Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Enhancement of precise hand movement by transcranial direct current stimulation

The effect of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on the precise nondominant hand movement was investigated by applying anodal stimulation over the right primary motor cortex. We recruited 14 healthy participants for this single-blind, sham-controlled crossover trial. A circle-drawing task was performed before, immediately after, and at 30 min after 20 min of 1 mA anodal or sham tDCS. Anodal tDCS, compared with sham stimulation, significantly improved the circle-drawing task compared with sham stimulation. The deviation area and path length of the task were significantly decreased after anodal tDCS application and were further enhanced at 30 min after stimulation. These results suggest that anodal tDCS over the primary motor cortex enhances the precise movement of the nondominant hand for 30 min in healthy participants.
Vaccinia Virus Protein C6 Inhibits Type I IFN Signalling in the Nucleus and Binds to the Transactivation Domain of STAT2

The type I interferon (IFN) response is a crucial innate immune signalling pathway required for defense against viral infection. Accordingly, the great majority of mammalian viruses possess means to inhibit this important host immune response. Here we show that vaccinia virus (VACV) strain Western Reserve protein C6, is a dual function protein that inhibits the cellular response to type I IFNs in addition to its published function as an inhibitor of IRF-3 activation, thereby restricting type I IFN production from infected cells. Ectopic expression of C6 inhibits the induction of interferon stimulated genes (ISGs) in response to IFNα treatment at both the mRNA and protein level. C6 inhibits the IFNα-induced Janus kinase/signal transducer and activator of transcription (JAK/STAT) signalling pathway at a late stage, downstream of STAT1 and STAT2 phosphorylation, nuclear translocation and binding of the interferon stimulated gene factor 3 (ISGF3) complex to the interferon stimulated response element (ISRE). Mechanistically, C6 associates with the transactivation domain of STAT2 and this might explain how C6 inhibits the type I IFN signalling very late in the pathway. During virus infection C6 reduces ISRE-dependent gene expression despite the presence of the viral protein phosphatase VH1 that dephosphorylates STAT1 and STAT2. The ability of a cytoplasmic replicating virus to dampen the immune response within the nucleus, and the ability of viral immunomodulators such as C6 to inhibit multiple stages of the innate immune response by distinct mechanisms, emphasizes the intricacies of host-pathogen interactions and viral immune evasion.
Planned Repeat Cesarean Section at Term and Adverse Childhood Health Outcomes: A Record-Linkage Study

Background Global cesarean section (CS) rates range from 1% to 52%, with a previous CS being the commonest indication. Labour following a previous CS carries risk of scar rupture, with potential for offspring hypoxic brain injury, leading to high rates of repeat elective CS. However, the effect of delivery by CS on long-term outcomes in children is unclear. Increasing evidence suggests that in avoiding exposure to maternal bowel flora during labour or vaginal birth, offspring delivered by CS may be adversely affected in terms of energy uptake from the gut and immune development, increasing obesity and asthma risks, respectively. This study aimed to address the evidence gap on long-term childhood outcomes following repeat CS by comparing adverse childhood health outcomes after (1) planned repeat CS and (2) unscheduled repeat CS with those that follow vaginal birth after CS (VBAC). Methods and Findings A data-linkage cohort study was performed. All second-born, term, singleton offspring delivered between 1 January 1993 and 31 December 2007 in Scotland, UK, to women with a history of CS (n = 40,145) were followed up until 31 January 2015. Outcomes assessed included obesity at age 5 y, hospitalisation with asthma, learning disability, cerebral palsy, and death. Cox regression and binary logistic regression were used as appropriate to compare outcomes following planned repeat CS (n = 17,919) and unscheduled repeat CS (n = 8,847) with those following VBAC (n = 13,379). Risk of hospitalisation with asthma was greater following both unscheduled repeat CS (3.7% versus 3.3%, adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 1.18, 95% CI 1.05–1.33) and planned repeat CS (3.6% versus 3.3%, adjusted HR 1.24, 95% CI 1.09–1.42) compared with VBAC. Learning disability and death were more common following unscheduled repeat CS compared with VBAC (3.7% versus 2.3%, adjusted odds ratio 1.64, 95% CI 1.17–2.29, and 0.5% versus 0.4%, adjusted HR 1.50, 95% CI 1.00–2.25, respectively). Risk of obesity at age 5 y and risk of cerebral palsy were similar between planned repeat CS or unscheduled repeat CS and VBAC. Study limitations include the risk that women undergoing an unscheduled CS had intended to have a planned CS, and lack of data on indication for CS, which may confound the findings. Conclusions Birth by repeat CS, whether planned or unscheduled, was associated with an increased risk of hospitalisation with asthma but no difference in risk of obesity at age 5 y. Greater risk of death and learning disability following unscheduled repeat CS compared to VBAC may reflect complications during labour. Further research, including meta-analyses of studies of rarer outcomes (e.g., cerebral palsy), are needed to confirm whether such risks are similar between delivery groups.
Ninth grade students' understanding of the nature of scientific knowledge

Bu calismanin amaci lise 1 ogrencilerinin bilimsel bilginin dogasini nasil algiladiklarini ve bu bilginin cinsiyete ve okul turune bagli olarak degisip degismedigini saptamaktir. Arastirmaya dort farkli okul turunden (devlet lisesi, anadolu lisesi, meslek lisesi ve super lise) 575 ogrenci katilmistir. Veriler “Bilimsel Bilginin Dogasi Olcegi” kullanilarak toplanmis ve coklu varyans analizi kullanilarak analiz edilmistir. Sonuclar lise 1 ogrencilerinin bilimsel bilginin dogasini algilamasinin cinsiyete ve okul turune bagli olarak degistigini gostermistir. Ayrica katilimcilarin buyuk bir kisminin bilimsel bilginin dogasi hakkinda yeterli bilgiye sahip olmadigi saptanmistir
Selective exposure to information: the impact of information limits

In research on selective exposure to information, people have been found to predominantly seek information supporting rather than conflicting with their opinion. In most of these studies, participants were allowed to search for as many pieces of information as they liked. However, in many situations, the amount of information that people can search for is restricted. We report four experiments addressing this issue. Experiment 1 suggests that objective limits regarding the maximum number of pieces of information the participants could search for increases the preference for selecting supporting over conflicting information. In Experiment 2, just giving participants a cue about information scarcity induces the same effect, even in the absence of any objective restrictions. Finally, Experiment 3 and 4 clarify the underlying psychological process by showing that information limits increase selective exposure to information because information search is guided by the expected information quality, which is basically biased towards supporting information, and information limits act to reinforce this tendency. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Frontal dysfunction in early Parkinson's diseases

Recent studies have suggested that patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) share many of the behavioral deficits found following lesions to the pre‐frontal cortex. We assessed the performance of a group of 22 mildly impaired, not‐demented parkinsonians (I or II Hoehn & Yahr stage) in a test of classification and recall of pictures of familiar objects, which has been demonstrated to be sensitive to frontal damage in patients with unilateral cerebral excision. Parkinsonians utilized fewer categories than normal controls for object classification, while no significant difference was found in the immediate and delayed recall scores. These results support the contention that a subclinical dysfunction of frontal type may be present even in the early stages of PD. A subanalysis of the data suggests that this dysfunction could possibly be aggravated by anticholinergic drugs.
Use of the internet and traditional media among young people

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of traditional media as well as the internet among young people in Hong Kong. With the fast development of the internet, the use of interpersonal as well as computer‐mediated communication has changed greatly. A study of how young people use traditional and new media is crucial as it enables commercial and social marketers to fully understand the role of mass mediated messages in the lives of youth. As the youth market expands and consumption power increases, marketers need to capture the latest trends in order to reach the young generation.Design/methodology/approach – A survey of 405 Chinese persons aged 15 to 24 in Hong Kong was conducted in February 2006 using a self‐administered questionnaire. Undergraduate students distributed and collected these questionnaires through face‐to‐face interactions.Findings – The study finds that the internet plays a prominent role among the young people in Hong Kong. A majority of respondents aged 15 to 24 spent.
The lasso for high dimensional regression with a possible change point

We consider a high dimensional regression model with a possible change point due to a covariate threshold and develop the lasso estimator of regression coefficients as well as the threshold parameter. Our lasso estimator not only selects covariates but also selects a model between linear and threshold regression models. Under a sparsity assumption, we derive non‐asymptotic oracle inequalities for both the prediction risk and the l1 ‐estimation loss for regression coefficients. Since the lasso estimator selects variables simultaneously, we show that oracle inequalities can be established without pretesting the existence of the threshold effect. Furthermore, we establish conditions under which the estimation error of the unknown threshold parameter can be bounded by a factor that is nearly n−1 even when the number of regressors can be much larger than the sample size n. We illustrate the usefulness of our proposed estimation method via Monte Carlo simulations and an application to real data.
Quantitative Trait Locus Mapping Reveals Regions of the Maize Genome Controlling Root System Architecture1[OPEN]

Phenotypic variation of maize root system architecture highlights a genetic trade-off between small compact and large, exploratory root systems. The quest to determine the genetic basis of root system architecture (RSA) has been greatly facilitated by recent developments in root phenotyping techniques. Methods that are accurate, high throughput, and control for environmental factors are especially attractive for quantitative trait locus mapping. Here, we describe the adaptation of a nondestructive in vivo gel-based root imaging platform for use in maize (Zea mays). We identify a large number of contrasting RSA traits among 25 founder lines of the maize nested association mapping population and locate 102 quantitative trait loci using the B73 (compact RSA) × Ki3 (exploratory RSA) mapping population. Our results suggest that a phenotypic tradeoff exists between small, compact RSA and large, exploratory RSA.
Good relationships at work: The effects of Leader–Member Exchange and Team–Member Exchange on psychological empowerment, emotional exhaustion, and depression

Summary Emotional exhaustion and depression pose a threat to employees' psychological health. Social relationships at work are important potential buffers against these threats, but the corresponding psychological processes are still unclear. We propose that the subjective experience of high-quality relationships with supervisors (i.e., Leader–Member Exchange [LMX]) is one of the protective factors against psychological health issues at work and that this effect is mediated by psychological empowerment. We tested these assumptions with two studies (one cross-sectional and one time lagged) on diverse samples of employees from different organizations. The first study employed emotional exhaustion as the outcome measure; the second used depression. Results from both studies support the proposed process by showing that LMX positively affects empowerment, which negatively affects emotional exhaustion (Study 1) and depression (Study 2). Additionally, Study 2 also showed that Team–Member Exchange is as important as LMX for preventing psychological health issues among employees. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Still praying strong. An empirical study of the praying practices in a secular society

This thesis addresses my PhD project that was carried out at the Radboud University in Nijmegen (the Netherlands). The project is a continuation of the ongoing research programme, headed by Jacques Janssen, on praying practices. The aim of present study is twofold, (1) to describe the praying practices of the Dutch, and (2) to investigate why people pray in a secularised society. First, we examined the praying frequency of the Dutch population (SOCON, social and cultural developments in the Netherlands, N = 1008), and administered six open-ended questions about praying: what is praying to you? , and why, how, with which aim, where and when do you pray? Finally, we administered a prayer inventory and coping questionnaire to examine the relation between religious coping and varieties of prayer. Taken together, the findings showed that praying behaviour is a widespread religious activity among the Dutch population, in spite of the decline in church membership and church attendance. Furthermore, four types of praying were distinguished: two traditional prayer types, the religious and petitionary prayer, and two more individualised, spiritual, or non-institutionalised types, the meditative and impulsive prayer. As regards the reasons why praying behaviour may survive in a secularised society, we found first, that religious socialisation plays an important role in transmitting traditionally religious behaviour, whereas it plays no role with respect to contemporary religious behaviour. Subsequently, it emerged that praying is related to religious coping. In addition, various types of praying are related to various coping styles. Hence, we conclude that praying may have a psychological function to people, particularly when confronted with existential problems of life. In that case, people develop a way to prayer, not related to a religious institution, but a way that fits their individualised needs.
Optimal sub-Nyquist nonuniform sampling and reconstruction for multiband signals

We study the problem of optimal sub-Nyquist sampling for perfect reconstruction of multiband signals. The signals are assumed to have a known spectral support /spl Fscr/ that does not tile under translation. Such signals admit perfect reconstruction from periodic nonuniform sampling at rates approaching Landau's (1967) lower bound equal to the measure of /spl Fscr/. For signals with sparse /spl Fscr/, this rate can be much smaller than the Nyquist rate. Unfortunately the reduced sampling rates afforded by this scheme can be accompanied by increased error sensitivity. In a previous study, we derived bounds on the error due to mismodeling and sample additive noise. Adopting these bounds as performance measures, we consider the problems of optimizing the reconstruction sections of the system, choosing the optimal base sampling rate, and designing the nonuniform sampling pattern. We find that optimizing these parameters can improve system performance significantly. Furthermore, uniform sampling is optimal for signals with /spl Fscr/ that tiles under translation. For signals with nontiling /spl Fscr/, which are not amenable to efficient uniform sampling, the results reveal increased error sensitivities with sub-Nyquist sampling. However, these can be controlled by optimal design, demonstrating the potential for practical multifold reductions in sampling rate.
Dehydration Causes Increased Reliance on Protein Oxidation in Mice: A Test of the Protein-for-Water Hypothesis in a Mammal

During fasting, animals rely on a mixture of fats, carbohydrates, and proteins that are derived solely from endogenous sources. The relative contributions of these metabolic fuels chiefly depend on the duration of the fast, but other factors including previous diet, environmental temperature, and activity level can modulate the fuel mixture. It has long been held that endogenous proteins are spared from catabolism until the final stages of prolonged fasting and contribute a significant proportion of energy once the other metabolic fuels have been depleted. However, evidence is mounting that protein is catabolized supplemental to fat metabolism under some circumstances. This has been shown in migratory birds that exhibit dramatic reductions in lean mass during flights. One hypothesis to explain this seemingly maladaptive metabolic strategy is that the catabolism and oxidation of protein in situ yields five times more metabolic water than that generated through fat oxidation alone. Recent support for this hypothesis is that birds benefit from such a strategy due to their uricotelic nature. However, it remains unclear whether ureotelic mammals would also employ this strategy. Here we test the protein-for-water hypothesis in resting laboratory mice subjected to water deprivation during fasting while we tracked rates of protein and lipid catabolism using endogenously incorporated 13C-leucine and 13C-palmitic acid. We found no differences in instantaneous leucine oxidation; however, cumulative differences in instantaneous leucine oxidation ultimately resulted in a higher total leucine oxidation after 72 h of fasting in water-deprived animals. We also found that lipid oxidation was 8% higher in the hydrated mice, but the difference was not significant presumably because of a concomitant reduction in metabolic rates of the water-deprived mice. Our results indicate that mammals do increase rates of protein catabolism during dehydration but to a lesser degree than birds. The ability of mammals to produce highly concentrated urine and their lower inherent rates of protein turnover apparently preclude mammals from taking full advantage of the protein-for-water strategy during fasting under dehydrating conditions.
[Effects of aging on vestibular evoked myogenic potential].

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study is to assess the effects of aging on air-conducted sound elicited cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potential (cVEMP) and ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potential(oVEMP) in normal people. METHOD Sixty normal subjects were recruited for the vestibular evoked myogenic potential examination. Among them, 20-40 year-old group was setted as the first group, 41-60 year-old group was setted as the second group, > 60-year-old group was setted as the third group. Each group included 20 normal subjects. SPSS 16.0 software was used to analyze the data. RESULT As the age growing, P1 latency prolonged, N1-P1 amplitude decreased, and amplitude asymmetric ratio increased in cVEMP; N1 latency prolonged, P1-N1 amplitude decreased, and amplitude asymmetric ratio increased in oVEMP. CONCLUSION With the age growing, the time of otolithic organ input pathways prolonged, the function of otolithic organ decreased and the decrease level may be asymeetrical on both sides.
On the Role of Brand Stereotypes in Shaping Consumer Response toward Brands: An Empirical Examination of Direct and Mediating Effects of Warmth and Competence

The purpose of this article is to contribute to the branding literature by examining the critical role of brand stereotypes in shaping consumers’ brand-related responses. Drawing on the Stereotype Content Model, this article examines how warmth and competence stereotypes impact consumers’ emotional reaction toward brands and in turn consumers’ brand attitudes and behavioral intention. In addition, this article examines how brand stereotypes mediate the relationships between brand personality and consumers’ brand emotions. The results from this study support the dual role of brand stereotypes as relevant predictors of brand emotions, and intervening variables mediating the effects from brand personality perceptions on brand emotions. The findings support the view that mechanisms of social perception apply to brand perception and provide new insights about the relationship between consumers’ brand perceptions and their responses toward brands.
Attentional capture by onsets and offsets

An object that appears abruptly captures attention. To investigate the underlying mechanisms of onset capture, two related questions were asked: (1) Is capture driven by the luminance transients that accompany the onset? (2) Is capture modulated by the observer's attentional set? The questions were addressed by comparing attentional capture by an onset, and an offset, stimulus. If the onset's luminance transients drive, an offset, which also evokes luminance change, should successfully capture attention. Two different top-down contexts were examined: When the target location was defined by (1) a static, and (2) a dynamic, discontinuity. The results showed that an irrelevant onset cue successfully captured attention even when the attentional setting was not programmed to monitor onsets. But, an offset stimulus only captured attention when observers were set, specifically, to monitor an offset, or a luminance change.
Term selection patterns for formulating queries: a User study focused on term semantics

This study aims at investigating query formulation and reformulation patterns within the search procedure focusing mainly on the semantic aspect of submitted queries. Results identified generalisations, specifications, parallel movements and replacements with synonyms; the parallel movement came first in the users' preferences for reformulating a query. Additionally this study revealed that users used terms identified within the retrieved result sets for reformulating their queries. Users also used provided terms for formulating their queries while some terms that users typed in either for formulating or reformulating their queries were repeated even in queries with no strictly related subject of interest. Regarding the length of the queries outcomes showed that users, consistently to previous studies, typed in mostly one word per query. Furthermore, approximately half of the terms users chose for carrying out their searches were actually included in the Eurovoc thesaurus.