Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Txt msg n school literacy: does texting and knowledge of text abbreviations adversely affect children's literacy attainment?

This paper reports on two studies which investigated the relationship between children’s texting behaviour, their knowledge of text abbreviations and their school attainment in written language skills. In Study One, 11–12-year-old children provided information on their texting behaviour. They were also asked to translate a standard English sentence into a text message and vice versa. The children’s standardised verbal and nonverbal reasoning scores were also obtained. Children who used their mobiles to send three or more text messages a day had significantly lower scores than children who sent none. However, the children who, when asked to write a text message, showed greater use of text abbreviations (‘textisms’) tended to have better performance on a measure of verbal reasoning ability, which is highly associated with Key Stage 2 (KS2) and 3 English scores. In Study Two, children’s performance on writing measures was examined more specifically. Ten to eleven-year-old children were asked to complete another English to text message translation exercise. Spelling proficiency was also assessed, and KS2 Writing scores were obtained. Positive correlations between spelling ability and performance on the translation exercise were found, and group-based comparisons based on the children’s writing scores also showed that good writing attainment was associated with greater use of textisms, although the direction of this association is nor clear. Overall, these findings suggest that children’s knowledge of textisms is not associated with poor written language outcomes for children in this age range.
Neurosarcoidosis: clinical presentations and course in 50 patients

Fifty consecutive patients with neurosarcoidosis were evaluated retrospectively. Sarcoidosis presented first with neurologic signs in 24 patients (48%), but systemic symptoms developed later in all but five. Main neurologic involvements were central nervous system lesions in 33 patients (66%), cranial nerve paresis in 12 (24%), and peripheral nerve lesions in five patients (10%). Seventeen patients (34%) had more than one type of neurologic involvement. Routine cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) parameters showed unspecific abnormalities in 35 patients (70%). CSF angiotensin converting enzyme was elevated in 18 of 31 patients (58%). Brain computerized tomography was abnormal in 13 of 32 patients (41%). Visual and brainstem evoked potentials were abnormal in ten (43%) and eight (35%) of 23 patients, respectively, suggesting subclinical lesions in 13 patients. Neurologic signs improved in 24 patients (48%), were stable in 11 (22%), and progressed in 15 patients (30%). Six patients died. Cranial nerve lesions improved most often. Course of neurologic involvements was similar in acute or subacute and chronic sarcoidosis. The effect of steroid treatment was inconsistent.
When Adolescents "Mismanage" Their Chronic Medical Conditions: An Ethical Exploration

Many adolescent patients with chronic medical conditions do not manage their illnesses very closely and often put themselves at risk for serious health complications. Setting aside cases of nonadherence that are due to practical difficulties involving the implementation of a management plan, a deeply problematic question remains. How should health care providers respond to adolescent patients who express a conscious and value-driven decision to pursue other goals and interests that are incompatible with their doctors' recommended directives? Using two guiding ethical principles, the "relevant difference principle" and the "principle of noninterference," as well as available empirical data on adolescent decision making and risk perception, the paper concludes that most adolescents ages 14 and older should be allowed to make self-determining decisions regarding the management of their chronic medical conditions.
Odor memories regulate olfactory receptor expression in the sensory periphery

Odor learning induces structural and functional modifications throughout the olfactory system, but it is currently unknown whether this plasticity extends to the olfactory receptors (Or) in the sensory periphery. Here, we demonstrate that odor learning induces plasticity in olfactory receptor expression in the honeybee, Apis mellifera. Using quantitative RT‐PCR analysis, we show that six putative floral scent receptors were differentially expressed in the bee antennae depending on the scent environment that the bees experienced. Or151, which we characterized using an in vitro cell expression system as a broadly tuned receptor binding floral odorants such as linalool, and Or11, the specific receptor for the queen pheromone 9‐oxo‐decenoic acid, were significantly down‐regulated after honeybees were conditioned with the respective odorants in an olfactory learning paradigm. Electroantennogram recordings showed that the neural response of the antenna was similarly reduced after odor learning. Long‐term odor memory was essential for inducing these changes, suggesting that the molecular mechanisms involved in olfactory memory also regulate olfactory receptor expression. Our study demonstrates for the first time that olfactory receptor expression is experience‐dependent and modulated by scent conditioning, providing novel insight into how molecular regulation at the periphery contributes to plasticity in the olfactory system.
Diagnostic interview for children and adolescents (DICA)

OBJECTIVE To describe the evolution of the Diagnostic Interview for Children and Adolescents (DICA) as well as the goals of the instrument and the issues surrounding its use. METHOD Administration procedures, psychometric properties, and comparisons with other measures are reviewed. RESULTS The DICA, once considered a structured interview, can now be used in a semistructured format. It displays good reliability and works well with younger children. CONCLUSION The DICA is a useful measure for both research and clinical settings, and it provides a reliable tool for assessing psychiatric information in children and adolescents.
Regional Specificity of GABAergic Regulation of Cross-Modal Plasticity in Mouse Visual Cortex after Unilateral Enucleation

In adult mice, monocular enucleation (ME) results in an immediate deactivation of the contralateral medial monocular visual cortex. An early restricted reactivation by open eye potentiation is followed by a late overt cross-modal reactivation by whiskers (Van Brussel et al., 2011). In adolescence (P45), extensive recovery of cortical activity after ME fails as a result of suppression or functional immaturity of the cross-modal mechanisms (Nys et al., 2014). Here, we show that dark exposure before ME in adulthood also prevents the late cross-modal reactivation component, thereby converting the outcome of long-term ME into a more P45-like response. Because dark exposure affects GABAergic synaptic transmission in binocular V1 and the plastic immunity observed at P45 is reminiscent of the refractory period for inhibitory plasticity reported by Huang et al. (2010), we molecularly examined whether GABAergic inhibition also regulates ME-induced cross-modal plasticity. Comparison of the adaptation of the medial monocular and binocular cortices to long-term ME or dark exposure or a combinatorial deprivation revealed striking differences. In the medial monocular cortex, cortical inhibition via the GABAA receptor α1 subunit restricts cross-modal plasticity in P45 mice but is relaxed in adults to allow the whisker-mediated reactivation. In line, in vivo pharmacological activation of α1 subunit-containing GABAA receptors in adult ME mice specifically reduces the cross-modal aspect of reactivation. Together with region-specific changes in glutamate acid decarboxylase (GAD) and vesicular GABA transporter expression, these findings put intracortical inhibition forward as an important regulator of the age-, experience-, and cortical region-dependent cross-modal response to unilateral visual deprivation. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT In adult mice, vision loss through one eye instantly reduces neuronal activity in the visual cortex. Strengthening of remaining eye inputs in the binocular cortex is followed by cross-modal adaptations in the monocular cortex, in which whiskers become a dominant nonvisual input source to attain extensive cortical reactivation. We show that the cross-modal component does not occur in adolescence because of increased intracortical inhibition, a phenotype that was mimicked in adult enucleated mice when treated with indiplon, a GABAA receptor α1 agonist. The cross-modal versus unimodal responses of the adult monocular and binocular cortices also mirror regional specificity in inhibitory alterations after visual deprivation. Understanding cross-modal plasticity in response to sensory loss is essential to maximize patient susceptibility to sensory prosthetics.
Response to Moral Choices as a Function of Self-Esteem

This study investigated the relationship between self-reported self-esteem and academic moral choice by 162 middle school students enrolled in Grades 6, 7, and 8 of public institutions. They were presented nine moral situations (five are school-related) and the Coopersmith Self-esteem Inventory (School Form). Analysis indicated that four of the five school-related moral situations were statistically significantly related to scores of self-esteem. Students reporting higher self-esteem were more likely to make a moral choice in a given academic situation. It is recommended that support of academic honesty can be encouraged by increasing youth self-esteem.
Food as a Source for Quorum Sensing Inhibitors: Iberin from Horseradish Revealed as a Quorum Sensing Inhibitor of Pseudomonas aeruginosa

ABSTRACT Foods with health-promoting effects beyond nutritional values have been gaining increasing research focus in recent years, although not much has been published on this subject in relation to bacterial infections. With respect to treatment, a novel antimicrobial strategy, which is expected to transcend problems with selective pressures for antibiotic resistance, is to interrupt bacterial communication, also known as quorum sensing (QS), by means of signal antagonists, the so-called QS inhibitors (QSIs). Furthermore, QSI agents offer a potential solution to the deficiencies associated with use of traditional antibiotics to treat infections caused by bacterial biofilms and multidrug-resistant bacteria. Several QSIs of natural origin have been identified, and in this study, several common food products and plants were extracted and screened for QSI activity in an attempt to isolate and characterize previously unknown QSI compounds active against the common opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Several extracts displayed activity, but horseradish exhibited the highest activity. Chromatographic separation led to the isolation of a potent QSI compound that was identified by liquid chromatography-diode array detector-mass spectrometry (LC-DAD-MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy as iberin—an isothiocyanate produced by many members of the Brassicaceae family. Real-time PCR (RT-PCR) and DNA microarray studies showed that iberin specifically blocks expression of QS-regulated genes in P. aeruginosa.
Sudden cardiac arrest due to acute gastric dilatation in a patient with an eating disorder

Eating disorders are an important cause of physical and psychosocial morbidity in adolescent girls and young adult women. Although eating disorders have many medical complications, it is unclear which are responsible for the increased mortality. It should be emphasised that a number of different pathological processes are likely to be involved. Patients with eating disorders should be monitored carefully and should remain hospitalised. This can allow immediate emergency treatment to be performed when necessary because they could have a further cardiac arrest. A case of cardiac arrest is reported that was caused by gastric dilatation and elevated abdominal pressure, which were brought on by binge eating in a patient without intestinal obstruction.
Chlorophyll : Structural Properties , Health Benefits and Its Occurrence in Virgin Olive Oils A .

In recent years, virgin olive oil has acquired a distinguished position on the shelves of markets worldwide. Its increased demand is mostly related with the human health benefits of its consumption. Virgin olive oils contain a variety of health beneficial compounds like chlorophyll, which is a potential cancer preventative agent that has drawn significant attention recently. Biological activities attributed to chlorophyll derivatives consistent with cancer prevention include antioxidant and antimutagenic activity. It is also used as a food-coloring agent and known as natural green 3, and it has the E number E141. Chemical and physical properties of chlorophyll need to be determined in order to reduce its loss during food processing and storage. In this review, health benefits and structural properties of chlorophyll were presented, and its occurrence in virgin olive oil was reviewed.
The effect of a probiotic on hepatic steatosis.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a serious and chronic liver disorder. The pathogenesis of NAFLD is uncertain, but some research suggests a role for gut flora.1 This reasoning provided rationale to evaluate whether gut flora therapy could treat NAFLD in experimental murine models and indeed, “probiotics” were found to improve liver enzymes and liver histology.2 Further, at least 1 previous study3 has suggested a beneficial effect of VSL#3 on liver disease in humans, though this study did not include histology or quantitative liver fat measurement. We hypothesized that a probiotic compound could improve liver fat in humans.
Difficulties in the Assessment of Personality Traits and Disorders in Eating-Disordered Individuals

There are compelling reasons to examine personality variables in the eating disorder (ED) field but many impediments to the collection of useful data. In addition to the conceptual and methodological difficulties associated with personality assessment in the general case, the EDs present a number of special problems. These include patients’ young age at onset and evaluation, the “state” effects of semi-starvation and chaotic eating, denial and distortion in self-report, the instability of ED subtypes, and the intrusion of eating and weight concerns into a wide range of apparently unrelated domains. Although there is substantial support for the clinical view that personality variables are linked to anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN), the identification of stable traits and Axis II disorders in individual patients should be deferred until after the initial phase of treatment. The former name of the first author is Kelly M. Bemis.
The IFN regulatory factor 7‐dependent type I IFN response is not essential for early resistance against murine cytomegalovirus infection

IFN regulatory factor 7 (IRF7) has been described as the master regulator of type I IFN responses and has been shown to be critical for innate antiviral immunity in vivo. In addition to type I IFN, NK cell responses are involved in the control of viral replication during acute viral infection. To investigate the role of IRF7 in the context of a viral infection that induces a strong NK cell response, the murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) infection model was used. WT, IRF7‐deficient and IRF3/IRF7‐double deficient mice were infected with MCMV. The systemic IFN‐α response to MCMV was entirely dependent on IRF7, but independent of IRF3. However, peak IFN‐β production during MCMV infection was not affected by the lack of IRF7 or both IRF7 and IRF3. Despite the complete lack of IFN‐α production IRF7‐ and IRF3/IRF7‐deficient mice were surprisingly efficient in controlling MCMV replication and were only modestly more susceptible to MCMV infection than WT mice. NK cell cytotoxicity was unimpaired and NK cell IFN‐γ production was enhanced in IRF7‐deficient mice correlating with increased levels of bioactive IL‐12. Owing to these compensatory mechanisms IRF7‐dependent antiviral immune responses were not essential for resistance against acute MCMV infection in vivo.
Human skeletal muscle lipolysis is more responsive to epinephrine than to norepinephrine stimulation in vivo.

CONTEXT Triglyceride (TG) deposits in skeletal muscle (SM) are an important energy reservoir, and increased im TG content is associated with muscle insulin resistance. OBJECTIVE The objective of the study was to investigate the effect of endogenous catecholamines on TG lipolysis in human SM in vivo. Adipose tissue (AT) was studied for comparison. DESIGN AND MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Glycerol levels (index of lipolysis) were measured using microdialysis in the gastrocnemius muscle and abdominal sc adipose tissue during a hyperinsulinemic, hypoglycemic clamp (n = 13) and in response to in situ perfusion of epinephrine and norepinephrine (10(-10) to 10(-5) m) (n = 12). Local tissue blood flow was monitored with the ethanol perfusion technique. SETTING This was an experimental study. PARTICIPANTS The study population consisted of healthy subjects. RESULTS Plasma epinephrine increased 10-fold and plasma norepinephrine 2-fold in response to insulin-induced hypoglycemia. In parallel, the fractional glycerol release (difference between tissue and arterial glycerol) increased 2-fold in both tissues (P < 0.0001). No changes in AT and SM blood flow were registered. When the catecholamines were perfused in situ, tissue glycerol increased significantly at 10(-7) m of either epinephrine and norepinephrine (P < 0.0001) in AT. The maximum stimulation was seen at 10(-6) m norepinephrine (2-fold increase) and 10(-5) m epinephrine (3-fold increase). In SM, tissue glycerol increased at 10(-7) m epinephrine and 10(-6) m norepinephrine, respectively (P < 0.0001); the maximum increase of glycerol values (at 10(-6) m) was 2.5 times for epinephrine and 1.6 times for norepinephrine, respectively (P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS The lipolytic activity of SM is increased by endogenous catecholamines in vivo and appears to be more responsive to epinephrine than norepinephrine stimulation.
Conceptual abilities of children with mild intellectual disability: Analysis of Wisconsin Card Sorting Test performance

Abstract Background The ability to generate and flexibly change concepts is of great importance for the development of academic and adaptive skills. This paper analyses the conceptual reasoning ability of children with mild intellectual disability (MID) by their achievements on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). Method The sample consisted of 95 children with MID aged between 10 years and 13 years 11 months. The following variables from the WCST were analysed: number of categories completed, initial conceptualisation, total number of errors, non-perseverative errors, perseverative errors, number of perseverative responses, and failures to maintain set. Results The observed WCST predictive variables account for 79% of the variability in the number of categories completed (p < .000). The total number of errors was the most significant predictor of performance on the WCST. Conclusion We can conclude that there is a significant progress of conceptual abilities between the age of 13 years to 13 years 11 months, compared to other assessed age groups. The results of our research suggests that the development of mental set flexibility is the basis of progress in conceptual abilities, thus intervention programs should offer specially designed activities that vary in their attentional demands, content, conceptual patterns, and actions required.
Renal Transplantation in the ANCA‐Associated Vasculitides

Despite advances in the diagnosis and treatment of the antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibodies (ANCA)‐associated vasculitides, renal morbidity is common. End‐stage renal disease occurs in up to 20% of patients with these diagnoses, which include Wegener's granulomatosis and microscopic polyangiitis. As the mortality of patients with ANCA‐associated vasculitis continues to improve, our ability to address the consequences of renal failure in this patient population becomes paramount. Renal transplantation is an important therapeutic option for these patients. Graft and patient survival rates among patients with ANCA‐associated vasculitis are comparable to those observed in nondiabetic patients. This review summarizes our current knowledge of indications and contraindications for renal transplantation in these patients, the recurrence of vasculitis after transplantation and the impact of posttransplant immunosuppression on the clinical course of these patients.
Diagnostic Value of an Interleukin-6 Bedside Test in Term and Preterm Neonates at the Time of Clinical Suspicion of Early- and Late-Onset Bacterial Infection

Background: For quick detection or exclusion of neonatal early-onset bacterial infection (EOBI) or late-onset bacterial infection (LOBI), interleukin (IL)-6 is used. Its clinical use is sometimes limited due to prolonged recall times. Therefore, an IL-6 bedside test was established. Objective: To compare the diagnostic value of plasma IL-6 and an IL-6 bedside test at the time of clinical suspicion in the course of EOBI and LOBI. Methods: Eighteen term (mean gestational age 40.2 weeks, SD 1.3) and 88 preterm (mean gestational age 30.1 weeks, SD 4.2) neonates with clinical and serological signs of bacterial infection were analysed. Eight had an EOBI, and 24 had a LOBI, of whom 13 were blood culture positive. Twelve term and 62 preterm neonates with risk factors but without proven EOBI/LOBI served as a non-infected group. Results: At the time of clinical suspicion, the sensitivity of the IL-6 bedside test in comparison to plasma IL-6 was 69 versus 75% (p = 0.7744, McNemar’s test), and specificity was 77 versus 81% (p = 0.6476, McNemar’s test; cutoff level 50 ng/l). For LOBI, both the sensitivity (75%) and specificity (82%) of the bedside test exceeded values calculated for EOBI (sensitivity 50%, specificity 75%). Conclusion: No significant difference between the bedside and established plasma IL-6 test was detected for LOBI. For detection of EOBI, the bedside test was not sensitive enough. Larger studies are needed to verify our findings before IL-6 bedside tests can be recommended routinely.