Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Negative Cognition, Depressed Mood, and Paranoia: A Longitudinal Pathway Analysis Using Structural Equation Modeling

The role of negative cognition and effect in maintaining psychotic symptoms is increasingly recognized but has yet to be substantiated though longitudinal analysis. Based on an a priori theoretical model, we hypothesized that negative cognition and depressed mood play a direct causal role in maintaining paranoia in people with psychosis and that the effect of mood is mediated by negative cognition. We used data from the 301 patients in the Prevention of Relapse in Psychosis Trial of cognitive behavior therapy. They were recruited from consecutive Community Mental Health Team clients presenting with a recent relapse of psychosis. The teams were located in inner and outer London and the rural county of Norfolk, England. The study followed a longitudinal cohort design, with initial measures repeated at 3 and 12 months. Structural equation modeling was used to investigate the direction of effect between negative cognition, depressed mood, and paranoia. Overall fit was ambiguous in some analyses and confounding by unidentified variables cannot be ruled out. Nevertheless, the most plausible models were those incorporating pathways from negative cognition and depressed mood to paranoid symptoms: There was no evidence whatsoever for pathways in the reverse direction. The link between depressed mood and paranoia appeared to be mediated by negative cognition. Our hypotheses were thus corroborated. This study provides evidence for the role of negative cognition in the maintenance of paranoia, a role of central relevance, both to the design of psychological interventions and to the conceptualizations of psychosis.
Efficient Search for Size Targets on a Background Texture Gradient: Is Detection Guided by Discontinuities in the Retinal-Size Gradient of Items?

Six visual search experiments were carried out to investigate the processing of size information in early vision. The apparent size of display items was manipulated independently of their retinal size by placing items on a textured surface which altered the perceived distance in depth of the items. Overall, these experiments demonstrate that a target item differing from non-target items in terms of apparent size can be detected efficiently. However, the pattern of results indicates that, rather than deriving apparent-size information, target detection is guided by discontinuities in the ‘retinal-size gradient’ of items, in particular between items at the same ‘depth’. Although the arrangement of items on the texture surface strongly influenced search, this was largely due to the retinal size of items and the retinal separation between items. The implications of these experiments for the nature of the pre-attentive representation of size are discussed.
ESAIM: Control, Optimisation and Calculus of Variations

The left-invariant sub-Riemannian problem on the group of motions of a plane is considered. Sub-Riemannian geodesics are parametrized by Jacobi’s functions. Discrete symmetries of the problem generated by reflections of pendulum are described. The corresponding Maxwell points are characterized, on this basis an upper bound on the cut time is obtained. 1991 Mathematics Subject Classification. 49J15, 93B29, 93C10, 53C17, 22E30.
GGA1-mediated endocytic traffic of LR11/SorLA alters APP intracellular distribution and amyloid-β production

Defining the cellular pathway(s) by which LR11 modulates amyloid-β peptide production is critical to understanding how changes in LR11 expression affect the progression of Alzheimer's disease. These results suggest that endocytic traffic of LR11, facilitated by GGA1, enhances LR11 modulation of amyloid precursor protein processing in a nonamyloidogenic manner.
Validation and Crosscultural Adaptation of an Argentine Spanish Version of the Health Assessment Questionnaire Disability Index

Background:The Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) is one of the most frequently used instruments to assess functional capacity in activities of daily living. Objective:The objective of our study was to determine the reproducibility and validity of an Argentinean version of the HAQ disability index (HAQ-DI) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods:Consecutive adult patients with RA from 3 different provinces in Argentina were included. The original English version of the HAQ-DI was translated and adapted into Spanish by 3 rheumatologists and the final version back translated into English by a bilingual person. The reproducibility of the questionnaire was assessed in 30 patients who came for a second visit 3 to 5 days later. The cross-sectional construct validity was assessed by comparing the HAQ with classic parameters of disease activity (number of swollen and tender joints, patient and physician visual analog scale for pain and activity as well as functional class, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and C-reactive protein. Results:Two hundred patients with RA were included. The reproducibility was r = 0.97 (P = 1 × 10–5); intraitem correlation analysis did not show any redundancy. Correlation between HAQ-A and parameters of disease activity were all significant. A stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that the main variables associated with HAQ-A scores were visual analog scale for pain and duration of morning stiffness. A weak although significant negative correlation was found between the HAQ-A and economic level (r = −0.21, P = 0.03). The median time to complete the questionnaire was 5 minutes and there were no problems with any questions. Conclusion:This version of the HAQ-DI would allow for more availability so that Spanish-speaking countries can select the version most suitable to their sociocultural environment.
Effects of exercise and muscle type on BDNF, NT‐4/5, and TrKB expression in skeletal muscle

Muscle‐derived neurotrophins are thought to contribute to the adaptation of skeletal muscle to exercise, but the effects of brief exercise interventions on BDNF, NT‐4/5, and trkB are not understood. RNA was extracted for RT‐PCR from soleus and medial gastrocnemius of Sprague‐Dawley rats exercised on a treadmill at speeds up to 20 m/min at 5% incline for 5 or 10 days. BDNF expression was elevated in soleus following 5 days (184%, P < 0.001) but not 10 days of exercise. NT‐4/5 and trkB were not affected at either time‐point. BDNF mRNA was significantly higher in soleus at rest when compared with medial gastrocnemius (193%, P < 0.05). No significant effects of muscle type were detected for NT‐4/5 and trkB. Our results indicate differential control of BDNF expression between soleus and medial gastrocnemius following 5 days of exercise. BDNF may be a protein with an uncharacterized contribution to the acute adaptation of skeletal muscle to exercise, whereas NT‐4/5 shows no response. Muscle Nerve, 2009
Determination of the structure of oligosaccharides prepared from acharan sulfate.

The fine structure of acharan sulfate, a recently discovered glycosaminoglycan isolated from Achatina fulica , was examined. This glycosaminoglycan has a major disaccharide repeating unit of -->4)-alpha-D-GlcNpAc(1-->4)-alpha-L-IdoAp2S(1--> (where GlcNpAc is N -acetylglucosamine, IdoAp is iduronic acid, and S is sulfate) making it structurally related to both heparin and heparan sulfate. Using heparin lyases prepared from Flavobacterium heparinum and a newly isolated heparinase from Bacteroides stercoris , the controlled enzymatic depolymerization of acharan sulfate was undertaken to prepare a mixture of oligosaccharides. Fractionation of this mixture of oligosaccharides by strong-anion-exchange high performance liquid chromatography afforded oligosaccharides that capillary electrophoresis established were sufficiently pure for structural characterization. Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry identified two series of oligosaccharides, one derived from acharan sulfate's major repeating unit and a second minor group of undersulfated oligosaccharides. Proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy established the structure of these two classes of oligosaccharides to be DeltaUAp2S(1-->[4)-alpha-D-GlcNpAc(1-->4)-alpha-L-IdoAp2S (1-->]n4)- D-GlcNpAcalpha,beta (where n = 0,1,2,3 and DeltaUAp is 4-deoxy-alpha-L- threo -hex-4-enopyranosyluronic acid) and DeltaUAp(1-->[4)- alpha-D-GlcNpAc(1-->4)-alpha-L-IdoAp2S(1-->]m-D-GlcNpAcal pha,beta (where m = 1,2,3). These results suggest the presence of minor sequence variants in acharan sulfate containing unsulfated iduronic acid having the structure -->4)-alpha-D-GlcNpAc(1-->4)-alpha-L-IdoAp(1-->.
Rangzen: Anonymously Getting the Word Out in a Blackout

In recent years governments have shown themselves willing to impose blackouts to shut off key communication infrastructure during times of civil strife, and to surveil citizen communications whenever possible. However, it is exactly during such strife that citizens need reliable and anonymous communications the most. In this paper, we present Rangzen, a system for anonymous broadcast messaging during network blackouts. Rangzen is distinctive in both aim and design. Our aim is to provide an anonymous, one-to-many messaging layer that requires only users' smartphones and can withstand network-level attacks. Our design is a delay-tolerant mesh network which deprioritizes adversarial messages by means of a social graph while preserving user anonymity. We built a complete implementation that runs on Android smartphones, present benchmarks of its performance and battery usage, and present simulation results suggesting Rangzen's efficacy at scale.
Vitamin D and the Risk of Atrial Fibrillation - The Rotterdam Study

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common chronic arrhythmia and it increases the risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Still there is not a complete understanding of its etiology and underlying pathways. Vitamin D might regulate renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system and might be involved in inflammation, both implicated in the pathophysiology of AF. The objective of this work was to investigate the association between vitamin D status with the risk of AF in the elderly. This study was conducted within the Rotterdam Study, a community-based cohort of middle-aged and elderly participants in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. We had 3,395 participants who were free of AF diagnosis at the start of our study and who had vitamin D data available. We analyzed the association between serum 25-hydroxivitamin D (25(OH)D) and incidence of AF using Cox regression models. Vitamin D deficiency was defined as serum 25(OH)D concentrations <50nmol/l, insufficiency between 50nmol/l and 75nmol/l, while serum 25(OH)D concentrations equal to and above 75nmol/l were considered as adequate. After mean follow-up of 12.0 years 263 (7.7%) participants were diagnosed with incident AF. Vitamin D status was not associated with AF in any of the 3 multivariate models tested (model adjusted for socio-demographic factors and life-style factors: HR per 10 unit increment in serum 25(OH)D 0.96, 95% CI: 0.91-1.02; HR for insufficiency: 0.82, 95%CI: 0.60-1.11,and HR for adequate status: 0.76, 95%CI: 0.52-1.12 compared to deficiency). This prospective cohort study does not support the hypothesis that vitamin D status is associated with AF.
Prospective randomized study comparing docetaxel, estramustine, and prednisone with docetaxel and prednisone in metastatic hormone-refractory prostate cancer.

PURPOSE To assess the efficacy and toxicity of the addition of estramustine to docetaxel (D) for the treatment of metastatic hormone-refractory prostate cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS One hundred fifty patients were randomly assigned to D alone (35 mg/m(2) on days 2 and 9, every 3 weeks) or D in combination with estramustine (D/E; 280 mg orally three times a day on days 1 to 5 and 8 to 12, every 3 weeks). All patients received prednisone (10 mg/d). The primary end point was prostate-specific antigen (PSA) response rate, which was defined as a decrease in PSA > or = 50% from baseline. The study was powered to test the hypothesis that D/E would improve the PSA response rate by 25%. RESULTS The PSA response rate was not statistically different between the two groups. PSA of less than 4 ng/mL occurred in 29 (41%) of 71 patients receiving D/E and in 17 (25%) of 69 patients receiving D (P = .05). No significant differences were found for median time to PSA progression (D/E, 6.9 months; D, 7.3 months) or median overall survival time (D/E, 19.3 months; D, 21 months). More patients had at least one grade 3 or 4 toxicity with D/E (45%) compared with D (21%; P = .005), mainly as a result of grade 3 or 4 GI toxicity (P = .05). Serious adverse events were more frequent with D/E (n = 20) than with D (n = 9; P = .04). CONCLUSION The addition of estramustine to weekly D does not provide any clinically relevant advantage. Both regimens are well tolerated, although the toxicity profile favors D without estramustine.
Longitudinal shock waves in solids: the piston shock analogue†

Propagation of longitudinal deformation in hardening elastoplastic solids is investigated by the way of analogy with the shock tube pattern in fluid mechanics. Conditions for the appearance of a shock discontinuity are formulated and steady-state continuous and discontinuous solutions are derived. Field characteristics are then investigated for a representative family of hardening elastoplastic Mises solids accounting for finite strains. A critical limit value of the imposed velocity for the emergence of a shock wave is found and sensitivity to material parameters is assessed. Evaluation of dissipation effects is conducted and field response is compared with other uniaxial stress fields. In agreement with available experimental results, it is established that the field may consist of both an elastic precursor and a plastic shock separated by a continuous elastoplastic range. Or, alternatively, when the imposed velocity is higher, the plastic shock overtakes those regions allowing for a variety of resulting fields.
An Inquiry-Infused Introductory Biology Laboratory That Integrates Mendel's Pea Phenotypes With Molecular Mechanisms

We developed a multi-week laboratory in which college-level introductory biology students investigate Mendel’s stem length phenotype in peas. Students collect, analyze and interpret convergent evidence from molecular and physiological techniques. In weeks 1 and 2, students treat control and experimental plants with Gibberellic Acid (GA) to determine whether uncharacterized short mutant lines are GA responsive. These data allow students to place the mutation in the GA signal transduction pathway. During weeks 2 and 3, plants are genotyped for Mendel’s le mutation using a derived cleaved polymorphic sequences (dCAPS) PCR assay. This laboratory allows students to make a direct connection between modern molecular genetics and the easily scored phenotypes Mendel used as the basis of his fundamental discoveries. We administered surveys to assess student gains in accord with four learning goals: understanding the lab, basic science literacy, scientific practices, and working collaboratively. Student confidence increased significantly in the first three, but not in working collaboratively, although students reported greater confidence working in groups than alone.
Updating Existing Emotional Memories Involves the Frontopolar/Orbito-frontal Cortex in Ways that Acquiring New Emotional Memories Does Not

In life, we must often learn new associations to people, places, or things we already know. The current fMRI study investigated the neural mechanisms underlying emotional memory updating. Nineteen participants first viewed negative and neutral pictures and learned associations between those pictures and other neutral stimuli, such as neutral objects and encoding tasks. This initial learning phase was followed by a memory updating phase, during which participants learned picture-location associations for old pictures (i.e., pictures previously associated with other neutral stimuli) and new pictures (i.e., pictures not seen in the first phase). There was greater frontopolar/orbito-frontal (OFC) activity when people learned picture–location associations for old negative pictures than for new negative pictures, but frontopolar OFC activity did not significantly differ during learning locations of old versus new neutral pictures. In addition, frontopolar activity was more negatively correlated with the amygdala when participants learned picture–location associations for old negative pictures than for new negative or old neutral pictures. Past studies revealed that the frontopolar OFC allows for updating the affective values of stimuli in reversal learning or extinction of conditioning [e.g., Izquierdo, A. , & Murray, E. A. Opposing effects of amygdala and orbital PFC lesions on the extinction of instrumental responding in macaque monkeys. European Journal of Neuroscience, 22, 2341–2346, 2005]; our findings suggest that it plays a more general role in updating associations to emotional stimuli.
Predictors of first lifetime episodes of major depression in midlife women

Background Little is known about factors that predict first lifetime episodes of major depression in middle-aged women. It is not known whether health-related factors and life stress pose more or less of a risk to the onset of clinical depression than does the menopausal transition. Method The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders (SCID) was used to assess diagnoses of lifetime, annual and current major depression in a community-based sample of premenopausal or early perimenopausal African American and White women. Menstrual cycle characteristics, psychosocial and health-related factors, and blood samples for assay of reproductive hormones were obtained annually. Two hundred and sixty-six women without a history of major depression at baseline constituted the cohort for the current analyses. Results Over 7 years of follow-up, 42 (15.8%) women met criteria for a diagnosis of major depression. Frequent vasomotor symptoms (VMS; hot flashes and/or night sweats) (HR 2.14, p=0.03) were a significant predictor of major depression in univariate analyses. After simultaneous adjustment for multiple predictors in Cox proportional hazards analyses, frequent VMS were no longer significant; lifetime history of an anxiety disorder (HR 2.20, p=0.02) and role limitations due to physical health (HR 1.88, p=0.07) at baseline and a very stressful life event (HR 2.25, p=0.04) prior to depression onset predicted a first episode of major depression. Conclusions Both earlier (e.g. history of anxiety disorders) and more proximal factors (e.g. life stress) may be more important than VMS in contributing to a first episode of major depression during midlife.
Testicular lesions and epididymal sperm parameters in the Iranian river buffalo (Bubalus bubalis)

The aim of this study was to evaluate the testicular lesions and their effects on the epididymal sperm parameters in the Iranian river buffalo (Bubalus bubalis). Total numbers of 117 scrota from the pubertal buffalo were provided from the local slaughterhouse. The samples were evaluated for morphological parameters and any macro‐ or microscopic lesions. The sterile swabs from the testis parenchyma were subjected to microbiology culture. The epididymal spermatozoon was analysed for concentration, progressive motility and abnormalities. The results showed 34.2% fibrotic adhesions between parietal and visceral layers of tunica vaginalis that was significantly different among seasons (P < 0.05). The cases of unilateral cryptorchidism and bilateral Sertoli cell tumour were detected, with no spermatozoa in the respected epididymides. Microscopic examination showed 13.25% (31/234) lesions including general (51.61%; 16/31) and multifocal (29.03%; 9/31) degenerations as well as interstitial orchitis (9.68%; 3/31) and the Sertoli cell tumour (6.45%; 2/31). No relationship between the lesions and the bacterial isolation (n = 6) was detected. The sperm parameters and morphological parameters of the testis were under influence of microscopic lesions (P < 0.05). In conclusion, the testicular macro‐ and microscopic lesions may have a noticeable contribution in the Iranian buffalo fertility.
Low-Complexity Hand Gesture Recognition System for Continuous Streams of Digits and Letters

In this paper, we propose a complete gesture recognition framework based on maximum cosine similarity and fast nearest neighbor (NN) techniques, which offers high-recognition accuracy and great computational advantages for three fundamental problems of gesture recognition: 1) isolated recognition; 2) gesture verification; and 3) gesture spotting on continuous data streams. To support our arguments, we provide a thorough evaluation on three large publicly available databases, examining various scenarios, such as noisy environments, limited number of training examples, and time delay in system's response. Our experimental results suggest that this simple NN-based approach is quite accurate for trajectory classification of digits and letters and could become a promising approach for implementations on low-power embedded systems.
Burning Mouth Syndrome: Current Clinical, Physiopathologic, and Therapeutic Data

Abstract Primary burning mouth syndrome (BMS) is defined as an “intraoral burning for which no medical or dental cause was found. ” Lifetime prevalence ranges from 3.7% to 18% – 40% in the elderly. There is no consensus among experts on the diagnostic criteria of BMS, the etiology is poorly understood, and there are no existing clinical guidelines. Therefore, BMS is often underdiagnosed and its management complex. For patients with BMS, this lack of clinical expertise may result in decreased quality of life and increased psychological distress. We conducted a systematic review to identify clinical features, pathophysiology, and therapeutic strategies for BMS. We discuss the multifactorial origin, involving peripheral nerve dysfunction and hormonal dysfunction, as well as psychological traits. We also describe the results of randomized clinical trials for each treatment through a pathophysiologic approach. This review should help clinicians recognize BMS, understand its pathophysiology, and gain an enhanced scientific understanding of therapeutic alternatives.
Distribution of c-erbB2 Antisense Probe Labeled with Superparamagnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles in the Major Organs of Mice on MR Imaging *#

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the distribution of the c-erbB2 antisense probe labeled with superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles in the major organs of mice by MR imaging. Methods: Sixty BALB/c mice were randomly divided into experimental and control groups. MR scans were performed in each mouse of the experimental group at five different time points (10, 30, 60, 180 and 360 min) after injection of the antisense probe. The signal from each major organ (liver, spleen, heart, kidney and muscle tissue) in comparison with the background signal (signal to noise ratio) was determined at each time point as a measure of the distribution of the antisense probe. Six control mice were killed at each of the same time points and the organs immediately removed for determination of their iron content. Results: After injection of the antisense probe, the highest enrichment of the probe was seen in the spleen, reaching a peak at 180 min, followed by the liver, muscle, heart and kidney. Conclusions: MR imaging can visualize the distribution of c-erbB2 antisense probe labeled with superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles in the major organs of mice, and this may provide the basis for further in vivo studies of MR imaging time and dose selection.