Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Some Possible Childhood Indicators of Adult Schizophrenia Inferred from Children of Schizophrenics

Summary Prospective developmental data on 33 children of consensus diagnosed schizophrenic parents were compared to control samples of children of other psychiatric patients and children of normal parents. Contrary to several reports, the children of schizophrenics, observed from birth to age seven, were remarkably normal on a host of pregnancy and delivery variables, neurological examinations, physical growth measures, and psychological tests. However, a combination of three indicators characterized five of the 116 children, and all five were offspring of schizophrenics (17 per cent of the high risk sample), thus matching the expected lifetime risk for schizophrenia previously observed in such samples. Case histories show that all five children have enduring patterns of maladjustment and exhibit behaviours often reported in the premorbid histories of schizophrenics. Most have family histories heavily loaded with schizophrenia. In terms of a diathesis-stress model, these five children appear especially vulnerable to future schizophrenia in the absence of rational methods of prevention.
Long-Term Functional Outcome of Pediatric Stroke Survivors

Abstract Purpose: To examine the long-term functional, psychosocial, and medical outcome of pediatric stroke survivors. Method: This was a descriptive survey performed on patients with childhood stroke who participated in an earlier study. Measures included the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (VABS) and the Diener Satisfaction with Life Scale. Current information on living situation, school placement, employment, and medical outcome were obtained. Results: Twenty-nine (58%) patients participated. The mean age was 19.3 years (SD = 6.6), mean age of onset of stroke was 7.0 years (SD = 5.4), and mean follow-up time was 11.9 years (SD = 3.9). Diagnoses included hemorrhagic (31%) and ischemic (69%) stroke. All but one adult had finished high school, and the majority of participants had gone to college. 60% of patients over age 16 were employed. The average VABS levels for communication, daily living skills, socialization, and adaptive behavior fell into the moderately low range. Use of seizure medications and ADL dependence were the predictors for lower VABS levels (p < .05). Younger age, ischemic stroke, and previous dependence in mobility were risk factors for lower scores for the self-care domain, but not for lower life satisfaction. Patients who scored below adequate on VABS tended toward lower life satisfaction. Conclusion: Pediatric stroke survivors had good educational and mobility outcomes, but communication, ADL, and socialization fell into the low-moderate range. The different predictors of functional and subjective quality of life outcomes suggest that functional outcomes may mediate the relations between medical factors and satisfaction with life.
An Elephant Among Us: The Role of Dopamine in the Pathophysiology of Fibromyalgia

Exploration of the pathophysiology underlying fibromyalgia (FM) has become an exciting field of inquiry as we strive to improve our understanding of this enigmatic disorder. While evidence of a neuro-dysregulatory state mounts and insights are gained as to potential contribution of specific neurotransmitters, a review of recent literature demonstrates that not all relevant neurotransmitters are being considered equally or with disinterest. Specifically, the potential contribution of serotonin and norepinephrine has been emphasized, ostensibly due in part to the qualified success of trials of serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, while a general awareness of the potential contribution of dopamine-related dysfunction lags. Indeed, the text of recent reviews, and even peer-reviewed continuing medical education test articles, have contained either scant reference or, in a majority of cases, conspicuous neglect regarding the question of dopamine’s role in FM. Despite the recent European League Against Rheumatism consensus recommendation to consider a dopamine agonist for treatment of FM1, most clinicians and even medical authorities in the field routinely fail to acknowledge the mounting evidence for a role for dopamine in the pathogenesis of FM. The proposition that a disruption of normal dopaminergic neurotransmission may make a substantial contribution to the pathophysiology of FM was initially based on 3 key observations: (1) FM has been characterized as a “stress-related” disorder due to its frequent onset and apparent exacerbation of symptoms in the context of stressful events2; (2) the experience of chronic stress results in disruption of dopaminergic activity in otherwise healthy organisms3; and (3) dopamine plays a dominant role in natural analgesia within multiple brain centers4. The first hint in the medical literature of a connection between FM and dopamine was provided by Russell, et al , who in 1992 reported lower concentrations of metabolites of dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin … Address reprint requests to Dr. Wood ; E-mail: pwood{at}anglerbiomedical.com
GROWTH DETERMINANTS OF WOMEN-OPERATED MICRO AND SMALL ENTERPRISES IN ADDIS ABABA

The role of Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) in employment and income generation is increasingly recognized for the unemployed people, especially for women, and has become a major playing field for policymakers and donors with dual objectives of enhancing growth and alleviating poverty. MSEs are particularly important for women since they offer a more flexible, less restrictive form of employment and can be undertaken by the skill they acquire. This study investigates the constraints and key determinants of growth, particularly in employment expansion, among women’s-enterprise, based on the survey-covering 123 businesses units in four Kebeles of Nifas Silk-Lafto and Kirkos sub cities of Addis Ababa. The finding shows that marketing problems, due to the presence of competitors with identical products, change in demand and absence of market linkages are the basic constraints to the growth of women operated enterprises. Lack of enough working space, raw material accessibility, shortage of working capital, and lack of availability of enough loan access are the subsequent growth barriers for women’s enterprises.
Low calcium (2.5 mEq/l) and high calcium (3.5 mEq/l) dialysate in peritoneal dialysis patients.

STUDY OBJECTIVE To compare the effects of low-calcium and high-calcium dialysate in stable ESRD patients on peritoneal dialysis (PD). DESIGN Dialysate containing 2.5 mEq/l and 3.5 mEq/l calcium in combination with oral calcium salts as phosphate binders were evaluated. SETTING Tertiary-referral university hospital. PATIENTS AND METHODS Fifteen patients (6 male, 9 female) on low-calcium (2.5 mEq/l) and 15 patients (6 male, 9 female) on high-calcium (3.5 mEq/l) dialysate were studied for 6 months. All patients received calcium acetate or calcium carbonate to control hyperphosphatemia before the study. RESULTS Serum calcium, phosphorus and albumin did not differ before and after between the two groups. Three patients in low-calcium and five in high-calcium group developed hypercalcemia. Three in low-calcium group and four in high-calcium group required sucralfate to control hyperphosphatemia and hypercalcemia. Mean dose of elemental calcium was 1152 mg/day in low-calcium group and 790 mg/day in high-calcium group. A negative correlation (r = -0.82, p < 0.005) was observed between serum calcium and PTH at the end of study period in the low-calcium group. No such relationship was observed in the high-calcium group. CONCLUSIONS Degree and frequency of hypercalcemia appeared similar with low-calcium and high-calcium dialysate in peritoneal dialysis patients.
Factors Effecting Mastalgia

Background: Breast pain is one of the leading complaints that ends up with referral to breast surgery clinics. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the factors that cause mastalgia, and its relation with benign or malignant breast disease. Methods: The study was performed in 700 patients. Data obtained from surveys, and imaging findings were prospectively recorded, and analyzed. Results: The mean age was 45.20 ± 10.78 years. The mastalgia group included 500 cases; the asymptomatic group comprised 200 individuals. Stressful lifestyle, caffeine consumption, and smoking were associated with mastalgia (p < 0.05). Rates of women who had breast fed 3 times or more were higher in the mastalgia group (p < 0.05). Increased breast density, and breast imaging-reporting and data system (BI-RADS) 2 mammography findings were related with mastalgia (p < 0.05). Cysts and fibroadenomas were more common in the mastalgia group (p < 0.05). The incidence of a past history of malignant breast disease was significantly higher in the mastalgia group (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Stress, caffeine, smoking, lactation frequency, and benign disorders were factors detected to be related with mastalgia. Although a significant relation between mastalgia and malignant breast disease was detected in our study, more controlled studies are still required to investigate this issue further.
The structure and symmetry of simple-cell receptive-field profiles in the cat’s visual cortex

Receptive fields of simple cells in the cat visual cortex have recently been discussed in relation to the ‘theory of communication' proposed by Gabor (1946). A number of investigators have suggested that the line-weighting functions, as measured orthogonal to the preferred orientation, may be best described as the product of a Gaussian envelope and a sinusoid (i.e. a Gabor function). Following Gabor’s theory of ‘basis’ functions, it has also been suggested that simple cells can be categorized into even-and odd-symmetric categories. Based on the receptive field profiles of 46 simple cells recorded from cat visual cortex, our analysis provides a quantitative description of both the receptive-field envelope and the receptive-field ‘symmetry’ of each of the 46 cells. The results support the notion that, to a first approximation, Gabor functions with three free parameters (envelope width, carrier frequency and carrier phase) provide a good description of the receptive-field profiles. However, our analysis does not support the notion that simple cells generally fit into even- and odd-symmetric categories.
NEMA NU 2-2012 performance studies for the SiPM-based ToF-PET component of the GE SIGNA PET/MR system.

PURPOSE The GE SIGNA PET/MR is a new whole body integrated time-of-flight (ToF)-PET/MR scanner from GE Healthcare. The system is capable of simultaneous PET and MR image acquisition with sub-400 ps coincidence time resolution. Simultaneous PET/MR holds great potential as a method of interrogating molecular, functional, and anatomical parameters in clinical disease in one study. Despite the complementary imaging capabilities of PET and MRI, their respective hardware tends to be incompatible due to mutual interference. In this work, the GE SIGNA PET/MR is evaluated in terms of PET performance and the potential effects of interference from MRI operation. METHODS The NEMA NU 2-2012 protocol was followed to measure PET performance parameters including spatial resolution, noise equivalent count rate, sensitivity, accuracy, and image quality. Each of these tests was performed both with the MR subsystem idle and with continuous MR pulsing for the duration of the PET data acquisition. Most measurements were repeated at three separate test sites where the system is installed. RESULTS The scanner has achieved an average of 4.4, 4.1, and 5.3 mm full width at half maximum radial, tangential, and axial spatial resolutions, respectively, at 1 cm from the transaxial FOV center. The peak noise equivalent count rate (NECR) of 218 kcps and a scatter fraction of 43.6% are reached at an activity concentration of 17.8 kBq/ml. Sensitivity at the center position is 23.3 cps/kBq. The maximum relative slice count rate error below peak NECR was 3.3%, and the residual error from attenuation and scatter corrections was 3.6%. Continuous MR pulsing had either no effect or a minor effect on each measurement. CONCLUSIONS Performance measurements of the ToF-PET whole body GE SIGNA PET/MR system indicate that it is a promising new simultaneous imaging platform.
Low‐dose intravenous cyclophosphamide in systemic sclerosis: an open prospective efficacy study in patients with early diffuse disease

Objective: To investigate the efficacy of a treatment with low‐dose intravenous cyclophosphamide (CYC) and low‐dose prednisone in early diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis (dcSSc). Methods: Patients with dcSSc and a disease duration <24 months consecutively admitted to a tertiary centre underwent a prospective 1‐year study. They were treated with i.v. CYC 500 mg/pulses, 10 mg prednisone equivalent, and supportive therapy. Modified Rodnan skin score (mRss), Health Assessment Questionnaire – Disability Index (HAQ‐DI), forced vital capacity (FVC), and diffusing lung capacity for CO (DLCO) were assessed as outcome measures. In addition, the nine Medsger severity scale scores were evaluated. Results: mRss and DLCO significantly improved at both 6 (p = 0.002 and 0.012, respectively) and 12 months (p = 0.002 and 0.003, respectively). HAQ‐DI showed a nearly significant reduction at 12 months (p = 0.06). Medsger's severity scores also improved for general condition (p = 0.001), peripheral vascular (p = 0.05), skin (p = 0.02), joint/tendon (p = 0.001), muscle (p = 0.05), and lung (p = 0.02). No treatment interruption was needed. Conclusions: This preliminary study suggests a role for low‐dose i.v. CYC in the treatment of early dcSSc. Controlled studies are warranted.
CD70–CD27 interactions provide survival and proliferative signals that regulate T cell receptor‐driven activation of human γδ peripheral blood lymphocytes

Human Vγ9Vδ2 T cells are potent anti‐tumor lymphocytes that specifically respond to pyrophosphate (phospho‐) antigens, which constitute the basis of current γδ T‐cell‐based immunotherapy strategies. Despite a clear involvement of the TCR, the costimulation requirements of Vγ9Vδ2 T cells remain ill‐defined. Here, we show that the expression of the CD27 receptor by the vast majority of Vγ9Vδ2 peripheral blood lymphocytes endows them with enhanced proliferative capacity upon ligation by its unique ligand CD70, a tumor necrosis factor superfamily member expressed on lymphoma B‐cells but also on TCR‐activated γδ T cells. Moreover, Vγ9Vδ2 T‐cell treatment with soluble recombinant CD70 induced calcium signals and increased transcription of anti‐apoptotic Bcl2a1 and cell‐cycle‐promoting Cyclin D2 genes. We further demonstrate that the manipulation of CD70–CD27 interactions significantly impacted on Vγ9Vδ2 T‐cell survival, proliferation and cytokine secretion, in both loss‐of‐function and gain‐of‐function experiments. Thus, CD27 coreceptor signals strongly promoted the expansion of Th1‐biased, CD27+ Vγ9Vδ2 peripheral blood lymphocytes in the context of TCR‐mediated stimulation with phosphoantigens. These data collectively establish a novel role for the CD70–CD27 axis in human γδ T‐cell activation and hence open new perspectives for its modulation in clinical settings.
A CMOS Fully Integrated 860-GHz Terahertz Sensor

This paper proposes a CMOS fully integrated 860-GHz terahertz (THz) sensor. The sensor integrates a single-NMOS THz detector, a low-noise chopper instrumentation amplifier and a high-resolution ΔΣ-ADC. The detector consists of a novel on-chip grounded patch antenna and a source-feeding NMOS field-effect transistor (FET) of the minimum size. A microstrip transmission line is designed to improve the power transfer efficiency between the antenna and the NMOS transistor. A notch filter is proposed to improve detector performance. To enable the theoretical analysis of the operation of the THz detector and the formulation of design guidelines, we propose a THz-FET device model in which a source-coupled FET for THz detection is modeled as a dc voltage source with a resistor. The model indicates that an FET with the minimum physical dimensions for a given CMOS process can produce the maximum output signal. The sensor is implemented in a 180-nm standard CMOS process. The detector achieves a voltage responsivity of 3.3 kV/W and an NEP of 106 pW/Hz1/2 at 860 GHz. The sensor noise and the readout circuit noise are 10.81 and 2.03 μVrms, respectively. The sensor obtains clear raster-scanning transmission images under continuous THz illumination.
Respiratory Artefact Removal in Forced Oscillation Measurements: A Machine Learning Approach

<italic>Goal:</italic> Respiratory artefact removal for the forced oscillation technique can be treated as an anomaly detection problem. Manual removal is currently considered the gold standard, but this approach is laborious and subjective. Most existing automated techniques used simple statistics and/or rejected anomalous data points. Unfortunately, simple statistics are insensitive to numerous artefacts, leading to low reproducibility of results. Furthermore, rejecting anomalous data points causes an imbalance between the inspiratory and expiratory contributions. <italic>Methods:</italic> From a machine learning perspective, such methods are unsupervised and can be considered simple feature extraction. We hypothesize that supervised techniques can be used to find improved features that are more discriminative and more highly correlated with the desired output. Features thus found are then used for anomaly detection by applying quartile thresholding, which rejects complete breaths if one of its features is out of range. The thresholds are determined by both saliency and performance metrics rather than qualitative assumptions as in previous works. <italic>Results:</italic> Feature ranking indicates that our new <italic>landmark</italic> features are among the highest scoring candidates regardless of age across saliency criteria. F1-scores, receiver operating characteristic, and variability of the mean resistance metrics show that the proposed scheme outperforms previous simple feature extraction approaches. Our subject-independent detector, 1IQR-SU, demonstrated approval rates of <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$ \text{80.6}$</tex-math></inline-formula>% for adults and <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$ \text{98}$</tex-math></inline-formula>% for children, higher than existing methods. <italic>Conclusion:</italic> Our new features are more relevant. Our removal is objective and comparable to the manual method. <italic>Significance:</italic> This is a critical work to automate forced oscillation technique quality control.
Multiscale dispersion entropy for the regional analysis of resting-state magnetoencephalogram complexity in Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive and irreversible brain disorder of the nervous system affecting memory, thinking, and emotion. It is the most important cause of dementia and an influential social problem in all the world. The complexity of brain recordings has been successfully used to help to characterize AD. We have recently introduced multiscale dispersion entropy (MDE) as a very fast and powerful tool to quantify the complexity of signals. The aim of this study is to assess the ability of MDE, in comparison with multiscale permutation entropy (MPE) and multiscale entropy (MSE), to discriminate 36 AD patients from 26 elderly age-matched control subjects using resting-state magnetoencephalogram (MEG) recordings. The results showed that MDE, unlike MSE, does not lead to undefined values. Moreover, the differences between the MDE values for AD palatines versus controls were more significant than their corresponding MSE- and MPE-based values. In addition, the computation time for our recently developed MDE was considerably less than that for MSE and even MPE.
Synaptotagmin: a membrane constituent of neuropeptide-containing large dense-core vesicles

Synaptotagmin is known to be a major membrane protein of synaptic vesicles (SVs) in neurons. We have now used an immunoisolation procedure to demonstrate that synaptotagmin is also present in the membranes of peptide containing large dense-core vesicles (LDCVs) of rat hypothalamus and bovine posterior pituitary. Synaptotagmin bead- immunoisolated organelles from these tissues primarily consisted of SVs but contained occasionally larger structures reminiscent of LDCVs that were absent from vesicle populations immunoisolated with a synaptophysin antibody. Furthermore, the vesicles immunoisolated with synaptotagmin beads contained significant amounts of neuropeptide Y (NPY). In contrast, vesicles immunoisolated with synaptophysin beads did not contain detectable levels of NPY. Sucrose density gradient fractionation of postnuclear supernatants obtained from the bovine posterior pituitary resulted in a bimodal distribution of synaptotagmin, corresponding to the positions of both SVs and neurosecretory granules. A similar distribution was found for cytochrome b561 and the 116 kDa subunit of the vacuolar proton pump. In contrast, the SV proteins synaptophysin, SV2, and p29 were restricted to the SV-containing fractions. Immunoisolation of small and large vesicles from the sucrose gradient confirmed the differential distribution of synaptotagmin and synaptophysin in the two types of secretory vesicles in nerve endings of the posterior pituitary. We conclude that synaptotagmin is a constituent of both SVs and peptide- containing secretory vesicles in the nervous system. Since both types of organelles undergo Ca(2+)-dependent exocytosis, these findings support a general role of synaptotagmin as an exocytotic Ca2+ receptor.
Mitochondrial superoxide anion overproduction in Tet-mev-1 transgenic mice accelerates age-dependent corneal cell dysfunctions.

PURPOSE The Tet-mev-1 mouse expressing a mitochondrial complex-II mutated SDHC(V69E) gene controlled by a tetracycline (Tet)-On/Off system can overproduce O(2)(·-) and is a versatile whole-animal model for studying mitochondrial oxidative stress. Here we report a series of age-dependent variations in corneal epithelium, endothelium, and parenchymal cells of the Tet-mev-1 mice relative to wild-type C57BL/6j mice. METHODS Measurements of (1) mitochondrial electron transport enzyme activities; (2) O(2)(·-) production; (3) carbonylated protein, and 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) levels as markers of oxidative stress; (4) pathologic analyses under optical and electron microscopy; (5) hematoxylin-eosin or toluidine-blue staining; and (6) immunohistochemistry with an anti-β-catenin antibody were performed in the eye, especially the cornea. RESULTS Complex II-III activity was decreased by electron leakage between complex II and CoQ. This resulted in increased age-dependent intracellular oxidative stress in the eye of Tet-mev-1 mice. Corneal epithelialization was delayed in Tet-mev-1 mice after 20% ethanol treatment, as the number of cells and mitotic cells decreased in the corneal epithelium of Tet-mev-1 mice compared with that of wild type. The age-dependent decrease in cell number accelerated in the corneal endothelium cells. Moreover, it was suggested that the corneal thickness was decreased by thinning of parenchymal cells with age in Tet-mev-1 mice. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that mitochondrial oxidative stress with electron transport chain dysfunction can influence pathogenesis and progression of age-related corneal diseases, as well as generalized corneal aging acceleration.