Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sleep disturbances in school-age children with chronic pain.

OBJECTIVES To examine associations between pain, functional outcomes, and sleep disturbances in children with chronic pain, specifically juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), sickle cell disease (SCD), and headache (HA). Sleep disturbances were tested as a risk factor for increased functional disability and decreased health-related quality of life (HRQOL). METHODS One hundred children (JIA n = 30, SCD n = 26, HA n = 44; 8-12 years; 56% female) and their caregivers participated. Children completed questionnaires regarding pain, depression, and functional disability. Caregivers completed questionnaires regarding sociodemographics, child sleep habits, functional disability, and HRQOL. RESULTS Levels of overall sleep disturbances were above the clinical cutoff for 53% of children with chronic pain. Sleep disturbances predicted lower physical HRQOL and higher functional disability, according to parent report. CONCLUSIONS Sleep disturbances are common and associated with daytime functioning in school-age children with chronic pain, suggesting that assessment and treatment of sleep problems is clinically relevant.
A New Flat Pattern Oriented Order Statistic Filter for Impulse Noise Reduction from Highly Corrupted Images

When the image is highly corrupted, such as images photographed by the darkness regard camera, the detection of flat patterns is easier than that of edges. In this paper, a new adoptive order statistic filter by using flat pattern detection is proposed, and an approach to optimize the parameters of the order statistic filter is introduced. The proposed system is composed of the flat pattern detector, estimator of mean pixel value in flat pattern region, and the adopted order statistic filter. To evaluate the performance of the noise reduction by the proposed approach, several experiments are applied to reduce the impulse noise by this approach. These results show that the MSE by the proposed filter is the least in case that the image is highly corrupted.
Human dysbindin (DTNBP1) gene expression in normal brain and in schizophrenic prefrontal cortex and midbrain.

CONTEXT The schizophrenia-susceptibility gene dysbindin (DTNBP1 on 6p22.3) encodes a neuronal protein that binds to beta-dystrobrevin and may be part of the dystrophin protein complex. Little is known about dysbindin expression in normal or schizophrenic brain. OBJECTIVES To determine whether brain regions implicated in schizophrenia express dysbindin and whether abnormal levels of dysbindin messenger RNA (mRNA) may be found in this disorder and to test whether sequence variations in the dysbindin gene in the promoter region, 5' and 3' untranslated regions, or introns would affect dysbindin mRNA levels. METHODS In patients with schizophrenia and controls, we compared dysbindin, synaptophysin, spinophilin, and cyclophilin mRNA levels in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and dysbindin mRNA levels in the midbrain by in situ hybridization. We genotyped brain DNA at 11 single nucleotide polymorphisms to determine whether genetic variation in the dysbindin gene affects cortical dysbindin mRNA levels. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Quantitative assessment of dysbindin mRNA levels across various brain regions and comparative studies of dysbindin mRNA levels in brains of patients with schizophrenia compared with normal controls. RESULTS Dysbindin mRNA was detected in the frontal cortex, temporal cortex, hippocampus, caudate, putamen, nucleus accumbens, amygdala, thalamus, and midbrain of the adult brain. Patients with schizophrenia had statistically significantly reduced dysbindin mRNA levels in multiple layers of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, whereas synaptophysin, spinophilin, and cyclophilin mRNA levels were unchanged. Dysbindin mRNA levels were quantitatively reduced in the midbrain of patients with schizophrenia, but not statistically significantly. Cortical dysbindin mRNA levels varied statistically significantly according to dysbindin genotype. CONCLUSIONS Dysbindin mRNA is expressed widely in the brain, and its expression is reduced in schizophrenia. Variation in dysbindin mRNA levels may be determined in part by variation in the promoter and the 5' and 3' untranslated regions. These data add to the evidence that dysbindin is an etiologic factor in schizophrenia risk.
¿Como Hablamos? How Much And When To Teach Toddlers’ Words In A Second Language

In this present study, we explore two conditions under which monolingual Englishspeaking toddlers (N=12) may learn and retain knowledge of names of familiar objects in a second language. We examined toddlers’ ability to learn names of familiar objects in a foreign language given limited exposure (total of 30 minutes). Second, we considered the role of learning schedules on the participants’ ability to learn familiar nouns in a foreign language. Specifically, we examined whether toddlers were better able to learn a foreign language object label if they were exposed to Spanish for five (6 minutes) massed sessions (over the course of one week) as opposed to five distributed sessions which were spread apart (over the course of several weeks). Overall, children were able to learn and retain knowledge of six names of familiar objects in Spanish, regardless of learning schedule condition. However, toddlers who were assigned massed learning schedule condition were better able to learn and retain knowledge of labels of familiar objects in a second language, even after a week of second language exposure.
Cloning and Characterization of an Uncoupling Protein Homolog: A Potential Molecular Mediator of Human Thermogenesis

We have identified a novel cDNA encoding a protein highly homologous to the mammalian brown fat uncoupling protein (UCP). Unlike the known UCP, which is expressed specifically in brown adipose tissue, the UCP homolog (UCPH) mRNA is expressed in a variety of tissues, with predominant expression in human white adipose tissue and skeletal muscle. In the white adipose tissue of ob/ob and db/db mice, the UCPH transcript is induced approximately fivefold relative to lean littermate controls. Expression of murine UCPH in yeast results in growth inhibition under conditions that require aerobic respiration, but does not affect growth under anaerobic conditions. Furthermore, UCPH expression in yeast causes a decrease in the mitochondrial membrane potential, as judged by staining with the potential-sensitive dye DiOC6. These observations suggest that UCPH, like UCP, uncouples oxidative phosphorylation. The possibility that the UCPH protein is an important mediator of human thermogenesis is discussed.
Dystonia and parkinsonism in GM1 type 3 gangliosidosis

GM1 gangliosidosis is due to β‐galactosidase deficiency. Only patients with type 3 disease survive into adulthood and develop movement disorders. Clinical descriptions of this form are rare, particularly in non‐Japanese patients. We describe four new patients and systematically analyze all previous reports found by a literature search and contacts with the authors for additional information. Generalized dystonia remained the predominant feature throughout the disease course and was often associated with akinetic–rigid parkinsonism. GM1 gangliosidosis must be considered as a cause of early‐onset generalized dystonia, particularly in patients with short stature and skeletal dysplasia. © 2005 Movement Disorder Society
Creativity: Theory, History, Practice

Creativity: Theory, History, Practice offers important new perspectives on creativity in the light of contemporary critical theory and cultural history. Innovative in approach as well as argument, the book crosses disciplinary boundaries and builds new bridges between the critical and the creative. It is organised in four parts: *Why creativity now? offers much-needed alternatives to both the Romantic stereotype of the creator as individual genius and the tendency of the modern creative industries to treat everything as a commodity *defining creativity, creating definitions traces the changing meaning of 'create' from religious ideas of divine creation from nothing to advertising notions of concept creation. It also examines the complex history and extraordinary versatility of terms such as imagination, invention, inspiration and originality *dreation as myth, story, metaphor begins with modern re-tellings of early African, American and Australian creation myths and - picking up Biblical and evolutionary accounts along the way - works round to scientific visions of the Big Bang, bubble universes and cosmic soup *creative practices, cultural processes is a critical anthology of materials, chosen to promote fresh thinking about everything from changing constructions of 'literature' and 'design' to artificial intelligence and genetic engineering. Rob Pope takes significant steps forward in the process of rethinking a vexed yet vital concept, all the while encouraging and equipping readers to continue the process in their own creative or 're-creative' ways. Creativity: Theory, History, Practice is invaluable for anyone with a live interest in exploring what creativity has been, is currently, and yet may be.
EpiFast: a fast algorithm for large scale realistic epidemic simulations on distributed memory systems

Large scale realistic epidemic simulations have recently become an increasingly important application of high-performance computing. We propose a parallel algorithm, EpiFast, based on a novel interpretation of the stochastic disease propagation in a contact network. We implement it using a master-slave computation model which allows scalability on distributed memory systems. EpiFast runs extremely fast for realistic simulations that involve: (i) large populations consisting of millions of individuals and their heterogeneous details, (ii) dynamic interactions between the disease propagation, the individual behaviors, and the exogenous interventions, as well as (iii) large number of replicated runs necessary for statistically sound estimates about the stochastic epidemic evolution. We find that EpiFast runs several magnitude faster than another comparable simulation tool while delivering similar results. EpiFast has been tested on commodity clusters as well as SGI shared memory machines. For a fixed experiment, if given more computing resources, it scales automatically and runs faster. Finally, EpiFast has been used as the major simulation engine in real studies with rather sophisticated settings to evaluate various dynamic interventions and to provide decision support for public health policy makers.
A Simple PIFA-Based Tunable Internal Antenna for Personal Communication Handsets

A simple planar inverted F antenna (PIFA)-based tunable internal antenna is proposed for personal communication handset applications. The antenna can covers following frequency bands: DCS (1710-1880 MHz), PCS (1880-1990 MHz), UMTS (1900-2170 MHz), WiBro (2300-2390 MHz), WLAN (5.2 and 5.8 GHz), Bluetooth (2400-2480 MHz), and ISM band (2500-2700 MHz). Varactor diode is used to get tuning over the wide frequency range. Overall size of the antenna is 19.5 mm times 9.5 mm times 4 mm (0.741 cm3) makes it suitable for 4 G handsets and can be easily integrated inside commercial mobile handsets. The antenna was designed and optimized by using CST microwave studio program. Measured return losses (S11) and radiation patterns of the antenna were carried on Anritsu 37377C vector network analyzer and in standard anechoic chamber room. Return loss of the antenna is within acceptable limit with reasonable radiation performance.
Immunosuppressive therapy in pancreas and islet transplant: Need for simultaneous assessment of insulin sensitivity and secretion *

Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disease possible to treat via pancreas/islet transplantation but most immunosuppressive drugs are diabetogenic. In this letter, we review current up to date methods to assess insulin action and secretion (using the surrogate indexes) suggesting their use in large studies in populations of pancreas/ islets transplanted patients.
The Infinite Gamma-Poisson Feature Model

We present a probability distribution over non-negative integer valued matrices with possibly an infinite number of columns. We also derive a stochastic process that reproduces this distribution over equivalence classes. This model can play the role of the prior in nonparametric Bayesian learning scenarios where multiple latent features are associated with the observed data and each feature can have multiple appearances or occurrences within each data point. Such data arise naturally when learning visual object recognition systems from unlabelled images. Together with the nonparametric prior we consider a likelihood model that explains the visual appearance and location of local image patches. Inference with this model is carried out using a Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm.
Genomic Organization of Leishmania Species

Leishmania is a protozoan parasite belonging to the family Trypanosomatidae, which is found among 88 different countries. The parasite lives as an amastigote in vertebrate macrophages and as a promastigote in the digestive tract of sand fly. It can be cultured in the laboratory using appropriate culture media. Although the sexual cycle of Leishmania has not been observed during the promastigote and amastigote stages, it has been reported by some researchers. Leishmania has eukaryotic cell organization. Cell culture is convenient and cost effective, and because posttranslational modifications are common processes in the cultured cells, the cells are used as hosts for preparing eukaryotic recombinant proteins for research. Several transcripts of rDNA in the Leishmania genome are suitable regions for conducting gene transfer. Old World Leishmania spp. has 36 chromosomes, while New World Leishmania spp. has 34 or 35 chromosomes. The genomic organization and parasitic characteristics have been investigated. Leishmania spp. has a unique genomic organization among eukaryotes; the genes do not have introns, and the chromosomes are smaller with larger numbers of genes confined to a smaller space within the nucleus. Leishmania spp. genes are organized on one or both DNA strands and are transcribed as polycistronic (prokaryotic-like) transcripts from undefined promoters. Regulation of gene expression in the members of Trypanosomatidae differs from that in other eukaryotes. The trans-splicing phenomenon is a necessary step for mRNA processing in lower eukaryotes and is observed in Leishmania spp. Another particular feature of RNA editing in Leishmania spp. is that mitochondrial genes encoding respiratory enzymes are edited and transcribed. This review will discuss the chromosomal and mitochondrial (kinetoplast) genomes of Leishmania spp. as well as the phenomenon of RNA editing in the kinetoplast genome.
Accounting for Movement Increases Sensitivity in Detecting Brain Activity in Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson's disease (PD) is manifested by motor impairment, which may impede the ability to accurately perform motor tasks during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Both temporal and amplitude deviations of movement performance affect the blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) response. We present a general approach for assessing PD patients' movement control employing simultaneously recorded fMRI time series and behavioral data of the patients' kinematics using MR-compatible gloves. Twelve male patients with advanced PD were examined with fMRI at 1.5T during epoch-based visually paced finger tapping. MR-compatible gloves were utilized online to quantify motor outcome in two conditions with or without dopaminergic medication. Modeling of individual-level brain activity included (i) a predictor consisting of a condition-specific, constant-amplitude boxcar function convolved with the canonical hemodynamic response function (HRF) as commonly used in fMRI statistics (standard model), or (ii) a custom-made predictor computed from glove time series convolved with the HRF (kinematic model). Factorial statistics yielded a parametric map for each modeling technique, showing the medication effect on the group level. Patients showed bilateral response to levodopa in putamen and globus pallidus during the motor experiment. Interestingly, kinematic modeling produced significantly higher activation in terms of both the extent and amplitude of activity. Our results appear to account for movement performance in fMRI motor experiments with PD and increase sensitivity in detecting brain response to levodopa. We strongly advocate quantitatively controlling for motor performance to reach more reliable and robust analyses in fMRI with PD patients.
Effects of Selective Attention on Syntax Processing in Music and Language

The present study investigated the effects of auditory selective attention on the processing of syntactic information in music and speech using event-related potentials. Spoken sentences or musical chord sequences were either presented in isolation, or simultaneously. When presented simultaneously, participants had to focus their attention either on speech, or on music. Final words of sentences and final harmonies of chord sequences were syntactically either correct or incorrect. Irregular chords elicited an early right anterior negativity (ERAN), whose amplitude was decreased when music was simultaneously presented with speech, compared to when only music was presented. However, the amplitude of the ERAN-like waveform elicited when music was ignored did not differ from the conditions in which participants attended the chord sequences. Irregular sentences elicited an early left anterior negativity (ELAN), regardless of whether speech was presented in isolation, was attended, or was to be ignored. These findings suggest that the neural mechanisms underlying the processing of syntactic structure of music and speech operate partially automatically, and, in the case of music, are influenced by different attentional conditions. Moreover, the ERAN was slightly reduced when irregular sentences were presented, but only when music was ignored. Therefore, these findings provide no clear support for an interaction of neural resources for syntactic processing already at these early stages.
Assessing Goodness-of-Fit Measures for Multidimensional Personal Epistemology Survey Instruments: An Alternate Approach Using Multitrait-Multimethod Confirmatory Factor Analysis

Survey instruments measuring multidimensional attributes of individualsʼ personal epistemology beliefs have not demonstrated strong goodness-of-fit between the hypothesized model and collected data. Despite this, the growing body of research in personal epistemology suggests the existence of multiple dimensions of epistemic beliefs. To date, previous surveys have been examined using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in which the dimensions of beliefs have been the levels of a single factor examined. The dimensional structure explored in this study includes certainty, structure, authority, innate ability and acquisition speed. Alternatively, the multitraitmultimethod (MTMM) CFA introduces a second factor into the model. In this context, the second factor was a “method” effect introduced by the philosophical classification of the questions/items in the survey. This project demonstrated that the MTMM CFA is the better statistical tool to confirm the presence of five distinct dimensions in a traditional epistemic belief survey. This was accomplished by modelling the influence of the epistemic belief dimensions crossed with the philosophical nature of the items in the survey. Data were collected over two academic terms in various levels of mathematics courses in a community college in the Pacific Northwest region of the USA. Items in the survey were selected to measure the five epistemic dimensions listed above. Items were then classified as axiomatic, ontologic, deontologic or procedural in nature (deontological items were excluded). Results statistically indicated that the MTMM CFA model was the strongest model compared to standard (single factor) CFA models or alternate conceptualizations of the (dual factor) MTMM CFA model. In addition, results indicate very strong goodness-of-fit measures for the MTMM CFA model (CFI = 0.94; RMSEA = 0.038). Epistemic belief profiles for students are various levels of mathematics instruction in the tertiary environment were also explored.
Steganography Using Adaptive Pixel Value Differencing(APVD) of Gray Images Through Exclusion of Overflow/Underflow

In a gray scale image the pixel value ranges from 0 to 255. But when we use pixel-value differencing (pvd) method as image steganographic scheme, the pixel values in the stego-image may exceed gray scale range. An adaptive steganography based on modified pixel-value differencing through management of pixel values within the range of gray scale has been proposed in this paper. PVD method is used and check whether the pixel value exceeds the range on embedding. Positions where the pixel exceeds boundary has been marked and a delicate handle is used to keep the value within the range. From the experimental it is seen that the results obtained in proposed method provides with identical payload and visual fidelity of stego-image compared to the pvd method.
Evolutionary population synthesis: models, analysis of the ingredients and application to high‐z galaxies

Evolutionary population synthesis models for a wide range of metallicities, ages, star formation histories, initial mass functions and horizontal branch morphologies, including blue morphologies at high metallicity, are computed. The model output comprises spectral energy distributions, colours, stellar M/L ratios, bolometric corrections and near-infrared (IR) spectral line indices. The energetics of the post main sequence evolutionary phases are evaluated with the fuel consumption theorem. The impact on the models of the stellar evolutionary tracks (in particular with and without overshooting) is assessed. We find modest differences in synthetic broad-band colours as induced by the use of different tracks in our code [e.g. �( V − K ) ∼ 0.08 mag, �( B − V ) ∼ 0.03 mag]. Noticeably, these differences are substantially smaller than the scatter among other models in the literature, even when the latter adopt the same evolutionary tracks. The models are calibrated with globular cluster data from the Milky Way for old ages, and the Magellanic clouds plus the merger remnant galaxy NGC 7252, both for young ages of ∼0.1‐2 Gyr, in a large wavelength range from the U band to the K band. Particular emphasis is put on the contribution from the thermally pulsing asymptotic giant branch (TP-AGB) phase. We show that this evolutionary phase is crucial for the modelling of young stellar populations by direct comparison with observed spectral energy distributions of Magellanic cloud clusters, which are characterized by relatively high fluxes, both blueward and redward of the V band. We find that the combination of the near-IR spectral indices C2 and H2O can be used to determine the metallicity of ∼1 Gyr stellar populations. As an illustrative application, we re-analyse the spectral energy distributions of some of the high-z galaxies (2.4 z 2.9) observed with the Spitzer Space Telescope by Yan et al. Their high rest-frame near-IR fluxes is reproduced very well with the models including TP-AGB stars for ages in the range ∼0.6‐1.5 Gyr, suggesting formation redshifts for these objects around z ∼ 3‐6. Ke yw ords: stars: AGB and post-AGB ‐ stars: evolution ‐ galaxies: evolution ‐ galaxies: stellar content ‐ cosmology: early Universe.