Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Structural alterations in white-matter tracts connecting (para-)limbic and prefrontal brain regions in borderline personality disorder

Background A dysfunctional network of prefrontal and (para-)limbic brain region has been suggested to underlie emotional dysregulation in borderline personality disorder (BPD). Abnormal activity in this network may be due to structural alterations in white-matter tracts connecting prefrontal and (para-)limbic brain regions. To test this hypothesis, we investigated the structural integrity of major white-matter tracts connecting these regions in BPD. Method Using diffusion tensor imaging, we investigated fractional anisotropy (FA), axonal anisotropy (AD) and radial diffusivity (RD) in the uncinate fasciculus, the major white-matter tract connecting (para-)limbic and prefrontal brain regions, in 26 healthy controls (HC) and 26 BPD participants. To clarify the specificity of possible white-matter alterations among HC and BPD participants, FA, AD and RD were also investigated in the cingulum. Results We found distinct structural alterations in the uncinate fasciculus but not in the cingulum of BPD participants. Compared to HC participants, BPD participants showed lower FA and higher RD in the uncinate fasciculus. By contrast, AD did not differ in the uncinate fasciculus of HC and BPD participants. Conclusions Our finding of abnormal FA and RD in the uncinate fasciculus indicates distinct white-matter alterations in BPD, presumably due to stress-induced myelin degeneration in the aftermath of stressful life events. Although these alterations may account for abnormal activity in brain regions implicated in emotion dysregulation, such as the amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex and prefrontal cortex, it remains to be determined whether these alterations are specific for BPD.
User-centred improvements to energy efficiency products and renewable energy systems: research on household adoption and use

The development and rapid consumer adoption of energy efficiency products and renewable energy systems are key elements of the UK and the EU carbon reduction strategies to meet the challenge of climate change. Many such technologies are available for domestic use, but despite government incentives to meet carbon reduction targets consumer adoption has been slow. This Open University research with 111 in-depth interviews plus an on-line survey with nearly 400 responses, investigates consumer adoption, non-adoption and use of these technologies. Results show that it is important to research consumer use experiences, problems and requirements when designing and developing "green" technologies. With results tailored to each technology, this study shows that user-centred improvements are required to improve functionality, ergonomics, inter-connectedness with other systems and symbolic value, and to reduce cost and payback. User-centred research supports new product/system design and development to promote more rapid adoption and carbon-saving use of energy efficient and renewable technologies in homes.
Tuberculosis patients and practitioners in private clinics in India.

SETTING Rural and urban areas of Maharashtra, a large state in Western India. OBJECTIVE To understand tuberculosis (TB) management practices among private medical practitioners (PPs) and the treatment behaviour of the patients they manage. DESIGN Prospective study of help-seeking patterns and treatment behaviour among 173 pulmonary TB patients diagnosed in private clinics, and the TB management practices of 122 PPs treating these patients. RESULTS The first source of help for 86% of patients was a PP. The diagnostic and treatment practices of PPs were inadequate; 15% did not consider sputum examination to be necessary, and 79 different treatment regimens were prescribed by 105 reporting PPs. Sixty-seven percent of the patients diagnosed in private clinics remained with the private sector, and the rest shifted to public health services within six months of treatment. The treatment adherence rate among the patients in private clinics was 59%. There were discrepancies between the reported management practices of the PPs and what their patients actually followed. CONCLUSION The study identifies and highlights the need to educate PPs and their TB patients, and indicates ways in which PPs could be meaningfully involved in efforts to revitalize the national TB control programme.
Simulation of dust aerosol radiative feedback using the GMOD: 2. Dust-climate interactions

[1] We examine equilibrium climate responses to the shortwave and/or longwave direct radiative effect of mineral dust aerosol using the Global transport Model of Dust (GMOD) embedded within a general circulation model (GCM). The presence of mineral dust aerosol in the atmosphere is estimated to exert global mean shortwave and longwave radiative forcings (RF) of -0.25 W m ―2 and +0.27 W m ―2 , respectively, at the top of the atmosphere (TOA) and —1.95 W m ―2 and +0.61 W m ―2 at the surface. Climatic effect of dust is simulated using two different approaches. In the first approach, monthly mean fields of dust simulated a priori are used in the radiative transfer module of the GCM to drive climate change, with levels of dust fixed during the climate integration (denoted as simulation FIXDST). In the second approach, dust aerosol interacts online with meteorology through the dust cycle and its direct radiative effect (denoted as simulation CPLD). With both longwave and shortwave RF of dust, predicted changes in global and annual mean surface air temperature and air temperature at 200 hPa are zero and +0.12 K, respectively, in FIXDST, and -0.06 K and +0.05 K in the CPLD simulation. The stronger cooling in CPLD than in FIXDST is a result of a 13% higher dust burden in CPLD with dust-climate interactions. Although dust longwave radiative effect is predicted to offset a large portion of its shortwave effect on a global and annual mean basis, dust shortwave effect dominates during the daytime, and the longwave effect prevails at night, which is found to be very important for predictions of temperature. For example, over the Sahara Desert, the changes in annual mean, annual mean daytime, and annual mean nighttime surface air temperature are predicted to be +0.32 K, -0.11 K, and +0.68 K, respectively, in the FIXDST simulation. The longwave and shortwave radiative effects of dust are predicted to have different impacts on the dust cycle in CPLD simulation; the solar radiative effect reduces dust emissions by increasing surface humidity and by reducing surface wind speed, while the thermal effect increases dust uplift through opposite changes in the meteorological parameters.
Surface segregation of bromine in bromide doped NaCl: Implications for the seasonal variations in Arctic ozone

Episodes of ozone depletion attributed to chemistry of gas phase bromine compounds in marine regions of the Arctic boundary layer have been reported at polar sunrise. Models for the source of brominated compounds in the marine Arctic troposphere have focussed on surface chemistry of sea salt ice and aerosols even though the molar ratio of Cl− to Br− in sea salt is expected to be ∼660 to 1. X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) studies described here show, for the first time, substantial segregation of Br− to the surface of NaCl samples with low level Br− dopant. Water vapor exposure plays an important role as it provides enhanced ionic mobility in such systems allowing the surface segregation as the system approaches thermodynamic equilibrium. Our XPS results are confirmed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging of the salt sample surface after water vapor exposure, which shows NaBr crystallites that form at the surface. Our experiments provide the first experimental evidence for surface segregation in mixed alkali halide solids. The segregation phenomenon displayed here is likely to play an important role in a wide range of atmospheric phenomena that involve surface reactions of sea salt particles and aerosols.
Endogenous semiparametric binary choice models with heteroscedasticity

In this paper we consider endogenous regressors in the binary choice model under a weak median exclusion restriction, but without further speciflcation of the distribution of the unobserved random components. Our reduced form speciflcation with heteroscedastic residuals covers various heterogeneous structural binary choice models. As a particularly relevant example of a structural model where no semiparametric estimator has of yet been analyzed, we consider the binary random utility model with endogenous regressors and heterogeneous parameters. We employ a control function IV assumption to establish identiflcation of a slope parameter fl by the mean ratio of derivatives of two functions of the instruments. We propose an estimator based on direct sample counterparts, and discuss the large sample behavior of this estimator. In particular, we show p n consistency and derive the asymptotic distribution. In the same framework, we propose tests for heteroscedasticity, overidentiflcation and endogeneity. We analyze the small sample performance through a simulation study. An application of the model to discrete choice demand data concludes this paper.
The role of drug transporters in the kidney: lessons from tenofovir

Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, the prodrug of nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitor tenofovir, shows high efficacy and relatively low toxicity in HIV patients. However, long-term kidney toxicity is now acknowledged as a modest but significant risk for tenofovir-containing regimens, and continuous use of tenofovir in HIV therapy is currently under question by practitioners and researchers. Co-morbidities (hepatitis C, diabetes), low body weight, older age, concomitant administration of potentially nephrotoxic drugs, low CD4 count, and duration of therapy are all risk factors associated with tenofovir-associated tubular dysfunction. Tenofovir is predominantly eliminated via the proximal tubules of the kidney, therefore drug transporters expressed in renal proximal tubule cells are believed to influence tenofovir plasma concentration and toxicity in the kidney. We review here the current evidence that the actions, pharmacogenetics, and drug interactions of drug transporters are relevant factors for tenofovir-associated tubular dysfunction. The use of creatinine and novel biomarkers for kidney damage, and the role that drug transporters play in biomarker disposition, are discussed. The lessons learnt from investigating the role of transporters in tenofovir kidney elimination and toxicity can be utilized for future drug development and clinical management programs.
Pharmaconutrition: acute fatty acid modulation of circulating cytokines in elderly patients in the ICU.

BACKGROUND Enteral supply of ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids has been used in an attempt to modulate inflammation and improve outcome in critically ill patients. However, enteral administration may be slow to change membrane composition and therefore may not be the best route to supply these fatty acids in patients with acute conditions. This study evaluated the effects of short-term intravenous (IV) administration of fish oil-based lipid emulsion (FLE) as pharmaconutrition on cytokine levels in critically ill elderly patients. METHODS Enterally fed patients (n = 40; aged 60-80 years) were recruited in the first 48 hours of intensive care unit (ICU) admission. Fifteen patients received IV FLE (0.2 g/kg body weight) over 6 hours for 3 consecutive days, and 25 patients did not receive IV lipid (control). Samples were collected before and 24 hours and 72 hours after the third FLE infusion. Nutrient intakes, clinical parameters, and serum cytokine concentrations were measured. RESULTS Compared with the control, FLE resulted in higher energy intake, lower serum tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin (IL)-8 concentrations, and higher serum IL-10. These differences occurred around 7-9 days of ICU stay at the time of the patient's extubation. ICU stay, mortality, and markers of coagulation and liver function did not differ between groups. CONCLUSIONS Short-term IV FLE modulates some inflammatory markers in critically ill elderly patients receiving enteral nutrition (EN), suggesting an anti-inflammatory effect. This may be a benefit and suggests a role for FLE administration as a supplement in elderly ICU patients receiving standard EN.
Common and Segregated Neuronal Networks for Different Languages Revealed Using Functional Magnetic Resonance Adaptation

The effect of word repetition within and across languages was studied in English-Chinese bilinguals who read rapidly presented word pairs in a block design and an event-related fMRI study. Relatively less increase in MR signal was observed when the second word in a pair was identical in meaning to the first. This occurred in the English-only and mixed-languages conditions. Repetition-induced reductions in BOLD signal change were found in the left lateral prefrontal and lateral temporal regions in both types of conditions in the block experiment, suggesting that processing in these regions is sensitive to semantic features present in words and characters, and that part of the semantic neuronal networks serving English and Chinese is shared. In addition, these regions showed greater absolute signal change in the mixed-languages trials relative to the English-only trials. These findings were mostly replicated in an event-related experiment. Together, the experiments suggest that while the networks for Chinese and English word processing have shared components, there are also components that may be language specific.
QUICK ESTIMATES OF SOFT SEDIMENT THICKNESSES FROM AMBIENT NOISE HORIZONTAL TO VERTICAL SPECTRAL RATIOS: A CASE STUDY IN SOUTHERN ITALY

An approach devoted to quickly assess the thickness of soft sedimentary cover in areas of unknown subsurface morphology is applied in this study. In particular, soil thickness (h) is derived by combining estimates of the resonance frequency (f r ) relative to soft sediments with the local shear-wave velocity (Vs) profile. For this purpose, (f r ) values are assessed from horizontal to vertical (H/V) spectral ratios of seismic noise recordings and the (V s ) profile is obtained by considering information from shallow seismic surveys. Results obtained for a Quaternary sedimentary basin in Southern Italy are discussed. Since in the investigated area only weak independent constraints are available, special emphasis is given to the assessment of uncertainties involved in this estimate of soil thickness.
Feature Selection for classification of hyperspectral data by minimizing a tight bound on the VC dimension

Hyperspectral data consists of large number of features which require sophisticated analysis to be extracted. A popular approach to reduce computational cost, facilitate information representation and accelerate knowledge discovery is to eliminate bands that do not improve the classification and analysis methods being applied. In particular, algorithms that perform band elimination should be designed to take advantage of the specifics of the classification method being used. This paper employs a recently proposed filter-feature-selection algorithm based on minimizing a tight bound on the VC dimension. We have successfully applied this algorithm to determine a reasonable subset of bands without any user-defined stopping criteria on widely used hyperspectral images and demonstrate that this method outperforms state-of-the-art methods in terms of both sparsity of feature set as well as accuracy of classification. \end{abstract}
Arachidonic acid increases cerebral microvascular permeability by free radicals in single pial microvessels of the anaesthetized rat

1 We have investigated the permeability‐increasing effect of arachidonic acid on pial venular capillaries in vivo using the single microvessel occlusion technique. 2 Permeability to Lucifer Yellow dye (476 Da) increased dose dependently when arachidonic acid was applied focally to the abluminal surface of the vessels. This was completely reversible at all but the highest dose. The permeability increase was 1.65 × 10−6± 0.247 × 10−6 cm s−1 (mean ± s.e.m.) at 0.25 mm, 3.53 × 10−6± 0.872 × 10−6 cm s−1 at 0.5 mm, 12.61 × 10−6± 3.44 × 10−6 cm s−1 at 1 mm and 18.46 × 10−6± 5.90 × 10−6 cm s−1 at 2 mm arachidonic acid. There was a similar reversible dose‐dependent permeability increase to eicosapentaenoic acid. 3 These permeability increases could be prevented by co‐application of a mixture of the anti‐oxidants superoxide dismutase and catalase (30 and 100 U ml−1), or by the iron chelator desferrioxamine (100 μm). 4 The permeability increases were also prevented by the cyclooxygenase and 5‐lipoxygenase blockers indomethacin (100 μm) and nordihydroguariaretic acid (100 μm), respectively, when applied together, but not singly. 5 It was concluded that the permeability response to arachidonic acid depends on the formation of free radicals and subsequent lipid peroxidation.
Motion history images for online speaker/signer diarization

We present a solution to the problem of online speaker/signer diarization - the task of determining who spoke/signed when? Our solution is based on the idea that gestural activity (hands and body movement) is highly correlated with uttering activity. This correlation is necessarily true for sign languages and mostly true for spoken languages. The novel part of our solution is the use of motion history images (MHI) as a likelihood measure for probabilistically detecting uttering activities. MHI is an efficient representation of where and how motion occurred for a fixed period of time. We conducted experiments on 4.9 hours of the AMI meeting data and 1.4 hours of sign language dataset (Kata Kolok data). The best performance obtained is 15.70% for sign language and 31.90% for spoken language (measurements are in DER). These results show that our solution is applicable in real-world applications like video conferences and information retrieval.
Annualised risk analysis approach to recommend appropriate level of flood control: application to Swannanoa river watershed

This study presents an analysis approach using an existing Monte Carlo (MC) flood risk framework to compare annualised risk reductions from flood control alternatives targeting various recurrence interval events. The annualised risk approach is demonstrated by analysing the relative flood risk mitigation benefits of flood proofing in Swannanoa watershed, North Carolina. Using the MC framework, 54 design flows are sampled from the flow distribution and used to drive a graphics card based two‐dimensional flood model. The computed flood depths are used to create flood damage frequency and annualised risk curves. It was hypothesised that flood proofing for a higher probability event would result in a greater relative level of damage reduction for lower cost compared with the traditional use of a 1% annual exceedance flood event. The MC framework was used to test the hypothesis by producing a distribution of annualised risk over various return periods. Confirming the hypothesis, the 12% flood event was found to have the highest annualised risk for the case study in this paper. Simulations were executed to determine the relative costs and benefits of the 12% flood proofing (alternate case) and 1% flood proofing (base case) alternatives. The results showed that the base case reduced the expected annual damage (EAD) by 98.9% compared with the status quo. The alternate case reduced the EAD by 80.4% compared with the status quo. Comparing estimated annual implementation cost with flood damage reductions, annually, for every dollar spent on flood proofing, the 12% design resulted in twice the reduction in flood damages compared with the 1% design. This preliminary study thus confirms the potential of an alternative analysis approach that may be applied for identifying desired flood control level based on flood risk mitigation potential.
Using Fuzzy Logic to Leverage HTML Markup for Web Page Representation

The selection of a suitable document representation approach plays a crucial role in the performance of a document clustering task. Being able to pick out representative words within a document can lead to substantial improvements in document clustering. In the case of web documents, the HTML markup that defines the layout of the content provides additional structural information that can be further exploited to identify representative words. In this paper, we introduce a fuzzy term weighing approach that makes the most of the HTML structure for document clustering. We set forth and build on the hypothesis that a good representation can take advantage of how humans skim through documents to extract the most representative words. The authors of web pages make use of HTML tags to convey the most important message of a web page through page elements that attract the readers’ attention, such as page titles or emphasized elements. We define a set of criteria to exploit the information provided by these page elements, and introduce a fuzzy combination of these criteria that we evaluate within the context of a web page clustering task. Our proposed approach, called abstract fuzzy combination of criteria (AFCC), can adapt to datasets whose features are distributed differently, achieving good results compared with other similar fuzzy logic based approaches and TF-IDF across different datasets.
Randomised controlled trial of Alexander technique lessons, exercise, and massage (ATEAM) for chronic and recurrent back pain

Objective To determine the effectiveness of lessons in the Alexander technique, massage therapy, and advice from a doctor to take exercise (exercise prescription) along with nurse delivered behavioural counselling for patients with chronic or recurrent back pain. Design Factorial randomised trial. Setting 64 general practices in England. Participants 579 patients with chronic or recurrent low back pain; 144 were randomised to normal care, 147 to massage, 144 to six Alexander technique lessons, and 144 to 24 Alexander technique lessons; half of each of these groups were randomised to exercise prescription. Interventions Normal care (control), six sessions of massage, six or 24 lessons on the Alexander technique, and prescription for exercise from a doctor with nurse delivered behavioural counselling. Main outcome measures Roland Morris disability score (number of activities impaired by pain) and number of days in pain. Results Exercise and lessons in the Alexander technique, but not massage, remained effective at one year (compared with control Roland disability score 8.1: massage −0.58, 95% confidence interval −1.94 to 0.77, six lessons −1.40, −2.77 to −0.03, 24 lessons −3.4, −4.76 to −2.03, and exercise −1.29, −2.25 to −0.34). Exercise after six lessons achieved 72% of the effect of 24 lessons alone (Roland disability score −2.98 and −4.14, respectively). Number of days with back pain in the past four weeks was lower after lessons (compared with control median 21 days: 24 lessons −18, six lessons −10, massage −7) and quality of life improved significantly. No significant harms were reported. Conclusions One to one lessons in the Alexander technique from registered teachers have long term benefits for patients with chronic back pain. Six lessons followed by exercise prescription were nearly as effective as 24 lessons. Trial registration National Research Register N0028108728. How does the Alexander Technique work? What are the authors findings about the clinical and cost effectiveness of the treatment? Watch this video to find out (12 mins). 10.1136/bmj.a884V1