Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Who Benefits from Child Benefit?

Governments, over much of the developed world, make significant financial transfers to parents with dependent children. For example, in the United States the recently introduced Child Tax Credit (CTC), which goes to almost all children, costs almost $1 billion each week, or about 0.4% of GNP. The United Kingdom has even more generous transfers and spends an average of about $30 a week on each of about 8 million children—about 1% of GNP. The typical rationale given for these transfers is that they are good for our children and here we investigate the effect of such transfers on household spending patterns. In the United Kingdom such transfers, known as Child Benefit (CB), have been simple lump sum universal payments for a continuous period of more than 20 years. We do indeed find that CB is spent differently from other income—paradoxically, it appears to be spent disproportionately on adult-assignable goods. In fact, we estimate that as much as half of a marginal dollar of CB is spent on alcohol. We resolve this puzzle by showing that the effect is confined to unanticipated variation in CB so we infer that parents are sufficiently altruistic toward their children that they completely insure them against shocks.
Adolescent females exposed to child maltreatment exhibit atypical EEG coherence and psychiatric impairment: Linking early adversity, the brain, and psychopathology

Abstract Although the relation between child maltreatment and psychiatric impairment is well documented and preliminary evidence has linked child maltreatment with aberrant cortical connectivity of the left hemisphere, no investigations have attempted to examine these relations in the same study. Here, we examined the links among early adversity, brain connectivity, and functional outcomes. We collected resting regional EEG intra- and interhemispheric α-band (7.5–12.5 Hz) coherence and measures of general psychiatric impairment from a cohort of 38 adolescent females exposed to child maltreatment (M age = 14.47) and 24 adolescent females not exposed to child maltreatment (M age = 14.00). Maltreated youths exhibited more left hemisphere EEG coherence than the control youths, suggesting a suboptimal organization of cortical networks. Maltreated participants also showed reduced frontal (anterior) interhemispheric coherence. These differences in brain circuitry remained statistically significant even after controlling for group differences in pubertal status and socioeconomic status. Measures of functional brain connectivity were associated with several subtypes of abuse and neglect. It was important that atypical left hemisphere EEG coherence mediated the effects of child maltreatment on levels of psychiatric impairment. The findings are discussed in the context of models linking early adversity to brain function and psychopathology.
C-reactive protein is associated with obstructive sleep apnea independent of visceral obesity.

BACKGROUND Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is associated with adverse cardiovascular outcomes. C-reactive protein (CRP) predicts atherosclerotic complications. Our study evaluates whether OSA is associated with an elevated CRP level, after elimination of known confounders including visceral obesity. METHODS Men without significant chronic medical illness, regular medications, or illness in the preceding 4 weeks were enrolled. Subjects with morbid obesity, newly detected high BP, or fasting glucose were excluded. They underwent polysomnography and MRI of abdomen to quantify visceral fat volume. High-sensitivity CRP levels were measured. RESULTS 111 men with mean body mass index (BMI) 26.3 +/- 3.8 kg/m(2) were evaluated. After adjustment for age, smoking, BMI, waist circumference, and sleep efficiency, CRP correlated positively with the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) [r = 0.35, p < 0.001], duration of O(2) saturation < 90% (r = 0.29, p = 0.002), and arousal index (r = 0.32, p = 0.001), and it correlated negatively with minimal O(2) saturation (r = -0.29, p = 0.002). These correlations were consistent when adjustment was made for MRI visceral fat volume instead of waist circumference. In the regression model, significant predictors of CRP included AHI, waist circumference, and triglycerides (adjusted R(2), 0.33, p = 0.001, p = 0.002, p = 0.018, respectively). Among the 111 subjects, 32 subjects with no or mild OSA (AHI < 15 events/h) were matched with 32 subjects with moderate-to-severe OSA (AHI > or = 15 events/h) in MRI visceral fat volume. CRP was higher in subjects with moderate-to-severe OSA (median, 1.32; 0.45 to 2.34 mg/L) when compared to subjects with no or mild OSA (median, 0.54; 0.25 to 0.89 mg/L; p = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS In healthy middle-aged men, elevated CRP level is associated with OSA independent of visceral obesity.
Linguistic relativity in SLA : thinking for speaking

Chapter 1 Motion in Danish as a Second Language: Does the Learner's l 1 Make a Difference? - Teresa Cadierno Chapter 2 The Role of Thinking for Speaking in Adult l 2 Speech: The Case of (Non)Unidirectionality Encoding by American Learners of Russian - Viktoria Driagina-Hasko Chapter 3 Can a l 2 Speaker's Patterns of Thinking for Speaking Change? - Gale A. Stam Chapter 4 Thinking for Speaking and Immediate Memory for Spatial Relations - Kenny R. Coventry, Berenice Valdes & Pedro Guijarro-Fuentes Chapter 5 The Gloss Trap - David Stringer Chapter 6 Linguistic Effects on Thinking for Writing: The Case of Articles in l 2 English - Monika Ekiert Chapter 7 Grammatical Morpheme Inadequacy as a Function of Linguistic Relativity: A Longitudinal Case Study - ZhaoHong Han Chapter 8 Conclusion: On the Interdependence of Conceptual Transfer and Relativity Studies - Terence Odlin
Clinical Relevance of Non-HDL Cholesterol in Patients With Diabetes

IN BRIEF Patients with type 2 diabetes have high rates of cardiovascular disease (CVD), much of which may be preventable with appropriate treatment of lipid abnormalities. Diabetic dyslipidemia most commonly manifests as elevated triglycerides and low levels of HDL cholesterol, with a predominance of small, dense LDL particles amid relatively normal LDL cholesterol levels. In diabetic patients, non-HDL cholesterol may be a stronger predictor of CVD than LDL cholesterol or triglycerides because it correlates highly with atherogenic lipoproteins. Target goals for LDL and non-HDL cholesterol in patients with diabetes are < 100 and < 130 mg/dl, respectively. Failure to consider the importance of non-HDL cholesterol in type 2 diabetes may result in undertreatment of patients with diabetes.
Physical activity is related to timing performance in older adults

ABSTRACT Physical activity has been linked to better cognitive function in older adults, especially for executive control processes. Researchers have suggested that temporal processing of durations less than 1 second is automatic and engages motor processes, while timing of longer durations engages executive processes. The purpose of this study was to determine whether a higher level of physical activity is associated with better reproduction performance in older adults, especially for durations in the “cognitive” range (i.e., longer than 1 s). Older right-handed adults completed a temporal reproduction task with five target durations (300, 650, 1000, 1350, and 1700 ms). Physical activity level was assessed via estimation of VO2 peak using a self-report activity scale. Results indicated that higher physical activity level was associated with better timing accuracy and that this effect was dependent on target duration. Namely, the relationship between physical activity and timing accuracy was strongest at the longest durations. Therefore, greater physical activity in older adults may have specific benefits linked to better executive functions.
Combination of Intravitreal Injection of Ranibizumab and Photocoagulation for the Treatment of Aggressive Posterior Retinopathy of Prematurity with Vitreous Hemorrhage

To investigate the efficacy of intravitreal ranibizumab (IVR) combined with laser photocoagulation for aggressive posterior retinopathy of prematurity (AP-ROP) patients with vitreous hemorrhage, we conducted a retrospective observational case series study. A total of 37 eyes of 20 patients' medical records were reviewed. Patients first received IVR (0.25 mg/0.025 mL) and later photocoagulation. The mean postconceptual age of injection was 34.6 ± 1.4 weeks, and the mean follow-up period was 39.3 ± 8.3 weeks. During the follow-up, 96.6% eyes had various degree of rapid absorption of vitreous hemorrhage after IVR. The mean time of received first photocoagulation after IVR was 4.8 ± 2.9 weeks. Ten (27.0%) eyes received second laser therapy and the mean time of second laser therapy after IVR was 3.2 ± 0.8 weeks. All eyes exhibited adequate regression of ROP and were stable with attached retina. Fibrosis membrane was observed in seven eyes (18.9%) and three of them demonstrated mild ectopic macula. No significant side effects related to IVR were observed. So IVR could be conducted as primary treatment of AP-ROP associated with vitreous hemorrhage, which can improve the fundus visibility, followed by conventional photocoagulation. Further randomized controlled trials are necessary to compare the clinical efficacy and safety with conventional interventions.
Health effects of amines and derivatives associated with CO 2 capture

2. Furthermore, NIPH was asked by Klif to evaluate existing risk estimates for Nnitrosodimethylamine (NDMA). This includes an evaluation of EPA/IRIS risk estimates for drinking water and air, and other risk estimates of this nitrosamine in Europe or Canada. Klif wanted an evaluation of the validity of the values, how they can be used, and how they should be interpreted. NIPH was also asked to consider establishing a guidelines (“luftkvalitetskriterier”) for this nitrosamine.
Evaluation of Immune-Related Response Criteria and RECIST v1.1 in Patients With Advanced Melanoma Treated With Pembrolizumab.

PURPOSE We evaluated atypical response patterns and the relationship between overall survival and best overall response measured per immune-related response criteria (irRC) and Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors, version 1.1 (RECIST v1.1) in patients with advanced melanoma treated with pembrolizumab in the phase Ib KEYNOTE-001 study (clinical trial information: NCT01295827). PATIENTS AND METHODS Patients received pembrolizumab 2 or 10 mg/kg every 2 weeks or every 3 weeks. Atypical responses were identified by using centrally assessed irRC data in patients with ≥ 28 weeks of imaging. Pseudoprogression was defined as ≥ 25% increase in tumor burden at week 12 (early) or any assessment after week 12 (delayed) that was not confirmed as progressive disease at next assessment. Response was assessed centrally per irRC and RECIST v1.1. RESULTS Of the 655 patients with melanoma enrolled, 327 had ≥ 28 weeks of imaging follow-up. Twenty-four (7%) of these 327 patients had atypical responses (15 [5%] with early pseudoprogression and nine [3%] with delayed pseudoprogression). Of the 592 patients who survived ≥ 12 weeks, 84 (14%) experienced progressive disease per RECIST v1.1 but nonprogressive disease per irRC. Two-year overall survival rates were 77.6% in patients with nonprogressive disease per both criteria (n = 331), 37.5% in patients with progressive disease per RECIST v1.1 but nonprogressive disease per irRC (n = 84), and 17.3% in patients with progressive disease per both criteria (n = 177). CONCLUSION Atypical responses were observed in patients with melanoma treated with pembrolizumab. Based on survival analysis, conventional RECIST might underestimate the benefit of pembrolizumab in approximately 15% of patients; modified criteria that permit treatment beyond initial progression per RECIST v1.1 might prevent premature cessation of treatment.
Neuropathogenesis of chimeric simian human immunodeficiency virus infection in rhesus macaques

Comparative studies were performed to determine the neuropathogenesis of infection in macaques with simian human immunodeficiency virus (SHIV)89.6P and SHIVKU. Both viruses utilize the CD4 receptor and CXCR4 co‐receptor. However, in addition, SHIV89.6P uses the CCR5 co‐receptor. Both agents are dual tropic for CD4+ T cells and blood‐derived macrophages of rhesus macaques. Following inoculation into macaques, both caused rapid elimination of CD4+ T cells but they varied greatly in mechanisms of neuropathogenesis. Two animals infected with SHIV89.6P developed typical lentiviral encephalitis in which multinucleated giant cell formation, nodular accumulations of microglial cells, activated macrophages and astrocytes, and perivascular accumulations of mononuclear cells were present in the brain. Many of the macrophages in these lesions contained viral RNA. Three macaques infected with SHIVKU and killed on days 6, 11 and 18, respectively, developed a slowly progressive infection in the CNS but macrophages were not productively infected and there were no pathological changes in the brain. Two other animals infected with this virus and killed several months later showed minimal infection in the brain even though one of the two developed encephalitis of unknown etiology. The basic difference in the mechanisms of neuropathogenesis by the two viruses may be related to co‐receptor usage. SHIV89.6P, in utilizing the CCR5 co‐receptor, caused neuropathogenic effects that are similar to other neurovirulent primate lentiviruses.
A Theory of Expressiveness in Mechanisms

A key trend in (electronic) commerce is a demand for higher levels of expressiveness in the mechanisms that mediate interactions. We develop a theory that ties the expressiveness of mechanisms to their efficiency in a domain-independent manner. We introduce two new expressiveness measures, 1) maximum impact dimension, which captures the number of ways that an agent can impact the outcome, and 2) shatterable outcome dimension, which is based on the concept of shattering from computational learning theory. We derive an upper bound on the expected efficiency of any mechanism under its most efficient Nash equilibrium. Remarkably, it depends only on the mechanism's expressiveness. We prove that the bound increases strictly as we allow more expressiveness. We also show that in some cases a small increase in expressiveness yields an arbitrarily large increase in the bound. Finally, we study channel-based mechanisms, which subsume most combinatorial auctions, multi-attribute mechanisms, and the Vickrey-Clarke-Groves scheme. We show that our domain-independent measures of expressiveness appropriately relate to the natural measure of expressiveness of channel-based mechanisms: the number of channels allowed. Using this bridge, our general results yield interesting implications. For example, any (channel-based) multi-item auction that does not allow rich combinatorial bids can be arbitrarily inefficient--unless agents have no private information.
Characterization of Schistosome Tegumental Alkaline Phosphatase (SmAP)

Schistosomes are parasitic platyhelminths that currently infect over 200 million people globally. The parasites can live for years in a putatively hostile environment - the blood of vertebrates. We have hypothesized that the unusual schistosome tegument (outer-covering) plays a role in protecting parasites in the blood; by impeding host immunological signaling pathways we suggest that tegumental molecules help create an immunologically privileged environment for schistosomes. In this work, we clone and characterize a schistosome alkaline phosphatase (SmAP), a predicted ∼60 kDa glycoprotein that has high sequence conservation with members of the alkaline phosphatase protein family. The SmAP gene is most highly expressed in intravascular parasite life stages. Using immunofluorescence and immuno-electron microscopy, we confirm that SmAP is expressed at the host/parasite interface and in internal tissues. The ability of living parasites to cleave exogenous adenosine monophosphate (AMP) and generate adenosine is very largely abolished when SmAP gene expression is suppressed following RNAi treatment targeting the gene. These results lend support to the hypothesis that schistosome surface enzymes such as SmAP could dampen host immune responses against the parasites by generating immunosuppressants such as adenosine to promote their survival. This notion does not rule out other potential functions for the adenosine generated e.g. in parasite nutrition.
Cavitation inception from bubble nuclei

The tensile strength of ordinary water such as tap water or seawater is typically well below 1 bar. It is governed by cavitation nuclei in the water, not by the tensile strength of the water itself, which is extremely high. Different models of the nuclei have been suggested over the years, and experimental investigations of bubbles and cavitation inception have been presented. These results suggest that cavitation nuclei in equilibrium are gaseous voids in the water, stabilized by a skin which allows diffusion balance between gas inside the void and gas in solution in the surrounding liquid. The cavitation nuclei may be free gas bubbles in the bulk of water, or interfacial gaseous voids located on the surface of particles in the water, or on bounding walls. The tensile strength of these nuclei depends not only on the water quality but also on the pressure–time history of the water. A recent model and associated experiments throw new light on the effects of transient pressures on the tensile strength of water, which may be notably reduced or increased by such pressure changes.
Integrin-ECM interactions regulate the changes in cell shape driving the morphogenesis of the Drosophila wing epithelium

During development, morphogenesis involves migration and changes in the shape of epithelial sheets, both of which require coordination of cell adhesion. Thus, while modulation of integrin-mediated adhesion to the ECM regulates epithelial motility, cell-cell adhesion via cadherins controls the remodelling of epithelial sheets. We have used the Drosophila wing epithelium to demonstrate that cell-ECM interactions mediated by integrins also regulate the changes in cell shape that underly epithelial morphogenesis. We show that integrins control the transitions from columnar to cuboidal cell shape underlying wing formation, and we demonstrate that eliminating the ECM has the same effect on cell shape as inhibiting integrin function. Furthermore, lack of integrin activity also induces detachment of the basal lamina and failure to assemble the basal matrix. Hence, we propose that integrins control epithelial cell shape by mediating adherence of these cells to the ECM. Finally, we show that the ECM has an instructive rather than a structural role, because inhibition of Raf reverses the cell shape changes caused by perturbing integrins.
The Amygdala Is Essential for the Development of Neuronal Plasticity in the Medial Geniculate Nucleus during Auditory Fear Conditioning in Rats

The medial geniculate nucleus of the thalamus (MGN) and the basolateral complex of the amygdala (BLA) are critical components of the neural circuit that mediates auditory fear conditioning. Several studies indicate that neurons in both the MGN and BLA exhibit associative plasticity of spike firing during auditory fear conditioning. In the present study, we examined whether the development of plasticity in the MGN requires the BLA. Single units were recorded from chronic multichannel electrodes implanted in the medial division of the MGN of conscious and freely moving rats. Rats received auditory fear conditioning trials, which consisted of a white-noise conditional stimulus (CS) and a co-terminating footshock unconditional stimulus (US). Unpaired (sensitization) controls received the same number of trials as paired animals, but the CS and US were explicitly unpaired. Before fear conditioning, rats received either an intra-amygdala infusion of muscimol, a GABA(A) receptor agonist, to inactivate BLA neurons or an infusion of the saline vehicle. Auditory fear conditioning produced a substantial increase in both CS-elicited spike firing in the MGN and conditional freezing behavior in vehicle-treated rats receiving paired training. Muscimol inactivation of the BLA severely attenuated the development of both conditioning-related increases in CS-elicited spike firing in the MGN and conditional freezing to the auditory CS. Unpaired training did not yield increases in either CS-elicited spike firing or freezing to the tone CS. These results reveal that the BLA is essential to the development of plasticity in the auditory thalamus during fear conditioning.
An annual survey of successful suicide incidence in hamadan, Western iran.

BACKGROUND Suicide has constituted a critical public health problem for many decades. The number of completed suicide is traditionally high in Iran. The objective of the present study was to describe the patterns of methods of suicide among registered deaths due to suicide in Hamada, western Iran. METHODS In this cross-sectional study, all completed suicide cases (n=146) were included from March 2004 through March 2005 based on Hamadan's Forensic center registered deaths because of suicide. Supplementary data were gauged through a questionnaire from the attemptersâ€™ relatives. All statistical analyses were performed using version 13 of the statistical software package SPSS and an alpha level of . 05 for all statistical tests. RESULTS Prevalence of completed suicide was 8.3 per 100,000 in Hamadan, Iran. From 146 cases, the male-to-female ratio was 7.1:1. Average age of cases was 33.9 yr (Min=10, Max=94) across all age groups, males show consistently higher completed suicide rates than females. Of the 69.2% were from urban population versus 30.8% form rural population. The most common method of suicide was hanging (78.1 %). Other common methods were poisoning (11.6%), and self-burning (6.2%). CONCLUSION Suicide rate in Hamadan is high among males through hanging which can be due tosubstance dependency and unemployment.
Requerimientos de riego y predicción del rendimiento en el cultivo de banano mediante un modelo de simulación en el Urabá antioqueño, Colombia

El cultivo de banano es la actividad agricola mas importante de la economia del Uraba antioqueno, desarrollada en 49 000 ha. El fenomeno ENSO ha afectado la produccion debido a deficit de precipitacion, incrementos de temperatura y periodos de sequia mas intensos, a lo que se suman las altas incertidumbres asociadas con el cambio climatico y la distribucion desigual de las lluvias en la zona; todo ello ha aumentado la necesidad de riego. El objetivo fue estimar mediante simulaciones con el modelo CROPWAT los requerimientos de riego y la reduccion del rendimiento del banano cuando se cultiva en condiciones sin riego en tres escenarios de precipitacion: 20% (humedo), 50% (normal) y 80% (seco) de probabilidad de excedencia. Se usaron datos diarios de precipitacion y temperatura maxima y minima de siete estaciones meteorologicas, informacion fenologica y referencias edafologicas del Uraba, con siembras: en la estacion seca (verano) (SV) y en la estacion humeda (temporada de lluvias) (SL). En los resultados, la evapotranspiracion del cultivo presenta sus valores mayores con (SV) en marzo-agosto y con (SL) en julio-agosto, Salpicon es la mayor. Todas las estaciones presentan sus valores menores de precipitacion efectiva entre enero y marzo, y los requerimientos hidricos mayores para la SV y en el escenario seco (80 %). La reduccion del rendimiento en SV fue de 0.9% (humedo), 5 a 15% (normal), y 25 a 30% (seco); en SL de 2% (humedo), 1 a 3% (normal), y 5 a 10% (seco). En la zona norte del Uraba antioqueno, el riego suplementario es importante para no tener bajas en el rendimiento en los escenarios seco y normal.