Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Key issues in essential tremor genetics research: Where are we now and how can we move forward?

Background Genetics research is an avenue towards understanding essential tremor (ET). Advances have been made in genetic linkage and association: there are three reported ET susceptibility loci, and mixed but growing data on risk associations. However, causal mutations have not been forthcoming. This disappointing lack of progress has opened productive discussions on challenges in ET and specifically ET genetics research, including fundamental assumptions in the field. Methods This article reviews the ET genetics literature, results to date, the open questions in ET genetics and the current challenges in addressing them. Results Several inherent ET features complicate genetic linkage and association studies: high potential phenocopy rates, inaccurate tremor self-reporting, and ET misdiagnoses are examples. Increasing use of direct examination data for subjects, family members, and controls is one current response. Smaller moves towards expanding ET phenotype research concepts into non-tremor features, clinically disputed ET subsets, and testing phenotype features instead of clinical diagnosis against genetic data are gradually occurring. The field has already moved to considering complex trait mechanisms requiring detection of combinations of rare genetic variants. Hypotheses may move further to consider novel mechanisms of inheritance, such as epigenetics. Discussion It is an exciting time in ET genetics as investigators start moving past assumptions underlying both phenotype and genetics experimental contributions, overcoming challenges to collaboration, and engaging the ET community. Multicenter collaborative efforts comprising rich longitudinal prospective phenotype data and neuropathologic analysis combined with the latest in genetics experimental design and technology will be the next wave in the field.
Association between Personality Traits and Social Laziness : ( Case Study : Staff of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences in 2014 )

One of the main predictive factors in social laziness is taking into consideration the individual characteristics and differences of the staff. Like other parts of the society, staffs possess special individual differences, talents, motivations, propensity, and inclinations. The main objective of this study was to investigate the association between personality traits and social laziness in the staff of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences in 2014. The present study was a descriptive correlation one. The sample study was comprised of 203 office workers (contractual and permanent) of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences staffs which were selected by stratified random sampling method. The tools for data gathering were NEO personality inventory (1985) and Saffarinia Social Laziness test. The reliability of the test was measured by Cronbach’s alpha. Descriptive statistics (percent, mean, standard deviation and variance) and Pearson correlation coefficient and regression (in the deductive level for testing the research hypothesizes) and the SPSS software (ver. 18.0) (for data analysis) were used in this study. There was a significant relationship between all the independent variables of personal traits (neuroticism, extroversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness) except for openness with the dependent variable of social laziness. Also, the multiple regression results of independent variables with dependent variables of social laziness showed that, of the previous variables, the conscientiousness and extroversion variables specify social laziness significantly. On the other hand, the coefficient of determination shows that 15.7% of social laziness variance is specified by other personality traits variables (neuroticism, flexibility, and agreeableness). The results show that people’s personal traits affect in many aspects their performance and ultimately their organizational performance.
Deferring design pattern decisions and automating structural pattern changes using a design-pattern-based programming system

In the design phase of software development, the designer must make many fundamental design decisions concerning the architecture of the system. Incorrect decisions are relatively easy and inexpensive to fix if caught during the design process, but the difficulty and cost rise significantly if problems are not found until after coding begins. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to find incorrect design decisions during the design phase. To reduce the cost of expensive corrections, it would be useful to have the ability to defer some design decisions as long as possible, even into the coding stage. Failing that, tool support for automating design changes would give more freedom to revisit and change these decisions when needed. This article shows how a design-pattern-based programming system based on generative design patterns can support the deferral of design decisions where possible, and automate changes where necessary. A generative design pattern is a parameterized pattern form that is capable of generating code for different versions of the underlying design pattern. We demonstrate these ideas in the context of a parallel application written with the CO2P3S pattern-based parallel programming system. We show that CO2P3S can defer the choice of execution architecture (shared-memory or distributed-memory), and can automate several changes to the application structure that would normally be daunting to tackle late in the development cycle. Although we have done this work with a pattern-based parallel programming system, it can be generalized to other domains.
Exploring Posttraumatic Growth in Japanese Youth Kanako

Despite a growing body of literature examining posttraumatic growth (PTG; positive change resulting from the struggle with trauma) in adult populations from various cultures, the emerging research base involving youth includes few studies exploring the construct in youth from Eastern cultures. This study examined PTG and perceived growth in the absence of trauma among Japanese youth. A total of 408 youth (215 boys, 193 girls), with a mean age of 13.38 years (SD .93), from one public junior high school in the suburbs of Tokyo were recruited. They reported whether they had experienced any trauma in the past year and completed measures assessing psychological growth using the Revised Posttraumatic Growth Inventory for Children, subjective severity, and cognitive processing using the adapted Rumination Scale. Results using one-way ANOVA showed that greater growth was reported by those who experienced trauma, and the objective severity of the adversity was reliably related to perceived growth. Chi-square tests revealed that those who did not experience adversity had more difficulty identifying growth. These results suggest that the youth-reported growth does not simply reflect normative maturation. Multiple regression analysis, using participants who reported at least one traumatic event, indicated that deliberate cognitive processing appears to play an important role in PTG. Cultural and developmental aspects of these findings, as well as implications for research and applied work are discussed.
Postactivation Potentiation Following Acute Bouts of Plyometric versus Heavy-Resistance Exercise in Collegiate Soccer Players

Postactivation potentiation is referred to as an acute and temporary enhancement of muscle performance resulting from previous muscle contraction. The purpose of this study was to compare the acute effect of plyometric exercise (PLY) and heavy-resistance exercise (RES) on the blood lactate level (BLa) and physical performance. Fourteen male collegiate soccer players were randomized to perform either RES or PLY first and then crossed over to perform the opposite intervention. PLY consisted of 40 jumps, whereas RES comprised ten single repetitions at 90% of one repetition maximum. BLa and physical performance (countermovement jump height and 20-m sprint) were measured before and at 1 and 10 min following the exercise. No significant difference was observed in the BLa for both exercises (PLY and RES). Relative to baseline, countermovement jump (CMJ) height was significantly better for the PLY group after 1 min (P = 0.004) and after 10 min (P = 0.001) compared to that of the RES group. The 20-m sprint time was significantly better for PLY at 10 min (P = 0.003) compared to that of RES. The present study concluded that, compared to RES, PLY causes greater potentiation, which leads to improved physical performance. This trial is registered with NCT03150277.
Larger Fig Wasps Are More Careful About Which Figs to Enter – With Good Reason

Floral longevity reflects a balance between gains in pollinator visitation and the costs of flower maintenance. Because rewards to pollinators change over time, older flowers may be less attractive, reducing the value of extended longevity. Un-pollinated figs, the inflorescences of Ficus species, can remain receptive for long periods, but figs that are older when entered by their host-specific fig wasp pollinators produce fewer seeds and fig wasp offspring. Our field experiments with Ficus hispida , a dioecious fig tree, examined how the length of time that receptive figs have remained un-pollinated influences the behaviour and reproductive success of its short-lived fig wasp pollinator, Ceratosolensolmsi marchali. The results were consistent in three different seasons, and on male and female trees, although receptivity was greatly extended during colder months. Pollinators took longer to find the ostioles of older figs, and longer to penetrate them. They also became increasingly unwilling to enter figs as they aged, and increasing numbers of the wasps became trapped in the ostiolar bracts. Larger individuals were particularly unwilling to enter older figs, resulting in older figs being pollinated by smaller wasps. On female trees, where figs produce only seeds, seed production declined rapidly with fig age. On male trees, the numbers and size of fig wasp offspring declined, and a higher proportion were male. Older male figs are harder to enter, especially for larger individuals, and offer poorer quality oviposition opportunities. This study opens an interesting new perspective on the coevolution of figs and their pollinators, especially factors influencing pollinator body size and emphasises the subtleties of interactions between mutualists.
Novel metallurgical process for titanium production

In this work, a consumable anode composed of a solid solution of titanium carbide and titanium monoxide was prepared via carbothermic reduction of TiO_2. Upon electrolysis, the anode fed Ti^2+ into solution and carbon monoxide was generated; no excess carbon remained to contaminate the melt. On the cathode, high-purity titanium (>99.9%) was produced. Our results suggest anode and cathode current efficiencies of 93.5% and 89% respectively, indicating that the method is viable and extremely cost-effective, potentially dropping the cost of titanium to near that of aluminum.
A Multi-Level Theoretical Study to Disclose the Binding Mechanisms of Gold(III)-Bipyridyl Compounds as Selective Aquaglyceroporin Inhibitors.

Structural studies have paved the avenue to a deeper understanding of aquaporins (AQPs), small ancient proteins providing efficient transmembrane pathways for water, small uncharged solutes such as glycerol, and possibly gas molecules. Despite the numerous studies, their roles in health and disease remain to be fully disclosed. The recent discovery of AuIII complexes as potent and selective inhibitors of aquaglyceroporin isoforms paves the way to their possible therapeutic application. The binding of the selective human AQP3 inhibitor, the cationic complex [Au(bipy)Cl2 ]+ (Aubipy), to the protein channel has been investigated here by means of a multi-level theoretical workflow that includes QM, MD and QM/MM approaches. The hydroxo complex was identified as the prevalent form of Aubipy in physiological media and its binding to AQP3 studied by MD. Both non-covalent and coordinative Aubipy-AQP3 adducts were simulated to probe their role in the modulation of water channel functionality. The electronic structures of representative Aubipy-AQP3 adducts were then analysed to unveil the role played by the metal moiety in their stabilisation. This study spotlights the overall importance of three key aspects for AQP3 inhibition: 1) water speciation of the AuIII complex, 2) stability of non-covalent adducts and 3) conformational changes induced within the pore by the coordinative binding of AuIII . The obtained results are expected to orient future developments in the design of isoform-selective AuIII inhibitors.
Seat Design, Spine Curvature and Intradiscal Pressure

In nowdays digitalized and industrialized society, sitting is the most frequent posture at work, at school and also during the leisure time (surfing on the internet, gaming.). Because of gravity, the erect posture is associated with an increase of the lumbar intra-discal pressure, which has first been evidenced in the in vivo measurements of Nachemson [1-3]. In these studies, the authors depicted a rise of the intra discal pressure from lying supine to standing and to sitting. In addition, it has been shown that flexing forward while standing or sitting substantially increased intradiscal pressure [3], suggesting that its rise in the seated posture pertains to the flattening of the lumbar lordosis. Indeed, an extensive literature provides evidence that lumbar flexion and flattening of the lumbar curvature are associated with sitting. Ackerblom [4] reported an average lumbar flexion of 35° in people sitting upright, while Keegan [5] stated that it was impossible to seat in a standard chair without a considerable flattening of the lumbosacral curve. According to Schoberth [6], who used X-ray examination, sitting upright is associated with an average flexion of 60° in the hip joint and a 30° flexion in the lumbar region. Likewise, Lord [7] stated that lumbar lordosis while standing is nearly 50% greater on average than in sitting. For most authors, this phenomenon is the consequence of thigh flexion which drives the pelvis backward. In the study by Keegan [5], it has been shown that the flattening of the lumbar lordosis increases with thigh flexion from 0° to 130° in sidelying posture. The author presumed that it was related to the tension of the posterior thigh and gluteal muscles that tend to rotate the pelvis backward when the thighs are flexed. Eklund and Liew [8], who studied the effect of hip and knee flexion on the lumbar curvature in the lying and sitting posture, found similar results and stated that hip angle is a strong determinator of lumbar posture.
Acoustic Landmarks Contain More Information About the Phone String than Other Frames

Most mainstream automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems consider all feature frames equally important. However, acoustic landmark theory is based on a contradictory idea that some frames are more important than others. Acoustic landmark theory exploits quantal nonlinearities in the articulatory-acoustic and acoustic-perceptual relations to define landmark times at which the speech spectrum abruptly changes or reaches an extremum; frames overlapping landmarks have been demonstrated to be sufficient for speech perception. In this work, experiments are conducted on the TIMIT corpus, with both Gaussian mixture model (GMM) and deep neural network (DNN)-based ASR systems, and it is found that frames containing landmarks are more informative for ASR than others. It is discovered that altering the level of emphasis on landmarks by re-weighting acoustic likelihood tends to reduce the phone error rate (PER). Furthermore, by leveraging the landmark as a heuristic, one of the hybrid DNN frame dropping strategies maintained a PER within 0.44% of optimal when scoring less than half (45.8% to be precise) of the frames. This hybrid strategy outperforms other non-heuristic-based methods and demonstrate the potential of landmarks for reducing computation.
Commentary: Microbial Small Talk: Volatiles in Fungal–Bacterial Interactions

There is increasing evidence that volatile organic compounds (VOCs) play an important role in the interactions between fungi and bacteria, two major groups of soil inhabiting microorganisms. Yet, most of the research has been focused on effects of bacterial volatiles on suppression of plant pathogenic fungi whereas little is known about the responses of bacteria to fungal volatiles. In the current study we performed a metabolomics analysis of volatiles emitted by several fungal and oomycetal soil strains under different nutrient conditions and growth stages. The metabolomics analysis of the tested fungal and oomycetal strains revealed different volatile profiles dependent on the age of the strains and nutrient conditions. Furthermore, we screened the phenotypic responses of soil bacterial strains to volatiles emitted by fungi. Two bacteria, Collimonas pratensis Ter291 and Serratia plymuthica PRI-2C, showed significant changes in their motility, in particular to volatiles emitted by Fusarium culmorum. This fungus produced a unique volatile blend, including several terpenes. Four of these terpenes were selected for further tests to investigate if they influence bacterial motility. Indeed, these terpenes induced or reduced swimming and swarming motility of S. plymuthica PRI-2C and swarming motility of C. pratensis Ter291, partly in a concentration-dependent manner. Overall the results of this work revealed that bacteria are able to sense and respond to fungal volatiles giving further evidence to the suggested importance of volatiles as signaling molecules in fungal–bacterial interactions.
Validity and reliability of the Greek version of the Quebec Back Pain Disability Scale.

OBJECTIVES Low back pain is related to functional status and possible resulting disability. The Quebec Back Pain Disability Scale (QBPDS) has been used widely to evaluate functional disability in patients with low back pain. The purpose of this study was to assess: (a) the face and content validity, (b) the factor structure, (c) the concurrent validity, (d) the discriminant validity, (e) the internal consistency and the test-retest reliability (ICC) of the Greek version of the QBPDS. METHODS One hundred and sixty patients with low back pain participated in the study. Face and content validity of the translated QBPDS were first investigated and afterwards exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was chosen to examine the factor structure of it. The concurrent and discriminant validity of the QBPDS was also assessed by a number of valid constructs. Finally, Cronbach α and Pearson r (ICC) were used to investigate the reliability of the instrument. RESULTS The face and content validity of the QBPDS were supported and the EFA confirmed the sixth initial factor structure of the instrument. The concurrent and discriminant validity of it was confirmed by examining correlations between the QBPDS with other constructs. The Cronbach a and the ICCs indices of the instrument were acceptable. CONCLUSION The Greek translation of the QBPDS provided reliable and valid instrument for the evaluation of Greek patients with low back pain.
Improved survival with vemurafenib in melanoma with BRAF V600E mutation.

BACKGROUND Phase 1 and 2 clinical trials of the BRAF kinase inhibitor vemurafenib (PLX4032) have shown response rates of more than 50% in patients with metastatic melanoma with the BRAF V600E mutation. METHODS We conducted a phase 3 randomized clinical trial comparing vemurafenib with dacarbazine in 675 patients with previously untreated, metastatic melanoma with the BRAF V600E mutation. Patients were randomly assigned to receive either vemurafenib (960 mg orally twice daily) or dacarbazine (1000 mg per square meter of body-surface area intravenously every 3 weeks). Coprimary end points were rates of overall and progression-free survival. Secondary end points included the response rate, response duration, and safety. A final analysis was planned after 196 deaths and an interim analysis after 98 deaths. RESULTS At 6 months, overall survival was 84% (95% confidence interval [CI], 78 to 89) in the vemurafenib group and 64% (95% CI, 56 to 73) in the dacarbazine group. In the interim analysis for overall survival and final analysis for progression-free survival, vemurafenib was associated with a relative reduction of 63% in the risk of death and of 74% in the risk of either death or disease progression, as compared with dacarbazine (P<0.001 for both comparisons). After review of the interim analysis by an independent data and safety monitoring board, crossover from dacarbazine to vemurafenib was recommended. Response rates were 48% for vemurafenib and 5% for dacarbazine. Common adverse events associated with vemurafenib were arthralgia, rash, fatigue, alopecia, keratoacanthoma or squamous-cell carcinoma, photosensitivity, nausea, and diarrhea; 38% of patients required dose modification because of toxic effects. CONCLUSIONS Vemurafenib produced improved rates of overall and progression-free survival in patients with previously untreated melanoma with the BRAF V600E mutation. (Funded by Hoffmann-La Roche; BRIM-3 ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01006980.).
Multimodal mixed emotion detection

This paper presents a method to automatically detect emotional duality and mixed emotional experience using multimodal audio-visual continuous data. Co-ordinates, distance and movement of tracked points were used to create features from visual input that captured facial expressions, head, hand gestures and body movement. Spectral features, prosodic features were extracted from the audio channel. Audio-visual data along with depth information was recorded using the infrared sensor (Kinect). OpenEar toolkit and Face API was used for calculation of features. A combined feature vector was created by feature level fusion and a support vector machine (SVM) based classifier was used for emotion detection. 6 participants and 15 actions were used for recording simultaneous mixed emotional experience. The results showed that concurrent emotions can be automatically detected using multiple modalities. The overall accuracy using multimodal mixed emotion recognition was 96.6%. The accuracy from facial expressions (92.4%) and head movement (94.3%) was better compared to accuracies obtained from hand gesture (77.5%) and body movement (65.2%) alone.