Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Air Quality in Latin America : An Overview

We would like to thank Sofía Villarreal for all her efforts assisting with data collection and her support to the author for preparing the figures and tables in the report. We would like to thank all of the individuals from the cities who provided data on request and those who reanalyzed their data to provide the statistics we needed. Special thanks also go to the reviewers: as well as many other individuals and organizations from Latin America and elsewhere who provided information, comments and ideas for improvement. The Clean Air Institute thanks the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the World Bank, and the SFLAC Fund for Latin America and the Caribbean and for its generous financial support for carrying out this work and for related activities with its design and development. This report is part of a series of documents being produced under the Sustainable Transport and Air Quality Program efforts. The Clean Air Institute thanks the authors and staff, as well as all institutions and organizations that have made it possible. The findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed in this publication are based on information collected by the Clean Air Institute (CAI) and its consultants, partners and other participants from the sources indicated. All opinions, omission and remaining errors are the CAI's alone. The Clean Air Institute (CAI) is a non-profit organization with the vision of bridging knowledge, capacity and resource gaps to effectively address air pollution and climate change challenges. CAI assists nations and cities to provide healthy, enjoyable and productive environments for their residents through cleaner air, reduced greenhouse emissions and improved quality of life. CAI works with leading organizations across the public, private and social sectors to build consensus, and design, adopt and implement air quality and climate change strategies, policies, programs and projects to increase access to sustainable and clean transportation, energy and urban development choices. CAI is based in Washington DC with major activities focused in the Latin American region. CAI is also playing a leading role in key initiatives to catalyze decisions, solutions and investments at a global level. CAI implements its vision by providing policy, program and project development assistance coupled with access to state-of-the-art knowledge and expertise; delivering capacity development and knowledge exchange opportunities; opening doors for financing and other resource opportunities; facilitating policy dialogue and knowledge exchange; fostering alliances and partnerships among public, private and social entities; and catalyzing decision making, consensus …
Breeding Home Ranges of Migratory Turkey Vultures Near Their Northern Limit

Abstract We used Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite transmitters to estimate the breeding home ranges of Turkey Vultures (Cathartes aura) in Saskatchewan, Canada from 2005 to 2009. Breeding ranges calculated using 95% Minimum Convex Polygons (MCP) ranged from 47 to 953 km2 and averaged (± SD) 371 ± 340 km2. Fixed-kernel home ranges (95%) ranged from 49 to 1,992 km2 and averaged 648 ± 731 km2. These ranges include both the smallest and largest summer ranges reported for the species. Spatial variation in range size may have been due to differences in availability of food and the quality of the home ranges involved, amplified by the species' extremely low-cost soaring flight. Adults used all-night perches in varying locations up to 38 km from their nest house while traveling substantial distances to available carcasses to obtain food for their young. Identifying home range sizes for Turkey Vultures is a first step toward understanding how the species is increasing and expanding its distribution in Saskatchewan and elsewhere in Canada.
DNA damage and effects on glutathione‐S‐transferase activity induced by atrazine exposure in zebrafish (Danio rerio)

This study was undertaken to investigate the protective effect of atrazine (2‐chloro‐4‐(ethylamino)‐6‐(isopropylamino)‐S‐triazine) on the activity of glutathione‐S‐transferase (GST) and DNA damage in males and females of adult zebrafish (Danio rerio). Zebrafish were exposed to control and three treatments (0.01, 0.1, and 1 mg/L) of atrazine for 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 days. The results indicated that, for males, the GST activity at lower atrazine concentrations (0.01 and 0.1 mg/L) was markedly higher than that of the controls throughout the duration of the experiment while there was a significant inhibition of the GST activity at 1 mg/L atrazine at days 5 and 20. For females, a significant increase was detected at 0.1 mg/L on the days 5 and 15 and at 0.01 mg/L on day 20. The DNA damage in zebrafish was evaluated using the comet assay; the olive tail moments obtained for hepatopancreas were enhanced after treatment with different concentrations of atrazine on days 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25. The DNA damage increased with increasing atrazine concentrations, indicating that genotoxicity of atrazine and significant differences was found compared to the controls. In conclusion, these findings provide further evidence of the effects of atrazine on aquatic ecosystems. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Environ Toxicol, 2010.
INTERPRETING WOODY PLANT RICHNESS FROM SEASONAL RATIOS OF PHOTOSYNTHESIS

In forested portions of Oregon, species richness of woody plants on plots 400-500 m 2 ranged from 1 to . 20. We investigated what might account for this variation using a satellite-driven process model that predicts gross photosynthesis and establishes, on a monthly time step, the most constraining environmental variable. Independent satellite and ground-based data confirmed that the highest species richness occurs on sites of in- termediate productivity, where 60-70% of the light is intercepted by vegetation. We dem- onstrated that most photosynthesis takes place during the spring and summer months for both evergreen and deciduous species. We estimated that the spring to summer ratio of gross photosynthesis (DPG) varies from , 1t o.5 across the state. Both the most productive coastal rainforests and least productive arid woodlands exhibited the lowest values of DPG near 1, and had lowest species richness. Plots with highest species richness were located in areas with mild, moist, spring weather conditions, followed by a summer drought, with DPG averaging above 3. Satellite-derived estimates of gross photosynthesis are available for more extensive analysis.
TRPV 4 channel contributes to serotonin-induced pulmonary vasoconstriction and the enhanced vascular reactivity in chronic hypoxic pulmonary hypertension

Yang Xia, Zhenzhen Fu, Jinxing Hu, Chun Huang, Omkar Paudel, Shaoxi Cai, Wolfgang Liedtke, and James S. K. Sham Chronic Airways Diseases Laboratory, Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China; Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland; and Center for Translational Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
A Unified Framework for Neural Speech Separation and Extraction

The development of deep learning techniques has triggered the active investigation of neural network-based speech enhancement approaches. In particular, single-channel blind (uninformed) speech separation and speaker-aware (informed) speech extraction have received increased interest. Blind speech separation separates a speech mixture into all source signals without requiring any auxiliary information about the speakers. In contrast, speaker-aware speech extraction focuses on extracting speech from a target speaker using prior knowledge, such as an utterance spoken by the target speaker. Speaker extraction is therefore not fully blind, but it can mitigate the source permutation problem faced by blind source separation, and potentially achieve better speech quality by exploiting the auxiliary information. In this paper, to take advantage of both approaches, we propose a unified framework for both speech separation and speech extraction using a single model. This is realized by incorporating a speaker attention mechanism within a generalized permutation invariant training (PIT)-based blind speech separation model, and introducing a multitask separation/extraction objective for training the model. Experiments on the WSJ0-2mix dataset show that our proposed framework realizes both uninformed separation and informed extraction, and achieves better separation/extraction performance than a baseline PIT-based model.
Multimodal Integration of Self-Motion Cues in the Vestibular System: Active versus Passive Translations

The ability to keep track of where we are going as we navigate through our environment requires knowledge of our ongoing location and orientation. In response to passively applied motion, the otolith organs of the vestibular system encode changes in the velocity and direction of linear self-motion (i.e., heading). When self-motion is voluntarily generated, proprioceptive and motor efference copy information is also available to contribute to the brain's internal representation of current heading direction and speed. However to date, how the brain integrates these extra-vestibular cues with otolith signals during active linear self-motion remains unknown. Here, to address this question, we compared the responses of macaque vestibular neurons during active and passive translations. Single-unit recordings were made from a subgroup of neurons at the first central stage of sensory processing in the vestibular pathways involved in postural control and the computation of self-motion perception. Neurons responded far less robustly to otolith stimulation during self-generated than passive head translations. Yet, the mechanism underlying the marked cancellation of otolith signals did not affect other characteristics of neuronal responses (i.e., baseline firing rate, tuning ratio, orientation of maximal sensitivity vector). Transiently applied perturbations during active motion further established that an otolith cancellation signal was only gated in conditions where proprioceptive sensory feedback matched the motor-based expectation. Together our results have important implications for understanding the brain's ability to ensure accurate postural and motor control, as well as perceptual stability, during active self-motion.
A placebo-controlled study of Kava kava in generalized anxiety disorder

We assessed the efficacy and safety of a botanical anxiolytic, Kava kava (Piper methysticum), in treating generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Thirty-seven adults with DSM-IV GAD were randomly assigned to 4 weeks of double-blind treatment with kava or a matching placebo. Weekly efficacy assessments [Hamilton Anxiety Scale, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Self Assessment of Resilience and Anxiety (SARA)] and safety evaluations were conducted. Improvement was observed with both treatments but no differences were found in the principal analysis. Post-hoc analyses revealed significant differences based on baseline anxiety severity, whereby kava was superior on the SARA in low anxiety and placebo was superior on the HADS and SARA in high anxiety. Both treatments were well tolerated. Although kava was not superior to placebo, it would be premature to rule it out as efficacious in GAD.
Next Generation Sequencing-Based Investigation of Potential Patient-to-Patient Hepatitis C Virus Transmission during Hemodialytic Treatment

We investigated potential patient-to-patient transmission of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in two hemodialysis centers in Beijing, China. Approximately 8.25% (32/388) hemodialysis patients were HCV antibody positive, and 4.90% (19/388) were HCV RNA-positive, which consisted of 2a genotype (1/19) and 1b genotypes (18/19). Using next generation sequencing (NGS) approach, MiSeq platform, we sequenced HCV, targeting hypervariable region 1 (263 base-pairs) of genotype 1b specimens and obtained 18 to 243 unique HCV variants. Analysis of phylogenetic tree, viral epidemiology signature pattern (VESP) and Shannon entropy indicated no obvious HCV similarity for most HCV infections but limited HCV variants from Patient 31 (P31) were closer with respect to evolutionary relationship with Patient 24 (P24). However, it was unlikely that HCV was transmitted directly from P24 to P31 in the hemodialysis center. Otherwise, their genetic distance (3.92%-8.92%), would have been much less. Moreover, P31 was infected less than two years before specimen collection, and other external high risk factors existed for these two patients. Thus, our data indicated no evidence of patient-to-patient transmission of HCV in the two hemodialysis centers, suggesting that current HCV infection control measures are effective.
Age-related Changes in the Sleep-dependent Reorganization of Declarative Memories

Abstract Consolidation of declarative memories has been associated with slow wave sleep in young adults. Previous work suggests that, in spite of changes in sleep, sleep-dependent consolidation of declarative memories may be preserved with aging, although reduced relative to young adults. Previous work on young adults shows that, with consolidation, retrieval of declarative memories gradually becomes independent of the hippocampus. To investigate whether memories are similarly reorganized over sleep at the neural level, we compared functional brain activation associated with word pair recall following a nap and equivalent wake in young and older adults. SWS during the nap predicted better subsequent memory recall and was negatively associated with retrieval-related hippocampal activation in young adults. In contrast, in older adults there was no relationship between sleep and memory performance or with retrieval-related hippocampal activation. Furthermore, compared with young adults, postnap memory retrieval in older adults required strong functional connectivity of the hippocampus with the PFC, whereas there were no differences between young and older adults in the functional connectivity of the hippocampus following wakefulness. These results suggest that, although neural reorganization takes place over sleep in older adults, the shift is unique from that seen in young adults, perhaps reflecting memories at an earlier stage of stabilization.
Robust trajectory design for object throwing based on sensitivity for model uncertainties

Throwing an object by a powered robot system is of great importance in unmanned environments. In this paper, we consider the problem of throwing a point-mass object to minimize uncertainty in the object's landing position, given uncertainty in (1) the robot's initial configuration and (2) friction at the joints. Our analysis assumes that the robot's throw is executed using open-loop torque commands, and it relies on the linearized sensitivities of (a) landing location with respect to release state, (b) release state with respect to initial robot configuration and (c) joint friction. Moreover, the effectiveness of the proposed method is evaluated by Monte-Carlo simulations.
A STUDY OF THE VESSELS OF THE PLACENTAL BED IN NORMOTENSIVE AND HYPERTENSIVE WOMEN

Biopsies of the placental bed have been taken from 36 patients. Histological examination has been carried out with particular reference to pathological changes in the maternal vessels and these changes have been related to the clinical histories of the patients. Vascular lesions have been found in material obtained from hypertensive and from toxaemic women. These changes are in no way distinguishable from those generally acknowledged to occur as a result of systemic hypertension. They are directly related in extent to the clinical severity of the disease. No such changes have been found in normal patients. Apart from differences of degree, the vessel changes in essential hypertension and pre-eclampsia appear identical. They are thought to be due to hypertension (AU)
Smoking cessation in young adults.

The theme of this issue is the critically important topic of young adult smoking cessation. Young adulthood is a time of many transitions, including changes in smoking behavior. Adolescents who experiment or smoke intermittently often progress to daily smoking in young adulthood.1 For example, Tercyak et al.2 reported that among 12th grade ever smokers (defined as persons who have ever smoked in their lifetimes), 39% were smoking more frequently or intensely by the following year. Some adults smoke their first cigarettes after the age of 18, but little initiation occurs after age 25.1 There is evidence that smoking initiation has increased among young adults in recent years.3 Consistent with this, Tercyak et al. noted that among never smokers in high school, 25% initiated smoking in the year after 12th grade.2 Young adulthood is also a time when some smokers make quit attempts. Unfortunately, young people who try to quit are likely to relapse, similar to older adults.1 Often, it is with their first quit attempt that young smokers realize that they have become addicted to tobacco and will not be able to quit easily.
Hepatitis C infection increases the risk of the modification of first highly active antiretroviral therapy in HIV-infected patients

We assessed predictors of discontinuation or change of the first regimen of highly active antiretroviral therapy in 465 HIV-infected adults, in the first year. A total of 187 patients modified their regimen: 45 discontinuing and 142 changing because of clinical/virological failure, intolerance/toxicity or non-adherence. Predictors of modification of the regimen were hepatitis C seropositivity, liver cirrhosis, higher baseline viral load, sex (women had a lower risk) and calendar year (lower risk staring in 2000).
Is the Whole Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts?

The PART-WHOLE relationship routinely finds itself in many disciplines, ranging from collaborative teams, crowdsourcing, autonomous systems to networked systems. From the algorithmic perspective, the existing work has primarily focused on predicting the outcomes of the whole and parts, by either separate models or linear joint models, which assume the outcome of the parts has a linear and independent effect on the outcome of the whole. In this paper, we propose a joint predictive method named PAROLE to simultaneously and mutually predict the part and whole outcomes. The proposed method offers two distinct advantages over the existing work. First (Model Generality), we formulate joint PART-WHOLE outcome prediction as a generic optimization problem, which is able to encode a variety of complex relationships between the outcome of the whole and parts, beyond the linear independence assumption. Second (Algorithm Efficacy), we propose an effective and efficient block coordinate descent algorithm, which is able to find the coordinate-wise optimum with a linear complexity in both time and space. Extensive empirical evaluations on real-world datasets demonstrate that the proposed PAROLE (1) leads to consistent prediction performance improvement by modeling the non-linear part-whole relationship as well as part-part interdependency, and (2) scales linearly in terms of the size of the training dataset.
The Impact of Stimulation Induced Short-Term Synaptic Plasticity on Firing Patterns in the Globus Pallidus of the Rat

Electrical stimulation in the globus pallidus (GP) leads to complex modulations of neuronal activity in the stimulated nucleus. Multiple in vivo studies have demonstrated the modulation of both firing rates and patterns during and immediately following the GP stimulation. Previous in vitro studies, together with computational studies, have suggested the involvement of short-term synaptic plasticity (STP) during the stimulation. The aim of the current study was to explore in vitro the effects of STP on neuronal activity of GP neurons during local repetitive stimulation. We recorded synaptic potentials and assessed the modulations of spontaneous firing in a postsynaptic neuron in acute brain slices via a whole-cell pipette. Low-frequency repetitive stimulation locked the firing of the neuron to the stimulus. However, high-frequency repetitive stimulation in the GP generated a biphasic modulation of the firing frequency consisting of inhibitory and excitatory phases. Using blockers of synaptic transmission, we show that GABAergic synapses mediated the inhibitory and glutamatergic synapses the excitatory part of the response. Furthermore, we report that at high stimulation frequencies both types of synapses undergo short-term depression leading to a time dependent modulation of the neuronal firing. These findings indicate that STP modulates the dynamic responses of pallidal activity during electrical stimulation, and may contribute to a better understanding of the mechanism underlying deep brain stimulation like protocols.
THINKING AND DEPRESSION. II. THEORY AND THERAPY.

The cognitive distortions and the idiosyncratic thought content of depressed patients have been described by me in a previous article.2It was suggested on the basis of clinical observation that many of the phenomena in depression may be characterized in terms of a thought disorder. This conclusion was drawn from the consistent finding of systematic errors, such as arbitrary inferences, selective abstraction, and overgeneralization in the idiosyncratic conceptualizations of the depressed patients. The present paper will present a theoretical analysis of the thinking disorder observed in depressed patients. The formulations will be limited to a few broad areas in which the relevant clinical material was considered adequate to warrant a formal theoretical exposition. The discussion will be directed toward two salient problems: first, how the typical idiosyncratic content and cognitive distortions become dominant during the depressed phase; secondly, the relationship
Imipramine compliance in adolescents.

OBJECTIVE To investigate side effects, medication compliance, and assumption of medication assignment in adolescents taking imipramine versus placebo in a clinical trial. METHOD Sixty-three anxious-depressed adolescents in an 8-week double-blind study of imipramine versus placebo, each in combination with cognitive-behavioral therapy for school refusal, were evaluated. Measures of side effects, global improvement, family functioning, medication compliance based on pill counts, and guesses of drug assignment (imipramine versus placebo) were analyzed. RESULTS Mean side effects ratings were significantly higher for the imipramine group compared with the placebo group (p = .001). Side effects were not associated with noncompliance or with dropping out. Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) in the adolescents was significantly associated with medication noncompliance (p = .036). On the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale II (FACES II), low family adaptability (i.e., rigidity), low family cohesion (i.e., disengagement), and extreme family type were significantly associated with greater noncompliance with medications. Accuracy rates for guessing medication assignment (imipramine versus placebo) were 66% for subjects, 62.5% for mothers, and 79.5% for the psychiatrist. Logistic regression demonstrated that side effects (p = .005) and global improvement scores (p = .06) predicted the psychiatrist's guesses of drug assignment. CONCLUSIONS Side effects were not associated with noncompliance. Nonadherence with taking medications was associated with ODD in the adolescents and problematic family functioning on FACES II. The psychiatrist, who was blind to treatment condition, guessed the subjects' medication assignments with high accuracy. Thus, because of expectancy bias, the data support the use of blind independent evaluators for rating changes in medication trials.