Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Interaction of BDNF and NTRK2 Gene Increases the Susceptibility of Paranoid Schizophrenia

The association between BDNF gene functional Val66Met polymorphism rs6265 and the schizophrenia is far from being consistent. In addition to the heterogeneous in schizophrenia per se leading to the inconsistent results, the interaction among multi-genes is probably playing the main role in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia, but not a single gene. Neurotrophic tyrosine kinase receptor 2 (NTRK2) is the high-affinity receptor of BDNF, and was reported to be associated with mood disorders, though no literature reported the association with schizophrenia. Thus, in the present study, total 402 patients with paranoid schizophrenia (the most common subtype of schizophrenia) and matched 406 healthy controls were recruited to investigate the role of rs6265 in BDNF, three polymorphisms in NTRK2 gene (rs1387923, rs2769605 and rs1565445) and their interaction in the susceptibility to paranoid schizophrenia in a Chinese Han population. We did not observe significant differences in allele and genotype frequencies between patients and healthy controls for all four polymorphisms separately. The haplotype analysis also showed no association between haplotype of NTRK2 genes (rs1387923, rs2769605, and rs1565445) and paranoid schizophrenia. However, we found the association between the interaction of BDNF and NTRK2 with paranoid schizophrenia by using the MDR method followed by conventional statistical analysis. The best gene-gene interaction model was a three-locus model (BDNF rs6265, NTRK2 rs1387923 and NTRK2 rs2769605), in which one low-risk and three high-risk four-locus genotype combinations were identified. Our findings implied that single polymorphism of rs6265 rs1387923, rs2769605, and rs1565445 in BDNF and NTRK2 were not associated with the development of paranoid schizophrenia in a Han population, however, the interaction of BDNF and NTRK2 genes polymorphisms (BDNF-rs6265, NTRK2-rs1387923 and NTRK2-rs2769605) may be involved in the susceptibility to paranoid schizophrenia.
A Lilt of Finland in Worcester, Massachusetts: A Case of Foreign Accent Syndrome

Foreign accent syndrome (FAS) is a rare speech output disorder characterized by articulation of speech perceived by listeners (often including the patient) as sounding “foreign. ” From Monrad-Krohn’s seminal paper in 1947 1 describing a Norwegian woman who, as a result of head trauma, began speaking with a German-sounding accent, several cases of FAS have been reported. Usually occurring in consequence to some brain dysfunction, often stroke, two distinct types of FAS are described: [1] acquisition of an accent the patient was previously unfamiliar with or unexposed to, the unlearned foreign accent, and [2] the reversion to a previously learned accent. In addition to ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke, traumatic brain injury, multiple sclerosis, and the herald of primary progressive aphasia have all been reported as causes of the foreign accent syndrome.
Prevention of post-contrast kidney injury in patients with cancer

Post-contrast acute kidney injury is defined as a nephropathy with an increase in serum creatinine of >0.3 mg/dL (or >26.5 μmol/L) or >1.5-times the baseline within 48–72 h of intravascular administration of a contrast medium. Patients with cancer have an increased risk of post-contrast acute kidney injury not only related to the frequent use of contrast medium for computed tomography scans but also to other factors, including the type of tumour, age, oncological therapies, use of other nephrotoxic agents and dehydration. Preventive strategies were developed and may be applied to different risk profiles. Patients at risk may be detected by recently published risk scores.
Learning Theories Reveal Loss of Pancreatic Electrical Connectivity in Diabetes as an Adaptive Response

Cells of almost all solid tissues are connected with gap junctions which permit the direct transfer of ions and small molecules, integral to regulating coordinated function in the tissue. The pancreatic islets of Langerhans are responsible for secreting the hormone insulin in response to glucose stimulation. Gap junctions are the only electrical contacts between the beta-cells in the tissue of these excitable islets. It is generally believed that they are responsible for synchrony of the membrane voltage oscillations among beta-cells, and thereby pulsatility of insulin secretion. Most attempts to understand connectivity in islets are often interpreted, bottom-up, in terms of measurements of gap junctional conductance. This does not, however, explain systematic changes, such as a diminished junctional conductance in type 2 diabetes. We attempt to address this deficit via the model presented here, which is a learning theory of gap junctional adaptation derived with analogy to neural systems. Here, gap junctions are modelled as bonds in a beta-cell network, that are altered according to homeostatic rules of plasticity. Our analysis reveals that it is nearly impossible to view gap junctions as homogeneous across a tissue. A modified view that accommodates heterogeneity of junction strengths in the islet can explain why, for example, a loss of gap junction conductance in diabetes is necessary for an increase in plasma insulin levels following hyperglycemia.
An animal model of chronic aplastic marrow failure. I. Late marrow failure after busulfan.

An animal model of chronic aplastic marrow failure was produced by administering busulfan to mice in high dosage for a prolonged period. Mice which survived 60 or more days following cessation of the drug appeared well: in 59% the blood was normal, and in 35% the marrow cellularity was within the normal range; those mice with evident abnormality in the blood and marrow showed only minimal cytopenia in the peripheral blood and moderate decreases in marrow cellularity. Nevertheless, by 240 days 80% of the mice had become ill and died. Sacrifice prior to death showed that aplasia of the marrow and cytopenia (most often pancytopenia) were present in the majority of mice. These syndromes of persistent mild marrow hypoplasia and late severe marrow failure which followed busulfan may be suitable experimental models for studying the late effects of myelotoxic agents and the syndrome of chronic aplastic marrow failure in man.
Fish biorobotics: kinematics and hydrodynamics of self-propulsion

SUMMARY As a result of years of research on the comparative biomechanics and physiology of moving through water, biologists and engineers have made considerable progress in understanding how animals moving underwater use their muscles to power movement, in describing body and appendage motion during propulsion, and in conducting experimental and computational analyses of fluid movement and attendant forces. But it is clear that substantial future progress in understanding aquatic propulsion will require new lines of attack. Recent years have seen the advent of one such new avenue that promises to greatly broaden the scope of intellectual opportunity available to researchers: the use of biorobotic models. In this paper we discuss, using aquatic propulsion in fishes as our focal example, how using robotic models can lead to new insights in the study of aquatic propulsion. We use two examples: (1) pectoral fin function, and (2) hydrodynamic interactions between dorsal and caudal fins. Pectoral fin function is characterized by considerable deformation of individual fin rays, as well as spanwise (along the length) and chordwise (across the fin) deformation and area change. The pectoral fin can generate thrust on both the outstroke and instroke. A robotic model of the pectoral fin replicates this result, and demonstrates the effect of altering stroke kinematics on the pattern of force production. The soft dorsal fin of fishes sheds a distinct vortex wake that dramatically alters incoming flow to the tail: the dorsal fin and caudal fin act as dual flapping foils in series. This design can be replicated with a dual-foil flapping robotic device that demonstrates this phenomenon and allows examination of regions of the flapping performance space not available to fishes. We show how the robotic flapping foil device can also be used to better understand the significance of flexible propulsive surfaces for locomotor performance. Finally we emphasize the utility of self-propelled robotic devices as a means of understanding how locomotor forces are generated, and review different conceptual designs for robotic models of aquatic propulsion.
A Retrospective Study of the Safety and Efficacy of a First-Line Treatment with Modified FOLFOX-4 in Unresectable Advanced or Recurrent Gastric Cancer Patients

Aim: Dismal clinical results in patients with unresectable advanced or recurrent gastric cancer highlight the need for effective systemic chemotherapy. An increase in adverse events associated with systemic chemotherapy is shown in elderly patients, but it remains controversial whether they should receive the same chemotherapy used for younger patients. We retrospectively studied 73 patients with unresectable advanced or recurrent gastric cancer, including 48 nonelderly patients (<65 years old) and 25 elderly patients (≥65 years old) who received a combination of oxaliplatin, 5-fluorouracil and leucovorin (modified FOLFOX-4, mFOLFOX-4 regimen). Patients and Methods: From January 2006 to June 2011, 73 patients with histologically confirmed unresectable advanced or recurrent gastric cancer were enrolled in this study. All patients were treated with an mFOLFOX-4 regimen of 85 mg/m2 of oxaliplatin and 200 mg/m2 of leucovorin on the first day, followed by a 24-hour continuous infusion of 1,000 mg/m2 of 5-fluorouracil in 2 days with a 2-week interval. Treatment continued until disease progression or intolerable adverse events occurred. Results: Overall response rates show clinical efficacy (41.1%, 30/73 patients), stable cancer (26.0%, 19/73 patients) and progressive cancer (32.9%, 24/73 patients). The response rate was 36.0% in the elderly group and 43.8% in the nonelderly group (p = 0.891). In elderly patients, the overall time to progression was 8.1 months and the median overall survival was 11.9 months. On the other hand, in nonelderly patients, the overall time to progression was 7.9 months (p = 0.483) and the median overall survival was 11.2 months (p = 0.953). The results show no statistical differences in efficacy and adverse events between elderly and nonelderly groups (all p > 0.05). Conclusion: The mFOLFOX-4 therapy is an effective and safe first-line treatment for unresectable advanced or recurrent gastric cancer patients. Moreover, mFOLFOX-4 was well tolerated and effective in both nonelderly and elderly patients.
GOAT BREEDING STRUCTURE AND REPEATABILITY OF LITTER SIZE IN SMALLHOLDER GOAT HERDS IN KANO, NIGERIA

One hundred and sixteen (116) does from 22 randomly selected smallholder herds in Kano and environs were surveyed to evaluate the goat breeding herd structure and to estimate the repeatability of litter size. The study revealed that the average herd size of smallholder goats in the study area is 15.5 goats. The average breeding male and female per herd buck to doe ratio and litter size per doe was 1.8, 6.5, 4.9 and 1.7 kids, respectively. These characteristics were highly variable (CV = 42 – 70%). The breeding does constituted the majority (78%) of the breeding herd, which increases with herd size. The average buck to doe ratio for the goat herd was 1:5. However, a buck to doe ratio of 1:10 was observed for herd size 21-30 goats, while for herd size ≤ 10 and 1120 goats it was 1:3. The litter size of 1 and 2 was in the majority across the herd sizes. Litter size 4 was rare in the herds (0.3%). Herd size was significantly and positively correlated with the number of breeding males and females in the herd (P<0.01; r =0.40-0.80). The number of breeding males in the herd was significantly and positively correlated with breeding females (P<0.05; r = 0.25) but negatively correlated with mating ratio (P<0.01; r = -0.75). However, mating ratio was significantly and positively correlated with the number of breeding females (P<0.01; r=0.50). Litter size of the doe was not significantly correlated with the measured breeding herd characteristics (P>0.05; r= -0.05 to 0.04). The average repeatability in the herd was 0.41. However, repeatability of litter size decreases with increase in herd size; 0.71, 0.60 and 0.32 for ≤ 10 goats, 11-20 goats and 21-30goats herd size, respectively. The high estimates for litter size obtained in this study suggests that Kano brown goat which is the predominant breed of goats reared in the study area is a highly prolific breed and the moderate repeatability estimate is an evidence that the prolificacy is probably influenced by a single major gene suggesting that an appreciable rate of genetic response in litter size could be achieved through selection.
Enhanced Seamless Video Fusion: A Convolutional Pyramid-Based 3D Integration Algorithm

Video fusion aims to synthesize video footage from different sources into a unified, coherent output. It plays a key role in areas such as video editing and special effects production. The challenge is to ensure the quality and naturalness of synthetic video, especially when dealing with footage of different sources and qualities. Researchers continue to strive to optimize algorithms to adapt to a variety of complex application scenarios and improve the effectiveness and applicability of video fusion. We introduce an algorithm based on a convolution pyramid and propose a 3D video fusion algorithm that looks for the potential function closest to the gradient field in the least square sense. The 3D Poisson equation is solved to realize seamless video editing. This algorithm uses a multi-scale method and wavelet transform to approximate linear time. Through numerical optimization, a small core is designed to deal with large target filters, and multi-scale transformation analysis and synthesis are realized. In terms of seamless video fusion, it shows better performance than existing algorithms. Compared with editing multiple 2D images into video after Poisson fusion, the video quality produced by this method is very close, and the computing speed of the video fusion is improved to a certain extent.
Statistical characterization of the UWB propagation channel in various types of high-rise apartments

The paper presents a statistical characterization of an ultra-wideband (UWB) indoor propagation channel based on measurements conducted in various types of high-rise apartments in several cities in Korea. Measurements were carried out in the frequency band of 3-10 GHz. Various communication links were considered including both line-of-sight (LOS) and non-LOS (NLOS) scenarios which cover within-the-room and room-to-room propagation. The measurement procedure allows us to characterize both the small-scale and the large-scale statistics of the channel. The aim is to study in more detail the behavior of the UWB propagation channel and to provide more of the measurement data required for the standardization activities in the IEEE 802.15. 4a channel modeling subgroup. Channel characteristics examined include the distance and frequency dependency of path loss, shadowing fading statistics and multipath temporal-domain parameter statistics, such as the mean excess delay, RMS delay spread and the number of dominant paths.
Effect of rainfall uncertainty on the performance of physically based rainfall–runoff models

This paper analyses the effect of rain data uncertainty on the performance of two hydrological models with different spatial structures: a semidistributed and a fully distributed model. The study is performed on a small catchment of 19.6 km2 located in the north‐west of Spain, where the arrival of low pressure fronts from the Atlantic Ocean causes highly variable rainfall events. The rainfall fields in this catchment during a series of storm events are estimated using rainfall point measurements. The uncertainty of the estimated fields is quantified using a conditional simulation technique. Discharge and rain data, including the uncertainty of the estimated rainfall fields, are then used to calibrate and validate both hydrological models following the generalized likelihood uncertainty estimation (GLUE) methodology. In the storm events analysed, the two models show similar performance. In all cases, results show that the calibrated distribution of the input parameters narrows when the rain uncertainty is included in the analysis. Otherwise, when rain uncertainty is not considered, the calibration of the input parameters must account for all uncertainty in the rainfall–runoff transformation process. Also, in both models, the uncertainty of the predicted discharges increase in similar magnitude when the uncertainty of rainfall input increase.
Measuring, Processing, and Analyzing Hysteresis Data

Magnetic hysteresis loops are important in theoretical and applied rock magnetism with applications to paleointensities, paleoenvironmental analysis, and tectonic studies, among many others. Information derived from these data is among the most ubiquitous rock magnetic data used by the Earth science community. Despite their prevalence, there are no general guidelines to aid scientists in obtaining the best possible data and no widely available software to allow the efficient analysis of hysteresis loop data using the most advanced and appropriate methods. Here we outline detrimental factors and simple approaches to measuring better hysteresis data and introduce a new software package called Hysteresis Loop analysis box (HystLab) for processing and analyzing loop data. Capable of reading a wide range of data formats, HystLab provides an easy‐to‐use interface allowing users to visualize their data and perform advanced processing, including loop centering, drift correction, high‐field slope corrections, and loop fitting to improve the results from noisy specimens. A large number of hysteresis loop properties and statistics are calculated by HystLab and can be exported to text files for further analysis. All plots generated by HystLab are customizable and user preferences can be saved for future use. In addition, all plots can be exported to encapsulated postscript files that are publication ready with little or no adjustment. HystLab is freely available for download at https://github.com/greigpaterson/HystLab and in combination with our simple measurement guide should help the paleomagnetic and rock magnetic communities get the most from their hysteresis data.
Invasive Candidiasis.

Invasive candidiasis is the most common fungal disease among hospitalized patients in the developed world. Invasive candidiasis comprises both candidemia and deep-seated tissue candidiasis. Candidemia is generally viewed as the more common type of the disease, and it accounts for the majority of cases included in clinical trials. Deep-seated candidiasis arises from either hematogenous dissemination or direct inoculation of candida species to a sterile site, such as the peritoneal cavity (Fig. 1). Mortality among patients with invasive candidiasis is as high as 40%, even when patients receive antifungal therapy. In addition, the global shift in favor of nonalbicans candida species is troubling, as is the emerging resistance to antifungal drugs. During the past few years, new insights have substantially changed diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.
Efficient coding for multi-source networks using Gács-Körner common information

Consider a multi-source multicast network coding problem with correlated sources. While the fundamental limits are known, achieving them, in general, involves a computational burden due to the complex decoding process. Efficient solutions, on the other hand, are by large based on source and network coding separation, thus imposing strict topological constraints on the networks which can be solved. In this work, we introduce a novel notion of separation of source and network coding using Gács-Körner Common Information (CI). Unlike existing notions of separation, the sufficient condition for this separation to hold depends on the source structure rather than the network topology. Using the suggested separation scheme, we tackle the problem of multi-source multicast. We construct efficient, zero error source codes, and via properties of the CI completely characterize the resulting rate region. We then study the complexity of the end-to-end scheme.
Rumination and Performance in Dynamic, Team Sport

People high in rumination are good at tasks that require persistence whereas people low in rumination is good at tasks that require flexibility. Here we examine real world implications of these differences in dynamic, team sport. In two studies, we found that professional male football (soccer) players from Germany and female field hockey players on the US national team were lower in rumination than were non-athletes. Further, low levels of rumination were associated with a longer career at a higher level in football players. Results indicate that athletes in dynamic, team sport might benefit from the flexibility associated with being low in rumination.
DEFCON: High-Performance Event Processing with Information Security

In finance and healthcare, event processing systems handle sensitive data on behalf of many clients. Guaranteeing information security in such systems is challenging because of their strict performance requirements in terms of high event throughput and low processing latency. We describe DEFCON, an event processing system that enforces constraints on event flows between event processing units. DEFCON uses a combination of static and runtime techniques for achieving light-weight isolation of event flows, while supporting efficient sharing of events. Our experimental evaluation in a financial data processing scenario shows that DEFCON can provide information security with significantly lower processing latency compared to a traditional approach.
The Neuronal Adhesion Protein TAG-1 Is Expressed by Schwann Cells and Oligodendrocytes and Is Localized to the Juxtaparanodal Region of Myelinated Fibers

The neural cell adhesion molecule TAG-1, which is a glycosylphosphatidylinositol-linked member of the Ig superfamily, is expressed by various neuronal populations in the developing CNS and PNS. We demonstrate here that Schwann cells and oligodendrocytes also express TAG-1. In the PNS, TAG-1 is detected in ensheathing Schwann cells early postnatally and is maintained throughout adulthood. In mature myelinated fibers of the CNS and PNS, TAG-1 is localized to the juxtaparanodal region. The CNS of the UDP-galactose ceramide galactosyl transferase−/−(CGT−/−) mouse mutants, which do not synthesize the abundant galactolipids of myelin, display severely disrupted axoglial interactions at the paranodal region. In contrast, axoglial interactions in the PNS of these mutants are less affected. Interestingly, TAG-1 localization is completely undetected in myelinated fibers of the CNS. In the PNS of these mutants, TAG-1 abnormally localizes in the paranodal region. These data raise the intriguing possibility that TAG-1 localization in the juxtaparanodal area mediates, or at least requires, the axoglial contact normally displayed in this region. The abnormal localization of TAG-1 in the CGT mutants might contribute to the disrupted axoglial interactions observed in these animals.