Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Polymorphisms of Tumor Necrosis Factor-α, Transforming Growth Factor-β, and Interleukin-10 in Asthma Associated with Olive Pollen Sensitization

Sensitization to specific olive pollen-allergens (Ole e 2 and 10) has been correlated with a clinical pattern of asthma. This study analyzes the association between several polymorphims of TNFA (G-308A, C-857T, and C-1031T), IL10 (C-571A and A-1117G), and TGFB (C-509-T) and these sensitizations. These polymorphisms were genotyped by allelic discrimination, in olive pollen-allergic patients (phenotyped for specific Ole e 2 and 10 sensitizations) and healthy controls. Levels of serum-soluble cytokines were correlated with specific genotypes and clinical phenotypes. The results showed that heterozygous TGFB C-509T genotype, besides having the lowest sera TGF- levels, was significantly increased in olive pollen-allergic patients compared with controls. According specific sensitizations, CC genotype of IL10 C-571A could be a protective factor for Ole e 2 sensitization and mainly for asthmatic Ole e 2 sensitized patients compared with asthmatic non-Ole e 2 sensitized patients (OR: 0.26, P = 0.008). In contrast, heterozygous CA genotype was increased in Ole e 2 asthmatic subjects compared to asthmatic non-Ole e 2 sensitized patients. Lastly, heterozygous TNFA G-308A genotype was associated with Ole e 10 sensitization (OR: 2.5, P = 0.04). In conclusion, these results suggest a role of TGF-β1 in olive-pollen sensitization and TNF-α and IL-10 genotypes in the asthma induced by specific olive-pollen allergens.
Are there compensatory effects in natural speech

This work exploited coarticulation and loud speech as natural sources of perturbation in order to determine whether articulatory covariation (motor equivalent behavior) can be observed inspeech that is not artificially perturbed. Articulatory analyses of jaw and tongue movement in the production of alveolar consonants by German speakers were performed. The sibilant /s/ shows virtually no articulatory covariation under the influence of natural perturbations, whereas other alveolar consonants show more obvious compensatory behavior. Our conclusion is that an effect of natural sources of perturbation is noticable, but sounds are affected to different degrees.
Disability and Comorbidity: Diagnoses and Symptoms Associated with Disability in a Clinical Population with Panic Disorder

Background. Anxiety disorders are associated with considerable disability in the domains of (1) work, (2) social, and (3) family and home interactions. Psychiatric comorbidity is also known to be associated with disability. Methods. Data from the Cross-National Collaborative Panic Study was used to identify rates of comorbid diagnoses, anxiety and depression symptom ratings, and Sheehan disability scale ratings from a clinical sample of 1165 adults with panic disorder. Results. Comorbid diagnoses of agoraphobia, major depression, and social phobia were associated with disability across the three domains of work, social, and family and home interactions. The symptom of agoraphobic avoidance makes the largest contribution to disability but there is no single symptom cluster that entirely predicts impairment and disability. Limitations. The findings about the relative contributions that comorbid diagnoses make to disability only apply to a population with panic disorder. Conclusions. Although panic disorder is not generally considered to be among the serious and persistent mental illnesses, when it is comorbid with other diagnoses, it is associated with considerable impairment. In particular, the presence of agoraphobic avoidance should alert the clinician to the likelihood of important functional impairment. When measuring the functional impact of comorbid anxiety disorders, both the categorical and the dimensional approaches to diagnosis make valuable contributions.
Towards efficient automated singer identification in large music databases

Automated singer identification is important in organising, browsing and retrieving data in large music databases. In this paper, we propose a novel scheme, called Hybrid Singer Identifier (HSI), for automated singer recognition. HSI can effectively use multiple low-level features extracted from both vocal and non-vocal music segments to enhance the identification process with a hybrid architecture and build profiles of individual singer characteristics based on statistical mixture models. Extensive experimental results conducted on a large music database demonstrate the superiority of our method over state-of-the-art approaches.
Eddy covariance measurements with high-resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometry: a new approach to chemically resolved aerosol fluxes

Abstract. Although laboratory studies show that biogenic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) yield substantial secondary organic aerosol (SOA), production of biogenic SOA as indicated by upward fluxes has not been conclusively observed over forests. Further, while aerosols are known to deposit to surfaces, few techniques exist to provide chemically-resolved particle deposition fluxes. To better constrain aerosol sources and sinks, we have developed a new technique to directly measure fluxes of chemically-resolved submicron aerosols using the high-resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer (HR-AMS) in a new, fast eddy covariance mode. This approach takes advantage of the instrument's ability to quantitatively identify both organic and inorganic components, including ammonium, sulphate and nitrate, at a temporal resolution of several Hz. The new approach has been successfully deployed over a temperate ponderosa pine plantation in California during the BEARPEX-2007 campaign, providing both total and chemically resolved non-refractory (NR) PM1 fluxes. Average deposition velocities for total NR-PM1 aerosol at noon were 2.05 ± 0.04 mm s−1. Using a high resolution measurement of the NH2+ and NH3+ fragments, we demonstrate the first eddy covariance flux measurements of particulate ammonium, which show a noon-time deposition velocity of 1.9 ± 0.7 mm s−1 and are dominated by deposition of ammonium sulphate.
Mindfulness and meditation as an adjunctive treatment for adolescents involved in the juvenile justice system: Is repairing the brain and nervous system possible?

ABSTRACT Adolescents involved in the juvenile justice system are prone to more traumatic events than other adolescents, leaving them in danger of developmental difficulties. Trauma exposure is predictive of poor outcomes including mental and physical health issues as well as criminal activity. Current treatment approaches either have a nominal effect on recidivism rates or increase the likelihood of future criminal offenses. This article explores adolescent brain development, the unique difficulties that juvenile justice youth face, and mindfulness meditation as an adjunctive treatment to system-based treatment. Mindfulness meditation may be a way to redress damage to the brain and facilitate healthy brain development, thus impacting prosocial behavior. Practice implications include integrating mindfulness meditation as an important part of rehabilitative efforts with juvenile justice youth.
Turán H-Densities for 3-Graphs

Given an $r$-graph $H$ on $h$ vertices, and a family $\mathcal{F}$ of forbidden subgraphs, we define $\mathrm{ex}_{H}(n, \mathcal{F})$ to be the maximum number of induced copies of $H$ in an $\mathcal{F}$-free $r$-graph on $n$ vertices. Then the Tur a n $H$-density of $\mathcal{F}$ is the limit \[\pi_{H}(\mathcal{F})= \lim_{n\rightarrow \infty}\mathrm{ex}_{H}(n, \mathcal{F})/\binom{n}{h}. \] This generalises the notions of Tur a n density (when $H$ is an $r$-edge), and inducibility (when $\mathcal{F}$ is empty). Although problems of this kind have received some attention, very few results are known. We use Razborov's semi-definite method to investigate Tur a n $H$-densities for $3$-graphs. In particular, we show that \[\pi_{K_4^-}(K_4) = 16/27,\] with Tur a n's construction being optimal. We prove a result in a similar flavour for $K_5$ and make a general conjecture on the value of $\pi_{K_t^-}(K_t)$. We also establish that \[\pi_{4.2}(\emptyset)=3/4,\] where $4.2$ denotes the $3$-graph on $4$ vertices with exactly $2$ edges. The lower bound in this case comes from a random geometric construction strikingly different from previous known extremal examples in $3$-graph theory. We give a number of other results and conjectures for $3$-graphs, and in addition consider the inducibility of certain directed graphs. Let $\vec{S}_k$ be the out-star on $k$ vertices; i.e. the star on $k$ vertices with all $k-1$ edges oriented away from the centre. We show that \[\pi_{\vec{S}_3}(\emptyset)=2\sqrt{3}-3,\] with an iterated blow-up construction being extremal. This is related to a conjecture of Mubayi and R o dl on the Tur a n density of the 3-graph $C_5$. We also determine $\pi_{\vec{S}_k}(\emptyset)$ when $k=4,5$, and conjecture its value for general $k$.
Cytokeratin-18 and hyaluronic acid levels predict liver fibrosis in children with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

OBJECTIVES There is a need to replace liver biopsy with non-invasive markers that predict the degree of liver fibrosis in fatty liver disease related to obesity. Therefore, we studied four potential serum markers of liver fibrosis and compared them with histopathological findings in liver biopsy in children with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). METHODS We determined fasting serum level of hyaluronic acid (HA), laminin, YKL-40 and cytokeratin-18 M30 in 52 children (age range 4-19, mean 12 years, 80 % of them were overweight or obese) with biopsy-verified NAFLD. Viral hepatitis, autoimmune and metabolic liver diseases (Wilson's disease, alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency, cystic fibrosis) were excluded. Fibrosis stage was assessed in a blinded fashion by one pathologist according to Kleiner. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis was used to calculate the power of the assays to detect liver fibrosis (AccuROC, Canada). RESULTS Liver fibrosis was diagnosed in 19 children (37 %). The levels of HA and CK18M30 were significantly higher in children with fibrosis compared to children without fibrosis (p=0.04 and 0.05 respectively). The ability of serum HA (cut-off 19.1 ng/ml, Se=84 %, Sp=55 %, PPV=52 %, NPV=86 %) and CK18M30 (cut-off 210 u/l, Se=79 %, Sp=60 %, PPV=56 %, NPV=82 %) to differentiate children with fibrosis from those without fibrosis was significant (AUC=0.672 and 0.666, respectively). The combination of both markers was superior (AUC=0.73, p=0.002). Laminin and YKL-40 levels did not allow a useful prediction. CONCLUSIONS Cytokeratin-18 and hyaluronic acid are suitable serum markers predicting liver fibrosis in children with NAFLD. Studying these markers may identify patients at risk of disease progression.
Cardiac Troponin Measurement in the Critically Ill: Potential for Guiding Clinical Management

Background Elevated cardiac troponin (cTn) in the absence of acute coronary syndromes (ACS) is associated with increased mortality in critically ill patients. There are no evidence-based interventions that reduce mortality in this group. Objectives We performed a retrospective investigation of the Veterans Administration Inpatient Evaluation Center database to determine whether drugs used in ACS (β-blockers, aspirin, and statins) are associated with reduced mortality in critically ill patients. Methods Thirty-day mortality was determined for non-ACS patients admitted to any Veterans Administration Intensive Care Unit between October 1, 2007, and September 30, 2008, adjusted for severity of illness. Troponin assay values were normalized across institutions. Results Multivariate analyses for 30-day mortality showed an odds ratio (OR) of 1.82 for patients with high cTn (P < 0.0001, cTn > 10% coefficient of variation) and 1.18 for intermediate cTn (P = 0.0021, cTn between lowest limit detectable and 10% coefficient of variation) compared with patients with no elevation, adjusting for severity of illness (n = 19,979). Logistic regression models showed that patients with no or intermediate elevations of cTn taking statins within 24 hours of cTn measurement had a lower mortality than patients not taking statins (OR, 0.66; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 0.53–0.82; P = 0.0003), whereas patients with high cTn had a lower mortality if they were taking β-blockers or aspirin within 24 hours of cTn measurement compared to patients not taking β-blockers or aspirin (β-blockers: OR, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.68–0.94; P = 0.0077; aspirin: OR, 0.81;95% CI, 0.69–0.96; P = 0.0134). Conclusions This retrospective study confirms an association between elevated troponin and outcomes in critically ill patients without ACS and identifies statins, β-blockers, and aspirin as potential outcome modifiers in a cTn-dependent manner.
Unskilled and Unaware of It

This was a tweet from Mark Caven-dish, the 2011 World Champion Cyclist (see Figure 1), winner of the green jersey in the 2012 Tour de France, and “fastest man on two wheels” that he sent during the Tour de France in July of last year [1]. Mr Cavendish sent this tweet after the press reported that he was “unable to capitalize” on a previous stage, being “all washed up and unable to perform. ” The tweet was sent just before stage 5, which Mr Cavendish won in commanding style. Mr Cavendish also sent a link to a description of the Dunning-Kruger effect, which is a cognitive bias of unskilled people where they make poor decisions and reach erroneous conclusions, but their very incompe-tence robs them of the ability to rec-ognize their mistakes. Is this a famil-iar syndrome in your workplace? Justin Kruger and David Dunning of Cornell University proposed this phenomenon in 1999 [2] and, with their colleagues, performed a series of experiments over the ensuing years that supported this hy -pothe sis [3]. Tak-ing Cornell un -dergraduates in various psychol-ogy classes as the test group, Kruger and Dunning exam-ined the students’ self-assessment of their logical reasoning skills, their grammatical skills, and sense of humor. The test scores were divided into quartiles by rank. Across four studies, Kruger and Dunning found that the participants who scored in the lowest quartile in the tests on logic, grammar, and humor grossly overestimated their test perfor-mance and ability. In fact, even though these students scored only in the 12th percentile on the tests, they estimated themselves to be in the 62nd percentile! Even after being shown their test scores, these students still overestimated their rank. They are the unskilled or incom-petent, and they are unaware of it and unable to recognize it.Conversely, those participants with high scores on the tests tended to underestimate their relative compe-tence. In other words, those students who found the tasks relatively easy or straightforward tended to assume, erroneously, that the tasks must also be easy for others.The Dunning-Kruger effect is an example of overconfidence or illusory superiority. These are cognitive biases (or impairments) that cause people to:† overestimate their performance, ability, level of control, or rate of work† have an inflated belief that they are better than others† think that their answers and be-liefs are more accurate, or true. Illusory superiority is also known as the “Lake Wobegon Effect, where all the chil-dren are above average: the incompetent will tend to rank themselves above the average” [4], as shown in the tests car-ried out by Kruger and Dunning. One example of illusory superiority is known as the “Downing effect,” which is the tendency of people with a below-aver-age IQ to overestimate their IQ, and for people with above-average IQ to under-estimate their IQ. This overconfidence means that the unintelligent or unskilled
Familial Parkinson's Disease Mutant E46K α-Synuclein Localizes to Membranous Structures, Forms Aggregates, and Induces Toxicity in Yeast Models

In Parkinson's disease (PD), midbrain dopaminergic neuronal death is linked to the accumulation of aggregated α-synuclein. The familial PD mutant form of α-synuclein, E46K, has not been thoroughly evaluated yet in an organismal model system. Here, we report that E46K resembled wild-type (WT) α-synuclein in Saccharomyces cerevisiae in that it predominantly localized to the plasma membrane, and it did not induce significant toxicity or accumulation. In contrast, in Schizosaccharomyces pombe, E46K did not associate with the plasma membrane. Instead, in one strain, it extensively aggregated in the cytoplasm and was as toxic as WT. Remarkably, in another strain, E46K extensively associated with the endomembrane system and was more toxic than WT. Our studies recapitulate and extend aggregation and phospholipid membrane association properties of E46K previously observed in vitro and cell culture. Furthermore, it supports the notion that E46K generates toxicity partly due to increased association with endomembrane systems within cells.
Pre- and post-initiation modulating effects of green tea ingestion on rat hepatocarcinogenesis

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of green tea ingestion on hepatocarcinogenesis before and after its initiation. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed an AIN76A diet with or without green tea. Initiation was induced by a single dose (200 mg/kg) of diethylnitrosamine at week 4 and 0.02% (w/w) 2-acetylaminofluorene was supplied in the diets. The control group had free access to water for 13 weeks (CTR13). Tea infusion was provided from the beginning of the experiment for 13 weeks (PRE13) or from the post-initiation stage until week 13 (POST13). Three other groups (CTR24, PRE24 and POST24) were added to examine the longer-term effects (24 weeks) with the same experimental design. The percentage area of liver sections that were positive for hepatic placental glutathione S-transferase (GST-P), which was used as a marker of preneoplastic lesions, was smaller in PRE13 (20.2 ± 5.0%, mean ± SD) and POST13 (26.0 ± 4.8%) than in CTR13 (33.2 ± 5.8%, p<0.05). Over the longer period, the GST-P lesions were significantly smaller for both PRE24 and POST24 (21.6 ± 8.5% and 22.2 ± 4.0%, respectively) than for CTR24 (28.6 ± 5.1%, p<0.05), but there was no significant difference between PRE24 and POST24. The liver content of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances was significantly lower in the tea groups than in the controls (p<0.05). However, no significant differences were observed among groups of GST activity. The results show that tea consumption exhibits a stronger short-term initiation-inhibiting ability in liver carcinogenesis, but over a longer period, the preventive effects of green tea ingestion do not differ in post- and pre-initiation.
In Vivo Study of Transverse Carpal Ligament Stiffness Using Acoustic Radiation Force Impulse (ARFI) Imaging

The transverse carpal ligament (TCL) forms the volar boundary of the carpal tunnel and may provide mechanical constraint to the median nerve, leading to carpal tunnel syndrome. Therefore, the mechanical properties of the TCL are essential to better understand the etiology of carpal tunnel syndrome. The purpose of this study was to investigate the in vivo TCL stiffness using acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) imaging. The shear wave velocity (SWV) of the TCL was measured using Virtual Touch IQTM software in 15 healthy, male subjects. The skin and the thenar muscles were also examined as reference tissues. In addition, the effects of measurement location and ultrasound transducer compression on the SWV were studied. The SWV of the TCL was dependent on the tissue location, with greater SWV values within the muscle-attached region than those outside of the muscle-attached region. The SWV of the TCL was significantly smaller without compression (5.21 ± 1.08 m/s) than with compression (6.62 ± 1.18 m/s). The SWV measurements of the skin and the thenar muscles were also affected by transducer compression, but to different extents than the SWV of the TCL. Therefore to standardize the ARFI imaging procedure, it is recommended that a layer of ultrasound gel be maintained to minimize the effects of tissue compression. This study demonstrated the feasibility of ARFI imaging for assessing the stiffness characteristics of the TCL in vivo, which has the potential to identify pathomechanical changes of the tissue.
Truncating Wide Networks Using Binary Tree Architectures

In this paper, we propose a binary tree architecture to truncate architecture of wide networks by reducing the width of the networks. More precisely, in the proposed architecture, the width is incrementally reduced from lower layers to higher layers in order to increase the expressive capacity of networks with a less increase on parameter size. Also, in order to ease the gradient vanishing problem, features obtained at different layers are concatenated to form the output of our architecture. By employing the proposed architecture on a baseline wide network, we can construct and train a new network with same depth but considerably less number of parameters. In our experimental analyses, we observe that the proposed architecture enables us to obtain better parameter size and accuracy trade-off compared to baseline networks using various benchmark image classification datasets. The results show that our model can decrease the classification error of a baseline from 20:43% to 19:22% on Cifar-100 using only 28% of parameters that the baseline has. Code is available at https://github.com/ZhangVision/bitnet.
"Sometimes There is No Most-Vital" Arc: Assessing and Improving the Operational Resilience of Systems

Abstract : This paper shows that no simple common-sense rule of thumb can be used to identify a most-vital arc even in a simple maximum-flow problem. The correct answer requires analysis equivalent in difficulty to completely solving the maximum-flow problem, perhaps repeatedly. This insight generalizes to finding a most-vital component, or set of components in a system whose operation is described by a more general model. Our paper shows how to evaluate the criticality of sets of components, how to assess the worst-case set of components that might be lost to a given number of simultaneous hostile attacks (or engineering failures, or losses to Mother Nature), and how to allocate limited defensive resources to minimize the maximum damage from a subsequent attack. Collateral insights include the fact that there is no way to prioritize individual components by criticality, and that the analysis that determines critical component sets also yields objective assessments of operational system resilience and can provide constructive advice on how to increase it.
Longitudinal Leisure Activity Profiles and Their Associations with Recovery Experiences and Job Performance

ABSTRACT We aimed to identify longitudinal leisure activity profiles among working adults and their links to recovery experiences and job performance. Leisure activities, recovery experiences, and job performance were investigated among 831 employees using survey data collected in spring 2013 (T1) and 2014 (T2). Through latent profile analysis (LPA), four stable longitudinal leisure activity profiles were identified. “Social Sports(wo)men” (46%) engaged in physical and social activities but rarely in creative or cultural activities. “Active Artists” (23%) pursued all leisure activities, particularly creative activities. “Socially & Culturally Inactives” (17%) exercised frequently but seldom engaged in social, cultural or creative activities. “Inactive Soloists” (14%) spent little time on physical activities. “Active Artists” reported most beneficial recovery experiences and job performance. Our results corroborate the importance of leisure activities (particularly diverse and creative activities) in facilitating recovery from work stress and job performance.