Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bias in causal estimates from Mendelian randomization studies with weak instruments

Mendelian randomization studies using genetic instrumental variables (IVs) are now being commonly used to estimate the causal association of a phenotype on an outcome. Even when the necessary underlying assumptions are valid, estimates from analyses using IVs are biased in finite samples. The source and nature of this bias appear poorly understood in the epidemiological field. We explain why the bias is in the direction of the confounded observational association, with magnitude relating to the statistical strength of association between the instrument and phenotype. We comment on the size of the bias, from simulated data, showing that when multiple instruments are used, although the variance of the IV estimator decreases, the bias increases. We discuss ways to analyse Mendelian randomization studies to alleviate the problem of weak instrument bias. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Cough and Paradoxical Vocal Fold Motion

OBJECTIVES: The differential diagnosis and treatment of patients with chronic cough, paradoxical vocal fold motion, and disordered breathing can be a challenge to most practicing otolaryngologists. Tracheobronchial (ie, asthma, bronchitis, and tracheal stenosis), laryngeal (ie, vocal fold paralysis and neoplasms), and rhinologic (ie, allergies and rhinosinusitis) etiologies are commonly diagnosed and treated effectively. However, occasionally one is faced with patients who are refractory to medical treatment and have no obvious rhinologic, laryngeal or pulmonary cause. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: We conducted a review of the literature. METHODS: We present a thorough review of the current medical literature exploring the complex neurologic mechanisms involved in the production of cough and the relationship between gastroesophageal reflux disease, vagal neurapathy, and paradoxical vocal fold motion. RESULTS: The diagnosis and successful treatment of chronic cough can be complex. It requires a thorough understanding of the neurologic mechanisms behind cough excitation and suppression. Successful treatment strategies include aggressive management of the patient's reactive airway disease, gastroesophageal reflux disease, and, in select cases, paradoxical vocal fold motion. This may involve a well-coordinated effort among pulmonologists, otolaryngologists, gastroenterologists, and speech pathologists. CONCLUSION: Gastroesophageal reflux disease, vagal neuropathy, and paradoxical vocal fold motion are additional causes of chronic cough and disordered breathing that need to be considered, in the absence of obvious laryngotracheal and/or rhinologic pathology. A high index of suspicion is essential in making the diagnosis and formulating an effective multidisciplinary treatment plan for these patients.
Saccades and Fixating Using Artificial Potential Functions

This paper presents a mathematical model for saccadic motion and fixations. We relate this issue to the problem of motion planning and show that a family of artificial potential functions can be used for creating saccadic motion. The advantage of this approach is that finding the next fixation point does not require an explicit visual search - which is computationally costly and may be problematic in real-time applications. Rather, the system naturally 'slides' from the current fixation into the next. Thus real-time performance on cheap hardware can easily be achieved. Experimental results serve to provide insight into the performance of a robot APES implementing this approach
Educational intervention on the plaque score among hearing impaired children

Background: Oral health is an integral part of overall health of all children. The maintenance of oral health of hearing impaired children is a challenging problem; due to lack of communicative skills and access to dental care. There is a need to improve oral health of children with hearing impairment (CHI). The aim is to evaluate the impact of oral health education (OHE) intervention on the plaque scores among hearing impaired children. Materials and Methods: A total of 56 institutionalized CHI aged range 5-17 years were selected for this study. Oral hygiene status was assessed using Turesky-GilmoreGlickman modification of the Quigley-Hein plaque index, dentition status along with decayed, missing, filled, surfaces were recorded. OHE along with the proper tooth brushing technique was demonstrated using a tooth model and a brush. Oral hygiene status was reassessed after 21 days and the data obtained were analyzed. Results: A paired t-test and one-way analysis of variance was used to test the difference between the groups. In all the above tests, P < 0.05 was accepted as indicating statistical significance. A significant reduction in the plaque scores was seen in all the primary (0.323), mixed (0.231) and permanent dentition of children (0.200), with the plaque score reduction being more in the permanent dentition (P < 0.001). Conclusion: OHE was effective in reducing the plaque scores in hearing impaired children. Different modalities for constant motivation and reinforcement in maintaining a good oral hygiene methods should be evaluated in children with special health care needs.
Highway and Residual Networks learn Unrolled Iterative Estimation

The past year saw the introduction of new architectures such as Highway networks and Residual networks which, for the first time, enabled the training of feedforward networks with dozens to hundreds of layers using simple gradient descent. While depth of representation has been posited as a primary reason for their success, there are indications that these architectures defy a popular view of deep learning as a hierarchical computation of increasingly abstract features at each layer. In this report, we argue that this view is incomplete and does not adequately explain several recent findings. We propose an alternative viewpoint based on unrolled iterative estimation -- a group of successive layers iteratively refine their estimates of the same features instead of computing an entirely new representation. We demonstrate that this viewpoint directly leads to the construction of Highway and Residual networks. Finally we provide preliminary experiments to discuss the similarities and differences between the two architectures.
Shear thickening in low-concentration solutions of wormlike micelles. II. Slip, fracture, and stability of the shear-induced phase

The rheology of the shear-thickened state is investigated in low-concentration solutions of wormlike micellar solutions using mechanical, optical, and velocity profile measurements. The zero-shear-rate viscosity of the solutions increases by more than a factor of 1000 as the concentration of surfactant is increased from 1 to 10 mM. By contrast, the apparent viscosity of the shear-thickened state of these same solutions is observed to be remarkably independent of concentration over a wide range of shear rates. This is shown to be a consequence of the development of slip layers between the very viscous gellike shear-induced structures (SISs) which form in the bulk of the surfactant solution and on the walls of the Couette devices in which the measurements are made. As the applied shear stress is increased even further, there is evidence that the SIS fractures give rise to a shear-rate-independent stress and an apparent viscosity, which decreases with increasing shear rate. After the SIS fractures, large flu.
Impact of Morbidity and Life Events on Successful Aging

The purpose of this study was to examine the risks of the incidence of chronic conditions and life events on successful aging. Longitudinal data from a 10-year follow-up health survey were used. Successful aging indicators included basic and advanced physical function, depressive symptoms, cognitive function, emotional support, participation in productive activities, and life satisfaction. The stressors included life events and morbidity years of 10 chronic conditions. Loss of offspring increased the risk to physical health, psychological health, and life satisfaction. Being newly widowed was related to depressive symptoms, whereas being newly divorced increased the risk of poor social support. Morbidity years increased the risk of failure in successful aging, especially for stroke, respiratory system disease, diabetes, and cancer. Emotional health of the elderly should be carefully monitored after onset of life events and incidences of chronic conditions.
Prior adversities predict posttraumatic stress reactions in adolescents following the Oslo Terror events 2011

Background Former studies suggest that prior exposure to adverse experiences such as violence or sexual abuse increases vulnerability to posttraumatic stress reactions in victims of subsequent trauma. However, little is known about how such a history affects responses to terror in the general adolescent population. Objective To explore the role of prior exposure to adverse experiences as risk factors for posttraumatic stress reactions to the Oslo Terror events. Method We used data from 10,220 high school students in a large cross-sectional survey of adolescents in Norway that took place seven months after the Oslo Terror events. Prior exposure assessed was: direct exposure to violence, witnessing of violence, and unwanted sexual acts. We explored how these prior adversities interact with well-established risk factors such as proximity to the events, perceived life threat during the terror events, and gender. Results All types of prior exposure as well as the other risk factors were associated with terror-related posttraumatic stress reactions. The effects of prior adversities were, although small, independent of adolescents’ proximity to the terror events. Among prior adversities, only the effect of direct exposure to violence was moderated by perceived life threat. Exposure to prior adversities increased the risk of posttraumatic stress reactions equally for both genders, but proximity to the terror events and perceived life threat increased the risk more in females. Conclusions Terror events can have a more destabilizing impact on victims of prior adversities, independent of their level of exposure. The findings may be relevant to mental health workers and others providing post-trauma health care.
Aberrant Development of Functional Connectivity among Resting State-Related Functional Networks in Medication-Naïve ADHD Children

Objective The aim of this study was to investigate the compromised developmental trajectory of the functional connectivity among resting-state-related functional networks (RSFNs) in medication-naïve children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Subjects and Methods Using both independent component analysis and dual regression, subject-specific time courses of 12 RSFNs were extracted from both 20 medication-naïve children with ADHD, and 20 age and gender-matched control children showing typical development (TDC). Both partial correlation coefficients among the 12 RSFNs and a resting-state resource allocation index (rsRAI) of the salience network (SN) were entered into multiple linear regression analysis to investigate the compromised, age-related change in medication-naïve ADHD children. Finally, correlation analyses were performed between the compromised RSFN connections showing significant group-by-age interaction and rsRAI of SN or clinical variables. Results Medication-naïve ADHD subjects failed to show age-related increment of functional connectivity in both rsRAI of SN and two RSFN connections, SN-Sensory/motor and posterior default mode/precuneus network (pDMN/prec) – anterior DMN. Lower SN-Sensory/motor connectivity was related with higher scores on the ADHD Rating Scale, and with poor scores on the continuous performance test. The pDMN/prec-aDMN connectivity was positively related with rsRAI of SN. Conclusions Our results suggest that medication-naïve ADHD subjects may have delayed maturation of the two functional connections, SN-Sensory/Motor and aDMN-pDMN/prec. Interventions that enhance the functional connectivity of these two connections may merit attention as potential therapeutic or preventive options in both ADHD and TDC.
A functional magnetic resonance imaging investigation of episodic memory after traumatic brain injury

Traumatic brain injury often negatively impacts episodic memory; however, studies of the neural substrates of this impairment have been limited. In this study, both encoding and recognition of visually presented stimuli were examined with functional magnetic resonance imaging. Twelve adults with chronic complicated mild, moderate, and severe injuries were compared with a matched group of 12 controls. Behavioral task performance did not differentiate the groups. During neuroimaging, however, the group of individuals with traumatic brain injury exhibited increased activation, as well as increased bilaterality and dispersion as compared to controls. Findings are discussed in terms of increased resource recruitment.
Canine Model of Brugada Syndrome Using Regional Epicardial Cooling of the Right Ventricular Outflow Tract

Introduction: Myocardial cooling can induce J point elevation (Osborn wave) as seen on ECG of the Brugada syndrome by activating transient outward current (Ito) and causing a spike‐and‐dome configuration of the monophasic action potential (MAP) in the ventricular epicardium in isolated canine ventricular wedge preparations. We determined the effect of regional epicardial cooling of the right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) on surface ECG and ventricular vulnerability in the dog.
ALDH2(E487K) mutation increases protein turnover and promotes murine hepatocarcinogenesis

Significance About 40% of East Asians and over 500 million people worldwide carry a specific polymorphism, ALDH2*2, and exhibit “Asian flush” after alcohol drinking. We generated a mouse strain with this engineered polymorphism and demonstrated its resemblance to human carriers in terms of defective alcohol metabolism. With this model, we show that murine ALDH2*2 increases ALDH2 protein turnover and promotes chemical-induced liver tumor development. Importantly, ALDH2 is unstable in ALDH2*2 human liver samples and is significantly down-regulated in human liver tumors. Data from our mouse and clinical studies suggest that ALDH2 is a liver tumor suppressor and the ALDH2*2 polymorphism is a risk factor for liver cancer. Mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) in the liver removes toxic aldehydes including acetaldehyde, an intermediate of ethanol metabolism. Nearly 40% of East Asians inherit an inactive ALDH2*2 variant, which has a lysine-for-glutamate substitution at position 487 (E487K), and show a characteristic alcohol flush reaction after drinking and a higher risk for gastrointestinal cancers. Here we report the characterization of knockin mice in which the ALDH2(E487K) mutation is inserted into the endogenous murine Aldh2 locus. These mutants recapitulate essentially all human phenotypes including impaired clearance of acetaldehyde, increased sensitivity to acute or chronic alcohol-induced toxicity, and reduced ALDH2 expression due to a dominant-negative effect of the mutation. When treated with a chemical carcinogen, these mutants exhibit increased DNA damage response in hepatocytes, pronounced liver injury, and accelerated development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Importantly, ALDH2 protein levels are also significantly lower in patient HCC than in peritumor or normal liver tissues. Our results reveal that ALDH2 functions as a tumor suppressor by maintaining genomic stability in the liver, and the common human ALDH2 variant would present a significant risk factor for hepatocarcinogenesis. Our study suggests that the ALDH2*2 allele–alcohol interaction may be an even greater human public health hazard than previously appreciated.
A Boy for You and a Girl for Me: Do Men Want Sons and Women Want Daughters?

Survey data show that more than 60 per cent of Australian couples yet to have a first child say that the child's sex does not matter. Of the minority who do express a preference most would prefer a son, though men more so than women. Where couples have one child and want another, most still say that the sex of the next child does not matter, though parents who already have a daughter are more likely to want a son than are those who already have a son to want a daughter. Where couples have two children and want a third, parents who have two children of the same sex are more likely to want a child of the opposite sex than are those who already have one son and one daughter.
Cyber-Bullying in High School: Associated Individual and Contextual Factors of Involvement

v Introduction 1 Scope of the Problem 1 Definition of Cyber-Bullying 2 Measurement of Cyber-Bullying 3 Unique Aspects of Cyber-Bullying 6 Demographic Characteristics of Participants of Cyber-Bullying 9 Gender 9 Age 10 Ethnicity 11 Individual and Contextual Features of Involvement in Cyber-Bullying 12 Individual Characteristics 12 Parenting Practices 15 Peer Relations 17 School Climate 19 Academic and Behavioral Correlates of Cyber-Bullying 21 Academic Performance 21 Behavioral Conduct 23 Current Study 24 Hypotheses 25 Method 30 Participants 30 Measures 34 Demographics 34 Technology Availability and Use 34 Traditional Bullying 35 Cyber-Bullying 37 Depression 38 Self-Esteem 38 Psychological and Behavioral Adjustment 39 Social Anxiety 39 Empathy 40 Peer Group Affiliation 40 Perceived Social Support from a Close Friend 41 Parenting Style 41 School Climate and Safety 42 Records Data 43 School Attendance 43
Effects of antibodies against tubulin on the movement of reactivated sea urchin sperm flagella

Antibodies binding to sea urchin flagellar outer-doublet tubulin have been isolated from rabbit sera by tubulin-affinity chromatography employing electrophoretically purified tubulin as the immobilized substrate. This procedure provides "induced" antitubulin antibody from immune sera and "spontaneous" antitubulin antibody from preimmune sera. These antitubulins were characterized in terms of their specificity, ability to bind to sea urchin axonemes, and effects on the motility of reactivated spermatozoa. Induced antitubulin antibody specifically reduced the bend angle and symmetry of the movement of demembranated reactivated spermatozoa without affecting the beat frequency. At identical concentrations, spontaneous antitubulin had no effect on motility. Affinity-purified induced antitubulins from three other rabbits all gave specific bend-angle inhibition, whereas their corresponding spontaneous antitubulins had no effect on the flagellar movement. The effects of antitubulin on microtubule sliding were examined by observing the sliding disintegration of elastase-digested axonemes induced by MgATP2+-. Affinity-purified induced antitubulin antibody, in quantities sufficient to completely paralyze reactivated flagella, did not inhibit microtubule sliding. The amplitude-inhibiting effect of induced antitubulin on reactivated spermatozoa may be caused by action on a mechanism responsible for controlling flagellar bending rather than by interference with the active sliding process. This is the first report of an antitubulin antibody having an inhibitory activity on microtubule-associated movement.
Vapnik's learning theory applied to energy consumption forecasts in residential buildings

For the purpose of energy conservation, we present in this paper an introduction to the use of support vector (SV) learning machines used as a data mining tool applied to buildings energy consumption data from a measurement campaign. Experiments using a SVM-based software tool for the prediction of the electrical consumption of a residential building is performed. The data included 1 year and 3 months of daily recordings of electrical consumption and climate data such as temperatures and humidities. The learning stage was done for a first part of the data and the predictions were done for the last month. Performances of the model and contributions of significant factors were also derived. The results show good performances for the model. The second experiment consists of model re-estimations on a 1-year daily recording dataset lagged at 1-day time intervals in such a way that we derive temporal series of influencing factors weights along with model performance criteria. Finally, we introduce a perturbation in one of the influencing variables to detect a model change. Comparing contributing weights with and without the perturbation, the sudden contributing weight change could have diagnosed the perturbation. The important point is the ease of the production of many models. This method announces future research work in the exploitation of possibilities of this ‘model factory’.
Prenatal Bisphenol A Exposure Induces Preneoplastic Lesions in the Mammary Gland in Wistar Rats

Background Humans are routinely exposed to bisphenol A (BPA), an estrogenic compound that leaches from dental materials, food and beverage containers, and other consumer products. Prenatal exposure to BPA has produced long-lasting and profound effects on rodent hormone-dependent tissues that are manifested 1–6 months after the end of exposure. Objective The aim of the present work was to examine whether in utero exposure to BPA alters mammary gland development and increases its susceptibility to the carcinogen N-nitroso-N-methylurea (NMU). Methods Pregnant Wistar rats were exposed to BPA (25 μg/kg body weight per day) or to vehicle. Female offspring were sacrificed on postnatal day (PND) 30, 50, 110, or 180. On PND50 a group of rats received a single subcarcinogenic dose of NMU (25 mg/kg) and they were sacrificed on either PND110 or PND180. Results At puberty, animals exposed prenatally to BPA showed an increased proliferation/apoptosis ratio in both the epithelial and stromal compartments. During adulthood (PND110 and PND180), BPA-exposed animals showed an increased number of hyperplastic ducts and augmented stromal nuclear density. Moreover, the stroma associated with hyperplastic ducts showed signs of desmoplasia and contained an increased number of mast cells, suggesting a heightened risk of neoplastic transformation. Administration of a subcarcinogenic dose of NMU to animals exposed prenatally to BPA increased the percentage of hyperplastic ducts and induced the development of neoplastic lesions. Conclusions Our results demonstrate that the prenatal exposure to low doses of BPA perturbs mammary gland histoarchitecture and increases the carcinogenic susceptibility to a chemical challenge administered 50 days after the end of BPA exposure.
Land degradation in Mediterranean urban areas: an unexplored link with planning?

This paper examines the role of biophysical and anthropogenic factors as potential drivers of land degradation in a large Mediterranean urban region. The sensitivity of land to degradation is examined in relation to the territorial disparities observed within Rome's metropolitan area (Italy), and to the changes in its spatial organisation resulting from urban shrinkage. We derive a composite index of land sensitivity to degradation using the Environmentally Sensitive Areas Index (ESAI) at the municipal level. The observed regional disparities in ESAI scores are analysed diachronically for the period 1990–2008, based on elevation, distance from the coast and population density. The results indicate that spatial disparities in ESAI recorded in 1990 had decreased by 2008, although the degree of land sensitivity had increased throughout the urban region. We subsequently relate these changes to different models of urban organisation (i.e. ‘compact growth’ vs ‘sprawl’) observed in Rome since the 1990s. In 1990, the highest degree of land sensitivity was on the urban fringe of Rome, whereas by 2008 the greatest increase in land sensitivity was observed within suburban municipalities. This sensitivity progressively spread further away from the main urban centre during the study period. The results suggest the need to reconsider the polycentric spatial framework as an environmentally sustainable model for Rome and other urban regions in the Mediterranean.