Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Depression Prevention Initiative: Mediators of Interpersonal Psychotherapy–Adolescent Skills Training

Several adolescent depression prevention programs have demonstrated effects on depressive symptoms and overall functioning. Yet, despite an increasing emphasis on elucidating mechanisms of change in interventions, few studies have identified mediators of these preventive interventions. In this study, we examined interpersonal mediators of Interpersonal Psychotherapy–Adolescent Skills Training (IPT-AST), an evidence-based depression prevention program. The Depression Prevention Initiative is a school-based randomized controlled trial in which 186 adolescents (M age = 14.01, SD = 1.22; 66.7% female; 32.2% racial minority) were assigned to receive either IPT-AST (n = 95) or Group Counseling (GC) (n = 91). We examined whether change in interpersonal conflict, social support, or social functioning from baseline to midintervention mediated the effects of IPT-AST on depressive symptoms and overall functioning at postintervention. At postintervention, youth in IPT-AST had lower depressive symptoms (d = −.31) and higher overall functioning scores (d = .32) than youth in GC. Improvements in adolescent romantic functioning, reductions in peer conflict, and improvements in a factor score reflecting mother–adolescent conflict and difficulties in family functioning emerged as significant mediators. However, the effects of the intervention on change in the mediators were not statistically significant. These findings add to the sparse literature on mediators of psychosocial interventions, provide partial support for the theoretical mechanisms underlying change in IPT-AST, and highlight important directions for future prevention and intervention research.
Multi-View Image Classification With Visual, Semantic and View Consistency

Multi-view visual classification methods have been widely applied to use discriminative information of different views. This strategy has been proven very effective by many researchers. On the one hand, images are often treated independently without fully considering their visual and semantic correlations. On the other hand, view consistency is often ignored. To solve these problems, in this paper, we propose a novel multi-view image classification method with visual, semantic and view consistency (VSVC). For each image, we linearly combine multi-view information for image classification. The combination parameters are determined by considering both the classification loss and the visual, semantic and view consistency. Visual consistency is imposed by ensuring that visually similar images of the same view are predicted to have similar values. For semantic consistency, we impose the locality constraint that nearby images should be predicted to have the same class by multi-view combination. View consistency is also used to ensure that similar images have consistent multi-view combination parameters. An alternative optimization strategy is used to learn the combination parameters. To evaluate the effectiveness of VSVC, we perform image classification experiments on several public datasets. The experimental results on these datasets show the effectiveness of the proposed VSVC method.
Soluble HLA in the Aqueous Humour of Uveal Melanoma Is Associated with Unfavourable Tumour Characteristics

A high HLA expression in uveal melanoma (UM) is part of the prognostically unfavorable inflammatory phenotype. We wondered whether the presence of soluble HLA (sHLA) in the aqueous humour is associated with clinical, histopathological or genetic tumour characteristics, and represents tumour HLA expression and intratumoural inflammation. Aqueous humour from 108 UM patients was analysed for the presence of sHLA, using a Luminex assay specific for HLA Class I. Clinical and genetic parameters were compared between sHLA-positive and negative eyes. A qPCR analysis was performed on tumour tissue using a Fluidigm assay. In 19/108 UM-containing eyes, the sHLA level in the aqueous was above the detection limit. Tumours in sHLA-positive eyes were significantly larger, more frequently involved the ciliary body, and more often showed monosomy 3, gain of chromosome 8q and loss of BAP1 staining. Melanoma-related survival was worse in patients with sHLA-positive aqueous humour. sHLA in the aqueous did not represent the tumour’s HLA expression and did not relate to immune cell infiltration in the tumour. We conclude that UM-containing eyes may contain sHLA in the aqueous humour, where it is a prognostically-unfavourable sign and may influence local immune responses.
Ultra-endurance events in tropical environments and countermeasures to optimize performances and health

Abstract Physical performance in a tropical environment, combining high heat and humidity, is a difficult physiological challenge that requires specific preparation. The elevated humidity of a tropical climate impairs the thermoregulatory mechanisms by limiting the rate of sweat evaporation. Hence, a proper management of whole-body temperature is required to complete an ultra-endurance event in such an environment. In these long-duration events, which can last from 8 to 20 h, held in hot and humid settings, performance is tightly linked to the ability in maintaining an optimal hydration status. Indeed, the rate of withdrawal in these longer races was associated with lower water intake, and the majority of finishers exhibited alterations in electrolyte balance (e.g., sodium). Hence, this work reviews the effects on performance of high heat and humidity in two representative ultra-endurance sports, ultramarathons and long-distance triathlons, and several countermeasures to counteract the impact of these harsh environmental stresses and maintain a high level of performance, such as hydration, cooling strategies and heat acclimation.
Sound Localization in Toddlers with Normal Hearing and with Bilateral Cochlear Implants Revealed Through a Novel “Reaching for Sound” Task

Abstract Background: Spatial hearing abilities in children with bilateral cochlear implants (BiCIs) are typically improved when two implants are used compared with a single implant. However, even with BiCIs, spatial hearing is still worse compared to normal-hearing (NH) age-matched children. Here, we focused on children who were younger than three years, hence in their toddler years. Prior research with this age focused on measuring discrimination of sounds from the right versus left. Purpose: This study measured both discrimination and sound location identification in a nine-alternative forced-choice paradigm using the “reaching for sound” method, whereby children reached for sounding objects as a means of capturing their spatial hearing abilities. Research Design: Discrimination was measured with sounds randomly presented to the left versus right, and loudspeakers at fixed angles ranging from ±60° to ±15°. On a separate task, sound location identification was measured for locations ranging from ±60° in 15° increments. Study Sample: Thirteen children with BiCIs (27–42 months old) and fifteen age-matched (NH). Data Collection and Analysis: Discrimination and sound localization were completed for all subjects. For the left–right discrimination task, participants were required to reach a criterion of 4/5 correct trials (80%) at each angular separation prior to beginning the localization task. For sound localization, data was analyzed in two ways. First, percent correct scores were tallied for each participant. Second, for each participant, the root-mean-square-error was calculated to determine the average distance between the response and stimulus, indicative of localization accuracy. Results: All BiCI users were able to discriminate left versus right at angles as small as ±15° when listening with two implants; however, performance was significantly worse when listening with a single implant. All NH toddlers also had >80% correct at ±15°. Sound localization results revealed root-mean-square errors averaging 11.15° in NH toddlers. Children in the BiCI group were generally unable to identify source location on this complex task (average error 37.03°). Conclusions: Although some toddlers with BiCIs are able to localize sound in a manner consistent with NH toddlers, for the majority of toddlers with BiCIs, sound localization abilities are still emerging.
Gender differences among Veterans with alcohol use disorder nationally in the Veterans Health Administration

Abstract Alcohol use among women is increasing relative to men but no study has compared rates and characteristics of women with alcohol use disorder (AUD) to men among Veterans Health Administration (VHA) service users. To compare male and female VHA service users on rates of AUD, and among those with AUD, on sociodemographic characteristics, medical and physical comorbidities, and service and medication use national VHA data from fiscal year (FY) 2012 were used to identify Veterans diagnosed with AUD. Bivariate analyses evaluate gender differences in: sociodemographic characteristics; comorbid medical and psychiatric diagnoses; service use and psychotropic prescription fills. Multivariate stepwise logistic regression was used to identify a parsimonious set of differences. About 13,797 of all 349,430 women served by VHA in FY 2012 (3.94%) were diagnosed with AUD as compared to 331,407 of 5,102,877 men (6.50%) for a risk ratio of 0.608 for AUD among women. Women were younger, more likely to have served in recent Middle East conflicts and had more comorbid psychiatric and substance use diagnoses than men. They filled fewer psychotropic prescriptions (after taking greater number of psychiatric diagnoses in to account), but were more likely to fill a prescription for naltrexone than men. Women had fewer comorbid medical diagnoses than men. Women Veterans with an AUD have higher rates of psychiatric comorbidities than men, highlighting the need for better integration of treatment for AUD and comorbid psychiatric conditions, and suggesting different pathways and potential interventions for AUD in women.
IGF2/IGF1R Signaling as a Therapeutic Target in MYB-Positive Adenoid Cystic Carcinomas and Other Fusion Gene-Driven Tumors

Chromosome rearrangements resulting in pathogenetically important gene fusions are a common feature of many cancers. They are often potent oncogenic drivers and have key functions in central cellular processes and pathways and encode transcription factors, transcriptional co-regulators, growth factor receptors, tyrosine kinases, and chromatin modifiers. In addition to being useful diagnostic biomarkers, they are also targets for development of new molecularly targeted therapies. Studies in recent decades have shown that several oncogenic gene fusions interact with the insulin-like growth factor (IGF) signaling pathway. For example, the MYB–NFIB fusion in adenoid cystic carcinoma is regulated by IGF1R through an autocrine loop, and IGF1R is a downstream target of the EWSR1–WT1 and PAX3–FKHR fusions in desmoplastic small round cell tumors and alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, respectively. Here, we will discuss the mechanisms behind the interactions between oncogenic gene fusions and the IGF signaling pathway. We will also discuss the role of therapeutic inhibition of IGF1R in fusion gene driven malignancies.
Automatic Extraction of Water and Shadow from SAR Images Based on a Multi-Resolution Dense Encoder and Decoder Network

The water and shadow areas in SAR images contain rich information for various applications, which cannot be extracted automatically and precisely at present. To handle this problem, a new framework called Multi-Resolution Dense Encoder and Decoder (MRDED) network is proposed, which integrates Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), Residual Network (ResNet), Dense Convolutional Network (DenseNet), Global Convolutional Network (GCN), and Convolutional Long Short-Term Memory (ConvLSTM). MRDED contains three parts: the Gray Level Gradient Co-occurrence Matrix (GLGCM), the Encoder network, and the Decoder network. GLGCM is used to extract low-level features, which are further processed by the Encoder. The Encoder network employs ResNet to extract features at different resolutions. There are two components of the Decoder network, namely, the Multi-level Features Extraction and Fusion (MFEF) and Score maps Fusion (SF). We implement two versions of MFEF, named MFEF1 and MFEF2, which generate separate score maps. The difference between them lies in that the Chained Residual Pooling (CRP) module is utilized in MFEF2, while ConvLSTM is adopted in MFEF1 to form the Improved Chained Residual Pooling (ICRP) module as the replacement. The two separate score maps generated by MFEF1 and MFEF2 are fused with different weights to produce the fused score map, which is further handled by the Softmax function to generate the final extraction results for water and shadow areas. To evaluate the proposed framework, MRDED is trained and tested with large SAR images. To further assess the classification performance, a total of eight different classification frameworks are compared with our proposed framework. MRDED outperformed by reaching 80.12% in Pixel Accuracy (PA) and 73.88% in Intersection of Union (IoU) for water, 88% in PA and 77.11% in IoU for shadow, and 95.16% in PA and 90.49% in IoU for background classification, respectively.
Polyhedral Conic Classifiers for Computer Vision Applications and Open Set Recognition

This paper introduces a family of quasi-linear discriminants that outperform current large-margin methods in sliding window visual object detection and open set recognition tasks. In these applications, the classification problems are both numerically imbalanced – positive (object class) training and test windows are much rarer than negative (non-class) ones – and geometrically asymmetric – the positive samples typically form compact, visually-coherent groups while negatives are much more diverse, including anything at all that is not a well-centered sample from the target class. For such tasks, there is a need for discriminants whose decision regions focus on tightly circumscribing the positive class, while still taking account of negatives in zones where the two classes overlap. To this end, we propose a family of quasi-linear “polyhedral conic” discriminants whose positive regions are distorted <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$L_1$</tex-math><alternatives><mml:math><mml:msub><mml:mi>L</mml:mi><mml:mn>1</mml:mn></mml:msub></mml:math><inline-graphic xlink:href="cevikalp-ieq1-2934455.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula> or <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$L_2$</tex-math><alternatives><mml:math><mml:msub><mml:mi>L</mml:mi><mml:mn>2</mml:mn></mml:msub></mml:math><inline-graphic xlink:href="cevikalp-ieq2-2934455.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula> balls. In addition, we also integrated the proposed classification loss into deep neural networks so that both the features and classifier can be learned simultaneously end-to-end fashion to improve the classification accuracies. The methods have properties and run-time complexities comparable to linear Support Vector Machines (SVMs), and they can be trained from either binary or positive-only samples using constrained quadratic programs related to SVMs. Our experiments show that they significantly outperform linear SVMs, deep neural networks using softmax loss function and existing one-class discriminants on a wide range of object detection, face verification, open set recognition and conventional closed-set classification tasks.
Heterosis and combining ability in cytoplasmic male sterile and doubled haploid based Brassica oleracea progenies and prediction of heterosis using microsatellites

In Brassica oleracea, heterosis is the most efficient tool providing impetus to hybrid vegetable industry. In this context, we presented the first report on identifying superior heterotic crosses for yield and commercial traits in cauliflower involving cytoplasmic male sterile (CMS) and doubled haploid (DH) lines as parents. We studied the suitability of genomic-SSRs and EST-SSRs based genetic distance (GD) and agronomic trait based phenotypic distance (PD) for predicting heterosis in F1 hybrids using CMS and DH based parents. 120 F1 hybrids derived from 20Ogura based CMS lines and 6 DH based testers were evaluated for 16 agronomic traits along with the 26 parental lines and 4 commercial standard checks. The genomic-SSRs and EST-SSRs based genetic structure analysis grouped the 26 parental lines into 4 distinct clusters. The CMS lines Ogu118-6A, Ogu33A, Ogu34-1A were good general combiner for developing early maturity hybrids. The SCA effects were significantly associated with heterosis suggesting non-additive gene effects for the heterotic response of hybrids. Less than unity value of σ2A/D coupled with σ2gca/σ2sca indicated the predominance of non-additive gene action in the expression of studied traits. The correlation analysis of genetic distance with heterosis for commercial traits suggested that microsatellites based genetic distance estimates can be helpful in heterosis prediction to some extent.
HgTe Nanocrystals for SWIR Detection and their Integration up to Focal Plane Array.

Infrared applications remain too often a niche market due to their prohibitive cost. Nanocrystals offer an interesting alternative to reach cost disruption especially in the shortwave infrared (SWIR, λ<1.7 µm) where material maturity is now high. Two families of materials are candidate for SWIR photoconduction: lead and mercury chalcogenides. Lead sulfide typically benefits from all the development made for wider bap gap such as the one made for solar cells, while HgTe takes advantage of development relative to mid wave infrared detector. Here we make a fair comparison of the two material detection properties in the SWIR and discuss the material stability. At such wavelengths, studies have been mostly focused on PbS rather than on HgTe, therefore we focus in the last part of the discussion on the effect of surface chemistry on the electronic spectrum of HgTe nanocrystals. We unveil that tuning the capping ligands is a viable strategy to adjust the material from p-type to ambipolar. Finally, HgTe nanocrystals are integrated into multi pixel devices to quantize spatial homogeneity and onto read out circuits to obtain fast and sensitive infrared laser beam profile.
Potential synaptic plasticity‐based Shenzhiling oral liquid for a SAD Mouse Model

Synaptic plasticity is the basis of memory formation. The pathological manifestations of abnormal glucose metabolism in the nervous system of sporadic Alzheimer's disease (SAD) may affect synaptic plasticity, thus causing memory damage. As a traditional Chinese medicine compound preparation, the mechanism by which Shenzhiling (SZL) oral liquid can alleviate the cognitive impairment of SAD by improving synaptic plasticity remains unclear. Objective: This article mainly discusses whether SZL can exert a protective synaptic effect as mediated by glutamate receptors and glycogen synthesis kinase 3β (GSK3β); further, it discusses whether SZL can improve cognitive function in SAD.
Postgraduate Medical Education in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Scoping Review Spanning 26 Years and Lessons Learned.

Background Investments in training physician specialists through postgraduate medical education (PGME) are critical for Sub-Saharan Africa, given the increasing burden of non-communicable diseases. Objectives The objectives of this scoping review were to (1) understand the breadth of publications on PGME from Sub-Saharan Africa, and (2) conduct a thematic analysis of lessons learned by specific training programs. Methods We conducted a literature search of 7 databases for PGME literature published between January 1991 and December 2016. Two reviewers independently reviewed titles and abstracts for inclusion. Full-text articles were then reviewed, and bibliometric data were extracted to create a profile of PGME-related publications. Two authors coded the manuscripts to identify articles written about specific PGME programs. These were analyzed for lessons learned. Results We identified 813 publications that reported on postgraduate medical education in Sub-Saharan Africa. Most articles were published between 2005 and 2016. Nations leading in publication were South Africa and Nigeria, followed by Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Ghana, and Malawi. The largest number of articles related to general surgery training, followed by family medicine, emergency medicine, and anesthesiology. Thematic analysis revealed advantages of training programs for health facilities, challenges related to teaching, resourcing, and standardizing of training, and lessons learned related to international partnerships, faculty engagement, and research support for trainees. Conclusions PGME in Sub-Saharan Africa has evolved over the past 26 years. Future growth will require strategic support to scale programs, support new specialties, trainees, and teachers, and leverage best practice models to sustain PGME programs.
Maternal Dietary Patterns during Pregnancy and Congenital Heart Defects: A Case-Control Study

Limited studies investigating the relationships between dietary patterns and congenital heart defects (CHDs) are available. This study aimed to explore the associations between dietary patterns and CHDs risk in Shaanxi, China. We conducted a hospital-based case-control study and included a total of 474 cases and 948 controls. Pregnant women waiting for delivery in the hospital were interviewed to report their diets during pregnancy using a validated food frequency questionnaire. Dietary patterns were derived using principal component factor analysis. Mixed logistic regression models were used to assess the associations between dietary patterns and CHDs. Pregnant women in the highest tertile of the prudent pattern had a lower risk of CHDs compared to those in the lowest tertile (OR = 0.65, 95%CI: 0.48–0.89). Pregnant women with high scores on the vegetarian pattern were at an increased risk of CHDs (medium vs. lowest tertile: OR = 1.50, 95%CI = 1.03–2.17; highest vs. lowest tertile: OR = 1.56, 95%CI = 1.13–2.15; ptrend = 0.015). Pregnant women with high scores on the dairy and egg pattern were at a reduced risk of CHDs (medium vs. lowest tertile: OR = 0.66, 95%CI = 0.49–0.90; highest vs. lowest tertile: OR = 0.60, 95%CI = 0.43–0.82; ptrend = 0.001). Maternal diet during pregnancy is an important target for intervention, and it may influence the likelihood of developing CHDs.
Soluble E‐cadherin is associated with oxidative stress in patients with chronic HBV infection

Mounting evidence indicates that serum soluble E‐cadherin (sE‐cadherin) serves as an important player in various physiological and pathological processes. However, the crosstalk between serum sE‐cadherin and oxidative stress in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) remains to be illustrated. The main purpose of this study is to explore the molecular mechanisms underlying the function of sE‐cadherin in CHB virus infection. Levels of serum sE‐cadherin, total antioxidant capacity (TAC), glutathione (GSH), superoxide dismutase (SOD), total oxidant activity (TOA), NADPH oxidase 2 (NOX2), and malondialdehyde (MDA), from 51 patients with hepatitis B envelope antigen (HBeAg)‐negative CHB, 54 patients with HBeAg‐positive CHB, and 109 healthy individuals were detected by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay. In our study, patients with CHB showed significantly higher serum sE‐cadherin levels than healthy individuals (P < .01). Furthermore, we also found that the serum sE‐cadherin levels were significantly negatively correlated with TAC, antioxidant enzymes (GSH and SOD) in patients with CHB, and that serum sE‐cadherin concentrations were significantly positively correlated with liver enzyme markers (alanine transaminase and aspartate aminotransferase) and oxidative markers (TOA, NOX2, and MDA) in patients with CHB. Therefore, serum sE‐cadherin may act as a new candidate biomarker for reflecting inflammation and oxidative stress status in the development and progression of hepatitis B virus infection.