Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
“Reality” of near-death-experience memories: evidence from a psychodynamic and electrophysiological integrated study

The nature of near-death-experiences (NDEs) is largely unknown but recent evidence suggests the intriguing possibility that NDEs may refer to actually “perceived,” and stored, experiences (although not necessarily in relation to the external physical world). We adopted an integrated approach involving a hypnosis-based clinical protocol to improve recall and decrease memory inaccuracy together with electroencephalography (EEG) recording in order to investigate the characteristics of NDE memories and their neural markers compared to memories of both real and imagined events. We included 10 participants with NDEs, defined by the Greyson NDE scale, and 10 control subjects without NDE. Memories were assessed using the Memory Characteristics Questionnaire. Our hypnosis-based protocol increased the amount of details in the recall of all kind of memories considered (NDE, real, and imagined events). Findings showed that NDE memories were similar to real memories in terms of detail richness, self-referential, and emotional information. Moreover, NDE memories were significantly different from memories of imagined events. The pattern of EEG results indicated that real memory recall was positively associated with two memory-related frequency bands, i.e., high alpha and gamma. NDE memories were linked with theta band, a well-known marker of episodic memory. The recall of NDE memories was also related to delta band, which indexes processes such as the recollection of the past, as well as trance states, hallucinations, and other related portals to transpersonal experience. It is notable that the EEG pattern of correlations for NDE memory recall differed from the pattern for memories of imagined events. In conclusion, our findings suggest that, at a phenomenological level, NDE memories cannot be considered equivalent to imagined memories, and at a neural level, NDE memories are stored as episodic memories of events experienced in a peculiar state of consciousness.
Development of a Novel Biodegradable Drug Polymer for the Modification of Inflammatory Response

The first objective of this thesis was to assess the feasibility of designing a “smart” degradable polymer that can release anti-inflammatory drugs in response to inflammatoryrelated enzymes. The drug polymer was synthesized using diisocyanates, poly(caprolactone) diols, and oxaceprol (OC) biomonomers. Biodegradation studies demonstrated that the trimethylhexamethylene diisocyanate-based drug polymer responded to an inflammatory enzyme to release more OC, while a 1, 12-diisocyanatododecane analog demonstrated minimal drug release. The drug delivery response was believed to be a direct function of the molecular structure and distribution of the hard segment. The second objective of this thesis was to elucidate the anti-inflammatory mechanisms of OC by investigating its effects on cytokine-induced monocytic-cells adhesion in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) in vitro. Results showed that OC had no direct effect on the monocyte-endothelium adhesion, suggesting that OC may mediate inflammation by mechanisms other than those suggested by the literature.
Evolution of Codon Usage in the Smallest Photosynthetic Eukaryotes and Their Giant Viruses

Prasinoviruses are among the largest viruses (>200 kb) and encode several hundreds of protein coding genes, including most genes of the DNA replication machinery and several genes involved in transcription and translation, as well as transfer RNAs (tRNAs). They can infect and lyse small eukaryotic planktonic marine green algae, thereby affecting global algal population dynamics. Here, we investigate the causes of codon usage bias (CUB) in one prasinovirus, OtV5, and its host Ostreococcus tauri, during a viral infection using microarray expression data. We show that 1) CUB in the host and in the viral genes increases with expression levels and 2) optimal codons use those tRNAs encoded by the most abundant host tRNA genes, supporting the notion of translational optimization by natural selection. We find evidence that viral tRNA genes complement the host tRNA pool for those viral amino acids whose host tRNAs are in short supply. We further discuss the coevolution of CUB in hosts and prasinoviruses by comparing optimal codons in three evolutionary diverged host–virus-specific pairs whose complete genome sequences are known.
Computation of floating mode delay in combinational circuits: theory and algorithms

Addresses the problem of accurately computing the delay of a combinational logic circuit in the floating mode of operation. (In this mode the state of the circuit is considered to be unknown when a vector is applied at the inputs.) It is well known that using the length of the topologically longest path as an estimate of circuit delay may be pessimistic since this path may be false, i.e., it cannot propagate an event. Thus, the true delay corresponds to the length of the longest true path. This forces one to examine the conditions under which a path is true. The authors introduce the notion of static cosensitization of paths which leads to necessary and sufficient conditions for determining the truth or falsity of a single path, or a set of paths. The authors apply these results to develop a delay computation algorithm that has the unique feature that it is able to determine the truth or falsity of entire sets of paths simultaneously. This algorithm uses conventional stuck-at-fault testing techniques to arrive at a delay computation method that is both correct and computationally practical, even for particularly difficult circuits. >
The Hippo Pathway Effectors TAZ/YAP Regulate Dicer Expression and MicroRNA Biogenesis through Let-7

Background: Processing of pre-miRNAs by Dicer is essential for miRNA biogenesis. Results: The nuclear-cytoplasmic dynamics of TAZ and YAP control Dicer levels and activity through regulation of the LIN28/Let-7 axis. Conclusion: The Hippo pathway effectors TAZ and YAP control miRNA biogenesis. Significance: Our work provides crucial insight into the poorly understood signaling mechanisms controlling miRNA biogenesis. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are genome-encoded small double-stranded RNAs that have emerged as key regulators of gene expression and are implicated in most aspects of human development and disease. Canonical miRNA biogenesis involves processing of ∼70-nucleotide pre-miRNA hairpins by Dicer to generate mature ∼22-nucleotide miRNAs, which target complementary RNA sequences. Despite the importance of miRNA biogenesis, signaling mechanisms controlling this process are poorly defined. Here we demonstrate that the post-transcriptional regulation of Dicer is controlled by the cell density-mediated localization of the Hippo pathway effectors TAZ (transcriptional co-activator with PDZ-binding motif) and YAP (Yes-associated protein) (TAZ/YAP). We show that nuclear TAZ/YAP, which are abundant at low cell density, are required for efficient pre-miRNA processing. Knockdown of TAZ/YAP in low density cells, or density-mediated sequestration of TAZ/YAP into the cytoplasm, results in the defective processing of pre-miRNAs. Strikingly, one exception is Let-7, which accumulates upon loss of nuclear TAZ/YAP, leading to Let-7-dependent reduction in Dicer levels. Accordingly, inhibition of Let-7 rescues the miRNA biogenesis defects observed following TAZ/YAP knockdown. Thus, density-regulated TAZ/YAP localization defines a critical and previously unrecognized mechanism by which cells relay cell contact-induced cues to control miRNA biogenesis.
Superlinear advantage for exact quantum algorithms

A quantum algorithm is exact if, on any input data, it outputs the correct answer with certainty (probability 1). A key question is: how big is the advantage of exact quantum algorithms over their classical counterparts: deterministic algorithms. For total Boolean functions in the query model, the biggest known gap was just a factor of 2: PARITY of N input bits requires N queries classically but can be computed with N/2 queries by an exact quantum algorithm. We present the first example of a Boolean function f(x1, ., xN) for which exact quantum algorithms have superlinear advantage over deterministic algorithms. Any deterministic algorithm that computes our function must use N queries but an exact quantum algorithm can compute it with O(N0.8675.) queries. A modification of our function gives a similar result for communication complexity: there is a function f which can be computed by an exact quantum protocol that communicates O(N^{0.8675.}) quantum bits but requires Omega(N) bits of communication for classical protocols.
Recent Emergence of an Epidemic Clindamycin-Resistant Clone of Clostridium difficile among Polish Patients with C. difficile-Associated Diarrhea

ABSTRACT Analysis of both the antibiotic resistance and the virulence characteristics of anaerobic human microbial pathogens is important in order to improve our understanding of a number of clinically significant infectious diseases, including Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea (CDAD). We determined the presence of the clindamycin resistance-associated gene ermB and the ribotype of 33 C. difficile strains isolated from Polish patients suffering from CDAD. While all strains produced cytotoxin B (TcdB), enterotoxin A (TcdA) was produced by a subset of 15 strains only. The results showed that a single ermB-positive, TcdA−B+C. difficile strain with ribotype A has disseminated widely in the two Warsaw hospitals under investigation. Although different strains with the same phenotype were detected, the genotype A strain appeared to be the only one with a clear epidemic character. Apparently, enhanced local spread of CDAD-causing C. difficile may be restricted to a limited number of bacterial genotypes only.
Validity and Reliability of the Korean Version of the AD8 Informant Interview (K-AD8) in Dementia

The Alzheimer disease 8 (AD8) is a brief informant-based measure that distinguishes individuals with very mild dementia and mild cognitive impairment from those with normal cognition. The aim of this study was to establish the validity, reliability, and discriminative properties of the Korean version of the AD8 (K-AD8). Evaluation was made on 155 patient-informant dyads. The K-AD8 scores with the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) and performance on neuropsychologic tests were compared. Internal consistency of the K-AD8 was significant (Cronbach α=0.88). The K-AD8 had strong correlation with CDR (Spearman ρ=0.76). Concurrent validity was strong with the K-AD8 scores correlating with CDR domains and performance on neuropsychologic tests. The K-AD8 was found to have excellent test-retest reliability (weighted κ=0.81) and good interrater reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient=0.89). The area under the receiver operator characteristic curve was 0.88, suggesting good discrimination between nondemented individuals and those with cognitive impairment. To distinguish CDR 0.5 from CDR 0, in particular, the K-AD8 (cutoff score of 2) had a sensitivity of 68% and a specificity of 90%. In conclusion, the K-AD8 is a sensitive screening tool in detecting very early dementia, indicating that the AD8 could work very well in a variety of cultural entities.
Preliminary Efficacy of a Behavioral Parent Training Program for Children With ADHD in Pakistan

Objective: In an effort to address the lack of evidence-based interventions for ADHD in developing South Asian countries, we examined the preliminary efficacy of a behavioral parent training program in Pakistan. Method: A quasi-experimental design was utilized. Eighty-five 4- to 12-year-old children with clinically significant ADHD symptoms participated: 55 were recruited from hospital clinics (active treatment group) and 30 were recruited from schools (waitlist control group). Parent and teacher ratings of ADHD, oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), and conduct disorder (CD) symptoms and impairment were collected. Results: Using intent-to-treat analyses, the treatment group showed significant pre–post improvement on parent-reported ODD symptoms and ADHD-related impairment. Teacher ratings showed no improvement. Conclusion: This study provides preliminary evidence for the feasibility and effectiveness of behavioral parenting training for children with ADHD in Pakistan and represents a critical first step in identifying evidence-based treatments for Pakistani children with ADHD.
Molecular Interactions and Implications of Aldose Reductase Inhibition by PGA1 and Clinically Used Prostaglandins

Aldose reductase (AKR1B1) is a critical drug target because of its involvement in diabetic complications, inflammation, and tumorigenesis. However, to date, development of clinically useful inhibitors has been largely unsuccessful. Cyclopentenone prostaglandins (cyPGs) are reactive lipid mediators that bind covalently to proteins and exert anti-inflammatory and antiproliferative effects in numerous settings. By pursuing targets for modification by cyPGs we have found that the cyPG PGA1 binds to and inactivates AKR1B1. A PGA1-AKR1B1 adduct was observed, both by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry and by SDS-PAGE using biotinylated PGA1 (PGA1-B). Insight into the molecular interactions between AKR1B1 and PGA1 was advanced by molecular modeling. This anticipated the addition of PGA1 to active site Cys298 and the potential reversibility of the adduct, which was supported experimentally. Indeed, loss of biotin label from the AKR1B1-PGA1-B adduct was favored by glutathione, indicating a retro-Michael reaction, which unveils new implications of cyPG-protein interaction. PGA1 elicited only marginal inhibition of aldehyde reductase (AKR1A1), considered responsible for the severe adverse effects of many AKR1B1 inhibitors. Interestingly, other prostaglandins (PGs) inhibited the enzyme, including non-electrophilic PGE1 and PGE2, currently used in clinical practice. Moreover, both PGA1 and PGE1 reduced the formation of sorbitol in an ex-vivo model of diabetic cataract to an extent comparable to that attained by the known AKR inhibitor epalrestat. Taken together, these results highlight the role of PGs as AKR1B1 inhibitors and the interest in PG-related molecules as leads for the development of novel pharmacological tools.
Distinguishing systems and distinguishing senses: new evaluation methods for Word Sense Disambiguation

Resnik and Yarowsky (1997) made a set of observations about the state-of-the-art in automatic word sense disambiguation and, motivated by those observations, offered several specific proposals regarding improved evaluation criteria, common training and testing resources, and the definition of sense inventories. Subsequent discussion of those proposals resulted in SENSEVAL, the first evaluation exercise for word sense disambiguation (Kilgarriff and Palmer 2000). This article is a revised and extended version of our 1997 workshop paper, reviewing its observations and proposals and discussing them in light of the SENSEVAL exercise. It also includes a new in-depth empirical study of translingually-based sense inventories and distance measures, using statistics collected from native-speaker annotations of 222 polysemous contexts across 12 languages. These data show that monolingual sense distinctions at most levels of granularity can be effectively captured by translations into some set of second languages, especially as language family distance increases. In addition, the probability that a given sense pair will tend to lexicalize differently across languages is shown to correlate with semantic salience and sense granularity; sense hierarchies automatically generated from such distance matrices yield results remarkably similar to those created by professional monolingual lexicographers.
Antibiotic Resistance and Virulence Phenotypes of Recent Bacterial Strains Isolated from Urinary Tract Infections in Elderly Patients with Prostatic Disease

Acute bacterial prostatitis is one of the frequent complications of urinary tract infection (UTI). From the approximately 10% of men having prostatitis, 7% experience a bacterial prostatitis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of uropathogens associated with UTIs in older patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia and to assess their susceptibility to commonly prescribed antibiotics as well as the relationships between microbial virulence and resistance features. Uropathogenic Escherichia coli was found to be the most frequent bacterial strain isolated from patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia, followed by Enterococcus spp. , Enterobacter spp. , Klebsiella spp. , Proteus spp. , Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Serratia marcescens. Increased resistance rates to tetracyclines, quinolones, and sulfonamides were registered. Besides their resistance profiles, the uropathogenic isolates produced various virulence factors with possible implications in the pathogenesis process. The great majority of the uropathogenic isolates revealed a high capacity to adhere to HEp-2 cell monolayer in vitro, mostly exhibiting a localized adherence pattern. Differences in the repertoire of soluble virulence factors that can affect bacterial growth and persistence within the urinary tract were detected. The Gram-negative strains produced pore-forming toxins—such as hemolysins, lecithinases, and lipases—proteases, siderophore-like molecules resulted from the esculin hydrolysis and amylases, while Enterococcus sp. strains were positive only for caseinase and esculin hydrolase. Our study demonstrates that necessity of investigating the etiology and local resistance patterns of uropathogenic organisms, which is crucial for determining appropriate empirical antibiotic treatment in elderly patients with UTI, while establishing correlations between resistance and virulence profiles could provide valuable input about the clinical evolution and recurrence rates of UTI.
Elder Authority and the Situational Diagnosis of Diarrheal Disease as Normal Infant Development in Northeast Thailand

Research was conducted in rural Northeast Thailand to understand how mothers perceive children's acute illness episodes, and their resulting illness management strategies. Although diarrheal disease is one of the leading causes of illness among young children in Thailand, interviews revealed that mothers frequently do not classify infantile diarrhea as an “illness. ” Infantile diarrhea is commonly labeled thai su, a type of diarrhea believed necessary to “lighten the body” so that the infant can attain a new developmental stage, such as sitting up, standing, or walking. Consequently, mothers do not perceive infection-related diarrheal illness as common in infants, and therefore do not direct much attention to prevention, nor manage diarrheal cases in a manner consistent with biomedical recommendations. In this article I describe local explanatory models of diarrheal illness, and discuss the role of situational factors and elder authority in determining how illness episodes are assessed and managed.
Going Beyond Input Quantity: Wh-Questions Matter for Toddlers' Language and Cognitive Development.

There are clear associations between the overall quantity of input children are exposed to and their vocabulary acquisition. However, by uncovering specific features of the input that matter, we can better understand the mechanisms involved in vocabulary learning. We examine whether exposure to wh-questions, a challenging quality of the communicative input, is associated with toddlers' vocabulary and later verbal reasoning skills in a sample of low-income, African-American fathers and their 24-month-old children (n = 41). Dyads were videotaped in free play sessions at home. Videotapes were transcribed and reliably coded for sheer quantity of fathers' input (number of utterances) as well as the number of wh-questions fathers produce. Children's productive vocabulary was measured at 24 months using the McArthur Bates Communicative Development Inventory MCDI (completed by the mothers), and children's verbal reasoning skills were measured 1 year later using the Bayley Scales of Infant Development. Results indicate that the overall quantity of father talk did not relate to children's vocabulary or reasoning skills. However, fathers' use of wh-questions (but not other questions) related to both vocabulary and reasoning outcomes. Children's responses to wh-questions were more frequent and more syntactically complex, measured using the mean length of utterance (MLU), than their responses to other questions. Thus, posing wh-questions to 2-year-olds is a challenging type of input, which elicits a verbal response from the child that likely helps build vocabulary and foster verbal reasoning abilities.
Role of visceral sensitivity in the pathophysiology of irritable bowel syndrome

Visceral hypersensitivity has been recognised as a characteristic of patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). It may be involved in the pathogenesis of abdominal pain/discomfort, and seems to result from the sensitisation of nerve afferent pathways originating from the gastrointestinal tract. From a clinical point of view, hypersensitivity, although frequent, is not a constant finding among patients with IBS and cannot therefore be considered as a diagnostic marker of the condition. The advances made in understanding visceral hypersensitivity in patients with IBS are reviewed: the factors that influence abdominal distension are defined and different therapeutic perspectives are examined.
Deconstructing or Destroying the Value Chain ? An Empirical Assessment of the Long ‐ Term Market Value of Information Technology and Business Process Outsourcing

As the focus of Information Technology outsourcing (ITO) and business process outsourcing (BPO) evolves from pure cost savings to diverse strategic objectives, the impact of externalizing these activities on the long‐term value of the firm surfaces as a key issue for researchers and practitioners. Principles of managing simple outsourcing initiatives may not be effective for complex relationships, and there is empirical evidence that firms may not make suitable managerial choices, especially in strategic outsourcing decisions. Capital markets may not be privy to such information when an outsourcing decision is announced, and hence respond with a delay, after the consequences of the initial choices become public knowledge. Thus, there may be long‐term abnormal returns from such outsourcing decisions. Based on theories of contracts and procedural coordination, we argue that simple (complex)
Secondary control in microgrids for dynamic power sharing and voltage/frequency adjustment

This paper discusses the operation of the central controller for a microgrid. The central controller is responsible to maintain the voltage and frequency of the microgrid within the acceptable ranges while the distributed energy resources supply the required power demand of the loads based on the droop control. The desired ratio among the output active power of the distributed energy resources is determined by the distribution network tertiary controller. To achieve a dynamic variation for the output active power ratios among the distributed energy resources, the central controller has to adjust the references of the rated active power and the droop control coefficients. As this may lead to unacceptable voltage and frequency in the microgr-id, the central controller has to adjust the references of the voltage and frequency consequently. The proposed central controller strategy for the microgrid is validated through PSCAD/EMTDC simulations.