Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Racial and Educational Disparities in Cumulative Exposure to Hardships of the 2008 Great Recession and Inflammation

ABSTRACT Objective This cross-sectional analysis examined self-reported economic hardships of the 2008 Great Recession, race/ethnicity, educational attainment, and psychological well-being (PWB) as predictors of systemic inflammatory physiology at midlife. We also tested for differential vulnerability in the relationship between recession hardship and inflammatory physiology by race/ethnicity, education, and PWB. Methods Adults from the Midlife in the United States Refresher sample completed a survey and biomedical assessments after the recession (n = 592 non-Hispanic White respondents, n = 158 Black/African American respondents, n = 108 respondents with other race/ethnicity). Cumulative recession hardship was the sum of financial, housing, and employment-related events. Outcomes included circulating levels of interleukin 6 and C-reactive protein. General linear regression models tested main effects interactions between primary predictor variables. Results Educational attainment was inversely associated with recession hardships (b = −0.18, 95% confidence interval = −0.26 to −0.11, p < .001). Black/African American respondents reported more recession hardships than White respondents (b = 1.17, 95% confidence interval = 0.67 to 1.68, p < .001). More recession hardships predicted higher levels of interleukin 6 (b = 0.06, p < .001) and C-reactive protein (b = 0.04, p = .004). Analyses did not support race/ethnicity, education, and PWB as moderators of the association between recession hardship and inflammatory markers. Conclusions Race/ethnicity and education independently predicted disparities in cumulative recession hardship exposure. Recession hardship predicted higher blood levels of inflammatory proteins associated with long-term health. The lack of findings for differential vulnerability in the relationship between recession hardship and inflammatory markers by race/ethnicity, education, or PWB was possibly due to the limited sample size.
Postpartum psychosis: A proposed treatment algorithm

Background: Postpartum psychosis (PPP) is a psychiatric emergency that generally warrants acute inpatient care. PPP is marked by the sudden onset of affective and psychotic symptoms with a rapid deterioration in mental state. Evidence suggests that PPP is a discrete disorder on the bipolar disorder spectrum with a distinct treatment profile and prognosis. Methods: We conducted a PubMed database search for various terms involving PPP and its treatment and included peer-reviewed articles published in English. Objective: To provide a treatment algorithm for the management of PPP based on available evidence. Results: Pharmacological therapy is the mainstay of PPP management in the acute phase. Evidence points to a combination of antipsychotics and lithium in the acute treatment of PPP. Electroconvulsive therapy can offer a rapid treatment response where required. Lithium appears to have the best evidence for relapse prevention and prophylaxis in PPP. Psychoeducation is essential and psychosocial interventions used in bipolar disorder may be effective in PPP. Conclusion: Early detection and prompt treatment with antipsychotics and lithium, followed by maintenance treatment with lithium, is associated with a favourable prognosis in PPP.
Transcriptional Readthrough Interrupts Boundary Function in Drosophila

In higher eukaryotes, distance enhancer-promoter interactions are organized by topologically associated domains, tethering elements, and chromatin insulators/boundaries. While insulators/boundaries play a central role in chromosome organization, the mechanisms regulating their functions are largely unknown. In the studies reported here, we have taken advantage of the well-characterized Drosophila bithorax complex (BX-C) to study one potential mechanism for controlling boundary function. The regulatory domains of BX-C are flanked by boundaries, which block crosstalk with their neighboring domains and also support long-distance interactions between the regulatory domains and their target gene. As many lncRNAs have been found in BX-C, we asked whether readthrough transcription (RT) can impact boundary function. For this purpose, we took advantage of two BX-C boundary replacement platforms, Fab-7attP50 and F2attP, in which the Fab-7 and Fub boundaries, respectively, are deleted and replaced with an attP site. We introduced boundary elements, promoters, and polyadenylation signals arranged in different combinations and then assayed for boundary function. Our results show that RT can interfere with boundary activity. Since lncRNAs represent a significant fraction of Pol II transcripts in multicellular eukaryotes, it is therefore possible that RT may be a widely used mechanism to alter boundary function and regulation of gene expression.
Low-Rank Approximation via Sparse Frequent Directions

In this paper, we establish a new randomized algorithm named Sparse Frequent Directions (SpFD) for low-rank approximation problems. It combines techniques of frequent directions (FD) and sparse subspace embedding (SpEmb). Given a matrix $A\in\mathbb{R}^{n\times d}$ ($n\geq d$) and let $A_k$ denote the best rank-$k$ approximation of $A$. Our algorithm is able to find a sketch $B\in\mathbb{R}^{\ell\times d}$ with $\ell = O(k/(\varepsilon\delta))$, and a matrix $V\in\mathbb{R}^{d\times \ell}$ formed by the right singular vectors of $B$, such that with probability at least $1-\delta$, \[ \norm{A- \Pi_{B, k}^F(A)}_F^2 \left( = \norm{A-[AV]_kV^T}_F^2\right) \leq \norm{A-A_k}_F^2 + \varepsilon\norm{A}_F^2 \] with running time \[O(nnz(A)+dk^3/(\varepsilon^3\delta^2)). \] In comparison with FD and SpEmb, SpFD is more efficient in terms of time complexity and it is able to reach high accuracy with relatively small sketch size. SpFD can be seen as an integration of FD and SpEmb in favor of FD's accuracy and SpEmb's efficiency which is supported by theoretical analysis and experimental results.
Using qualitative distance metrics in space syntax and configurational analyses

One interesting result from space syntactic and graph theoretic configurational analyses are their ability to correlate with pedestrian and vehicular movement flows. These analyses function by representing the built environment as a graph of interconnected spaces. Network centrality measures, such as betweenness, closeness and choice, are then applied to quantify each space’s role in the network and, in this case, suggest the potential amount of movement. That said, because these three network measures are based on the calculation of shortest routes and attempt to model human movement, they should incorporate how we judge distances. In traditional space syntax distance is measured by the angular change accrued at junctions along a route and elsewhere it is often measured as the physical length of the route. However, and hitherto incorporated in these analyses, given the limitations of human cognition (e.g. Simon 1979), there must be some constraint to the cognitive precision of this spatial information. This idea of cognitive spatial imprecision is not new (e.g. Dutta 1988; see also Montello 2007) and a number of qualitative models have been produced that attempt to describe or emulate human spatial judgements. For example, Montello and Frank (1996) used simulations to test the ability of angular models to emulate real-life angle estimations, including an eight 45° cone model where angles are approximated to the nearest 45°. For qualitative physical distance the research is less developed however, for instance, Hernandez et al. (1995) gives examples of metric distances being split into three, four or five categories. Based on this, the present study tests variations of qualitative angular and physical distance metrics by comparing their ability in network analyses to correlate with data on 409 pedestrian and 297 vehicular count observations in central London. The results indicate qualitative metrics can increase the correlation between network measures and movement flows. More specifically, angular qualitative metrics significantly improved a number of correlations between the network measures and pedestrian movement. For example, the eight 45° cone model improved the correlation for angular choice analyses of axial segments from 0.55 to 0.60. However, the tested qualitative metrics rarely or not at all (significantly) improved the correlations between angular analyses and vehicular movement and between metric network analyses and both types of movement. Reasons for these results are discussed with suggestions for future research.
Attribute-Aware Deep Hashing With Self-Consistency for Large-Scale Fine-Grained Image Retrieval

Our work focuses on tackling large-scale fine-grained image retrieval as ranking the images depicting the concept of interests (i.e., the same sub-category labels) highest based on the fine-grained details in the query. It is desirable to alleviate the challenges of both fine-grained nature of small inter-class variations with large intra-class variations and explosive growth of fine-grained data for such a practical task. In this paper, we propose attribute-aware hashing networks with self-consistency for generating attribute-aware hash codes to not only make the retrieval process efficient, but also establish explicit correspondences between hash codes and visual attributes. Specifically, based on the captured visual representations by attention, we develop an encoder-decoder structure network of a reconstruction task to unsupervisedly distill high-level attribute-specific vectors from the appearance-specific visual representations without attribute annotations. Our models are also equipped with a feature decorrelation constraint upon these attribute vectors to strengthen their representative abilities. Then, driven by preserving original entities’ similarity, the required hash codes can be generated from these attribute-specific vectors and thus become attribute-aware. Furthermore, to combat simplicity bias in deep hashing, we consider the model design from the perspective of the self-consistency principle and propose to further enhance models’ self-consistency by equipping an additional image reconstruction path. Comprehensive quantitative experiments under diverse empirical settings on six fine-grained retrieval datasets and two generic retrieval datasets show the superiority of our models over competing methods. Moreover, qualitative results demonstrate that not only the obtained hash codes can strongly correspond to certain kinds of crucial properties of fine-grained objects, but also our self-consistency designs can effectively overcome simplicity bias in fine-grained hashing.
Description of natal down of the ostrich (Struthio camelus) and comparison with common quail (Coturnix coturnix): Developmental and evolutionary implications

Natal down is a feather stage that differs in both form and function from the definitive feathers of adult birds. It has a simpler structure that has been speculated to be similar to the body coverings of non‐avian dinosaurs. However, inference of the evolution of natal down has been limited by our understanding of its structural variation in extant birds. Most descriptive work has focused on neognathous birds, limiting our knowledge of the full diversity of feathers in extant taxa. Here, we describe the natal down of a post‐hatch ostrich (Struthio camelus) and compare it to that of a post‐hatch quail (Coturnix coturnix). We confirm the presence of featherless spaces (apteria) in S. camelus and the lack of barbules on the tips of natal down in both species. We also find differences between dorsal and ventral natal down structures, such as barbule density in S. camelus and the extent of the bare portion of the barb in both species. Surprisingly, we do not find that the neoptiles of either species follow the ideal morphologies for increasing insulation. Finally, we hypothesize that the different barb types present in S. camelus natal down result from a large addition of new barb ridges during development, which is not known except in feathers with a rachis. These results have implications for our understanding of how structure informs function and development in understudied feather types, such as those shared by non‐avian dinosaurs.
Proactive and reactive language control in bilingual language production revealed by decoding sustained potentials and electroencephalography oscillations

Adopting highly sensitive multivariate electroencephalography (EEG) and alpha‐band decoding analyses, the present study investigated proactive and reactive language control during bilingual language production. In a language‐switching task, Chinese–English bilinguals were asked to name pictures based on visually presented cues. EEG and alpha‐band decoding accuracy associated with switch and non‐switch trials were used as indicators for inhibition over the non‐target language. Multivariate EEG decoding analyses showed that the decoding accuracy in L1 but not in L2, was above chance level shortly after cue onset. In addition, alpha‐band decoding results showed that the decoding accuracy in L1 rose above chance level in an early time window and a late time window locked to the stimulus. Together, these asymmetric patterns of decoding accuracy indicate that both proactive and reactive attentional control over the dominant L1 are exerted during bilingual word production, with a possibility of overlap between two control mechanisms. We addressed theoretical implications based on these findings for bilingual language control models.
The VLPFC-Engaged Voluntary Emotion Regulation: Combined TMS-fMRI Evidence for the Neural Circuit of Cognitive Reappraisal

A clear understanding of the neural circuit underlying emotion regulation (ER) is important for both basic and translational research. However, a lack of evidence based on combined neuroimaging and neuromodulation techniques calls into question (1) whether the change of prefrontal-subcortical activity intrinsically and causally contributes to the ER effect; and (2) whether the prefrontal control system directly modulates the subcortical affective system. Accordingly, we combined fMRI recordings with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to map the causal connections between the PFC and subcortical affective structures (amygdala and insula). A total of 117 human adult participants (57 males and 60 females) were included in the study. The results revealed that TMS-induced ventrolateral PFC (VLPFC) facilitation led to enhanced activity in the VLPFC and ventromedial PFC (VMPFC) as well as attenuated activity in the amygdala and insula during reappraisal but not during nonreappraisal (i.e., baseline). Moreover, the activated VLPFC intensified the prefrontal-subcortical couplings via the VMPFC during reappraisal only. This study provides combined TMS-fMRI evidence that downregulating negative emotion involves the prefrontal control system suppressing the subcortical affective system, with the VMPFC serving as a crucial hub within the VLPFC-subcortical network, suggesting an indirect pathway model of the ER circuit. Our findings outline potential protocols for improving ER ability by intensifying the VLPFC-VMPFC coupling in patients with mood and anxiety disorders. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Using fMRI to examine the TMS effect, we uncovered that the opposite neural changes in prefrontal (enhanced) and subcortical (attenuated) regions are not a byproduct of emotion regulation (ER); instead, this prefrontal-subcortical activity per se causally contributes to the ER effect. Furthermore, using TMS to amplify the neural changes within the ER circuit, the “bridge” role of the VMPFC is highlighted under the reappraisal versus nonreappraisal contrast. This “perturb-and-measure” approach overcomes the correlational nature of fMRI data, helping us to identify brain regions that causally support reappraisal (the VLPFC and VMPFC) and those that are modulated by reappraisal (the amygdala and insula). The uncovered ER circuit is important for understanding the neural systems underlying reappraisal and valuable for translational research.
Interpretation Of Stellar Metallicity Distribution

The dispersion in metal abundances of stars of a given age is similar to that in the abundance distribution of dwarfs with lifetimes greater than the age of the Galaxy. Thus the latter distribution cannot be correctly interpreted unless the former dispersion is ~aken into account. With this consideration, dynamical models for the formation of the Galaxy by collapse, and models for chemical evolution that consider accretion of gas shed by halo stars, no longer predict too few moderately metal-poor G-K dwarfs in the solar neighborhood.
Time Course of Proteolysis Biomarker Responses to Resistance, High-Intensity Interval, and Concurrent Exercise Bouts

Abstract Godwin, JS, Telles, GD, Vechin, FC, Conceição, MS, Ugrinowitsch, C, Roberts, MD, and Libardi, CA. Time course of proteolysis biomarker responses to resistance, high-intensity interval, and concurrent exercise bouts. J Strength Cond Res 37(12): 2326–2332, 2023—Concurrent exercise (CE) combines resistance exercise (RE) and high-intensity interval exercise (HIIE) in the same training routine, eliciting hypertrophy, strength, and cardiovascular benefits over time. Some studies suggest that CE training may hamper muscle hypertrophy and strength adaptations compared with RE training alone. However, the underlying mechanisms related to protein breakdown are not well understood. The purpose of this study was to examine how a bout of RE, HIIE, or CE affected ubiquitin-proteasome and calpain activity and the expression of a few associated genes, markers of skeletal muscle proteolysis. Nine untrained male subjects completed 1 bout of RE (4 sets of 8–12 reps), HIIE (12 × 1 minute sprints at V̇o2peak minimum velocity), and CE (RE followed by HIIE), in a crossover design, separated by 1-week washout periods. Muscle biopsies were obtained from the vastus lateralis before (Pre), immediately post, 4 hours (4 hours), and 8 hours (8 hours) after exercise. FBXO32 mRNA expression increased immediately after exercise (main time effect; p < 0.05), and RE and CE presented significant overall values compared with HIIE (p < 0.05). There was a marginal time effect for calpain-2 mRNA expression (p < 0.05), with no differences between time points (p > 0.05). No significant changes occurred in TRIM63/MuRF-1 and FOXO3 mRNA expression, or 20S proteasome or calpain activities (p > 0.05). In conclusion, our findings suggest that 1 bout of CE does not promote greater changes in markers of skeletal muscle proteolysis compared with 1 bout of RE or HIIE.
Krankheitsprofile und Therapieeffekte von Patientinnen in Mutter-Kind-Einrichtungen

Within the setting of external quality management of mother-child rehabilitation centres the short-term and medium-term therapy effects as well as the disease profiles of patients were analysed. This paper is focused on the changing of the main symptoms among the mothers. The patients’ state of health is essentially characterized by physical and psychological exhaustion as well as by multimorbidity. It is strongly associated with the mothers’ current situation of living. Before intervention the patients’ health status was significantly impaired. Directly after the treatment high or very high therapy effects were found. All indicators are still higher after 6 months than they were at the beginning of the treatment. The results of a quasi-control population give evidence that these effects are caused by the treat-ment. First trends about the children treated show that behaviour problems can be reduced and the quality of life enhanced.
Dimension Reduction for Heterogeneous Populations of Oscillators

This dissertation discusses coarse-graining methods and applications for simulations of large heterogeneous populations of neurons. These simulations are structured as large coupled sets of ordinary differential equations describing the state evolution for many qualitatively similar, but quantitatively distinct individual units. In full generality, the direct coupling between these units is not all-to-all, but is mediated through a directed network. With sufficiently strong coupling and weak heterogeneity across the population, a common outcome for such simulations is synchronization. Here, the states of individual units, while not identical, can be neatly approximated by a smooth function of some latent independent variable. It is this smooth structure that we seek to exploit in this dissertation for both didactic and computational purposes. Briefly put, the polynomial chaos expansion (PCE) methods used in this dissertation are reminiscent of Fourier expansions, recast in a setting where the spatial domain is a parameter space rather than a physical space, and, as such, has an associated probability density. After describing methods and introducing a common terminology in chapter 1, We examine several applications in the remaining chapters, each illustrating different computational benefits and concerns for PCE. The applications range in complexity from the simple Kuramoto coupled phase oscillator model in chapter 3 to a biophysically realistic simulation of circadian rhythms with up to 23 dynamic quantities per unit. For each, some coarse computational technique(s) are demonstrated, including the computation of fixed points and limit cycles, continuation of branches of these invariant features, and the delineation of resonance horns for forced oscillations. It is our belief that such a coarse-graining approach is the correct way to summarize the state of coupled heterogeneous populations, and so must play a part in any scheme for efficiently simulating large populations.
Electrical line-shafting control for motor speed synchronisation using sliding mode controller and disturbance observer

This study presents a new observer-based electronic line-shafting (ELS) control scheme as motion synchronisation solution for motor drives in the industrial manufacturing process. To achieve better speed control performance for each ac motor drive, a sliding mode controller is proposed. This controller is designed based on a non-linear reaching law, which helps to settle the reaching time/chattering dilemma in the conventional sliding mode control (SMC) approach. In addition, a sliding mode observer is proposed to estimate lumped disturbances for the motor drives. Disturbance estimation results are fed forward as compensation parts for the SMC controller; in the meantime, they are transmitted to the virtual line-shafting drive to accurately reflect total system disturbances, thus to achieve high motor speed synchronisation precision. Effectiveness of the proposed ELS control scheme is verified by simulation results.