Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Characterization of Plantar Skin Across Environmental Condition and Time

OBJECTIVE: In the presence of pathologic conditions such as diabetes or neuropathy and activity-related forces, the plantar surface of the foot is a common place for skin breakdown. With this risk, foundational knowledge of typical plantar skin behavior is needed. The purpose of this study was to characterize the plantar skin properties (tangential stiffness, normal compliance, and thickness) across environmental condition and time. DESIGN AND SETTING: Nonexperimental laboratory design. PATIENTS: Sixteen individuals participated (age range, 19–78 years; mean age, 48.5 ± 19.23 years; mean body mass index, 31.5 ± 7.61 kg/m2). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Tangential stiffness, normal compliance, and thickness were assessed with the Tissue Interrogation Device (TID), Myotonometer, and ultrasound, respectively. Measurements were taken at 5 anatomic locations over 4 visits across a day (morning and afternoon), week, and month. Measurements were taken in standard (20° C to 24° C, 35%–50% relative humidity) and shoe conditions (32° C, 66% relative humidity). MAIN RESULTS: Tangential stiffness (P = .000), normal compliance (P = .000), and thickness (epidermis, P = .000; dermis, P = .044) all varied by location. No main effect differences were noted across visits or environment across devices. Reliability varied across visits. CONCLUSIONS: All 3 skin properties were found to vary across location and people. Given skin property consistency over time and device reliability, it is reasonable to take and compare measurements within a week. Environmental conditions should be reported and controlled in research assessing plantar skin.
Development and validation of the Workplace Interruptions Measure

In 3 studies, we developed and tested the first comprehensive, self-report measure of workplace interruptions. The Workplace Interruptions Measure (WIM) is based on a typology of interruptions that included intrusions, distractions, discrepancy detections, and breaks. The four-factor structure was reduced to a 12-item measure in Study 1 (N = 317) and confirmed in a diverse sample of employees in Study 2 (N = 160). Study 3 (N = 323) further examined the psychometric properties of the WIM in a sample of university faculty and staff. Studies 2 and 3 demonstrated that both effort-enhancing interruptions (intrusions, distractions, and discrepancy detections) and recovery-enhancing interruptions (breaks) were associated with stressors and strains. Distractions, discrepancy detections, and breaks uniquely predicted strain outcomes beyond other workplace stressors (i.e., quantitative workload, interpersonal conflict, and role conflict). We discuss implications of the WIM for the theory and practice of interruptions research.
Acoustic-Phonetic Approaches for Improving Segment-Based Speech Recognition for Large Vocabulary Continuous Speech

Segment-based speech recognition has shown to be a competitive alternative to the state-of-the-art HMM-based techniques. Its accuracies rely heavily on the quality of the segment graph from which the recognizer searches for the most likely recognition hypotheses. In order to increase the inclusion rate of actual segments in the graph, it is important to recover possible missing segments generated by segment-based segmentation algorithm. An aspect of this research focuses on determining the missing segments due to missed detection of segment boundaries. The acoustic discontinuities, together with manner-distinctive features are utilized to recover the missing segments. Another aspect of improvement to our segment-based framework tackles the restriction of having limited amount of training speech data which prevents the usage of more complex covariance matrices for the acoustic models. Feature dimensional reduction in the form of the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is applied to enable the training of full covariance matrices and it results in improved segment-based phoneme recognition. Furthermore, to benefit from the fact that segment-based approach allows the integration of phonetic knowledge, we incorporate the probability of each segment being one type of sound unit of a certain specific common manner of articulation into the scoring of the segment graphs. Our experiment shows that, with the proposed improvements, our segment-based framework approximately increases the phoneme recognition accuracy by approximately 25% of the one obtained from the baseline segment-based speech recognition.
Predictive cues for auditory stream formation in humans and monkeys

Auditory perception is improved when stimuli are predictable, and this effect is evident in a modulation of the activity of neurons in the auditory cortex as shown previously. Human listeners can better predict the presence of duration deviants embedded in stimulus streams with fixed interonset interval (isochrony) and repeated duration pattern (regularity), and neurons in the auditory cortex of macaque monkeys have stronger sustained responses in the 60–140 ms post‐stimulus time window under these conditions. Subsequently, the question has arisen whether isochrony or regularity in the sensory input contributed to the enhancement of the neuronal and behavioural responses. Therefore, we varied the two factors isochrony and regularity independently and measured the ability of human subjects to detect deviants embedded in these sequences as well as measuring the responses of neurons the primary auditory cortex of macaque monkeys during presentations of the sequences. The performance of humans in detecting deviants was significantly increased by regularity. Isochrony enhanced detection only in the presence of the regularity cue. In monkeys, regularity increased the sustained component of neuronal tone responses in auditory cortex while isochrony had no consistent effect. Although both regularity and isochrony can be considered as parameters that would make a sequence of sounds more predictable, our results from the human and monkey experiments converge in that regularity has a greater influence on behavioural performance and neuronal responses.
Gastric Cancer in Bahrain: A Retrospective Study of Histologically Confirmed Tumours between 2001 and 2007 from the Two Main Bahraini Referral Hospitals

Objective: Few data are available describing the epidemiology and pathology of stomach cancer in Bahrain. Methods: A retrospective study examining all histologically confirmed cases of gastric cancer at the two main referral hospitals in Bahrain during the period 2001-2007. Results: 116 cases of gastric cancer were histologically confirmed in this seven-year period. There were 94 cases (81%) of adenocarcinoma, 10 (8.6%) lymphoma, 7 (6.0%) gastrointestinal stromal tumour, and 5 (4.3%) neuroendocrine tumour. Of the 94 patients with adenocarcinoma 65 (69.1%) were male (p < 0.01). 24 out of 43 intestinal type adenocarcinomas were positive for intestinal metaplasia (p < 0.001). Between 2004 and 2006 when total annual numbers of gastric cancers overall and gastric adenocarcinoma decreased the total numbers of lymphoma increased. Conclusions: The most common type of gastric cancer in Bahrain is adenocarcinoma. There was a reduction in gastric cancers overall and adenocarcinoma during the middle two years of the study, and possible explanations for this were suggested. An association between intestinal metaplasia and intestinal subtype gastric adenocarcinoma was confirmed. The non-carcinoma gastric tumours in Bahrain comprise a small proportion of all gastric tumours and include lymphoma, neuroendocrine tumours and gastrointestinal stromal tumours.
Childhood trauma and psychiatric comorbidities in patients with depressive disorder in primary care in Chile

ABSTRACT Childhood trauma is associated with different psychiatric disorders during adulthood. These disorders are often presented in comorbidity with depression. Objective: To establish the relationship between psychiatric comorbidities and childhood traumatic events in patients with depression in Chile. Methods: Three hundred and ninety-four patients with major depression were assessed using the MINI International Neuropsychiatric Interview and a screening for childhood trauma. Results: Social anxiety disorder was associated with having witnessed domestic violence during childhood (OR = 2.2, CI 1.2 - 3.8), childhood physical abuse (OR = 2.7, CI 1.6 - 4.4), physical injury associated with physical abuse (OR = 2.3, CI 1.3 - 4.7) and sexual abuse by a non-relative (OR = 2.7, CI 1.3 - 4.2). Posttraumatic stress disorder was associated with physical injury associated with physical abuse (OR = 1.9, CI 1.1 - 3.6), sexual abuse by a relative (OR = 3.2, IC 1.8 - 5.9) and sexual abuse by a non-relative (OR = 2.2, CI 1.2 - 4.1). Antisocial personality disorder was associated with traumatic separation from a caregiver (OR = 3.2, CI 1.2 - 8.5), alcohol abuse by a family member (OR = 3.1, CI 1.1 - 8.1), physical abuse (OR = 2.8, CI 1.1 - 6.9) and sexual abuse by a non-relative (OR = 4.8, CI 1.2 – 11.5). Panic disorder was associated with sexual abuse by a relative (OR = 1.9, CI 1.1 - 3.1). Generalized anxiety disorder was associated with sexual abuse by a non-relative (OR = 1.9, CI 1.1- 3.3). Conclusions: Further clinical recognition is required in patients seeking help for depression in primary care. This recognition must take into account the patient’s current psychiatric comorbidities and adverse childhood experiences.
Identification of a novel MYO7A mutation in Usher syndrome type 1

Usher syndrome (USH) is an autosomal recessive disease characterized by deafness and retinitis pigmentosa. In view of the high phenotypic and genetic heterogeneity in USH, performing genetic screening with traditional methods is impractical. In the present study, we carried out targeted next-generation sequencing (NGS) to uncover the underlying gene in an USH family (2 USH patients and 15 unaffected relatives). One hundred and thirty-five genes associated with inherited retinal degeneration were selected for deep exome sequencing. Subsequently, variant analysis, Sanger validation and segregation tests were utilized to identify the disease-causing mutations in this family. All affected individuals had a classic USH type I (USH1) phenotype which included deafness, vestibular dysfunction and retinitis pigmentosa. Targeted NGS and Sanger sequencing validation suggested that USH1 patients carried an unreported splice site mutation, c.5168+1G>A, as a compound heterozygous mutation with c.6070C>T (p.R2024X) in the MYO7A gene. A functional study revealed decreased expression of the MYO7A gene in the individuals carrying heterozygous mutations. In conclusion, targeted next-generation sequencing provided a comprehensive and efficient diagnosis for USH1. This study revealed the genetic defects in the MYO7A gene and expanded the spectrum of clinical phenotypes associated with USH1 mutations.
Clinical Implications of Basic Science Discoveries: Microchimerism Finds a Major Role in Reproductive Success; but Does It Also Contribute to Transplant Success?

Conventional wisdom argues against inbreeding, to maintain hybrid vigor and increase MHC diversity in response to pathogens. A recent report from the laboratory of Sing‐Sing Way uses a mouse model to test a hypothesis put forward by Ray D. Owen more than 60 years ago: that a certain amount of inbreeding is a good thing. Owen proposed that antigens not inherited from the mother (noninherited maternal antigens), when replicated on the mate of the daughter, could protect the latter's developing child from fetal wastage due to immune attack during her pregnancy. Kinder et al use elegant mouse breeding models and MHC class II peptide tetramers to show that Owen's hypothesis, based only on humoral (anti–Rh IgG) data and a small sample size, was indeed correct. The mediators of this cross‐generational protection turn out to be a special kind of Foxp3+ T regulatory cell, the development of which requires the persistence of maternal microchimerism into adulthood. The implications of this discovery for the role of microchimerism in tolerance to transplants are discussed.
The value of a risk factor analysis in clinically suspected deep venous thrombosis.

BACKGROUND The value of a risk factor analysis in the presence of a clinically suspected deep venous thrombosis (DVT) has been assessed mainly in inpatient populations. The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate the potential association between DVT and acquired circumstances suspected as risk factors, in a cohort of outpatients with a clinically suspected DVT. METHODS Consecutive outpatients referred for a clinically suspected DVT, with recent clinical signs, not exceeding 1 week, were included. Before venography, all patients were interviewed by a trained physician to detect the presence of risk factors. RESULTS From March 1992 to February 1994, 277 patients were included; venography was positive in 162 (58.4%). Five independent variables were significantly associated with the occurrence of DVT; in a multivariate analysis, 64.7% of patients were correctly classified; odds ratios for having DVT in the presence of these underlying conditions were respectively: 1.75 for age over 65 years, 1.68 for prior history of venous thromboembolism, 1.69 for high risk circumstances (any type of surgery or leg trauma within the past 3 months), 5.59 for malignancy, and 2.56 for varicose veins. CONCLUSIONS In outpatients referred for a clinically suspected DVT, recognition of associated conditions might increase the certainty of the diagnosis.
Surrogate Endpoint Biomarkers for Clinical Trials of Prostate Cancer Chemoprevention

High-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN) is most likely a precursor of prostate cancer and is frequently associated with it whereas the direct link between low-grade PIN and cancer is not established. The clinical evolution of isolated high-grade PIN has been the object of much concern because of the possibility of undiagnosed prostate cancer or the evolution of this premalignant lesion in invasive carcinoma. Parameters predictive of the later finding of prostate cancer on repeat biopsy in patients with PIN are of evident interest and we have reviewed our experience and recent data from the literature on this topic as well as on the clinical management of these patients. Low-grade PIN is not by itself a risk of later cancer found on repeat biopsy unless other factors such as PSA increase the cancer suspicion. Patients with low-grade PIN and high serum PSA should therefore undergo repeat biopsies. Patients with lowgrade PIN and without additional factors should be followed. Patients with high-grade PIN should systematically be rebiopsied. If a second set is still consistent with PIN, they should undergo additional biopsies again within 3–6 months because they are likely to have an undiag-
Nicotine-enhanced stemness and epithelial-mesenchymal transition of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells promote tumor formation and growth in nude mice

Cigarette smoking is a well-known risk factor in the development and progression of malignant diseases. Nicotine, the major constituent in cigarette smoke, has also shown negative effects on stem cells. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been widely demonstrated to migrate into tumors and play key roles in cancer progression. However, the mechanisms by which nicotine impacts MSCs and tumorigenesis of lung cancer are still undetermined. In this study we investigated the effects of nicotine on human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUC-MSCs) and the impacts of nicotine-treated hUC-MSCs on tumor formation and progression. We found that nicotine has a toxic effect on hUC-MSCs and changes the morphology, inhibits proliferation and promotes apoptosis of hUC-MSCs in a dose-dependent manner. Nicotine-treated hUC-MSCs produce higher level of IL-6. Moreover, nicotine promotes migration, stemness and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of hUC-MSCs by inhibiting E-cadherin expression and upregulating mesenchymal markers such as N-cadherin and Vimentin, leading to the induction of stem cell markers Sox2, Nanog, Sall4, Oct4 and CD44. Migration and proliferation of non-small cell lung cancer A549 cells and breast cancer MCF-7 cells are promoted after their coculture with nicotine-treated hUC-MSCs in a cell-cell contact-independent manner. Furthermore, nicotine-treated hUC-MSCs promote tumor formation and growth of A549 cells in nude mice. These studies demonstrated that the enhanced stemness and EMT of hUC-MSCs induced by nicotine are critical for the development of tobacco-related cancers.
Dodging Monsters and Dancing with Dreams: Success and Failure at Different Levels of Approach and Avoidance

Many models of motivation suggest that goals can be arranged in a hierarchy, ranging from higher-level goals that represent desired end-states to lower-level means that operate in the service of those goals. We present a hierarchical model that distinguishes between three levels—goals, strategies, and tactics—and between approach/avoidance and regulatory focus motivations at different levels. We focus our discussion on how this hierarchical framework sheds light on the different ways that success and failure are defined within the promotion and prevention systems outlined in regulatory focus theory. Specifically, we review research that demonstrates that differences in what “counts” as success versus failure in these systems have important implications for motivational strength, emotional responses, and risky behavior.
Increased risk of Parkinson’s disease following tension-type headache: a nationwide population-based cohort study

Purpose Previous studies have suggested associations between primary headache and neurodegenerative diseases; however, the relationship between tension-type headache (TTH), which is the most common type of primary headache, and Parkinson's disease (PD) remains controversial. Hence, in this nationwide, population-based, retrospective cohort study, we explored the temporal association between TTH and PD. Methods Using claims data in the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan, we evaluated 12,309 subjects aged ≥20 years who were newly diagnosed with TTH from 2000 to 2005. The non-TTH group included 49,236 randomly selected sex- and age-matched patients without TTH. Subjects were followed up until the end of 2011, diagnosis of PD, or death. The incidence of PD was compared between the two groups. A Cox multivariable proportional hazards model was used to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) to estimate the risk of PD. Results The overall incidence of PD (per 1,000 person-years) in the TTH and non-TTH groups was 3.01 and 1.68, respectively. After adjustment for sex, age, and comorbidities, the association between TTH and PD remained statistically significant (adjusted HR = 1.37, 95% CI = 1.19–1.57). The TTH group had a higher risk of PD than the non-TTH group did, regardless of subjects’ sex, age, and comorbidity status. Conclusions These findings demonstrate that patients diagnosed with TTH exhibit an increased risk of PD. Additional studies should investigate the potential shared pathophysiological mechanisms of TTH and PD. Clinicians should be aware that TTH is a potential risk factor for PD.
A Secure Steganographic Algorithm Based on Frequency Domain for the Transmission of Hidden Information

This contribution proposes a novel steganographic method based on the compression standard according to the Joint Photographic Expert Group and an Entropy Thresholding technique. The steganographic algorithm uses one public key and one private key to generate a binary sequence of pseudorandom numbers that indicate where the elements of the binary sequence of a secret message will be inserted. The insertion takes eventually place at the first seven AC coefficients in the transformed DCT domain. Before the insertion of the message the image undergoes several transformations. After the insertion the inverse transformations are applied in reverse order to the original transformations. The insertion itself takes only place if an entropy threshold of the corresponding block is satisfied and if the pseudorandom number indicates to do so. The experimental work on the validation of the algorithm consists of the calculation of the peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR), the difference and correlation distortion metrics, the histogram analysis, and the relative entropy, comparing the same characteristics for the cover and stego image. The proposed algorithm improves the level of imperceptibility analyzed through the PSNR values. A steganalysis experiment shows that the proposed algorithm is highly resistant against the Chi-square attack.
The complete mitochondrial genome of Parabotia fasciata (Cypriniformes: Cobitidae)

Abstract Parabotia fasciata is a small-sized benthopelagic fish species in the family Cobitidae. In the present study, we reported the complete mitochondrial genome of P fasciata. The complete mitochondrial genome of P. fasciata was 16,590 bp in length, which contained 13 protein-coding genes, 2 rRNA genes, 22 tRNA genes, a control region, and an L-strand replication origin (OL). Besides, its overall nucleotide base composition of mitogenome was 31.28% for A, 25.83% for T, 15.72% for G and 27.17% for C, as well as an AT content of 57.11%.
Effects of chronic acid-base changes on the rebreathing hypercapnic ventilatory response in man.

The CO2 rebreathing method can be very useful to test the hypercapnic ventilatory response in patients, including those with chronic acid-base changes (e.g. chronic metabolic acidosis due to renal failure). The ventilatory response to hypercapnia (CO2-R) was measured in 4 normal men by the rebreathing method under control conditions (CaCO3: 0.1 g.kg-1.day-1) and with induced metabolic acidosis (NH4Cl: 0.3 g.kg-1.day-1) and alkalosis (NaHCO3: 0.7 g.kg-1.day-1). The slope of the CO2-R did not change as a result of the acid-base alterations, but was shifted to the left of normal by metabolic acidosis, and to the right by metabolic alkalosis. These results compare favorably with previous reports on the CO2-R as measured by the steady-state technique, and validate the rebreathing method as a reliable and useful technique for evaluating CO2-R in man with altered acid-base states.
Ambiguity Aversion, Company Size and the Pricing of Earnings Forecasts

Several authors have reported an unconditional size effect in returns around earnings announcements. In this study we show how this finding can be understood as resulting from ambiguity aversion. We hypothesise that analyst forecasts for smaller companies are relatively more ambiguous; hence they are priced pessimistically by ambiguity-averse investors. As the quarter comes to a close and ambiguity gradually subsides, the stock prices of smaller companies rise to correct this pessimism, creating the size effect. Our results support these hypotheses.