Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Slit1 and Slit2 Proteins Control the Development of the Lateral Olfactory Tract

The development of olfactory bulb projections that form the lateral olfactory tract (LOT) is still poorly understood. The septum and the olfactory cortex have been shown to secrete diffusible factors repelling olfactory axons in vitro and are likely to cause the axons to avoid the septum region in vivo. Slit2, a member of the Slit gene family, has been proposed to be this septal factor based on its expression in the embryonic septum and its ability to repel and collapse olfactory axons. However, this issue is still controversial, and recent in vitro studies have questioned the role of the septum and Slit proteins in organizing LOT projections. We therefore decided to examine directly the role of Slit proteins in mediating olfactory axon guidance in vivousing mice with targeted deletions in the Slit1 andSlit2 genes. When olfactory bulb explants are cocultured with septum from Slit1- and/orSlit2-deficient mice, the septum repulsive activity for olfactory bulb axons is progressively abolished in a gene dose-dependent manner. Anterograde tracing of olfactory bulb axons showed that the LOT develops normally in Slit1 orSlit2 single-deficient mice but is completely disorganized in Slit1/Slit2double-deficient embryos, with many axons reaching the midline and entering the septum region. Therefore, our study showed that the septum chemorepellent is a combination of Slit1 and Slit2 and that these molecules play a significant role in olfactory bulb axon guidancein vivo.
SPARQL with Qualitative and Quantitative Preferences

The volume and diversity of data that is queriable via SPARQL and its increasing integration motivate the desire to query SPARQL information sources via the specification of preferred query outcomes. Such preference-based queries support the ordering of query outcomes with respect to a user's measure of the quality of the response. In this position paper we argue for the incorporation of preference queries into SPARQL. We propose an extension to the SPARQL query language that supports the specification of qualitative and quantitative preferences over query outcomes and examine the realization of the resulting preference-based queries via off-the-shelf SPARQL engines.
The use of short-term analysis of heart rate variability to assess autonomic function in obese children and its relationship with metabolic syndrome.

BACKGROUND The cardiovascular autonomic nervous system in obese children is one of the main initiators of coronary heart disease and hypertension and may have a close relationship with insulin resistance. Heart rate variability is one non-invasive method to assess the cardiovascular autonomic system. In this method, low frequency parameters reflect sympathovagal activity, high frequency parameters reflect vagal activity and the ratio of these parameters reflects sympathovagal balance. METHODS In this study, a short-term analysis of heart rate variability was conducted in 66 obese children and 40 healthy controls. RESULTS While high frequency parameter values are lower in the obese group compared to the controls (16.02 ± 12.9 nu vs. 21.45 ± 13.6 nu, p = 0.046), the low frequency/high frequency ratio is found significantly higher (3.79 ± 2.34 vs. 2.25 ± 0.93, p 〈 0.001). A significant difference was not detected for the low frequency values (p = 0.787). Insulin resistance was found in 33 (50%) patients, dyslipidemia was found in 39 (59%) and hypertension was found in 18 (27%). Metabolic syndrome was detected in 39% patients in the obese group. CONCLUSIONS We found that vagal activity was decreased in the obese group and the autonomic nervous system balance was impaired in favor of sympathetic activity in the short-term heart rate analysis.
Out back and out-of-whack: issues related to the experience of early psychosis in the New England region, New South Wales, Australia.

CONTEXT The slow slide into a first episode of psychosis is often difficult to detect and is often described in retrospect as the point at which things were not quite right. A rural setting can add an layer of complexity to detecting early psychosis, with local structural issues and other disadvantages potentially complicating both identification and early treatment. Fewer specialist workers are available in rural communities compared with urban communities, and drug and alcohol usage can mask the early signs of prodrome (early psychosis symptoms). Along with these more predictable contextual issues, family and drought conditions can impact significantly the mental health of vulnerability rural populations. The use of a vignette provides a window to the lived experience of early psychosis in rural communities. This article explores these issues in the context of northern New South Wales, Australia. ISSUES Embedded rural health workers are uniquely positioned to work with local people. One way to address access issues and the lack of diversity among available healthcare practitioners is by recognising and nurturing generalist health workers in all disciplines in their specialist role as generalist. It is also important to recognise the natural processes of a rural community with regard to a sense of community, structures and networks, and to accommodate these when planning mental health services. LESSONS LEARNED The development of generalist health workers to undertake supported early identification of psychosis in rural communities is a useful strategy. In practice, a key feature is the availability of a specialist project worker. In addition, it is important to continue to advocate for services to rural communities that aim at preventing psychiatric illness, as well as optimising continuity of care for rural residents.
Protocol for a single-centre, randomised controlled study of a preoperative rehabilitation bundle in the frail and elderly undergoing abdominal surgery

Introduction Frail patients have decreased physiological reserves and consequently, they are unable to recover as quickly from surgery. Frailty, as an entity, is a risk factor of increased morbidity and mortality. It is also associated with a longer time to discharge. This trial is undertaken to determine if a novel prehabilitation protocol (10-day bundle of interventions—physiotherapy, nutritional supplementation and cognitive training) can reduce the postoperative length of stay of frail patients who are undergoing elective abdominal surgery, compared with standard care. Methods and analysis This is a prospective, single-centre, randomised controlled trial with two parallel arms. 62 patients who are frail and undergoing elective abdominal surgery will be recruited and randomised to receive either a novel prehabilitation protocol or standard care. Participants will receive telephone reminders preoperatively to encourage protocol compliance. Data will be collected for up to 30 days postoperatively. The primary outcome of the trial will be the postoperative length of stay and the secondary outcomes are the postoperative complications and functional recovery during the hospital admission. Ethics and dissemination This study has been approved by the Singapore General Hospital Institutional Review Board (CIRB Ref: 2016/2584). The study is also listed on ClinicalTrials.gov (Trial number: NCT02921932). All participants will sign an informed consent form before randomisation and translators will be made available to non-English speaking patients. The results of this study will be published in peer-reviewed journals as well as national and international conferences. The data collected will also be made available in a public data repository. Trial registration number NCT02921932 (ClinicalTrials.gov)
Making every word count for nonresponsive patients.

IMPORTANCE Despite the apparent absence of external signs of consciousness, a significant small proportion of patients with disorders of consciousness can respond to commands by willfully modulating their brain activity, even respond to yes or no questions, by performing mental imagery tasks. However, little is known about the mental life of such responsive patients, for example, with regard to whether they can have coherent thoughts or selectively maintain attention to specific events in their environment. The ability to selectively pay attention would provide evidence of a patient's preserved cognition and a method for brain-based communication, thus far untested with functional magnetic resonance imaging in this patient group. OBJECTIVE To test whether selective auditory attention can be used to detect conscious awareness and communicate with behaviorally nonresponsive patients. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Case study performed in 3 patients with severe brain injury, 2 diagnosed as being in a minimally conscious state and 1 as being in a vegetative state. The patients constituted a convenience sample. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Functional magnetic resonance imaging data were acquired as the patients were asked to selectively attend to auditory stimuli, thereby conveying their ability to follow commands and communicate. RESULTS All patients demonstrated command following according to instructions. Two patients (1 in a minimally conscious state and 1 in a vegetative state) were also able to guide their attention to repeatedly communicate correct answers to binary (yes or no) questions. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE To our knowledge, we show for the first time with functional magnetic resonance imaging that behaviorally nonresponsive patients can use selective auditory attention to convey their ability to follow commands and communicate. One patient in a minimally conscious state was able to use attention to establish functional communication in the scanner, despite his inability to produce any communication responses in repeated bedside examinations. More important, 1 patient, who had been in a vegetative state for 12 years before the scanning and subsequent to it, was able to use attention to correctly communicate answers to several binary questions. The technique may be useful in establishing basic communication with patients who appear unresponsive to bedside examinations and cannot respond with existing neuroimaging methods.
[Percutaneous short segment pedicle screw fixation with vertebral augmentation for the treatment of single level thoracolumbar osteoporosis fracture].

OBJECTIVE To explore clinical outcomes of percutaneous short segment pedical screw fixation with bone cement augmentation in treating single level thoracolumbar osteoporotic fracture. METHODS From January 2009 to January 2013, 48 single level thoracolumbar osteoporotic fracture patients without neurological symptoms were treated with percutaneous short segment pedicle screw fixation with bone cement augmentation. Among them, including 22 males and 26 females aged from 55 to 72 years old with an average of 62.2 years old. The time from injury to operation varied from 8 h to 9 d(mean 4.5 d). According to Denis fracture classification, 35 cases were compression fractures and 13 cases were burst fractures. Nine vertebrae located on T₁₁, 15 vertebrae on T₁₂, 14 vertebrae on L₁, 7 vertebrae on L₂, and ₃ vertebrae on L₃. Anterior vertebral body height, sagittal Cobb angle, sagittal index(SI), failure of internal fixation and recurrence of kyphosis were observed before and after operation. RESULTS All patients were followed up from 24 to 48 months with an average of 32.5 months. Operative time ranged from 60 to 140 min with an average of 85 min;blood loss ranged from 50 to 100 ml with an average of 75 ml. Before operation, at 3 d and 1 year after operation, anterior vertebral body height respectively was (56.4±2.6)%, (91.2±1.6)% and (86.9±3.2)%; sagittal Cobb angle respectively was(26.6±3.2)°, (6.2±1.0)° and (6.8±1.5)°; SI respectively was(51.6±4.2)%, (90.2±5.9)% and (88.7±4.2)%; VAS respectively was(7.6±1.2), (2.8±1.9), (1.1±0.4) points. There were significant differences above items between before operation and at 3 d after operation, while no significance between 1 year and 3 d after operation. No neurologic damage, internal fixation failure and recurrence of kyphosis occurred. CONCLUSIONS Percutaneous short segment pedicle screw fixation with bone cement augmentation in treating single level thoracolumbar osteoporotic fracture has advantages of less trauma, and could effectively restore normal physiological load transmission of spinal, avoid failure of internal fixation and recurrence of kyphosis.
Perceived High-Performance Work Systems and Subjective Well-Being

Perceived high-performance work systems (HPWS) have presented mixed results related to subjective well-being. Additionally, there remains a lack of an integrative analysis of the relationship between work–family balance and these practices. To explore this relationship more fully, we developed and tested a model that proposed work–family balance and well-being at work as mediators. Data gathered from 218 participants employed in a city council with different occupations indicated a positive relationship between perceived HPWS and work-to-family enrichment and a negative relationship between perceived HPWS and work-to-family conflict. More interestingly, based on Conservation of Resources theory and on Job-Demands Resources, the results also indicated the presence of a serial mediation model where work–family balance and well-being at work act as mediators of perceived HPWS and subjective well-being.
Using Focus Groups and Rasch Item Response Theory to Improve Instrument Development

Item response theory (IRT) is not widely used in counseling psychology research, despite its considerable advantages for instrument development. Focus groups help create a broad and representative item pool that is more likely to tap the full range of the latent dimension, thereby capitalizing on IRT strengths. We provide suggestions for using these tools, with an empirical example, the Everyday Multicultural Competencies/Revised Scale of Ethnocultural Empathy (EMC/RSEE). Rasch IRT methods were used to (a) analyze response format performance and collapse poorly performing categories, (b) evaluate differential item functioning sex bias, and (c) select items to maximize subscale sensitivity and bandwidth. Traditional classical test theory (CTT) subscales composed of items with the highest factor loadings were compared with subscales based on IRT criteria. Compared with CTT subscales, IRT subscales used in the EMC/RSEE demonstrated generally higher correlations with other variables of interest, and superior sensitivity to change over time and to group differences.
How Accurately Can We Calculate the Depth of the Solar Convective Zone?

We evaluate the logarithmic derivative of the depth of the solar convective zone (CZ) with respect to the logarithm of the radiative opacity, ∂ ln RCZ/∂ ln κ. We use this expression to show that the radiative opacity near the base of the solar CZ must be known to an accuracy of ±1% in order to calculate the CZ depth to the accuracy of the helioseismological measurement, RCZ = 0.713 ± 0.001 R☉. The radiative opacity near the base of the CZ that is obtained from OPAL tables must be increased by ~21% in the 2004 Bahcall-Pinsonneault solar model if one wants to invoke opacity errors in order to reconcile recent solar heavy abundance determinations with the helioseismological measurement of RCZ. We show that the radiative opacity near the base of the CZ depends sensitively on the assumed heavy-element mass fraction, Z. The uncertainty in the measured value of Z is currently the limiting factor in our ability to calculate the depth of the CZ. Different state-of-the-art interpolation schemes using the existing OPAL tables yield opacity values that differ by ~4%. We describe the finer grid spacings that are necessary to interpolate the radiative opacity to ±1%. Uncertainties due to the equation of state do not significantly affect the calculated depth of the CZ.
Using latent-class analysis to examine the influence of kindergarten children's perspectives of school on literacy and self-regulation outcomes

ABSTRACT In this study, we explored the influence of kindergarten children's perspectives of school on their literacy and self-regulation outcomes. Children's early perspectives were captured in a three-question, finger-puppet interview. Responses to the interview questions were coded thematically as being academic and/or social in nature, and were analysed using latent-class analysis. Once children's responses were characterized into classes, further analyses were conducted to understand the application of these perspectives to direct assessments of early reading and writing and self-regulation abilities. Children with less clear perspectives, who mixed academic and social responses, had the lowest performance on all academic measures. Findings add to the existing literature while offering an innovative analytic strategy for examining relationships between children's perspectives and kindergarten outcomes.
The Evolutionary Logic of Honoring Sunk Costs

Although economics claims that sunk costs should not figure in current decision‐making, there is ample evidence to suggest that people squander resources by honoring bygones. We argue that such wastage of resources was tolerated in our evolutionary past by Nature because it served fitness‐enhancing functions. In this study, we propose and model one such function. We demonstrate how the honoring of sunk costs could have arisen as a commitment device that Nature found expedient for scenarios where conflicts over temptations between the emotional and rational centers of the brain might sabotage long‐term investments. By applying this idea to the self‐concept, we argue that this model provides a rationale for cognitive dissonance, a well‐established phenomenon in social psychology.
Pten deletion causes mTorc1-dependent ectopic neuroblast differentiation without causing uniform migration defects

Neuronal precursors, generated throughout life in the subventricular zone, migrate through the rostral migratory stream to the olfactory bulb where they differentiate into interneurons. We found that the PI3K-Akt-mTorc1 pathway is selectively inactivated in migrating neuroblasts in the subventricular zone and rostral migratory stream, and activated when these cells reach the olfactory bulb. Postnatal deletion of Pten caused aberrant activation of the PI3K-Akt-mTorc1 pathway and an enlarged subventricular zone and rostral migratory stream. This expansion was caused by premature termination of migration and differentiation of neuroblasts and was rescued by inhibition of mTorc1. This phenotype is reminiscent of lamination defects caused by Pten deletion in developing brain that were previously described as defective migration. However, live imaging in acute slices showed that Pten deletion did not cause a uniform defect in the mechanics of directional neuroblast migration. Instead, a subpopulation of Pten-null neuroblasts showed minimal movement and altered morphology associated with differentiation, whereas the remainder showed unimpeded directional migration towards the olfactory bulb. Therefore, migration defects of Pten-null neurons might be secondary to ectopic differentiation.
Mitochondrial Membrane Potential in Axons Increases with Local Nerve Growth Factor or Semaphorin Signaling

Neurons concentrate mitochondria at sites in the cell that have a high demand for ATP and/or calcium buffering. To accomplish this, mitochondrial transport and docking are thought to respond to intracellular signaling pathways. However, the cell might also concentrate mitochondrial function by locally modulating mitochondrial activity. We tested this hypothesis by measuring the membrane potential of individual mitochondria throughout the axons of chick sensory neurons using the dye tetramethylrhodamine methylester (TMRM). We found no difference in the TMRM mitochondrial-to-cytoplasmic fluorescence ratio (Fm/Fc) among three functionally distinct regions: axonal branch points, distal axons, and the remaining axon shaft. In addition, we found no difference in Fm/Fc among stationary, retrogradely moving, or anterogradely moving mitochondria. However, Fm/Fc was significantly higher in the lamellipodia of growth cones, and among a small fraction of mitochondria throughout the axon. To identify possible signals controlling membrane potential, we used beads covalently coupled to survival and guidance cues to provide a local stimulus along the axon shaft. NGF- or semaphorin 3A-coupled beads caused a significant increase in Fm/Fc in the immediately adjacent region of axon, and this was diminished in the presence of the PI3 (phosphatidylinositol-3) kinase inhibitor LY294002 [2-(4-morpholinyl)-8-phenyl-4H-1-benzopyran-4-one] or the MAP (mitogen-activated protein) kinase inhibitor U0126 (1,4-diamino-2,3-dicyano-1,4-bis[2-amino-phenylthio]butadiene), demonstrating that signaling pathways downstream of both ligands affect the ΔΨm of mitochondria. In addition, general inhibition of receptor tyrosine kinase activity produced a profound global decrease in Fm/Fc. Thus, two guidance molecules that exert different effects on growth cone motility both elicit local, receptor-mediated increases in membrane potential.
Megabase Level Sequencing Reveals Contrasted Organization and Evolution Patterns of the Wheat Gene and Transposable Element Spaces[W]

This article describes the molecular analysis of large contiguous sequences produced from the bread wheat genome. It provides novel insights into the number, distribution, and density of genes along chromosome 3B and reveals an unexpectedly high amount of noncollinear genes compared to model grass genomes. To improve our understanding of the organization and evolution of the wheat (Triticum aestivum) genome, we sequenced and annotated 13-Mb contigs (18.2 Mb) originating from different regions of its largest chromosome, 3B (1 Gb), and produced a 2x chromosome survey by shotgun Illumina/Solexa sequencing. All regions carried genes irrespective of their chromosomal location. However, gene distribution was not random, with 75% of them clustered into small islands containing three genes on average. A twofold increase of gene density was observed toward the telomeres likely due to high tandem and interchromosomal duplication events. A total of 3222 transposable elements were identified, including 800 new families. Most of them are complete but showed a highly nested structure spread over distances as large as 200 kb. A succession of amplification waves involving different transposable element families led to contrasted sequence compositions between the proximal and distal regions. Finally, with an estimate of 50,000 genes per diploid genome, our data suggest that wheat may have a higher gene number than other cereals. Indeed, comparisons with rice (Oryza sativa) and Brachypodium revealed that a high number of additional noncollinear genes are interspersed within a highly conserved ancestral grass gene backbone, supporting the idea of an accelerated evolution in the Triticeae lineages.