Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Beliefs in Genetic Determinism and Attitudes towards Psychiatric Genetic Research: Psychometric Scale Properties, Construct Associations, Demographic Correlates, and Cross-Cultural Comparisons

Using two new scales, this study examined beliefs in genetic determinism and attitudes towards psychiatric genetic research in student samples from Austria, Malaysia, Romania, and the United Kingdom. For both constructs, effects of culture were detectable, whereas those related to key demographics were either small and inconsistent across samples (political orientation and religiosity) or zero (sex and age). Judged from factorial dimensionality and internal consistency, the psychometric properties of both scales were satisfactory. Belief in genetic determinism had lower prevalence and corresponded only modestly to positive attitudes towards psychiatric genetic research which had higher prevalence. The correlations of both constructs with a preference of inequality among social groups (social dominance orientation) were modest and inconsistent across samples. Both scales appear appropriate for cross-cultural applications, in particular for research into lay theories and public perceptions regarding genetic vs environmental effects on human behavior, mental disorders, and behavioral and psychiatric genetic research related to these.
Neurophysiological correlates of increased verbal working memory in high-dissociative participants: a functional MRI study

Background. Dissociation, defined as a disruption in usually integrated mental functions, is found not only in DSM-IV dissociative disorders, but also in post-traumatic stress disorder and eating disorders. Dissociative phenomena are also common in the general population, and may reflect a constitutionally determined cognitive style rather than a pathological trait acquired through experiencing adverse life events. In pathological dissociation, evidence has been presented for episodic memory dysfunction. In contrast, in high-dissociative subjects increased performance has been found for episodic memory and dual task performance. These findings have been linked to changes in working memory capacity. Method. In the present study, the authors sought to extend these findings by using functional magnetic resonance imaging during performance of two parametric working memory tasks. We tested 21 healthy low- and high-dissociative participants. Results. High-dissociative participants performed slightly better during both tasks. Imaging data showed that both groups activated similar networks for both tasks, i.e. (bilateral) dorsolateral (DL) and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC), parietal cortex, and supplementary motor area. Group×task interactions were found in the high-dissociative group in L DLPFC and L parietal cortex; in the low-dissociative group in R fusiform gyrus. The differences in the high-dissociative group were independent from performance differences, implying that high-dissociative subjects generally recruit this network to a greater extent. Conclusions. These results confirm earlier findings using a verbal WM task in high-dissociative participants, and are compatible with the conceptualization of non-pathological dissociation as an information-processing style, characterized by distinct attentional and mnemonic abilities.
Family capital: Examining social capital, family commitment, and acculturation among college-enrolled Mexican-American men and women in the Southwestern United States

ABSTRACT Social capital is integral to an individual’s ability to access various resources embedded in social and familial networks that are important in academic access and future success. The types and dynamics of social relationships created by men and women are thought to generate different forms of social capital with factors such as acculturation resulting in differences in intercultural networks and potential resource access. However, the factors that contribute to the development of social capital require further investigation. The current study examines the relationship between acculturation, family role commitment, and various social network characteristics associated with social capital among Mexican-American college-enrolled men (n = 119) and women (n = 196). Several multiple regressions were conducted. Findings indicate that acculturation and family role commitment relate differently to social-capital-network characteristics among Mexican-American men and women. For women, marital commitment was consistently related to social-capital-network characteristics whereas acculturation factors seemed to be more salient among men. Overall, study variables accounted for a larger portion of the variance for social-capital-network characteristics across analyses for men than women indicating that other factors may be at play in generating social capital for women.
Multi-agent modeling of multiple FX-markets by neural networks

We introduce an explanatory multi-agent approach of multiple FX-market modeling based on neural networks. We consider the explicit and implicit dynamics of the market price. This paper extends previous work of modeling a single FX-market to an integrated approach, which allows one to treat several FX-markets simultaneously. Our approach is based on feedforward neural networks. Neural networks allow the fitting of high-dimensional nonlinear models, which is often utilized in econometrics. Merging the economic theory of multi-agents with neural networks, our model concerns semantic specifications instead of being limited to ad hoc functional relationships. As an advantage, our multi-agent model allows one to fit the behavior of real-world financial data. We exemplify the USD/DEM and YEN/DEM FX-Market simultaneously. Fitting real-world data, our approach is superior to more conventional forecasting techniques.
Microwave dual waveguide sensor system for the measurement of gap between concrete and metal surfaces

A microwave dual waveguide sensor system has been proposed and applied for the measurement of gap between concrete and metal surfaces. The system includes two rectangular waveguides embedded in a metal plate and opened in a concrete member to create a dual waveguide sensor arrangement, transceiver that generates, transmits and receives microwave signals using the dual sensor, and a measurement unit that measures reflection and transmission coefficients. The sensor system along with concrete specimen has been modeled and extensive simulations were conducted with CST Microwave Studio. It is shown that the proposed dual sensor system can measure relatively small gaps between concrete and metal surfaces at relatively low frequencies within X-band (8.2 GHz-12.4 GHz). The sensor has been designed, built and tested with the system and concrete-metal specimens. Measurement and simulation results show that the proposed system can be used for detection and evaluation of the gap in composite concrete-metal structures such as concrete-filled steel tubes.
MDR1/ABCB1 gene polymorphisms in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia

Background Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) are the recommended treatment for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). The MDR1/ABCB1 gene plays a role in resistance to a wide spectrum of drugs, including TKIs. However, the association of MDR1/ABCB1 gene polymorphisms (SNPs) such as C1236T, G2677T/A, and C3435T with the clinical therapeutic evolution of CML has been poorly studied. We investigated these gene polymorphisms in CML-patients treated with imatinib, nilotinib and/or dasatinib. Methods ABCB1-SNPs were studied in 22 CML-patients in the chronic phase (CP) and 2 CML-patients in blast crisis (BC), all of whom were treated with TKIs, and compared with 25 healthy controls using nested-PCR and sequencing techniques. Results Seventeen different haplotypes were identified: 7 only in controls, 6 only in CML-patients, and the remaining 4 in both groups. The distribution ratios of homozygous TT-variants present on each exon between controls and CML-patients were 2.9 for exon 12, and 0.32 for the other 2 exons. Heterozygous T-variants were observed in all controls (100%) and 75% of CML-patients. Wt-haplotype (CC-GG-CC) was observed in 6 CML-patients (25%). In this wt-group, two were treated with nilotinib and reached a major molecular response. The remaining 4 cases had either a minimal or null molecular response, or developed bone marrow aplasia. Conclusion Our results suggest that SNPs of the MDR1/ABCB1 gene could help to characterize the prognosis and the clinical-therapeutic evolution of CML-patients treated with TKIs. Wt-haplotype could be associated with a higher risk of developing CML, and a worse clinical-therapeutic evolution.
[An investigation of prostate cancer knowledge among Chinese city men].

OBJECTIVE To investigate the knowledge and the attitude toward prostate cancer (PCa) among Chinese city men and raise some suggestions for the improvement of the present state. METHODS In October 2007, a questionnaire investigation was conducted among males in 17 Chinese cities on the knowledge of PCa in the following 6 aspects: general state of PCa susceptible city men, basic knowledge, risk factors, symptoms, management and outcome, and attitude toward the treatment of PCa. The influences of education on their scores were analyzed and compared. RESULTS We distributed 1,700 copies of the questionnaire and collected 376 (22.1%) valid ones. The subjects averaged 67.1 +/- 10.1 years of age, 80.1% with junior high school education and above. As for the basic knowledge of PCa, 92.6% of them admitted hearing of it, but only 45.5% knew what it was, with statistically significant differences among men of different educations. The most common accesses to PCa knowledge were media (43.3%), hospital consultation (25.2%) and health booklets (10.1%). Of the total number of subjects, 32.7% regarded "Father has prostate cancer" as a risk factor, 82.2% knew that PCa could be treated by surgery, but only 8.9% knew that " hormonotherapy has an important role in PCa treatment". More positive attitudes toward PCa treatment and its consequence were found among those with higher education. CONCLUSION PCa susceptible men in Chinese cities have insufficient knowledge on the disease. Strengthened education in this aspect can improve the present state and promote early diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer.
Phonological Functions of Facial Movements: Evidence from deaf users of German Sign Language

There is an ongoing debate whether deaf individuals access phonology when reading and if so, what impact the ability to access phonology mig ht have on reading achievement. However, the debate so far has been theoretically u nspecific on two accounts: 1) the phonological units deaf individuals may have of ora l language have not been specified 2) there seem to be no explicit cognitive models speci fying how phonology and other factors operate in reading by deaf individuals. We propose that deaf individuals have representations of the sub-lexical structure of oral-aural language which are based on mouth shapes, and that these sub-lexical units are activated during readin g by deaf individuals. We specify the sublexical units of deaf German readers as 11 ‘visemes ’, and incorporate the viseme-set into a working model of single word reading by deaf adults ba ed on Coltheart et al.’s (2001) Dual Route Cascaded Model of reading aloud (DRC). We ass ssed the indirect route of this model by investigating the ‘pseudo-homoviseme’ effect usi ng a lexical decision task in deaf German reading adults. We found a main effect of pseudo-ho movisemy suggesting that at least some deaf individuals do automatically access sub-lexica l structure during single word reading.
Frequency of Epstein–Barr virus expression in various histological subtypes of Hodgkin’s lymphoma

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Usefulness of Exercise Testing in the Prediction of Coronary Disease Risk Among Asymptomatic Persons as a Function of the Framingham Risk Score

Background—The purpose of this study is to determine the usefulness of exercise treadmill testing (ETT) among asymptomatic persons in predicting coronary heart disease (CHD) events over and above the Framingham CHD risk score. Methods and Results—Subjects included 3043 members of the Framingham Heart Study offspring cohort without CHD (1431 men and 1612 women; age, 45±9 years) who underwent ETT and were followed up for 18.2 years. The risk of developing CHD was evaluated relative to 3 exercise test variables: (1) ST-segment depression ≥1 mm, (2) failure to achieve target heart rate (THR) of 85% predicted maximum, and (3) exercise capacity. In multivariable analyses that adjusted for age and Framingham CHD risk score, among men, ST-segment depression (hazard ratio [HR], 1.88; 95% CI, 1.21 to 2.91) and failure to achieve THR (HR, 1.70; 95% CI, 1.18 to 2.45) predicted higher CHD risk, whereas a greater exercise capacity predicted lower CHD risk (HR per MET, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.89 to 0.99). Although similar HRs were seen in women, those results were not statistically significant. Among men with 10-year predicted risk ≥20%, failure to reach THR and ST-segment depression both more than doubled the risk of an event (HR, 2.66 and HR, 2.11, respectively), and each MET increment in exercise capacity reduced risk by 13% (HR, 0.87). Conclusions—Among asymptomatic men, ST-segment depression, failure to reach THR, and exercise capacity during ETT provided additional prognostic information in age- and Framingham risk score–adjusted models, particularly among those in the highest risk group (10-year predicted CHD risk of ≥20%). The evaluation of exercise test variables in women is limited, given our sample size and the few CHD events in women.
Introduction: The State of Democracy 20 Years on

The countries of East-Central Europe (ECE) embarked on a democratic transition in 1989 were proclaimed consolidated democracies when they joined the European Union (EU) in 2004. Today most of the new democracies are experiencing “democratic fatigue” and some seem vulnerable to an authoritarian turn. The EU, seen as the guarantor of the post-1989 democratic changes, is experiencing an unprecedented economic, financial, and democratic crisis with the combined challenges of technocracy and populism. The article explores the different approaches to the study of democracies in ECE, their specific features and vulnerabilities, and tries to provide an interpretation of the premature crisis of democracy in ECE in a broader transeuropean context.
The Use of Epoetin Alfa in Complex Spine Deformity Surgery

Study Design. A prospective, randomized trial comparing Epoetin alfa (Procrit) with placebo saline injection to determine effectiveness in increasing erythropoietic recovery in complex spine deformity surgery. Objectives. To determine if Epoetin alfa can allow preoperative autologous donation completion more effectively and reduce perioperative homologous blood transfusion. Summary of Background Data. The use of Epoetin alfa has been studied, primarily in the arthroplasty literature, for its effectiveness in decreasing transfusion requirements and increasing hemoglobin levels. It has not been studied in patients undergoing complex spine deformity surgery. Methods. A total of 48 patients were prospectively randomized into an Epoetin alfa group and a control group. All patients attempted to donate 4 units of preoperative autologous donation at weekly intervals; 40,000 units of Epoetin alfa were injected subcutaneously at the time of preoperative autologous donation in the Epoetin alfa group. Hematocrit levels were recorded weekly during the donation process and daily in the preoperative period. Results. Preoperative autologous donation was completed more effectively in the patients receiving Epoetin alfa. Epoetin alfa resulted in statistically higher hematocrit levels during preoperative autologous donation and perioperatively (P < 0.005). Homologous transfusion was decreased by 2.4 units and hospital stay was 1.8 days shorter in patients receiving Epoetin alfa. Conclusion. Patients who received Epoetin alfa were able to complete preoperative autologous donation more effectively, increase erythropoietic recovery, decrease homologous transfusion requirements, and had shorter hospital stays.
Active phytoconstituents for diabetes management: A review

Abstract Diabetes is a metabolic syndrome increasing rapidly due to occupational stress, lack of physical activity, sedentary lifestyle and increasing occurrence of obesity, associated with rapidly growing urbanization and industrialization. Due to erroneous carbohydrate metabolism, diabetics are more prone to chronic complications like nephropathy, neuropathy, retinopathy, coronary artery disease and peripheral arterial disease resulting in tissue damage. Current treatment protocols to these problems produce more serious adverse effects and are costly too. Medicinal plants provide an alternative of safe, reliable and cost-effective pharmacological source to all these ailments. This review provides the compiled data of isolated active phytoconstituents of 22 potent antidiabetic plants with their plant-part used, which might be useful for drug development.
Labor market policies and IMF advice in advanced economies during the Great Recession

In this paper we present and analyze the IMF’s labor market recommendations for advanced economies since the beginning of the crisis, both in general and specifically in program countries. Our analysis is informed by our reading of the theoretical and empirical literature on the design of labor market policies and institutions in advanced economies. We organize our discussion around two concepts: micro flexibility, namely the ability of the economy to allow for the reallocation of workers to jobs needed to sustain growth; and macro flexibility, namely the ability of the economy to adjust to macroeconomic shocks. Achieving both types of flexibility while protecting workers and maintaining incentives for workers and firms to invest in existing relations, is not that simple, and the design of labor market institutions faces delicate trade-offs.JEL codesE2, J3, J5, J6
Role Importance, Affectional Solidarity, and Depression Among Familial Caregivers for Older Adults

In the United States, familial caregivers provide approximately 80% of the long term elderly care and are at risk for mental health problems. As family members provide care, relationships shift from mutual support to increasing dependency on the caregivers, who in turn often experience a shift in self-concept from their prior relational role to include identification as caregiver for the care recipient. Affectional solidarity, or emotional relationship quality, can influence how caregivers experience their shifting role in relationship to a loved one. The study examined whether role importance is associated with caregiver depression over time, and tested the moderating role of affectional solidarity in this association. A subset of caregivers (N = 57) from the Longitudinal Study of Generations constituted the sample from which role importance, affectional solidarity, and Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression reports were analyzed using longitudinal hierarchical regression. Findings did not support hypotheses. Results suggested that affectional solidarity may be important to consider among familial caregivers as a potential protective factor for depression. Implications for future research and practitioners are discussed.
VIN 3: a clinicopathologic review

A retrospective review of the management of vulvar intraepithelial neoplasia 3 (VIN 3) over a 16-year period from 1981 to 1997 was conducted. Complete information was available for analysis on 101 patients. The mean age was 53.9 years (range 14–102 years). The mean duration of follow-up was 36 months (range 2–184 months). Fifty-eight percent of patients presented with pruritus. The disease was multifocal in 51% and unifocal in 49% of cases and the left labium majus was the most frequently affected site (27%). Co-existent or previous genital disease was identified in 39% of patients and 8% had a history of invasive gynecological cancer. Histologic evidence of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection was found in 31% of patients. Wide local excision was the most frequently used treatment modality (78%). Thirty-eight percent of patients required at least one further treatment for recurrent disease. Smoking, multifocality, HPV effect, and positive surgical margins were not found to be significant predictors of recurrence. There were three (3%) cases of progression to invasive squamous cell carcinoma of the vulva, one at 6, 7, and 7 years after initial treatment.
Enhanced Expression of Alternative Oxidase Genes Is Involved in the Tolerance of Rice (Oryza sativa L.) Seedlings to Drought Stress

Drought stress significantly enhanced the capacity of the alternative respiratory pathway and induced AOX1a and AOX1b transcripts in rice seedling leaves. The drought-stressed seedlings pretreated with the inhibitor of the alternative respiratory pathway, 1 mM salicylhydroxamic acid, had a lower level of relative water content than the seedlings either subjected to drought or salicylhydroxamic acid treatment alone. This observation suggests that the alternative respiratory pathway could play a role in the tolerance of rice seedlings to drought stress. Pretreatment with exogenous hydrogen peroxide, salicylic acid, and abscisic acid alone mitigated the water loss of rice leaves exposed to drought stress. Exogenous application of hydrogen peroxide and salicylic acid increased the capacity of the alternative respiratory pathway and induced AOX1a and AOX1b transcripts, while exogenous abscisic acid failed to induce any expression of AOX1 genes. These observations suggest that rice AOX1a and AOX1b genes may be responsive especially to drought stress but not be induced by all of the stress signals related to drought