Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Empirical Investigation of Catastrophic Forgeting in Gradient-Based Neural Networks

Catastrophic forgetting is a problem faced by many machine learning models and algorithms. When trained on one task, then trained on a second task, many machine learning models "forget" how to perform the first task. This is widely believed to be a serious problem for neural networks. Here, we investigate the extent to which the catastrophic forgetting problem occurs for modern neural networks, comparing both established and recent gradient-based training algorithms and activation functions. We also examine the effect of the relationship between the first task and the second task on catastrophic forgetting. We find that it is always best to train using the dropout algorithm--the dropout algorithm is consistently best at adapting to the new task, remembering the old task, and has the best tradeoff curve between these two extremes. We find that different tasks and relationships between tasks result in very different rankings of activation function performance. This suggests the choice of activation function should always be cross-validated.
Is Dublin English 'Alive Alive Oh'?

Hickey (2005) has argued that there are three social varieties of Dublin English (‘Local’, ‘Mainstream’ and ‘New Dublin’) and that younger females are key players in the shift towards the ‘New Dublin’ type. With a view to further investigating some aspects of Hickey’s proposals, this article reports on a pilot project that focused on native Dubliners whose working class origins would place them at the ‘Local’ end of Hickey’s continuum. It investigated responses to perception and production tests on morphosyntactic and phonological variables amongst two generations of males and females. Interestingly, speaker judgments on stereotypical southern Irish-English features, in particular, did not uncover the significant gender and generational differences which Hickey (2005) finds evidence for amongst his young female subjects. Keywords: Dublin English; pronominalisation; agreement; complementation; rhoticity; dentality; acceptability judgement
Regulation of adiposity by dietary calcium

Recent data from this laboratory demonstrate that increasing adipocyte intracellular Ca2+ results in a coordinated stimulation of lipogenesis and inhibition of lipolysis. We have also noted that increasing dietary calcium of obese patients for 1 year resulted in a 4.9 kg loss of body fat (P<0.01). Accordingly, we tested the possibility that calcitro‐phic hormones may act on adipocytes to increase Ca2+ and lipid metabolism by measuring the effects of 1,25‐(OH)2‐D in primary cultures of human adipocytes, and found significant, sustained increases in intracellular Ca2+ and a corresponding marked inhibition of lipolysis (EC50 ~50 pM; P<0.001), suggesting that dietary calcium could reduce adipocyte mass by suppressing 1,25‐(OH)2‐D. To test this hypothesis, we placed transgenic mice expressing the agouti gene specifically in adipocytes on a low (0.4%) Ca/high fat/high sucrose diet either unsupplemented or with 25 or 50% of the protein replaced by non‐fat dry milk or supplemented to 1.2% Ca with CaCO3 for 6 wk. Weight gain and fat pad mass were reduced by 26–39% by the three high calcium diets (P<0.001). The high calcium diets exerted a corresponding 51% inhibition of adipocyte fatty acid synthase expression and activity (P< 0.002) and stimulation of lipolysis by 3.4‐ to 5.2‐fold (P< 0.015). This concept of calcium modulation of adiposity was further evaluated epi‐demiologically in the NHANES III data set. After controlling for energy intake, relative risk of being in the highest quartile of body fat was set to 1.00 for the lowest quartile of Ca intake and was reduced to 0.75, 0.40, and 0.16 for the second, third, and fourth quartiles, respectively, of calcium intake for women (n=380;P≪ 0.0009); a similar inverse relationship was also noted in men (n=7114; P<0.0006). Thus, increasing dietary calcium suppresses adipocyte in‐tracellular Ca2+ and thereby modulates energy metabolism and attenuates obesity risk. —Zemel, M. B. , Shi, H. , Greer, B. , DiRienzo, D. , Zemel, P. C. Regulation of adiposity by dietary calcium. FASEB J. 14, 1132–1138 (2000)
Genetic selection for temperament affects behaviour and the secretion of adrenal and reproductive hormones in sheep subjected to stress

We investigated the effect of genetic selection for temperament on the way that stressors affect the behaviour and the adrenal and reproductive axes of sheep. We tested three hypotheses: (i) isolation would increase cortisol secretion and decrease luteinising hormone (LH) secretion more in nervous sheep than in calm sheep; (ii) isolation combined with simulated human presence would increase cortisol secretion and decrease LH secretion more in nervous sheep than in calm sheep and (iii) isolation combined with stressors that were not specific to the selection process (i.e. non-selection stressors) would increase cortisol secretion and decrease LH secretion equally in calm and nervous sheep. Isolation alone increased cortisol secretion and decreased LH secretion in nervous sheep but not in calm sheep. Compared to calm sheep, nervous sheep were more agitated during the first 2 h of isolation but not during the second 2 h of isolation. Exposure to non-selection stressors increased cortisol secretion, decreased LH pulse amplitude and the mean plasma concentrations of LH in both calm and nervous sheep. We conclude that genetic selection for temperament affects the behavioural expression of the stress response and the secretion of adrenal and reproductive hormones during isolation, but has less impact on their reactivity to non-selection stressors.
Impact of a mindfulness‐based stress reduction program from the perspective of adolescents with serious mental health concerns

BACKGROUND While studies on mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) for youth have recently emerged, there is a shortage of research on how adolescents from clinical populations experience MBSR. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the impact of MBSR from the subjective perspective of adolescents with serious mental health concerns. METHOD Adolescents (n = 28) from a residential treatment center participated in an adapted 8-week MBSR program in which they learned a range of mindfulness skills and were encouraged to apply the skills to their everyday lives. At the end of the program and at a 3-month follow-up, the youth participated in semistructured interviews in which they were asked to describe the impact of the program from their perspectives. Basic interpretive qualitative analysis methods were used to code the data and to group the codes into higher level themes. RESULTS Six main themes were found, including improved mood, enhanced relationship to self, increased self-control, improved problem-solving, awareness of the present, and enhanced interpersonal relationships. DISCUSSION Results from this study suggest that the MBSR program was perceived as beneficial both in the short-term and follow-up in several aspects of emotional, cognitive, and interpersonal functioning.
Hypertension after experimental cerebral ischemia: candesartan provides neurovascular protection

Background After ischemic stroke, hypertension increases the risk of recurrence, hemorrhage and fatal cerebral edema, but blood pressure (BP) lowering in the acute stroke period is controversial due to fears of infarct extension and worsened outcomes. Objective To determine whether BP lowering with candesartan, initiated at reperfusion, can reduce neurovascular damage and improve outcome in a model of hypertension after experimental ischemic stroke. Methods Male Wistar rats (280–305 g) underwent 3 h of middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). At reperfusion, either saline (n = 18) or candesartan 1 mg/kg (n = 18) was administered intravenously. BP was measured by telemetry for 2 days before and 24 h after MCAO. Neurologic function was assessed and sacrifice occurred at 24 h after occlusion. Brain tissue was analyzed for infarct size, hemoglobin content and edema. Results Mean BP increased from 96 to 124 mmHg immediately upon MCAO and decreased to 114 mmHg after reperfusion, remaining elevated for 24 h (P < 0.001) in the saline group. Candesartan reduced BP back to baseline and BP remained lower than in saline-treated animals until sacrifice (P < 0.001). Infarct size (54 versus 38%, P = 0.01) and hemoglobin content (23.4 versus 10.0 μg/g tissue; P = 0.03) and edema (17.97 versus 11.33%, P < 0.0001) were lower in the candesartan group. In addition, neurologic function at 24 h was improved (P = 0.0036) in the candesartan group. Conclusions Candesartan administered after reperfusion in acute ischemic stroke reduces neurovascular damage and improves outcome.
L‐band sea surface emissivity: Preliminary results of the WISE‐2000 campaign and its application to salinity retrieval in the SMOS mission

Soil moisture and ocean salinity at surface level can be measured by passive microwave remote sensing at L‐band. To provide global coverage data of soil moisture and ocean salinity with three‐day revisit time, the Earth Explorer Opportunity Mission SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) was selected by ESA (European Space Agency) in May 1999. SMOS' single payload is a Y‐shaped 2‐D aperture synthesis interferometric radiometer called MIRAS (Microwave Imaging Radiometer by Aperture Synthesis). SMOS presents some particular imaging peculiarities: variation of incidence and azimuth angles, different radiometric sensitivity and accuracy at each direction (pixels), and geometric polarization mixing. Therefore, the accuracy of the geophysical parameter retrieval depends on the knowledge of the angular dependence of the emissivity over a wide range of incidence and azimuth angles. The accuracy of the sea surface salinity retrievals depends on our capability to correct the wind‐induced variation of the brightness temperatures. To better understand wind effects, ESA sponsored the WInd and Salinity Experiment 2000 (WISE‐2000) from November 15, 2000, to January 16, 2001, in the Casablanca oil rig, at 40 km off the coast of Tarragona (Spain). This paper is divided into two parts. First, it presents the derived sensitivities of the brightness temperatures at vertical and horizontal polarizations with wind speed, and compares to Hollinger's measurements and numerical simulations. Second, these results are applied to the SMOS sea surface salinity (SSS) retrieval problem for different tracks within the swath. It is shown that, except for low SSS and sea surface temperature (SST), the retrieved SSS has a RMS error of approximately 1 psu in one satellite pass.
Perioperative Oral Pregabalin Reduces Chronic Pain After Total Knee Arthroplasty: A Prospective, Randomized, Controlled Trial

BACKGROUND: Despite the enormous success of total knee arthroplasty (TKA), chronic neuropathic pain can develop postoperatively and is both distressing and difficult to treat once established. We hypothesized that perioperative treatment with pregabalin, a chronic pain medication, would reduce the incidence of postsurgical neuropathic pain. METHODS: We performed a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial of pregabalin (300 mg) administered before TKA and for 14 days after TKA (150–50 mg twice daily). Patients were screened for the presence of neuropathic pain at 3 and 6 mo postoperatively using the Leeds Assessment of Neuropathic Symptoms and Signs scale. Secondary outcomes included postsurgical recovery and rehabilitation measures, including knee range of motion, opioid consumption, postoperative pain scores, sleep disturbance, and time to discharge as well as the occurrence of postoperative systemic complications. RESULTS: Of the 240 patients randomly assigned to the 2 treatment groups (120 in each), data for the primary outcome were obtained from 113 pregabalin patients and 115 placebo patients. At both 3 and 6 mo postoperatively, the incidence of neuropathic pain was less frequent in the pregabalin group (0%) compared with the placebo group (8.7% and 5.2% at 3 and 6 mo, respectively; P = 0.001 and P = 0.014). Patients receiving pregabalin also consumed less epidural opioids (P = 0.003), required less oral opioid pain medication while hospitalized (P = 0.005), and had greater active flexion over the first 30 postoperative days (P = 0.013). There were no differences in the actual recorded duration of hospitalization between the 2 groups, although time to achieve hospital discharge criteria was longer for placebo patients, 69.0 ± 16.0 h (mean ± sd), than that of pregabalin patients, 60.2 ± 15.8 h (P = 0.001). Sedation (P = 0.005) and confusion (P = 0.013) were more frequent on the day of surgery and postoperative day 1 in patients receiving pregabalin. CONCLUSION: Perioperative pregabalin administration reduces the incidence of chronic neuropathic pain after TKA, with less opioid consumption and better range of motion during the first 30 days of rehabilitation. However, in the doses tested, it is associated with a higher risk of early postoperative sedation and confusion.
Effects of Environmental Stimulation on Infant Vocalizations and Orofacial Dynamics at the Onset of Canonical Babbling

The vocalizations and jaw kinematics of 30 infants aged 6–8 months were recorded using a Motion Analysis System and audiovisual technologies. This study represents the first attempt to determine the effect of play environment on infants’ rate of vocalization and jaw movement. Four play conditions were compared: watching videos, social contingent reinforcement and vocal modeling with an adult, playing alone with small toys, and playing alone with large toys. The fewest vocalizations and spontaneous movement were observed when infants were watching videos or interacting with an adult. Infants vocalized most when playing with large toys. The small toys, which naturally elicited gross motor movement (e.g., waving, banging, shaking), educed fewer vocalizations. This study was also the first to quantify the kinematics of vocalized and nonvocalized jaw movements of 6–8 month-old infants. Jaw kinematics did not differentiate infants who produced canonical syllables from those who did not. All infants produced many jaw movements without vocalization. However, during vocalization, infants were unlikely to move their jaw. This contradicts current theories that infant protophonic vocalizations are jaw dominant. Results of the current study can inform socio-linguistic and kinematic theories of canonical babbling.
Brief reports

Recent biological theories of state anxiety have focused on temperament and neurophysiology as factors that predispose some people to be particularly at risk of debilitating levels of performance anxiety. The present study extends Gray's (1982; Gray & McNaughton, 2000) reinforcement sensitivity theory by proposing a linkage between sensitivity to punishment and negative explanatory style as predisposing students to anxiety during public speaking. Sensitivity to punishment and negative explanatory style combined to predict 38.2% of the variance in state anxiety during public speaking. Evaluation and grading pervade public speaking instruction and are potentially punishing forms of reinforcement. Therefore, educators should take account of personality differences among students and use more descriptive than evaluative feedback when addressing students high in sensitivity to punishment and negative explanatory style.
Reduced recruitment of motor association areas during bimanual coordination in concert pianists

Bimanual motor coordination is essential for piano playing. The functional neuronal substrate for high‐level bimanual performance achieved by professional pianists is unclear. We compared professional pianists to musically naïve controls while carrying out in‐phase (mirror) and anti‐phase (parallel) bimanual sequential finger movements during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). This task corresponds to bimanually playing scales practiced daily by pianists from the beginning of piano playing. Musicians and controls showed significantly different functional activation patterns. When comparing performance of parallel movements to rest, musically naïve controls showed stronger activations than did pianists within a network including anterior cingulate cortex, right dorsal premotor cortex, both cerebellar hemispheres, and right basal ganglia. The direct comparison of bimanual parallel to mirror movements between both groups revealed stronger signal increases in controls within mesial premotor cortex (SMA), bilateral cerebellar hemispheres and vermis, bilateral prefrontal cortex, left ventral premotor cortex, right anterior insula, and right basal ganglia. These findings suggest increased efficiency of cortical and subcortical systems for bimanual movement control in musicians. This may be fundamental to achieve high‐level motor skills allowing the musician to focus on artistic aspects of musical performance. Hum. Brain Mapping 22:206–215, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Overexpression of SET&bgr;, a protein localizing to centromeres, causes precocious separation of chromatids during the first meiosis of mouse oocytes

Summary Chromosome segregation in mammalian oocyte meiosis is an error-prone process, and any mistake in this process may result in aneuploidy, which is the main cause of infertility, abortion and many genetic diseases. It is now well known that shugoshin and protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) play important roles in the protection of centromeric cohesion during the first meiosis. PP2A can antagonize the phosphorylation of rec8, a member of the cohesin complex, at the centromeres and thus prevent cleavage of rec8 and so maintain the cohesion of chromatids. SET&bgr; is a protein that physically interacts with shugoshin and inhibits PP2A activity. We thus hypothesized that SET&bgr; might regulate cohesion protection and chromosome segregation during oocyte meiotic maturation. Here we report for the first time the expression, subcellular localization and functions of SET&bgr; during mouse oocyte meiosis. Immunoblotting analysis showed that the expression level of SET&bgr; was stable from the germinal vesicle stage to the MII stage of oocyte meiosis. Immunofluorescence analysis showed SET&bgr; accumulation in the nucleus at the germinal vesicle stage, whereas it was targeted mainly to the inner centromere area and faintly localized to the interchromatid axes from germinal vesicle breakdown to MI stages. At the MII stage, SET&bgr; still localized to the inner centromere area, but could relocalize to kinetochores in a process perhaps dependent on the tension on the centromeres. SET&bgr; partly colocalized with PP2A at the inner centromere area. Overexpression of SET&bgr; in mouse oocytes caused precocious separation of sister chromatids, but depletion of SET&bgr; by RNAi showed little effects on the meiotic maturation process. Taken together, our results suggest that SET&bgr;, even though it localizes to centromeres, might not be essential for chromosome separation during mouse oocyte meiotic maturation, although its forced overexpression causes premature chromatid separation.
Hormonal Therapy with Letrozole for Relapsed Epithelial Ovarian Cancer

Objective: We conducted a phase II trial to evaluate the activity of oral letrozole in women with relapsed or recurrent epithelial ovarian cancer. Methods: Twenty-seven patients were treated with letrozole at a dose of 2.5 mg once a day. Patients with measurable or evaluable disease (n = 21) and those with only increasing CA 125 serum levels (n = 6) were eligible. Paraffin-fixed histological sections from tumor specimens resected at the initial laparotomy were assessed for the presence of estrogen, and progesterone receptors. Results: Among the 21 patients with measurable or evaluable disease who were evaluated for response by WHO criteria, we observed one complete and two partial responses for an objective response rate of 15%. Using criteria for CA 125 response we obtained a marker response in 4 of 27 patients (15%), and the marker remained stable in 5 additional patients (18%). Letrozole treatment was generally well tolerated. No correlation was observed between tumor marker response or stabilization and either estrogen or progesterone receptor expression. Conclusion: The results of our study suggest that the aromatase inhibitor letrozole is an agent with some activity and limited toxicity for relapsed ovarian cancer. As we could not find any association between response and hormonal receptor expression, the underlying mechanisms of letrozole action have to be elucidated.
Regulation of Anthrax Toxin-Specific Antibody Titers by Natural Killer T Cell-Derived IL-4 and IFNγ

Activation of Natural Killer-like T cells (NKT) with the CD1d ligand α-GC leads to enhanced production of anthrax toxin protective Ag (PA)-neutralizing Abs, yet the underlying mechanism for this adjuvant effect is not known. In the current study we examined the role of Th1 and Th2 type responses in NKT-mediated enhancement of antibody responses to PA. First, the contribution of IL-4 and IFNγ to the production of PA-specific toxin-neutralizing Abs was examined. By immunizing C57Bl/6 controls IL-4−/− mice and IFNγ−/− mice and performing passive serum transfer experiments, it was observed that sera containing PA-specific IgG1, IgG2b and IgG2c neutralized toxin in vitro and conferred protection in vivo. Sera containing IgG2b and IgG2c neutralized toxin in vitro but were not sufficient for protection in vivo. Sera containing IgG1 and IgG2b neutralized toxin in vitro and conferred protection in vivo. IgG1 therefore emerged as a good correlate of protection. Next, C57Bl/6 mice were immunized with PA alone or PA plus a Th2-skewing α-GC derivative known as OCH. Neutralizing PA-specific IgG1 responses were modestly enhanced by OCH in C57Bl/6 mice. Conversely, IgG2b and IgG2c were considerably enhanced in PA/OCH-immunized IL-4−/− mice but did not confer protection. Finally, bone marrow chimeras were generated such that NKT cells were unable to express IL-4 or IFNγ. NKT-derived IL-4 was required for OCH-enhanced primary IgG1 responses but not recall responses. NKT-derived IL-4 and IFNγ also influenced primary and recall IgG2b and IgG2c titers. These data suggest targeted skewing of the Th2 response by α-GC derivatives can be exploited to optimize anthrax vaccination.