Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Brain Activation during Addition and Subtraction Tasks In-Noise and In-Quiet.

BACKGROUND In spite of extensive research conducted to study how human brain works, little is known about a special function of the brain that stores and manipulates information-the working memory-and how noise influences this special ability. In this study, Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to investigate brain responses to arithmetic problems solved in noisy and quiet backgrounds. METHODS Eighteen healthy young males performed simple arithmetic operations of addition and subtraction with in-quiet and in-noise backgrounds. The MATLAB-based Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM8) was implemented on the fMRI datasets to generate and analyse the activated brain regions. RESULTS Group results showed that addition and subtraction operations evoked extended activation in the left inferior parietal lobe, left precentral gyrus, left superior parietal lobe, left supramarginal gyrus, and left middle temporal gyrus. This supported the hypothesis that the human brain relatively activates its left hemisphere more compared with the right hemisphere when solving arithmetic problems. The insula, middle cingulate cortex, and middle frontal gyrus, however, showed more extended right hemispheric activation, potentially due to the involvement of attention, executive processes, and working memory. For addition operations, there was extensive left hemispheric activation in the superior temporal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, and thalamus. In contrast, subtraction tasks evoked a greater activation of similar brain structures in the right hemisphere. For both addition and subtraction operations, the total number of activated voxels was higher for in-noise than in-quiet conditions. CONCLUSION These findings suggest that when arithmetic operations were delivered auditorily, the auditory, attention, and working memory functions were required to accomplish the executive processing of the mathematical calculation. The respective brain activation patterns appear to be modulated by the noisy background condition.
2.0–2.1 eV GaxIn1−xP solar cells grown on relaxed GaAsP step grades

A high quality solar cell with a bandgap in the range of 2.0–2.1 eV may enable the development of four- and five-junction solar cells for terrestrial and space applications. In this paper we describe a set of 2.0–2.1 eV n+/p solar cells fabricated from GaxIn1−xP and grown on compositional step-grades of GaAs1−yPy, on GaAs substrates. Cells were grown by atmospheric pressure organometallic vapor phase epitaxy. The tensile grades were designed to achieve nearly complete relaxation of the active layers, and the in-situ stress as monitored during growth showed a residual tensile stress of <10 MPa in the best samples. We have fabricated 1.98 eV cells with 1-sun and 70-sun efficiencies of 14.4% and 15.9%, respectively, under the direct spectrum, and 2.07 eV cells with 1-sun efficiencies of 10.7%. Improvements in the grade design that reduce the threading dislocation density below 106 cm−2 are expected to lead to efficiency increases. Matching the lattice constants of the confinement and contact layers to the junction layers is critical to achieving low interface recombination velocities, and can be a challenge in lattice-mismatched structures if the graded layers are not sufficiently relaxed.
Simplified Modal Expansion to Analyze Frequency-Selective Surfaces: An Equivalent Circuit Approach

This communication extends a previously reported analytical circuit that models the plane wave scattering by 2-D arrays of planar patches/apertures embedded in a layered media. In this extension, it is assumed that the current/electric field spatial profile in the patch/aperture region can directly be taken from the eigenfields of a waveguide whose cross section matches the scatterer boundaries. This methodology exploits all the advantages of the circuit modeling and gives place to a very efficient computational tool for many practical frequency-selective surfaces (FSSs). The circuit model is expected to work up to frequencies where the isolated scatterers have their third resonance. Thus, it allows us to provide unified equivalent circuits to deal with conical incidence and with certain symmetric cases involving two or three patches/apertures in the unit cell.
Arousal Dissociates Amygdala and Hippocampal Fear Responses: Evidence from Simultaneous fMRI and Skin Conductance Recording

The experience and appraisal of threat is essential to human and animal survival. Lesion evidence suggests that the subjective experience of fear relies upon amygdala-medial frontal activity (as well as autonomic arousal), whereas the factual context of threat stimuli depends upon hippocampal-lateral frontal activity. This amygdala-hippocampus dissociation has not previously been demonstrated in vivo. To explore this differentiation, we employed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and simultaneous skin conductance response (SCR) measures of phasic arousal, while subjects viewed fearful versus neutral faces. fMRI activity was subaveraged according to whether or not the subject evoked an arousal SCR to each discrete face stimulus. The fMRI-with arousal and fMRI-without arousal data provided a distinct differentiation of amygdala and hippocampal networks. Amygdala-medial frontal activity was observed only with SCRs, whereas hippocampus-lateral frontal activity occurred only in the absence of SCRs. The findings provide direct evidence for a dissociation between human amygdala and hippocampus networks in the visceral experience versus declarative fact processing of fear.
Is Grant-Aid More Effective than Concessional Loans? Evidence from a Dynamic Panel of Sub-Saharan African Countries

Despite being one of the highest aid recipient regions, the growth performance in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has been rather disappointing. In this paper, we answer two questions. 1) Is there any significant impact of foreign aid on economic growth? 2) Is grant more effective than loans in promoting growth? To answer these questions, we employ a GMM technique for a panel of 27 SSA countries over the period of 1961 to 2009. By using this technique, we are able to control for endogeneity that may arise from explanatory variables. Our results suggest that grant aid is more effective than concessional loans. On average, aggregate aid’s effect on economic growth is not discernable from zero in SSA countries. These questions are important for policymakers of SSA who often face the dilemma of high aid but low growth.
Performance Analysis and Optimization of the OP2 Framework on Many-Core Architectures

This paper presents a benchmarking, performance analysis and optimization study of the OP2 ‘active’ library, which provides an abstraction framework for the parallel execution of unstructured mesh applications. OP2 aims to decouple the scientific specification of the application from its parallel implementation, and thereby achieve code longevity and near-optimal performance through re-targeting the application to execute on different multi-core/many-core hardware. Runtime performance results are presented for a representative unstructured mesh application on a variety of many-core processor systems, including traditional X86 architectures from Intel (Xeon based on the older Penryn and current Nehalem micro-architectures) and GPU offerings from NVIDIA (GTX260, Tesla C2050). Our analysis demonstrates the contrasting performance between the use of CPU (OpenMP) and GPU (CUDA) parallel implementations for the solution of an industrial-sized unstructured mesh consisting of about 1. 5Â million edges. Results show the significance of choosing the correct partition and thread-block configuration, the factors limiting the GPU performance and insights into optimizations for improved performance.
Birth weight and hospital readmission of infants born prematurely.

OBJECTIVE To determine whether the hospital readmission rate of infants born prematurely was greatest in those whose birth weight was less than 750 g. DESIGN A prospective cohort study. SETTING Regional neonatal intensive care unit. PATIENTS Consecutive very-low-birth-weight (< 1500 g) infants admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit; infants with congenital abnormalities were excluded. Two-year follow-up was completed for 109 (90.8%) of these patients. MEASUREMENTS/MAIN RESULTS Following discharge from the neonatal intensive care unit, infants were seen at 6-month intervals at which time a detailed history was taken and examinations were performed. Hospital admissions were documented and confirmed from the medical records. Infants with birth weights of less than 750 g and those of very-low gestational age (< or = 28 weeks) made up the greatest number of admissions and had the longest hospital stays. In the first year of life, the duration of stay was inversely related to birth weight. CONCLUSION Increased survival of extremely low-birth-weight infants has important implications for resource allocation of pediatric beds.
Infant information processing in relation to six-year cognitive outcomes.

As part of a longitudinal follow-up of full-terms and preterms, infant measures of information processing obtained at 7 months and 1 year were related to various 6-year outcomes: general intelligence, language proficiency, early reading and quantitative skills, and several facets of perceptual organization (N = 91). 7-month Visual recognition memory (VRM) was associated with 6-year performance in all domains, and 3 1-year measures--VRM, cross-modal transfer (CMT), and object permanence--were related to IQ and/or one or more specific outcomes (r's = .20 to .47). Many of the infant-childhood relations remain significant even with IQ partialed. Additionally, 7-month VRM and 1-year CMT scores were lower for infants who, at 6 years, were considered at risk for learning disabilities. Overall, measures from the first year of life predicted both specific cognitive abilities and IQ at 6 years; to some extent, the specific abilities were predicted independently of IQ.
Dnm3os, a non‐coding RNA, is required for normal growth and skeletal development in mice

Dnm3os, a gene that is transcribed into a non‐coding RNA (ncRNA), contains three micro RNAs (miRNAs), miR‐199a, miR‐199a*, and miR‐214, whose functions remain unknown in mammals. In this study, we introduced the lacZ gene into the Dnm3os locus to recapitulate its expression pattern and disrupt its function. Dnm3os+/lacZ heterozygous embryos showed β‐galactosidase activity, which reflected the authentic expression pattern of Dnm3os RNA. Most of the Dnm3oslacZ/lacZ homozygous pups died within one month of birth. After birth, Dnm3oslacZ/lacZ mice exhibited several skeletal abnormalities, including craniofacial hypoplasia, defects in dorsal neural arches and spinous processes of the vertebrae, and osteopenia. Importantly, the expression of miR‐199a, miR‐199a*, and miR‐214 was significantly down‐regulated in Dnm3oslacZ/lacZ embryos, supporting the assumption that Dnm3os serves as a precursor of these three miRNAs. Thus, Dnm3os has emerged as an miRNA‐encoding gene that is indispensable for normal skeletal development and body growth in mammals. Developmental Dynamics 237:3738–3748, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
In vitro development of ova from prepuberal cattle.

Abstract Ova obtained from superovulated and inseminated calves nine or 17 weeks old were cultured in bovine or rabbit serum, follicular fluid, and synthetic media, Krebs-Ringer-bicarbonate solution, and Ham's F10 medium. Of 184 ova cultured, 45% cleaved in vitro. No significant differences were found among media in their ability to support limited early embryo development. One-celled fertilized ova cleaved more times in culture than ova which had cleaved before collection (P
The Muscle Engram: The Reflex That Limits Conventional Occlusal Treatment

Abstract The engram (the masticatory “muscle memory”) is shown to be a conditionable reflex whose muscle conditioning lasts less than two minutes, far shorter than previously thought. This reflex, reinforced and stored in the masticatory muscles at every swallow, adjusts masticatory muscle activity to guide the lower arch unerringly into its ICP. These muscle adjustments compensate for the continually changing internal and external factors that affect the mandible’s entry into the ICP. A simple quick experiment described in this article isolates the engram, enabling the reader to see its action clearly for the first time. It is urged that every reader perform this experiment. This experiment shows how the engram, by hiding the masticatory muscles’ reaction (the hit-and-slide), limits the success of the therapist in achieving occlusion-muscle compatibility. This finding has major clinical implications. It means that, as regards the muscle aspect of treating occlusion, the dentist treating occlusion conventionally is working blind, a situation the neuromuscular school of occlusal thought seeks to correct. The controversy over occlusion continues.
Human Brain 6‐Phosphogluconate Dehydrogenase: Purification and Kinetic Properties

Abstract: 6‐Phosphogluconate dehydrogenase has been purified from human brain to a specific activity of 22.8 U/mg protein. The molecular weight was 90,000. At low ionic strengths enzyme activity increased, due to an increase in Vmax and a decrease in Km for 6‐phosphogluconate, and activity subsequently decreased as the ionic strength was increased (above 0.12). Both 6‐phosphogluconate and NADP+ provided good protection against thermal inactivation, with 6‐phosphogluconate also providing considerable protection against loss of activity caused by p‐chloromercuribenzoate and iodoacetamide. Initial velocity studies indicated the enzyme mechanism was sequential. NADPH was a competitive inhibitor with respect to NADP+, and the Ki values for this inhibition were dependent on the concentration of 6‐phosphogluconate. Product inhibition by NADPH was noncompetitive when 6‐phosphogluconate was the variable substrate, whereas inhibition by the products CO2 and ribulose 5‐phosphate was noncompetitive when both 6‐phosphogluconate and NADP+ were varied. In totality these data suggest that binding of substrates to the enzyme is random. CO2 and ribulose 5‐phosphate are released from the enzyme in random order with NADPH as the last product released.
Usefulness of parental response to questions about adherence to prescribed inhaled corticosteroids in young children

Background Adherence to prescribed inhaled medication is often low in young children. Poor adherence to medication may contribute to lack of symptom control. Doctors are not good at predicting the adherence rates of their patients, and parental report of adherence does not correlate with objective measures of adherence. The objective of this study was to investigate whether parental admission of non-adherence and reasons given for non-adherence correlated with objectively measured adherence. Methods Adherence to prescribed inhaled corticosteroid treatment was monitored electronically in 132 children aged 2–6 years who were participating in a randomised controlled trial comparing different inhaler devices. Follow-up was carried out every 3 months for a year. Parental answers to simple questions about adherence were compared to electronically measured adherence. Results Mean adherence ranged from zero to 100%. Intra-participant adherence varied throughout the year-long study period (mean variance for individual children between quarterly periods was 28.5%). Parents who reported missed doses, generally missed at least half of the prescribed doses. Parents who reported that not a single prescribed dose was missed, still missed 20% of doses on average. Adherence was particularly low when parents cited initiating their own trial off medication as a reason for missing doses. Conclusions By examining parental response to questions enquiring whether any doses were missed, healthcare providers can gain a modest degree of insight into their patients’ true adherence to prescribed medication. Adherence to prescribed asthma medication is extremely variable in young children. Trial registration number Data from this study were derived from a randomised controlled trial (ACTRN12608000294358).
The Importance of Institutional Challenges in E-Learning Performance

Experiences in e-learning are more and more recurrent. However few studies try to go beyond an experimental level and apply the concept to a whole academic class of students. The integration of e-learning in a pedagogical program requires analyzing its performance not only from learners and instructors point of view, but also from the strategic perspective of the institution. The first part of this article presents a literature review from which we propose a theoretical model. In the second part we analyse the case of Montpellier Business School. More than 400 students filled in a questionnaire about their utilisation of the elearning platform answers were collected. The main result of this paper shows, among other things, the main interest of broadening e-learning performance assessment in order to include upstream objectives of the institution itself.
Ovine abortion in New Zealand

Abstract Extract Although many microorganisms can cause sporadic intrauterine infections in ewes, only a few are responsible for the classical outbreaks of abortion that result in significant financial loss. New Zealand is free from major causes of infectious abortion such as Chlamydophila abortus (enzootic abortion), Coxiella burnetii, Salmonella enterica serovar Abortus-ovis, Brucella melitensis, and the viruses of Bluetongue, Wesselsbron disease and Akabane disease that are important causes of ovine abortion overseas. The main causes of abortion in sheep in New Zealand are campylo-bacteriosis, toxoplasmosis and more recently, S. enterica serovar Brandenburg. Less common causes of infectious abortions are Border disease (Manktelow et al 1969; Porter et al 1972ab), list-eriosis (Hartley and Kater 1964; Gill 1999a), Fusobacterium spp (Smart and Gill 1999), Bacillus spp (Gill 1999b), mycotic infections (Gardner 1967), salmonellosis, yersiniosis and Brucella ovis (Hartley and Boyes 1964).
The effect of high-dose methylprednisolone combined chemotherapy on CD34-positive cells in acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

The expression of CD34 antigen on the surface of bone marrow cells during remission induction was studied in 27 selected acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients who were CD34 negative at presentation and were stratified to receive high-dose methylprednisolone (30 mg/kg/day po) or conventional-dose prednisolone (2 mg/kg/day po). Patients received either induction with L-Asparaginase, vincristine (VCR), and high-dose methylprednisolone [HDMP, 30 mg/kg/day po for 1 week, 20 mg/kg/day po for 1 week, and 20 mg/kg/day po every other day for 2 more weeks (20 patients)], or identical induction in which HDMP was replaced by prednisolone 2 mg/kg/day by mouth for 4 weeks (8 patients). Bone marrow cells from all patients were studied 1,2, and 4 weeks after initiation of treatment for expression of the CD34 antigen using a three-step indirect immunoperoxidase staining technique. In the 20 patients with ALL who received HDMP the percentage of normal bone marrow cells expressing CD34 was significantly higher (p < 0.05) than in the 8 patients who did not receive HDMP. The mean percentage of CD34-positive bone marrow cells during the fourth week was 17.2% in patients with ALL who received HDMP, whereas patients who received 2 mg/kg prednisolone per day had only 6.1% CD34 cells in the marrow. Absolute polymorphonuclear leukocyte (pmnl) count was also significantly higher in the patients who received HDMP in the second and third week of therapy [(absolute pmnl count was 2197.7/mm3 in the second week and 4091.8/mm3 in the fourth week in the patients who received HDMP compared to 974.4/mm3 and 1556.5/mm3 in the patients who did not receive HDMP) (p < 0.05)]. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Presence of Pancreatic α‐Amylase, Trypsinogen, and Lipase Immunoreactivity in Normal Human Pancreatic Ducts

Presence of pancreatic α-amylase, trypsinogen, and lipase in normal pancreatic ducts was evaluated immunohistochemically in 10 surgically resected normal pancreatic specimens, using monoclonal antibodies against human pancreatic a-amylase, trypsinogen, and lipase. Immunoreactivity to all enzymes occurred patchily in some epithelial cells not only of the common bile duct and its periductal glands but also of the main and inter-lobular pancreatic ducts and periductal glands in the main pancreatic duct, as well as in pancreatic acinar cells. Ductal staining was fine-granular, and generally present in the supranuclear cytoplasm. Immunoreactivity was abolished by preabsorption. Centroacinar cells and intercalated and intralobular pancreatic ducts did not stain for any enzyme. These findings suggest that some epithelial cells of the large-sized pancreatic duct and its periductal glands express pancreatic α-amylase-, trypsinogen-, and lipase-like peptides, as do some epithelial cells of common bile duct and its periductal glands.
A Low-Complexity Detection Method for Statistical Signals in OFDM Systems

Based on the bijective mapping between cyclostationary features and the cyclic delays in orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems, cyclostationary signatures can be used for signal representation in statistical spectrum domain. However, the conventional detection method for this kind of statistical signals is hindered by huge computational complexity. In this letter, we propose a novel detection method for such statistical signals with cyclostationarity, which only extract local features on the cyclic autocorrelation function (CAF) coordinate plane. Analytical and simulation results show that the proposed method achieves significant performance gain over the conventional detection method under practical scenarios, even with the reduced computational complexity.
Comparison of BCG prime-DNA booster and rBCG regimens for protection against tuberculosis

Developing an effective adult prophylaxis vaccine is a high priority in the global control of tuberculosis (TB), because TB remains an important public health problem and the current widely used BCG vaccine provides effective protection only for children but variable protection against adult TB. BCG priming-heterologous vaccines booster and recombinant BCG technologies have been thought as two important regimens for inducing effective protection against adult TB. Obviously, defining the protective efficacy of the two regimens would benefit more rational design of the future adult TB vaccines. In this study, a recombinant BCG strain (rBCG::685A) expressing the fusion protein of ESAT-6 and Ag85A (r685A) of Mycobacterium tuberculosis was constructed successfully and the secretion of r685A protein from rBCG strain was confirmed by western blotting with anti-ESAT-6 and anti-Ag85A polyclonal antibodies, respectively. The immune responses and protective effects in rBCG::685A vaccinated C57BL/6 mice were compared with that of our previous reported BCG prime-pcD685A booster regimen. Boosting BCG with pcD685A DNA elicited higher level of r685A protein specific IFN-γ secreted by splenocytes and a more significant increase of both TNF-α and iNOS responses in the lung, thus providing better control of bacterial growth in both lung and spleen of immunized mice challenged with virulent M. tuberculosis, compared with mice vaccinated with rBCG::685A or BCG alone. Our results have implications for development of more effective adult TB vaccines for improved control of TB.