Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
In vitro diagnosis of atopic allergy The occurrence and clustering of positive RAST results as a function of age and total IgE concentration

Specific IgE antibodies were determined on a routine basis in patient sera using the radicallergosorbent test (RAST) with a panel of ten common allergens. Total IgE was also assayed. Of all positive RAST reactions observed, 74% were against the following allergens: horse and cat epithelium, birch and timothy pollen, and house dust. Clustering (occurrence together with significantly elevated frequencies) accompanied both positive reactions to some animal danders and food allergens. Children in all age groups had significantly more positive food RAST results than adults, and this explains the clustering among food allergen results. Children aged 0–4 years had few positive pollen results. Among those with at least one positive RAST result, the mean number of positive results was 3.3, a figure which did not vary with age. In the present patient population 37% had a total IgE above the upper reference (normal) limit, and of these 95% had at least one positive RAST result. A normal or low IgE value was found to be less informative.
Youth 'at risk'? Young people, sexual health and consent

In Australia, there is a growing expectation that sexuality education should reduce the risks associated with youth sex by providing young people with information on protecting their sexual health. However, this information may be insufficient to ensure that young people make choices that support their sexual safety and autonomy. This paper considers the adverse implications of the problematisation of youth sexuality for young people's sexual health and autonomy. it draws on interview and focus group data from 117 young people to explore the varying degrees of opportunity that youth have to actively negotiate and promote safe and consensual sex. Finally, implications for sexuality education and violence prevention are briefly considered.
Neural Plasticity in Action Recognition: A VBM and fMRI Study

NEURAL PLASTICITY IN ACTION RECOGNITION: A VBM AND fMRI STUDY Shira L. Levy, M.A. George Mason University, 2010 Thesis Director: Dr. James C. Thompson In our day-to-day interactions, we use our own motor representations to understand the actions of those around us. How we relate to others is an important part of life. Understanding motor representations can help us to better learn and grow, conduct relationships, assess intent, and increase the quality of our daily lives. Further, understanding how we acquire motor representations can help us better understand this mechanism as we use it. The acquisition of these motor representations can be described by functional changes in the brain as well as structural changes in the brain. The relationship between these expressions of plasticity is not well understood. In this study, I sought to establish if a mediation equation would explain the results of an action recognition study. Participants were taught a novel one ball juggling cascade task either by physically performing it (nonvisual motor group) or by means of observation (nonmotor visual group). The group who physically performed the task learned completely without visual input ensured by blindfolds. The observation group was taught a visual task with physical practice. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans were taken before, during, and after training. The functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) results represented functional changes between time points. These results showed the changes in action recognition as a result of training. A voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analysis, performed on the structural MRI images, represented the structural changes. These results were overlaid to determine regions which spatially overlap for both functional and structural changes, with the head of the hippocampus as the only brain region which demonstrated both. A region of interest (ROI) analysis was conducted on the individual images for the head of the hippocampus to obtain mean intensities. These means were entered into Baron and Kenny’s (1986) mediation equations to determine if structural changes act as a mediator on the relationship between time and functional changes. While the equations for the relationship between time on functional changes and time on structural changes were significant, the relationship between structural changes on functional changes was not significant. Therefore the requirements of Baron and Kenny (1986) were not upheld, leading to the conclusion that structural changes do not act as a mediator in the relationship between time and functional changes.
Simplification of unstructured tetrahedral meshes by point sampling

Tetrahedral meshes are widely used in scientific computing for representing 3D scalar, vector, and tensor fields. The size and complexity of some of these meshes can limit the performance of many visualization algorithms, making it hard to achieve interactive visualization. The use of simplified models is one way to enable the real-time exploration of these datasets. In this paper, we propose a novel technique for simplifying large unstructured meshes. Most current techniques simplify the geometry of the mesh using edge collapses. Our technique simplifies an underlying scalar field directly by segmenting the original scalar field into two pieces: the boundary of the original domain and the interior samples of the scalar field. We then simplify each piece separately, taking into account proper error bounds. Finally, we combine the simplified domain boundary and scalar field into a complete, simplified mesh that can be visualized with standard unstructured-data visualization tools. Our technique is much faster than edge-collapse-based simplification approaches. Furthermore, it is particularly suitable for aggressive simplification. Experiments show that isosurfaces and volume renderings of meshes produced by our technique have few noticeable visual artifacts.
Impact of Virtual Flux reference frame orientation on voltage source inverters in weak grids

This paper investigates how different approaches to grid synchronization and reference frame orientation can improve the control performance of a voltage source inverter operating in a weak grid. It is first shown how voltage-sensor-less operation based on Virtual Flux allows for flexibility in how to choose the reference frame orientation of the control system. The different possible orientations are then explained, and the potential improvement in stability and performance of the control system is discussed. If is further explained how the choice of reference frame orientation can be used to select a point in the grid seen from the converter, where reactive power flow or power factor can be explicitly controlled. The dynamic response and stability limits of an inverter operating in a weak grid have been investigated by simulations for verifying and illustrating the influence of different reference frame orientations
Are Autistic Traits in the General Population Stable across Development?

There is accumulating evidence that autistic traits (AT) are on a continuum in the general population, with clinical autism representing the extreme end of a quantitative distribution. While the nature and severity of symptoms in clinical autism are known to persist over time, no study has examined the long-term stability of AT among typically developing toddlers. The current investigation measured AT in 360 males and 400 males from the general population close to two decades apart, using the Pervasive Developmental Disorder subscale of the Child Behavior Checklist in early childhood (M = 2.14 years; SD = 0.15), and the Autism-Spectrum Quotient in early adulthood (M = 19.50 years; SD = 0.70). Items from each scale were further divided into social (difficulties with social interaction and communication) and non-social (restricted and repetitive behaviours and interests) AT. The association between child and adult measurements of AT as well the influence of potentially confounding sociodemographic, antenatal and obstetric variables were assessed using Pearson's correlations and linear regression. For males, Total AT in early childhood were positively correlated with total AT (r = .16, p = .002) and social AT (r = .16, p = .002) in adulthood. There was also a positive correlation for males between social AT measured in early childhood and Total (r = .17, p = .001) and social AT (r = .16, p = .002) measured in adulthood. Correlations for non-social AT did not achieve significance in males. Furthermore, there was no significant longitudinal association in AT observed for males or females. Despite the constraints of using different measures and different raters at the two ages, this study found modest developmental stability of social AT from early childhood to adulthood in boys.
Learning A Task-Specific Deep Architecture For Clustering

While sparse coding-based clustering methods have shown to be successful, their bottlenecks in both efficiency and scalability limit the practical usage. In recent years, deep learning has been proved to be a highly effective, efficient and scalable feature learning tool. In this paper, we propose to emulate the sparse coding-based clustering pipeline in the context of deep learning, leading to a carefully crafted deep model benefiting from both. A feed-forward network structure, named TAGnet, is constructed based on a graph-regularized sparse coding algorithm. It is then trained with task-specific loss functions from end to end. We discover that connecting deep learning to sparse coding benefits not only the model performance, but also its initialization and interpretation. Moreover, by introducing auxiliary clustering tasks to the intermediate feature hierarchy, we formulate DTAGnet and obtain a further performance boost. Extensive experiments demonstrate that the proposed model gains remarkable margins over several state-of-the-art methods.
Can Short-Term Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy Combined With Visual Biofeedback Training Improve Hemiplegic Upper Limb Function of Subacute Stroke Patients?

Objective To Investigate the synergic effects of short-term constraint-induced movement therapy (CIMT) and visual biofeedback training (VBT) in subacute stroke patients. Methods Thirty-two subacute stroke patients were enrolled and randomly assigned to one of three groups: short-term CIMT with VBT, VBT only, and control groups. We applied CIMT for an hour daily during VBT instead of the ordinary restraint time, referred to as 'short-term' CIMT. Short-term CIMT with VBT group received simultaneous VBT with CIMT, whereas the VBT the only group received VBT without CIMT for an hour a day for 2 weeks. The control group received conventional occupational therapy (OT) alone. Patients underwent the Purdue Pegboard Test, the JAMAR grip strength test, the Wolf Motor Function Test, the Fugl-Meyer Assessment (upper extremity), Motricity index and the Korean version of Modified Barthel Index test to evaluate motor functions of the hemiplegic upper limb at baseline, post-treatment, and 2 weeks after treatment. Results No significant differences were observed between short-term CIMT with VBT and VBT only groups. Both groups showed significantly higher scores compared to the control group in the WMFT and FMA tests. However, the short-term CIMT with VBT group showed significant improvement (p<0.05) compared with the control group in both grasp and pad pinch at post-treatment and 2 weeks after treatment while the VBT only group did not. Conclusion Short-term CIMT with VBT group did not show significant improvement of hemiplegic upper limb function of subacute stroke patients, compared to VBT only group. Larger sample sizes and different restraint times would be needed to clarify the effect.
The Monoclus of a Coalitional Game

The analysis of single-valued solution concepts for coalitional games with transferable utilities has a long tradition. Opposed to most of this literature we will not deal with solution concepts that provide payoffs to the players for the grand coalition only, but we will analyze allocation scheme rules, which assign payoffs to all players in all coalitions. We introduce four closely related allocation scheme rules for coalitional games. Each of these rules results in a population monotonic allocation scheme (PMAS) whenever the underlying coalitional game allows for a PMAS. The driving force behind these rules are monotonicities, which measure the payoff difference for a player between two nested coalitions. From a functional point of view these monotonicities can best be compared with the excesses in the definition of the (pre-)nucleolus. Two different domains and two different collections of monotonicities result in four allocation scheme rules. For each of the rules we deal with nonemptiness, uniqueness, and continuity, followed by an analysis of conditions for (some of) the rules to coincide. We then focus on characterizing the rules in terms of subbalanced weights. Finally, we deal with computational issues by providing a sequence of linear programs.
The development of thin film barriers for encapsulating organic electronics

In this work, we investigate several approaches to the development of encapsulation of organic electronics. A combination of plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition, atomic layer deposition, and physical vapor deposition are used to make single layer and multilayer thin films and study the impact of structure on effective water vapor transmission rates. It was found that multilayer thin films consisting of organic and inorganic layers as well as inorganic nanolaminates provided the highest performance barrier films with effective water vapor transmission rates less than 5 × 10−5 g/m2/day. Materials such as atomic layer deposition deposited Al2O3 also showed excellent initial performance, but were found to be susceptible to corrosion from water. Combining alumina with other materials was found to improve the long-term performance of the alumina films. Integration of these films into organic solar cell platforms was shown to effectively maintain shelf lifetime performance for more than 7000 h.
An Alternative to Self-Reports of Trait and State Affect The Implicit Positive and Negative Affect Test (IPANAT)

Self-report measures for the assessment of trait or state affect are typically biased by social desirability or self-delusion. The present work provides an overview of research using a recently developed measure of automatic activation of cognitive representation of affective experiences, the Implicit Positive and Negative Affect Test (IPANAT). In the IPANAT, participants judge the extent to which nonsense words from an alleged artificial language express a number of affective states or traits. The test demonstrates appropriate factorial validity and reliabilities. We review findings that support criterion validity and, additionally, present novel variants of this procedure for the assessment of the discrete emotions such as happiness, anger, sadness, and fear.
Procalcitonin levels within 48 hours after burn injury as a prognostic factor.

PURPOSE This study was performed to evaluate the clinical significance of procalcitonin in burn patients and to investigate whether procalcitonin levels at admission can be a prognostic indicator for sepsis and mortality. MATERIALS AND METHODS Between January 2009 and December 2010, procalcitonin levels in 175 patients were tested within the first 48 hours after burn injury. Serum procalcitonin was measured using an enzyme-linked fluorescence assay. Mortality rates and positive culture rates of blood, wound, and sputum were evaluated among the subgroups divided by burn size, procalcitonin levels, and clinical prognosis. RESULTS Positive blood culture and mortality rates correlated significantly with procalcitonin concentrations within the first 48 hours after burn injury. The area under the ROC curve for procalcitonin related to mortality was 0.844. Survival analysis revealed that the mortality rate was significantly higher in patients with procalcitonin concentrations ≥ 2 ng/mL than in patients with procalcitonin concentrations < 2 ng/mL (P < 0.001). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that procalcitonin was an independent prognostic factor for burn patients (Hazard ratio = 3.16, P = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS Procalcitonin concentrations determined within the first 48 hours after burn injury can be a useful prognostic indicator for sepsis and mortality in burn patients.
Virome and Inflammasomes, a Finely Tuned Balance with Important Consequences for the Host Health.

BACKGROUND The virome is a network of viruses normally inhabiting humans. It forms a conspicuous portion of the so-called microbiome, once generically referred to as resident flora. Indeed, viruses infecting humans without leading to clinical disease are increasingly recognized as part of the microbiome and have an impact on the development of our immune system. In addition, they activate inflammasomes, multiprotein complexes that assemble in cells and that are responsible for the downstream effects of sensing pathogens. OBJECTIVE This review aims at summarizing the evidence on the role of the virome in modulating inflammation and emphasizes evidence for Anelloviruses as useful molecular markers to monitor inflammatory processes and immune system competence. METHOD We carried out a review of the literature published in the last 5 years and summarized older literature to take into account ground-breaking discoveries concerning inflammasome assembly and virome. RESULTS A massive amount of data recently emerging demonstrate that the microbiome closely reflects what we eat, and many other unexpected variables. Composition, location, and amount of the microbiome have an impact on innate and adaptive immune defences. Viruses making up the virome contribute to shaping the immune system. Anelloviruses, the best known of such viruses, are present in most human beings, persistently without causing apparent disease. Depending on their interplay with such viruses, inflammasomes instruct host defences to tolerate or forfeit a specific microorganism. CONCLUSION The virome plays an important role in shaping human immune defences and contributes to inflammatory processes by quenching or increasing them.
Gambling Habits Among Aged African Americans

Abstract In a cross-sectional study we investigated the correlates of gambling habits among a sample of 80 independently living African-American elderly persons. The participants were selected from two Senior Citizen Centers that provide inexpensive or free pleasure trips from Los Angeles, California to gambling sites in Nevada. The data for this study were collected through face-to-face interviews conducted by three trained female middle-aged African-American interviewers in October and November 1998. Our data identified 64% of this sample as non- or occasional gamblers, 19% as light to moderate gamblers and 17% as heavy to pathological gamblers. Our data document a statistically significant relationship between gambling behaviors and psychological well-being, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, perceived health status, health locus of control, religiousness, and stressful life-events. Results of this study point to an urgent need for: (1) publicizing the potentially lethal physical and mental consequences of gambling among elderly persons; (2) developing educational programs and interventions to prevent gambling addiction from developing among the elderly; and (3) providing primary care practitioners with training to facilitate early detection and treatment of gambling problems among at-risk aged persons
Excited states in the large density limit: a variational approach

Excited states of Bose–Einstein condensates are considered in the large density limit of the Gross–Pitaevskii equation with repulsive inter-atomic interactions and a harmonic potential. The relative dynamics of dark solitons (density dips on the localized condensate) with respect to the harmonic potential and to each other is approximated using the averaged Lagrangian method. This permits a complete characterization of the equilibrium positions of the dark solitons as a function of the chemical potential. It also yields an analytical handle on the oscillation frequencies of dark solitons around such equilibria. The asymptotic predictions are generalized for an arbitrary number of dark solitons and are corroborated by numerical computations for 2- and 3-soliton configurations.
miRNA-100 Inhibits Human Bladder Urothelial Carcinogenesis by Directly Targeting mTOR

miRNAs are involved in cancer development and progression, acting as tumor suppressors or oncogenes. In this study, miRNA profiling was conducted on 10 paired bladder cancer tissues using 20 GeneChip miRNA Array, and 10 differentially expressed miRNAs were identified in bladder cancer and adjacent noncancerous tissues of any disease stage/grade. After being validated on expanded cohort of 67 paired bladder cancer tissues and 10 human bladder cancer cell lines by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR), it was found that miR-100 was downregulated most significantly in cancer tissues. Ectopic restoration of miR-100 expression in bladder cancer cells suppressed cell proliferation and motility, induced cell-cycle arrest in vitro, and inhibited tumorigenesis in vivo both in subcutaneous and in intravesical passage. Bioinformatic analysis showed that the mTOR gene was a direct target of miR-100. siRNA-mediated mTOR knockdown phenocopied the effect of miR-100 in bladder cancer cell lines. In addition, the cancerous metastatic nude mouse model established on the basis of primary bladder cancer cell lines suggested that miR-100/mTOR regulated cell motility and was associated with tumor metastasis. Both mTOR and p70S6K (downstream messenger) presented higher expression levels in distant metastatic foci such as in liver and kidney metastases than in primary tumor. Taken together, miR-100 may act as a tumor suppressor in bladder cancer, and reintroduction of this mature miRNA into tumor tissue may prove to be a therapeutic strategy by reducing the expression of target genes. Mol Cancer Ther; 12(2); 207–19. ©2012 AACR.
Negative Predictive Value of Endoscopic Ultrasound in a Large Series of Patients with a Clinical Suspicion of Pancreatic Cancer

OBJECTIVES:Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) has been shown to be very accurate in the diagnosis and staging of pancreatic cancer. The accuracy of EUS in predicting the absence of pancreatic cancer in a large series of patients with a clinical suspicion of pancreatic cancer is not well documented. Our aim was to determine the negative predictive value (NPV) of EUS in patients with a suspicion of pancreatic cancer.METHODS:We retrospectively reviewed, from our EUS database (between January 1999 and March 2003), 693 patients who were suspected of having pancreatic cancer and had EUS examinations. A total of 155 patients were found by EUS to have a completely normal pancreas. Indications for EUS in these patients included: weight loss/abdominal pain; and/or pancreatic enlargement/fullness on computed tomography (CT); and/or bile duct/pancreatic duct narrowing on endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography; and/or an elevated CA 19-9. Follow-up information was obtained in 135/155 (87%) patients from patient phone calls and/or physician visits and/or CT scan. The mean follow-up period was 25 months (range 8–48 months). RESULTS:No patients developed pancreatic cancer during the follow-up period. Following the EUS examination, no work-up was required in 119/135 (88%) of patients. CT scan was performed in 16 patients at 6 months postprocedure, none of which showed a pancreatic mass. The NPV of EUS in excluding pancreatic cancer in those patients with follow-up was 100%. CONCLUSION:EUS is highly specific in the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer with a NPV of 100% and obviates the need for further diagnostic testing. In patients with a clinical suspicion of pancreatic cancer, EUS should be considered as the initial diagnostic modality.