Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
How does the brain learn language? Insights from the study of children with and without language impairment

Neurobiological studies have generated new ways of thinking about development of brain structure and function. Development involves more than just growth from simple to complex structures. The initial over‐abundance of neurons and synaptic connections is subsequently pruned of those that are non‐functional. In addition, as behavioural and cognitive functions emerge and become automatized, the underlying brain representations are reorganized. In this paper, I shall argue that these different modes of neurodevelopmental change provide a useful metaphor for examining language acquisition. It will be argued that language acquisition can involve learning to ignore and inhibit irrelevant information, as well as forming new ways of representing complex information economically. Modular organization is not present from the outset, but develops gradually. This analysis suggests a new way of assessing specific language impairment (SLI). There has been much debate as to whether children with SLI lack specific modular components of a language processing system. I propose instead that these children persist in using inefficient ways of representing language. Finally, I consider what we know about the neurobiological basis of such a deficit. There is mounting evidence that children with SLI have subtle structural anomalies affecting the language areas of the brain, which are largely genetically determined. We should not, however, conclude that the language difficulties are immutable.
Antiphospholipid Syndrome and Thrombosis

The antiphospholipid syndrome is an autoimmune condition in which venous or arterial thrombosis is a primary clinical feature. The other primary clinical feature is adverse pregnancy outcome, specifically recurrent miscarriage, fetal death, or preterm delivery due to severe preeclampsia or placental insufficiency. The diagnostic autoantibodies for antiphospholipid syndrome are lupus anticoagulant, anticardiolipin, or anti-β2-glycoprotein I.
IGF1R mutation analysis in short children with Silver-Russell syndrome features

Abstract The insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF1R) is a key factor in intrauterine and postnatal growth by mediating the biological function of IGF-I. Mutations of IGF1R gene are usually associated with growth retardation, but the clinical picture of IGF1R mutation carriers is heterogeneous. Indeed, these patients show clinical signs compatible with Silver-Russell syndrome (SRS), and some IGF1R mutation carriers have been identified in SRS cohorts. We therefore investigated deoxyribonucleic acid samples of 19 growth-retarded patients with SRS features. Apart from 8 non-pathogenic variants, we detected heterozygosity for the unknown duplication, c. 1056_1057dup, leading to a premature termination in one patient and his growth retarded sister. Due to its nature, we assumed that this variant is probably pathogenic. However, the patient and his sister exhibited spontaneous catch-up growth in later life. We therefore hypothesize that the c. 1056_1057dup does not result in a significant disruption to the GH-IGFI axis. Thus, this IGF1R mutation without obvious clinical consequence might challenge the actual concept of IGF1R haploinsufficiency as a general cause for disturbed growth in IGF1R mutation carriers. In the future, mutation analysis of IGF1R should be considered in growth-retarded patients with microcephaly and minor SRS features, but not in probands with the characteristic SRS phenotype including macrocephaly.
Ultrasound assisted alkaline pretreatment to enhance enzymatic saccharification of lignocellulose

Grass clipping and sugarcane bagasse were pretreated with ultrasound (US), Ca(OH)2, NaOH, USCa(OH)2 and US-NaOH to enhance the enzymatic hydrolysis. The solubilization of hemicellulose and lignin and crystallinity index (CrI) of cellulose increased after US-alkaline pretreatment, leading to a significant increase of enzyme accessibility to cellulose. US-Ca(OH)2 pretreatment showed the best improvement for reducing sugar yield, compared with the other four kinds of pretreatments, and the grass clipping showed higher potential for the production of reducing sugar than sugarcane bagasse by US-Ca(OH)2. The reducing sugar yield of grass clipping pretreated by US-Ca(OH)2 reached 273.7 mg/g, increasing by 188.7% compared with that of raw grass clipping. The US-Ca(OH)2 pretreatment significantly enhanced the potential of grass clipping as a promising raw material for biofuel production.
Hypoglycaemia and Cardiac Arrhythmias in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Improved blood glucose control by insulin treatment in patients with Type 2 (non‐insulin dependent) diabetes mellitus increases the risk for hypoglycaemic episodes. Our objective was to investigate if hypoglycaemia causes electrocardiographic changes and cardiac arrhythmias in patients with Type 2 diabetes. Six insulin‐treated patients with Type 2 diabetes and no known cardiac disease took part in the study. Hypoglycaemia was induced by insulin infusion aiming at a plasma glucose ≥ 2.0 mmol I−1 or hypoglycaemic symptoms. All patients experienced hypoglycaemic symptoms. The median lowest arterial plasma glucose was 2.0 mmol I−1. Arterial plasma adrenaline concentration increased from 0.4 ± 0.1 (mean ± SE) to 6.9 ±0.3 nmol I−1 (p < 0.001) while serum potassium was lowered from 4.1 ± 0.3 mmol I−1 to 3.5 ± 0.2 mmol I−1 (p < 0.001). The heart rate increased significantly during hypoglycaemia except in one patient who developed hypoglycaemic symptoms and a severe bradyarrhythmia at a plasma glucose of 4.4 mmol I−1. One patient developed frequent ventricular ectopic beats during hypoglycaemia while four patients showed no arrhythmia. ST‐depression in ECG leads V2 and V6 was observed during hypoglycaemia in five patients (p < 0.05) and four patients developed flattening of the T‐wave.
Self-Observation Model Employing an Instinctive Interface for Classroom Active Learning

In a classroom, obtaining active, whole-focused, and engaging learning results from a design is often difficult. In this study, we propose a self-observation model that employs an instinctive interface for classroom active learning. Students can communicate with virtual avatars in the vertical screen and can react naturally according to the situation and tasks. Students can also immediately observe themselves mixed with a virtual environment and therefore reflect on the necessary improvements. With the designed system, potential advantages such as motivation, enjoyment, context for situated learning, engagement, social collaboration, and role-playing might arise. To examine the idea, we conducted a case study with 60 fourth grade elementary students to investigate learners' behavior as performers and peer audience and their perception of body movements and speech commands in the designed learning environment. The results show that the students' image in the vertical screen affected the students and the peer audience positively. Moreover, they positively perceived their competence and their enjoyment after they performed contextual learning activities through the body movement interface.
Skeletal muscle function and hypertrophy are diminished in old age

Muscle loss occurs during aging. To investigate whether the hypertrophic response is attenuated at old age, we used male Fischer 344 (26 months old; n = 5) and Fischer 344 x Brown Norway rats (6, 9, and 33 months old; n = 8, 10, and 6, respectively). Hypertrophy of the left plantaris muscle was induced by surgical denervation of its agonists. The right leg served as control. The mass and maximal tetanic force (P0) of control muscles declined by ∼30% between 9 and 26 months (P < 0.05). Fatigue resistance during intermittent isometric contractions was reduced by ∼60% at 33 months. At 33 months, the attenuated hypertrophy was accompanied by a decrease rather than an increase in P0. Yet, hypertrophy was accompanied by a 25% rise in fatigue resistance at all ages (P = 0.001). Thus, aging is associated with a decline in muscle mass and function. In addition, at advanced age, the hypertrophic response is reduced and a hypertrophic stimulus even aggravates the age‐associated muscle weakening. Muscle Nerve 27: 339–347, 2003
Ischemia-modified albumin and total antioxidant status in patients with slow coronary flow: a pilot observational study.

OBJECTIVE Slow coronary flow (SCF) is defined as late opacification in the epicardial coronary arteries without significant stenosis. The underlying mechanism of SCF is similar to coronary atherosclerosis. Free radical damage may be responsible for the pathology. In this study, we aimed to investigate ischemia-modified albumin (IMA) levels and differences with regard to total antioxidant status (TAS) between patients with normal coronary arteries and patients with SCF without significant stenosis. METHODS Thirty patients who were diagnosed with SCF using coronary angiography were included in this cross-sectional observational study (13 male; mean age, 56±10 years). The control group consisted of 30 patients who had normal coronary arteries as shown by coronary angiography (13 male; mean age, 53±11 years). In this study, we assessed serum IMA levels, albumin-adjusted IMA and TAS. The Student t-test was used to compare serum IMA levels and TAS between the two groups. Pearson's correlation test was used to explore the relationship between TAS and serum IMA levels. RESULTS Serum IMA levels and albumin-adjusted IMA were similar in both groups (p=0.432, p=0.349). The mean value of TAS was significantly lower in the SCF group compared to control group (p=0.011). The TAS was negatively correlated with the levels of IMA and albumin-adjusted IMA in the SCF group (r=-0.457, p=0.011; r=-0.509, p=0.004). CONCLUSION This study shows that serum IMA levels and albumin-adjusted IMA were similar between the groups, however the mean value of TAS was significantly lower in the SCF group compared to control group and negatively correlated with IMA. These results are important in terms of understanding the pathophysiological basis of SCF.
Retailers and Consumers: The Pass‐Through of Import Price Changes

In this paper, we estimate pass-through rates of import price changes to retail prices across retailers and consumers for apparel purchases in Germany for the period of 2000 to 2007. We find that high-price retailers do not pass through changes in the import price. Pass-through rates for low-price retailers are 53% within 3 months. Consequently, pass-through rates for low-income households are 58%, significantly larger than those for high-income households. We then present one possible explanation for these observations in a theoretical model with endogenous vertical product differentiation due to bundling an ex-ante homogeneous import good with services. Following an import price change, retailers who sell a cheaper unbundled product change prices to a greater extent than retailers who sell a higher-priced bundle of product and service.
The Effect of International Trade on Mark-Ups Distribution

This paper presents empirical evidence about the relationship between market openness and markup distribution of manufacturing firms. The results point out that tougher competition associated to openness reduces marginal costs and prices, while it increases the average firm size. However, the evidence about the effect on average markups and the dispersion of performance variables across industries is weaker. These results partially support the theoretical predictions by Melitz and Ottaviano (2008)
Elections in China

We examine the effects of introducing village elections on public goods expenditures, income distribution and land use in rural China. We construct a large panel data set of village administrative records to document the history of political reforms and economic policies for over two hundred villages. We exploit the staggered timing of the introduction of village elections to find that elections significantly increased public goods expenditure financed by villagers. In addition, we find that the introduction of elections caused a moderate decline in income inequality and likely reduced corruption. The results suggest that local officials are better controlled by local elections rather than by centrally managed bureaucratic monitoring.
Prognostic factors for musculoskeletal pain in primary care: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND Estimating the future course of musculoskeletal pain is an important consideration in the primary care consultation for patients and healthcare professionals. Studies of prognostic indicators tend to have been viewed in relation to each site separately, however, an alternative view is that some prognostic indicators may be common across different sites of musculoskeletal pain. AIM To identify generic prognostic indicators for patients with musculoskeletal pain in primary care. DESIGN OF STUDY Systematic review. SETTING Observational cohort studies in primary care. METHOD MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsychINFO and CINAHL electronic databases were searched from inception to April 2006. Inclusion criteria were that the study was a primary care-based cohort, published in English and contained information on prognostic indicators for musculoskeletal conditions. RESULTS Forty-five studies were included. Eleven factors, assessed at baseline, were found to be associated with poor outcome at follow up for at least two different regional pain complaints: higher pain severity at baseline, longer pain duration, multiple-site pain, previous pain episodes, anxiety and/or depression, higher somatic perceptions and/or distress, adverse coping strategies, low social support, older age, higher baseline disability, and greater movement restriction. CONCLUSION Despite substantial heterogeneity in the design and analysis of original studies, this review has identified potential generic prognostic indicators that may be useful when assessing any regional musculoskeletal pain complaint. However, Its unclear whether these indicators, used alone, or in combination, can correctly estimate the likely course of individual patients' problems. Further research is needed, particularly in peripheral joint pain and using assessment methods feasible for routine practice.
Induction and habituation of c‐fos and zif/268 by acute and repeated stressors

Acute restraint and shaking stress each induced the mRNA for the immediate early gene (IEG), c-fos, within 1 h in locus coeruleus (LC), midbrain raphe nuclei and central gray. Both acute restraint stress and acute shaking stress activated c-fos and zif/268 mRNA in paraventricular nuclei within 1 h. Midbrain A9 and A10 dopaminergic neurons did not show any c-fos or zif/268 mRNA induction by either acute stressor. Repeated restraint stress (14d, 1h/d) produced habituation to acute restraint stress, but not to acute shaking stress, in PVN, raphe and central gray. In LC, repeated restraint stress caused some habituation to both acute stressors.
Volumetric Thermoacoustic Imaging over Large Fields of View

The thermoacoustic (TA) contrast mechanism relies on rapid tissue heating and subsequent thermal expansion. TA computerized tomography (TCT) is therefore inverse source imaging. The TA contrast mechanism provides information complementary to that revealed by current diagnostic imaging techniques, but has been limited to just a few centimeters depth penetration. In this article, whole organ TCT is demonstrated on a large swine kidney. TA sinograms show that TA signal generated by high-power, very high frequency (VHF) electromagnetic pulses is detectable after travel through 6 cm of soft tissue. Reconstructed images provide resolution sufficient to track progression of calyces throughout the kidney. Because VHF electromagnetic energy can easily penetrate the abdomen of large adults, our results indicate that whole organ TA imaging is feasible in vivo, provided an ultrasound array can be placed near the region of interest. Pulses of 22 to 25 kW with carrier frequency 108 MHz and 900 ns pulse width were applied at a 100-Hz pulse repetition frequency to generate a 13-kV/m electric field and TA signal. Only 2 to 5 mJ was absorbed in the kidney per pulse, causing temperature and pressure jumps of only 5e-6°C and 4 Pa averaged throughout the 141-g specimen. TA pulses were detected by focused, single-element transducers (V306, Panametrics), amplified by 54 dB and averaged 64 times to reduce electronic noise. Data were measured over a cylindrical measurement aperture of radius 5 cm and length 6 cm, by rotating the specimen 1.8 degrees between tomographic views and translating 2 mm between slices. Reconstruction via filtered backprojection yields in-plane resolution better than 5 mm, but suffers significant blurring between planes. Both in-plane resolution and slice sensitivity profile could be improved by applying shorter irradiation pulsewidths and using less directional transducers. Both hardware changes would be recommended for a clinical prototype.
Efficient Quantum Algorithms for Simulating Lindblad Evolution

We consider the natural generalization of the Schr\"{o}dinger equation to Markovian open system dynamics: the so-called the Lindblad equation. We give a quantum algorithm for simulating the evolution of an $n$-qubit system for time $t$ within precision $\epsilon$. If the Lindbladian consists of $\mathrm{poly}(n)$ operators that can each be expressed as a linear combination of $\mathrm{poly}(n)$ tensor products of Pauli operators then the gate cost of our algorithm is $O(t\, \mathrm{polylog}(t/\epsilon)\mathrm{poly}(n))$. We also obtain similar bounds for the cases where the Lindbladian consists of local operators, and where the Lindbladian consists of sparse operators. This is remarkable in light of evidence that we provide indicating that the above efficiency is impossible to attain by first expressing Lindblad evolution as Schr\"{o}dinger evolution on a larger system and tracing out the ancillary system: the cost of such a \textit{reduction} incurs an efficiency overhead of $O(t^2/\epsilon)$ even before the Hamiltonian evolution simulation begins. Instead, the approach of our algorithm is to use a novel variation of the "linear combinations of unitaries" construction that pertains to channels.
Genome-wide DNA methylation profiling of chronic lymphocytic leukemia allows identification of epigenetically repressed molecular pathways with clinical impact

We performed a genome-wide analysis of aberrant DNA methylation in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) using methylated CpG island amplification (MCA) coupled with a promoter microarray. We identified 280 potential targets of aberrant DNA methylation in CLL. These genes were located more frequently in chromosomes 19 (16%, p=0.001), 16 (11%, p=0.001), 17 (10%, p=0.02) and 11 (9%, p=0.02) and could be grouped in several functional networks. Methylation status was confirmed for 22 of these genes (SOX11, DLX1, FAM62C, SOX14, RSPO1, ADCY5, HAND2,SPOCK, MLL, ING1, PRIMA1, BCL11B, LTBP2, BNC1, NR2F2, SALL1, GALGT2, LHX1, DLX4, KLK10, TFAP2 and APP) in 78 CLL patients by pyrosequencing. As a proof of principle, we analyzed the expression of 2 genes, PRIMA1 and APP, in primary cells and of GALGT2, TFAP2C and PRIMA1 in leukemia cells. There was an inverse association between methylation and gene expression. This could be reversed by treatment with 5-aza-2’-deoxycytidine in cell lines. Treatment in a clinical trial with 5-azacitidine resulted in decreased methylation of LINE, DLX4 and SALL1 in the peripheral blood B-cells of patients with CLL. IgVH mutational status or ZAP-70 expression were not associated with specific methylation profiles. By multivariate analysis, methylation of LINE and APP was associated with shorter overall survival (p = 0.045 and 0.0035, respectively). This study demonstrates that aberrant DNA methylation is common and has potential prognostic and therapeutic value in CLL.
Genetic-environmental interaction in the genesis of aggressivity and conduct disorders.

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of an adverse adoptive home environment on adoptee conduct disorder, adult antisocial behavior, and two measures of aggressivity, all of which are behaviors that contribute to adult antisocial personality disorder and that also are associated with increased vulnerability to drug abuse and/or dependence. METHODS The study used an adoption paradigm in which adopted offspring who were separated at birth from biologic parents with documented (by prison and hospital records) antisocial personality disorder and/or alcohol abuse or dependence were followed up as adults. They and their adoptive parents were interviewed in person. These adoptees were compared with controls whose biologic background was negative for documented psychopathologic behavior. Subjects were 95 male and 102 female adoptees and their adoptive parents. RESULTS Multiple regression analysis was used to measure separately genetic and environmental effects. It showed that (1) a biologic background of antisocial personality disorder predicted increased adolescent aggressivity, conduct disorder, and adult antisocial behaviors, and (2) adverse adoptive home environment (defined as adoptive parents who had marital problems, were divorced, were separated, or had anxiety conditions, depression, substance abuse and/or dependence, or legal problems) independently predicted increased adult antisocial behaviors. Adverse adoptive home environment interacted with biologic background of antisocial personality disorder to result in significantly increased aggressivity and conduct disorder in adoptees in the presence of but not in the absence of a biologic background of antisocial personality disorder. CONCLUSIONS Environmental effects and genetic-environmental interaction account for significant variability in adoptee aggressivity, conduct disorder, and adult antisocial behavior and have important implications for the prevention and intervention of conduct disorder and associated conditions such as substance abuse and aggressivity.
Clock-powered CMOS: a hybrid adiabatic logic style for energy-efficient computing

Clock-powered logic is a new CMOS logic style which combines adiabatic switching and energy recovery-techniques with conventional CMOS logic styles for the design of low-power computing microsystems. In clock-powered logic high-capacitance nodes are adiabatically switched and powered from AC sources typically the clock lines. Low-capacitance nodes are conventionally switched and powered front a DC supply source. The clocked buffer, a CMOS structure based on bootstrapping, drives the high-capacitance nodes from the clock lines. An analytical model that closely estimates the on-resistance of the bootstrapped nFET is derived. The model is evaluated through H-SPICE simulations. Depending on the CMOS logic style used for the DC-powered blocks, pulse-to-level converters may be required to interface the clocked buffer outputs with the logic blocks. These converters inherently act as low-to-high voltage converters. Therefore, low-power operation can be achieved with clock-powered logic by both increasing the switching time and reducing the voltage swing of clock-powered nodes. This feature of clock-powered logic is evaluated through H-SPICE simulations in which the clocked buffer is compared with conventional supply-scaled CMOS drivers. The clocked buffer combined with adiabatic switching demonstrates superior energy vs. delay scalability than its supply-scaled counterparts.