Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reduced neurite density in the brain and cervical spinal cord in relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis: A NODDI study

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) affects both brain and spinal cord. However, studies of the neuraxis with advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are rare because of long acquisition times. We investigated neurodegeneration in MS brain and cervical spinal cord using neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging (NODDI). Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate possible alterations, and their clinical relevance, in neurite morphology along the brain and cervical spinal cord of relapsing–remitting MS (RRMS) patients. Methods: In total, 28 RRMS patients and 20 healthy controls (HCs) underwent brain and spinal cord NODDI at 3T. Physical and cognitive disability was assessed. Individual maps of orientation dispersion index (ODI) and neurite density index (NDI) in brain and spinal cord were obtained. We examined differences in NODDI measures between groups and the relationships between NODDI metrics and clinical scores using linear regression models adjusted for age, sex and brain tissue volumes or cord cross-sectional area (CSA). Results: Patients showed lower NDI in the brain normal-appearing white matter (WM) and spinal cord WM than HCs. In patients, a lower NDI in the spinal cord WM was associated with higher disability. Conclusion: Reduced neurite density occurs in the neuraxis but, especially when affecting the spinal cord, it may represent a mechanism of disability in MS.
Effects of gender communication patterns on opposite gender attraction

extensive. Studies on personality characteristics (Regan & Joshi, 2003; Sprecher & Regan, 2002), evolutionary forces (Buss, 1989; Cramer & Schaeffer, 1996) and physical appearance (Kalof, 1999) have been used to define those factors which influence attraction. Self-report methods, commonly used to study attraction, have shown support for the subjective nature of attraction formation and the likelihood of dependence upon multiple factors for complete development (Regan & Joshi, 2003; Sprecher & Regan, 2002). Furthermore, different verbal communication styles are stereotypically associated with gender and differ in presentation (Edwards & Hamilton, 2004; MacGeorge, Graves, Feng, Gillihan, & Burleson, 2004; Tannen, 1990). The differences between these stereotypical gender communication patterns are important in understanding communication, but may also have a role in attraction (Feldstein, Dohm, & Crown, 2001; Montgomery, 1986). This study concerns the manipulation of these previously identified stereotypical communication patterns of the genders to find possible differences in attraction. Intrinsic Values and Attraction Various personality characteristics and intrinsic values (e.g., social skills, personality) have an impact on attraction between genders. Although there are many differences in attraction factors between the genders, personality characteristics like intelligence, ROBERT R. WRIGHT
Case Report: Load, Intensity, and Performance Characteristics in Multiple Grand Tours.

INTRODUCTION The aim of this study was to present the load, intensity and performance characteristics of a general classification (GC) contender during multiple grand tours (GTs). This study also investigated which factors influence climbing performance. METHODS Power output (PO) data were collected from a GC contender from the Vuelta a España 2015, the Giro d'Italia 2017, the Giro d'Italia 2018 and the Tour de France 2018. Load (e.g. Training Stress Score and kJ spent) and intensity in 5 PO zones was quantified. One-way analysis of variance was used to identify differences between the GTs. Further, performance during the four GTs was quantified based on maximum mean power output (W·kg) over different durations and by the relative PO (W·kg) on the key mountains in the GTs. Stepwise multiple regression analysis was used to identify which factors influence relative PO on the key mountains. RESULTS No significant differences were found between load and intensity characteristics between the four GTs with the exception that during the Giro d'Italia 2018 a significantly lower absolute time was spent in PO zone 5 (P=0.005) compared to the other three GTs. The average relative PO on the key mountains (n=33) was 5.9±0.6 W·kg and was negatively influenced by the duration of the climb and the total elevation gain before the key mountain, while the gradient of the mountain had a positive effect on relative PO. CONCLUSIONS The physiological load imposed on a GC contender did not differ between multiple GTs. Climbing performance was influenced by short-term fatigue induced by previous altitude meters in the stage and the duration and gradient of the mountain.
Clustering of Observed Diurnal Cycles of Precipitation over the United States for Evaluation of a WRF Multiphysics Regional Climate Ensemble

AbstractThe diurnal cycle of precipitation during the summer season over the contiguous United States is examined in eight distinct regions. These were identified using cluster analysis applied to the diurnal cycle characteristics at 2141 rainfall gauges over the 10-yr period 1991–2000. Application of the clustering technique provides a physically meaningful way of identifying regions for comparison of model results with observations. The diurnal cycle for each region is specified in terms of 1) total precipitation, 2) frequency of precipitation occurrence, and 3) intensity of precipitation per occurrence on an hourly basis averaged over the 10-yr period. The amplitude and phase of each element of the diurnal cycle was obtained from harmonic analysis and has been compared with the results of a 24-member multiphysics ensemble of simulations produced by the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) Model on a region-by-region basis. Three cumulus schemes, two radiation schemes, two microphysics schemes, and two p.
Biomaterial-Guided rAAV Delivery from pNaSS-Grafted PCL Films to Target Human Bone Marrow Aspirates.

Scaffold-guided gene transfer offers strong systems to develop non-invasive, convenient therapeutic options for the treatment of articular cartilage defects, especially when targeting bone marrow aspirates from patients containing chondroregenerative mesenchymal stromal cells in a native microenvironment. In the present study, we examined the feasibility of delivering reporter (RFP, lacZ) rAAV vectors over time to such samples via biocompatible, mechanically stable poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) films grafted with poly(sodium styrene sulfonate) (pNaSS) for improved biological responses as clinically adapted tools for cartilage repair. Effective transgene expression (RFP, lacZ) was noted over time in human bone marrow aspirates using pNaSS-grafted films (up to 90% efficiency for at least 21 days) versus control conditions (ungrafted films, absence of vector coating on the films, free or no vector treatment), without displaying cytotoxic nor detrimental effects on the osteochondrogenic or hypertrophic potential of the samples. These findings demonstrate the potential of directly modifying therapeutic bone marrow from patients by controlled delivery of rAAV using biomaterial-guided procedures as a future, non-invasive strategy for clinical cartilage repair.
Forced quasi-periodic oscillations in strongly dissipative systems of any finite dimension

We consider a class of singular ordinary differential equations describing analytic systems of arbitrary finite dimension, subject to a quasi-periodic forcing term and in the presence of dissipation. We study the existence of response solutions, i.e. quasi-periodic solutions with the same frequency vector as the forcing term, in the case of large dissipation. We assume the system to be conservative in the absence of dissipation, so that the forcing term is — up to the sign — the gradient of a potential energy, and both the mass and damping matrices to be symmetric and positive definite. Further, we assume a non-degeneracy condition on the forcing term, essentially that the time-average of the potential energy has a strict local minimum. On the contrary, no condition is assumed on the forcing frequency; in particular, we do not require any Diophantine condition. We prove that, under the assumptions above, a response solution always exists provided the dissipation is strong enough. This extends results previously available in the literature in the one-dimensional case.
Adoption of improved technologies in coconut production by smallholder farmers in West district, Zanzibar

Despite the initiative being made by the government and other stakeholders to promote improved technologies in coconut production among the smallholder farmers in West District in Zanzibar, its yield remains very low. This study intended to assess the adoption of improved coconut production among smallholder farmers in West District. Specifically, the study objectives were to: assess farmers‟ attitude towards improved technologies; assess level of coconut yield before and after the year 2000 of adoption technologies, identify the challenges of using adopted technologies, determine the impact of adoption of improved technologies on the level of coconut production and determine factors influencing coconut production among smallholder farmers. A total of 100 respondents were involved in this study. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 16. The findings indicate that smallholder farmers had negative attitude towards improved technologies for coconut production. The mean yield of coconut was 41.08 and 17.74 nuts /palm/year before and after adoption of improved technologies respectively. This indicates that there is a decrease in production inspite of the adoption of the new technologies. The major challenges for using adopted technologies among the smallholder farmers were unaffordable of fertilizer, low replacement spacing, scarcity of land and difficult to control coreid bug. Factors such as income from the coconuts; farm size and education significantly (p< 0.05) influenced the adoption of improved technologies on coconut production. The study, therefore, concludes that adoption of improved technologies had reduced coconut production. The study recommends that the Government under the Ministry of Agriculture should support training; dissemination improved technologies, extension officers and smallholder farmers. The farmers should also be motivated in coconut production through reducing problems hindering production such as pest control and fertilizer uses.
Self-assembly of colloidal sulfur particles on flat surfaces from evaporating sessile drops

The advancement of modern science and technology needs day by day smaller microprocessors, chips, sensors, machines, and devices, as a results, the existing methods of fabrication are slowly becoming obsolete. The fabrication of devices at small scale by the help of self-assembly is an inexpensive and promising technique. This work explores the formation of nano-microstructures using colloidal sulfur particles and the manipulation of their morphology using different acid salts, surfactants and substrates. Evaporation of sessile droplets containing colloidal particles induces outward flow within the drop, which producews the well-known “coffee-ring” effect or a dense ring-like deposition along the perimeter. In this work, the formation of self-assembled structure during drying of microliter drops on the glass surface containing colloidal sulfur particles (synthesized in situ by the reaction of oxalic acid and sodium thiosulphate) is investigated experimentally with helpof optical microscopy. Our results show that the particles are self-assembled into a tree-like structure after the evaporation of liquid drops from the reaction mixture.he sulfur particles alone cannot form similar self-assembly structurein pure water, but the sodium oxalate salt present in the reaction mixture helps to form the tree-like structure. The structure formation is also influenced by evaporation flux inside the liquid drop, capillary, van der Waals attractive forces between the particles. The different parameters such as particle size, particle and salt concentrations, acid to thiosulphate ratio, drop volume, addition of surfactants strongly influences the structure formation. By varying the acids that are used for the reaction, the resultant salts are varied too and this brings about changes in the sulfur structure morphology. By using HCI the sulfur structure turns into a labyrinthine grid like structure with almost 90 0 branches growing from the main stems, which are also at 90 0 to each other. With h2so4 similar leaf like patterns as before were obtained, but they were somewhat more angular and rougher. Also by changing the substrate in which the self-assembly takes place, by coating glass slides with surfactants, or by using a polyester substrate the structure morphology can be influenced to a large extent.
Does Audit Quality Improve After the Implementation of Mandatory Audit Partner Rotation

We investigate whether audit partner tenure and audit quality associations remain significant after the implementation of mandatory audit partner rotation. Carey and Simnett (2006) report a significant negative association between long audit partner tenure and the propensity to issue qualified going-concern opinions for financially distressed companies. However, their study uses data from a period when there was no restriction on the length of audit partner tenure, i.e., from a period before there was mandatory audit partner rotation after a fixed period of time. We revisit this issue using Australian data from a period after the introduction of mandatory audit partner rotation. We find a significant positive association between audit partner tenure when tenure is five years or more and the likelihood of an auditor issuing a going-concern opinion for a financially distressed company. Our findings provide evidence that auditors are more likely to issue qualified going-concern opinions for financially distressed companies when there is mandatory audit partner rotation after a fixed period of time. Our findings suggest that the implementation of mandatory audit partner rotation has improved audit quality.
The role of selection and evolution in changing parturition date in a red deer population

Changing environmental conditions cause changes in the distributions of phenotypic traits in natural populations. However, determining the mechanisms responsible for these changes—and, in particular, the relative contributions of phenotypic plasticity versus evolutionary responses—is difficult. To our knowledge, no study has yet reported evidence that evolutionary change underlies the most widely reported phenotypic response to climate change: the advancement of breeding times. In a wild population of red deer, average parturition date has advanced by nearly 2 weeks in 4 decades. Here, we quantify the contribution of plastic, demographic, and genetic components to this change. In particular, we quantify the role of direct phenotypic plasticity in response to increasing temperatures and the role of changes in the population structure. Importantly, we show that adaptive evolution likely played a role in the shift towards earlier parturition dates. The observed rate of evolution was consistent with a response to selection and was less likely to be due to genetic drift. Our study provides a rare example of observed rates of genetic change being consistent with theoretical predictions, although the consistency would not have been detected with a solely phenotypic analysis. It also provides, to our knowledge, the first evidence of both evolution and phenotypic plasticity contributing to advances in phenology in a changing climate.
Aspirational Model Teaching Criteria for Psychology

In 2011, the Society for the Teaching of Psychology commissioned a presidential task force to document teaching criteria for model psychology teachers in undergraduate education. The resulting list of criteria reflects activities related to face-to-face course interaction and online teaching, training, and education; course design; implementation of learning experiences; and the assessment process. Specifically, the model encompasses six broad areas, namely training, instructional methods, assessment process, syllabi, content, and student evaluations of teaching. As a developmental tool, the model can serve as a self-guided course for self-assessment of educational practices and can help identify areas of potential development. It can prompt reflection about teaching strengths and weaknesses. The model can also be useful as a guiding structure for tenure and promotion.
Post-glacial flooding of the Beringia Land Bridge dated to 11 , 000 cal yrs BP based on new geophysical and sediment records

The Bering Strait connects the Arctic and Pacific oceans and separates the North American and Asian land masses. The presently shallow (~53 m) strait was exposed during the sea-level lowstand of the last glacial period, which permitted human migration across a land bridge referred to as Beringia. Proxy studies (stabile isotope composition of foraminifera, whale migration into the Arctic Ocean, mollusc and insect fossils and paleobotanical data) have suggested a range of ages for the 20 Bering Strait reopening, mainly falling within the Younger Dryas stadial (12.9-11.7 ka). Here we provide new information on the deglacial and post-glacial evolution of the Arctic-Pacific connection through the Bering Strait based on analyses of geological and geophysical data from Herald Canyon, located north of the Bering Strait on the Chukchi Sea shelf region in the western Arctic Ocean. Our results suggest an initial opening at about 11 ka in the earliest Holocene, which is later when compared to several previous studies. Our key evidence is based on a well dated core from Herald Canyon, in which a shift 25 from a near-shore environment to a Pacific-influenced open marine setting around 11 ka is observed. The shift corresponds to Meltwater Pulse 1b (MWP1b) and is interpreted to signify relatively rapid breaching of the Bering Strait and submergence of the large Beringia Land Bridge. Although precise rates of sea-level rise cannot be quantified, our new results suggest that the late deglacial sea-level rise was rapid, and occurred after the end of the Younger Dryas stadial. Clim. Past Discuss. , doi:10.5194/cp-2017-11, 2017 Manuscript under review for journal Clim. Past Discussion started: 13 February 2017 c © Author(s) 2017. CC-BY 3.0 License.
Financial Valuation and Risk Management Working Paper No . 822 Dual Formulation of Second Order Target Problems

This paper provides a new formulation of second order stochastic target problems introduced in [19] by modifying the reference probability so as to allow for different scales. This new ingredient enables us to prove a dual formulation of the target problem as the supremum of the solutions of standard backward stochastic differential equations. In particular, in the Markov case, the dual problem is known to be connected to a fully nonlinear, parabolic partial differential equation and this connection can be viewed as a stochastic representation for all nonlinear, scalar, second order, parabolic equations with a convex Hessian dependence.
The More We Know on the Fundamental, the Less We Agree on the Price

I allow heterogenity in trading horizons across groups in a standard differential information model of a financial market. This can explain the empirical facts that after public announcements trading volume increases, more private information is incorporated into prices and volatility increases. Public information, in such environments, has the important secondary role of helping agents to learn about the information of other agents. As a consequence, whenever the correlation between private information across groups is sufficiently low, a public announcement increases disagreement among short horizon traders on the expected selling price, even if it decreases disagreement about the fundamental value of the asset. Additional testable implications are also suggested.
The Impact of Pulmonary Vein Anatomy on the Outcomes of Catheter Ablation for Atrial Fibrillation

Background and Objectives: Prior studies have identified a number of predictors for Atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation success, including comorbidities, the type of AF, and left atrial (LA) size. Ectopic foci in the initiation of paroxysmal AF are frequently found in pulmonary veins. Our aim was to assess how pulmonary vein anatomy influences the recurrence of atrial fibrillation after radiofrequency catheter ablation. Materials and Methods: Eighty patients diagnosed with paroxysmal or persistent AF underwent radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA) between November 2016 and December 2017. All of these patients underwent computed tomography before AF ablation. PV anatomy was classified according to the presence of common PVs or accessory PVs. Several clinical and imagistic parameters were recorded. After hospital discharge, all patients were scheduled for check-up in an outpatient clinic at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months after RFCA to detect AF recurrence. Results: A total of 80 consecutive patients, aged 53.8 ± 9.6 years, 54 (67.5%) men and 26 (32.5%) women were enrolled. The majority of patients had paroxysmal AF 53 (66.3%). Regular PV anatomy (2 left PVs, 2 right PVs) was identified in 59 patients (73.7%), a left common trunk (LCT) was detected in 15 patients (18.7%), an accessory right middle pulmonary vein (RMPV) was found in 5 patients (6.25%) and one patient presented both an LCT and an RMPV. The median follow-up duration was 14 (12; 15) months. Sinus rhythm was maintained in 50 (62.5%) patients. Age, gender, antiarrhythmic drugs, and the presence of cardiac comorbidities were not predictive of AF recurrence. The diagnosis of persistent AF before RFCA was more closely associated with an increase in recurrent AF after RFCA than after paroxysmal AF (p = 0.01). Longer procedure times (>265 min) were associated with AF recurrence (p = 0.04). Patients with an LA volume index of over 48.5 (mL/m2) were more likely to present AF recurrence (p = 0.006). Multivariate analysis of recurrence risk showed that only the larger LA volume index and variant PV anatomy were independently associated with AF recurrence. Conclusion: The study demonstrated that an increased volume of the left atrium was the most important predictive factor for the risk of AF recurrence after catheter ablation. Variant anatomy of PV was the only other independent predictive factor associated with a higher rate of AF recurrence.