Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Emotional state dynamics impacts temporal memory

Emotional fluctuations are ubiquitous in everyday life, but precisely how they sculpt the temporal organization of memories remains unclear. Here, we designed a novel task—the Emotion Boundary Task—wherein participants viewed sequences of negative and neutral images surrounded by a color border. We manipulated perceptual context (border color), emotional valence, as well as the direction of emotional-valence shifts (i.e., shifts from neutral-to-negative and negative-to-neutral events) to create encoding events comprised of image sequences with a shared perceptual and/or emotional context. We measured memory for temporal order and subjectively remembered temporal distances for images processed within and across events. Negative images processed within events were remembered as closer in time compared to neutral ones. In contrast, temporal distance was remembered as longer for images spanning neutral-to-negative shifts— suggesting temporal dilation in memory with the onset of a negative event following a previously-neutral state. The extent of this negative-picture induced temporal dilation in memory correlated with dispositional negativity across individuals. Lastly, temporal order memory was enhanced for recently presented negative (compared to neutral) images. These findings suggest that emotional-state dynamics matters when considering emotion-temporal memory interactions: While persistent negative events may compress subjectively remembered time, dynamic shifts from neutral to negative events produce temporal dilation in memory, which may be relevant for adaptive emotional functioning.
Modulation of prefrontal couplings by prior belief-related responses in ventromedial prefrontal cortex

Humans and animals can maintain constant payoffs in an uncertain environment by steadily re-evaluating and flexibly adjusting current strategy, which largely depends on the interactions between the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and mediodorsal thalamus (MD). While the ventromedial PFC (vmPFC) represents the level of uncertainty (i.e., prior belief about external states), it remains unclear how the brain recruits the PFC-MD network to re-evaluate decision strategy based on the uncertainty. Here, we leverage nonlinear dynamic causal modeling on fMRI data to test how prior belief-dependent activity in vmPFC gates the information flow in the PFC-MD network when individuals switch their decision strategy. We show that the prior belief-related responses in vmPFC had a modulatory influence on the connections from dorsolateral PFC (dlPFC) to both, lateral orbitofrontal (lOFC) and MD. Bayesian parameter averaging revealed that only the connection from the dlPFC to lOFC surpassed the significant threshold, which indicates that the weaker the prior belief, the less was the inhibitory influence of the vmPFC on the strength of effective connections from dlPFC to lOFC. These findings suggest that the vmPFC acts as a gatekeeper for the recruitment of processing resources to re-evaluate the decision strategy in situations of high uncertainty. Author Summary Prefrontal cortex (PFC) together with the mediodorsal thalamus (MD) jointly establish computations critical for behavioral adaptations. While the task uncertainty (i.e., prior belief) was represented by the ventromedial PFC (vmPFC), it remains unclear how the PFC-MD network reallocates the processing resources to re-evaluate decision strategy under uncertainty. Here we filled this gap by leveraging the Bayesian hierarchical modelling and nonlinear dynamic causal modelling in an associative learning task. We found that in situations of high uncertainty, the prior belief-related responses in vmPFC significantly strengthened effective connectivity from the dorsolateral PFC to the orbitofrontal cortex, but not to the MD. The findings provide evidence for the role of vmPFC in driving the re-evaluation of the decision strategy during behavioral adaptations in situations of uncertainty.
Antenatal Diagnosis of Congenital Thoracic Malformations: Early Surgery, Late Surgery, or No Surgery?

Today, congenital thoracic malformations (CTMs), which comprise a spectrum of anomalies rather than separate entities, are frequently detected on routine antenatal ultrasound. However, with similar appearances of different congenital lung and nonpulmonary lesions, a deﬁnitive diagnosis cannot usually be established ante-natally with absolute certainty. The natural history of CTMs is extremely variable. Large lesions may cause serious complications in the fetus, necessitating treatment in utero. Such prenatal therapy, however, is only required in a small minority of fetuses. Many lesions decrease in size before birth, and some are no longer detectable by ultrasound or chest radiography in the newborn period. All patients with prenatally detected CTMs require thorough postnatal evaluation, including a chest computed tomographic scan. Postnatally, the clinical appearance of CTMs can vary from immediate respiratory distress at birth to an incidental ﬁnding on a chest radiograph at any age. A few patients with large lesions require emergency or urgent surgery in the neonatal period. Furthermore, surgery is the accepted standard of care for all symptomatic lesions. Many children, however, will be asymptomatic at birth and in the neonatal period, and there is controversy as to the management of these newborns. Some authors recommend expectant long-term management of asymptomatic lesions, in particular congenital lobar emphysema and extrapulmonary sequestration. Most authors advocate elective resection of all cystic adenomatoid malformations, broncho-genic cysts, and intrapulmonary sequestrations because of the risk of complications, such as infection, hemorrhage, pneumothorax, sudden respiratory compromise, and malignant transformation. Elective lobectomy appears to be very well tolerated and is the most prevalent surgical method. Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery was reported to be safe and effective. The timing of surgery in asymptomatic patients is not well delineated, with recommendations ranging from 1 month to 2 years of age. Some
Hepatotoxicity of Iron Overload: Mechanisms of Iron-Induced Hepatic Fibrogenesis

While iron is a vital requirement for normal cellular physiology, excessive intestinal absorption of iron as seen in hemochromatosis leads to its deposition in parenchymal cells of various organs such as the liver, heart, and pancreas, resulting in cellular toxicity, tissue injury, and organ ﬁbrosis. Cellular injury is induced by iron-generated oxyradicals and peroxidation of lipid membranes. In the liver, lipid peroxidation results in damage to hepatocellular organelles, such as mitochondria and lysosomes, which is thought to contribute to hepatocyte necrosis and apoptosis, and ultimately lead to the development of hepatic ﬁbrogenesis. Hepatic stellate cells are central to the development of hepatic ﬁbrosis, as they can be activated into collagen-producing myoﬁbroblasts. Numerous potential stimuli associated with hepatic iron overload and iron-induced hepatocellular injury have been assessed in an attempt to explain stellate cell transformation in hemochromatosis. Stellate cell activation and ﬁbrosis appear to be regulated by a series of events involving cellular interaction between resident and nonresident cells of the liver, the sequestration of free iron versus the transport and storage of mobilizable iron, and extracellular matrix remodeling as well as intracellular signaling events associated with inﬂammatory and ﬁbrogenic cytokines.
Galactic foreground science: Faraday Tomography at low frequencies

Abstract This contribution describes how low-frequency radio-spectropolarimetric imaging as done for Epoch of Reionization detection is used to investigate the nearby Galactic interstellar medium. The method of Faraday Tomography allows disentangling of every line of sight into various components in Faraday depth, which is a proxy for density-weighted magnetic field. I discuss instrumental biases and side effects of this method, and early results it has yielded.
Worldwide Perspective of the Quality of Care Provided to Hospitalized Patients with Community-Acquired Pneumonia: Results from the CAPO International Cohort Study

National organizations from multiple countries have developed evidence-based recommendations for the management of hospitalized patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). Good quality of care in CAP can be deﬁned as patient care provided in compliance with evidence-based recommendations. To evaluate the quality of care provided to hospitalized patients with CAP, an international network of investigators is collecting local data on quality indicators from 36 hospitals in 14 countries. Participating countries in four regions are performing worldwide benchmarking: North America (region I), Europe (region II), Latin America (region III), and Asia and Africa (region IV). The quality of care provided to 2750 hospitalized patients with CAP was evaluated in the following areas: diagnosis, hospitalization, respiratory isolation, microbiological workup, empirical therapy, switch therapy, hospital discharge, and prevention. The greatest opportunities for improvement were identiﬁed in the areas of prevention of CAP, initial empirical therapy, and switch from intravenous to oral antibiotics. This study indicates that the care recommended by national guidelines is not being appropriately delivered to adults in all regions of the world. New interventions to advance quality of care are necessary to improve clinical and economic outcomes in CAP.
A Robust Feature Extraction and Parameterized Fitting Algorithm for Bottom‐Side Oblique and Vertical Incidence Ionograms

Automatic processing of ionograms to extract ionospheric propagation characteristics and electron density profile parameters is an important enabling step toward constructing real time data‐assimilative models of the ionosphere. A robust and reliable feature extraction and fitting algorithm that supports both oblique and vertical incidence ionograms has recently been developed to enhance the regional ionospheric model for Australia's Jindalee Operational Radar Network. The so‐called DST‐IIP algorithm is an autoscaling technique based on a constrained quasi‐parabolic segment profile, which is modified from its climatological estimate to fit a set of key peak, edge, and line features in the ionogram image, representing the E, sporadic‐E (Es), and F2 layers. The F2 fitting, in particular, is performed in the ionogram domain, using analytic ray‐tracing and homing to produce a synthetic trace that reproduces the image features. Following thorough testing on a large database of midlatitude Australian ionograms, the DST‐IIP algorithm now runs routinely on‐board DST Group's Digital Oblique Receiving System. This paper provides an overview of the technique, along with sample results and performance statistics.
Adoption Age Effects on English Language Acquisition: Infants and Toddlers from China

Children adopted from China represent the single largest group of internationally adopted children in this country. Because the adoptive families typically do not speak any Chinese language or dialect, most of these children experience an abrupt shift in their language environment. How age of adoption affects the course of English language development of children adopted from China is the focus of this study. All of the children in this study were either infants or toddlers at the time of adoption and all came from the same orphanage. The results showed that the older children (toddlers) were at both an advantage and a disadvantage when it came to English language development. The advantage of being older was that they learned faster. The disadvantage of being older was that there was more for them to learn to become age-appropriate in their English language development. There was, however, no evidence to suggest that the language switch from a Chinese-to an English-language environment was a formid-able obstacle for either the infants or the toddlers.
Should Antibiotic Combinations Be Used to Treat Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia?

This review summarizes the rationale for using or not using combinations of antibiotics to treat ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). Patients suffering from VAP require empirical antibiotic treatment before the identiﬁcation of an etiologic agent. Most treatment failures are related to inappropriate initial antibiotic treatment with insufﬁcient coverage of multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogens. Guidelines require initial (empirical) treatment of VAP with a combination of antibiotics. However, this contributes to overexposure to antibiotics and further emergence of MDR microorganisms. We review the rationale for using combinations of antibiotics to cover MDR gram-negatives. However, clinical data supporting this strategy are limited. In fact, systematic combination therapy may have contributed to the overuse of antibiotics and to the emergence of MDR microorganisms. Nevertheless, combination therapy is our best strategy to treat severe infections due to suspected MDR microorganisms. Optimally, therapeutic strategies should be sufﬁciently broad to cover relevant pathogens while minimizing the risk for emergence of antimicrobial resistance.
Molecular Diagnostic Approach to Liver Tissue as an Ancillary Tool for Liver Histopathology

Diagnostic liver histopathology is currently based on the microscopic assessment of morphological and immunohistochemical features in a biopsy. In other ﬁelds of diagnostic pathology, it has been shown that the diagnostic process can be improved by the incorporation of ancillary molecular techniques and this will most likely also occur in liver pathology in the future. This article gives an overview of several liver diseases for which the diagnosis could be improved by the addition of a molecular technique to the classical histopathologic working method. For each of these diseases, the most promising molecular techniques are discussed. It is very likely that ancillary molecular techniques will be applied in routine practice to improve diagnosis and prognostication of liver tumors in the foreseeable future.
Variability of satellite-derived sea surface height anomaly, and its relationship with Bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus) catch in the Eastern Indian Ocean

Abstract We analyzed the variability of sea surface height anomaly (SSHA), and its relationship with Bigeye tuna catch in the eastern Indian Ocean (EIO) off of Java Island (Indonesia). Both time series of SSHA and Bigeye tuna HR show dominant signals corresponding to the annual and inter-annual variability. During the southeast monsoon the wind blows along southern coast of Java and produces coastal upwelling. This causes sea level to drop due to an offshore Ekman transport, and thermocline becomes shallower. During El Niño and Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) positive phase, upwelling is more intense and a large cold eddy forms in the EIO off Java. Generally, Bigeye tuna HR tends to increase during upwelling seasons and becomes even higher during El Niño and the positive phase of the IOD. The increased Bigeye tuna HR during the southeast monsoon, El Niño and the IOD positive phase can be attributed to the shallower thermocline depth and the enhancement of biological productivity due to development of eddies and strong upwelling in the EIO. The spatial distribution of SSHA indicates that Bigeye tuna catches are abundant in the frontal regions between cold and warm eddies.
Bronchial and Pulmonary Arterial and Venous Interventions

With advancement of interventional techniques and increasing complexity of patients, the involvement of interventional radiologists in the pulmonary critical care (PCC) setting has increased in recent years. Particularly, interventional radiologists have evolved to play a signiﬁcant role in treating patients with vascular pathologies such as massive pulmonary embolism. In this article, we discuss management of these critically ill patients using four pulmonary and bronchial vascular inter-ventional procedures: bronchial artery embolization in the setting of hemoptysis; pulmonary artery embolization in the setting of the treatment of AVM; thrombectomy and thrombolysis of the pulmonary arteries for the treatment of pulmonary embolism
A Preliminary Risk Assessment of Geomagnetically Induced Currents over the Italian Territory

Geomagnetically induced currents (GICs), occurring as a result of space weather events, represent a hazard for the secure and safe operation of electrical power grids and oil/gas pipelines. The most exposed countries are those at high latitudes where, in the past, the occurrence of intense GICs has seriously damaged part of their power networks. However, very powerful space weather events have resulted in intense GICs also at middle and low latitudes. The GIC index is a proxy of the geoelectric field, and it can be estimated straightforwardly from magnetic observatory data. In this work, the GIC index is computed to investigate the possible impact of space weather events on the Italian territory. We first calculate the GIC index using data from the magnetic observatories of Castello Tesino, Duronia, and Lampedusa, together covering the whole Italian latitudinal extension, and show its behavior during the 2015 St. Patrick's day storm. Then, we consider measurements from the two longest running Italian magnetic observatories, that is, Castello Tesino and L'Aquila, and estimate the GIC index over more than 20 years of observations. A preliminary characterization of the general risk to which the Italian power grid network is exposed is given. Results show that during periods of high magnetic activity, potentially detrimental GICs could flow through the power network, especially at the highest Italian latitudes that are characterized by a low conductivity lithosphere.
Laser on single-crystal ZnSe:Fe2+ with high pulse radiation energy at room temperature

A laser on single-crystal ZnSe:Fe2+ was investigated at room temperature. Pumping of the laser was performed by a pulsed electrodischarge HF laser. In experiments, the spot diameter of HF laser radiation incident to the surface of the crystal varied from 5.6 to 17 mm. Generation energy of ~1.2 J was obtained and the efficiency with respect to the energy arriving at the crystal was ηin ≈ 25%. The slope efficiency with respect to the energy absorbed in the crystal at large spot dimensions was ηslope = 45%.
Progress in Respiratory Virus Vaccine Development

Viral respiratory infections cause signiﬁcant morbidity and mortality in infants and young children as well as in at-risk adults and the elderly. Although many viral pathogens are capable of causing respiratory disease, vaccine development has to focus on a limited number of pathogens, such as those that commonly cause serious lower respiratory illness (LRI). Whereas inﬂuenza virus vaccines have been available for some time (see the review by Clark and Lynch in this issue), vaccines against other medically important viruses such as respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), the parainﬂuenza viruses (PIVs), and metapneu-movirus (MPVs) are not available. This review aims to provide a brief update on investigational vaccines against RSV, the PIVs, and MPV that have been evaluated in clinical trials or are currently in clinical development.
MR Spectroscopy in Diagnosis and Neurological Decision-Making

One of the most proliﬁc chemical and anatomical imaging techniques of recent decades, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), includes the ability to noninvasively assess neurochemical changes with magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). Practical concerns are paramount in applying MRS, such as what the manufacturer provides with a routine MRI scanner, what methods are well tolerated by patients, and what has proved most diagnostically productive over a 25 year span of preliminary exploration of the technology. In this review, the authors explain the technical and neurochemical aspects of MRS and critically discuss its clinical neuroimaging applications.
Second order optimality conditions for optimal control problems on Riemannian manifolds

This work is concerned with optimal control problems on Riemannian manifolds, for which two typical cases are considered. The first case is when the endpoint is free. For this case, the control set is assumed to be a separable metric space. By introducing suitable dual equations, which depend on the curvature tensor of the manifold, we establish the second order necessary and sufficient optimality conditions of integral form. Particularly, when the control set is a Polish space, the second order necessary condition is reduced to a pointwise form. As a key preliminary result and also an interesting byproduct, we derive a geometric lemma, which may have some independent interest. The second case is when the endpoint is fixed. For this more difficult case, the control set is assumed to be open in a Euclidian space, and we obtain the second order necessary and sufficient optimality conditions, in which the curvature tensor also appears explicitly. Our optimality conditions can be used to recover the following famous geometry result: the shortest geodesic connecting two fixed points on a Riemannian manifold satisfies the second variation of energy; while the existing optimality conditions in control literatures fail to give the same result.
Surgical Management of Lung Cancer

Lung cancer continues to be the most frequent cancer-related cause of death in the United States and throughout the world. Surgical resection is currently the most effective treatment in early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer, and historically the only treatment approach achieving signiﬁcant cure rates. In advanced disease, therapeutic approaches involving chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy are utilized to improve prognosis, either as part of a neoadjuvant treatment approach followed by surgical resection or as deﬁnitive treatment alone. The role of surgery in locally advanced or metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer remains controversial, with more studies required to further reﬁne the application of modern surgical techniques. For any treatment approach, thorough preoperative staging as well as careful patient selection are essential to assess the beneﬁts and risks involved for the patient. Surgical management of early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer and its role in more advanced disease are discussed in this review.
Towards Unveiling the Genetics of Neurodegenerative Diseases

In addition to sharing several clinical, pathologic, and molecular characteristics, many neurodegenerative disorders show extensive familial histories suggesting a substantial contribution of genetic factors to disease causation and progression. In this review, the authors provide overviews of the status of current genetics research in Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, frontotemporal dementia, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Across these four disorders alone, nearly 60 different loci can now be considered as established to be involved in pathogenesis for both Mendelian and non-Mendelian disease forms. In addition to reviewing the most compelling of these loci based on current data from genome-wide association studies and next-generation sequencing projects, genes that have been linked to more than one disease entity are emphasized. Such overlapping ﬁndings could point to one or several common genetic and mechanistic denominators for neuronal death in neurodegeneration. Unveiling the identity of these and other genetic factors will not only improve our understanding of the underlying pathophysiology, but may also lead to new avenues for preventing and treating these devastating diseases.