Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Opportunities and Challenges for Using Automatic Human Affect Analysis in Consumer Research

The ability to automatically assess emotional responses via contact-free video recording taps into a rapidly growing market aimed at predicting consumer choices. If consumer attention and engagement are measurable in a reliable and accessible manner, relevant marketing decisions could be informed by objective data. Although significant advances have been made in automatic affect recognition, several practical and theoretical issues remain largely unresolved. These concern the lack of cross-system validation, a historical emphasis of posed over spontaneous expressions, as well as more fundamental issues regarding the weak association between subjective experience and facial expressions. To address these limitations, the present paper argues that extant commercial and free facial expression classifiers should be rigorously validated in cross-system research. Furthermore, academics and practitioners must better leverage fine-grained emotional response dynamics, with stronger emphasis on understanding naturally occurring spontaneous expressions, and in naturalistic choice settings. We posit that applied consumer research might be better situated to examine facial behavior in socio-emotional contexts rather than decontextualized, laboratory studies, and highlight how AHAA can be successfully employed in this context. Also, facial activity should be considered less as a single outcome variable, and more as a starting point for further analyses. Implications of this approach and potential obstacles that need to be overcome are discussed within the context of consumer research.
The Effect of Domestication and Experience on the Social Interaction of Dogs and Wolves With a Human Companion

The results of current wolf-dog studies on human-directed behaviors seem to suggest that domestication has acted on dogs’ general attitudes and not on specific socio-cognitive skills. A recent hypothesis suggests that domestication may have increased dogs’ overall sociability (hypersociability hypothesis). The aim of the present study was to test one aspect of the hypersociability hypothesis, whereby dogs should be more interested in social human contact compared to wolves, and to investigate the relative roles of both domestication and experience on the value that dogs attribute to human social contact. We compared equally raised wolves and dogs kept at the Wolf Science Center (WSCw, WSCd) but also dogs with different human socialization experiences i.e., pet dogs and free-ranging dogs. We presented subjects with a simple test, divided in two phases: in the Pre-test phase animals were exposed to two people in succession. One person invited the animal for a social/cuddle session (contact provider) and the other fed the animal (food provider). In the Test phase, animals could choose which of the two persons to approach, when both stood in a neutral posture. We directly compared WSCd with WSCw and free-ranging dogs with pet dogs. We found that in the Pre-test, WSCd and free-ranging dogs spent more time with the contact provider than WSCw and pet dogs, respectively. The results regarding the free-ranging dog and pet dog comparison were surprising, hence we conducted a follow-up testing pet dogs in a familiar, distraction-free area. Free-ranging dogs and this group of pet dogs did not differ in the time spent cuddling. In the test phase, WSCd were more likely than WSCw to approach the two experimenters. However, neither for the WSCd-WSCw comparison nor for the free-ranging dogs-pet dogs comparison, we could find a clear preference for one person over the other. Our findings support the idea that domestication has affected dogs’ behavior in terms of their overall interest in being in proximity with a human partner also in case of dogs with a relatively sparse socialization experience (free-ranging dogs). However, it remains unclear what the driving motivation to interact with the human may be.
Comparison of Donepezil, Memantine, Melatonin, and Liuwei Dihuang Decoction on Behavioral and Immune Endocrine Responses of Aged Senescence-Accelerated Mouse Resistant 1 Mice

Aging is a natural biological process associated with cognitive decline and neuroendocrine–immune system changes; the neuroendocrine–immune system plays crucial role in brain aging and neurodegeneration, and it is essential to discern beneficial attempts to delay the aging progress based on immunological aging. In this study, we have investigated the effects of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)—Liuwei Dihuang decoction (LW)—and donepezil, memantine, and melatonin on cognitive decline in aging mice. The aged SAMR1 mice received oral administration of donepezil (1mg/kg), memantine (10 mg/kg), melatonin (10 mg/kg), and LW (10 g/kg) for 3 months. A shuttle box, Morris water maze, and elevated-zero maze were performed to assess cognitive function, and flowcytometry, Luminex, and radioimmunoassay were performed to measure the lymphocyte subsets, inflammatory factors, and hormones. We observed that survival days of mice was increased with melatonin and LW, the anxiety behavior was significantly improved by memantine, melatonin, and LW treatment, active avoidance responses significantly improved by LW, donepezil, and memantine, the spatial learning ability was significantly improved by donepezil, and LW and melatonin were beneficial to the spatial memory of old mice. For immune function, LW increased CD4+ and CD4+CD28+ cells and reduced TNF-α, IL-1β, and G-CSF in plasma, and it also promoted the secretion of anti-inflammatory factors IL-4, IL-5, and IL-10 by regulating the active of Th2 cells in spleen. Donepezil and memantine exerted protective effects against CD4+CD28+ cell decrease caused by aging and reduced the pro-inflammatory factors TNF-α, IL-1β, and G-CSF in plasma. Melatonin could reverse CD8+CD28+ cell imbalances and increased B cells. For endocrine factors, LW increased TSH levels in the pituitary, and melatonin increased the GH level in blood. Our findings indicated that LW improved the cognitive decline in aging mice, and this might be associated with modulation of the active T cells and HPG axis hormones as well as increasing anti-inflammatory factors. Meanwhile, donepezil and memantine have advantages in regulating adaptive immunity, melatonin has advantages in the regulation of B cells and pituitary hormones, and LW exhibits a better effect on neuroendocrine immune function compared with the others from a holistic point of view. LW might be a potential therapeutic strategy for anti-aging-related syndromes, and it can also provide a value on medication guidance about drug combinations or treatment in clinic.
The Effects of Different Calcium Channel Blockers on Aldosterone-Producing Adenoma Cells

Purpose: The aim of this study is to examine the effects of different kinds of calcium channel blockers (CCBs) on primary aldosterone-producing adenoma (APA) mainly with KCNJ5 mutations. Primary cultured APA cells were treated with different calcium channel blockers (L/T type CCB benidipine, T-type CCB mibefradil and L-type CCB nifedipine), and aldosterone secretagogues with or without nifedipine. Aldosterone level, aldosterone synthase (CYP11B2) mRNA expression and cell proliferation were detected. The results showed that all three CCBs significantly inhibit aldosterone secretion and CYP11B2 mRNA expression. Benidipine was relatively more effective than mibefradil or nifedipine. In addition, only mibefradil marginally inhibited cell proliferation. Adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) had a much stronger effect in stimulating aldosterone secretion and promoting cell proliferation from APA's than angiotensin II (ATII). Different from ACTH and ATII, potassium had no effect. Nifedipine inhibited the basal and ACTH-, ATII-elicited aldosterone secretion. Twenty three of 24 APAs had somatic KCNJ5 mutation. In conclusion, benidipine, mibefradil and nifedipine significantly inhibit aldosterone secretion in primary cultured APA cells.
Adenosine Receptor Modulates Permissiveness of Baculovirus (Budded Virus) Infection via Regulation of Energy Metabolism in Bombyx mori

Although the modulation of host physiology has been interpreted as an essential process supporting baculovirus propagation, the requirement of energy supply for host antivirus reactions could not be ruled out. Our present study showed that metabolic induction upon AcMNPV (budded virus) infection of Bombyx mori stimulated virus clearance and production of the antivirus protein, gloverin. In addition, we demonstrated that adenosine receptor signaling (AdoR) played an important role in regulating such metabolic reprogramming upon baculovirus infection. By using a second lepidopteran model, Spodoptera frugiperda Sf-21 cells, we demonstrated that the glycolytic induction regulated by adenosine signaling was a conservative mechanism modulating the permissiveness of baculovirus infection. Another interesting finding in our present study is that both BmNPV and AcMNPV infection cause metabolic activation, but it appears that BmNPV infection moderates the level of ATP production, which is in contrast to a dramatic increase upon AcMNPV infection. We identified potential AdoR miRNAs induced by BmNPV infection and concluded that BmNPV may attempt to minimize metabolic activation by suppressing adenosine signaling and further decreasing the host's anti-baculovirus response. Our present study shows that activation of energy synthesis by adenosine signaling upon baculovirus infection is a host physiological response that is essential for supporting the innate immune response against infection.
Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder Using Central-Moment Features From Low- and High-Order Dynamic Resting-State Functional Connectivity Networks

The sliding-window-based dynamic functional connectivity networks (D-FCNs) derived from resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) are effective methods for diagnosing various neurological diseases, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, traditional D-FCNs are low-order networks based on pairwise correlation between brain regions, thus overlooking high-level interactions across multiple regions of interest (ROIs). Moreover, D-FCNs suffer from the temporal mismatching issue, i.e., subnetworks in the same temporal window do not have temporal correspondence across different subjects. To address the above problems, we first construct a novel high-order D-FCNs based on the principle of “correlation’s correlation” to further explore the higher level and more complex interaction relationships among multiple ROIs. Furthermore, we propose to use a central-moment method to extract temporal-invariance properties contained in either low- or high-order D-FCNs. Finally, we design and train an ensemble classifier by fusing the features extracted from conventional FCN, low-order D-FCNs, and high-order D-FCNs for the diagnosis of ASD and normal control subjects. Our method achieved the best ASD classification accuracy (83%), and our results revealed the features extracted from different networks fingerprinting the autistic brain at different connectional levels.
Old Age-Related Stereotypes of Preschool Children

Ageist attitudes have been discovered in children as early as 3 years. However, so far very few studies, especially during the last decade, have examined age-related stereotypes in preschool children. Available questionnaires adapted to this population are scarce. Our study was designed to probe old age-related views in 3- to 6-year-old children (n = 126) using both an open-ended Image-of-Aging question and a new pilot tool, called Young Children’s Views of Older People (YCVOP), based on a visual analog scale illustrated by cartoons. Parental views of older people were also collected. The YCVOP was easy to use and internally consistent. Both that scale and the Image-of-Aging question showed globally favorable views of older people in preschool children, especially regarding warmth and smartness traits. However, assessment of physical capacity and independence tended to be negative. The overall results were in line with the low-competence, high-warmth stereotype of older people that is common in young adults and school-age children and was found in parents in the current study (Stereotype Content Model). Strikingly, children’s views did not correlate with those of their parents’: The children’s responses appeared more personal and emotional, while the parents tended to adopt global stereotypes. The preschoolers’ views of older people were much more positive in those who spontaneously evoked their grandparents when asked to think of an old person. In conclusion, this study, introducing a new visual tool to assess age-related stereotypes, suggests ambivalent views of older adults start in preschool children and are influenced by grandparents relationships.
Prokaryotic Diversity and Composition of Sediments From Prydz Bay, the Antarctic Peninsula Region, and the Ross Sea, Southern Ocean

The V3–V4 hypervariable regions of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene were analyzed to assess prokaryotic diversity and community compositions within 19 surface sediment samples collected from three different regions (depth: 250–3,548 m) of Prydz Bay, the Antarctic Peninsula region, and the Ross Sea. In our results, we characterized 1,079,709 clean tag sequences representing 43,227 operational taxonomic units (OTUs, 97% similarity). The prokaryotic community distribution exhibited obvious geographical differences, and the sequences formed three distinct clusters according to the samples’ origins. In general, the biodiversity of Prydz Bay was higher than those of the Antarctic Peninsula region and the Ross Sea, and there were similar prokaryotic communities in different geographic locations. The most dominant clades in the prokaryotic communities were Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Thaumarchaeota, Oxyphotobacteria, Deinococcus-Thermus, Firmicutes, Acidobacteria, Fusobacteria, and Planctomycetes, but unique prokaryotic community compositions were found in each of the sampling regions. Our results also demonstrated that the prokaryotic diversity and community distribution were mainly influenced by geographical and physicochemical factors, such as Zn, V, Na, K, water depth, and especially geographical distance (longitude variation of sample location) and Ba ion content. Moreover, geochemical factors such as nutrient contents (TC, P, and Ca) also played important roles in prokaryotic diversity and community distribution. This represents the first report that Ba ion content has an obvious effect on prokaryotic diversity and community distribution in Southern Ocean sediments.
Contrasting Responses to Stress Displayed by Tobacco Overexpressing an Algal Plastid Terminal Oxidase in the Chloroplast

The plastid terminal oxidase (PTOX) – an interfacial diiron carboxylate protein found in the thylakoid membranes of chloroplasts – oxidizes plastoquinol and reduces molecular oxygen to water. It is believed to play a physiologically important role in the response of some plant species to light and salt (NaCl) stress by diverting excess electrons to oxygen thereby protecting photosystem II (PSII) from photodamage. PTOX is therefore a candidate for engineering stress tolerance in crop plants. Previously, we used chloroplast transformation technology to over express PTOX1 from the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii in tobacco (generating line Nt-PTOX-OE). Contrary to expectation, growth of Nt-PTOX-OE plants was more sensitive to light stress. Here we have examined in detail the effects of PTOX1 on photosynthesis in Nt-PTOX-OE tobacco plants grown at two different light intensities. Under ‘low light’ (50 μmol photons m–2 s–1) conditions, Nt-PTOX-OE and WT plants showed similar photosynthetic activities. In contrast, under ‘high light’ (125 μmol photons m–2 s–1) conditions, Nt-PTOX-OE showed less PSII activity than WT while photosystem I (PSI) activity was unaffected. Nt-PTOX-OE grown under high light also failed to increase the chlorophyll a/b ratio and the maximum rate of CO2 assimilation compared to low-light grown plants, suggesting a defect in acclimation. In contrast, Nt-PTOX-OE plants showed much better germination, root length, and shoot biomass accumulation than WT when exposed to high levels of NaCl and showed better recovery and less chlorophyll bleaching after NaCl stress when grown hydroponically. Overall, our results strengthen the link between PTOX and the resistance of plants to salt stress.
Doping Use in High-School Students: Measuring Attitudes, Self-Efficacy, and Moral Disengagement Across Genders and Countries

The main aim of this research was to test the factorial validity and measurement invariance across genders and countries of a set of instruments designed to assess high-school students’ attitudes, self-regulatory efficacy, and moral disengagement with regard to doping. A second aim was to examine the criterion and predictive validity of these scales. In total, 402 high-school students from Italy, Romania, and Turkey (40.0, 25.1, and 34.9%, respectively; M age 14.78 years old; SD = 1.04; 52.8% females) completed questionnaires measuring attitudes toward doping, self-regulatory efficacy in refraining from doping, doping-specific moral disengagement, and intention to use doping substances. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) supported our expectations with regard to the factor structure of the scales. Multigroup CFAs provided evidence for the full equivalence of the measures across males and females and partial equivalence of the measures across the three countries. The results of the latent mean comparison showed that male students had lower levels of self-regulatory efficacy than females and that Romanian and Turkish students had higher levels of moral disengagement and lower level of self-regulatory efficacy than Italian students. Finally, the results of a structural equation modeling supported the hypothesis that the proposed model predicted students’ intentions to use doping, thus generally confirming the criterion and the predictive validity of the measures. These findings suggested the validity of a set of instruments measuring attitudes toward doping, self-regulatory efficacy to refrain from doping, and doping-specific moral disengagement in high-school students from a cross-gender and a cross-cultural perspective and provided meaningful estimates of the differences in the three factors between males and females as well as between Italian, Romanian, and Turkish high-school students.
Craniomaxillofacial Trauma in Dogs—Part I: Fracture Location, Morphology and Etiology

Treatment of craniomaxillofacial (CMF) trauma in dogs often requires a multidisciplinary approach and a thorough understanding of the CMF skeletal structures involved. The aim of this retrospective study was to use a large number of CT studies of dogs evaluated for CMF trauma and to describe fracture location and morphology in relation to demographic data and trauma etiology. The medical records and CT studies of 165 dogs over a 10-year period were evaluated. The skeletal location of CMF fractures as well as the severity of displacement and fragmentation of each fracture was recorded. Patient demographic data and trauma etiology were also recorded. Animal bites accounted for the majority of trauma (50%), followed by unknown trauma (15%), vehicular accidents (13%), and blunt force trauma (13%). Small dogs, <10 kg, and juveniles accounted for the majority of patients (41.8 and 25.5%, respectively). The most likely bone or region to be fractured was the maxillary bone, followed by the premolar and molar regions of the mandible. Up to 37 bones or regions were fractured in any given patient, with an average of 8.2 fractured bones or regions per dog. The most commonly fractured location varied according to trauma etiology. Specifically, vehicular accidents tended to result in more locations with a higher probability of fracture than other trauma types. A major conclusion from this study is that every bone of the CMF region was fractured in at least one case and many cases had a large number of fractured regions. Thus, the need for comprehensive assessment of the entire CMF region, preferably using CT, is underscored.
Tissue Engineering and Biomaterial Strategies to Elicit Endogenous Neuronal Replacement in the Brain

Neurogenesis in the postnatal mammalian brain is known to occur in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus and the subventricular zone. These neurogenic niches serve as endogenous sources of neural precursor cells that could potentially replace neurons that have been lost or damaged throughout the brain. As an example, manipulation of the subventricular zone to augment neurogenesis has become a popular strategy for attempting to replace neurons that have been lost due to acute brain injury or neurodegenerative disease. In this review article, we describe current experimental strategies to enhance the regenerative potential of endogenous neural precursor cell sources by enhancing cell proliferation in neurogenic regions and/or redirecting migration, including pharmacological, biomaterial, and tissue engineering strategies. In particular, we discuss a novel replacement strategy based on exogenously biofabricated “living scaffolds” that could enhance and redirect endogenous neuroblast migration from the subventricular zone to specified regions throughout the brain. This approach utilizes the first implantable, biomimetic tissue-engineered rostral migratory stream, thereby leveraging the brain's natural mechanism for sustained neuronal replacement by replicating the structure and function of the native rostral migratory stream. Across all these strategies, we discuss several challenges that need to be overcome to successfully harness endogenous neural precursor cells to promote nervous system repair and functional restoration. With further development, the diverse and innovative tissue engineering and biomaterial strategies explored in this review have the potential to facilitate functional neuronal replacement to mitigate neurological and psychiatric symptoms caused by injury, developmental disorders, or neurodegenerative disease.