Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Social Defeat and Psychotic Experiences in the United States: Findings from the Collaborative Psychiatric Epidemiological Surveys

Social Defeat and Psychotic Experiences in the United States: Findings from the Collaborative Psychiatric Epidemiological Surveys Hans Oh Emerging studies have identified a specific kind of stress called social defeat, which occurs when a person is dominated, humiliated, and oppressed by another person or group. The sense of social defeat might play an important role in the development of psychosis. Meanwhile, scholars have increasingly studied the occurrence of Psychotic Experiences, which are expressions of psychosis that manifest in the general population without causing significant distress or functional impairment. Very few studies have examined the relationship between social defeat and Psychotic Experiences in the United States, and I utilize the Collaborative Psychiatric Epidemiological Surveys to examine whether and to what extent three facets of social defeat (everyday discrimination, major discriminatory events, and immigrant status) predict risk for Psychotic Experiences. In the first paper, I analyzed the National Latino and Asian American Survey and the National Survey of American Life, and found that among Latino-, Asian-, and BlackAmericans, everyday discrimination was associated with increased risk for Psychotic Experiences in a dose-response fashion after adjusting for demographics and socioeconomic status. Discrimination perpetrated at the interpersonal level seems to impart a profound sense of defeat that raises risk for psychosis. In the second paper, I analyzed the National Survey of American Life and found that among Black Americans, certain major discriminatory events (being denied a loan, receiving unusually bad service, and police abuse) were associated with increased risk for Psychotic Experiences after controlling for demographics and socioeconomic status. Major events seem to capture a distal source of distress stemming from the institutions and structures of society, elevating risk for psychosis among Black Americans. In the final paper, I examined the National Comorbidity Survey Replication, the National Latino and Asian American Survey, and the National Survey of American Life, and found that immigration was not associated with increased risk for Psychotic Experiences in the United States, supporting the extant literature that suggests immigrants are paradoxically healthier than native-born populations. I discuss theoretical and practical implications of my findings, and present future directions for research.
[Therapy Process Questionnaire (TPQ) - a combined explorative and confirmatory factor analysis and psychometric properties].

OBJECTIVES This contribution looks at the factorial structure of the Therapy Process Questionnaire (TPQ), which is used for daily self-ratings of patients tested by internet-based ambulatory assessment devices. METHODS A combined explorative and confirmatory factor analysis of the TPQ. The time-series data were generated by 149 patients treated in an inpatient setting. RESULTS 23 out of 42 items included in the explorative version of the TPQ are represented onto five factors, which were identified by a first explorative factor analysis and then validated by a confirmative factor analysis. We report on the psychometric data of the subscales: internal consistency (Cronbach's α), mean of item-intercorrelation, and mean of item discrimination indices. CONCLUSION The TPQ is useful for a high-frequency and equidistant (daily) assessment of psychotherapeutic change processes.
Perinatal mortality in rural China: retrospective cohort study

Objectives To explore the use of local civil registration data to assess the perinatal mortality in a typical rural county in a less developed province in China, 1999-2000. Design Retrospective cohort study. Pregnancies in a cohort of women followed from registration of pregnancy to outcome of infant seven days after birth. Setting Routine family planning records in 20 rural townships in eastern China. Subjects 3697 pregnancies registered by the local family planning system during 1999. Main outcome measures Abortions, stillbirths, early neonatal mortality, perinatal mortality. Results Only three cases were lost to follow up. The average age of the women at pregnancy was 25.9 years. Three hundred and twelve pregnancies were aborted and 240 ended in miscarriage (total 552, 15%). The perinatal mortality rate was 69 per 1000 births, the rate of stillbirth was 24 per 1000 births, and the early neonatal mortality was 46 per 1000 live births. The early neonatal mortality was 29 in boys and 69 in girls per 1000 live births. The perinatal mortality rate increased notably with parity and was higher in townships having lower income per capita. Conclusions The family planning system at the most local level is a useful data source for studying perinatal mortality in rural China. The perinatal mortality rate in the study county was higher than previously reported for both rural and urban areas in China. The results by parity and sex of the infant raise concern over the impact of the one child policy.
Induction of nuclear envelope breakdown, chromosome condensation, and spindle formation in cell-free extracts

Incubation of demembranated sperm chromatin in cytoplasmic extracts of unfertilized Xenopus laevis eggs resulted in nuclear envelope assembly, chromosome decondensation, and sperm pronuclear formation. In contrast, egg extracts made with EGTA-containing buffers induced the sperm chromatin to form chromosomes or irregularly shaped clumps of chromatin that were incorporated into bipolar or multipolar spindles. The 150,000 g supernatants of the EGTA extracts could not alone support these changes in incubated nuclei. However, these supernatants induced not only chromosome condensation and spindle formation, but also nuclear envelope breakdown when added to sperm pronuclei or isolated Xenopus liver or brain nuclei that were incubated in extracts made without EGTA. Similar changes were induced by partially purified preparations of maturation-promoting factor. The addition of calcium chloride to extracts containing condensed chromosomes and spindles caused dissolution of the spindles, decondensation of the chromosomes, and re- formation of interphase nuclei. These results indicate that nuclear envelope breakdown, chromosome condensation, and spindle assembly, as well as the regulation of these processes by Ca2+-sensitive cytoplasmic components, can be studied in vitro using extracts of amphibian eggs.
Extending the “Ecology of Fear” Beyond Prey: Reciprocal Nonconsumptive Effects Among Competing Aphid Predators

Abstract Nonconsumptive effects of predators on prey are well known, but similar effects among competing predators are not. Aphidophagous insect larvae are notorious for cannibalism and intraguild predation, as they compete for aggregated but ephemeral prey. We tested for indirect effects of competitors on the development of Coleomegilla maculata DeGeer and Hippodamia convergens Guerin-Meneville (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), and a green lacewing, Chrysoperla carnea Stephens (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae), with all larvae reared on eggs of Ephestia kuehniella Zeller (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae). Control larvae were reared singly, while treatment larvae were reared pairwise, with either a conspecific or heterospecific, in partitioned Petri dishes that allowed the passage of chemical cues. Larvae of C. maculata, a dietary generalist, appeared stressed by the presence of competing larvae, whether con- or heterospecific, and suffered fitness costs (longer pupation times, lower male adult mass). In contrast, H. convergens and C. carnea, both aphid specialists, responded to competing larvae with accelerated development, and without any apparent costs in terms of adult size or reproductive performance. Adult C. carnea in some treatments were heavier than solitary controls, suggesting a higher consumption rate by the induced phenotype, and those exposed to H. convergens began oviposition earlier. Thus, the phenotypes induced in the specialized aphid predators were adaptive for development in aphid colonies, whereas that induced in the generalist was not. These results indicate that nonconsumptive effects are not simply a vertical force acting on prey, but can also impact conspecific and heterospecific competitors on the same trophic level.
Coinfection by Vaccinia virus and an Orf virus–like parapoxvirus in an outbreak of vesicular disease in dairy cows in midwestern Brazil

The current report describes an outbreak of vesicular disease affecting dairy cows in midwestern Brazil in which a coinfection with 2 poxviruses—Vaccinia virus (VACV) and a parapoxvirus—was demonstrated. Milking cows presented vesicles, painful reddish or whitish papules, and scabby proliferative lesions in the teats and udder, in a clinical course of approximately 10–21 days. Histologically, multifocal areas of moderate to severe acanthosis, spongiosis, hypergranulosis, and parakeratotic or orthokeratotic hyperkeratosis with adjacent focally extensive ulcers were observed in the epidermis. Rounded eosinophilic inclusion bodies were observed in the cytoplasm of epithelial cells of areas with acanthosis or necrosis. Moderate inflammatory infiltrate of lymphocytes, plasma cells, neutrophils, and macrophages were observed in some dermal areas. Two people milking the affected cows developed lesions on the hands, painful papules which progressed to ulcerative and scabby lesions in 4–7 days. Electron microscopy of scabs from 1 cow revealed the concomitant presence of orthopoxvirus and parapoxvirus particles. Scabs from 2 cows were positive by polymerase chain reaction for the parapoxvirus B2L gene; 1 of the scabs was also positive for the VACV vgf gene. Nucleotide sequencing of the B2L amplicon revealed a similarity of 96–99% with Orf virus (ORFV) and lower identity with Pseudocowpox virus (92–95%) and Bovine papular stomatitis virus (85–86%). Nucleotide sequencing of a region of parapoxvirus DNA polymerase gene revealed a high similarity (98–100%) with ORFV sequences. Thus, an unusual coinfection with VACV and a parapoxvirus, likely ORFV, was demonstrated in the outbreak.
Affect, risk perception and future optimism after the tsunami disaster

Environmental events such as natural disasters may influence the public's affective reactions and decisions. Shortly after the 2004 Tsunami disaster we assessed how affect elicited by thinking about this disaster influenced risk perceptions and future time perspective in Swedish undergraduates not directly affected by the disaster. An experimental manipulation was used to increase the salience of affect associated with the disaster. In Study 1 we found that participants reminded about the tsunami had a sense that their life was more finite and included fewer opportunities than participants in the control condition (not reminded about the tsunami). In Study 2 we found similar effects for risk perceptions. In addition, we showed that manipulations of ease-of-thought influenced the extent to which affect influenced these risk perceptions, with greater ease of thoughts being associated with greater perceived risks.
Chemotherapy-induced amenorrhea and fertility in women undergoing adjuvant treatment for breast cancer.

BACKGROUND The majority of women diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer have an excellent long-term prognosis, but many will undergo temporary or permanent chemotherapy-induced amenorrhea. METHODS While breast cancer is more common in older women, about 1 in 200 women under the age of 40 is at risk to develop breast cancer. Many of these women benefit from chemotherapy but are afraid to risk the opportunity to bear children. The authors review the current studies on the impact of adjuvant chemotherapy on amenorrhea and fertility in women with breast cancer. RESULTS The likelihood of amenorrhea is based on the specific adjuvant chemotherapy regimen administered and the age of the patient. Future childbirth is a viable option for women treated for breast cancer at an early stage. While the use of tamoxifen as a hormonal therapy in premenopausal breast cancer is now the standard of care, no conclusive data confirm the benefit of GnRH agonists in adjuvant therapy after treatment with chemotherapy followed by tamoxifen. CONCLUSIONS As more women over the age of 35 consider pregnancy, fertility issues are becoming important areas of investigation for the adjuvant treatment of breast cancer. Whether chemotherapy-induced amenorrhea has a prognostic effect remains unclear, and further studies are warranted.
Synergistic effect of a novel cyclic pentadepsipeptide, neoN-methylsansalvamide, and paclitaxel on human multidrug resistance cancer cell lines

NeoN-methylsansalvamide is a novel low-molecular-weight cyclic pentadepsipeptide that exerts cytotoxic effects on various human cancer cell lines. Its structural analysis using liquid chromatography mass/mass spectrometry showed the cyclic structure sequence −phenylalanine−leucine−valine−N-methylleucine−leucic acid−. The intrinsic cytotoxic and multidrug resistance reversal effects of neoN-methylsansalvamide were evaluated on the human cancer cell lines MES-SA and HCT15 as well as on their multidrug resistance sublines (MES-SA/DX5 and HCT15/CL05, respectively) using the sulforhodamine B assay. The EC50 values of paclitaxel for MES-SA, HCT15, and for the multidrug resistance sublines MES-SA/DX5 and HCT15/CL05 were 1.00±0.20, 0.85±0.63, 10.00±0.53, and >1000 nmol/l, respectively. However, the EC50 values for paclitaxel including 3 &mgr;mol/l neoN-methylsansalvamide for MES-SA/DX5, HCT15, and HCT15/CL02 were 1.58±0.12, 0.10±0.02, and 288.40±21.02 nmol/l, respectively. The in-vitro multidrug resistance reversal activity of neoN-methylsansalvamide was similar to that of the control verapamil. These finding suggests that a novel cyclic pentadepsipeptide, neoN-methylsansalvamide, is effective in reversing multidrug resistance in vitro, and this activity may be a major applicable biological function of this compound.
Anomalous Transverse Relaxation in 1H Spectroscopy in Human Brain at 4 Tesla

Longitudinal (T1) and apparent transverse relaxation times (T2) of choline‐containing compounds (Cho), creatine/phospho‐creatine (Cr/PCr), and N‐acetyl aspartate (NAA) were measured in vivo in human brain at 4 Tesla. Measurements were performed using a water suppressed stimulated echo pulse sequence with complete outside volume presaturation to improve volume localization at short echo times. T1‐values of Cho (1.2 ± 0.1 s), Cr (1.6 ± 0.3 s), and NAA (1.6 ± 0.2 s) at 4 Tesla in occipital brain were only slightly larger than those reported in the literature at 1.5 Tesla. Thus, TR will not adversely affect the expected enhancement of signal‐to‐noise at 4 Tesla. Surprisingly, apparent T2‐values of Cho (142 ± 34 ms), Cr (140 ± 13 ms), and NAA (185 ± 24 ms) at 4 Tesla were significantly smaller than those at 1.5 Tesla and further decreased when increasing the mixing interval TM. Potential contributing factors, such as diffusion in local susceptibility related gradients, dipolar relaxation due to intracellular paramagnetic substances and motion effects are discussed. The results suggest that short echo time spectroscopy is advantageous to maintain signal to noise at 4 Tesla.
A research‐based approach to generic graduate attributes policy

For many years universities around the world have sought to articulate the nature of the education they offer to their students through a description of the generic qualities and skills their graduates possess. Despite the lengthy history of the rhetoric of such policy claims, universities' endeavours to describe generic attributes of graduates continue to lack a clear theoretical or conceptual base and are characterized by a plurality of view‐points. Furthermore, despite extensive funding in some quarters, overall, efforts to foster the development of generic attributes appear to have met with limited success. Recent research has shed some light on this apparent variability in policy and practice. It is apparent that Australian university teachers charged with responsibility for developing students' generic graduate attributes do not share a common understanding of either the nature of these outcomes, or the teaching and learning processes that might facilitate the development of these outcomes. Instead .
Dynamic impact analysis: a cost-effective technique to enforce error-propagation

This paper introduces dynamic impact analysis as a cost-effective technique to enforce the error-propagation condition for detecting a fault. The intuition behind dynamic impact analysis is as follows. In a specific test-case, if an execution of a syntactic component has a strong impact on the program output and if the output is correct, then the value of that component-execution is not likely to be erroneous. To capture this intuition in a theoretical framework the notion of impact is formally defined and the concept of impact strength is proposed as a quantitative measure of the impact. In order to provide an infrastructure supporting the computation of impact strengths, program impact graphs and execution impact graphs are introduced. An empirical study validating the computation of impact strengths is presented. It is shown that the impact strengths computed by dynamic impact analysis provide reasonable estimates for the error-sensitivity with respect to the output except when the impact is via one or more error-tolerant components of the program. Potential applications of dynamic impact analysis in the area of mutation testing and dynamic program slicing are discussed.
The Opinions of Injecting Drug User (IDUs) HIV Patients and Health Professionals on Access to Antiretroviral Treatment and Health Services in Valencia, Spain

The benefits of HIV treatment (Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy [HAART]) have been less apparent in injecting drug users (IDUs), most probably as a result of poor adherence to treatment. We explored factors related to HIV treatment adherence as reported by 23 IDU-HIV patients and nine health professionals from healthcare services in Alicante and Valencia, Spain. We carried out a qualitative study based on personal interviews. Health professionals reported the lack of coordination among hospital services and difficulties in accessibility to nonspecialized services for IDU-HIV patients as relevant factors for treatment adherence. Their perception of a patient’s likelihood of treatment adherence was also considered to influence the decision to prescribe HAART. A better treatment adherence was reported by those IDU-HIV patients with a good doctor–patient relationship and by women with family responsibilities. Patients considered the side effects of HIV treatment, the lack of social support, and the active use of recreational drugs as relevant factors to explain incompliance. Interventions and training of health providers should be aimed at the reduction of barriers in patient–provider communication and the overcoming of stereotypes, thus avoiding discriminatory attitudes in treatment in this vulnerable population.
Enemy release after introduction of disease-resistant genotypes into plant–pathogen systems

Predicting the magnitude of enemy release in host–pathogen systems after introduction of novel disease resistance genes has become a central problem in ecology. Here, we develop a general quantitative framework for predicting changes in realized niche size and intrinsic population growth rate after introgression of disease resistance genes into wild host populations. We then apply this framework to a model host–pathogen system targeted by genetically modified and conventionally bred disease-resistant host lines (Trifolium repens lines expressing resistance to Clover yellow vein potyvirus) and show that, under a range of ecologically realistic conditions, the introduction of novel pathogen resistance genes into host populations can pose a quantifiable risk to associated nontarget native plant communities. In the host–pathogen system studied, we predict that pathogen release could result in an increase in the intrinsic rate of population growth of up to 15% and the expansion of host populations into some marginal environments. This approach has general applicability to the ecological risk assessment of all novel disease-resistant plant genotypes that target coevolutionary host–pathogen systems for improvement of agricultural productivity.
New Therapeutic Approaches for Alzheimer’s Disease and Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy

Accumulating evidence has shown a strong relationship between Alzheimer’s disease (AD), cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA), and cerebrovascular disease. Cognitive impairment in AD patients can result from cortical microinfarcts associated with CAA, as well as the synaptic and neuronal disturbances caused by cerebral accumulations of β-amyloid (Aβ) and tau proteins. The pathophysiology of AD may lead to a toxic chain of events consisting of Aβ overproduction, impaired Aβ clearance, and brain ischemia. Insufficient removal of Aβ leads to development of CAA and plays a crucial role in sporadic AD cases, implicating promotion of Aβ clearance as an important therapeutic strategy. Aβ is mainly eliminated by three mechanisms: (1) enzymatic/glial degradation, (2) transcytotic delivery, and (3) perivascular drainage (3-“d” mechanisms). Enzymatic degradation may be facilitated by activation of Aβ-degrading enzymes such as neprilysin, angiotensin-converting enzyme, and insulin-degrading enzyme. Transcytotic delivery can be promoted by inhibition of the receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE), which mediates transcytotic influx of circulating Aβ into brain. Successful use of the RAGE inhibitor TTP488 in Phase II testing has led to a Phase III clinical trial for AD patients. The perivascular drainage system seems to be driven by motive force generated by cerebral arterial pulsations, suggesting that vasoactive drugs can facilitate Aβ clearance. One of the drugs promoting this system is cilostazol, a selective inhibitor of type 3 phosphodiesterase. The clearance of fluorescent soluble Aβ tracers was significantly enhanced in cilostazol-treated CAA model mice. Given that the balance between Aβ synthesis and clearance determines brain Aβ accumulation, and that Aβ is cleared by several pathways stated above, multi-drugs combination therapy could provide a mainstream cure for sporadic AD.
DTN Routing in Vehicular Sensor Networks

Currently, vehicular sensor network (VSN) has been paid much attention for monitoring the physical world of urban areas. We have studied VSNs by utilizing about 4000 taxies and 1000 buses equipped with GPS-based mobile sensors in Shanghai to constitute a virtual vehicular sensor network. The communication-connection intermittence makes the routing issue nontrivial when delay-tolerant applications are deployed in VSNs. The existing DTN routing protocols can be categorized as "neighbor-oriented" and how to select a neighbor candidate was always neglected. In this paper, we present a new DTN routing protocol for Delay-Tolerant Vehicular Sensor Networks, Packet-Oriented Routing protocol (POR), which is designed to emphasize neighbor selection based on awareness of packets to be sent and in consideration of probability to complete transferring of these packets. Our results show that POR performs much better than the ordinary Epidemic routing, as well as other popular routing protocols applied in a similar setting.