Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
UNDER-ACHTEVEMENT IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING

Un certain pourcentage d'eleves obtiennent des notes en langue etrangere considerablement inferieures a la moyenne de leurs autres notes d'ecole. Pour essayer d'etablir les raisons de cet ecart, les auteurs ont entrepris une etude experimentale ä multiples facettes sur un grand nombre d'eleves d'ecoles elementaires et secondaires d'une ville americaine typique; la partie de cette etude concernant principalement le röle des facteurs individuels — aptitude, modalite sensorielle preferee, motivation, attitude, personnalite — est rapportee ici. Un jeu de tests assemble pour determiner l'aptitude linguistique s'est revele un moyen de pronostic aussi efficace que la moyenne des notes d'ecole anterieures, et plus efficace que le Quotient d'Intelligence ou que les notes en langue maternelle. Un test d'interet et — de maniere plus inattendue — deux tests de discrimination auditive se sont montres comme un presqueaussibon Instrument de pronostic que l'ensemble des tests ajoute ä la moyenne des notes d'ecole. Un questionnaire pour etablir la modalite sensorielle preferee a revele que ceux qui apprenaient mieux en ecoutant qu'en lisant voulaient davantage continuer ä etudier une langue etrangere, reussissaient mieux les exercices de comprehension aurale et obtenaient des notes legerement superieures. En ce qui concerne la motivation, les "underachievers" tendaient a ne trouver aucun interet ni pratique, ni personnel, ä Tetude d'une langue etrangere. Dans la population etudiee, les attitudes vis ä vis de la culture de la langue ä etudier ne jouaient aucun röle, puisque presque tous y etaient favorablement disposes, contrairement aux cas etudies par Lambert. Aucun des nombreux tests de personnalite ne servait ä distinguer les "underachievers", pas plus qu'une serie d'Interviews cliniques. Dans la partie de l'enquete rapportee ici, les facteurs de motivation et d'abilite auditive etaient les deux seuls facteurs ä influer d'une maniere significative sur le succes de l'etude d'une langue etrangere.
Prediction of recombinant protein production by Escherichia coli derived online from indicators of metabolic burden

Background: The oxygen transfer rate (OTR) and the biomass concentration are two important parameters describing a microbial fermentation. It has been shown before that from the course of these parameters over time information on metabolic burden during heterologous protein production can be obtained. While online monitoring in large fermenters is ubiquitously established, it is still not a common practice in small‐scale cultures. Nevertheless, several techniques like the Respiration Activity MOnitoring System (RAMOS) device for online monitoring of the OTR in shake flasks and the BioLector device for measuring scattered light (ScL) representing biomass in microtiter plates have been developed. Results: A new microtiter plate‐based method is presented that reveals how online derived ScL signals can be transformed into signals that are proportional to the courses of OTR over time for Escherichia coli. The transformed signal is obtained by simply taking the first derivative of ScL (dScL/dt). The proportionality of both parameters is successfully validated for the strains E. coli BL21(DE3) and Tuner(DE3) expressing cellulases and the fluorescent protein FbFP, respectively. Relative amounts of produced heterologous proteins are predicted exclusively based on the course of the transformed ScL signal. A variety of induction conditions with varying inducer concentration and induction time were investigated with this method. Conclusion: The presented method based on ScL measurement allows for high‐throughput online determination of signals proportional to OTR courses. They enable the interpretation of physiological states and offer the possibility to predict the recombinant protein production in E. coli. © 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog. , 34:1543–1552, 2018
Postpartum Bone Marrow Edema at the Sacroiliac Joints May Mimic Sacroiliitis of Axial Spondyloarthritis on MRI.

OBJECTIVE The objective of our study was to compare MRI findings in the sacroiliac joints of postpartum women (as a model of mechanical changes) and women with known axial spondyloarthritis (as an inflammatory model). SUBJECTS AND METHODS For this prospective multicenter age-matched, case-control study, sacroiliac joint MRI examinations of 30 healthy women (mean age, 34.0 years) in the early postpartum period (mechanical group) and 30 age-matched women (mean age, 33.8 years) with known axial spondyloarthritis (retrospective inflammatory group) were compared. Blinded to clinical information, readers assessed MR images using the following scoring systems: Spondyloarthritis Research Consortium of Canada (SPARCC) MRI index, Berlin method, Assessment of Spondyloarthritis International Society (ASAS) criteria, and SPARCC MRI structural score. Descriptive statistics as percentages of the different findings (i.e., bone marrow edema [BME], erosion, fatty bone marrow replacement, backfill, ankylosis) and scores between groups and between delivery modes were compared. RESULTS In the postpartum group, 63.3% (19/30) of women showed BME around the sacroiliac joints compared with 86.7% (26/30) of women in the spondyloarthritis group (based on ASAS criteria). Erosions were uncommon in the postpartum group (10.0% [3/30] postpartum vs 56.7% [17/30] spondyloarthritis). Fatty bone marrow replacement, backfill, and ankylosis were not seen in the postpartum group. In subjects with positive MRI findings for sacroiliitis based on ASAS criteria, the SPARCC MRI index (mean ± SD, 13.6 ± 14.5 vs 13.0 ± 10.7; p = 0.818) and Berlin method (4.5 ± 3.0 and 5.5 ± 3.5, p = 0.378) were not different between the postpartum and spondyloarthritis groups. Scores were not different between birth modalities. CONCLUSION Pregnancy-induced BME at the sacroiliac joints, as a result of prolonged mechanical stress, was present in 63.3% of women who underwent MRI during the early postpartum period and may mimic sacroiliitis of axial spondyloarthritis.
Insufficient task‐outcome association promotes task procrastination through a decrease of hippocampal–striatal interaction

Theories on procrastination propose that associating tasks with higher valued incentive outcomes results in less task procrastination. However, it remains unknown how representation of incentive outcomes and task‐outcome association are mediated by the human brain. Using event‐related functional magnetic resonance imaging, we scanned human participants while they were thinking about both tasks and the incentive outcomes each task can yield in an unconstrained way. Results showed that tasks that are more likely to be procrastinated are associated with less value in incentive outcomes. Interestingly, procrastination was more likely if it was more difficult for participants to associate a task with its valued incentives when thinking about the task (i.e., the decreased task‐outcome association). On the neural level, higher value of rewarding outcomes was correlated with increased putamen activations, which further negatively predicted task procrastination. On the other hand, when participants were associating tasks with the incentive outcomes, the decreasing task‐outcome association corresponded to decreasing activation in putamen, and a decreasing hippocampus‐putamen coupling which further mediated the effect of the insufficient task‐outcome association on procrastination. In particular, the current findings show that procrastination is more likely when people are less able to associate tasks with highly valued incentives, which is accompanied by reduced hippocampal–striatal interactions during task construction.
Interaction of the EGFR signaling pathway with porcine cumulus oocyte complexes and oviduct cells in a coculture system

It has become increasingly recognized that coculture has a beneficial effect on the in vitro maturation (IVM) of oocytes and embryo development in many species. However, these effects of coculture on IVM have been documented only for their positive conditioning roles without any evidence on the precise mechanisms underlying the action of coculture systems on the development of cumulus oocyte complexes (COCs). It has been suggested that the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling pathway is important for development of COCs, mediated by several epidermal growth factor (EGF)‐like proteins with downstream mitogen‐activated protein kinase 1/3 signaling. Therefore, we hypothesized that canine oviduct cells (OCs) in a coculture system, which shows improvement of oocyte quality in several species, are associated with EGFR signaling by exposure to progesterone (P4; imitating its production before ovulation and its continuous increase while oocytes reside in the oviduct to complete maturation in dogs). We designed three experimental groups: control, OCs coculture exposed to P4, and OCs coculture without exposure to P4. The result showed that the OCs coculture exposed to P4 strongly expressed EGF‐like proteins and significantly improved COCs and subsequent embryo development. Furthermore, the expression of EGFR‐related genes in cumulus cells and GDF9 and BMP15 in oocytes was upregulated in the P4‐treated group. This study provides the first evidence that OCs exposed to P4 can induce strong expression of EGF‐like proteins, and OCs effectively mediate improved porcine COCs development and subsequent embryo development by altering EGFR signaling related mRNA expression.
Implicit Maximum Likelihood Estimation

Implicit probabilistic models are models defined naturally in terms of a sampling procedure and often induces a likelihood function that cannot be expressed explicitly. We develop a simple method for estimating parameters in implicit models that does not require knowledge of the form of the likelihood function or any derived quantities, but can be shown to be equivalent to maximizing likelihood under some conditions. Our result holds in the non-asymptotic parametric setting, where both the capacity of the model and the number of data examples are finite. We also demonstrate encouraging experimental results.
Age-Dependent Anti-migraine Effects of Valproic Acid and Topiramate in Rats

Background: Valproic acid (VPA) and topiramate (TPM), initially developed as antiepileptics, are approved for migraine prophylaxis in adults but not children. The differences in their antimigraine mechanism(s) by age remain unclear. Methods: A migraine model induced by intra-cisternal (i.c.) capsaicin instillation in pediatric (4–5 weeks) and adult (8–9 weeks) rats was pretreated with VPA (30, 100 mg/kg) or TPM (10, 30, 100 mg/kg). Noxious meningeal stimulation by the irritant capsaicin triggered trigeminovascular system (TGVS) activation mimicking migraine condition, which were assessed peripherally by the depletion of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) in sensory nerve fibers of the dura mater, the increased CGRP immunoreactivity at trigeminal ganglia (TG) and centrally by the number of c-Fos-immunoreactive (c-Fos-ir) neurons in the trigeminocervical complex (TCC). Peripherally, CGRP released from dural sensory nerve terminals of TG triggered pain signal transmission in the primary afferent of trigeminal nerve, which in turn caused central sensitization of the TGVS due to TCC activation and hence contributed to migraine. Results: In the VPA-treated group, the central responsiveness expressed by reducing the number of c-Fos-ir neurons, which had been increased by i.c. capsaicin, was significant in pediatric, but not adult, rats. Inversely, VPA was effective in peripheral inhibition of elevated CGRP immunoreactivity in the TG and CGRP depletion in the dura mater of adult, but not pediatric, rats. In TPM group, the central responsiveness was significant in both adult and pediatric groups. Peripherally, TPM significantly inhibited capsaicin-induced CGRP expression of TG in adult, but not pediatric, rats. Interestingly, the capsaicin-induced depletion of CGRP in dura was significantly rescued by TPM at high doses in adults, but at low dose in pediatric group. Conclusion: These results suggest VPA exerted peripheral inhibition in adult, but central suppression in pediatric migraine-rats. In contrast, TPM involves both central and peripheral inhibition of migraine with an optimal therapeutic window in both ages. These findings may clarify the age-dependent anti-migraine mechanism of VPA and TPM, which may guide the development of new pediatric anti-migraine drugs in the future.
Hemoglobin Concentration in Children at Different Altitudes in Peru: Proposal for [Hb] Correction for Altitude to Diagnose Anemia and Polycythemia.

The present study was designed to define the hemoglobin [Hb] increase with altitude in Peruvian children. We suggest the normal range of [Hb] as means ±2 standard deviations (SD), with a value less than - 2 SD as a possible threshold to detect anemia. The prevalence of anemia was calculated. These values were compared to the World Health Organization (WHO) altitude correction parameter and the threshold for anemia of 11 g/dL. Likewise, polycythemia is suggested as [Hb] greater than 2 SD. 2,028,701 children aged 6-59 months were analyzed. The quadratic regression analysis shows that [Hb] is constant between sea level and 999 m. Thereafter, [Hb] increases from 11.32 g/dL (1000 m) up to ∼14.54 g/dL at 4000 m. Applying the threshold for anemia defined by WHO (11 g/dL) results in a prevalence of ∼35% for children living at altitudes <1000 m, and prevalence decreases to ∼4.5% at >4000 m. After [Hb] altitude correction, the prevalence was ∼36% (1000 m) and increases to ∼66% above 4000 m. With our proposed threshold for anemia, the prevalence was ∼15% below 1000 m and ∼5% above 4000 m. For polycythemia ([Hb] >14.5 g/dL), increases were from 1.2% at <1000 m to 39.4% at 4000 m. After [Hb] correction for altitude, the prevalence of polycythemia decreases with altitude. Excessive erythrocytosis defined as [Hb] >19 g/dL shows the highest values at 4000 m, while polycythemia defined as [Hb] greater than 2 SD was reduced at high altitude (HA). In conclusion, using WHO thresholds for anemia and [Hb] correction by altitude most likely overestimates the prevalence of anemia and may underestimate polycythemia in Peruvian children living at HA. Therefore, new threshold values for anemia and polycythemia as mean [Hb] less than 2 SD and greater than 2 SD for populations living at a specific altitude are suggested.
Rationally Designed Variants of α-Synuclein Illuminate Its in vivo Structural Properties in Health and Disease

α-Synuclein (αS) is a conserved and abundant neuronal protein with unusual structural properties. It appears to partition between folded and unstructured states as well as between membrane-bound and aqueously soluble states. In addition, a switch between monomeric and tetrameric/multimeric states has been observed recently. The precise composition, localization and abundance of the multimeric species are under study and remain unsettled. Yet to interfere with disease pathogenesis, we must dissect how small changes in αS homeostasis may give rise to Parkinson’s disease (PD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and other human synucleinopathies. Rationally designed αS point mutations that prevent the protein from populating all states within its normal folding repertoire have continued to be instrumental in bringing new insights into its biochemistry in vivo. This review summarizes biochemical and cell biological findings about αS homeostasis from different labs, with a special emphasis on intact-cell approaches that may preserve the complex, metastable native states of αS.
An Empirical Comparison of Human Value Models

Over the past century, various value models have been proposed. To determine which value model best predicts prosocial behavior, mental health, and pro-environmental behavior, we subjected seven value models to a hierarchical regression analysis. A sample of University students (N = 271) completed the Portrait Value Questionnaire (Schwartz et al., 2012), the Basic Value Survey (Gouveia et al., 2008), and the Social Value Orientation scale (Van Lange et al., 1997). Additionally, they completed the Values Survey Module (Hofstede and Minkov, 2013), Inglehart’s (1977) materialism–postmaterialism items, the Study of Values, fourth edition (Allport et al., 1960; Kopelman et al., 2003), and the Rokeach (1973) Value Survey. However, because the reliability of the latter measures was low, only the PVQ-RR, the BVS, and the SVO where entered into our analysis. Our results provide empirical evidence that the PVQ-RR is the strongest predictor of all three outcome variables, explaining variance above and beyond the other two instruments in almost all cases. The BVS significantly predicted prosocial and pro-environmental behavior, while the SVO only explained variance in pro-environmental behavior.
Distribution of Canthon rutilans rutilans and Canthon rutilans cyanescens Along Spatio-Temporal and Temperature Gradients

Subspecies is a debated taxonomic rank that, in some cases, could indicate that a speciation process is taking place. Studying the degree of co-occurrence among subspecies along environmental gradients may help to determine its taxonomic status. In this study, we explore the distribution of two subspecies of Canthon rutilans along spatio-temporal and temperature gradients in the Atlantic Forest of southern Brazil in order to reinforce their current subspecies status or to support their consideration as two different species. A yearly survey conducted along an elevational transect (from 250 m to 1630 m) shows that there is no spatio-temporal overlap between the two taxa. We collected 899 individuals of Canthon rutilans cyanescens and 29 individuals of Canthon rutilans rutilans. C. rutilans cyanescens can be found at 250 m (all year except in June), 430 m (August to April), and 840 m (September to April) in elevation, and when the air temperature oscillates from 15.3 °C to 24.0 °C. C. rutilans rutilans can be found at 1360 m (October to February), 1630 m (January) in elevation, and when the air temperature oscillates from 14.4 °C to 18.6 °C. Furthermore, local temperature data taken during the survey indicates that both subspecies also have a limited overlap in their thermal response curves. All these results suggest that these two taxa could be considered as two different species with dissimilar physiological and ecological requirements probably as a consequence of temperature-mediated divergent adaptation. Further molecular data can confirm or reject this supposition in the near future.
The effect of group prenatal care for women with diabetes on social support and depressive symptoms: a pilot randomized trial

Abstract Objective: To measure the impact of group prenatal care (GPC) on diabetes-specific peer support and depressive symptoms in women with pregnancies complicated by diabetes. Materials and methods: This is a planned secondary analysis of a two-center pilot randomized controlled trial conducted at Denver health (DH) and Washington University in St. Louis (WU) including Spanish (DH) or English (WU) speaking women with type 2 or gestational diabetes. Women were randomized to diabetes GPC or individual prenatal care (IPC) in the resident diabetes clinic. Participants completed an Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) at randomization, at 38-week gestation and at 6–12 weeks postpartum. The diabetes support scale (DSS), which includes 12 questions answered on a Likert scale, was administered at 38 weeks. Analysis was by intention to treat (clincaltrials.gov#NCT02444325). Results: A total of 84 women were consented and randomized. Six withdrew consent (two from each cohort) or were lost to follow-up (two from IPC), and three did not complete the 38-week assessment (two from GPC and one from IPC), resulting in primary outcome data available for 75 women: 38 in GPC and 37 in IPC. More women randomized to GPC reported composite positive peer support on the DSS (52.5 versus 26.3%; p < .02). There were no differences in EPDS scores, depression (EPDS >10), or rates of improved EPDS score from baseline to 38 weeks. Conclusion: GPC for women with diabetes is associated with improved diabetes-specific peer social support with no significant impact on depressive symptoms. Clinical trial registration: Clincaltrials.gov NCT02444
Invited: Efficient Reinforcement Learning for Automating Human Decision-Making in SoC Design

The exponential growth in PVT corners due to Moore's law scaling, and the increasing demand for consumer applications and longer battery life in mobile devices, has ushered in significant cost and power-related challenges for designing and productizing mobile chips within a predictable schedule. Two main reasons for this are the reliance on human decision-making to achieve the desired performance within the target area and power budget, and significant increases in complexity of the human decision-making space. The problem is that to-date human design experience has not been replaced by design automation tools, and tasks requiring experience of past designs are still being performed manually.In this paper we investigate how machine learning may be applied to develop tools that learn from experience just like human designers, thus automating tasks that still require human intervention. The potential advantage of the machine learning approach is the ability to scale with increasing complexity and therefore hold the design-time constant with same manpower.Reinforcement Learning (RL) is a machine learning technique that allows us to mimic a human designers' ability to learn from experience and automate human decision-making, without loss in quality of the design, while making the design time independent of the complexity. In this paper we show how manual design tasks can be abstracted as RL problems. Based on the experience with applying RL to one of these problems, we show that RL can automatically achieve results similar to human designs, but in a predictable schedule. However, a major drawback is that the RL solution can require a prohibitively large number of iterations for training. If efficient training techniques can be developed for RL, it holds great promise to automate tasks requiring human experience. In this paper we present a Bayesian Optimization technique for reducing the RL training time.
Immunological Heterogeneity of Healthy Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Donors—Effects of Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor on Inflammatory Responses

Interleukin-6 (IL-6) contributes to the development of immune-mediated complications after allogeneic stem cell transplantation. However, systemic IL-6 levels also increase during granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) mobilization of hematopoietic stem cells in healthy donors, but it is not known whether this mobilization alters systemic levels of other IL-6 family cytokines/receptors and whether such effects differ between donors. We examined how G-CSF administration influenced C-reactive protein (CRP) levels (85 donors) and serum levels of IL-6 family cytokines/receptors (20 donors). G-CSF increased CRP levels especially in elderly donors with high pretherapy levels, but these preharvesting levels did not influence clinical outcomes (nonrelapse mortality, graft versus host disease). The increased IL-6 levels during G-CSF therapy normalized within 24 h after treatment. G-CSF administration did not alter serum levels of other IL-6-familly mediators. Oncostatin M, but not IL-6, showed a significant correlation with CRP levels during G-CSF therapy. Clustering analysis of mediator levels during G-CSF administration identified two donor subsets mainly characterized by high oncostatin M and IL-6 levels, respectively. Finally, G-CSF could increase IL-6 release by in vitro cultured monocytes, fibroblasts, and mesenchymal stem cells. In summary, G-CSF seems to induce an acute phase reaction with increased systemic IL-6 levels in healthy stem cell donors.