Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Autonomic abnormalities in schizophrenia. State or trait indicators?

BACKGROUND Tonic electrodermal measures have been widely used to index autonomic abnormalities in schizophrenia, whereas phasic electrodermal nonresponsiveness has been frequently used to index attentional orienting abnormalities. The primary objective of the present study was to assess whether these electrodermal abnormalities are episode indicators or vulnerability indicators. METHODS Twenty patients with a recent first episode of schizophrenia were tested during symptomatically remitted states and psychotic states. Twenty demographically matched normal controls were tested at two comparable intervals. Testing for stability of abnormalities across remitted and psychotic states allowed us to determine whether tonic and phasic electrodermal measures qualify as episode indicators or vulnerability indicators. RESULTS Tonic electrodermal activity was abnormally elevated only during the psychotic state, which indicates that it is an episode indicator in schizophrenia. Phasic hyporesponsiveness relative to levels of general activation was present in both the remitted and the psychotic states, most strikingly during the psychotic state, and the proportion of patients who were electrodermally nonresponsive tended to be abnormally high during the remission test. CONCLUSION Tonic electrodermal hyperarousal appears to be a state-sensitive episode indicator, whereas phasic electrodermal hyporesponsiveness to innocuous stimuli relative to activation level appears to be a mediating vulnerability factor.
Abnormalities of the executive control network in multiple sclerosis phenotypes: An fMRI effective connectivity study

The Stroop interference task is a cognitively demanding task of executive control, a cognitive ability that is often impaired in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). The aim of this study was to compare effective connectivity patterns within a network of brain regions involved in the Stroop task performance between MS patients with three disease clinical phenotypes [relapsing‐remitting (RRMS), benign (BMS), and secondary progressive (SPMS)] and healthy subjects. Effective connectivity analysis was performed on Stroop task data using a novel method based on causal Bayes networks. Compared with controls, MS phenotypes were slower at performing the task and had reduced performance accuracy during incongruent trials that required increased cognitive control. MS phenotypes also exhibited connectivity abnormalities reflected as weaker shared connections, presence of extra connections (i.e., connections absent in the HC connectivity pattern), connection reversal, and loss. In SPMS and the BMS groups but not in the RRMS group, extra connections were associated with deficits in the Stroop task performance. In the BMS group, the response time associated with correct responses during the congruent condition showed a positive correlation with the left posterior parietal → dorsal anterior cingulate connection. In the SPMS group, performance accuracy during the congruent condition showed a negative correlation with the right insula → left insula connection. No associations between extra connections and behavioral performance measures were observed in the RRMS group. These results suggest that, depending on the phenotype, patients with MS use different strategies when cognitive control demands are high and rely on different network connections. Hum Brain Mapp, 37:2293–2304, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Hidden "holes" in the capital of not yet failed banks in Russia: An estimate of the scope of potential losses

Recently, the Bank of Russia has begun to actively fight against the balance sheet falsification in banking and withdrew every third bank’s license during the last four years. In the majority of cases, the regulator revealed hidden "holes" in the capital of bankrupted financial institutions; the total sum of already revealed negative capital amounts to –2,1% of Russian GDP in 2015. However, until now the process of clearing the banking system has affected only small and medium-sized banks (with few exceptions). What happens if this process touches on larger banks? How many new episodes of "holes" in the capital can we face in the near future and what is their potential size in case of detection? Our estimations, based on Heckman selection models, show that from 300 to 400 out of 641 Russian banks that were active in the mid-2016 might already hide "holes" in the capital from –3,6% to –6,8% of GDP. The analysis at the level of different groups of banks — among the top 30 in terms of assets, other banks from the first hundred and banks outside the top 100 — shows that the greatest loss is localized in the last group.
Coskewness Risk Decomposition, Covariation Risk, and Intertemporal Asset Pricing

We develop an intertemporal asset pricing model where cash-flow news, discount-rate news, and their second moments are priced by the market. This model generalizes the market-return decomposition framework, showing that intertemporal considerations imply a decomposition of squared market returns (coskewness risk). Our model accounts for 68% of the return variation across portfolios sorted by size, book-to-market ratio, momentum, investment, and profitability for a modern U.S. sample period. Further, our findings highlight the importance of covariation risk, that is, the risk of simultaneous unfavorable shocks to cash flows and discount rates, in understanding equity risk premia.
Interleukin‐4 transgenic mice of resistant background are susceptible to Leishmania major infection

The outcome of cutaneous leishmaniasis is dependent on the balance of Th1 and Th2 cells. In the murine model, Th1 cells are host‐protective whereas the Th2 cells are disease‐promoting. However, the in vivo role of interleukin‐4 (IL‐4), a signature product of Th2 cells, is uncertain. We compared the course of Leishmania major infection in the genetically resistant 129/Sv mice and the mutant 129/Sv mice transgenic for the murine IL‐4 gene under the control of the immunoglobulin heavy chain enhancer and promoter. We report here that in contrast to their wild‐type parents, the IL‐4 transgenic mice are susceptible to L. major infection. This is associated with the development of inexorably progressive lesions and parasite loads. Spleen cells from infected transgenic mice produced significantly higher levels of IL‐4 but lower amounts of interferon‐γ when stimulated in vitro with leishmanial antigens compared to those from infected normal 129/Sv mice. Furthermore, sera from the infected transgenic mice contained higher levels of IL‐4 and IgE than the sera of infected normal 129/Sv mice. These results, therefore, establish in a new animal model that IL‐4 promotes disease development in murine cutaneous leishmaniasis.
Word or Word-like? Dissociating Orthographic Typicality from Lexicality in the Left Occipito-temporal Cortex

Prior lesion and functional imaging studies have highlighted the importance of the left ventral occipito-temporal (LvOT) cortex for visual word recognition. Within this area, there is a posterior–anterior hierarchy of subregions that are specialized for different stages of orthographic processing. The aim of the present fMRI study was to dissociate the effects of subword orthographic typicality (e.g., cider [high] vs. cynic [low]) from the effect of lexicality (e.g., pollen [word] vs. pillen [pseudoword]). We therefore orthogonally manipulated the orthographic typicality of written words and pseudowords (nonwords and pseudohomophones) in a visual lexical decision task. Consistent with previous studies, we identified greater activation for pseudowords than words (i.e., an effect of lexicality) in posterior LvOT cortex. In addition, we revealed higher activation for atypical than typical strings, irrespective of lexicality, in a left inferior occipital region that is posterior to LvOT cortex. When lexical decisions were made more difficult in the context of pseudohomophone foils, left anterior temporal activation also increased for atypical relative to typical strings. The latter finding agrees with the behavior of patients with progressive anterior temporal lobe degeneration, who have particular difficulty recognizing words with atypical orthography. The most novel outcome of this study is that, within a distributed network of regions supporting orthographic processing, we have identified a left inferior occipital region that is particularly sensitive to the typicality of subword orthographic patterns.
The Macroeconomic Impact of Shocks in the US Federal Funds Rate on the Republic of South Africa: An SVAR Analysis

This study empirically examines the influence of shocks in the US federal funds rate on the Republic of South Africa’s output gap, consumer prices, 91-day T Bill rate and the Rand-US Dollar exchange rate from the first quarter of 1981 to the last quarter of 2014 with the use of a structural vector autoregressive (SVAR) model. Shocks in the US federal funds rate are found to have more of an impact on the South African inflation rate relative to other domestic macro variables. Domestic developments were found to play the most significant role in explaining the fluctuations of South Africa’s macro-variables. In light of the SARB’s inflation targeting monetary policy regime, it is recommended that it remains mindful of domestic developments as well as movements in the US federal funds rate in order to determine their upside risks to inflation before deciding on a policy stance.
This side of peace

This is a personal account of the struggle of Hanan Ashrawi who, by adhering to a moderate political stance, worked for the co-operation and coexistence of Arabs and Jews in Palestine. A Christian woman, living in a predominantly male, moslem community, she affords a glimpse into the truth behind the PLO and tells how she helped to bring the Israeli and Palestinian women's movement together. When the Intifada erupted in Palestine in 1987, Hanan Ashrawi found her way to the front lines of the revolution, becoming a crucial link between the established but exiled leadership of the PLO and the outside world. Later, in 1993, she sat waiting on the White House lawn for the signing of an agreement, and a final handshake, between the Palestinians and the Israelis. Her story is one of an oppressed people, of the hierarchy of the PLO, and of Middle Eastern diplomacy.
Quality of life in patients treated with hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis: what are the important determinants?

BACKGROUND Patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) have significant impairments in health-related quality of life (HRQOL). In part, this is due to the intrusiveness of the treatment (hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis) that is required. It is unclear whether hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis is associated with a higher HRQOL. METHODS 192 prevalent patients who self-selected treatment with hemodialysis (either in-center, satellite or home/self-care hemodialysis) or peritoneal dialysis were studied to determine whether treatment with hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis is associated with a higher HRQOL. Demographic, laboratory and clinical information (including the presence of comorbid conditions using the Charlson comorbidity index) was assessed at baseline. The outcome of interest was HRQOL, which was measured using the Kidney Disease Quality of Life-Short Form (KDQOL-SF), the Short-Form 36 (SF-36) and the EuroQol EQ-5D at baseline and after 6 and 12 months of follow-up. RESULTS There was no significant difference in HRQOL scores for the SF-36, the EQ-5D and for 9 of 11 KDQOL dimensions for patients treated with hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis at baseline. As expected, HRQOL was significantly lower for patients who had more comorbid disease, required assistance with their daily care, and for patients with less than a grade 12 education. After controlling for the effect of other important variables, HRQOL (as measured by the EQ-5D visual analog or index scores) did not differ between hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis patients. HRQOL was stable over time, both for patients who started on hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis. CONCLUSIONS There is no significant difference in HRQOL for prevalent ESRD patients treated with hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis. It will be important to determine if this finding holds true for incident patients treated with hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis.
Hypoplastic vertebral artery: frequency and associations with ischaemic stroke territory

Background: In patients with posterior inferior cerebellar artery infarction (PICAI) or lateral medullary infarction (LMI), the ipsilateral vertebral artery is often hypoplastic and therefore at an increased risk of ischaemic stroke. Objective: To investigate the frequency and clinical relevance of hypoplastic vertebral artery (HVA) in patients with ischaemic stroke with or without vertebral artery territory and in normal healthy people. Methods: 529 patients with ischaemic stroke, including vertebral artery territory infarction (LMI or PICAI), were classified according to their stroke location (303 anterior circulation strokes (ACS) and 226 posterior circulation strokes (PCS)) by MRI. The frequency of HVA, defined as a diameter of ⩽2 mm by magnetic resonance angiography, was measured in comparison with 306 normal healthy people. Results: 185 patients (35.2%) from the cohort had HVA (3.4%, bilaterally). Patients with PCS showed a higher rate of HVA than those with ACS (45.6% vs 27.1%, p<0.001). The HVA frequency of those with ACS was similar to that of the normal group (26.5%). Of the 112 patients with vertebral artery territory stroke, 58 (51.8%) had HVA (bilateral HVA in 10), and all of 48 showed ipsilateral HVA territory stroke. In 102 patients with vertebral artery territory stroke, classification of the ipsilateral vertebral artery as hypoplastic (vs dominant or symmetric) tended to predict the involvement of multiple and extensive lesions, and a higher incidence of steno-occlusion (p<0.001). Conclusion: HVA is not rare in the normal population, and is frequent in patients with PCS. People with HVA may have a high probability of PCS, with atherosclerotic susceptibility and ipsilateral lesions in the vertebral artery territory.
Assessing the Disaster Resilience of Megacities: The Case of Hong Kong

Many megacities are facing potential threats from various disasters, especially in the face of climate change. However, evaluating the resilience of megacities is not well established in both the academia and practice field. Using Hong Kong, which is a megacity ranked as the city in Asia with the highest risk for natural disasters, as a case study, we demonstrated the effort of assessing the resilience of a megacity. The Sendai Framework Local Urban Indicators Tools that was developed by the United Nation Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) was adopted as the main tool in this study, and a mixed bottom-up participatory and top-down method was utilized in the evaluation process. This is an innovative and participatory approach that is not commonly adopted in assessing the resilience of cities. The study found that Hong Kong is disaster resilient in that it mainstreams disaster risk in its development and that it dedicates sufficient financial resources. However, Hong Kong may improve on its disaster governance and encourage cooperation between the government and society to identify disaster risk and share information, particularly in the face of climate change and calls for more sustainable development.
Magnesium ion inhibits spontaneous and induced contractions of isolated uterine muscle

Aim. Magnesium sulfate, mainly used in obstetrics to treat eclamptic convulsions, is currently questioned as to its clinical tocolytic effect. We aimed to study the relaxant action (if any) of magnesium sulfate on in vitro pregnant and non-pregnant myometrium. Methods. Myometrial strips, harvested from five pregnant women (35–39 gestational weeks) during Cesarean procedures indicated for dystocia or scared uterus and five non-pregnant women during hysterectomy or myomectomy for benign conditions, were placed in a Krebs–Henseleit solution organ bath and the isometric force was registered. We assessed the effect of Mg2+ (magnesium sulfate) at different concentrations (0.50–10 mM) on spontaneous and oxytocin-induced (1 μM) myometrial contractility. Results. Mg2+ temporarily reduced spontaneous myometrial contractions in a dose-dependent manner, with efficient regimens at 2.0–2.5 mM, and arrested contractility completely at 3 mM. Oxytocin-induced contractions were reduced by 30–40% at 8 mM and decreased further at 9–10 mM. Induced contractions were reduced, in a dose-dependent and time-dependent manner (maximum effect at 20 min), at higher Mg2+ concentrations and with non-significant proportional differences between pregnant and non-pregnant myometrium. Conclusions. The present in vitro study suggests a possible benefit of Mg2+ in the inhibition of spontaneous myometrial contractility, but not of uterine-induced hyperactivity.
Serum interleukin-1 receptor antagonist is an early indicator of colitis onset in Galphai2-deficient mice.

AIM To study the serum concentration of IL-1beta, IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra) and IL-18 in Galphai2-deficient mice at the age of 6 (healthy), 12 (pre-colitic) and 24 wk (colitic) and in healthy control mice. METHODS At the time of killing, serum samples were collected and IL-1beta, IL-1Ra and IL-18 levels were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. RESULTS Serum concentration of IL-1Ra was significantly increased in pre-colitic (median: 524 ng/L; P=0.02) and colitic (450 ng/L; P=0.01), but not in healthy (196 ng/L) Galphai2-deficient mice as compared with controls (217 ng/L). Serum concentrations of IL-1beta did not differ between Galphai2-deficient mice and their controls, irrespective of age, IL-18 was significantly increased in colitic, but not in pre-colitic mice compared with controls (510 ng/L vs 190 ng/L; P=0.05). CONCLUSION The increased serum concentrations of IL-18 and IL-1Ra in established diseases are suggested as markers of ongoing colitis. Interestingly, the significantly increased serum concentration of IL-1Ra in pre-colitic mice is found to be an early marker of disease progression.
Trends in health status and the use of services among the 80-84-year-old Finnish war veterans during 1992 and 2004

Aim: The aim of this study was to compare the differences in health state, functional capacity and the use of social and health services among the 80—84-year-old Finnish Second World War veterans in 1992 and 2004 and to describe the possible effects of the improvements made based on the results after 1992. Methods: The Veteran Projects were conducted among the veterans using a postal questionnaire. In 1992, the questionnaire was sent to all veterans (n = 242,720) living in Finland, and in 2004 to 5750 veterans who had participated in the study in 1992. The comparable age groups of veterans aged 80—84 years were used. The data were analysed by descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression analysis. Analyses were conducted separately for men with and without disability and for all women. Results: The proportion of men with good self-reported health, painlessness, normal memory and vision and who were able to walk 500 m without difficulties, significantly increased, as did the proportion of women with normal memory and vision. The prevalence of many diseases increased, but diseases appeared to be less disabling in 2004 than 1992. The need for hospital care decreased and the use of rehabilitation services increased, but the increased use of rehabilitation services was not indicative of the ability to walk 500 m. Conclusions: Self-rated health and functional capacity improved and the need for hospital care decreased among veterans, although the prevalence of many diseases increased during the follow-up. Rehabilitation was not associated with the ability to walk 500 m without difficulties.
Credit Crunches from Occasionally Binding Bank Borrowing Constraints

We present a model in which banks and other financial intermediaries face both occasionally binding borrowing constraints, and costs of equity issuance. Near the steady state, these intermediaries can raise equity finance at no cost through retained earnings. However, even moderately large shocks cause their borrowing constraints to bind, leading to contractions in credit offered to firms, and requiring the intermediaries to raise further funds by paying the cost to issue equity. This leads to the occasional sharp increases in interest spreads and the counter-cyclical, positively skewed equity issuance that are characteristic of the credit crunches observed in the data.
Expenditures on services for persons with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome under a Medicaid home and community-based waiver program. Are selection effects important?

OBJECTIVES In 1990, the state of Florida implemented an acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)-specific Medicaid waiver program to provide home and community-based services to AIDS patients as an alternative to institutional care. The program is available to Medicaid beneficiaries with AIDS who are at risk of institutionalization. This study examines whether the waiver option was effective in reducing Medicaid expenditures per beneficiary during its first 2 years of operation. METHODS The authors used Medicaid claims data and county information on the availability of health services to model the selection of the waiver option by AIDS patients and then to estimate the effect of the waiver on expenditures controlling for nonrandom program selection. RESULTS The results indicate that the selection model is highly significant, but that the influence of nonrandom selection on the estimation of the program effects is negligible. More importantly, the regression results indicate that persons with AIDS who use waiver services incur monthly Medicaid expenditures that are on average 22% to 27% lower than otherwise similar nonparticipants. CONCLUSIONS These results, based on the first 2 years that Project AIDS Care was operational, suggest that home and community-based care for AIDS patients results in lower expenditures per beneficiary.
Artificial neural network based space vector PWM for a five-level diode-clamped inverter

This paper reports the neural network based space vector pulse width modulation for a five-level three-phase diode-clamped inverter. The ANN-based structure generates control signals for the five-level inverter. A multilevel three-phase inverter offers several advantages over conventional inverters such as lower-voltage stresses on power electronic switches, better electromagnetic compatibility and smaller ratings for the switches. Space vector pulse width modulation (SVPWM) enhances the output features of this inverter by properly utilizing the DC link voltage. An artificial neural network (ANN) makes the implementation of SVPWM easier as now any non-linear function of an arbitrary degree can be approximated. The ANN for SVPWM was trained in Matlab Simulink and implemented with TMS320F2812 using Matlab embedded encoder. For comparisons, sinusoidal PWM-based control technique was also implemented. The results are presented that illustrate the merits of the ANN-based SVPWM for a five-level diode-clamped inverter.