Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Structure and Correlates of Cognitive Aging in a Narrow Age Cohort

Aging-related changes occur for multiple domains of cognitive functioning. An accumulating body of research indicates that, rather than representing statistically independent phenomena, aging-related cognitive changes are moderately to strongly correlated across domains. However, previous studies have typically been conducted in age-heterogeneous samples over longitudinal time lags of 6 or more years, and have failed to consider whether results are robust to a comprehensive set of controls. Capitalizing on 3-year longitudinal data from the Lothian Birth Cohort of 1936, we took a longitudinal narrow age cohort approach to examine cross-domain cognitive change interrelations from ages 70 to 73 years. We fit multivariate latent difference score models to factors representing visuospatial ability, processing speed, memory, and crystallized ability. Changes were moderately interrelated, with a general factor of change accounting for 47% of the variance in changes across domains. Change interrelations persisted at close to full strength after controlling for a comprehensive set of demographic, physical, and medical factors including educational attainment, childhood intelligence, physical function, APOE genotype, smoking status, diagnosis of hypertension, diagnosis of cardiovascular disease, and diagnosis of diabetes. Thus, the positive manifold of aging-related cognitive changes is highly robust in that it can be detected in a narrow age cohort followed over a relatively brief longitudinal period, and persists even after controlling for many potential confounders.
Finding a happy medium: explaining the negative effects of electronic communication on social life at work

The sometimes observed negative social effects of electronic communication technology are often attributed to the characteristics of the technology itself. Electronic mail, for instance, filters out personal and social cues and provides new capabilities not found in traditional media, and it has been argued that these factors have consequences such as “flaming” and depersonalization. Alternative theoretical perspectives on the impacts of information technology suggest that our ability to explain these outcomes might be enhanced by attending to users' intentional choices about how to use technology and to unpredictable technology usage patterns that emerge when users interact with the technology and each other. These alternative perspectives are examined in the context of an exploratory case study of a complex organization in which electronic mail was heavily used. Users were found to select email deliberately when they wished to avoid unwanted social interactions. At the same time, they actively took steps to avoid negative outcomes, such as depersonalization of their relationships with subordinates. However, despite their well-intentioned efforts, some negative social effects did occur that cannot entirely be attributed to the technological characteristics of electronic communication. Instead, they appear to be ironic side effects of users' thoughtful efforts to use email effectively. These results suggest the value of according a prominent role in explanations of technology impacts to users' intended and unintended technology uses. The results also imply that negative social effects from using electronic communication technology may not prove easy to eradicate, despite technological developments such as multimedia integration, and despite efforts to train users in the best email “etiquette. ”
Catecholamines—Crafty Weapons in the Inflammatory Arsenal of Immune/Inflammatory Cells or Opening Pandora’s Box?

It is well established that catecholamines (CAs), which regulate immune and inflammatory responses, derive from the adrenal medulla and from presynaptic neurons. Recent studies reveal that T cells also can synthesize and release catecholamines which then can regulate T cell function. We have shown recently that macrophages and neutrophils, when stimulated, can generate and release catecholamines de novo which, then, in an autocrine/paracrine manner, regulate mediator release from these phagocytes via engagement of adrenergic receptors. Moreover, regulation of catecholamine-generating enzymes as well as degrading enzymes clearly alter the inflammatory response of phagocytes, such as the release of proinflammatory mediators. Accordingly, it appears that phagocytic cells and lymphocytes may represent a major, newly recognized source of catecholamines that regulate inflammatory responses.
Genome and Epigenome Disorders and Male Infertility: Feedback from 15 Years of Clinical and Research Experience

Infertility affects around 20% of couples of reproductive age; however, in some societies, as many as one-third of couples are unable to conceive. Different factors contribute to the decline of male fertility, such us environmental and professional exposure to endocrine disruptors, oxidative stress, and life habits with the risk of de novo epigenetics dysregulation. Since the fantastic development of new “omes and omics” technologies, the contribution of inherited or de novo genomes and epigenome disorders to male infertility have been further elucidated. Many other techniques have become available to andrology laboratories for the investigation of genome and epigenome integrity and the maturation and the competency of spermatozoa. All these new methods of assessment are highlighting the importance of genetics and epigenetics investigation for assisted reproduction pathology and for supporting professionals in counselling patients and proposing different management strategies for male infertility. This aims to improve clinical outcomes while minimizing the risk of genetics or health problems at birth.
Personality disorder and impaired functioning from adolescence to adulthood.

BACKGROUND Little is currently known about functioning and impairment during adulthood associated with the course of personality disorders. AIMS To investigate the association of personality disorder stability from adolescence through middle adulthood with measures of global functioning and impairment, using prospective epidemiological data. METHOD A community-based sample of 658 individuals was interviewed at mean ages 14, 16, 22 and 33 years. RESULTS Individuals with persistent personality disorder had markedly poorer functioning and greater impairment at mean age 33 years than did those who had never been identified as having such disorder or who had a personality disorder that was in remission, after co-occurring Axis I disorders at age 33 years were taken into account. Remitted disorder was associated with mild long-term impairment. Adult-onset personality disorders, however, were also associated with significant impairment. CONCLUSIONS Persistent and adult-onset personality disorders are associated with functional impairment among adults in the community. These effects are independent of co-occurring Axis I disorders.
On the K-theory of groups with finite asymptotic dimension

Abstract It is proved that the assembly maps in algebraic K- and L-theory with respect to the family of finite subgroups is injective for groups Γ with finite asymptotic dimension that admit a finite model for EΓ. The result also applies to certain groups that admit only a finite dimensional model for EΓ. In particular, it applies to discrete subgroups of virtually connected Lie groups.
Skeletal muscle ouabain binding sites are reduced in rats with chronic heart failure.

Intrinsic skeletal muscle abnormalities decrease muscular endurance in chronic heart failure (CHF). In CHF patients, the number of skeletal muscle Na(+)-K(+) pumps that have a high affinity for ouabain (i.e., the concentration of [(3)H]ouabain binding sites) is reduced, and this reduction is correlated with peak oxygen uptake. The present investigation determined whether the concentration of skeletal muscle [(3)H]ouabain binding sites found during CHF is related to 1) severity of the disease state, 2) muscle fiber type composition, and/or 3) endurance capacity. Four muscles were chosen that represented slow-twitch oxidative (SO), fast-twitch oxidative glycolytic (FOG), fast-twitch glycolytic (FG), and mixed fiber types. Measurements were obtained 8-10 wk postsurgery in 23 myocardial infarcted (MI) and 18 sham-operated control (sham) rats. Eighteen rats had moderate left ventricular (LV) dysfunction [LV end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP) < 20 mmHg], and five had severe LV dysfunction (LVEDP > 20 mmHg). Rats with severe LV dysfunction had significant pulmonary congestion and were likely in a chronic state of compensated congestive failure as indicated by an approximately twofold increase in both lung and right ventricle weight. Run time to fatigue and maximal oxygen uptake (VO(2 max)) were significantly reduced ( downward arrow39 and downward arrow28%, respectively) in the rats with severe LV dysfunction and correlated with the magnitude of LV dysfunction as indicated by LVEDP (run time: r = 0.60, n = 21, P < 0.01 and VO(2 max): r = 0.93, n = 13, P < 0.01). In addition, run time to fatigue was significantly correlated with VO(2 max) (r = 0.87, n = 15, P < 0.01). The concentration of [(3)H]ouabain binding sites (B(max)) was significantly reduced (21-28%) in the three muscles comprised primarily of oxidative fibers [soleus: 259 +/- 14 vs. 188 +/- 17; plantaris: 295 +/- 17 vs. 229 +/- 18; red portion of gastrocnemius: 326 +/- 17 vs. 260 +/- 14 pmol/g wet tissue wt]. In addition, B(max) was significantly correlated with VO(2 max) (soleus: r = 0.54, n = 15, P < 0.05; plantaris: r = 0.59, n = 15, P < 0.05; red portion of gastrocnemius: r = 0.65, n = 15, P < 0.01). These results suggest that downregulation of Na(+)-K(+) pumps that possess a high affinity for ouabain in oxidative skeletal muscle may play an important role in the exercise intolerance that attends severe LV dysfunction in CHF.
PANC-1 Cell Line as an Experimental Model for Characterizing PIVKA-II Production, Distribution, and Molecular Mechanisms Leading to Protein Release in PDAC

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) represents a highly aggressive malignancy with a lack of reliable diagnostic biomarkers. Protein induced by vitamin K absence (PIVKA-II) is a protein increased in various cancers (particularly in hepatocellular carcinoma), and it has recently exhibited superior diagnostic performance in PDAC detection compared to other biomarkers. The aim of our research was to identify an in vitro model to study PIVKA-II production, distribution, and release in PDAC. We examined the presence of PIVKA-II protein in a panel of stabilized pancreatic cancer cell lines by Western blot analysis and indirect immunofluorescence (IFA). After quantitative evaluation of PIVKA-II in PaCa 44, H-Paf II, Capan-1, and PANC-1, we adopted the latter as a reference model. Subsequently, we analyzed the effect of glucose addiction on PIVKA-II production in a PANC-1 cell line in vitro; PIVKA-II production seems to be directly related to an increase in glucose concentration in the culture medium. Finally, we evaluated if PIVKA-II released in the presence of increasing doses of glucose is concomitant with the expression of two well-acknowledged epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers (Vimentin and Snail). According to our experimental model, we can speculate that PIVKA-II release by PANC-1 cells is glucose-dependent and occurs jointly with EMT activation.
Robust Parameter Estimation in Computer Vision

Estimation techniques in computer vision applications must estimate accurate model parameters despite small-scale noise in the data, occasional large-scale measurement errors (outliers), and measurements from multiple populations in the same data set. Increasingly, robust estimation techniques, some borrowed from the statistics literature and others described in the computer vision literature, have been used in solving these parameter estimation problems. Ideally, these techniques should effectively ignore the outliers and measurements from other populations, treating them as outliers, when estimating the parameters of a single population. Two frequently used techniques are least-median of squares (LMS) [P. J. Rousseeuw, {J. Amer. Statist. Assoc. , 79 (1984), pp. 871--880] and M-estimators [Robust Statistics: The Approach Based on Influence Functions, F. R. Hampel et al., John Wiley, 1986; Robust Statistics, P. J. Huber, John Wiley, 1981]. LMS handles large fractions of outliers, up to the theoretical limit of 50% for estimators invariant to affine changes to the data, but has low statistical efficiency. M-estimators have higher statistical efficiency but tolerate much lower percentages of outliers unless properly initialized. While robust estimators have been used in a variety of computer vision applications, three are considered here. In analysis of range images---images containing depth or X, Y, Z measurements at each pixel instead of intensity measurements---robust estimators have been used successfully to estimate surface model parameters in small image regions. In stereo and motion analysis, they have been used to estimate parameters of what is called the ''fundamental matrix,'' which characterizes the relative imaging geometry of two cameras imaging the same scene. Recently, robust estimators have been applied to estimating a quadratic image-to-image transformation model necessary to create a composite, ''mosaic image'' from a series of images of the human retina. In each case, a straightforward application of standard robust estimators is insufficient, and carefully developed extensions are used to solve the problem.
Prospective Monitoring Reveals Dynamic Levels of T Cell Immunity to Mycobacterium Tuberculosis in HIV Infected Individuals

Monitoring of latent Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection may prevent disease. We tested an ESAT-6 and CFP-10-specific IFN-γ Elispot assay (RD1-Elispot) on 163 HIV-infected individuals living in a TB-endemic setting. An RD1-Elispot was performed every 3 months for a period of 3–21 months. 62% of RD1-Elispot negative individuals were positive by cultured Elispot. Fluctuations in T cell response were observed with rates of change ranging from −150 to +153 spot-forming cells (SFC)/200,000 PBMC in a 3-month period. To validate these responses we used an RD1-specific real time quantitative PCR assay for monokine-induced by IFN-γ (MIG) and IFN-γ inducible protein-10 (IP10) (MIG: r = 0.6527, p = 0.0114; IP-10: r = 0.6967, p = 0.0056; IP-10+MIG: r = 0.7055, p = 0.0048). During follow-up 30 individuals were placed on ARVs and 4 progressed to active TB. Fluctuations in SFC did not correlate with CD4 count, viral load, treatment initiation, or progression to active TB. The RD1-Elispot appears to have limited value in this setting.
Strong association between a single gene and fertilization efficiency of males and fecundity of their mates in the bulb mite

Although variation in male fertilization efficiency has been shown to have a genetic basis in several species, the genes responsible for the effect are generally unknown. Here, we show a strong association between the fertilization success of males and their phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (Pgdh) genotype in the bulb mite Rhizoglyphus robini. Males homozygous for the slow (S) allele fathered a significantly greater proportion of offspring when competing with males homozygous for the fast (F) allele. There was no evidence that female fecundity was influenced by their Pgdh genotype. The fecundity of FF females did not differ significantly from the fecundity of SS females but female fecundity was significantly influenced by the genotype of their mate. Females paired with SS males laid significantly fewer eggs than females paired with FF males. Altogether these data show a trade-off, with the male SS genotype associated with their higher fertilization efficiency but at the cost of a negative impact on the fecundity of females mating with them.
The Effects of Biochar and Nitrogen Stabilizers Application on Forage Crop Growth, Greenhouse Gas Emission and Soil Quality

v CHAPTER 1. GENERAL INTRODUCTION . 6 1.1. Statement of the problem . 8 1.2. Objectives . 9 1.3. Structure of the dissertation . 10 1.4. References . 11 CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW . 14 2.
Hybrid Educational Strategy for a Laboratory Course on Cognitive Robotics

This paper presents an innovative cognitive robotics laboratory course based on the latest developments in mobile robotics, communication networks, software agents, and educational technologies. The hybrid educational strategy combines simulation and experiments on real robots, as well as in-class experiments and remote control over the Internet, while the students are assisted by human tutors and artificial software agents. Evaluation data demonstrate the validity and attractiveness of this approach.
Signatures of Human NK Cell Development and Terminal Differentiation

Natural killer (NK) cells are part of the innate lymphoid cell (ILC) family and represent the main cytotoxic population. NK cells develop from bone marrow common lymphoid progenitors and undergo terminal differentiation in the periphery, where they finally gain their cytotoxic competence as well as the ability to produce IFN-γ in response to engagement of activating receptors. This process has been at least partially elucidated and several markers have been identified to discriminate different NK cell stages and other ILC populations. NK cell terminal differentiation is not only associated with progressive phenotypic changes but also with defined effector signatures. In this essay, we will describe the phenotypic and functional characteristics of the main stages of NK cell development and terminal differentiation and discuss them in light of recent discoveries of novel ILC populations.
Effect of Postural Changes on Baroreflex Sensitivity: A study on the Eurobavar data set

The effect of changing posture from supine to standing on the heart rate variability (HRV) was analyzed on the EUROBAVAR data set using power spectral analysis. Power spectral analysis has been commonly used to provide indices of autonomic cardiovascular modulation. Although the interpretation of power spectra is in dispute, it is generally agreed that the high-frequency (HF) power components represent the cardiac vagal modulation and the low-frequency (LF) power components are related to sympathetic activity. And then their ratio (LF/HF) is considered as an index of sympathovagal balance. In the supine lying position, relatively fast vagal activity plays a dominant role, whereas the upright standing position results in vagal inhibition and sympathetic predominance. Postural changing from supine to standing position showed the significant decrease in the indexes of vagal influence on HRV; HF power in both absolute and normalized unit decreased (320 to 121 ms2times103/Hz with P<0.005 and 49 to 37 n.u. with P<0.005, respectively) and LF/HF increased (1.4 to 2.65, P<0.005;. The baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) values were estimated by time sequence method, alpha-coefficients and transfer gains in LF and HF bands. There was a clear difference between BRS values in the supine and the standing positions with the averaged supine-to-standing BRS ratios of 2.35plusmn0. 4. BRS estimates using HF components indicated higher values than LF analysis. With the evident decrease in normalized HF power and increase in LF/HF, the effect of changing positions to standing from supine lying can be concluded as a clear reduction in vagal influence on the heart rate variability
A Joint Model for Question Answering over Multiple Knowledge Bases

As the amount of knowledge bases (KBs) grows rapidly, the problem of question answering (QA) over multiple KBs has drawn more attention. The most significant distinction between multiple KB-QA and single KB-QA is that the former must consider the alignments between KBs. The pipeline strategy first constructs the alignments independently, and then uses the obtained alignments to construct queries. However, alignment construction is not a trivial task, and the introduced noises would be passed on to query construction. By contrast, we notice that alignment construction and query construction are interactive steps, and jointly considering them would be beneficial. To this end, we present a novel joint model based on integer linear programming (ILP), uniting these two procedures into a uniform framework. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach outperforms state-of-the-art systems, and is able to improve the performance of both alignment construction and query construction.
Forward and retransmitted Systematic Lossy Error Protection for IPTV video multicast

Emerging IPTV deployments combine Forward Error Correction (FEC) and packet retransmissions to resist the impulse noise of the Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) links. In this work, we re-engineer such a solution to improve its robustness against impulse noise while keeping it backward-compatible with the current network infrastructure. We propose forward and retransmitted Systematic Lossy Error Protection (SLEP/SLEPr), which effectively provides error resiliency at the expense of some slight loss of video quality. We demonstrate its effectiveness through a set of experiments. We further present an analytical model for SLEP/SLEPr and show that the experimental results can be explained by the analysis.
Morbidity and Mortality in Jeju Residents over 50-Years of Age with Hip Fracture with Mean 6-Year Follow-Up: A Prospective Cohort Study

This prospective cohort study was performed to estimate the morbidity and mortality with 790 patients over 50-yr of age that sustained a femoral neck or intertrochanteric fracture from 2002 to 2006, followed-up for a mean of 6 yr (range, 4 to 9 yr). Crude and annual standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) were calculated; and mortalities in the cohort and the age and sex matched general population were compared. The risk factors on mortality and activities pre- and post-injury were assessed. Accumulated mortality was 16.7% (132 patients) at 1 yr, 45.8% (337 patients) at 5 yr, and 60% (372 patients) at 8 yr. SMR at 5 yr post-injury was 1.3 times that of the general population. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that age (OR, 1.074; 95% CI, 1.050-1.097; P<0.001), woman (OR, 1.893; 95% CI, 1.207-2.968; P=0.005), and medical comorbidity (OR, 1.334; 95% CI, 1.167-1.524 P<0.001) were independently associated with mortality after hip fracture. Only 59 of the 150 patients (39.3%) who were able to ambulate normally outdoors at preinjury retained this ability at final follow-up. Patients with a hip fracture exhibits higher mortality at up to 5 yr than general population. Age and a preinjury comorbidity are associated with mortality.
Children use syntax to learn verb meanings

ABSTRACT Verb learning is clearly a function of observation of real-world contingencies; however, it is argued that such observational information is insufficient to account fully for vocabulary acquisition. This paper provides an experimental validation of Landau & Gleitman's (1985) syntactic bootstrapping procedure; namely, that children may use syntactic information to learn new verbs. Pairs of actions were presented simultaneously with a nonsense verb in one of two syntactic structures. The actions were subsequently separated, and the children (MA = 2;1) were asked to select which action was the referent for the verb. The children's choice of referent was found to be a function of the syntactic structure in which the verb had appeared.