Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mechanisms of Temporal Auditory Pattern Recognition in Songbirds

Human speech and birdsong share several important features. Both communication systems entail large, acoustically rich repertoires of temporally patterned vocal signals, and both must be learned early in ontogeny (Kuhl, 2003, 2004; Marler, 1970, 1975). Over the last 20 years, these similarities have helped to establish birdsong as an important model system for understanding the neurobiological bases of vocal learning and production (Doupe & Kuhl, 1999; Margoliash, 2002; Zeigeler, 2004). But communication is not a solo endeavor, and the target of this elaborate vocal-motor production system is not the song itself, but rather the behavior of nearby conspecifics (Kroodsma & Miller, 1996). Birds sing to be heard. Thus, birdsong also provides an important model system for the processing of complex acoustic communication signals (Theunissen & Shaevitz, 2006; Zeigeler, 2004). The prototypical temperate zone songbird sings to modulate aggressive territorial encounters among neighboring male songbirds and to attract prospective female mates. For those on the receiving end of song, these broad (though not exhaustive) evolutionary functions imply a host of auditory perceptual and cognitive processes that must be engaged (Gentner & Margoliash, 2002). Although these processes are interesting in their own regard, recent advances (Gentner, Fenn, Margoliash, & Nusbaum, 2006) suggest that some of the acoustic pattern recognition abilities of songbirds may inform current debates on the evolution of language-relevant representational strategies and syntactic skills. This review describes those recent advances in the context of a larger endeavor to understand the biological basis of temporal pattern recognition in one species of songbird, European starlings. LANGUAGE LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT, 3(2), 1–22 Copyright © 2007, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Aβ42-Carboxy-Terminal-like Immunoreactivity Is Associated with Intracellular Neurofibrillary Tangles and Pick Bodies

Co-occurrence of neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) and beta-amyloid (Abeta)-containing plaques is the pathological hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Much research has been carried out to elucidate the possible interactions of these two characteristic lesions. Here we show by immunohistochemistry that an Abeta42-carboxy-terminal-like epitope (tAbeta42) is associated with NFTs at an early, intraneuronal stage. The NFTs immunoreactive for tAbeta42 were also positive for tau2. tAbeta42 NFTs occurred even in cases without plaques or any other form of extracellular Abeta deposits. NFTs were tAbeta42 immunoreactive under all tangle forming conditions studied: AD, the parkinsonism dementia complex of Guam, progressive supranuclear palsy, and elderly controls. In Pick disease, which is another "tauopathy" Pick bodies and ballooned neurons were found to be immunoreactive for tAbeta42. Appearance of an epitope of Abeta in neurons at such an early stage of tangle formation and in Pick bodies may indicate a direct connection of Abeta42 and cytoskeletal disarrangement, although cross-reactivity with other epitopes cannot be ruled out.
Characteristics of Older Adults on Waiting Lists for Meals on Wheels: Identifying Areas for Intervention

The purpose of this study was to characterize the population of seniors on Meals on Wheels’ (MOW) waiting lists and identify their rate of depression, anxiety, falls, and fear of falling. Data come from surveys of 626 seniors on waiting lists across the country and the 2013 National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS). Results suggest that seniors on waiting lists for MOW were more likely to be widowed, less educated, older, Black, Hispanic, and receive Medicaid than the population of community-dwelling older adults. In addition, 31% of seniors on MOW waiting lists were depressed, compared with 12% of seniors in the national population (p < .001), and 28% exhibited signs and symptoms of anxiety, compared with 10% of the national population of seniors (p < .001). Seniors on waiting lists were significantly more likely to have fallen in the last month and be fearful of falling than the national population of seniors (p < .001). Individuals on MOW waiting lists are a vulnerable and high-risk group. By seeking to better understand clients’ needs, appropriate services can be tailored to promote independent living and improve older adults’ well-being.
Functional Characterization of Human Stem Cell–Derived Cardiomyocytes

Cardiac toxicity is a leading contributor to late stage attrition in the drug discovery process and to withdrawal of approved drugs from the market. In vitro assays that enable earlier and more accurate testing for cardiac risk provide early stage predictive indicators that aid in mitigating risk. Human cardiomyocytes, the most relevant subjects for early stage testing, are severely limited in supply, but human stem cell–derived cardiomyocytes (SC‐hCM) are readily available from commercial sources and are increasingly used in academic research, drug discovery, and safety pharmacology. As a result, SC‐hCM electrophysiology has become a valuable tool for assessing cardiac risk associated with drug administration. Described in this unit are techniques for recording individual sodium, calcium, and potassium currents, as well as single‐cell action potentials and impedance recordings from contracting syncytia of thousands of interconnected cells. Curr. Protoc. Pharmacol. 64:11.12. 1‐11.12. 26. © 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
A top-down approach for approximate data anonymisation

Data sharing in today's information society poses a threat to individual privacy and organisational confidentiality. k-anonymity is a widely adopted model to prevent the owner of a record being re-identified. By generalising and/or suppressing certain portions of the released dataset, it guarantees that no records can be uniquely distinguished from at least other k−1 records. A key requirement for the k-anonymity problem is to minimise the information loss resulting from data modifications. This article proposes a top-down approach to solve this problem. It first considers each record as a vertex and the similarity between two records as the edge weight to construct a complete weighted graph. Then, an edge cutting algorithm is designed to divide the complete graph into multiple trees/components. The Large Components with size bigger than 2k−1 are subsequently split to guarantee that each resulting component has the vertex number between k and 2k−1. Finally, the generalisation operation is applied on the vertices in each component (i.e. equivalence class) to make sure all the records inside have identical quasi-identifier values. We prove that the proposed approach has polynomial running time and theoretical performance guarantee O(k). The empirical experiments show that our approach results in substantial improvements over the baseline heuristic algorithms, as well as the bottom-up approach with the same approximate bound O(k). Comparing to the baseline bottom-up O(logk)-approximation algorithm, when the required k is smaller than 50, the adopted top-down strategy makes our approach achieve similar performance in terms of information loss while spending much less computing time. It demonstrates that our approach would be a best choice for the k-anonymity problem when both the data utility and runtime need to be considered, especially when k is set to certain value smaller than 50 and the record set is big enough to make the runtime have to be taken into account.
Delineating Communication Impairments Associated With Mild Traumatic Brain Injury: A Case Report

BackgroundMild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) without frank neurological disturbance has been linked to persistent physical, cognitive, and affective disturbances in some cases. The cognitive sequelae of this syndrome represent the most frequently studied symptoms, yet the legacy of such injuries on communicative functions remains largely undetermined. MethodsA detailed language profile of a 19-year-old woman, 1 year 10 months following mTBI is compared with a matched normative cohort of 10 participants with nonneurological impairment. ResultsDeficits in attention, lexical access, complex lexical-semantic manipulation, response monitoring, and organization were revealed as a consequence of mTBI. ConclusionsThis profile provides support for hypotheses pertaining to neuronal fallout mechanisms within the frontal lobes as a consequence of mild neurological insult.
Pilot study on the clinical and microbiological effect of subgingival glycine powder air polishing using a cannula-like jet.

OBJECTIVES To assess the efficacy of subgingival glycine powder air polishing (GPAP) during supportive periodontal therapy (SPT). METHODS Each quadrant of 25 subjects was randomly assigned to the following treatments: subgingival scaling with hand instruments (SRP), GPAP, subgingival ultrasonic debridement (UD) and no subgingival treatment (NT). Clinical recordings included the following: probing pocket depth (PPD), gingival recession (RE), clinical attachment level (CAL), Gingival and Plaque Index. Subgingival plaque samples were taken from two sites >4 mm per quadrant. Therapy, recordings and microbial sampling were performed at baseline, 3 and 6 months, while at 1 month only clinical recordings and sampling were performed. Subgingival samples were analysed using 'checkerboard' DNA-DNA hybridization for Porphyromonas gingivalis, Tannerrella forsythia and Treponema denticola. RESULTS All groups were homogeneous at baseline for the clinical parameters assessed. The GPAP group displayed statistically significant higher PPD compared to SRP and UD at 1, 3 and 6 months and no statistical differences with the 'no treatment' group at all time points. At 1 month, the GPAP group displayed statistically significantly higher levels of CAL compared to SRP, while at 3 and 6 months statistically significant differences were observed with groups assigned to SRP and UD. No differences were observed among groups for RE, PI, GI and numbers of the investigated bacteria at any time point. CONCLUSIONS On the basis of clinical and microbiological data, this study does not support the superiority of GPAP as sole treatment over SRP or subgingival ultrasonic scaling.
Accelerated Gray and White Matter Deterioration With Age in Schizophrenia.

OBJECTIVE Although brain changes in schizophrenia have been proposed to mirror those found with advancing age, the trajectory of gray matter and white matter changes during the disease course remains unclear. The authors sought to measure whether these changes in individuals with schizophrenia remain stable, are accelerated, or are diminished with age. METHOD Gray matter volume and fractional anisotropy were mapped in 326 individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder and in 197 healthy comparison subjects aged 20-65 years. Polynomial regression was used to model the influence of age on gray matter volume and fractional anisotropy at a whole-brain and voxel level. Between-group differences in gray matter volume and fractional anisotropy were regionally localized across the lifespan using permutation testing and cluster-based inference. RESULTS Significant loss of gray matter volume was evident in schizophrenia, progressively worsening with age to a maximal loss of 8% in the seventh decade of life. The inferred rate of gray matter volume loss was significantly accelerated in schizophrenia up to middle age and plateaued thereafter. In contrast, significant reductions in fractional anisotropy emerged in schizophrenia only after age 35, and the rate of fractional anisotropy deterioration with age was constant and best modeled with a straight line. The slope of this line was 60% steeper in schizophrenia relative to comparison subjects, indicating a significantly faster rate of white matter deterioration with age. The rates of reduction of gray matter volume and fractional anisotropy were significantly faster in males than in females, but an interaction between sex and diagnosis was not evident. CONCLUSIONS The findings suggest that schizophrenia is characterized by an initial, rapid rate of gray matter loss that slows in middle life, followed by the emergence of a deficit in white matter that progressively worsens with age at a constant rate.
An Evolution-Guided Analysis Reveals a Multi-Signaling Regulation of Fas by Tyrosine Phosphorylation and its Implication in Human Cancers

Demonstrations of both pro-apoptotic and pro-survival abilities of Fas (TNFRSF6/CD95/APO-1) have led to a shift from the exclusive “Fas apoptosis” to “Fas multisignals” paradigm and the acceptance that Fas-related therapies face a major challenge, as it remains unclear what determines the mode of Fas signaling. Through protein evolution analysis, which reveals unconventional substitutions of Fas tyrosine during divergent evolution, evolution-guided tyrosine-phosphorylated Fas proxy, and site-specific phosphorylation detection, we show that the Fas signaling outcome is determined by the tyrosine phosphorylation status of its death domain. The phosphorylation dominantly turns off the Fas-mediated apoptotic signal, while turning on the pro-survival signal. We show that while phosphorylations at Y232 and Y291 share some common functions, their contributions to Fas signaling differ at several levels. The findings that Fas tyrosine phosphorylation is regulated by Src family kinases (SFKs) and the phosphatase SHP-1 and that Y291 phosphorylation primes clathrin-dependent Fas endocytosis, which contributes to Fas pro-survival signaling, reveals for the first time the mechanistic link between SFK/SHP-1-dependent Fas tyrosine phosphorylation, internalization route, and signaling choice. We also demonstrate that levels of phosphorylated Y232 and Y291 differ among human cancer types and differentially respond to anticancer therapy, suggesting context-dependent involvement of Fas phosphorylation in cancer. This report provides a new insight into the control of TNF receptor multisignaling by receptor phosphorylation and its implication in cancer biology, which brings us a step closer to overcoming the challenge in handling Fas signaling in treatments of cancer as well as other pathologies such as autoimmune and degenerative diseases.
Run-time Adaptive Cache Hierarchy Via Reference Analysis

Improvements in main memory speeds have not kept pace with increasing processor clock frequency and improved exploitation of instruction-level parallelism. Consequently, the gap between processor and main memory performance is expected to grow, increasing the number of execution cycles spent waiting for memory accesses to complete. One solution to this growing problem is to reduce the number of cache misses by increasing the effectiveness of the cache hierarchy. In this paper we present a technique for dynamic analysis of program data access behavior, which is then used to proactively guide the placement of data within the cache hierarchy in a location-sensitive manner. We introduce the concept of a macroblock, which allows us to feasibly characterize the memory locations accessed by a program, and a Memory Address Table, which performs the dynamic reference analysis. Our technique is fully compatible with existing Instruction Set Architectures. Results from detailed simulations of several integer programs show significant speedups.
Anterior approach to the cervicothoracic junction by unilateral or bilateral manubriotomy. A report of five cases.

The anterior aspect of the cervicothoracic junction, particularly from the seventh cervical to the fourth thoracic vertebrae, is a difficult area to approach surgically. The normal kyphosis of the upper thoracic segments requires a deep surgical field. The classic approach to the cervical spine described by Southwick and Robinson1 normally permits access to the cervicothoracic junction for simple spinal debridement or disc excision, but spinal instrumentation extending from the caudad cervical to the cephalad thoracic levels is usually not possible2,3. Both the supraclavicular approach4 and the high transthoracic approach4 do not allow simultaneous access to the caudad cervical and cephalad thoracic vertebrae. Such access may be needed when a patient has kyphosis of the cervicothoracic junction that requires an extensive strut graft and internal fixation. A number of different approaches to the cervicothoracic junction have been previously described5-11. Each approach has its advocates, but all approaches are associated with certain limitations. The full sternotomy, as described by Hodgson et al.7,8, affords an extensile exposure, but the lower half of the sternotomy exposure is not required. Limited exposures with excision of part of the clavicles provide only limited access, with associated morbidity due to excision of the interclavicular ligament and the sternoclavicular joint9,11. Other, more extensive exposures5-10 include osteotomy of the clavicle, which has a risk of nonunion. We modified the techniques of Hodgson et al.7,8 and Darling et al.6 by performing either a unilateral (L-shaped) or a bilateral (inverted T-shaped) manubriotomy. We found this approach to be useful in five patients who had a condition of the cervicothoracic junction ( Table I ). Four of the five patients were followed for more than two …
Big Spatial Data Processing Frameworks: Feature and Performance Evaluation

Nowadays, a vast amount of data is generated and collected every moment and often, this data has a spatial and/or temporal aspect. To analyze the massive data sets, big data platforms like Apache Hadoop MapReduce and Apache Spark emerged and extensions that take the spatial characteristics into account were created for them. In this paper, we analyze and compare existing solutions for spatial data processing on Hadoop and Spark. In our comparison, we investigate their features as well as their performances in a micro benchmark for spatial ﬁlter and join queries. Based on the results and our experiences with these frameworks, we outline the requirements for a general spatio-temporal benchmark for Big Spatial Data processing platforms and sketch ﬁrst solutions to the identiﬁed problems.
Major depression and dysthymia in children and adolescents: discriminant validity and differential consequences in a community sample.

OBJECTIVES To evaluate evidence, in a community sample, for discriminant validity between major depression (MDD) and dysthymia (Dy) in children and adolescents and to examine differential consequences of the 2 disorders for functioning. METHOD The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Methods for the Epidemiology of Child and Adolescent Mental Disorders (MECA) study consists of probability samples of youths. Data for this study are derived from interviews with 1,285 complete parent-youth pairs aged 9 to 17 years from 4 geographic areas in the United States. Youths with MDD were contrasted with those with Dy and those with both (MDD-Dy) on the NIMH Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children, Non-Clinician Children's Global Assessment Scale, Columbia Impairment Scale, and the Service Utilization and Risk Factors Module. RESULTS Groups with MDD, Dy, or MDD-Dy did not differ on sociodemographic, clinical, or family and life event variables. Youths with combined MDD-Dy were significantly less competent and more impaired than youths with either disorder alone. CONCLUSIONS The findings do not provide support for the differentiation of MDD and Dy but strongly suggest the importance of addressing the needs of youths who meet criteria for both MDD and Dy because this combination is likely to be both serious and disruptive of normal developmental processes.
Public perception, justification and motivation of development aid. The Feasibility of Peter Singer's Culture of Giving

En esta tesis se discuten y contrastan las implicaciones eticas, psicologicas y praticas del altruismo efectivo de Peter Singer con el fin de responder a la pregunta de que papel deben tener las donaciones y la recaudacion de fondos en el contexto del alivio de la pobreza extrema global. Se examinen las consideraciones del punto de vista maximalista moral de Singer, que se basa en la responsabilidad individual de cada cuidadano de los paises ricos de dedicar lo mas posible a la erradicacion de la pobreza extrema en apoyando las organizaciones mas efectivas con sus ingresos. Esta posicion es rechazada como demasiado exigente, ya que deja poco espacio para el desarrollo de la persona y de otras actividades valiosas. Per contra Singer capta una importante intuicion etica, que es que parece irresponsable que la riqueza global se distribuya de tal manera que parte de la ponlacion viva en la abundancia, mientras que otras sufren. Se demustra que hay maneras en que las instituciones globales y el estilo de vida occidental prejudica a la gente que vive en los paises en via de desarollo. Entonces se puede establecer un deber de actuar contra la pobreza global. Pero un analisis estadistico de los niveles de donaciones y del comportamiento de los donantes demuestra que las apelaciones como la de Singer pueden aumentar las donaciones solo de manera temporal. Las limites cognitivas y intuiciones conflictivas prevaleceran a largo plazo. Nuestra simpatia se centra en individuos que percibimos como cercano, inocente y similar a nosotros. La caridad puede incluso ser perjudical, ya que a menudo se centra en las simpatias y opiniones de los donantes. Por lo tanto, la posicion de Singer ? que la evaluacion de proyectos es necesaria ? es todavia mas importante. Un analisis comparativo de las diferentes intervenciones concluye que el apoyo financiero directo es la mejor manera de ayudar a la gente en pobreza extrema. Debido a los mecanismos psicologicos y una desconfianza institucionalizada hacia los pobres, es poco probable que sea financiado a traves de donaciones. Se propone como una solucion un impuesto global sobre riqueza extrema, empresas multinacionales y recursos naturales.
Control Strategy for Modular Multilevel Converters With Redundant Sub-modules Using Energy Reallocation

By analyzing the topology and mathematical model of modular multilevel converters (MMCs), a control scheme based on the energy reallocation is proposed to control the MMC with redundant submodules. This control scheme is not only appropriate for the MMC in normal state but also applicable to the MMC in submodules fault state. Considering the circulating currents characteristics of the MMC in submodule fault state, a phase energy controller using proportional integral resonance control is presented, and the circulating currents can be suppressed. As the power loss of the MMCs is closely related to switching frequency of the IGBTs, a new modulation strategy based on arm current feedback is proposed in this paper, and this strategy considers not only the switching frequency's effect but also the collector current's effect on the switching losses. Taking the grid-connected MMC rectifier as an example, the effectiveness of the comprehensive control scheme and the new modulation strategy are verified by simulations and experiments on a MMC prototype.
Targeting endoplasmic reticulum stress in liver disease

ABSTRACT Introduction: The accumulation of unfolded protein in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) initiates an unfolded protein response (UPR) via three signal transduction cascades, which involve protein kinase RNA-like ER kinase (PERK), inositol requiring enzyme-1α (IRE1α) and activating transcription factor-6α (ATF6α). An ER stress response is observed in nearly all physiologies related to acute and chronic liver disease and therapeutic targeting of the mechanisms implicated in UPR signaling have attracted considerable attention. Areas covered: This review focuses on the correlation between ER stress and liver disease and the possible targets which may drive the potential for novel therapeutic intervention. Expert Commentary: We describe pathways which are involved in UPR signaling and their potential correlation with various liver diseases and underlying mechanisms which may present opportunities for novel therapeutic strategies are discussed.