Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Whole Blood Interferon-Gamma Assay for Baseline Tuberculosis Screening among Japanese Healthcare Students

Background The whole blood interferon-gamma assay (QuantiFERON-TB-2G; QFT) has not been fully evaluated as a baseline tuberculosis screening test in Japanese healthcare students commencing clinical contact. The aim of this study was to compare the results from the QFT with those from the tuberculin skin test (TST) in a population deemed to be at a low risk for infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Methodology/Principal Findings Healthcare students recruited at Okayama University received both the TST and the QFT to assess the level of agreement between these two tests. The interleukin-10 levels before and after exposure to M tuberculosis-specific antigens (early-secreted antigenic target 6-kDa protein [ESAT-6] and culture filtrate protein 10 [CFP-10]) were also measured. Of the 536 healthcare students, most of whom had been vaccinated with bacillus-Calmette-Guérin (BCG), 207 (56%) were enrolled in this study. The agreement between the QFT and the TST results was poor, with positive result rates of 1.4% vs. 27.5%, respectively. A multivariate analysis also revealed that the induration diameter of the TST was not affected by the interferon-gamma concentration after exposure to either of the antigens but was influenced by the number of BCG needle scars (p = 0.046). The whole blood interleukin-10 assay revealed that after antigen exposure, the median increases in interleukin-10 concentration was higher in the subgroup with the small increase in interferon-gamma concentration than in the subgroup with the large increase in interferon-gamma concentration (0.3 vs. 0 pg/mL; p = 0.004). Conclusions/Significance As a baseline screening test for low-risk Japanese healthcare students at their course entry, QFT yielded quite discordant results, compared with the TST, probably because of the low specificity of the TST results in the BCG-vaccinated population. We also found, for the first time, that the change in the interleukin-10 level after exposure to specific antigens was inversely associated with that in the interferon-gamma level in a low-risk population.
The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance.

because observed behavior is the result of interactions between environmental factors and genes during the extended period of development. Therefore, to better understand expert and exceptional performance, we must require that the account specify the different environmental factors that could selectively promote and facilitate the achievement of such performance. In addition, recent research on expert performance and expertise (Chi, Glaser, & Farr, 1988; Ericsson & Smith, 1991a) has shown that important characteristics of experts' superior performance are acquired through experience and that the effect of practice on performance is larger than earlier believed possible. For this reason, an account of exceptional performance must specify the environmental circumstances, such as the duration and structure of activities, and necessary minimal biological attributes that lead to the acquisition of such characteristics and a corresponding level of performance. An account that explains how a majority of individuals can attain a given level of expert performance might seem inherently unable to explain the exceptional performance of only a small number of individuals. However, if such an empirical account could be empirically supported, then the extreme characteristics of experts could be viewed as having been acquired through learning and adaptation, and studies of expert performance could provide unique insights into the possibilities and limits of change in cognitive capacities and bodily functions. In this article we propose a theoretical framework that explains expert performance in terms of acquired characteristics resulting from extended deliberate practice and that limits the role of innate (inherited) characteristics to general levels of activity and emotionality. We provide empirical support from two new studies and from already published evidence on expert performance in many different domains.
Shedding of Endogenous Interleukin-6 Receptor (IL-6R) Is Governed by A Disintegrin and Metalloproteinase (ADAM) Proteases while a Full-length IL-6R Isoform Localizes to Circulating Microvesicles*

Background: A soluble form of IL-6 receptor mediates pathogenic IL-6 trans-signaling. Results: ADAM10 and ADAM17 release IL-6 receptor from both human and murine monocytes/macrophages, whereas in the blood IL-6 receptor is also present on microvesicles. Conclusion: Shedding of endogenous IL-6 receptor is similar in humans and mice. Significance: Microvesicle release represents a novel mode of soluble IL-6 receptor generation with potential clinical implications. Generation of the soluble interleukin-6 receptor (sIL-6R) is a prerequisite for pathogenic IL-6 trans-signaling, which constitutes a distinct signaling pathway of the pleiotropic cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6). Although in vitro experiments using ectopically overexpressed IL-6R and candidate proteases revealed major roles for the metalloproteinases ADAM10 and ADAM17 in IL-6R shedding, the identity of the protease(s) cleaving IL-6R in more physiological settings, or even in vivo, remains unknown. By taking advantage of specific pharmacological inhibitors and primary cells from ADAM-deficient mice we established that endogenous IL-6R of both human and murine origin is shed by ADAM17 in an induced manner, whereas constitutive release of endogenous IL-6R is largely mediated by ADAM10. Although circulating IL-6R levels are altered in various diseases, the origin of blood-borne IL-6R is still poorly understood. It has been shown previously that ADAM17 hypomorphic mice exhibit unaltered levels of serum sIL-6R. Here, by quantification of serum sIL-6R in protease-deficient mice as well as human patients we also excluded ADAM10, ADAM8, neutrophil elastase, cathepsin G, and proteinase 3 from contributing to circulating sIL-6R. Furthermore, we ruled out alternative splicing of the IL-6R mRNA as a potential source of circulating sIL-6R in the mouse. Instead, we found full-length IL-6R on circulating microvesicles, establishing microvesicle release as a novel mechanism for sIL-6R generation.
Who's to blame? Narcissism and self‐serving attributions following feedback

The study examined the relationship between narcissism, performance attributions, and negative emotions following success or failure. As expected, narcissistic individuals showed more self‐serving attributions for their performance in an intelligence test than less narcissistic individuals: compared with less narcissistic individuals, narcissists revealed a stronger tendency to attribute success to ability and failure to task difficulty. In contrast to this, less narcissistic participants tended to show the opposite pattern by ascribing failure, but not success, to their ability. Additionally, anger and depression could be predicted by an interaction of performance feedback and performance attributions. Mediation analyses revealed that the attribution dimensions ‘task difficulty’ and ‘ability’ mediated the effect of narcissism on anger and depression following failure feedback. The results provide support for the theoretical assumption that attributional processes might, at least to some extent, explain the often reported relation between narcissism and negative emotions following failure. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
3D audio in human-computer interfaces

Auditory interfaces present information with different types of sounds. They can complement visual interfaces or in some cases represent an independent input or output interface to a selected device. This paper focuses on a special group of auditory interfaces using spatial sound for the representation of information. The addition of information on the location of a selected sound source or a group of sources shows many advantages over a mere single-channel audio. Spatial auditory interfaces have evolved significantly in the last couple of years and can be found in a variety of environments where visual communication is obstructed or completely blocked by other activities, such as walking, driving, flying, operating multimodal virtual displays, etc. In this paper we briefly summarize our research activities in this area. We focus on spatial auditory interfaces in vehicles and on interfaces for visually impaired and blind computer users.
MOIST: A Scalable and Parallel Moving Object Indexer with School Tracking

Location-Based Service (LBS) is rapidly becoming the next ubiquitous technology for a wide range of mobile applications. To support applications that demand nearest-neighbor and history queries, an LBS spatial indexer must be able to efficiently update, query, archive and mine location records, which can be in contention with each other. In this work, we propose MOIST, whose baseline is a recursive spatial partitioning indexer built upon BigTable. To reduce update and query contention, MOIST groups nearby objects of similar trajectory into the same school, and keeps track of only the history of school leaders. This dynamic clustering scheme can eliminate redundant updates and hence reduce update latency. To improve history query processing, MOIST keeps some history data in memory, while it flushes aged data onto parallel disks in a locality-preserving way. Through experimental studies, we show that MOIST can support highly efficient nearest-neighbor and history queries and can scale well with an increasing number of users and update frequency.
Clinical Significance of Lymph Node Ratio in Locally Advanced Breast Cancer Molecular Subtypes

Background: The ratio of metastatic to dissected lymph nodes (lymph node ratio; LNR) is a sensitive and superior prognostic factor for lymph node evaluation, but its relationship to cancer subtypes is unclear. Patients and Methods: Data from 469 patients with axillary lymph node metastasis out of 640 early breast cancer cases were retrospectively analyzed. They were classified into 4 molecular subtypes; luminal A, luminal B HER2(+), HER2 overexpression, basal-like. LNRs were compared between groups and with other prognostic factors. Results: The distribution of LNRs was 35.2% in luminal A, 43.2% in luminal B HER2(+), 46.9% in HER2 over-expression, and 39.1% in basal-like. A significant difference was found between luminal A and HER2 over-expression subtypes (p = 0.023). LNR was significantly correlated with tumor size and lymphovascular invasion, but not with other prognostic factors including menopausal status, laterality, grade, and perineural invasion. An LNR of 29.8% was defined as the cut-off value, and significant differences in survival rates were identified accordingly between basal-like and both luminal A (p = 0.003) and luminal B HER2(+) (p = 0.04). Conclusion: The LNR differs between some molecular subtypes of breast cancer, and it correlates with certain prognostic factors and survival. These data support using the LNR to assess breast cancer patients.
MicroRNA‐204 Regulates Runx2 Protein Expression and Mesenchymal Progenitor Cell Differentiation

Differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells into a particular lineage is tightly regulated, and malfunction of this regulation could lead to pathological consequences. Patients with osteoporosis have increased adipocyte accumulation, but the mechanisms involved remain to be defined. In this study, we aimed to investigate if microRNAs regulate mesenchymal progenitor cells and bone marrow stromal cell (BMSC) differentiation through modulation of Runx2, a key transcription factor for osteogenesis. We found that miR‐204 and its homolog miR‐211 were expressed in mesenchymal progenitor cell lines and BMSCs and their expression was induced during adipocyte differentiation, whereas Runx2 protein expression was suppressed. Retroviral overexpression of miR‐204 or transfection of miR‐204 oligo decreased Runx2 protein levels and miR‐204 inhibition significantly elevated Runx2 protein levels, suggesting that miR‐204 acts as an endogenous attenuator of Runx2 in mesenchymal progenitor cells and BMSCs. Mutations of putative miR‐204 binding sites upregulated the Runx2 3′‐UTR reporter activity, suggesting that miR‐204/211 bind to Runx2 3′‐UTR. Perturbation of miR‐204 resulted in altered differentiation fate of mesenchymal progenitor cells and BMSCs: osteoblast differentiation was inhibited and adipocyte differentiation was promoted when miR‐204 was overexpressed in these cells, whereasosteogenesis was upregulated and adipocyte formation was impaired when miR‐204 was inhibited. Together, our data demonstrated that miR‐204/211 act as important endogenous negative regulators of Runx2, which inhibit osteogenesis and promote adipogenesis of mesenchymal progenitor cells and BMSCs. STEM CELLS 2010;28:357–364
Energy-Efficient Power Optimization with Spectrum Sensing Errors in OFDMA Cognitive Opportunistic Relay Links

We propose a novel algorithm to optimize the energy efficiency (EE) of OFDM-based cognitive opportunistic relaying links (CORL) under secondary users (SUs) incorrectly sensing the unlicensed spectrum. We formulate an optimization problem with imperfect sensing that satisfies a specified power budget for the secondary users (SUs), while restricting the interference to primary user (PU) in a statistical manner. Unlike all related works in the literature, we consider the effect of subcarrier transmission mode on the relaying links and we additionally consider the effect of limited sensing capabilities of the SUs. The optimization problem is nonconvex and it is transformed to an equivalent problem using the concept of fractional programming. With the aid of the fractional programming method, an EE-oriented power allocation policy with low complexity is proposed which adopts the bisection method to speed up the search of the optimum. Simulation results show that the EE deteriorates as the channel sensing error increases. Comparisons with relevant works from the literature show that the EE is slightly deteriorated if the SU does not account for spectrum sensing errors.
Fast, Deterministic and Sparse Dimensionality Reduction

We provide a deterministic construction of the sparse Johnson-Lindenstrauss transform of Kane & Nelson (J.ACM 2014) which runs, under a mild restriction, in the time necessary to apply the sparse embedding matrix to the input vectors. Specifically, given a set of n vectors in Rd and target error ϵ, we give a deterministic algorithm to compute a {−1, 0, 1} embedding matrix of rank O((ln n)/ϵ2) with O((ln n)/ϵ) entries per column which preserves the norms of the vectors to within 1 ± ϵ. If NNZ, the number of non-zero entries in the input set of vectors, is Ω(d2), our algorithm runs in time O(NNZ · ln n/ϵ). One ingredient in our construction is an extremely simple proof of the Hanson-Wright inequality for subgaussian random variables, which is more amenable to derandomization. As an interesting byproduct, we are able to derive the essentially optimal form of the inequality in terms of its functional dependence on the parameters.
A ‘tragic actor’? A realist perspective on ‘ethical power Europe’

A broad consensus has emerged among its member states that the EU plays a distinc tive role in international politics, eschewing traditional power politics and acting as a 'force for good' in the world. This discursive move to provide the EU's foreign and security policies with ideological and political legitimacy has been favourably received in much of the academic world where concepts such as 'civilian' or, more recently, 'normative' power have been widely applied to the EU's emerging inter national role. This article critically examines the notion of 'ethical power Europe', drawing on realist international theory and the political philosophy of Michael Oakeshott.
Adolescents Attitudes Towards Organic Food: A Survey of 15- to 16-Year Old School Children

Adolescents are the consumers of tomorrow' therefore policies aimed at increasing organic food consumption should address the needs of this group. To discover their attitudes towards organic food and their knowledge of the subject, a survey among almost 700 school children aged 15-16 years was conducted. Four main groups of questions were used: adolescents knowledge of organic food, attitudes, whether they bought organic food and the perceived influences they exerted on the buying patterns of their parents. From the survey it can be concluded that adolescents attitudes towards organic food are positive, but their knowledge of and their willingness to buy it are low. Campaigns aimed at encouraging the purchasing of organic food targeted at adolescents should particularly emphasize those characteristics of organic foods that they can relate to their interests and ethical preferences, for example, animal welfare and environmental considerations.
Evidentiary Review of Screening Infants for Autism

Autism is a severe developmental disorder that affects a childâ€™s communication, social, and repetitive behaviors. Typically a child will be diagnosed with autism around the age of three. Identifying an autistic child younger than three can be performed at the childâ€™s well visits, through the evaluation of the childâ€™s developmental milestones. Multiple screening tools have been developed and used to facilitate the identification of developmental milestones. Currently these tools used are for children aged 18 months and older. There is a need to identify a screening tool or tools to be used for infants, (i.e., under 18 months of age) who fail to achieve developmental milestones. The goal of this evidentiary review is to explore the screening tools for infants between the ages of 9 and 18 months.
Parental Choice in the Buenos Aires Bilingual School Market

The issue of parental choice of school for their child has been a topical one in many contexts worldwide, and work has been undertaken in a number of national contexts to investigate the many factors at work in influencing such choice. This article considers parental choice within the specific context of bilingual (Spanish/ English) schools in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and, on the basis of questionnaires and interviews with parents in two such schools, draws conclusions about the factors which lead to a particular school being selected for the education of children in this context.
Predicting burnout with a hassle-based measure of role demands

The paper presents a hassle-based measure of job demands, whose scales of hassles-conflict, hassles-ambiguity and hassles-overload consist of items pertaining to such role episodes. Hierarchical multiple regression is used to test the incremental validity of the new variables. This was done with a statistical model where the role stressor variables (i.e. role conflict, role ambiguity, and role overload) were entered first, followed by the three equivalent hassle variables. The data indicate that the new Role Hassles Index (RHI) shows a substantial R2 increment with regard to the MBI's exhaustion and depersonalization scales, but not in regard to self-accomplishment. These data are interpreted as supporting a balance model of burnout, specifying that exhaustion is an outcome of daily demand level on the one hand, and recovery availability on the other. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Global and Local Information Based Deep Network for Skin Lesion Segmentation

With a large influx of dermoscopy images and a growing shortage of dermatologists, automatic dermoscopic image analysis plays an essential role in skin cancer diagnosis. In this paper, a new deep fully convolutional neural network (FCNN) is proposed to automatically segment melanoma out of skin images by end-to-end learning with only pixels and labels as inputs. Our proposed FCNN is capable of using both local and global information to segment melanoma by adopting skipping layers. The public benchmark database consisting of 150 validation images, 600 test images and 2000 training images in the melanoma detection challenge 2017 at International Symposium Biomedical Imaging 2017 is used to test the performance of our algorithm. All large size images (for example, $4000\times 6000$ pixels) are reduced to much smaller images with $384\times 384$ pixels (more than 10 times smaller). We got and submitted preliminary results to the challenge without any pre or post processing. The performance of our proposed method could be further improved by data augmentation and by avoiding image size reduction.
Similarities and variation in noun and verb acquisition: A crosslinguistic study of children learning German, Korean, and Turkish

The present study focuses on noun and verb processing during language acquisition, whereby the word production and the word comprehension of preschool children of different ages were investigated across three languages. Two hypotheses were put forward: first, given that languages differ with respect to the clarity of the noun-verb distinction and the saliency of nouns and verbs, crosslinguistic differences in acquisition were expected. Second, in the light of conceptual differences between the basic categories of nouns and verbs, category-specific effects were also expected. Of the children who participated in a naming study, 240 were German, 240 Korean, and 60 Turkish; 233 German and 99 additional German and Korean children were tested with a word-comprehension task. The target items were 36 nouns and 36 verbs, adapted for the three languages. The results are interpreted as evidence for both language-general tendencies and language-specific influences. Although the children were mostly better at processing nouns than verbs, the extent of this discrepancy differed across languages. The results also indicate more crosslinguistic variance in the case of nouns than in the case of verbs. The findings are discussed with respect to structural characteristics of the languages, developmental patterns in lexical acquisition, and characteristics of the task.
Anodal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Reduces Psychophysically Measured Surround Suppression in the Human Visual Cortex

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a safe, non-invasive technique for transiently modulating the balance of excitation and inhibition within the human brain. It has been reported that anodal tDCS can reduce both GABA mediated inhibition and GABA concentration within the human motor cortex. As GABA mediated inhibition is thought to be a key modulator of plasticity within the adult brain, these findings have broad implications for the future use of tDCS. It is important, therefore, to establish whether tDCS can exert similar effects within non-motor brain areas. The aim of this study was to assess whether anodal tDCS could reduce inhibitory interactions within the human visual cortex. Psychophysical measures of surround suppression were used as an index of inhibition within V1. Overlay suppression, which is thought to originate within the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN), was also measured as a control. Anodal stimulation of the occipital poles significantly reduced psychophysical surround suppression, but had no effect on overlay suppression. This effect was specific to anodal stimulation as cathodal stimulation had no effect on either measure. These psychophysical results provide the first evidence for tDCS-induced reductions of intracortical inhibition within the human visual cortex.