Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Enhancing Working Memory Capacity in Persian Cochlear Implanted Children: A Clinical Trial Study

Introduction: Sensory deprivations such as hearing impairment that affect sensory input have a secondary impact on cognitive functions such as working memory (WM). WM capacity is an important cognitive component that processes language-related activities. Moreover, several studies have shown a deficit in WM in children with a cochlear implant (CI). We aimed to assess the performance of children with CIs in pre- and post-training sessions and compare their scores on a battery of WM tests to investigate the efficacy of a WM training program. Materials and Methods: Twenty-five children aged 7–10 years with a CI participated in this study. To train their WM, a computer game was used. In order to examine auditory WM, a test battery including standardized digit span (forward and backward variations), non-word and sentence repetition (subtest of the Test of Language Development–Primary) were assessed in pre- and post-training test sessions at Shiraz Implant Center. Results: There were statistically significant differences between pre- and post-training test scores on all subtests. Test score differences were statistically significant for forward digit span (P=0.003), backward digit span (P=0.001), non-word repetition (P=0.001), and sentence repetition tasks (P=0.003) before and after training sessions. Conclusion: Training may enhance WM capacity. With regards to the importance of WM in literacy and learning, it seems applying such intervention programs may be helpful in the rehabilitation of implanted children.
The diabetes drug liraglutide reverses cognitive impairment in mice and attenuates insulin receptor and synaptic pathology in a non‐human primate model of Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a devastating neurological disorder that still lacks an effective treatment, and this has stimulated an intense pursuit of disease‐modifying therapeutics. Given the increasingly recognized link between AD and defective brain insulin signaling, we investigated the actions of liraglutide, a glucagon‐like peptide‐1 (GLP‐1) analog marketed for treatment of type 2 diabetes, in experimental models of AD. Insulin receptor pathology is an important feature of AD brains that impairs the neuroprotective actions of central insulin signaling. Here, we show that liraglutide prevented the loss of brain insulin receptors and synapses, and reversed memory impairment induced by AD‐linked amyloid‐β oligomers (AβOs) in mice. Using hippocampal neuronal cultures, we determined that the mechanism of neuroprotection by liraglutide involves activation of the PKA signaling pathway. Infusion of AβOs into the lateral cerebral ventricle of non‐human primates (NHPs) led to marked loss of insulin receptors and synapses in brain regions related to memory. Systemic treatment of NHPs with liraglutide provided partial protection, decreasing AD‐related insulin receptor, synaptic, and tau pathology in specific brain regions. Synapse damage and elimination are amongst the earliest known pathological changes and the best correlates of memory impairment in AD. The results illuminate mechanisms of neuroprotection by liraglutide, and indicate that GLP‐1 receptor activation may be harnessed to protect brain insulin receptors and synapses in AD. © 2018 The Authors. The Journal of Pathology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland.
Absolute Oral Bioavailability of Creatine Monohydrate in Rats: Debunking a Myth

Creatine is an ergogenic compound used by athletes to enhance performance. Supplementation with creatine monohydrate (CM) has been suggested for musculoskeletal and neurological disorders. Until now, little is known about its pharmacokinetic profile. Our objective was to determine the oral bioavailability of CM and the influence of dose on oral absorption. Rats were dosed orally with low dose (10 mg/kg) or high dose (70 mg/kg) 13C-labeled CM. Blood samples were removed at various time points. Muscle and brain tissue were collected at the conclusion of the study. Plasma and tissue levels of 13C-labeled creatine were determined using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) models of CM were built using GastroPlus™. These models were used to predict the plasma concentration–time profiles of creatine hydrochloride (CHCL), which has improved aqueous solubility compared to CM. Absolute oral bioavailability for low dose CM was 53% while high dose CM was only 16%. The simulated Cmax of 70 mg/kg CHCL was around 35 μg/mL compared to 14 μg/mL for CM with a predicted oral bioavailability of 66% with CHCL compared to 17% with CM. Our results suggest that the oral bioavailability of CM is less than complete and subject to dose and that further examination of improved dosage formulations of creatine is warranted.
Is Second-Order Information Helpful for Large-Scale Visual Recognition?

By stacking layers of convolution and nonlinearity, convolutional networks (ConvNets) effectively learn from lowlevel to high-level features and discriminative representations. Since the end goal of large-scale recognition is to delineate complex boundaries of thousands of classes, adequate exploration of feature distributions is important for realizing full potentials of ConvNets. However, state-of-theart works concentrate only on deeper or wider architecture design, while rarely exploring feature statistics higher than first-order. We take a step towards addressing this problem. Our method consists in covariance pooling, instead of the most commonly used first-order pooling, of highlevel convolutional features. The main challenges involved are robust covariance estimation given a small sample of large-dimensional features and usage of the manifold structure of covariance matrices. To address these challenges, we present a Matrix Power Normalized Covariance (MPNCOV) method. We develop forward and backward propagation formulas regarding the nonlinear matrix functions such that MPN-COV can be trained end-to-end. In addition, we analyze both qualitatively and quantitatively its advantage over the well-known Log-Euclidean metric. On the ImageNet 2012 validation set, by combining MPN-COV we achieve over 4%, 3% and 2.5% gains for AlexNet, VGG-M and VGG-16, respectively; integration of MPN-COV into 50-layer ResNet outperforms ResNet-101 and is comparable to ResNet-152. The source code will be available on the project page: http://www.peihuali. org/MPN-COV.
The advantages of going large: genome‐wide SNPs clarify the complex population history and systematics of the threatened western pond turtle

As the field of phylogeography has matured, it has become clear that analyses of one or a few genes may reveal more about the history of those genes than the populations and species that are the targets of study. To alleviate these concerns, the discipline has moved towards larger analyses of more individuals and more genes, although little attention has been paid to the qualitative or quantitative gains that such increases in scale and scope may yield. Here, we increase the number of individuals and markers by an order of magnitude over previously published work to comprehensively assess the phylogeographical history of a well‐studied declining species, the western pond turtle (Emys marmorata). We present a new analysis of 89 independent nuclear SNP markers and one mitochondrial gene sequence scored for rangewide sampling of >900 individuals, and compare these to smaller‐scale, rangewide genetic and morphological analyses. Our enlarged SNP data fundamentally revise our understanding of evolutionary history for this lineage. Our results indicate that the gains from greatly increasing both the number of markers and individuals are substantial and worth the effort, particularly for species of high conservation concern such as the pond turtle, where accurate assessments of population history are a prerequisite for effective management.
Positive correlation between postoperative tumor recurrence and changes in circulating tumor cell counts in pulmonary venous blood (pvCTC) during surgical manipulation in non-small cell lung cancer.

Background In non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), circulating tumor cells (CTC) are shed and circulate to the peripheral blood through the pulmonary vein. Previously, CTC count in pulmonary venous blood (pvCTC) was shown to significantly increase after surgical manipulation. Therefore, we assessed the correlation between the changes in the pvCTC count (ΔpvCTC) and clinical outcomes. Methods Consecutive patients with peripheral-type, NSCLC, who underwent lobectomy or bi-lobectomy through open thoracotomy, were enrolled prospectively. Before and after lobectomy, 2.5 mL of blood was drawn from the associated lobar pulmonary vein (PV), and was served for the quantitative evaluation of CTC using the CellSearch® system. The cut-off point of ΔpvCTC was determined according to clinical outcomes and ΔpvCTC using receiver operation characteristic (ROC) curve. Then the correlation between ΔpvCTC and clinical outcomes was evaluated by Kaplan-Meier analyses and log-rank test. In addition, the correlation between ΔpvCTC and perioperative variables was assessed. Results A total of 30 patients were enrolled, tumor recurrence occurred in 11 patients over a median follow-up of 64.4 months. Of these, 7 patients had distant metastasis and 4 had local recurrence. The median ΔpvCTC was 49 cells/2.5 mL, and pvCTC-count was increased during surgical manipulation in 24 patients (80%). We divided patients into two groups based on ΔpvCTC with the cut-off value as 119 cells/2.5 mL according to ROC curve. Significant shorter time to distant metastasis (TDM) (P=0.0123) was observed in high ΔpvCTC group (ΔpvCTC ≥119 cells/2.5 mL) than low ΔpvCTC group (ΔpvCTC <119 cells/ 2.5mL). Neither disease-free survival (DFS) nor overall survival (OS) was significantly correlated with ΔpvCTC. Conclusions Increasing pvCTC count during surgical manipulation was significantly correlated with postoperative distant metastasis in completely resected NSCLC patients. Significant shorter TDM was observed in patient with high ΔpvCTC group.
Dosimetric effects of jaw tracking in step‐and‐shoot intensity‐modulated radiation therapy

The purpose of this work was to determine the dosimetric benefit to normal tissues by tracking the multi‐leaf collimator (MLC) apertures with the photon jaws in step‐and‐shoot intensity‐modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) on the Varian 2100 platform. Radiation treatment plans for ten thoracic, three pediatric, and three head and neck cancer patients were converted to plans with the jaws tracking each segment's MLC apertures, and compared to the original plans in a commercial radiation treatment planning system (TPS). The change in normal tissue dose was evaluated in the new plan by using the parameters V5, V10, and V20 (volumes receiving 5, 10 and 20 Gy, respectively) in the cumulative dose‐volume histogram for the following structures: total lung minus gross target volume, heart, esophagus, spinal cord, liver, parotids, and brainstem. To validate the accuracy of our beam model, MLC transmission was measured and compared to that predicted by the TPS. The greatest changes between the original and new plans occurred at lower dose levels. In all patients, the reduction in V20 was never more than 6.3% and was typically less than 1%; the maximum reduction in V5 was 16.7% and was typically less than 3%. The variation in normal tissue dose reduction was not predictable, and we found no clear parameters that indicated which patients would benefit most from jaw tracking. Our TPS model of MLC transmission agreed with measurements with absolute transmission differences of less than 0.1% and, thus, uncertainties in the model did not contribute significantly to the uncertainty in the dose determination. We conclude that the amount of dose reduction achieved by collimating the jaws around each MLC aperture in step‐and‐shoot IMRT is probably not clinically significant. PACS numbers: 87.55. D‐ 87.55. de 87.55. dk
A threshold trajectory was revealed by isolating the effects of hemoglobin rate of rise in anemia of chronic kidney disease

Background: To assess cardiovascular risk among various hemoglobin (Hb) rates of rise (RoR) in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients with anemia who have initiated therapy with erythropoiesis stimulating agents (ESAs). Methods: Observational cohort of CKD patients initiating ESA therapy from the Centricity® database, 1990–2011. Proportional hazards models tested the hypothesis that a slower Hb RoR (0 < g/dl/month ⩽ 0.125) is associated with a lower cardiovascular (CV) incidence [composite of fatal/nonfatal myocardial infarction (MI) and stroke] compared with faster RoR (0.125 < g/dl/month ⩽ 2.0, and >2.0 g/dl/month). Results: A total of 9220 patients receiving ESAs were followed for an average of 3.1 years. Slow (group B) RoR versus medium (group C′) and fast (group D′) RoR in Hb, throughout all Hb milestones, was associated with lower risk of the composite endpoint [B (slow) versus D′ (fast) [hazard ratio (HR) = 0.20 (0.11, 0.39), p < 0.0001]; B versus C′ (medium) [HR = 0.34 (0.19, 0.62), p = 0.0004], and C′ versus D′ [HR = 0.60 (0.42, 0.85), p = 0.005]]. Within achieved Hb milestones, HRs were: B versus D′ at milestone ⩾ 14.1 g/dl [HR = 0.17 (0.05, 0.56); p = 0.004] and at milestone 12.6−14.0 [HR = 0.18 (0.07, 0.46), p = 0.0004]. Conclusion: Rapid Hb rise is associated with adverse CV outcomes, with markedly lower risk for rates below a threshold trajectory of 0.125 g/dl/month, even with complete correction.
Thermogravimetric Analysis of the Decomposition of a Paraffin Particle/HTPB Fuel Grain for Hybrid Rocket Motors

Paraffin has been identified as a promising alternative for use in propellant grains for hybrid rocket motors. Studies have been conducted using grain as fuel paraffin or liquid hidroxylated polybutadiene polymer (HTPB) due to the high thrust generated during firing. However, in consequences the low mechanical properties of pure paraffin, this study aims to evaluate the kinetics of degradation of a mixture composed of paraffin particles (PP) and HTPB compared with grain fuel pure paraffin and pure HTPB. For this we used a thermal analysis technique thermogravimetric in conjunction with the application of kinetic methods based on ASTM E1641 and Vyazovkin theory. Based on these results we can say the activation energy results are in agreement with the literature and the mixture PP / HTPB presents intermediate activation energy values as expected.
So It Is, So It Shall Be: Group Regularities License Children's Prescriptive Judgments.

When do descriptive regularities (what characteristics individuals have) become prescriptive norms (what characteristics individuals should have)? We examined children's (4-13 years) and adults' use of group regularities to make prescriptive judgments, employing novel groups (Hibbles and Glerks) that engaged in morally neutral behaviors (e.g., eating different kinds of berries). Participants were introduced to conforming or non-conforming individuals (e.g., a Hibble who ate berries more typical of a Glerk). Children negatively evaluated non-conformity, with negative evaluations declining with age (Study 1). These effects were replicable across competitive and cooperative intergroup contexts (Study 2) and stemmed from reasoning about group regularities rather than reasoning about individual regularities (Study 3). These data provide new insights into children's group concepts and have important implications for understanding the development of stereotyping and norm enforcement.
Rectal dose to prostate cancer patients treated with proton therapy with or without rectal spacer

Abstract The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether a spacer inserted in the prerectal space could reduce modeled rectal dose and toxicity rates for patients with prostate cancer treated in silico with pencil beam scanning (PBS) proton therapy. A total of 20 patients were included in this study who received photon therapy (12 with rectal spacer (DuraSeal™ gel) and 8 without). Two PBS treatment plans were retrospectively created for each patient using the following beam arrangements: (1) lateral‐opposed (LAT) fields and (2) left and right anterior oblique (LAO/RAO) fields. Dose volume histograms (DVH) were generated for the prostate, rectum, bladder, and right and left femoral heads. The normal tissue complication probability (NTCP) for ≥grade 2 rectal toxicity was calculated using the Lyman–Kutcher–Burman model and compared between patients with and without the rectal spacer. A significantly lower mean rectal DVH was achieved in patients with rectal spacer compared to those without. For LAT plans, the mean rectal V70 with and without rectal spacer was 4.19 and 13.5%, respectively. For LAO/RAO plans, the mean rectal V70 with and without rectal spacer was 5.07 and 13.5%, respectively. No significant differences were found in any rectal dosimetric parameters between the LAT and the LAO/RAO plans generated with the rectal spacers. We found that ≥ 9 mm space resulted in a significant decrease in NTCP modeled for ≥grade 2 rectal toxicity. Rectal spacers can significantly decrease modeled rectal dose and predicted ≥grade 2 rectal toxicity in prostate cancer patients treated in silico with PBS. A minimum of 9 mm separation between the prostate and anterior rectal wall yields the largest benefit.
Altered Tuber Yield in Genetically Modified High-Amylose and Oil Potato Lines Is Associated With Changed Whole-Plant Nitrogen Economy

Breeding for improved crop quality traits can affect non-target traits related to growth and resource use, and these effects may vary in different cultivation conditions (e. g., greenhouse vs. field). The objectives of this study are to investigate the growth and whole-plant nitrogen (N) economy of two genetically modified (GM) potato lines compared to their non-GM parental varieties and when grown in different cultivation conditions. A high-amylose GM potato line and its parent were grown under field and greenhouse conditions for one growing season in Sweden; and a GM oil potato line and its parent were grown in greenhouse conditions only. Tuber yield, above ground biomass, N uptake efficiency and other plant N economy traits were assessed. In both cultivation conditions, the GM lines produced between 1.5 and two times more tubers as compared with their parents. In the greenhouse, fresh tuber yield and N uptake efficiency were unaffected by the genetic modifications, but the GM-lines produced less tuber biomass per plant-internal N compared to their parents. In the field, the fresh tuber yield was 40% greater in the high-amylose line as compared with its parent; the greater fresh tuber yield in the high-amylose GM line was accomplished by higher water allocation to the harvested tubers, and associated with increased N recovery from soil (+20%), N uptake efficiency (+53%), tuber N content (+20%), and N accumulation (+120%) compared with the non-GM parent. The cultivation conditions influenced the yield and N economy. For example, the final fresh above-ground plant biomass and N pool were considerably higher in the greenhouse conditions, whilst the tuber yield was higher in the field conditions. In conclusion, the genetic modification inducing high accumulation of amylose in potato tubers affected several non-target traits related to plant N economy, and increased the plant N uptake and accumulation efficiency of the field-grown plants. Due to strongly increased plant N accumulation compared to the parental variety, the cultivation of the high-amylose line is expected to require higher N fertilization rates. However, starch productivity per unit land area or soil N still is expected to be higher in the high-amylose line.
Reduced blood flow through intrapulmonary arteriovenous anastomoses during exercise in lowlanders acclimatizing to high altitude

What is the central question of this study? The aim was to determine, using the technique of agitated saline contrast echocardiography, whether exercise after 4–7 days at 5050 m would affect blood flow through intrapulmonary arteriovenous anastomoses ( Q̇IPAVA ) compared with exercise at sea level. What is the main finding and its importance? Despite a significant increase in both cardiac output and pulmonary pressure during exercise at high altitude, there is very little Q̇IPAVA at rest or during exercise after 4–7 days of acclimatization. Mathematical modelling suggests that bubble instability at high altitude is an unlikely explanation for the reduced Q̇IPAVA .
Ascorbic acid and sodium benzoate synergistically aggravates testicular dysfunction in adult Wistar rats.

BACKGROUND The effect of the concomitant use of sodium benzoate (NaB) and ascorbic acid on human health remains controversial. Therefore, the current study is designed to investigate the effect of NaB and ascorbic acid on the testicular function of adult Wistar rats. METHODS Adult Wistar rats were randomly allotted into Control (vehicle; received 1 ml of distilled water), NaB-treated (SB-treated; received 100 mg/kg body weight; b.w), ascorbic acid-treated (AA-treated; received 150 mg/kg b.w) and NaB+ ascorbic acid-treated (SB+AA-treated) groups. The treatment lasted for 28 days and the administration was given orally. The body weight change was monitored. Semen analysis, biochemical assay and histological examination were performed. RESULTS Treatment with NaB significantly altered the cytoarchitecture of testicular tissue, sperm quality, testicular endocrine function and oxidative stress status without any alteration in body weight gain compared to control. In addition, treatment with NaB+ ascorbic acid exacerbated testicular tissue disruption, impaired sperm quality and testicular endocrine impairment with significant reduction in oxidative stress and unaltered body weight gain when compared with NaB-treated group. CONCLUSION This study suggests that ascorbic acid and NaB synergistically aggravates testicular dysfunction. This is independent of oxidative stress status.
Improved motion robustness of remote-PPG by using the blood volume pulse signature

Remote photoplethysmography (rPPG) enables contact-free monitoring of the blood volume pulse using a color camera. Essentially, it detects the minute optical absorption changes caused by blood volume variations in the skin. In this paper, we show that the different absorption spectra of arterial blood and bloodless skin cause the variations to occur along a very specific vector in a normalized RGB-space. The exact vector can be determined for a given light spectrum and for given transfer characteristics of the optical filters in the camera. We show that this ‘signature’ can be used to design an rPPG algorithm with a much better motion robustness than the recent methods based on blind source separation, and even better than the chrominance-based methods we published earlier. Using six videos recorded in a gym, with four subjects exercising on a range of fitness devices, we confirm the superior motion robustness of our newly proposed rPPG methods. A simple peak detector in the frequency domain returns the correct pulse-rate for 68% of total measurements compared to 60% for the best previous method, while the SNR of the pulse-signal improves from − 5 dB to − 4 dB. For a large population of 117 stationary subjects we prove that the accuracy is comparable to the best previous method, although the SNR of the pulse-signal drops from + 8.4 dB to + 7.6 dB. We expect the improved motion robustness to significantly widen the application scope of the rPPG-technique.