Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cognitive decline in Alzheimer disease

Objective: To assess effects of quality of life (QOL), spirituality, and religiosity on rate of progression of cognitive decline in Alzheimer disease (AD). Methods: In this longitudinal study, we recruited 70 patients with probable AD. The Mini-Mental State Examination was used to monitor the rate of cognitive decline. Religiosity and spirituality were measured using standardized scales that assess spirituality, religiosity, and organizational and private religious practices. We conducted a simultaneous multiple linear regression analysis for factors contributing to rate of cognitive decline. Results: After controlling for baseline level of cognition, age, sex, and education, a slower rate of cognitive decline was associated with higher levels of spirituality (p < 0.05) and private religious practices (p < 0.005). These variables accounted for 17% of the total variance [F(11,58) = 2.24, p < 0.05]. There was no correlation between rate of cognitive decline and QOL. Conclusion: Higher levels of spirituality and private religious practices, but not quality of life, are associated with slower progression of Alzheimer disease.
The response to iron in iron deficiency. Anemia due to gynecologic disease.

The utilization of iron given orally was compared with that of iron given parenterally in 12 hospitalized gynecologic patients who had severe anemia due to chronic loss of blood. Six received irondextran intramuscularly. The other 6 received ferrous gluconate orally at the rate of 2 gm. per day in divided doses. From data on hemoglobin concentration, hematocrit determinations, reticulocyte count, and blood volume determinations the rate of iron utilization was computed. The mean hemoglobin concentration increased 5.0 gm. per 100 ml. in 19 days following parenteral iron and 4.9 gm. per 100 ml. in 24 days with oral iron. Since the rate of hemoglobin production averaged 3.0 times normal in the parenterally treated and 2.4 times normal in the orally treated group, there seemed to be little reason for preferring the parenteral route in this situation.
Avian Influenza (H9N2) Outbreak in Iran

Abstract An epidemic of avian influenza (AI) (H9N2) occurred in broiler chicken farms in Iran during 1998–01. Mortality between 20% and 60% was commonly observed on the affected farms. Mixed infections of the influenza virus with other respiratory pathogens, particularly infectious bronchitis virus and Mycoplasma gallisepticum, were thought to be responsible for such high mortality, which resulted in great economic losses. Clinical signs included swelling of the periorbital tissues and sinuses, typical respiratory discharge, and severe respiratory distress. Gross lesions included extensive hyperemia of the respiratory system followed by exudation and cast formation in the tracheal biforcation extending into the secondary bronchi. Light microscopy lesions were characterized by severe necrotizing tracheatis. Serological examination using H9N2 AI viral antigen produced inconsistent results. Ultrastructural findings showed typical viral replication through budding processes on cell membranes of the tracheal epithelium.
Psychotherapists' Experience with Clients Who Engage in Consensual Sadomasochism: A Qualitative Study

Consensual sadomasochism (Bondage and Discipline, Dominance and Submission, Sadism and Masochism; BDSM) is relatively common, but the experience of psychotherapists who work with clients who engage in BDSM has received little study. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 14 therapists experienced in working with BDSM clients. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed for thematic content. Therapists emphasized the importance of cultural competence, including a nonjudgmental attitude and knowledge of BDSM practices and cultural values. BDSM was rarely a central issue in therapy; relationship issues were clients' most common presenting concerns. Therapists who practiced BDSM themselves often encountered boundary issues with clients.
Is Color Constancy Task Independent?

The goal of color appearance models is to predict how observers perceive, describe, and match colors. Two difficulties prevent the easy formulation of these models. First, the color appearance of a light can depend strikingly on the context in which it is viewed. Thus color appearance models must incorporate transformations to account for context effects. Second, there are multiple ways that observers can assess and report color appearance. A complete model must predict performance for all appearance tasks. Color appearance models can be simplified if the effects of context may be separated from how appearance is measured. One way to achieve such separation is to formulate the model in two distinct stages. The first stage incorporates context effects by transforming tristimulus coordinates to appearance coordinates. This transformation is allowed to depend on viewing context but not on how appearance is measured. The second stage maps between the appearance coordinates and actual observer responses. Different mappings are allowed for different tasks, but each mapping is restricted to be context independent. The RLAB color appearance model is consistent with this type of separability. Separating the effect of context from task specific mappings allows model parameters to be determined economically. The effects of context need only be measured using one task, while the form of the task dependent mappings need only be characterized for one context. Of course, it only makes sense to incorporate such context-task separability only if models of this form actually describe performance. In this paper we report initial empirical tests. Introspection suggests that context-task separability is likely to hold. As we experience the world we are generally aware of a unitary color percept at each image location. It is appealing to think that this subjective impression mediates our performance on all color tasks. There are several reasons why we feel an empirical check is desirable. First, although introspection is useful it is important to build our models on the firmer foundations of experimental data. Second, there are conditions under which cognitive factors such as instructions or perceptual set can influence color judgments. The influence of cognitive factors may be both context and task dependent and their influence could provide a mechanism through which separability could fail. Third, Troost and DeWeert have presented data which, while not conclusive, call the separability hypothesis into doubt. In our experiments, we use three tasks to measure the effect of changing the illuminant on color appearance. In the first task, observers adjusted a surface to appear achromatic. In the second task, observers performed asymmetric matches. In the third task, observers named colors. We used the same observers and stimulus conditions for all three tasks. We then asked whether the effect of the illuminant was independent of task.
Cerivastatin, a New Potent Synthetic HMG Co-A Reductase Inhibitor: Effect of 0.2 mg Daily in Subjects With Primary Hypercholesterolemia

Background: Reduction of serum cholesterol, most notably low-density lipoprotein choles terol is associated with reductions in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Statins have been shown to effectively reduce low-density lipoprotein cholesterol via inhibition of the hydroxymethyl-coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase. Cerivastatin is the most potent HMG- CoA reductase inhibitor currently under study in the United States. Methods and Results: A parallel group, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, mul ticenter study was conducted to compare the efficacy and safety of three different dosing reg imens of 0.2 mg/day of cerivastatin, a new HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor, in patients with hypercholesterolemia. After a 10-week diet-placebo lead-in period, 319 patients with low- density lipoprotein cholesterol >160 mg/dL were randomized to 4 weeks of treatment with one of the following regimens: cerivastatin 0.1 mg twice daily, cerivastatin 0.2 mg once daily with the evening meal, cerivastatin 0.2 mg once daily at bedtime or placebo. All three active treatment groups produced statistically significant (P < .05) changes compared to baseline and placebo in total cholesterol (0.1 mg twice daily -18.9%; 0.2 mg once daily with the evening meal: -21.9%; 0.2 mg once daily at bedtime: -22.1%; placebo: 0.0%), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (0.1 mg twice daily: -25.7%; 0.2 mg once daily with the evening meal: -29.4%; 0.2 mg once daily at bedtime: -30.4%; placebo: 1.4%) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (0.1 mg twice daily: 5.3%; 0.2 mg once daily with the evening meal: 2.3%; 0.2 mg once daily at bedtime: 3.2%; placebo: -1.2%). Triglycerides, compared to baseline and placebo, were also reduced by all active treatments (0.1 mg twice daily: -11.6% [P = .05]; 0.2 mg once daily with the evening meal: -11.6% [P = .05]; and 0.2 mg at bed time: -10.9% [P = .07]). The percentage change in total cholesterol and low-density lipopro tein cholesterol after 4 weeks of therapy for the once-daily cerivastatin groups was statisti cally significantly greater (P < .05) than the cerivastatin twice daily regimen. A treatment response was seen by 1 week of therapy and was maximal by 3 weeks. The drug was well tolerated in all three dosing regimens and resulted in no significant increase in biochemical or clinical side effects compared to placebo. Conclusion: Cerivastatin is a novel, highly potent, well-tolerated HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor that produces low-density lipoprotein cholesterol reductions of approximately 30% when administered at 0.2 mg once a day in the evenings.
IN VITRO ANTI-HIV-1 ACTIVITY OF THE ENZYMATIC EXTRACT ENRICHED WITH LACCASE PRODUCED BY THE FUNGI GANODERMA SP. AND LENTINUS SP.

Background: Natural compounds are a good source for the development of antiretroviral drugs with low cytotoxicity. The laccase enzyme, produced by fungi of the genera Ganoderma sp. and Lentinus sp. , inhibits the reverse transcriptase (RT) of the human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1), in cell-free models in vitro. Objetives: In this study we evaluated the anti-HIV-1 activity of the enzymatic extracts (EE) enriched with laccase, produced by two native species of fungi of the same genera in an in vitro cell culture model. Methods: The inhibition of viral replication was performed using the U373-MAGI cell line infected with recombinant viruses in the presence/absence of the EE and 48 hpi, the percentage of infected cells was evaluated by flow cytometry for green fluorescent protein –GFP– and ELISA for p24. The inhibition of the RT was determined by quantification of early and late products of reverse transcription using quantitative PCR. Results: The EEs from Ganoderma sp. and Lentinus sp. inhibited the replication of HIV-1 between 80 and 90% and decreased the production of early and late transcripts between 55,5%-91,3% and 82,1%-93,6% respectively. The EE from Lentinus sp. had the best selectivity index (SI: 8.3). Conclusions: These results suggest the potential anti-HIV-1 activity of the EE for the exploration of an alternative therapy against HIV-1 infection.
Anatomical and Electrophysiological Clustering of Superficial Medial Entorhinal Cortex Interneurons

Abstract Local GABAergic interneurons regulate the activity of spatially-modulated principal cells in the medial entorhinal cortex (MEC), mediating stellate-to-stellate connectivity and possibly enabling grid formation via recurrent inhibitory circuitry. Despite the important role interneurons seem to play in the MEC cortical circuit, the combination of low cell counts and functional diversity has made systematic electrophysiological studies of these neurons difficult. For these reasons, there remains a paucity of knowledge on the electrophysiological profiles of superficial MEC interneuron populations. Taking advantage of glutamic acid decarboxylase 2 (GAD2)-IRES-tdTomato and PV-tdTomato transgenic mice, we targeted GABAergic interneurons for whole-cell patch-clamp recordings and characterized their passive membrane features, basic input/output properties and action potential (AP) shape. These electrophysiologically characterized cells were then anatomically reconstructed, with emphasis on axonal projections and pial depth. K-means clustering of interneuron anatomical and electrophysiological data optimally classified a population of 106 interneurons into four distinct clusters. The first cluster is comprised of layer 2- and 3-projecting, slow-firing interneurons. The second cluster is comprised largely of PV+ fast-firing interneurons that project mainly to layers 2 and 3. The third cluster contains layer 1- and 2-projecting interneurons, and the fourth cluster is made up of layer 1-projecting horizontal interneurons. These results, among others, will provide greater understanding of the electrophysiological characteristics of MEC interneurons, help guide future in vivo studies, and may aid in uncovering the mechanism of grid field formation.
Blood Pressure and Cognition: Factors That May Account for Their Inconsistent Association

Background: Studies of hypertension and cognition variously report adverse, null, and protective associations. We evaluated evidence supporting three potential explanations for this variation: an effect of hypertension duration, an effect of age at hypertension initiation, and selection bias due to dependent censoring. Methods: The Normative Aging Study is a prospective cohort study of men in the greater Boston area. Participants completed study visits, including hypertension assessment, every 3–5 years starting in 1961. Seven hundred fifty-eight of 1,284 men eligible at baseline completed cognitive assessment between 1992 and 2005; we used the mean age-adjusted cognitive test Z score from their first assessment to quantify cognition. We estimated how becoming hypertensive and increasing age at onset and duration since hypertension initiation affect cognition. We used inverse probability of censoring weights to reduce and quantify selection bias. Results: A history of hypertension diagnosis predicted lower cognition. Increasing duration since hypertension initiation predicted lower mean cognitive Z score (−0.02 standard units per year increase [95% confidence interval= −0.04 to −0.001]), independent of age at onset. Comparing participants with and without hypertension, we observed noteworthy differences in mean cognitive score only for those with a long duration since hypertension initiation, regardless of age at onset. Age at onset was not associated with cognition independent of duration. Analyses designed to quantify selection bias suggested upward bias. Conclusions: Previous findings of null or protective associations between hypertension and cognition likely reflect the study of persons with short duration since hypertension initiation. Selection bias may also contribute to cross-study heterogeneity.
The influence of aging on muscle strength and muscle fiber characteristics with special reference to eccentric strength.

It is well established that aging seriously reduces isometric and concentric muscle strength due to atrophy, deterioration of mechanical properties, and motor unit loss. However, there is limited information on the impact of aging on eccentric strength despite the fact that such forces play an equally important role during daily activities. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of aging on three expressions of muscle strength (isometric, concentric, and eccentric) in relation to muscle fiber characteristics, with special emphasis on eccentric force. Sedentary but healthy men (age range 18-80 years, n = 60) and women (20-74 years, n = 30) were tested for maximal effort isometric, concentric, and eccentric (1.05, 2.09, 3.14 rads.s-1) quadriceps strength, body composition, and muscle fiber characteristics of the vastus lateralis (men only). There was a significant (p < .05) approximately 30 N per decade decline in isometric and concentric forces, but only 9 N per decade reduction in eccentric strength. There was a significant reduction in Type II muscle fiber area with aging (p < .05). Isometric, eccentric, and concentric force correlated r = . 33, r = . 32 (p < .05), and r = . 12 (p > .05) with Type II muscle fiber area, respectively. The correlation between age and fat-free mass/force ratio ranged from r = . 39 to . 43 in men and r = . 27 to . 50 in women. The data suggest a relative preservation of eccentric strength with aging in men and women that seems to be independent of muscle mass or muscle fiber type or size.
Criteria for Human-Compatible AI in Two-Player Vision-Language Tasks

We propose rule-based search systems that out-perform not only the state-of-the-art but the human performance, measured in accuracy, in Guess-What? , a vision-language game where either of two players can be a human. Although those systems achieve the high accuracy, they do not meet other requirements to be considered as an AI sys-tem that communicates effectively with humans. To clarify what they lack, we suggest the use of three criteria to enable effective communication with humans in vision-language tasks. These criteria also apply to other two-player vision-language tasks that require communication with humans, e.g., ReferIt.
Quantifying Global Drivers of Zoonotic Bat Viruses: A Process-Based Perspective

Emerging infectious diseases (EIDs), particularly zoonoses, represent a significant threat to global health. Emergence is often driven by anthropogenic activity (e.g., travel, land use change). Although disease emergence frameworks suggest multiple steps from initial zoonotic transmission to human-to-human spread, there have been few attempts to empirically model specific steps. We create a process-based framework to separate out components of individual emergence steps. We focus on early emergence and expand the first step, zoonotic transmission, into processes of generation of pathogen richness, transmission opportunity, and establishment, each with its own hypothesized drivers. Using this structure, we build a spatial empirical model of these drivers, taking bat viruses shared with humans as a case study. We show that drivers of both viral richness (host diversity and climatic variability) and transmission opportunity (human population density, bushmeat hunting, and livestock production) are associated with virus sharing between humans and bats. We also show spatial heterogeneity between the global patterns of these two processes, suggesting that high-priority locations for pathogen discovery and surveillance in wildlife may not necessarily coincide with those for public health intervention. Finally, we offer direction for future studies of zoonotic EIDs by highlighting the importance of the processes underlying their emergence.
Neuroanatomical correlates of religiosity and spirituality: a study in adults at high and low familial risk for depression.

IMPORTANCE We previously reported a 90% decreased risk in major depression, assessed prospectively, in adult offspring of depressed probands who reported that religion or spirituality was highly important to them. Frequency of church attendance was not significantly related to depression risk. Our previous brain imaging findings in adult offspring in these high-risk families also revealed large expanses of cortical thinning across the lateral surface of the right cerebral hemisphere. OBJECTIVE To determine whether high-risk adults who reported high importance of religion or spirituality had thicker cortices than those who reported moderate or low importance of religion or spirituality and whether this effect varied by family risk status. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Longitudinal, retrospective cohort, familial study of 103 adults (aged 18-54 years) who were the second- or third-generation offspring of depressed (high familial risk) or nondepressed (low familiar risk) probands (first generation). Religious or spiritual importance and church attendance were assessed at 2 time points during 5 years, and cortical thickness was measured on anatomical images of the brain acquired with magnetic resonance imaging at the second time point. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Cortical thickness in the parietal regions by risk status. RESULTS Importance of religion or spirituality, but not frequency of attendance, was associated with thicker cortices in the left and right parietal and occipital regions, the mesial frontal lobe of the right hemisphere, and the cuneus and precuneus in the left hemisphere, independent of familial risk. In addition, the effects of importance on cortical thickness were significantly stronger in the high-risk than in the low-risk group, particularly along the mesial wall of the left hemisphere, in the same region where we previously reported a significant thinner cortex associated with a familial risk of developing depressive illness. We note that these findings are correlational and therefore do not prove a causal association between importance and cortical thickness. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE A thicker cortex associated with a high importance of religion or spirituality may confer resilience to the development of depressive illness in individuals at high familial risk for major depression, possibly by expanding a cortical reserve that counters to some extent the vulnerability that cortical thinning poses for developing familial depressive illness.
Lipopolysaccharide‐induced interleukin‐10 in mice: role of endogenous tumor necrosis factor‐α

Interleukin (IL)‐10 is known to protect mice against the lethal effects of lipopolysaccharides (LPS) and is considered to be an anti‐inflammatory cytokine which suppresses the production of pro‐inflammatory cytokines. We have examined the interactions of the pro‐inflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α) with IL‐10. Neutralization of TNF‐α in murine bone marrow‐derived macrophages resulted in a significant reduction of LPS‐inducible IL‐10 production. In mice, injection of 5 mg/kg LPS induced circulating IL‐10 with a biphasic time course exhibiting an early peak 1.5 h after challenge (synchronous with TNF‐α) and, after a nadir at 6 h, a second increase between 8 and 12 h. Treatment of mice with neutralizing anti‐mouse TNF‐α antiserum significantly increased LPS‐induced IL‐10 plasma levels between 1.5 and 6 h but diminished those at 12 h, while circulating IL‐6, interferon‐γ (IFN‐γ) and granulocyte colony‐stimulating factor (G‐CSF) concentrations were attenuated overall, without a biphasic response. Analysis of LPS‐induced IL‐10 mRNA expression in different tissues 1 h and 8 h after LPS or LPS plus anti‐TNF‐α revealed that the amount of transcripts in the liver correlated with circulating early and late IL‐10 levels. Our findings suggest that endogenous TNF‐α down‐regulates the early and up‐regulates the late LPS‐induced IL‐10 synthesis in vivo and that the liver is the major source of circulating IL‐10 after stimulation with LPS.