Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Facial Disability Index: reliability and validity of a disability assessment instrument for disorders of the facial neuromuscular system.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Disorders of the facial neuromuscular system can result in marked disfigurement of the face and difficulties in activities of daily living such as eating, drinking, and communicating. No systematic means of measuring the disability associated with facial nerve disorders exists. The purpose of this investigation was to examine the reliability and construct validity of the Facial Disability Index (FDI), a disease-specific, self-report instrument for the assessment of disabilities of patients with facial nerve disorders. SUBJECTS AND METHODS The FDI was administered to 46 ambulatory patients of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's Facial Nerve Center. The relationship of the FDI subscale and total scores with clinical impairment measures was determined, and a comparison of the use of the FDI and subscales of the more general SF-36 was made. RESULTS The FDI subscales produced reliable scores (theta reliability: physical function = .88; social/well-being function = .83). Construct validity of the FDI physical function subscale was demonstrated by a correlation with the clinician's physical examination of facial movement. The FDI social/well-being subscale was associated with the FDI physical function subscale and with a clinical assessment of psychosocial status within a subset of the sample (n = 14). The FDI represented the relationship between impairments, disability, and psychosocial status better than the generic SF-36 did. CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION The FDI subscales produce reliable measurements, with construct validity for measuring patient-focused focused disability of individuals with disorders of the facial motor system.
Therapy-resistant acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) cells inactivate FOXO3 to escape apoptosis induction by TRAIL and Noxa

Forkhead transcription factors (FOXO) are downstream targets of the phosphoinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) protein kinase B (PKB) signaling cascade and play a pivotal role in cell differentiation, cell cycle and apoptosis. We found that cells from prednisone-resistant T-acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) patients showed cytoplasmic localization of FOXO3 in comparison to prednisone-sensitive patients suggesting its inactivation. To determine the impact of FOXO3, T-ALL cells were infected with a 4OH-tamoxifen-regulated, phosphorylation-independent FOXO3(A3)ERtm allele. After FOXO3-activation these cells undergo caspase-dependent apoptosis. FOXO3 induces the death ligand TRAIL and the BH3-only protein Noxa implicating extrinsic as well as intrinsic death signaling. Whereas dnFADD partially inhibited cell death, CrmA and dnBID efficiently rescued ALL cells after FOXO3 activation, suggesting a caspase-8 amplifying feedback loop downstream of FADD. Knockdown of TRAIL and Noxa reduced FOXO3-induced apoptosis, implicating that mitochondrial destabilization amplifies TRAIL-signaling. The-reconstitution of the cell cycle inhibitor p16INK4A, which sensitizes ALL cells to mitochondria-induced cell death, represses FOXO3 protein levels and reduces the dependency of these leukemia cells on PI3K-PKB signaling. This suggests that if p16INK4A is deleted during leukemia development, FOXO3 levels elevate and FOXO3 has to be inactivated by deregulation of the PI3K-PKB pathway to prevent FOXO3-induced cell death.
The Leo I Cloud: Secular Nuclear Evolution of NGC 3379, NGC 3384, and NGC 3368?

The central regions of the three brightest members of the Leo I galaxy group—NGC 3368, NGC 3379, and NGC 3384—are investigated by means of two-dimensional spectroscopy. In all three galaxies we have found separate circumnuclear stellar and gaseous subsystems—more probably, disks—whose spatial orientations and spins are connected to the spatial orientation of the supergiant intergalactic H I ring reported previously by Schneider et al. and Schneider. In NGC 3368 the global gaseous disk seems also to be inclined to the symmetry plane of the stellar body, being probably of external origin. Although the rather young mean stellar age and spatial orientations of the circumnuclear disks in NGC 3379, NGC 3384, and NGC 3368 could imply their recent formation from material of the intergalactic H I cloud, the timescale of these secondary formation events, on the order of 3 Gyr, does not support the collision scenario of Rood & Williams but is rather in line with the ideas of Schneider regarding tidal interactions of the galaxies with the H I cloud on timescales of the intergroup orbital motions.
Angiogenesis in invasive squamous cell carcinoma of the lip: tumor vascularity is not an indicator of metastatic risk

Background– Recent studies have shown that tumor growth beyond a certain size requires angiogenesis. Microvessel density has, moreover, correlated with metastatic risk in some tumors. Invasive squamous carcinoma (SCC) can develop in the epithelium of the lip and metastasize even when relatively small. This study investigates neovascularization and its relationship to metastatic risk in this tumor. Methods– All 41 primary SCCs of the lip diagnosed at our institution from 1960 to 1991 were immunostained for factor VIII. Microvessel grade (Mv) from 1+ to 4+ and the average number of vessel profiles (TMvD) in the highest density 200 × (0.785 mm2) and 400 × (0.196 mm2) microscopic fields were determined. TMvDs were compared with those of adjacent non‐tumor tissue (NTMvD). Normalized counts (TMvDns) were calculated as TMvD/NTMvD. TMvDs and TMvDnns of metastasizing (N=10) and non‐metastasizing (N = 31) tumors were compared (student t‐test). Results– In all SCCs TMvDs exceeded NTMvDs (50 vs.35 at 200 ×, P = 0. 0014, and 26 vs. 14 at 400 ×, P< 0.0001). Metastasizing and non‐metastasizing tumors did not, however, differ in Mv, TMvD, or TMvDn. Conclusions– Angiogenesis develops, but is not quantitatively related to metastatic risk, in primary invasive squamous cell carcinoma of the lip.
Health- and Taste-Related Attitudes Associated with Dietary Patterns in a Representative Sample of Polish Girls and Young Women: A Cross-Sectional Study (GEBaHealth Project)

Attitudes can be predictors of certain health-related behaviours. The attitudes of young females towards health and taste have not been yet fully examined and their associations with dietary behaviours remain unclear. The aim of the study was to investigate if attitudes are associated with dietary patterns in a representative sample of Polish girls. The study population consisted of 1107 girls, aged 13–21 and living in Poland. Attitudes were assessed using the Health and Taste Attitudes Scale (HTAS) and categorised as negative, neutral or positive. Dietary data was obtained using a Food Frequency Questionnaire. Dietary patterns (DPs), derived previously with a Principal Component Analysis (PCA), were ‘Traditional Polish’, ‘Fruit and vegetables’, ‘Fast food and sweets’ and ‘Dairy and fats’. The associations between attitudes and DPs were assessed using Spearman’s correlation coefficients and logistic regression. The reference group were girls with neutral attitudes. Odds ratios (ORs) were adjusted for age, socioeconomic status (SES), and body mass index (BMI). The correlations between attitudes and DPs ranged from −0.28 for attitudes towards health and ‘Fast food and sweets’ and ‘Traditional Polish’ DPs to 0.33 for attitudes towards health and the ‘Fruit and vegetables’ DP (p < 0.05). In the logistic regression analysis, the strongest associations within health-related HTAS subscales were observed between negative attitudes towards natural products and the ‘Fast food and sweets’ DP (OR: 10.93; 95% CI: 3.32–36.01) and between positive attitudes towards health and the ‘Fruit and vegetables’ DP (OR: 5.10; 3.11–8.37). The strongest associations within taste-related HTAS subscales were observed between positive attitudes towards craving for sweet foods and the ‘Traditional Polish’ DP (OR: 1.93; 1.43–2.61) and between positive attitudes towards using food as a reward and the ‘Dairy and fats’ DP (OR: 2.08; 1.22–3.55) as well as the ‘Fast food and sweets’ DP (OR: 2.07; 1.14–3.74). Positive attitudes towards health were associated with a pro-healthy dietary pattern characterised by the consumption of fruit and vegetables, while negative attitudes towards natural products as well as a strong craving for sweets and using food as a reward were associated with less healthy dietary patterns. To improve the dietary habits of girls and young women, positive attitudes towards health should be strengthened and supported by emphasizing the sensory values of pro-healthy foods.
Ramanujan and Labos Primes, Their Generalizations, and Classifications of Primes

We study the parallel properties of the Ramanujan primes and a symmetric counterpart, the Labos primes. Further, we study all primes with these properties (generalized Ramanujan and Labos primes) and construct two kinds of sieves for them. Finally, we give a further natural generalization of these constructions and pose some conjectures and open problems.
Opportunistic Behavior in Motivated Learning Agents

This paper focuses on the novel motivated learning (ML) scheme and opportunistic behavior of an intelligent agent. It extends previously developed ML to opportunistic behavior in a multitask situation. Our paper describes the virtual world implementation of autonomous opportunistic agents learning in a dynamically changing environment, creating abstract goals, and taking advantage of arising opportunities to improve their performance. An opportunistic agent achieves better results than an agent based on ML only. It does so by minimizing the average value of all need signals rather than a dominating need. This paper applies to the design of autonomous embodied systems (robots) learning in real-time how to operate in a complex environment.
A new fast multi‐domain BEM to model seismic wave propagation and amplification in 3‐D geological structures

SUMMARY The analysis of seismic wave propagation and amplification in complex geological structures raises the need for efficient and accurate numerical methods. The solution of the elastodynamic equations using traditional boundary element methods (BEMs) is greatly hindered by the fully-populated nature of the matrix equations arising from the discretization. In a previous study limited to homogeneous media, the present authors have established that the fast multipole method (FMM) reduces the complexity of a 3-D elastodynamic BEM to N log N per GMRES iteration and demonstrated its effectiveness on 3-D canyon configurations. In this paper, the frequency-domain FM-BEM methodology is extented to 3-D elastic wave propagation in piecewise homogeneous domains in the form of a FM-accelerated multi-region BE–BE coupling approach. This new method considerably enhances the capability of the BEM for studying the propagation of seismic waves in 3-D alluvial basins of arbitrary geometry embedded in semi-infinite media. Several fully 3-D examples (oblique SV -waves) representative of such configurations validate and demonstrate the capabilities of the multi-domain FM approach. They include comparisons with available (low-frequency) results for various types of incident wavefields and time-domain results obtained by means of Fourier synthesis.
Cell Surface Expression and Function of the Macromolecular C1 Complex on the Surface of Human Monocytes

The synthesis of the subunits of the C1 complex (C1q, C1s, C1r), and its regulator C1 inhibitor (C1-Inh) by human monocytes has been previously established. However, surface expression of these molecules by monocytes has not been shown. Using flow cytometry and antigen-capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, we show here for the first time that, in addition to C1q, peripheral blood monocytes, and the monocyte-derived U937 cells express C1s and C1r, as well as Factor B and C1-Inh on their surface. C1s and C1r immunoprecipitated with C1q, suggesting that at least some of the C1q on these cells is part of the C1 complex. Furthermore, the C1 complex on U937 cells was able to trigger complement activation via the classical pathway. The presence of C1-Inh may ensure that an unwarranted autoactivation of the C1 complex does not take place. Since C1-Inh closely monitors the activation of the C1 complex in a sterile or infectious inflammatory environment, further elucidation of the role of C1 complex is crucial to dissect its function in monocyte, dendritic cell, and T cell activities, and its implications in host defense and tolerance.
Biological Gender Differences, Absenteeism and the Earning Gap

In most Western countries illness-related absenteeism is higher among female workers than among male workers. Using the personnel dataset of a large Italian bank, we show that the probability of an absence due to illness increases for females, relative to males, approximately 28 days after a previous illness. This difference disappears for workers age 45 or older. We interpret this as evidence that the menstrual cycle raises female absenteeism. Absences with a 28-day cycle explain a significant fraction of the male-female absenteeism gap. To investigate the effect of absenteeism on earnings, we use a simple signaling model in which employers cannot directly observe workers' productivity, and therefore use observable characteristics - including absenteeism - to set wages. Since men are absent from work because of health and shirking reasons, while women face an additional exogenous source of health shocks due to menstruation, the signal extraction based on absenteeism is more informative about shirking for males than for females. Consistent with the predictions of the model, we find that the relationship between earnings and absenteeism is more negative for males than for females. Furthermore, this difference declines with seniority, as employers learn more about their workers' true productivity. Finally, we calculate the earnings cost for women associated with menstruation. We find that higher absenteeism induced by the 28-day cycle explains 11.8 percent of the earnings gender differential.
Protein Oxidation: Basic Principles and Implications for Meat Quality

The involvement of oxidized proteins to the development of biological diseases has been studied for a few decades, but the effects and the mechanisms of protein oxidation in food systems are largely unknown. Protein oxidation is defined as the covalent modification of a protein induced either by the direct reactions with reactive oxygen species (ROS) or indirect reactions with secondary by-products of oxidative stress. ROS can cause oxidation in both amino acid side chains and protein backbones, resulting in protein fragmentation or protein–protein cross-linkages. Although all amino acids can be modified by ROS, cysteine, and methionine that are the most susceptible to oxidative changes due to high reaction susceptibility of the sulfur group in those amino acids. Oxidative modifications of proteins can change their physical and chemical properties, including conformation, structure, solubility, susceptibility to proteolysis, and enzyme activities. These modifications can be involved in the regulation of fresh meat quality and influence the processing properties of meat products. Oxidative stress occurs when the formation of oxidants exceeds the ability of antioxidant systems to remove the ROS in organisms. Increased levels of protein oxidation have been associated with various biological consequences, including diseases and aging, in humans and other animal species. The basic principles and products of protein oxidation and the implications of protein oxidation in food systems, especially in meat, are discussed in this review.
Genome‐Wide Analysis of Gene‐Gene and Gene‐Environment Interactions Using Closed‐Form Wald Tests

Despite the successful discovery of hundreds of variants for complex human traits using genome‐wide association studies, the degree to which genes and environmental risk factors jointly affect disease risk is largely unknown. One obstacle toward this goal is that the computational effort required for testing gene‐gene and gene‐environment interactions is enormous. As a result, numerous computationally efficient tests were recently proposed. However, the validity of these methods often relies on unrealistic assumptions such as additive main effects, main effects at only one variable, no linkage disequilibrium between the two single‐nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in a pair or gene‐environment independence. Here, we derive closed‐form and consistent estimates for interaction parameters and propose to use Wald tests for testing interactions. The Wald tests are asymptotically equivalent to the likelihood ratio tests (LRTs), largely considered to be the gold standard tests but generally too computationally demanding for genome‐wide interaction analysis. Simulation studies show that the proposed Wald tests have very similar performances with the LRTs but are much more computationally efficient. Applying the proposed tests to a genome‐wide study of multiple sclerosis, we identify interactions within the major histocompatibility complex region. In this application, we find that (1) focusing on pairs where both SNPs are marginally significant leads to more significant interactions when compared to focusing on pairs where at least one SNP is marginally significant; and (2) parsimonious parameterization of interaction effects might decrease, rather than increase, statistical power.
Current difficulties and recent advances in bypass therapy for the management of hemophilia with inhibitors: a new and practical formulation of recombinant factor VIIa

Bypassing agents are the mainstay of treatment for patients with hemophilia with high-titer inhibitors. Whereas the availability of these agents has greatly advanced the management of bleeding episodes in this population, timely administration of bypassing agents continues to be hampered by a number of practical limitations, including the need for refrigerated storage of the agent and its reconstitution at room temperature prior to administration, among others. In this review, the importance of early treatment of bleeds and factors that influence this more timely therapeutic approach are highlighted, together with the advantages offered by the use of a new formulation of recombinant activated factor VII that permits improved storage and portability, potentially optimizing timely bypassing agent administration.
Pasteurella pneumonia: report of a case and review of the literature

A case of pneumonia due to Pasturella ureae was encountered in a 57-year-old man who developed bilateral pulmonary infiltrates and respiratory insufficiency while convalescing in the hospital from a hip fracture and multiple rib fractures. Cultures of his sputum grew an essentially pure growth of Pasturella ureae. This organism, a small gram-negative rod, could be differentiated from the other Pasteurella species by its ability to hydrolyze urea and failure to produce indole. The literature on Pasteurella infections is briefly reviewed, and the recent taxonomic revisions of the genus Pasteurella are discussed.
Extraction of respiratory signals from the electrocardiogram and photoplethysmogram: technical and physiological determinants

Objective: Breathing rate (BR) can be estimated by extracting respiratory signals from the electrocardiogram (ECG) or photoplethysmogram (PPG). The extracted respiratory signals may be influenced by several technical and physiological factors. In this study, our aim was to determine how technical and physiological factors influence the quality of respiratory signals. Approach: Using a variety of techniques 15 respiratory signals were extracted from the ECG, and 11 from PPG signals collected from 57 healthy subjects. The quality of each respiratory signal was assessed by calculating its correlation with a reference oral-nasal pressure respiratory signal using Pearson’s correlation coefficient. Main results: Relevant results informing device design and clinical application were obtained. The results informing device design were: (i) seven out of 11 respiratory signals were of higher quality when extracted from finger PPG compared to ear PPG; (ii) laboratory equipment did not provide higher quality of respiratory signals than a clinical monitor; (iii) the ECG provided higher quality respiratory signals than the PPG; (iv) during downsampling of the ECG and PPG significant reductions in quality were first observed at sampling frequencies of <250 Hz and <16 Hz respectively. The results informing clinical application were: (i) frequency modulation-based respiratory signals were generally of lower quality in elderly subjects compared to young subjects; (ii) the qualities of 23 out of 26 respiratory signals were reduced at elevated BRs; (iii) there were no differences associated with gender. Significance: Recommendations based on the results are provided regarding device designs for BR estimation, and clinical applications. The dataset and code used in this study are publicly available.
Social Phobia as a Comorbid Condition in Sex Offenders with Paraphilia or Impulse Control Disorder

Studies on the prevalence of social anxiety in sex offenders show mixed results. This may be due to social anxiety being heightened only in diagnostic subgroups of sex offenders, namely in paraphiliacs. In study 1, 72 mentally disordered sexual delinquents and 30 controls were screened for social anxiety with the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale and the Social Phobia Scale by Mattick and Clarke (German versions). In study 2, 55 mentally disordered sexual delinquents were diagnosed with a structured clinical interview. In both studies, sex offenders were categorized as either paraphilic or impulse control disordered (without paraphilia) according to research criteria. Study 1 showed markedly heightened scores for social anxiety in paraphiliacs, particularly for social interaction anxiety. Study 2 found a high lifetime and point prevalence of social phobia in paraphiliacs for which corroborating evidence was again found in questionnaire results. Implications for further research, diagnostic procedures, and therapy are discussed.
Learning Models for Shared Control of Human-Machine Systems with Unknown Dynamics

We present a novel approach to shared control of human-machine systems. Our method assumes no a priori knowledge of the system dynamics. Instead, we learn both the dynamics and information about the user's interaction from observation through the use of the Koopman operator. Using the learned model, we define an optimization problem to compute the optimal policy for a given task, and compare the user input to the optimal input. We demonstrate the efficacy of our approach with a user study. We also analyze the individual nature of the learned models by comparing the effectiveness of our approach when the demonstration data comes from a user's own interactions, from the interactions of a group of users and from a domain expert. Positive results include statistically significant improvements on task metrics when comparing a user-only control paradigm with our shared control paradigm. Surprising results include findings that suggest that individualizing the model based on a user's own data does not effect the ability to learn a useful dynamic system. We explore this tension as it relates to developing human-in-the-loop systems further in the discussion.