Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Meditation can reduce habitual responding.

CONTEXT: Although cognitive aspects of meditation underlie much of its clinical application, very little research has examined meditation's cognitive consequences. This investigation provides experimental support for the idea that meditation leads to a reduction in habitual responding using randomly selected subjects, a secular form of meditation, and a full experimental design. OBJECTIVE: To test the hypothesis that meditation leads to a reduction in habitual responding. DESIGN: Studies 1 and 2 each incorporated pre-test and post-test designs with a 20-minute intervening attention task (meditation, rest, or a cognitive control). SETTING: Yale University in New Haven, Conn, and the University of California, Berkeley. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred and twenty and 90 undergraduates participated in Studies 1 and 2, respectively. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Stroop and Word Production (category generation and stem-completion) tasks assessed habitual responding in Study 1. Galvanic Skin response measured arousal in Study 1. The category generation task assessed habitual responding in Study 2. Tellegen's Absorption Scale (TAS) measured attention ability. RESULTS: In Study 1, meditation participants showed a reduction in habitual responding on the Stroop task as compared to controls. Study 1 revealed no statistically significant effects in the word production task. Stroop task performance was not mediated by arousal reduction. In Study 2, meditation participants showed a reduction in habitual responding on the category production task. Specifically, when participants generated either typical or atypical items, on average, meditation participants produced more atypical items than controls. Category production performance was not mediated by Tellegen's Absorption Scale (TAS) scores. Overall, high TAS scores were related to atypical responding. CONCLUSION: Across cognitive tasks, when participants understood that the goal was to respond non-habitually, meditation reduced habitual responding.
Hydrogen Production by Geobacter Species and a Mixed Consortium in a Microbial Electrolysis Cell

ABSTRACT A hydrogen utilizing exoelectrogenic bacterium (Geobacter sulfurreducens) was compared to both a nonhydrogen oxidizer (Geobacter metallireducens) and a mixed consortium in order to compare the hydrogen production rates and hydrogen recoveries of pure and mixed cultures in microbial electrolysis cells (MECs). At an applied voltage of 0.7 V, both G. sulfurreducens and the mixed culture generated similar current densities (ca. 160 A/m3), resulting in hydrogen production rates of ca. 1.9 m3 H2/m3/day, whereas G. metallireducens exhibited lower current densities and production rates of 110 ± 7 A/m3 and 1.3 ± 0.1 m3 H2/m3/day, respectively. Before methane was detected in the mixed-culture MEC, the mixed consortium achieved the highest overall energy recovery (relative to both electricity and substrate energy inputs) of 82% ± 8% compared to G. sulfurreducens (77% ± 2%) and G. metallireducens (78% ± 5%), due to the higher coulombic efficiency of the mixed consortium. At an applied voltage of 0.4 V, methane production increased in the mixed-culture MEC and, as a result, the hydrogen recovery decreased and the overall energy recovery dropped to 38% ± 16% compared to 80% ± 5% for G. sulfurreducens and 76% ± 0% for G. metallireducens. Internal hydrogen recycling was confirmed since the mixed culture generated a stable current density of 31 ± 0 A/m3 when fed hydrogen gas, whereas G. sulfurreducens exhibited a steady decrease in current production. Community analysis suggested that G. sulfurreducens was predominant in the mixed-culture MEC (72% of clones) despite its relative absence in the mixed-culture inoculum obtained from a microbial fuel cell reactor (2% of clones). These results demonstrate that Geobacter species are capable of obtaining similar hydrogen production rates and energy recoveries as mixed cultures in an MEC and that high coulombic efficiencies in mixed culture MECs can be attributed in part to the recycling of hydrogen into current.
Assessing Awareness Level about Warning Signs of Cancer and its Determinants in an Iranian General Population

The present study was aimed at investigating the awareness level about warning signs of cancer and its determinants in an Iranian general population. This cross-sectional interview-based survey investigated 2,500 people aged 18 years and over, as a representative sample of Tehran population. Latent class regression was applied for analyzing data. A small (18.8%) proportion of the respondents had high level of knowledge, and 54.5% had moderate awareness, and 26.7% had low level of awareness. Most effective predictors for awareness were educational attainment, sex, and marital status. The findings suggest that the overall level of knowledge about warning signs of cancer among the public is low, particularly about some specific signs. Accordingly, educational and intervention programmes, with special attention placed on particular at-risk populations, to increase awareness about the disease leading to its early diagnosis are needed.
Genetic and Molecular Differences in Prostate Carcinogenesis between African American and Caucasian American Men

Prostate cancer is the most common non-skin cancer and the second leading cause of cancer-related death for men in the United States. Prostate cancer incidence and associated mortality are highest in African American men in comparison to other races. The observed differences in incidence and disease aggressiveness at presentation support a potential role for different pathways of prostate carcinogenesis between African American and Caucasian men. This review focuses on some of the recent molecular biology discoveries, which have been investigated in prostate carcinogenesis and their likely contribution to the known discrepancies across race and ethnicity. Key discussion points include the androgen receptor gene structure and function, genome-wide association studies and epigenetics. The new observations of the ethnic differences of the ERG oncogene, the most common prostate cancer gene, are providing new insights into ERG based stratification of prostate cancers in the context of ethnically diverse patient populations. This rapidly advancing knowledge has the likely potential to benefit clinical practice. Current and future work will improve the ability to sub-type prostate cancers by molecular alterations and lead to targeted therapy against this common malignancy.
Economic crisis, accountability, and the state’s coercive assault on public education in the USA

This article examines education accountability as a mechanism of coercive neoliberal urban governance in the USA. Drawing on Gramscian theory of the ‘integral state’ as the dialectical synthesis of coercion, consent, and resistance, the author argues that as the crisis gives the state less room to win consent, it intensifies coercion as a strategy of governance. The author discusses three aspects of coercive state responses to the crisis in relation to education: (1) cannibalizing public education as a site of capital accumulation; (2) imposition of state austerity regimes and selective abandonment of education as a mechanism of social reproduction and legitimation in African-American communities that have become zones of disposability; and (3) governance by exclusion of African-American and Latino communities through school closings, state takeovers of elected governance bodies, and disenfranchisement. Systems of accountability are integral to this process as they make schools legible for the market, mark specific schools and school districts as pathological and in need of authoritarian governance, and justify minimalist schools in areas of urban disposability. This paper concludes with the potential of emergent resistance to dominant neoliberal education policy and argues that breaking with the framework of accountability and testing is critical to a counter-hegemonic alternative.
The Incorporation of Strontium in a Sodium Alginate Coating on Titanium Surfaces for Improved Biological Properties

Orthopedic implant failure is mainly attributed to the poor bonding of the implant to bone tissue. An effective approach to minimize the implant failure would be modifying the surface of the implant. Strontium (Sr) can stimulate the proliferation and differentiation of osteoblasts and reduce the activity of osteoclasts. In this study, a titanium (Ti) surface was successively functionalized by covalently grafting dopamine, sodium alginate (SA), and Sr2+ via the electrostatic immobilization method. The as-prepared coatings on the Ti surface were characterized by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and contact angle. The results indicated that the Sr-incorporated coatings were successfully prepared and that Sr distributed uniformly on the surface. A long-lasting and sustained Sr release had been observed in Sr2+ release studies. The Ti/DOPA/SA/Sr exhibited little cytotoxicity and a robust effect of Sr incorporation on the adhesion and spreading of MG63 cells. The proliferation and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity of MG63 cells were enhanced by immobilizing Sr2+ on the SA-grafted Ti. The Sr-containing coatings, which displayed excellent biocompatibility and osteogenic activity, may provide a promising solution for promoting the tissue integration of implants.
Application of Two-Part Statistics for Comparison of Sequence Variant Counts

Investigation of microbial communities, particularly human associated communities, is significantly enhanced by the vast amounts of sequence data produced by high throughput sequencing technologies. However, these data create high-dimensional complex data sets that consist of a large proportion of zeros, non-negative skewed counts, and frequently, limited number of samples. These features distinguish sequence data from other forms of high-dimensional data, and are not adequately addressed by statistical approaches in common use. Ultimately, medical studies may identify targeted interventions or treatments, but lack of analytic tools for feature selection and identification of taxa responsible for differences between groups, is hindering advancement. The objective of this paper is to examine the application of a two-part statistic to identify taxa that differ between two groups. The advantages of the two-part statistic over common statistical tests applied to sequence count datasets are discussed. Results from the t-test, the Wilcoxon test, and the two-part test are compared using sequence counts from microbial ecology studies in cystic fibrosis and from cenote samples. We show superior performance of the two-part statistic for analysis of sequence data. The improved performance in microbial ecology studies was independent of study type and sequence technology used.
Does Gracilis Tendon Harvest During ACL Reconstruction with a Hamstring Autograft Affect Torque of Muscles Responsible for Shin Rotation?

Background A growing body of evidence indicates that in patients after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) with a combined semitendinosus and gracilis (STGR) graft there are large deficits in the internal rotation strength, which has led some authors to recommend harvest of only ST tendon whenever possible. The purpose of this study was to assess the isometric (IT) and peak torque (PT) of the muscles responsible for shin rotation in patients after ACLR with an ST or with an STGR graft. Material/Methods Twenty patients with an ST graft and 20 patients with a combined STGR graft underwent a 6-month postoperative rehabilitation program after ACLR. At the end of the rehabilitation program, the IT and PT of the muscles responsible for internal (IR) and external rotation (ER) of the shin were measured. The results were compared to the results of a control group. Additionally, to determine the reliability of the dynamometer for clinical research, a test-retest assessment was performed. Results There were no statistically significant differences between the 3 groups of participants. Nevertheless, in the STGR group there was a statistically significant difference between the IT of muscles internally rotating the shin in the involved knee and uninvolved knee at 25° of the internal shin rotation. Conclusions Comparison of IT and PT measurements performed after 24 weeks of postoperative rehabilitation generally showed no differences between patients after ACLR with the use of ST graft and patients who received a combination graft consisting of STGR. Nevertheless, there was an influence of GR harvest on internal shin rotation torque at a deep internal rotation angle.
The Episodicity of Verbal Reports of Personally Significant Autobiographical Memories: Vividness Correlates with Narrative Text Quality More than with Detailedness or Memory Specificity

How can we tell from a memory report whether a memory is episodic or not? Vividness is required by many definitions, whereas detailedness, memory specificity, and narrative text type are competing definitions of episodicity used in research. We explored their correlations with vividness in personally significant autobiographical memories to provide evidence to support their relative claim to define episodic memories. In addition, we explored differences between different memory types and text types as well as between memories with different valences. We asked a lifespan sample (N = 168) of 8-, 12-, 16-, 20-, 40-, and 65-year-olds of both genders (N = 27, 29, 27, 27, 28, 30) to provide brief oral life narratives. These were segmented into thematic memory units. Detailedness of person, place, and time did not correlate with each other or either vividness, memory specificity, or narrative text type. Narrative text type, in contrast, correlated both with vividness and memory specificity, suggesting narrative text type as a good criterion of episodicity. Emotionality turned out to be an even better predictor of vividness. Also, differences between narrative, chronicle, and argument text types and between specific versus more extended and atemporal memories were explored as well as differences between positive, negative, ambivalent, neutral, contamination, and redemption memory reports. It is concluded that temporal sequentiality is a central characteristic of episodic autobiographical memories. Furthermore, it is suggested that the textual quality of memory reports should be taken more seriously, and that evaluation and interpretation are inherent aspects of personally significant memories.
Disease-related expression of the IL6/STAT3/SOCS3 signalling pathway in ulcerative colitis and ulcerative colitis-related carcinogenesis

Background Mouse models have shown that interleukin (IL)6 stimulates survival, proliferation and progression to cancer of intestinal epithelial cells via activation of signal transducers and activators of transcription 3 (STAT3). Objective To investigate the expression of IL6/phosphorylated STAT3 (p-STAT3)/suppressor of cytokine signalling 3 (SOCS3) in biopsy specimens from patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) and UC-related colorectal cancer (CRC) progression. Methods Biopsy specimens from patients with inactive UC (n=18), active UC (n=28), UC with low-grade dysplasia (LGD) (n=9), UC with high-grade dysplasia (HGD) (n=7), UC-CRC (n=11) and sporadic CRC (n=14) were included. Biopsy specimens (n=9) from patients without colonic abnormalities served as control. The protein expression of IL6, p-STAT3 and SOCS3 was determined immunohistochemically. Results Patients with active UC had significantly more IL6 and p-STAT3-positive epithelial cells than both patients with inactive UC and controls (strong positive IL6: 53.6%, 11.1% and 0%, respectively; p-STAT3: 64.3%, 22.2% and 11.1%, respectively; all p≤0.012). SOCS3-positive cells were significantly increased in colonic epithelium of both inactive and active UC compared with controls (strong positive: 94.4%, 96.4% and 11.1%, respectively; both p<0.001). In dysplasia and cancer, significantly more epithelial cells expressed IL6 and p-STAT3 compared with controls (strong positive IL6: 72.7% and 0% respectively; p-STAT3: 54.5% and 11.1%, respectively; both p<0.05), whereas the proportion of SOCS3-positive cells in this progression reduced (LGD 33.3%; HGD 14.3%; UC-CRC 9.1%). In addition, methylation of the SOCS3 gene was detected in epithelial cells from UC-CRC biopsy specimens. Conclusion The importance of IL6/p-STAT3 in patients with inflammation-induced CRC was demonstrated. Moreover, SOCS3 may be involved in UC pathogenesis and the absence of SOCS3 seems critical for CRC progression.
Generation of Point-Based 3D Statistical Shape Models for Anatomical Objects

A novel method that allows the development of surface point-based three-dimensional statistical shape models is presented. Given a set of medical objects, a statistical shape model can be obtained by principal component analysis. This technique requires that a set of complex shaped objects is represented as a set of vectors that uniquely determines the shapes of the objects and at the same time is suitable for a statistical analysis. The correspondence between the vector components and the respective shape features has to be identical in order for all shape parameter vectors to be considered. We present a novel approach to the correspondence problem for arbitrary three-dimensional objects which involves developing a template shape and fitting this template to all objects to be analyzed. The method is successfully applied to obtain a statistical shape model for the lumbar vertebrae.
Why Walking the Dog Takes Time: Frechet Distance Has No Strongly Subquadratic Algorithms Unless SETH Fails

The Fréchet distance is a well-studied and very popular measure of similarity of two curves. Many variants and extensions have been studied since Alt and Godau introduced this measure to computational geometry in 1991. Their original algorithm to compute the Fréchet distance of two polygonal curves with n vertices has a runtime of O(n^2 log n). More than 20 years later, the state of the art algorithms for most variants still take time more than O(n2 / log n), but no matching lower bounds are known, not even under reasonable complexity theoretic assumptions. To obtain a conditional lower bound, in this paper we assume the Strong Exponential Time Hypothesis or, more precisely, that there is no O*((2-&delta;)N) algorithm for CNF-SAT for any delta > 0. Under this assumption we show that the Fréchet distance cannot be computed in strongly subquadratic time, i.e., in time O(n2-&delta;) for any delta > 0. This means that finding faster algorithms for the Fréchet distance is as hard as finding faster CNF-SAT algorithms, and the existence of a strongly subquadratic algorithm can be considered unlikely. Our result holds for both the continuous and the discrete Fréchet distance. We extend the main result in various directions. Based on the same assumption we (1) show non-existence of a strongly subquadratic 1.001-approximation, (2) present tight lower bounds in case the numbers of vertices of the two curves are imbalanced, and (3) examine realistic input assumptions (c-packed curves).
Control of MAPK Specificity by Feedback Phosphorylation of Shared Adaptor Protein Ste50*

Many different signaling pathways share common components but nevertheless invoke distinct physiological responses. In yeast, the adaptor protein Ste50 functions in multiple mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase pathways, each with unique dynamical and developmental properties. Although Kss1 activity is sustained and promotes invasive growth, Hog1 activity is transient and promotes cell adaptation to osmotic stress. Here we show that osmotic stress activates Kss1 as well as Hog1. We show further that Hog1 phosphorylates Ste50 and that phosphorylation of Ste50 limits the duration of Kss1 activation and prevents invasive growth under high osmolarity growth conditions. Thus feedback regulation of a shared component can restrict the activity of a competing MAP kinase to ensure signal fidelity.
Diffusion-Weighted Imaging for the Differential Diagnosis of Disorders Affecting the Hippocampus

Background: The human hippocampus can be affected in a large variety of very different neurological diseases, of which acute ischemic stroke, transient global amnesia, epilepsy, and limbic encephalitis are the most common. Less frequent etiologies include various infections and encephalopathy of different origins. Clinical presentation notably comprises confusional state, altered vigilance, memory deficits of various extent and seizures. While in hypoxic or hypoglycemic encephalopathy, clinical presentation and surrounding circumstances provide some clues to reach the correct diagnosis, in the above-listed more common disorders, signs and symptoms might overlap, making the differential diagnosis difficult. This review presents recent studies using the diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) technique in diseases involving the hippocampus. Methods: References for the review were identified through searches of PubMed from 1965 to January 2011. Only papers published in English were reviewed. Full articles were obtained and references were checked for additional material where appropriate. Results: All pathologies affecting the hippocampus are associated with distinct lesion patterns on magnetic resonance imaging, and especially DWI has the ability to demonstrate even minute and transient hippocampal lesions. In acute ischemic stroke in the posterior cerebral artery territory, involvement of the hippocampal formation occurs in four distinct patterns on DWI that can be easily differentiated and correspond to the known vascular anatomy of the hippocampus. In the subacute phase after transient global amnesia (TGA), dot-like hyperintense lesions are regularly found in the lateral aspect of the hippocampus on DWI. The DWI lesions described after prolonged seizures or status epilepticus include unilateral or bilateral hippocampal, thalamic, and cortical lesions of various extent, not restricted to vascular territories. In limbic encephalitis, DWI lesions are only infrequently found and usually affect the hippocampus, uncus and amygdala. Furthermore, in some rare cases DWI lesions of different etiology may coexist. Conclusion: In patients with diseases affecting the hippocampus, DWI appears to be useful in differentiating between underlying pathologies and may facilitate a definite diagnosis conducive to an optimal treatment. With a careful clinical examination, experience with the interpretation of DWI findings and knowledge of associated phenomena, it is indeed possible to differentiate between ischemic, ictal, metabolic, and TGA-associated findings.