Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The impact of medical comorbidity on acute treatment in major depressive disorder.

OBJECTIVE The authors investigated the impact of medical comorbidity on the acute phase of antidepressant treatment in subjects with major depressive disorder. METHOD A total of 384 outpatients meeting DSM-III-R criteria for major depressive disorder enrolled in 8-week open treatment with fluoxetine, 20 mg/day. The authors used the Cumulative Illness Rating Scale to measure the burden of medical comorbidity and the 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression to assess changes in depressive symptoms. The outcome measures were response to treatment (>/=50% reduction in score) and clinical remission (score </=7 at the end of the trial). RESULTS Compared to responders to fluoxetine, nonresponders had significantly higher Cumulative Illness Rating Scale scores and a greater number of Cumulative Illness Rating Scale categories were endorsed. Compared to subjects who achieved remission with antidepressant treatment, those who did not achieve remission had significantly higher Cumulative Illness Rating Scale scores and a greater number of Cumulative Illness Rating Scale categories were endorsed (i.e., more organs were affected by medical illness). The final Hamilton depression scale score was directly correlated with the total Cumulative Illness Rating Scale score and the number of Cumulative Illness Rating Scale categories endorsed. CONCLUSIONS The total burden of medical illness and the number of organ systems affected by medical illness had a significantly negative predictive value for clinical outcome in the acute phase of treatment in major depressive disorder.
Serum Amyloid A as a Marker of Persistent Inflammation and an Indicator of Cardiovascular and Renal Involvement in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Objectives. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic, inflammatory disease. Serum amyloid A (SAA) is an acute-phase protein, involved in pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. The aim of the study was to assess serum concentration of SAA in RA patients, with reference to other inflammatory parameters and markers of extra-articular involvement. Methods. The study population consisted of 140 RA patients, low/moderate disease activity (L/MDA) in 98 (70%) patients and high disease activity (HDA) in 42 (30%). Comprehensive clinical and laboratory assessment was performed with evaluation of electrocardiogram and carotid intima-media thickness. Results. The mean SAA concentration [327.0 (263.4) mg/L] was increased highly above the normal value, even in patients with L/MDA. Simultaneously, SAA was significantly higher in patients with HDA versus L/MDA. The mean SAA concentration was significantly higher in patients treated with glucocorticoids, was inversely associated with QTc duration, and was markedly higher in patients with atherosclerotic plaques, emphasizing increased CV risk. SAA was significantly higher in patients with increased cystatin-C level. Conclusions. In RA patients, high serum SAA concentration was strongly associated with activity of the disease and risk of CV and renal involvement. Recurrent assessment of SAA may facilitate searching patients with persistent inflammation and risk of extra-articular complications.
Cognitive Triad Inventory for Children: Development and Relation to Depression and Anxiety

Described development of a measure to assess in children the three aspects of the negative cognitive triad postulated by Beck as being central to depression. The Cognitive Triad Inventory for Children (CTI-C), is a 36-item scale comprising three subscales: View of Self, View of World, and View of Future. Adequate internal consistency reliability and concurrent validity for the instrument are reported for 132 children, Grades 4 through 7, who were identified through a multiple-gate screening procedure. Depressed children (n = 14) and depressed-anti-anxious children (n = 18) reported a significantly more negative view of themselves, the world, and the future than did the anxious (n = 11) and control (n = 15) children. Discriminant-function analyses indicated that 62% of the children were accurately classified based on their CTI-C scores alone.
A Cross Cultural Comparison of the Extended TPB: The Case of Digital Piracy

Abstract This study examined a behavioral model (based on the theory of planned behavior), in two different cultures (in the U.S., and in the Middle East), within the context of digital piracy. The model was extended by adding moral obligation as a factor influencing intention to pirate digital media. The results show, that while the overall model was significant in predicting the piracy behavior across the two cultures, there were differences in the influence of the individual variables. Subjective norm was only significant in the Middle East, and moral obligation was highly significant in the U.S. sample (while being of low significance in the Middle Eastern sample). Attitude and perceived behavioral control were found to be at least moderately significant in both cultures.
Learning a New Land: Immigrant Students in American Society

Introduction: The Long View on Immigrant Students 1. Academic Engagement and Performance 2. Networks of Relationships 3. Less-Than-Optimal Schools 4. The Challenge of Learning English 5. Portraits of Declining Achievers 6. Portraits of Low Achievers 7. Portraits of Improvers 8. Portraits of High Achievers Conclusion: Immigration Policy Dilemmas Notes References Acknowledgments Index Tables and Figures
Optimized Assistive Human–Robot Interaction Using Reinforcement Learning

An intelligent human-robot interaction (HRI) system with adjustable robot behavior is presented. The proposed HRI system assists the human operator to perform a given task with minimum workload demands and optimizes the overall human-robot system performance. Motivated by human factor studies, the presented control structure consists of two control loops. First, a robot-specific neuro-adaptive controller is designed in the inner loop to make the unknown nonlinear robot behave like a prescribed robot impedance model as perceived by a human operator. In contrast to existing neural network and adaptive impedance-based control methods, no information of the task performance or the prescribed robot impedance model parameters is required in the inner loop. Then, a task-specific outer-loop controller is designed to find the optimal parameters of the prescribed robot impedance model to adjust the robot's dynamics to the operator skills and minimize the tracking error. The outer loop includes the human operator, the robot, and the task performance details. The problem of finding the optimal parameters of the prescribed robot impedance model is transformed into a linear quadratic regulator (LQR) problem which minimizes the human effort and optimizes the closed-loop behavior of the HRI system for a given task. To obviate the requirement of the knowledge of the human model, integral reinforcement learning is used to solve the given LQR problem. Simulation results on an x-y table and a robot arm, and experimental implementation results on a PR2 robot confirm the suitability of the proposed method.
When Should We Expect to See Hunting as Mating Effort?

Abstract Some have noted that hunting by males may represent a strategy of "showing off" rather than a strategy of "maximizing efficiency. " Others have observed that this insight is limited by insufficient theory for predicting when men should pursue one strategy instead of the other. This article attempts to foster development of such theory by more explicitly casting the issue in terms of the trade-off between mating effort and parenting effort and by discussing conditions under which males benefit by investing more in one area than the other. Testing predictions derived from this framework should help resolve a current debate among scholars of California and Great Basin prehistory.
Adding Insult to Injury: Cochlear Nerve Degeneration after “Temporary” Noise-Induced Hearing Loss

Overexposure to intense sound can cause temporary or permanent hearing loss. Postexposure recovery of threshold sensitivity has been assumed to indicate reversal of damage to delicate mechano-sensory and neural structures of the inner ear and no persistent or delayed consequences for auditory function. Here, we show, using cochlear functional assays and confocal imaging of the inner ear in mouse, that acoustic overexposures causing moderate, but completely reversible, threshold elevation leave cochlear sensory cells intact, but cause acute loss of afferent nerve terminals and delayed degeneration of the cochlear nerve. Results suggest that noise-induced damage to the ear has progressive consequences that are considerably more widespread than are revealed by conventional threshold testing. This primary neurodegeneration should add to difficulties hearing in noisy environments, and could contribute to tinnitus, hyperacusis, and other perceptual anomalies commonly associated with inner ear damage.
Genome-Wide Identification of Long Noncoding RNAs in Human Intervertebral Disc Degeneration by RNA Sequencing

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are emerging as crucial players in a myriad of biological processes. However, the precise mechanism and functions of most lncRNAs are poorly characterized. In this study, we presented genome-wide identification of lncRNAs in the patients with intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD) and spinal cord injury (control) using RNA sequencing (RNA-seq). A total of 124.6 million raw reads were yielded using Hiseq 2500 platform and approximately 88% clean reads could be aligned to human reference genome in both IDD and control groups. RNA-seq profiling indicated that 1,854 lncRNAs were differentially expressed (log2 fold change ≥ 1 or ≤−1, p < 0.05), in which 1,530 could potentially target 6,386 genes via cis-regulatory effects. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis for these target genes suggested that lncRNAs were involved in diverse pathways, such as lysosome, focal adhesion, and MAPK signaling. In addition, a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network was constructed for analyzing the function of lncRNAs. Further, quantitative real time PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to confirm the differentially expressed lncRNAs and ceRNA network. In conclusion, our results present the first global identification of lncRNAs in IDD and may provide candidate diagnostic biomarkers for IDD treatment.
Poor Prospects for Avian Biodiversity in Amazonian Oil Palm

Expansion of oil palm plantations across the humid tropics has precipitated massive loss of tropical forest habitats and their associated speciose biotas. Oil palm plantation monocultures have been identified as an emerging threat to Amazonian biodiversity, but there are no quantitative studies exploring the impact of these plantations on the biome’s biota. Understanding these impacts is extremely important given the rapid projected expansion of oil palm cultivation in the basin. Here we investigate the biodiversity value of oil palm plantations in comparison with other dominant regional land-uses in Eastern Amazonia. We carried out bird surveys in oil palm plantations of varying ages, primary and secondary forests, and cattle pastures. We found that oil palm plantations retained impoverished avian communities with a similar species composition to pastures and agrarian land-uses and did not offer habitat for most forest-associated species, including restricted range species and species of conservation concern. On the other hand, the forests that the oil palm companies are legally obliged to protect hosted a relatively species-rich community including several globally-threatened bird species. We consider oil palm to be no less detrimental to regional biodiversity than other agricultural land-uses and that political pressure exerted by large landowners to allow oil palm to count as a substitute for native forest vegetation in private landholdings with forest restoration deficits would have dire consequences for regional biodiversity.
Idiopathic sexual precocity in a boy with growth hormone, prolactin and thyrotropin deficiencies.

ABSTRACT A boy is described in whom growth hormone, prolactin and TSH deficiencies were associated with normal ACTH function and hypersecretion of FSH and LH, causing precocious puberty. Serum levels of FSH, LH and testosterone were appropriate for midpuberty, as were his levels during sleep and his response to stimulation with LH-RH. His FSH and LH concentrations were readily suppressed by administered fluoxymesterone. These findings suggested an underlying hypothalamic basis for the syndrome. However, the finding of low TSH and prolactin levels with no response to TRH or chlorpromazine stimulation suggested a primary defect of pituitary cells. At the present time the etiology of these apparent combined hypothalamic and pituitary defects remains obscure.
The effect of high-dose vitamin D supplementation on insulin resistance and arterial stiffness in patients with type 2 diabetes

Background/Aims Recent epidemiological studies revealed a striking inverse relationship between vitamin D levels, glucose intolerance/insulin resistance (IR), and cardiovascular disease. However, few interventional studies have evaluated the effect of vitamin D supplementation on cardiovascular risk, such as IR and arterial stiffness, in diabetes. We investigated the role of vitamin D supplementation on cardiovascular risk in type 2 diabetes patients, including metabolic parameters, IR, and arterial stiffness. Methods We enrolled patients who were taking antidiabetic medications or managed their diabetes using lifestyle changes. We excluded patients who were taking vitamin D or calcium supplements. We randomized participants into the vitamin D group (cholecalciferol 2,000 IU/day + calcium 200 mg/day, n = 40) or the placebo group (calcium 200 mg/day, n = 41). We compared their IR (homeostasis model of assessment [HOMA]-IR) and arterial stiffness (brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity and radial augmentation index) before and after 24 weeks of intervention. Results The baseline characteristics of the two groups were similar. A total of 62 participants (placebo, 30; vitamin D, 32) completed the study protocol. At the end of the study period, the 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] levels were significantly higher in the vitamin D group than in the placebo group (35.4 ± 8.5 ng/mL vs. 18.4 ± 7.3 ng/mL, p < 0.001). There was no difference in HOMA-IR or changes in arterial stiffness (placebo, 21, vitamin D, 24) between the groups. Conclusions Our data suggest that high-dose vitamin D supplementation might be effective in terms of elevating 25(OH)D levels. However, we identified no beneficial effects on cardiovascular risk in type 2 diabetes, including IR and arterial stiffness.
Tensor-based power spectra separation and emitter localization for cognitive radio

This paper considers the problem of separating the power spectra and mapping the locations of co-channel transmitters using compound measurements from multiple sensors. This kind of situational awareness is important in cognitive radio practice, for spatial spectrum interpolation, transmission opportunity mining, and interference avoidance. Using temporal auto- and cross-correlations of the sensor outputs, it is shown that the power spectra separation task can be cast as a tensor decomposition problem in the Fourier domain. In particular, a joint diagonalization or (symmetric) parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) model emerges, with one loading matrix containing the sought power spectra - hence being nonnegative, and locally sparse. Exploiting the latter two properties, it is shown that a very simple algebraic algorithm can be used to speed up the factorization. Assuming a path loss model, it is then possible to identify the transmitter locations by focusing on exclusively used (e.g., carrier) frequencies. The proposed approaches offer identifiability guarantees, and simplicity of implementation. Simulations show that the proposed approaches are effective in separating the spectra and localizing the transmitters.
Individuals' inducements and the role of personality: implications for psychological contracts

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore and identify relationships between psychological contract inducements and the five‐factor model of personality (FFM) in Greece.Design/methodology/approach – A survey questionnaire that incorporated measures of intrinsic and extrinsic psychological contract inducements and a Greek personality measure of the FFM was completed by 299 respondents. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to explore the hypotheses.Findings – The paper finds that extroversion and conscientiousness are associated with intrinsic but not extrinsic psychological contract inducements and that neuroticism is associated with extrinsic but not intrinsic inducements. The hypothesis pertaining to openness to experience was rejected, because it was not associated with intrinsic psychological contract inducements, as expected.Research limitations/implications – The study design was cross‐sectional and used only self‐report measures. Therefore, it should be cross‐validated with different r.
Effects of Platelet Lysate Preparations on the Proliferation of HaCaT Cells

Background Standard protocols are lacking for the preparation of platelet lysates (PL) as an alternative to using fetal bovine serum as a cell culture supplement. This study aimed to establish optimum conditions for preparing PL for use in cell cultures. Methods Cell density in three pooled platelet concentrates (PC) were adjusted to 1×1012/L and 2×1012/L. PL was prepared from PC by 1 to 3 freeze-thaw (FT) cycles. HaCaT cells were cultured in media supplemented with 5% or 10% PL. Cell numbers were estimated using a Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8; Dojindo Laboratories, Japan). Growth factors were quantified by using the Luminex 200 system (Luminex Corporation, USA). Results Cell proliferation rates in the presence of PLs were similar when prepared from PCs of both cell densities. The rates were higher in media containing 5% PL than 10% PL when prepared by two FT cycles. Concentrations of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), platelet-derived growth factor-AB/BB (PDGF-AB/BB), PDGF-AA, and epidermal growth factor (EGF) were significantly higher in PL prepared from PC with a cell density of 2×1012/L than 1×1012/L PC. However, only VEGF and PDGF-AA concentrations in PLs were correlated with HaCaT cell counts. Conclusions The 5% PL from PC with a cell density of 1×1012/L prepared by two FT cycles treatment was the most effective condition that supported steady HaCaT cell proliferation. Our finding may be useful for preparing PL-supplemented cell culture media.
Adoption and use of computer technology among school principals in Botswana secondary schools*

Information technology adoption continues to be a subject of enquiry among researchers dealing with adoption. A descriptive study was carried out to find out whether the investment made in the computer infrastructure across all secondary schools in Botswana was met with the desire to adopt and use computers by principals in Botswana. A random sample of 111 participants responded to the questionnaire that used the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) constructs. The result of the study revealed that TAM is statistically significant at R of 0.522 and adjusted R2 of 0.273, with the two independent variables (Perceived Usefulness (PU) and Perceived Ease Of Use (PEOU)) accounting for 27% of the variance in the behavioral intention (BI) to adopt and use computers. However, a small number of school principals (6.3%) did not want to adopt and use computers. The study recommends a follow up of the participants to probe further the reasons for the lack of adoption and use of computers by some school principals, so as to put intervention measures in place.
Estudo do efeito de supressão no potencial evocado auditivo de tronco encefálico

TEMA: o efeito de supressao com ruido branco contralateral verificado sobre o potencial evocado auditivo de tronco encefalico pode ter influencia do sistema auditivo eferente. OBJETIVOS: avaliar o efeito de supressao com ruido branco contralateral no potencial evocado auditivo de tronco encefalico em individuos com limiares auditivos dentro da normalidade. METODOS: participaram desta pesquisa 25 individuos, de 18 a 30 anos de idade, de ambos os sexos, que foram submetidos a anamnese, inspecao do meato acustico externo, audiometria tonal liminar, logoaudiometria e medidas de imitância acustica, com o objetivo de selecionar os individuos com acuidade auditiva normal. Em seguida os individuos selecionados realizaram o potencial evocado auditivo de tronco encefalico sem e com ruido branco contralateral. RESULTADOS: na comparacao entre as condicoes sem e com ruido branco contralateral verificou-se diferenca estatisticamente significante para a amplitude da onda I e para as latencias absolutas das ondas III e V, porem nao foi observada diferenca estatisticamente significante com relacao as latencias interpicos. CONCLUSOES: o presente estudo verificou aumento nas latencias e diminuicao nas amplitudes das ondas I, III e V na presenca de ruido contralateral, quando comparadas as condicoes com e sem ruido. Estes resultados sugerem uma possivel influencia do sistema nervoso auditivo eferente na modulacao das respostas do potencial evocado auditivo de tronco encefalico quando se utiliza ruido branco contralateral.
The Fractal Nature of Myocardial Blood Flow Emerges from a Whole-Organ Model of Arterial Network

Mammalian hearts exhibit a heterogeneous spatial distribution of blood flows, but flows in near-neighbor regions correlate strongly. Also, tracer 15O-water washout after injection into the inflow shows a straight log-log relationship between outflow concentration and time. To uncover the role of the arterial network in governing these phenomena, morphometric data were used to construct a mathematical model of the coronary arterial network of the pig heart. The model arterial network, built in a simplified three-dimensional representation of tissue geometry, satisfies the statistical morphometric data on segment lengths, diameters and connectivities reported for real arterial networks. The model uses an avoidance algorithm to position successive vascular segments in the network. Assuming flows through the network to be steady, the calculated regional flow distributions showed (1) the degree of heterogeneity observed in normal hearts; (2) spatial self-similarity in local flows; (3) fractal spatial correlations, all with the same fractal dimension found in animal studies; (4) pressure distributions along the model arterial network comparable to those observed in nature, with maximal resistances in small vessels. In addition, the washout of intravascular tracer showed tails with power law slopes that fitted h(t) = at–α–1 with the exponents α = 2 for the reconstructed networks compared with those from experimental outflow concentration-time curves with α = 2.1 ± 0.3. Thus, we concluded that the fractal nature of spatial flow distribution in the heart, and of temporal intravascular washout, are explicable in terms of the morphometry of the coronary network.
A NOVEL TWO-PASS VBR CODING ALGORITHM FOR THE H . 264 / AVC VIDEO CODER BASED ON A NEW ANALYTICAL RD MODEL

In this paper, the generalized Gaussian distribution is employed to model the 16(4*4) integer transform coefficients of the residue image in H.264 videos. Then the distortion-rate function of generalized Gaussian model is analyzed as well as a flexible rate-distortion (R-D) model is developed to approximate the actual R-D function. Finally, an effective variable bit rate (VBR) algorithm for H.264/AVC is proposed, which adopts two-pass encoding to achieve a constant video quality. Experimental results show that under the same average bit rate, the proposed algorithm achieves 94% to 99% reduction in PSNR variation compared to the model of JM9.8.