Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The applicability of four clinical methods to evaluate arm and hand function in all stages of spinal muscular atrophy type II

Abstract Aim: To evaluate the ability of four clinical methods to reflect arm and hand function at impairment and activity level and to determine their ability to discriminate among SMA II patients of all ages and in all stages of the disease. Methods: Fifty-two patients with SMA II (age range: 8–73 years) were assessed by means of the Egen Klassifikation 2 (EK2 scale), the Motor Function Measure Scale (MFM D3), the Manual Muscle Test (MMT) and Hand-Held Dynamometry (HHD) in full fist grip and lateral pinch grip. Patients were classified into six levels of upper limb function by means of the Brooke Upper Limb Scale, and the four methods’ ability to differentiate among patients within these levels was calculated. Modified versions of the EK2 scale (EK Upper Limb) and the MFM D3 (MFM D3 Upper Limb) were assessed in the same manner. Results: The patients’ physical abilities were best described by the MMT and EK2 while the “EK Upper Limb”, MFM D3 and MMT were best at discriminating among patients across the range of upper limb function. Quantitative muscle tests as measured by Citec™ HHD were less applicable to weak patients; full fist grip could discriminate among patients at Brooke levels 3–5, and lateral pinch grip among the strongest patients. Conclusion: At the impairment level, MMT is the superior measure of muscle function in very weak patients in whom HHD cannot reflect capacity. At the activity level, the EK 2 represents daily activities whereas the MFM D3 measures motor functions. In differentiating among SMA II patients of all ages and in all stages of the disease, the ability of abbreviated versions of scales targeting upper limb function is superior to unabridged versions of these scales. Implications for Rehabilitation Evaluation of upper limb function in spinal muscular atrophy II Even very weak patients with SMA II have some residual upper limb function that is measurable if the right method is chosen. The Manual muscle test is applicable to all patients with SMA II and is useful to determine possible interventions – such as methods to drive a wheelchair or operate a computer. Abbreviated versions of the EK2 scale and the MFM are useful as methods to evaluate subtle changes in upper limb function resulting from disease progression or interventions.
Eradication of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilms by Atmospheric Pressure Non-Thermal Plasma

Bacteria exist, in most environments, as complex, organised communities of sessile cells embedded within a matrix of self-produced, hydrated extracellular polymeric substances known as biofilms. Bacterial biofilms represent a ubiquitous and predominant cause of both chronic infections and infections associated with the use of indwelling medical devices such as catheters and prostheses. Such infections typically exhibit significantly enhanced tolerance to antimicrobial, biocidal and immunological challenge. This renders them difficult, sometimes impossible, to treat using conventional chemotherapeutic agents. Effective alternative approaches for prevention and eradication of biofilm associated chronic and device-associated infections are therefore urgently required. Atmospheric pressure non-thermal plasmas are gaining increasing attention as a potential approach for the eradication and control of bacterial infection and contamination. To date, however, the majority of studies have been conducted with reference to planktonic bacteria and rather less attention has been directed towards bacteria in the biofilm mode of growth. In this study, the activity of a kilohertz-driven atmospheric pressure non-thermal plasma jet, operated in a helium oxygen mixture, against Pseudomonas aeruginosa in vitro biofilms was evaluated. Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms exhibit marked susceptibility to exposure of the plasma jet effluent, following even relatively short (∼10′s s) exposure times. Manipulation of plasma operating conditions, for example, plasma operating frequency, had a significant effect on the bacterial inactivation rate. Survival curves exhibit a rapid decline in the number of surviving cells in the first 60 seconds followed by slower rate of cell number reduction. Excellent anti-biofilm activity of the plasma jet was also demonstrated by both confocal scanning laser microscopy and metabolism of the tetrazolium salt, XTT, a measure of bactericidal activity.
Magnetic pinch-type instability in stellar radiative zones

Abstract The solar tachocline is shown as hydrodynamically stable against nonaxisymmetric disturbances if it is true that no cos4θ term exists in its rotation law. We also show that the toroidal field of 200 Gauss amplitude which produces the tachocline in the magnetic theory of Rüdiger & Kitchatinov (1997) is stable against nonaxisymmetric MHD disturbances – but it becomes unstable for rotation periods slightly slower than 25 days. The instability of such weak fields lives from the high thermal diffusivity of stellar radiation zones compared with the magnetic diffusivity. The growth times, however, result as very long (of order of 105 rotation times). With estimations of the chemical mixing we find the maximal possible field amplitude to be ~500 Gauss in order to explain the observed lithium abundance of the Sun. Dynamos with such low field amplitudes should not be relevant for the solar activity cycle. With nonlinear simulations of MHD Taylor-Couette flows it is shown that for the rotation-dominated magnetic instability the resulting eddy viscosity is only of the order of the molecular viscosity. The Schmidt number as the ratio of viscosity and chemical diffusion grows to values of ~20. For the majority of the stellar physics applications, the magnetic-dominated Tayler instability will be quenched by the stellar rotation.
Bar–cobar duality for operads in stable homotopy theory

We extend bar–cobar duality, defined for operads of chain complexes by Getzler and Jones, to operads of spectra in the sense of stable homotopy theory. Our main result is the existence of a Quillen equivalence between the category of reduced operads of spectra (with the projective model structure) and a new model for the homotopy theory of cooperads of spectra. The crucial construction is of a weak equivalence of operads between the Boardman–Vogt W‐construction for an operad P, and the cobar–bar construction on P. This weak equivalence generalizes a theorem of Berger and Moerdijk that says the W‐ and cobar–bar constructions are isomorphic for operads of chain complexes.
Constraints on cognitive theory from neuroimaging studies of source memory

When making the decision that the joke you have just been told is one you have heard before, you may recollect a number of details about the context in which the joke was previously encountered. These details may relate to where and when the joke was heard, who told it, and who else was present. For example, you might remember that you heard it before during a best man speech at a wedding last summer, or you might remember that in fact it was you who previously told the joke (and perhaps the person who told it just now stole the joke from you). Additionally, you may remember some of your thoughts and reactions at the time of previously encountering the joke: e.g. as is often the case when the author of the present chapter tells a joke, that it was not particularly funny.
An Unstable Targeted Allele of the Mouse Mitf Gene With a High Somatic and Germline Reversion Rate

The mouse Mitf gene encodes a transcription factor that is regulated by serine phosphorylation and is critical for the development of melanin-containing pigment cells. To test the role of phosphorylation at a particular serine, S73 in exon 2 of Mitf, we used a standard targeting strategy in mouse embryonic stem cells to change the corresponding codon into one encoding an alanine. By chance, we generated an allele in which 85,222 bp of wild-type Mitf sequence are duplicated and inserted into an otherwise correctly targeted Mitf gene. Depending on the presence or absence of a neomycin resistance cassette, this genomic rearrangement leads to animals with a white coat with or without pigmented spots or a gray coat with obligatory white and black spots. Several independent, genetically stable germline revertants that lacked the duplicated wild-type sequence but retained the targeted codon were then derived. These animals were normally pigmented, indicating that the serine-to-alanine mutation is not deleterious to melanocyte development. The fact that mosaic coat reversions occur in all mice lacking the neo-cassette and that ∼1% of these transmit a reverted allele to their offspring places this mutation among those with the highest spontaneous reversion rates in mammals.
The Promise of Positive Optimal Taxation : A Generalized Theory Calibrated to Survey Evidence on Normative Preferences Explains Puzzling Features of Policy

At the heart of modern optimal tax research is the assumption that the objective of taxation is Utilitarian. I present new survey evidence that most people disagree with this assumption, preferring tax policies based at least in part on a classic alternative objective: the principle of Equal Sacrifice. I generalize the standard model to accommodate this preference for a mixed objective. Then, I show that optimal policy in this generalized model, calibrated to the survey evidence, quantitatively matches several features of existing tax policy that are incompatible in the conventional model but widely endorsed in reality, including the coexistence of substantial redistribution and limited tagging. Additional implications increase the appeal of these steps toward a positive theory of optimal taxation. ∗277 Morgan Hall, Harvard Business School; mweinzierl@hbs.edu; and NBER. Portions of this paper incorporate and build on material from Weinzierl (2012), which was entitled "Why do we Redistribute so Much but Tag so Little? " I am grateful to Felix Bierbrauer, Kim Clausing, Raj Chetty, Mihir Desai, Rafael di Tella, Amy Finkelstein, Victor Fleischer, John Friedman, Alex Gelber, Mikhail Golosov, Caroline Hoxby, Bas Jacobs, Louis Kaplow, Wojciech Kopczuk, Camille Landais, Benjamin B. Lockwood, Greg Mankiw, Yoram Margalioth, Joe Mazor, Jean-Baptiste Michaud, Jeff Miron, Dina Pomeranz, Alex Raskolnikov, Meg Rithmire, Julio Rotemberg, Emmanuel Saez, Bernard Salanie, Florian Scheuer, Eytan Sheshinski, Ali Shourideh, Stefanie Stantcheva, Alain Trannoy, Aleh Tsyvinski, David Weisbach, Glen Weyl, John Weymark, and Danny Yagan for helpful discussions.
Effects of limbic corticostriatal lesions on autoshaping performance in rats

It has previously been shown that acquisition of Pavlovian conditioned approach behaviour (autoshaping) in rats depends on a cir- cuit involving the anterior cingulate cortex (Ant Cing), the nucleus accumbens core (AcbC), accumbens dopamine (DA) innervation, and the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeN). This study sought to determine which elements of this circuit are required for performance of the task in well-trained animals. Rats were first trained that one visual stimulus, the CS+, was always followed by food, while another, the CS-, never predicted food. As a consequence, they came to approach the CS+ selectively. Subjects that reached a performance criterion subsequently re- ceived excitotoxic lesions of the Ant Cing (lesion n = 11 / sham 6), AcbC (ns = 9 / 7), or CeN (8 / 7), or 6-OHDA-induced dopamine de- pletion of the entire nucleus accumbens (7 / 7). Subjects were then re-tested.
A Mixed Methods Approach to Determining the Impact of a Geoscience Field Research Program Upon Science Teachers' Knowledge, Beliefs, and Instructional Practices

ABSTRACT A mixed methods research approach was used to investigate the impact of a geosciences research institute upon 62 science teachers' knowledge, beliefs, and teaching practices related to teaching the geosciences. Pre- and postinstitute quantitative and qualitative assessments revealed mixed results. Results of a quantitative measure found a statistically significant increase in the teachers' self-reported overall knowledge of the geosciences, knowledge of watersheds, and knowledge of brownfield sites. However, a more specific quantitative instrument that measured watershed knowledge indicated no change except in the teachers' awareness that the water quality in different towns is related. In addition, their science teaching self-efficacy, which was used as a quantitative measure of the teachers' beliefs about teaching science in general, showed a statistically significant decrease. Focus group discussions provided an indication as to why the teachers' self-efficacy decreased, as teachers described numerous barriers that limited their capacity to engage their students in field-based research projects even while noting the benefits of such an experience. Although the study was limited in the ability to measure direct impact on instructional practices, the teachers' perception of their confidence in their capability to use inquiry-based instruction in the classroom showed a statistically significant increase. The discrepant results provide useful information about the complex impact of a professional development experience upon teachers, while identifying possible limitations of the experience and of the assessment measures, as well as providing recommendations for future research.
Sonic Hedgehog Paracrine Signaling Activates Stromal Cells to Promote Perineural Invasion in Pancreatic Cancer

Purpose: Pancreatic cancer is characterized by stromal desmoplasia and perineural invasion (PNI). We sought to explore the contribution of pancreatic stellate cells (PSC) activated by paracrine Sonic Hedgehog (SHH) in pancreatic cancer PNI and progression. Experimental Design: In this study, the expression dynamics of SHH were examined via immunohistochemistry, real-time PCR, and Western blot analysis in a cohort of carcinomatous and nonneoplastic pancreatic tissues and cells. A series of in vivo and in vitro assays was performed to elucidate the contribution of PSCs activated by paracrine SHH signaling in pancreatic cancer PNI and progression. Results: We show that SHH overexpression in tumor cells is involved in PNI in pancreatic cancer and is an important marker of biologic activity of pancreatic cancer. Moreover, the overexpression of SHH in tumor cells activates the hedgehog pathway in PSCs in the stroma instead of activating tumor cells. These activated PSCs are essential for the promotion of pancreatic cancer cell migration along nerve axons and nerve outgrowth to pancreatic cancer cell colonies in an in vitro three-dimensional model of nerve invasion in cancer. Furthermore, the coimplantation of PSCs activated by paracrine SHH induced tumor cell invasion of the trunk and nerve dysfunction along sciatic nerves and also promoted orthotropic xenograft tumor growth, metastasis, and PNI in in vivo models. Conclusions: These results establish that stromal PSCs activated by SHH paracrine signaling in pancreatic cancer cells secrete high levels of PNI-associated molecules to promote PNI in pancreatic cancer. Clin Cancer Res; 20(16); 4326–38. ©2014 AACR.
Morpho-lexical Representations in Naming

In two naming experiments, it was shown that response times for morphologically structured pseudowords are faster than those for orthographically matched controls. These results are consistent with those obtained in lexical decision tasks with morphologically structured pseudowords. The implications of these results for models of lexical processing are considered. In particular, it is argued that the results reported provide support for compositional models of lexical knowledge.
Accounting for Differences in Labour Market Outcomes in Great Britain: A Regional Analysis Using the Labour Force Survey

Regional unemployment rates in Great Britain have narrowed dramatically in recent years. However, significant differences still remain in terms of both employment and economic inactivity rates, which may now better reflect relative labour market performance. This paper examines these differences in labour market outcomes using a unified empirical framework that decomposes regional differences in employment, economic inactivity and unemployment into components due to either structural or composition effects. The analysis highlights the important role that ill health and structural deficits currently play in accounting for regional differences in both employment and economic inactivity rates.
Brief Introductory Psychology Textbooks

It has been 12 years since the last objective analysis of brief introductory psychology textbooks was published and 13 years since the textbook copyright period used in that study, 1997–2000. Given the importance of informed textbook evaluation and selection to the introductory course but the difficulty of this task because of the large number of texts available, it is important to provide teachers with as much information as possible about introductory texts. Thus, to aid teachers in this arduous task, we objectively analyzed the most current editions of the nine brief introductory textbooks published since 2000. Our analyses also allowed us to objectively compare brief introductory texts from the 1990s with those from the 2000s.
Medical history, lifestyle, family history, and occupational risk factors for mycosis fungoides and Sézary syndrome: the InterLymph Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Subtypes Project.

BACKGROUND Mycosis fungoides and Sézary syndrome (MF/SS) are rare cutaneous T-cell lymphomas. Their etiology is poorly understood. METHODS A pooled analysis of 324 MF/SS cases and 17217 controls from 14 case-control studies from Europe, North America, and Australia, as part of the International Lymphoma Epidemiology Consortium (InterLymph) Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL) Subtypes Project, was carried out to investigate associations with lifestyle, medical history, family history, and occupational risk factors. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to calculate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). RESULTS We found an increased risk of MF/SS associated with body mass index equal to or larger than 30 kg/m(2) (OR = 1.57, 95% CI = 1.03 to 2.40), cigarette smoking for 40 years or more (OR = 1.55, 95% CI = 1.04 to 2.31), eczema (OR = 2.38, 95% CI = 1.73 to 3.29), family history of multiple myeloma (OR = 8.49, 95% CI = 3.31 to 21.80), and occupation as crop and vegetable farmers (OR = 2.37, 95% CI = 1.14 to 4.92), painters (OR = 3.71, 95% CI = 1.94 to 7.07), woodworkers (OR = 2.20, 95% CI = 1.18 to 4.08), and general carpenters (OR = 4.07, 95% CI = 1.54 to 10.75). We also found a reduced risk of MF/SS associated with moderate leisure time physical activity (OR = 0.46, 95% CI = 0.22 to 0.97). CONCLUSIONS Our study provided the first detailed analysis of risk factors for MF/SS and further investigation is needed to confirm these findings in prospective data and in other populations.
Evaluation of resistance to Dermo in eastern oyster strains tested in Chesapeake Bay

We investigated growth, Dermo disease, and survival for nine groups of oysters, Crassostrea virginica (Gmelin) cultivated in Chesapeake Bay (CB). Five regional strains (upper CB, North Carolina (NC), South Carolina (SC), Louisiana (LA) and LA triploids) and four additional hybrid strains (CB oysters mated with NC, SC, LA and Texas (TX) oysters) were held in £oating rafts at three locations representative of lower CB: ‘low’ salinity (3^14 g L � 1 ),‘moderate’salinity (5^20 g L � 1 ) and ‘high’ salinity (14^24 g L � 1 ). At each site, patterns of growth and incidence of infection with Perkinsus marinus (Levine), the causative agent of Dermo disease, were similar. However, mortality trends were markedly diierent at each site; the CB strain being notable for accelerated mortality following infection with P. marinus. In addition, hybrids between CB and all four of the regional strains exhibited similar accelerated mortality in response to infection. Mortality was strongly correlated with infection only at the high salinity site implicating interaction of diierences in both oyster strain and virulence of Dermo between moderate and high salinity areas as factors in diierential mortality across sites.
EFFECTS OF FEATURE PRESENCE/ABSENCE AND EVENT ASYNCHRONY ON VIGILANCE PERFORMANCE AND PERCEIVED MENTAL WORKLOAD

The utility of a new measure of perceived mental workload in vigilance, The Multiple Resources Questionnaire (MRQ), was evaluated by comparing it against a standard measure in that area, the NASA-TLX, in sensitivity to the effects of factors theoretically predicted to affect task demand, event asynchrony and search asymmetry (detecting stimulus presence/absence). Contrary to expectation, the former had little impact upon performance but the latter did; detection probability was significantly greater when critical signals for detection were defined by stimulus presence than stimulus absence. This effect was echoed in higher workload scores for absence than presence when workload was measured by the NASA-TLX but not by the MRQ, indicating poorer sensitivity for the new instrument. On the other hand, the MRQ did identify resources utilized in the vigilance task that are not reflected in the standard measure. Therefore, the new scale could be a useful adjunct to the older one.
The Effect of Cognitive-Behavioral Group Therapy on Decrease in Addiction Relapse in Randomly Assigned Addicts under Drug Therapy: A Statistical Analysis

In order to study the effect of group therapy on decrease in addiction relapse, two groups, experimental and control group were used. The study population included all drug addicts referred to Addiction Quitting Center of Karaj. Twenty four of them who referred to center and received methadone were chosen as a convenient sample. Among them, a 12 person group participated in group therapy in addition to receiving methadone. Subjects were randomly divided into experimental and control groups. In order to collect data, questionnaires were used that provided demographic information including age, education, the age when drug abuse began, marital status, occupation, the type of drugs being abused and the abusing method, and also a morphine test in order to measure relapse times during therapy period. In order to carry out a descriptive analysis for subjects based on demographic variables and test variable frequency distribution table, mean, standard deviation and standard error of mean estimation and in order to carry out deductive analysis and hypothesis tests in dependent t-tests two-way variance analysis and Schaffer post hoc test were used. The findings of present study showed that there was a significant difference between the 2 groups in relation to addiction relapse and interaction of therapy methods with age and education exerted different effects on decrease in addiction relapse, but therapy methods together with marital status and occupation had no different effects on decrease in addiction relapse. Thus, the overall conclusion of present research is that the rate of decrease in relapse is greater in addicts under both drug therapy and group therapy than those who were only under drug therapy. Thus, it can be said that employing psychological therapies, especially Cognitive-Behavioral Group Therapy, is necessary for addicts under medical therapies and these types of therapies yield efficiency in both money and time respects.
The Use of Digital Educational Technology and Third Spaces with Foreign-Born Latinos

ABSTRACT This article addresses the concept of educational third spaces that move beyond the paternalistic concept of a teacher as a font of knowledge filling the empty vessels of the students’ minds, especially for foreign-born Latino (FBL) students. These students often struggle and lag behind their native-born peers as they master the new language of instruction while acculturating to a new and challenging environment. However, as digital natives, current elementary FBL students have the potential to empower themselves via the use of educational technology. In organic third spaces, educational technology can foster active learning and personal empowerment.