Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evidence for a Shared Instrument Prototype from English, Dutch, and German

Abstract At conceptual and linguistic levels of cognition, events are said to be represented in terms of abstract categories, for example, the sentence Jackie cut the bagel with a knife encodes the categories Agent (i.e., Jackie) and Patient (i.e., the bagel). In this paper, we ask whether entities such as the knife are also represented in terms of such a category (often labeled “Instrument”) and, if so, whether this category has a prototype structure. We hypothesized the Proto‐instrument is a tool: a physical object manipulated by an intentional agent to affect a change in another individual or object. To test this, we asked speakers of English, Dutch, and German to complete an event description task and a sentence acceptability judgment task in which events were viewed with more or less prototypical instruments. We found broad similarities in how English, Dutch, and German partition the semantic space of instrumental events, suggesting there is a shared concept of the Instrument category. However, there was no evidence to support the specific hypothesis that tools are the core of the Instrument category—instead, our results suggest the most prototypical Instrument is the direct extension of an intentional agent. This paper supports theoretical frameworks where thematic roles are analyzed in terms of prototypes and suggests new avenues of research on how instrumental category structure differs across linguistic and conceptual domains.
Changes in positive and negative voice content in cognitive‐behavioural therapy for distressing voices

Abstract Objective People who experience distressing voices frequently report negative (e.g. abusive or threatening) voice content and this is a key driver of distress. There has also been recognition that positive (e.g. reassuring, or guiding) voice content contributes to better outcomes. Despite this, voice content has been neglected as a standalone outcome in evaluations of psychological therapies for distressing voices. We aimed to examine whether a modular cognitive‐behavioural therapy (CBT) intervention for voices led to changes in negative and positive voice content. Design/Methods In a naturalistic, uncontrolled pre‐ and post‐ service evaluation study, 32 clients at an outpatient psychology service for distressing voices received eight sessions of CBT for distressing voices and completed self‐report measures of negative and positive voice content at pre‐, mid‐ and post‐ therapy. Results There was no significant change in positive voice content. There was no significant change in negative voice content from pre‐ to post‐therapy; however, there was a significant change in negative voice content between mid and post‐treatment in which the cognitive therapy component was delivered. The CBT treatment was also associated with significant changes in routinely reported outcomes of voice‐related distress and voice severity. Conclusions The cognitive component of CBT for distressing voices may be associated with changes in negative, but not positive, voice content. There may be benefit to enhancing these effects by developing treatments targeting specific processes involved in negative and positive voice content and further exploring efficacy in well‐powered, controlled trials with more comprehensive measures of voice content.
Comparing modelled with self-reported travel time and the used versus the nearest facility: modelling geographic accessibility to family planning outlets in Kenya

Introduction Geographic access to family planning (FP) services has been characterised through a variety of proximity metrics. However, there is little evidence on the validity of women’s self-reported compared with modelled travel time to an FP outlet, or between different distance measures. Methods We used data from four urban sites in Kenya. A longitudinal FP outlet census was directly linked with data from cross-sectional FP user surveys. We combined characteristics of outlet visited to obtain FP, transport mode, self-reported travel time and location of households and outlets with data on road networks, elevation, land use and travel barriers within a cost-distance algorithm to compute modelled travel time, route and Euclidean distance between households and outlets. We compared modelled and self-reported travel times, Euclidean and route distances and the use of visited versus nearest facility. Results 931 contraceptive users were directly linked to their FP source. Self-reported travel times were consistently and significantly higher than modelled times, with greater differences for those using vehicles rather than walking. Modelled and Euclidean distances were similar in the four geographies. 20% of women used their nearest FP outlet while 52% went to their nearest outlet when conditional on it offering their most recently used FP method. Conclusion In urban areas with high facility density and good road connectivity, over half of FP users visited their nearest outlet with their chosen method available. In these settings, Euclidean distances were sufficient to characterise geographic proximity; however, reported and modelled travel times differed across all sites.
First Trimester Cardiac Biomarkers among Women with Peripartum Cardiomyopathy: Are There Early Clues to This Late-Pregnancy Phenomenon?

Abstract Objective Whether biomarkers may enable early identification of women who develop peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) prior to disease onset remains a question of interest. Study Design A retrospective nested case–control study was conducted to determine whether first trimester N -terminal pro-B type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) or high sensitivity cardiac troponin I (hs-cTnI) differed among women who developed PPCM versus unaffected pregnancies. Cases were matched to unaffected women by age, race, parity, and gestational age of sample (control A) and then further by blood pressure and pregnancy weight gain (control B). Results First trimester NT-proBNP concentrations were numerically higher among women who subsequently developed PPCM (116 pg/mL [83–177]) as compared with women in control A (56.1 pg/mL [38.7–118.7], p = 0.3) or control B (37.6 [23.3 − 53.8], p <0.05). A higher proportion of women who subsequently developed PPCM (50%) had detectable levels of hs-cTnI as compared with control A (0%, p = 0.03) or control B (18.8%, p = 0.52). Among both cases and controls, hs-cTnI values were low and often below the limit of detection. Conclusion There were differences in first trimester NT-proBNP and hs-cTnI concentrations between women who subsequently developed PPCM and those who did not, raising the possibility the early pregnancy subclinical myocardial dysfunction may be associated with this late-pregnancy disease. Key Points First trimester NT-proBNP is numerically higher among women who subsequently develop PPCM. First trimester hs-cTnI was nominally higher among women who developed PPCM versus those who did not. A significant proportion of normal pregnant women have undetectable hs-cTnI.
The anchored separated representation for high dimensional problems

The Anchored Separated Representation for High Dimensional Problems Matthew Tin Chun Li Master of Applied Science Graduate Department of Aerospace Engineering University of Toronto 2015 Although topics in science and engineering that involve dimensions beyond x-y-z appear obscure, in truth numerous examples abound. For instance, uncertainty quantification requires approximating and integrating functions with many inputs, while the study of non-linear random vibrations involve PDEs whose dimensionality scales with the system’s degrees of freedom. Such problems are numerically difficult since the application of classical mesh based techniques incur computational demands that scale exponentially with the dimension; this is the curse of dimensionality. In this thesis we formulate two tractable numerical methods that circumvent this curse by assuming sparsity in the model representation. The first method, the anchored separated representation, is a provably minimal decomposition for functions that are sparse in a multiplicative sense. The second method is an iterative extension for approximating functions that are sparse in rank. We illustrate with numerical examples the application of both methods to a broad class of high dimensional problems.
Escherichia coli pathotype contamination in raw canine diets.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the prevalence of Escherichia coli contamination and E coli virulence gene signatures consistent with known E coli pathotypes in commercially available conventional diets and raw-meat-based diets (RMBDs). SAMPLE 40 diets in total (19 conventionally cooked kibble or canned diets and 21 RMBDs) obtained from retail stores or online distributors. PROCEDURES Each diet was cultured for E coli contamination in 3 separate container locations using standard microbiological techniques. Further characterization of E coli isolates was performed by polymerase chain reaction-based pathotype and virulence gene analysis. RESULTS Conventional diets were negative in all culture based testing. In RMBDs, bacterial contamination was similar to previous reports in the veterinary literature, with 66% (14/21) of the RMBDs having positive cultures for E coli. Among the 191 confirmed E coli isolates from these diets, 31.9% (61/191) were positive for virulence genes. Categorized by pathotype, isolates presumptively belonging to the neonatal meningitis E coli pathotype (15.7% [30/191]) were the most common, followed by enterohemorrhagic E coli (10.5% [20/191]), enteropathogenic E coli (5.8% [11/191]), uropathogenic E coli (2.1% [4/191]), and diffusely adherent E coli (1.6% [3/191]). CLINICAL RELEVANCE The results of this study reaffirmed the bacteriologic risks previously associated with RMBDs. Furthermore, potential zoonotic concerns associated with identified pathotypes in these diets may have significant consequences for owners in the animals' home environment. Potential risk associated with bacterial contamination should be addressed in animals fed RMBDs.
Biochar immobilized bacteria enhances nitrogen removal capability of tidal flow constructed wetlands.

To improve the nitrogen removal (NR) capability of tidal flow constructed wetlands (TFCWs) for treatment of saline wastewater, biochar, produced from Cyperus alternifolius, was used to adsorb and immobilize a salt tolerant aerobic denitrifying bacteria (Zobellella sp. A63), and then was added as a substrate into the systems. Under low (2:1) or high (6:1) C/N ratio, the removal of NO3--N and total nitrogen (TN) in the biochar immobilized bacteria (BIB) dosing system (TFCW3) was significantly higher (q < 0.05) than that in the untreated system (TFCW1) and the biochar dosing system (TFCW2). At low C/N ratio, the removal rates of NO3--N, TN and chemical oxygen demand (COD) of TFCW3 were 68.2%, 72.6% and 82.5%, respectively, 15-20% higher than TFCW1 and 5-10% higher than TFCW2. When C/N was further increased to 6, the pollutant removal efficiency of each system was greatly improved, but the removal rate of TFCW3 for NO3--N/TN was still nearly 10% and 5% higher than TFCW1 and TFCW2, respectively. Microbial community analysis showed that aerobic denitrifying bacteria, sulfate reducing bacteria and sulfur-driven denitrifiers (DNSOB) played the most important role of NR in TFCWs. Moreover, biochar bacterial agent significantly increased the abundances of genes involved in NR. The total copy numbers of bacterial 16S rRNA, nirS, nirK, drsA and drsB genes in the TFCW3 were 1.1- to 3.76-fold higher than those in the TFCW1; Especially at low C/N ratio, the copy number of drsA and drsB in the upper layer of TFCW3 were 85.5 and 455 times that of TFCW1, respectively. Thus, BIB provide a more feasible and effective amendment for constructed wetlands to improve the N removal of the saline wastewater by enhancing the microbial NR capacity mainly via aerobic and sulfur autotrophic denitrification.
Comparison of Dimensional Changes Between CAD-CAM Milled Complete Denture Bases and 3D Printed Complete Denture Bases: An In Vitro Study.

PURPOSE This study compared the dimensional changes between the computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing (CAD-CAM) milled complete denture bases (CDBs) and three-dimensional (3D) printed CDBs. MATERIALS AND METHODS One maxillary completely edentulous stone model was fabricated with three reference points at the incisive papilla, right molar, and left molar areas marked as X, Y, and Z, respectively. It was scanned to produce a standard tessellation language (STL) file, which was imported to a metal milling machine software to produce the metal model. This metal model was used to fabricate 30 CDBs for analysis in this study. The CDBs were divided into three groups (n = 10 each) according to the fabrication method used as follows: Group 1, CAD-CAM milled CDBs; Group 2, 3D printed CDBs; and Group 3, conventional compression molded CDBs. The CDBs of all groups were scanned after fabrication, and the dimensional changes in each were evaluated by two methods. The first was the two-dimensional evaluation method that involved linear measurement of the distances between the reference points (X-Y, X-Z, and Y-Z) of the scanned reference cast and dentures. The second method was the 3D evaluation method that involved the superimposition of the STL files of the dentures on the STL file of the reference cast. Data were calculated and were statistically analyzed using one-way analysis of variance and Tukey's pairwise post hoc tests. RESULTS There was a significant difference in the dimensional accuracy between the CAD-CAM milled, 3D printed, and conventional compression molded CDBs (P<0.05). CONCLUSION The dimensional accuracy of the CAD-CAM milling system in complete denture fabrication is superior to that of the compression molding and 3D printing systems. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Evaluation of the corpus callosum using magnetic resonance imaging histogram analysis in autism spectrum disorder

Background Histogram analysis is a texture analysis method that can be used in medical images. Quantitative values of the intensity of images can be obtained with histogram analysis. It aimed to evaluate corpus callosum in magnetic resonance images (MRIs) using histogram analysis of pediatric patients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to compare them with healthy controls. Methods This study included 29 children with ASD and 29 healthy children with normal brain MRI. High-resolution three-dimensional turbo field echo images were obtained with a 1.5 T scanner device for brain magnetic resonance imaging. On the corpus callosum in the sagittal T1-weighted images obtained, mean gray level density (mean), the standard deviation, median, minimum, maximum, entropy, variance, skewness, kurtosis, uniformity, size % L, size % M, size % U, and percentile parameters were measured. Results In ASD patients, mean, standard deviation, maximum, median, variance, entropy, 25%, 75%, 90%, 97%, and 99% values were found to be lower than the control group, and size % U value was higher. In addition, the corpus callosum area was significantly lower in the ASD compared to the controls. Conclusion According to our study, corpus callosum of patients with ASD showed differences compared to healthy controls by histogram analysis, even though they were seen as normal in brain MRI. We think that histogram analysis can be used to evaluate possibly affected areas of brain in ASD patients.
An evaluation of newborn hearing screening brochures and parental understanding of screening result terminology

Abstract Objective To assess the suitability of newborn hearing screening brochures by evaluating current state-level brochures and pregnant people’s understanding of screening result terminology. Design In Study 1, state-level brochures were evaluated based on readability, design, picture appropriateness, and use of the word “refer. ” In Study 2, pregnant people completed a questionnaire that queried their understanding of and expected anxiety about three newborn hearing screening outcomes (“refer,” “did not pass,” and “pass”). Study sample In Study 1, 59 newborn hearing screening brochures were analysed. In Study 2, 43 pregnant people completed surveys during a prenatal appointment. Results Most of the brochures were found deficient on at least one element. Thirty percent of brochures used the word “refer” to indicate a hearing screening failure; yet, fewer than half of participants understood its meaning. Ratings of expected anxiety were highest in response to the term “did not pass. ” Conclusions Based on four study criteria of brochure suitability, 88% of available state-level newborn hearing screening brochures should be modified to make them readily understandable by a broad educational demographic. Discretion in use of the term “refer” should be made when indicating screening results, because the term is not readily understood.
Multi-CSAR: a web server for scaffolding contigs using multiple reference genomes

Abstract Multi-CSAR is a web server that can efficiently and more accurately order and orient the contigs in the assembly of a target genome into larger scaffolds based on multiple reference genomes. Given a target genome and multiple reference genomes, Multi-CSAR first identifies sequence markers shared between the target genome and each reference genome, then utilizes these sequence markers to compute a scaffold for the target genome based on each single reference genome, and finally combines all the single reference-derived scaffolds into a multiple reference-derived scaffold. To run Multi-CSAR, the users need to upload a target genome to be scaffolded and one or more reference genomes in multi-FASTA format. The users can also choose to use the ‘weighting scheme of reference genomes’ for Multi-CSAR to automatically calculate different weights for the reference genomes and choose either ‘NUCmer on nucleotides’ or ‘PROmer on translated amino acids’ for Multi-CSAR to identify sequence markers. In the output page, Multi-CSAR displays its multiple reference-derived scaffold in two graphical representations (i.e. Circos plot and dotplot) for the users to visually validate the correctness of scaffolded contigs and in a tabular representation to further validate the scaffold in detail. Multi-CSAR is available online at http://genome.cs. nthu.edu. tw/Multi-CSAR/.
Vertical fate of Cd in soil under phytoremediation by Indian mustard and tall fescue

Abstract Soil columns were designed to investigate the vertical migration of Cd in Indian mustard (IM) and tall fescue (TF). The TF biomass was greater than the IM biomass, and the Cd content in IM was higher in the shoots but lower in the roots than that in TF. Both IM and TF released N and absorbed P and K during outdoor growth, differing from the results of the previous experiment in which plants were grown in greenhouses. TF was more absorbent and had less upward attraction than IM. The IM soil was more favorable for Cd precipitation than was the TF soil. Leaching remained the dominant effect, with only 2.28–3.40% and 2.65–3.90% of Cd absorbed by IM and TF, respectively. The present study on the vertical migration of Cd provides new insights into the phytoremediation mechanisms of IM and TF. HIGHLIGHTS Vertical migration rate of Cd in soil was calculated. Cd precipitation in IM soil was greater and more excellence than TF soil. TF was more absorbent and had less upward attraction than IM. Leaching remained the dominant effect with only small absorb.
Inhibition of Crmp1 Phosphorylation at Ser522 Ameliorates Motor Function and Neuronal Pathology in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Model Mice

Abstract Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a rapidly progressive and fatal neurodegenerative disorder that affects upper and lower motor neurons; however, its pathomechanism has not been fully elucidated. Using a comprehensive phosphoproteomic approach, we have identified elevated phosphorylation of Collapsin response mediator protein 1 (Crmp1) at serine 522 in the lumbar spinal cord of ALS model mice overexpressing a human superoxide dismutase mutant (SOD1G93A). We investigated the effects of Crmp1 phosphorylation and depletion in SOD1G93A mice using Crmp1S522A (Ser522→Ala) knock-in (Crmp1ki/ki) mice in which the S522 phosphorylation site was abolished and Crmp1 knock-out (Crmp1−/−) mice, respectively. Crmp1ki/ki/SOD1G93A mice showed longer latency to fall in a rotarod test while Crmp1−/−/SOD1G93A mice showed shorter latency compared with SOD1G93A mice. Survival was prolonged in Crmp1ki/ki/SOD1G93A mice but not in Crmp1−/−/SOD1G93A mice. In agreement with these phenotypic findings, residual motor neurons and innervated neuromuscular junctions (NMJs) were comparatively well-preserved in Crmp1ki/ki/SOD1G93A mice without affecting microglial and astroglial pathology. Pathway analysis of proteome alterations showed that the sirtuin signaling pathway had opposite effects in Crmp1ki/ki/SOD1G93A and Crmp1−/−/SOD1G93A mice. Our study indicates that modifying CRMP1 phosphorylation is a potential therapeutic strategy for ALS.
How do UK general practice staff understand and manage prediabetes? A focus group study

Background Preventing type 2 diabetes is a national priority; one aspect is the identification and active management of ‘prediabetes’ through lifestyle change. Aim To explore what primary care clinicians understood by ‘prediabetes’, how they communicated this diagnosis to people, how they delivered lifestyle advice, and their views on barriers to lifestyle change. Design & setting Three focus groups were undertaken with 25 individuals from primary care teams (GPs, nurses, and healthcare assistants) in Newham, a deprived and ethnically diverse part of London, UK. Method Recordings were transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically before integrating social and behavioural science theories. Results Focus groups participants described four main influences on their management of prediabetes in the consultation: social determinants, clinical aspects of diagnosis and management, patient motivation and behaviour change, and long-term care. Since most felt unable to address social determinants such as poverty, discussions with patients tended to focus on attempts to change individual behaviours and achieve particular numerical targets, with limited attention to the social context in which behaviours would play out. Conclusion Type two diabetes prevention efforts in general practice may fail to address the upstream causes of this disease. A narrow focus on numerical targets and decontextualised behaviours overlooks the social complexity of human behaviour and lifestyle choices. Within the consultation, the authors recommend that greater attention is paid to discussing the social context and meaning of particular behaviours. Beyond the consultation, collaboration between primary care clinicians, public health bodies, and local governments is required to address community-level constraints to behaviour change.