Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The acquisition of consonants in Québécois French: A cross-sectional study of pre-school aged children

This study provides a systematic description of French consonant acquisition in a large cohort of pre-school aged children: 156 children aged 20–53 months participated in a picture-naming task. Five analyses were conducted to study consonant acquisition: (1) consonant inventory, (2) consonant accuracy, (3) consonant acquisition, (4) a comparison of consonant inventory to consonant acquisition, and (5) a comparison to English cross-sectional data. Results revealed that more consonants emerge at an earlier age in word initial position, followed by medial position, and then word final position. Consonant accuracy underwent the greatest changes before the age of 36 months, and achieved a relative plateau towards 42 months. The acquisition of consonants revealed that four early consonants were acquired before the age of 36 months (i.e., /t, m, n, z/); 12 intermediate consonants were acquired between 36 and 53 months (i.e., /p, b, d, k, , ν, f, v, , l, w, ч/); and four consonants were acquired after 53 months (/s, з, ∫, j/). In comparison to English data, language specific patterns emerged that influence the order and pace of phonological acquisition. These findings highlight the important role of language specific developmental data in understanding the course of consonant acquisition.
Disagreement about Inflation Expectations

Analyzing 50 years of inflation expectations data from several sources, we document substantial disagreement among both consumers and professional economists about expected future inflation. This disagreement shows substantial variation over time, moving with inflation, the absolute value of the change in inflation, and relative price variability. We argue that a satisfactory model of economic dynamics must address these important business-cycle moments. Noting that most macroeconomic models do not endogenously generate disagreement, we show that a simple sticky-information model broadly matches many of these facts. Moreover, the sticky-information model is consistent with other observed departures of inflation expectations from full rationality, including autocorrelated forecast errors and insufficient sensitivity to recent macroeconomic news.
Use of decision analysis to evaluate the delivery method of veterinary health care on dairy farms as measured by correction of left displaced abomasum.

OBJECTIVE To use decision and sensitivity analysis to examine the delivery of health care on US dairy farms as measured by correction of left displaced abomasum (LDA). SAMPLE POPULATION 5 journal articles evaluating outcomes from veterinarian- or herd personnel-delivered correction of LDA via laparotomy or a roll-and-toggle procedure. DESIGN Economic analysis. PROCEDURES A decision tree was constructed on the basis of published outcome data for correction of LDAs performed by veterinarians and herd personnel. Sensitivity of the model to changing input assumptions was evaluated via an indifference curve and tornado graph. RESULTS Decision tree analysis revealed that correction of an LDA provided by herd personnel had an expected economic advantage of $76, compared with correction provided by a veterinarian. Sensitivity of this analysis to variations in inputs indicated that changes of 2 input levels would shift the advantage to veterinarian-provided correction: a reduction (from 0.74 to 0.62) in the probability of success for correction provided by herd personnel or an increase (from 0.78 to 0.87) in the probability of success for correction provided by a veterinarian. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE In this model, LDA correction by herd personnel had a significant economic advantage, compared with veterinarian-provided correction. Continued absorption of traditional veterinary tasks by unlicensed herd personnel may threaten the veterinarian-client-patient relationship (VCPR), which could have profound economic and regulatory impacts. Food animal veterinarians need to evaluate their business model to ensure they continue to provide relevant, sustainable services to their clients within the context of a valid VCPR.
Effects of prenatal PCB and dioxin background exposure on cognitive and motor abilities in Dutch children at school age.

OBJECTIVE Our purpose was to evaluate whether effects of exposure to environmental levels of PCBs and dioxins on development in the Dutch cohort persist until school age. STUDY DESIGN In the Dutch PCB/dioxin study, cognitive and motor abilities were assessed with the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities in children at school age. During infancy, half of this population was fully breast-fed for at least > or = 6 weeks and the other half formula fed. Prenatal exposure to PCBs was defined as the sum of PCB118, 138, 153, and 180 in maternal and cord plasma. In breast milk, additional measurements of 17 dioxins, 6 dioxin-like PCBs, and 20 nondioxin-like PCBs were done. RESULTS Negative effects of prenatal PCB and dioxin exposure on cognitive and motor abilities were seen when parental and home characteristics were less optimal. These effects were not measurable in children raised in more optimal environments. CONCLUSIONS Neurotoxic effects of prenatal PCB and dioxin exposure may persist into school age, resulting in subtle cognitive and motor developmental delays. More optimal intellectual stimulation provided by a more advantageous parental and home environment may counteract these effects of prenatal exposure to PCBs and dioxins on cognitive and motor abilities.
Influence and Inefficiency in the Internal Capital Market

Is the investment behavior of multi-divisional firms driven in part by influence activities in the internal capital market? Using Compustat Segment data, I find that models of influence activities may have considerable value in predicting capital allocation decisions of multi-divisio nal firms. Headquarters decides how much to invest in small divisions based on the investment committee's recommendation (private signal) and observable characteristics (public signal) of the small division. Using a standard moral hazard model, I show that large, established division managers have an incentive to bias private information about investment opportunities in small divisions and skew capital budgets in their favor. Headquarters can reduce these incentives to engage in costly influence activities, by designing contracts which alter the sensitivity of investment to private and public signals. In evaluating optimal contracts, firms face a trade-off between the value of an accurate signal and the cost of mitigating influence problems. This trade-off and the resulting implications for investment sensitivity to both private and public signals depends on the severity of the firm's influence problem and the quality of the public signal. Using division profits as a proxy for the public signal, firm attributes as proxies for the severity of the influence problem, and the informativeness of profits in predicting firm value as a proxy for the quality of the public signal, I show that manufacturing firms allocate capital to smaller divisions in a way that suggests that influence problems lead to inefficient capital allocation. Moreover, firms with operations in related or less predictable businesses, flatter organizational structures, and tighter financial constraints appear to be more vulnerable to these problems and, as a result, suffer from greater inefficiencies in their internal capital markets.
Phytoplankton in Irrigation and Draining Water Canals of East Nile Delta of Egypt

Phytoplankton in water of River Nile, Ismailia canal and Belbase drain of East Nile Delta of Egypt was studied. The algal counts and biomass in water of River Nile and Ismailia canal ranged from 106 to 107 L-1 and 1 to 62 mg L-1 with highest peaks during warm seasons (May to November). The drainage water contained relatively low densities of algae and biomass as compared with irrigation water could be related to the higher salt content of the drainage water. The phytoplankton was found belonging to three major groups, namely Chlorophyta (green algae), Cyanophyta (blue green algae) and Bacillariophyta (diatoms). Diatoms represent the most dominant group (44 to 95% of total algae) followed by blue green algae (6 to 36% of total algae) in both irrigation and drainage water. Green algae represent the low percentage group (1 to 30%) of the total algae. Eudorina, Pediastrum, Actinastrum were the most dominant genera of green algae. Anabaena was the most abundant genera of blue green algae. While, the predominant genera of diatoms were Melosira, Bacillaria and Synedra.
New small-bodied ornithopods (Dinosauria, Neornithischia) from the Early Cretaceous Wonthaggi Formation (Strzelecki Group) of the Australian-Antarctic rift system, with revision of Qantassaurus intrepidus Rich and Vickers-Rich, 1999

Abstract. The Flat Rocks locality in theWonthaggi Formation (Strzelecki Group) of the Gippsland Basin, southeastern Australia, hosts fossils of a late Barremian vertebrate fauna that inhabited the ancient rift between Australia and Antarctica. Known from its dentary, Qantassaurus intrepidus Rich and Vickers-Rich, 1999 has been the only dinosaur named from this locality. However, the plethora of vertebrate fossils collected from Flat Rocks suggests that further dinosaurs await discovery. From this locality, we name a new small-bodied ornithopod, Galleonosaurus dorisae n. gen. n. sp. from craniodental remains. Five ornithopodan genera are now named from Victoria. Galleonosaurus dorisae n. gen. n. sp. is known from five maxillae, from which the first description of jaw growth in an Australian dinosaur is provided. The holotype of Galleonosaurus dorisae n. gen. n. sp. is the most complete dinosaur maxilla known from Victoria. Micro-CT imagery of the holotype reveals the complex internal anatomy of the neurovascular tract and antorbital fossa.We confirm that Q. intrepidus is uniquely characterized by a deep foreshortened dentary. Two dentaries originally referred to Q. intrepidus are reassigned to Q. intrepidus and a further maxilla is referred to cf. Atlascopcosaurus loadsi Rich and Rich, 1989. A further ornithopod dentary morphotype is identified, more elongate than those of Q. intrepidus and Q. intrepidus and with three more tooth positions. This dentary might pertain to Galleonosaurus dorisae n. gen. n. sp. Phylogenetic analysis recovered Cretaceous Victorian and Argentinian nonstyracosternan ornithopods within the exclusively Gondwanan clade Elasmaria. However, the large-bodied taxon Muttaburrasaurus langdoni Bartholomai and Molnar, 1981 is hypothesised as a basal iguanodontian with closer affinities to dryomorphans than to rhabdodontids.
Implications of Infant Cognition for Executive Functions at Age 11

Recent work suggests that executive functions, the cornerstone of higher-level cognitive operations, are driven by basic information processing abilities. Using structural equation modeling, with latent variables, the present study provides the first evidence that this driving force begins in infancy, such that abilities in infancy predict executive functions at age 11. Information processing abilities in three domains (attention, processing speed, and memory) were assessed when participants were infants (7 and 12 months) and toddlers (24 and 36 months) and were used to predict three executive functions (working memory, inhibition, and shifting) when participants were 11 years old. A model relating infant abilities to age-11 executive functions fit well, and accounted for 9% to 19% of the variance in the executive functions. Paths from both Speed and Memory in infancy to age-11 Working Memory were significant, as was the path from Speed in infancy to age-11 Shifting. A model using abilities in toddlerhood as predictors fit similarly. These findings implicate early basic cognitive abilities in the development of executive functions.
Meta-data snapshotting: a simple mechanism for file system consistency

File system consistency frequently involves a choice between raw performance and integrity guarantees. A few software-based solutions for this problem have appeared and are currently being used on some commercial operating systems; these include log-structured file systems, journaling file systems, and soft updates. In this paper, we propose meta-data snapshotting as a low-cost, scalable, and simple mechanism that provides file system integrity. It allows the safe use of write-back caching by making successive snapshots of the meta-data using copy-on-write, and atomically committing the snapshot to stable storage without interrupting file system availability. In the presence of system failures, no file system checker or any other operation is necessary to mount the file system, therefore it greatly improves system availability. This paper describes meta-data snapshotting, and its incorporation into a file system available for the Linux and K42 operating systems. We show that meta-data snapshotting has low overhead: for a microbenchmark, and two macrobenchmarks, the measured overhead is of at most 4%, when compared to a completely asynchronous file system, with no consistency guarantees. Our experiments also show that it induces less overhead then a write-ahead journaling file system, and it scales much better when the number of clients and file system operations grows.Furthermore, this new technique can be easily extended to provide file system snapshotting (versioning) and transaction support for a collection of selected files or directories.
Gender Differences in the Inheritance Mode of RYR2 Mutations in Catecholaminergic Polymorphic Ventricular Tachycardia Patients

Catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT) is one of the causes of sudden cardiac death in young people and results from RYR2 mutations in ~60% of CPVT patients. The inheritance of the RYR2 mutations follows an autosomal dominant trait, however, de novo mutations are often identified during familial analysis. In 36 symptomatic CPVT probands with RYR2 mutations, we genotyped their parents and confirmed the origin of the respective mutation. In 26 sets of proband and both parents (trio), we identified 17 de novo mutations (65.4%), seven from their mothers and only two mutations were inherited from their fathers. Among nine sets of proband and mother, five mutations were inherited from mothers. Four other mutations were of unknown origin. The inheritance of RYR2 mutations was significantly more frequent from mothers (n = 12, 34.3%) than fathers (n = 2, 5.7%) (P = 0.013). The mean ages of onset were not significantly different in probands between de novo mutations and those from mothers. Thus, half of the RYR2 mutations in our cohort were de novo, and most of the remaining mutations were inherited from mothers. These data would be useful for family analysis and risk stratification of the disease.
Potential Role of Carvedilol in the Cardiac Immune Response Induced by Experimental Infection with Trypanosoma cruzi

Trypanosoma cruzi causes a cardiac infection characterized by an inflammatory imbalance that could become the inciting factor of the illness. To this end, we evaluated the role of carvedilol, a beta-blocker with potential immunomodulatory properties, on the immune response in C57BL/6 mice infected with VL-10 strain of T. cruzi in the acute phase. Animals (n = 40) were grouped: (i) not infected, (ii) infected, (iii) infected + carvedilol, and (iv) not infected + carvedilol. We analyzed parameters related to parasitemia, plasma levels of TNF, IL-10, and CCL2, and cardiac histopathology after the administration of carvedilol for 30 days. We did not observe differences in the maximum peaks of parasitemia in the day of their detection among the groups. The plasma TNF was elevated at 60 days of infection in mice treated or not with carvedilol. However, we observed a decreased CCL2 level and increased IL-10 levels in those infected animals treated with carvedilol, which impacted the reduction of the inflammatory infiltration in cardiac tissue. For this experimental model, carvedilol therapy was not able to alter the levels of circulating parasites but modulates the pattern of CCL2 and IL-10 mediators when the VL10 strain of T. cruzi was used in C57BL6 mice.
Outcomes of Bordetella Infections in Vaccinated Children: Effects of Bacterial Number in the Nasopharynx and Patient Age

ABSTRACT Five outbreaks of infection (three pertussis, one parapertussis, and one mixed) in schools were studied prospectively. Nasopharyngeal swabs were obtained from a total of 697 children for culture ofBordetella organisms. Of 50 vaccinated children with culture-confirmed Bordetella infections (29 with pertussis and 21 parapertussis), 40 were symptomatic and 10 remained symptom-free. Smaller numbers of colonies were recovered from the nasopharyngeal swabs of the asymptomatic children than from those of the symptomatic children. Older children had longer durations of illness than younger ones. Our results indicate that during outbreaks children who do not develop disease may have small amounts ofBordetella organisms in their nasopharynges and/or better immune defenses against the disease.
Exploring Preterm Birth as a Polymicrobial Disease: An Overview of the Uterine Microbiome

Infection is a leading cause of preterm birth (PTB). A focus of many studies over the past decade has been to characterize microorganisms present in the uterine cavity and document any association with negative pregnancy outcome. A range of techniques have been used to achieve this, including microbiological culture and targeted polymerase chain reaction assays, and more recently, microbiome-level analyses involving either conserved, phylogenetically informative genes such as the bacterial 16S rRNA gene or whole shotgun metagenomic sequencing. These studies have contributed vast amounts of data toward characterization of the uterine microbiome, specifically that present in the amniotic fluid, fetal membranes, and placenta. However, an overwhelming emphasis has been placed on the bacterial microbiome, with far less data produced on the viral and fungal/yeast microbiomes. With numerous studies now referring to PTB as a polymicrobial condition, there is the need to investigate the role of viruses and fungi/yeasts in more detail and in particular, look for associations between colonization with these microorganisms and bacteria in the same samples. Although the major pathway by which microorganisms are believed to colonize the uterine cavity is vertical ascension from the vagina, numerous studies are now emerging suggesting hematogenous transfer of oral microbiota to the uterine cavity. Evidence of this has been produced in mouse models and although DNA-based evidence in humans appears convincing in some aspects, use of methodologies that only detect viable cells as opposed to lysed cells and extracellular DNA are needed to clarify this. Such techniques as RNA analyses and viability polymerase chain reaction are likely to play key roles in the clinical translation of future microbiome-based data, particularly in confined environments such as the uterus, as detection of viable cells plays a key role in diagnosis and treatment of infection.
Moyamoya disease: comparison of assessment with MR angiography and MR imaging versus conventional angiography.

PURPOSE To evaluate magnetic resonance (MR) angiography and MR imaging in assessment of moyamoya disease. MATERIALS AND METHODS The cases of 26 patients with moyamoya disease were evaluated prospectively. After three-dimensional time-of-flight 1.5-T MR angiography and MR imaging, images were evaluated in blinded separate interpretation. RESULTS MR angiography and MR imaging accurately depicted 217 (82%) and 184 (70%) of 264 arteries, respectively, but the degree of stenosis was overestimated in the other arteries. Basal cerebral moyamoya vessels were depicted in all 52 hemispheres with conventional angiography and in 42 (81%) and 48 (92%) hemispheres with MR angiography and MR imaging, respectively. The respective sensitivity and specificity for diagnosis of moyamoya disease were 73% and 100% for MR angiography, 92% and 100% for MR imaging, and 92% and 100% for MR angiography plus MR imaging. CONCLUSION Assessment of moyamoya disease is most thorough with MR angiography and MR imaging.
Targeted activation of β-catenin signaling in basal mammary epithelial cells affects mammary development and leads to hyperplasia

Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway is involved in the maintenance of the progenitor cell population in the skin, intestine and other tissues, and its aberrant activation caused by stabilization of β-catenin contributes to tumorigenesis. In the mammary gland, constitutive activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling in luminal secretory cells results in precocious lobuloalveolar differentiation and induces adenocarcinomas, whereas the impact of this signaling pathway on the function of the second major mammary epithelial cell lineage, the basal myoepithelial cells, has not been analyzed. We have used the keratin (K) 5 promoter to target the expression of stabilized N-terminally truncated β-catenin to the basal cell layer of mouse mammary epithelium. The transgenic mice presented an abnormal mammary phenotype: precocious lateral bud formation, increased proliferation and premature differentiation of luminal epithelium in pregnancy, persistent proliferation in lactation and accelerated involution. Precocious development in pregnancy was accompanied by increased Myc and cyclin D1 transcript levels, and a shift in p63 variant expression towards the ΔNp63 form. The expression of ECM-degrading proteinases and their inhibitors was altered in pregnancy and involution. Nulliparous transgenic females developed mammary hyperplasia that comprised undifferentiated basal (K5/14-positive, K8- and α-smooth muscle-actin-negative) cells. Multiparous mice, in addition, developed invasive basal-type carcinomas. Thus, activation of β-catenin signaling in basal mammary epithelial cells affects the entire process of mammary gland development and induces amplification of basal-type cells that lack lineage markers, presumably, a subpopulation of mammary progenitors able to give rise to tumors.
Fungaemia due to Cryptococcus laurentii and a review of non‐neoformans cryptococcaemia

Summary. Cryptococcus laurentii is one of several non‐neoformans cryptococci that have rarely been associated with human infection. The spectrum of clinical infection due to non‐neoformans species ranges from skin lesions to fungaemia. Most cases of non‐neoformans fungaemia have been noso‐comially acquired and have been associated with indwelling intravascular catheters and neutropenia. Limited data on in vitro susceptibilities of non‐neoformans cryptococci show these species to be more resistant to fluconazole and flucytosine than most Cr. neoformans. Two such cases are presented here.