIHPAL) project. CEIHPAL was a unique and innovative project that fostered advanced intercontinental education and learning in health promotion from 2005–2008. With co-funding from the European Commission and the Canadian Government, the project facilitated institutional, student and faculty cooperation, by developing a high level of international communication. In particular, this paper focuses on the student mobility component and experiences of the CEIHPAL programme, a central part of the project activities. Feedback from both Canadian and European students themselves is used to document their participation in the programme, including the benefits derived from taking part as well as the problems and difficulties they encountered.
Simultaneous and Sequential Cognitive Processing in Monolingual and Bilingual Children in South Africa

Academic success is correlated with simultaneous and sequential cognitive processing. The cognitive processing skills of bilingual children have come under scrutiny. Cognitive processing may be mediated by level of orthographic transparency, level of bilingualism, and language of instruction at school. Given the imperative of assessing the impact of bilingualism and multilingualism on learning, the performance of 30 monolingual English and 30 bilingual Afrikaans-English third grade children was compared on the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) simultaneous and sequential processing standard scales. The K-ABC is relatively culture fair with low language requirements. We did not find any significant differences between the two groups on the global simultaneous-sequential scales, but significant differences were found on two specific subtests of the K-ABC: Hand Movements and Matrix Analogies. Findings provide overall support for the usefulness of the K-ABC as a measure of cognitive processing for children from diverse cultural-linguistic backgrounds, but with the understanding that a monolingual and a bilingual literacy-learning environment influences cognitive processing skills on specific cognitive tasks on the K-ABC. Importantly, the unchanged Hand Movements subtest and a modified version of the Matrix Analogies subtest (i.e. Pattern Recognition) is used in the K-ABC II, not yet widely used in South Africa. This study has important implications for using the K-ABC and K-ABC II across cultural-linguistic groups, for educational purposes.
Novel route for silylation of silica gel and aliphatic amines immobilization based on microwave-assisted solvent free synthesis and their applications for Cu(II) and Fe(III) removal from natural water samples

This article describes a new route for silica gel silylation and immobilization of aliphatic amines based on microwave-assisted solvent free synthesis to produce new solid phase extractors. The mode of synthesis was optimized under microwave conditions and achieved in a short time without using solvents. The produced phases named: silica gel- monoamine (SG-MA), silica gel- ethylenediamine (SG-EDA) and silica gel- diethylenetriamine (SG-DETA). The selectivity of these phases towards the uptake of Cu(II) and Fe(III) was checked using batch equilibration technique. Microwave radiation power and time of radiation were optimized to obtain the highest metal uptake values. The novel synthesized silica amine phases were characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectra and scanning electron microscope. The effects of different parameters including, hydrogen ion concentration, initial metal ion concentration, mass of the phase and shaking time on binding capacities of both Cu(II) and Fe(III) were explored. Results of sorption isotherms of the phases were better fitted with the Langmuir model (r2 ≥ 0.950). In addition, the kinetics data were best fitted with the pseudo–second-order type (r2 = 0.999). Application of SG-MA for removal of Cu(II)- and Fe(III)-spiked natural water samples was achieved satisfactorily using batch experiments. The results were found to refer to superior recovery percentages (90.0–97.01 ± 0.010–0.521%) with no significant matrix interferences.
In Vitro Effect of Lycopene on Cytokine Production by Human Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells

There is evidence indicating that regular consumption of tomato products is associated with favorable immunomodulatory effects. In addition, tomato extracts have been shown to possess antioxidant, anticarcinogenic and antithrombotic activity in vitro. Since tomatoes are rich in carotenoids and particularly in lycopene—the pigment responsible for the red color of tomatoes—the present work was designed to examine the in vitro effect of lycopene on cytokine production by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from 15 healthy subjects. First, 2 × 106 PBMC suspended in 1 ml of conditioned medium were incubated over a period of 24 and 48 hours without or with the following concentrations of lycopene: 0.25, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 and 4.0 μM. The production of the subsequent cytokines was evaluated: IL-1β, IL-1ra, IL-2, IL‐6 and IL-10, as well as TNFα and IFNγ. Lycopene induced a dose-dependent increase in IL1β, and TNFα production and a decrease in IL-2, IL-10 and IFNγ secretion, whereas that of IL-6 and IL-1ra was not affected. It is concluded that understanding the role of lycopene in modulation of the immune system may promote decisions as for dietary supplementation of lycopene for reducing the risk of certain diseases.
Information Mastering, Perceived Health and Societal Status: An Empirical Study of the Finnish Population

Health education programmes are generally based on the assumption that health-promoting knowledge and corresponding behaviour are automatically created as people are subjected to a rich flow of information. Improved knowledge is, however, not the same as good behaviour. Information is not synonymous with knowledge; neither is the transformation of knowledge into behaviour a simple or linear process. There are indications of gaps among the different strata of population in society, with some groups being able to gain more from societal efforts than others. In health matters, health literacy skills, i.e. health information mastering, has been emphasised as a crucial asset. The aim of this paper is to show the links that exist between an individual's everyday life information mastering, subjective health status and social position. The objective is also to provide an introduction to the theory of the sense of coherence. A particular aim is to point out the close relationship between the sense of coherence and information mastering. The results show clearly that there is a very strong social determinant in health. The relationship between the sense of coherence and self-rated health is also very strong, as well as the relationship between the sense of coherence and self-rated social class. According to the results of this study, and also as the theory predicts, the sense of coherence seems to be rooted in the ability to manage, cope with, and process information – that is, in information mastering.