Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Parent Perceptions About Autism Spectrum Disorder Influence Treatment Choices

Parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) must identify, select, and even implement treatments. Child age, cognitive functioning, ASD symptoms, family income, parent education, and cultural background, all may influence treatment selection. Parents’ perceptions about ASD also may contribute. We explored whether parents’ perceptions of ASD, along with family- and child-specific characteristics, predicted use of various ASD treatment categories. Sixty-eight families from the Simons Simplex Collection completed the Revised Illness Perception Questionnaire (IPQ-R). Logistic regression results indicated that when parent perceptions predicted use of a treatment category, relative contribution of perceptions was somewhat stronger than child- and family-specific factors (i.e., demographics, functioning). Moreover, predictive factors differed between treatment categories. Overall, treatment category use was influenced by parents’ perceptions of control over ASD treatment, behaviors perceived to be related to ASD, and beliefs about chronicity of the diagnosis. These findings may contribute to broader understanding of parents’ ASD treatment selection and enhance professionals’ ability to guide families’ decision-making.
Elucidating drivers of oral epithelial dysplasia formation and malignant transformation to cancer using RNAseq

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a prevalent cancer with poor prognosis. Most OSCC progresses via a non-malignant stage called dysplasia. Effective treatment of dysplasia prior to potential malignant transformation is an unmet clinical need. To identify markers of early disease, we performed RNA sequencing of 19 matched HPV negative patient trios: normal oral mucosa, dysplasia and associated OSCC. We performed differential gene expression, principal component and correlated gene network analysis using these data. We found differences in the immune cell signatures present at different disease stages and were able to distinguish early events in pathogenesis, such as upregulation of many HOX genes, from later events, such as down-regulation of adherens junctions. We herein highlight novel coding and non-coding candidates for involvement in oral dysplasia development and malignant transformation, and speculate on how our findings may guide further translational research into the treatment of oral dysplasia.
Credit and Banking in a DSGE Model of the Euro Area

This paper studies the role of credit-supply factors in business cycle fluctuations. For this purpose, we introduce an imperfectly competitive banking sector into a DSGE model with financial frictions. Banks issue collateralized loans to both households and firms, obtain funding via deposits and accumulate capital from retained earnings. Margins charged on loans depend on bank capital-to-assets ratios and on the degree of interest rate stickiness. Bank balance-sheet constraints establish a link between the business cycle, which affects bank profits and thus capital, and the supply and cost of loans. The model is estimated with Bayesian techniques using data for the euro area. The analysis delivers the following results. First, the existence of a banking sector partially attenuates the effects of demand shocks, while it helps propagate supply shocks. Second, shocks originating in the banking sector explain the largest share of the fall of output in 2008 in the euro area, while macroeconomic shocks played a limited role. Third, an unexpected destruction of bank capital has a substantial impact on the real economy and particularly on investment.
Active microrheology of Chaetopterus mucus determines three intrinsic lengthscales that govern material properties

We characterize the scale-dependent rheological properties of mucus from the Chaetopterus marine worm and determine the intrinsic lengthscales controlling distinct rheological and structural regimes. Mucus produced by this ubiquitous filter feeder serves a host of roles including filtration, protection and trapping nutrients. The ease of clean mucus extraction coupled with similarities to human mucus rheology also make Chaetopterus mucus a potential model system for elucidating human mucus mechanics. We use optically trapped microsphere probes of 2-10 microns, to induce oscillatory strains and measure mucus stress response. We show that viscoelastic properties are highly dependent on the strain scale (l) with three distinct regimes emerging: microscale: l_1 10 microns. While mucus response is similar to water for l_1 indicating that probes rarely contact the mucus mesh, for l_2 the response is distinctly more viscous and independent of probe size, demonstrating that the mucus behaves as a continuum. However, this principally viscous mesoscale response is distinct from the largely elastic macroscopic mucus response. Only for l_3 does the response mimic macroscopic elasticity, with rigid constraints strongly resisting microsphere displacement. Our results demonstrate that a uniform mesh model for mucus with a single lengthscale modulating the crossover from water-like to elastic is too simplistic. Rather, the mucus responds as a hierarchical network with a loose microscopic mesh controlling mechanics for l_2, coupled with a mesoscale rigid scaffold responsible for the macroscopic gel-like mechanics beyond l_3. Our results shed important new light onto the design of drug delivery platforms, preventing pathogen penetration, and improving filtration, coating and clearance capabilities of mucus.
Theoretical analysis of xDAWN algorithm: Application to an efficient sensor selection in a p300 BCI

A Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) is a specific type of human-machine interface that enables communication between a subject/patient and a computer by a direct control from the decoding of brain activity. To improve the ergonomics and to minimize the cost of such a BCI, reducing the number of electrodes is mandatory. A theoretical analysis of the subjacent model induced by the BCI paradigm leads to derive a closed form theoretical expression of the spatial filters which maximize the signal to signal-plus-noise ratio. Moreover, this new formulation is useful to improve a previously introduced method to automatically select relevant sensors. Experimental results on 20 subjects show that the proposed method is efficient to select the most relevant sensors: from 32 down to 8 sensors, the loss in classification accuracy is less than 2%. Furethermore, the computational time required to rank the 32 sensors is reduced by a 4.6 speed up factor allowing dynamical monitoring of sensor relevance as a marker of the user's mental state.
Transmission Performance Analysis for VANET Based on 802.11p

Traditional TCP is not suitable in VANET because of the lack of the ability to identify packet loss due to the congestion and the bad channel quality. The network performance of traditional TCP and TCP for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (ATCP) is analyzed based on 802.11p, a data link layer protocol for VANET. Suburban and urban scenarios are built for simulation. 802.11b and 802.11p protocols, TCP and cross-layer ATCP are used for comparison. Simulation results show that combination of ATCP and 802.11p achieves better performance in the average throughput and the average end-to-end delay than other combinations used in simulation.
Measurement‐based estimates of direct radiative effects of absorbing aerosols above clouds

The elevated layers of absorbing smoke aerosols from western African (e.g., Gabon and Congo) biomass burning activities have been frequently observed above low‐level stratocumulus clouds off the African coast, which presents an excellent natural laboratory for studying the effects of aerosols above clouds (AAC) on regional energy balance in tropical and subtropical environments. Using spatially and temporally collocated Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI), and Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System data sets, the top‐of‐atmosphere shortwave aerosol direct shortwave radiative effects (ARE) of absorbing aerosols above low‐level water clouds in the southeast Atlantic Ocean was examined in this study. The regional averaged instantaneous ARE has been estimated to be 36.7 ± 20.5 Wm−2 (regional mean ± standard deviation) along with a mean positive OMI Aerosol Index at 1.3 in August 2006 based on multisensors measurements. The highest magnitude of instantaneous ARE can even reach 138.2 Wm−2. We assess that the 660 nm cloud optical depth (COD) values of 8–12 is the critical value above (below) which aerosol absorption (scattering) effect dominates and further produces positive (negative) ARE values. The results further show that ARE values are more sensitive to aerosols above lower COD values than cases for higher COD values. This is among the first studies to provide quantitative estimates of shortwave ARE due to AAC events from an observational perspective.
Supervised Locality Preserving Indexing for Text Categorization

A major characteristic of text categorization problems is the prohibitive high dimensionality of the feature space. Most discrimination methods can not work in such a condition, Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) has been adopted to solve this problem. However, LSI is not an optimal representation for text categorization task mainly because of two reasons: first, the discriminative categorical information is ignored under this completely unsupervised mode; second, LSI only concentrating on reconstruction error, the neighborhood relationship can not be preserved. In this paper, we propose an alternative method named “Supervised Locality Preserving Indexing (SLPI)”, By explicitly exploiting the categorical and neighborhood information, the documents can be projected into a lower dimensional semantic space in which the documents related to the same semantics and categories are close to each other. Different from Latent Semantic Indexing , our approach tries to discover both the geometric and discriminating structures of the document space. Some theoretical analysis of this method is provided. Extensive experimental evaluations are performed on Reuters-21578 and TDT2 data sets.
P2Y-Receptors Mediating an Inhibition of the Evoked Entry of Calcium through N-Type Calcium Channels at Neuronal Processes

In the search for P2-receptors modulating the stimulation-evoked entry of calcium at processes of PC12 cells differentiated in the presence of nerve growth factor and neurotrophin-3, electrically evoked increases in free calcium were assessed by fura-2 microfluorimetry. Omission of calcium and addition of cadmium (100 μM) or the N-type calcium channel blocker ω-conotoxin GVIA (0.5 μM) abolished or markedly reduced the evoked responses. The P2Y-receptor agonists 2-methylthio adenosine 5′-diphosphate (2-methylthio-ADP), ADP, and adenosine 5′-O-(2-thiodiphosphate) (ADPβS) inhibited the electrically evoked entry of calcium without any changes in basal calcium concentrations. 2-Methylthio-ADP was the most potent agonist. Adenosine, P1,P4-di(adenosine-5′)-tetraphosphate (Ap4A), UDP, and UTP (30 μM each) had no effect. The effect of ADPβS (30 μM) was abolished by the P2-antagonists reactive blue 2 (3 μM), suramin (100 μM), 2-methylthio-AMP (10 μM),p-chloromercuriphenyl sulfonic acid (1 μM), and AR-C 69931MX [N 6-(2-methylthioethyl)-2-(3,3,3-trifluoropropylthio)-β,γ-dichloromethylene adenosine 5′-triphosphate] (300 nM). In contrast, pyridoxalphosphate-6-azophenyl-2′,4′-disulfonic acid (10 μM), the selective P2Y1-receptor antagonist MRS 2179 (N 6-methyl-2′-deoxyadenosine 3′,5′-bisphosphate; 10 μM), as well as the adenosine A1-receptor antagonist DPCPX (8-cyclopentyl-1,3-dipropylxanthine; 100 nM), caused no change. Pretreatment with pertussis toxin abolished the effect of ADPβS. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction revealed the presence of mRNA for P2Y12-receptors in nondifferentiated and differentiated PC12 cells. The results indicate that processes of differentiated PC12 cells possess P2Y12-receptors coupling to pertussis toxin-sensitive G-proteins and mediating an inhibition of the stimulation-evoked entry of calcium through ω-conotoxin GVIA-sensitive calcium channels. This suggests a role of P2Y12-receptors in neuromodulation in addition to their involvement in platelet aggregation.
Myokines in Response to a Tournament Season among Young Tennis Players

The study investigated changes in myokines, heat shock proteins, and growth factors in highly ranked, young, male tennis players in response to physical workload during the competitive season and their potential correlations with match scores. Blood collections were carried out at the beginning, the midpoint, and the end of the tournament season. Data analysis revealed a significant increase in interleukin 6 and its inverse correlation with the number of lost games (r = −0.45; 90% CI −0.06 to 0.77). Neither the irisin nor BDNF level changed notably, yet delta changes of irisin across the season significantly correlated with the number of games won. The concentration of HSP27 recorded a small increase (31.2%; 90% CI 10.7 to 55.5, most likely). A negative correlation was noted between IGF-1 and HSP27 concentration at baseline (−0.70 very high; 90% CI −0.89 to −0.31, very likely). At the end of the season IGF-1 correlated positively with the number of games won (r = 0.37 moderate, 90% CI −0.16 to 0.73, likely) but negatively with the number of games lost (r = −0.39, 90% CI −0.14 to −0.74, likely). In conclusion our data indicated that Il-6, irisin, and growth factor IGF-1 may modify overall performance during a long lasting season, expressed in the amount of games won or lost.
Physiological and Anatomical Properties of Intramedullary Projection Neurons in the Rat Rostral 1 Nucleus of the Solitary Tract 2 3

1 Nucleus of the Solitary Tract 2 3 James A. Corson and Robert M. Bradley 4 5 Running head: Properties of rNTS Intramedullary Projection Neurons 6 7 1. Department of Biologic and Materials Sciences 8 School of Dentistry 9 University of Michigan 10 Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1078 11 2. Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology 12 Medical School 13 University of Michigan 14 Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0622 15 16
Effects of MK-0941, a Novel Glucokinase Activator, on Glycemic Control in Insulin-Treated Patients With Type 2 Diabetes

OBJECTIVE To assess the efficacy and safety of MK-0941, a glucokinase activator (GKA), when added to stable-dose insulin glargine in patients with type 2 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS In this double-blind study, 587 patients taking stable-dose insulin glargine (±metformin ≥1,500 mg/day) were randomized (1:1:1:1:1) to MK-0941 10, 20, 30, or 40 mg or matching placebo t.i. d. before meals (a.c.). This study included an initial 14-week, dose-ranging phase followed by a 40-week treatment phase during which patients were to be uptitrated as tolerated to 40 mg (or placebo) t.i. d. a.c. The primary efficacy end point was change from baseline in A1C at Week 14. RESULTS At Week 14, A1C and 2-h postmeal glucose (PMG) improved significantly versus placebo with all MK-0941 doses. Maximal placebo-adjusted least squares mean changes from baseline in A1C (baseline A1C 9.0%) and 2-h PMG were −0.8% and −37 mg/dL (−2 mmol/L), respectively. No significant effects on fasting plasma glucose were observed at any dose versus placebo. By 30 weeks, the initial glycemic responses noted at 14 weeks were not sustained. MK-0941 at one or more doses was associated with significant increases in the incidence of hypoglycemia, triglycerides, systolic blood pressure, and proportion of patients meeting criteria for predefined limits of change for increased diastolic blood pressure. CONCLUSIONS In patients receiving stable-dose insulin glargine, the GKA MK-0941 led to improvements in glycemic control that were not sustained. MK-0941 was associated with an increased incidence of hypoglycemia and elevations in triglycerides and blood pressure.
A Theory of Community Formation and Social Hierarchy

We analyze the classic problem of sustaining trust when cheating and leaving trading partners is easy, and outside enforcement is difficult. We construct equilibria where individuals are loyal to smaller groups – communities - that allow repeated interaction. Hierarchies provide incentives for loyalty and allow individuals to trust agents to extent that the agents are actually trustworthy. We contrast these with other plausible institutions for engendering loyalty that require inefficient withholding of trust to support group norms, and are not robust to coalitional deviations. In communities whose members randomly match, we show that social mobility within hierarchies falls as temptations to cheat rise. In communities where individuals can concentrate their trading with pre-selected members, hierarchies where senior members are favored for trade sustain trust even in the presence of proximate non-hierarchical communities. We link these results to the emergence of trust in new market environments and early human societies
Hierarchical decentralized stabilization for networked dynamical systems by LQR selective pole shift

Abstract This paper proposes a systematic method to design hierarchical, decentralized, stabilizing controllers for homogeneous hierarchical dynamical networks. Based on LQR approach with a properly chosen performance index including global and local objectives with control input penalty, an obtained optimal LQR feedback gain gives the closed-loop system a prescribed desirable hierarchical structure. In addition, the undesirable eigenvalues of the given homogeneous network can be selectively shifted by further selecting the weighting matrices based on the left eigenvectors associated with those eigenvalues. Finally, the proposed method is summarized into a systematic design procedure with an illustrative numerical example to show its effectiveness.
A least squares approach to joint beam design for interference alignment in multiuser interference channels

The problem of interference alignment for K-user time-invariant multi-input multi-output (MIMO) interference channels is considered. A sufficient condition for perfect interference alignment is converted to a linear system of equations which is overdetermined for K≥ 4. It is shown that this linear system is infeasible almost surely. To obtain the approximate solution to this problem, we use a least squares (LS) approach. Various constraints are considered for the LS formulation, including the total signal power, individual user power and individual user beam power constraints. Numerical results are provided to evaluate the proposed design method.
Using Artificial Datasets to Analyze How Cardinality and Density Influence Multi-label Learning

In multi-label datasets, the number of labels associated with each instance is an important feature to be observed. Two relevant characteristics related to datasets' number of labels are cardinality and density. In this work, we use artificial datasets generated through a framework named Mldatagem, freely-available in the internet. This framework enables configuring some other characteristics of the generated datasets. In this paper we present a study that analyze how and when distinct characteristics of the datasets influence the performance of multi-label learning methods.
The interactions between selenium and iodine deficiencies in man and animals

Abstract Up to one billion people live in areas where they may be at risk from I deficiency. Many of the debilitating effects of the deficiency may be irreversible, consequently it is essential to understand the mechanisms whereby lack of I can cause disease through decreased thyroxine and 3, 3',5-triiodothyronine (T3) synthesis. Since Se has an essential role in thyroid hormone metabolism, it has the potential to play a major part in the outcome of I deficiency. These effects of Se derive from two aspects of its biological function. First, three Se-containing deiodinases regulate the synthesis and degradation of the biologically active thyroid hormone, T3. Second, selenoperoxidases and possibly thioredoxin reductase (EC 1.6.4.5) protect the thyroid gland from H2O2 produced during the synthesis of thyroid hormones. The mechanisms whereby Se deficiency exacerbates the hypothyroidism due to I deficiency have been elucidated in animals. In contrast to these adverse effects, concurrent Se deficiency may also cause changes in deiodinase activities which can protect the brain from low T3 concentrations in I deficiency. Animals with Se and I deficiency have changes in serum thyroid hormone concentrations that are similar to those observed in patients with I deficiency disease. However such animal models show no thyroid involution, a feature which is characteristic of myxoedematous cretinism in man. These observations imply that if Se deficiency is involved in the outcome of I deficiency in human populations it is likely that other interacting factors such as goitrogens are also implicated. Nevertheless the protection of the thyroid gland from H2O2 and the regulation of tissue T3 levels are the functions of Se that are most likely to underlie the interactions of Se and I.
Protective effects of silymarin on fumonisin B1-induced hepatotoxicity in mice

The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of silymarin on experimental liver toxication induced by Fumonisin B1 (FB1) in BALB/c mice. The mice were divided into six groups (n = 15). Group 1 served as the control. Group 2 was the silymarin control (100 mg/kg by gavage). Groups 3 and 4 were treated with FB1 (Group 3, 1.5 mg/kg FB1, intraperitoneally; and Group 4, 4.5 mg/kg FB1). Group 5 received FB1 (1.5 mg/kg) and silymarin (100 mg/kg), and Group 6 was given a higher dose of FB1 (4.5 mg/kg FB1) with silymarin (100 mg/kg). Silymarin treatment significantly decreased (p < 0.0001) the apoptotic rate. FB1 administration significantly increased (p < 0.0001) proliferating cell nuclear antigen and Ki-67 expression. Furthermore, FB1 elevated the levels of caspase-8 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha mediators while silymarin significantly reduced (p < 0.0001) the expression of these factors. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2) expressions were significantly elevated in Group 4 (p < 0.0001). Silymarin administration alleviated increased VEGF and FGF-2 expression levels (p < 0.0001). In conclusion, silymarin ameliorated toxic liver damage caused by FB1 in BALB/c mice.
Effect of Common Drinking Water Disinfectants, Chlorine and Heat, on Free Legionella and Amoebae-Associated Legionella

Chlorine and thermal treatments are the most commonly used procedures to control and prevent Legionella proliferation in drinking water systems of large buildings. However, cases of legionellosis still occur in facilities with treated water. The purpose of this work was to model the effect of temperature and free chlorine applied in similar exposure conditions as in drinking water systems on five Legionella spp. strains and two amoebal strains of the genera Acanthamoeba. Inactivation models obtained were used to determine the effectiveness of the treatments applied which resulted more effective against Legionella than Acanthamoeba, especially those in cystic stages. Furthermore, to determine the influence of the relationship between L. pneumophila and Acanthamoeba spp. on the treatment effectiveness, inactivation models of the bacteria-associated amoeba were also constructed and compared to the models obtained for the free living bacteria state. The Legionella-amoeba association did not change the inactivation models, but it reduced the effectiveness of the treatments applied. Remarkably, at the lowest free chlorine concentration, 0.5 mg L-1, as well as at the lowest temperatures, 50°C and 55°C, the influence of the Legionella-amoeba associate state was the strongest in reducing the effectiveness of the treatments compared to the free Legionella state. Therefore, the association established between L. pneumophila and amoebae in the water systems indicate an increased health risk in proximal areas of the system (close to the tap) where lower free chlorine concentrations and lower temperatures are commonly observed.