Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Paleomagnetic and palynologic analyses of Albian to Santonian strata at Bayn Shireh, Burkhant, and Khuren Dukh, eastern Gobi Desert, Mongolia

Abstract Cretaceous terrestrial sediments deposited in a series of intracratonic basins across the Gobi Desert region of southern Mongolia and northern China contain a unique and diverse vertebrate fauna. In 1996 an expedition jointly sponsored by the Mongolian Paleontological Center and the Hayashibara Museum of Natural Sciences revisited a number of famous vertebrate fossil localities in the eastern Gobi region of Mongolia and, as part of a broad geological and paleontological study, collected a series of paleomagnetic samples from measured sections at Bayn Shireh, Burkhant and Khuren Dukh, as well as from an unmeasured locality adjacent to Khuren Dukh. Expedition members also collected palynologic samples from Khuren Dukh and the adjacent locality. Paleomagnetic analysis shows that all the sites from which samples were collected display detrital remnant magnetization that is consistently normal in polarity. The measured Cretaceous magnetic directions are oriented to the east or northeast of the present day expected direction (declination 356.2°, inclination 65.2°), and they are wholly concordant with that expected for a mid-latitude Northern Hemisphere sampling locality, and with the directions for this period reported by other workers. These results, when considered in tandem with the known biostratigraphy, strongly suggest that the sedimentary deposits at all four localities in the eastern Gobi correlate to the normal polarity chron 34 (the Cretaceous Long Normal), which ranges in age from approximately 121 to 83.5 million years. Previous vertebrate, invertebrate and palynological data from Khuren Dukh suggest that the lower and middle parts of the stratigraphic interval exposed there (which have been assigned to the Shinekhudag Formation) are ‘Khukhtekian’ in age and correspond to the Aptian–Albian interval that can be broadly correlated to the older, Early Cretaceous part of the Cretaceous Long Normal, C34n. New palynologic data presented here indicate that these strata are no older than middle to late Albian. The rocks at Bayn Shireh (the Bayn Shireh Formation) have been assigned a ‘Baynshirenian’ biostratigraphic age that may range from Cenomanian to early Campanian. The magnetostratigraphy results presented here indicate that the strata at both the Bayn Shireh and Burkhant localities do not cross the Santonian/Campanian Stage boundary, however, as this is believed to lie at, or very near, the C34n/C33r reversal boundary. Thus, the Bayn Shireh Formation was most likely deposited near the end of the Cretaceous Long Normal Interval, no later than the latest Santonian.
Original Reports Physical Therapy Informed by Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (PACT) Versus Usual Care Physical Therapy for Adults With Chronic Low Back Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial

: Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is a major cause of global disability and improving management is essential. Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is a promising treatment for chronic pain but has not been modiﬁed for physical therapy. This randomized controlled trial (RCT) compared physical therapy informed by ACT (PACT) against standard care physical therapy for patients with CLBP. Patients with CLBP (duration ≥ 12 weeks, mean 3 years) were recruited from physical therapy clinics in 4 UK public hospitals. The Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMDQ) at 3 months’ postrandomization was the primary outcome. Two hundred forty-eight participants (59% female, mean age = 48) were recruited and 219 (88.3%) completed measures at 3 and/or 12 months’ follow-up. At 3 months, PACT participants reported better outcomes for disability (RMDQ mean difference = 1.07, p = .037, 95% CI = (cid:2) 2.08 to (cid:2) . 07, d = . 2), Patient Speciﬁc Functioning (p = .008), SF12 physical health (p = .032), and treatment credibility (p < .001). At 12 months’ follow-up, there were no signiﬁcant differences between groups. PACT was acceptable to patients and clinicians and feasible to deliver. therapists incorporated psychological principles successfully and treatment was delivered with high ( ≥ 80%) ﬁdelity. Our results may inform the management of CLBP, with potential beneﬁts for patients, health care providers, and society. Perspective: Psychologically informed physical therapy has great potential but there are challenges in implementation. The training and support included in the PACT trial enabled the intervention to be delivered as planned. This successfully reduced disability in the short but not long term. Findings could inform physical therapists’ treatment of CLBP. is term for group by time, the baseline level of the outcome variable and indicator variables for center, as this was a stratiﬁcation factor in the randomization. Residual diagnostics indicated heteroscedasticity for RMDQ. Standard errors that are robust to violations of the normality and homoscedasticity assumption were estimated by bootstrapping with 1,000 replications. Treatment effects were converted into standardized mean differences as Cohen’s d to allow comparison of effect sizes across outcomes. Costs associated with delivering PACT and UC were estimated using a combination of actual resource used, derived from logs kept by the physical therapists and NHS Executive reference costs for 2015/16.
New Methods in Cardiovascular Biology The NHLBI-Sponsored Consortium for preclinicAl assESsment of cARdioprotective Therapies (CAESAR) A New Paradigm for Rigorous, Accurate, and Reproducible Evaluation of Putative Infarct-Sparing Interventions in Mice, Rabbits, and Pigs

(2) we successfully established a multicenter structure to support CAESAR’s operations, including 2 surgical centers for each species, a Pathology Core (to assess infarct size), a Biomarker Core (to measure plasma cardiac troponin levels), and a Data Coordinating Center—all with the oversight of an external Protocol Review and Monitoring Committee. Conclusions: CAESAR is operational, generates reproducible results, can detect cardioprotection, and provides a mechanism for assessing potential infarct-sparing therapies with a level of rigor analogous to multicenter, randomized, controlled clinical trials. This is a revolutionary new approach to cardioprotection. Importantly, we provide state-of-the-art, detailed protocols (“CAESAR protocols”) for measuring infarct size in mice, rabbits, and pigs in a manner that is rigorous, accurate, and reproducible. ( Circ Res . 2015;116:572-586. DOI: 10.1161/ CIRCRESAHA.116.305462.) infarct size and cTnI levels was assessed by linear regression, Pearson correlation coefficients, and graphical data analyses. infarct (Inf), ventricular areas were determined with a dual-stain technique as described in the Methods section of article. There no difference in RR/LV between control and IPC; however, IPC significantly reduced Inf/RR. cardiac damage with a different method, plasma levels of cardiac troponin I were determined with a mouse-specific commercial ELISA kit.
Activation and Desensitization of Nicotinic ␣7-type Acetylcholine Receptors by Benzylidene Anabaseines and Nicotine

Nicotinic receptor activation is inextricably linked to desensiti-zation. This duality affects our ability to develop useful thera-peutics targeting nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR). Nicotine and some ␣7-selective experimental partial agonists produce a transient activation of ␣7 receptors followed by a period of prolonged residual inhibition or desensitization (RID). The object of the present study was to determine whether RID was primarily due to prolonged desensitization or due to channel block. To make this determination, we used agents that varied significantly in their production of RID and two ␣7-selective positive allosteric modulators (PAMs): 5-hydroxyin-dole (5HI), a type 1 PAM that does not prevent desensitization; and
Modeling 3‐D artificial ionospheric ducts

The injection of powerful HF waves into the ionosphere leads to strong electron heating followed by a pressure perturbation, which can drive electrons along the field line to the conjugate side, creating what is known as an artificial duct. The electron temperature along the duct is above the ambient temperature; the electron density is depleted on the heating side and increased on the conjugate side. Duct formation due to HF heating has previously been studied using a modified version of SAMI2 (Sami2 is Another Model of the Ionosphere). We use a similarly modified version of SAMI3 to examine the effects of zonal E × B drifts on interhemispheric ducts created by heating over Arecibo. We found that the longitudinal E × B drifts, particularly those caused by the zonal neutral winds, significantly suppress the effects of HF heating on the conjugate side, reducing the temperature and density increases by about 90% and 75%, respectively.
Menstrual and reproductive factors, and hormonal contraception use: associations with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in a pooled analysis of InterLymph case-control studies.

BACKGROUND The two most common forms of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) exhibit different sex ratios: diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) occurs more frequently in men and follicular lymphoma (FL) more frequently in women. Looking among women alone, this pooled analysis explores the relationship between reproductive histories and these cancers. MATERIALS AND METHODS Self-reported reproductive histories from 4263 women with NHL and 5971 women without NHL were pooled across 18 case-control studies (1983-2005) from North America, Europe and Japan. Study-specific odd ratios (ORs) and confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using logistic regression and pooled using random-effects meta-analyses. RESULTS Associations with reproductive factors were found for FL rather than NHL overall and DLBCL. In particular, the risk of FL decreased with increasing number of pregnancies (pooled OR(trend) = 0.88, 95% CI 0.81-0.96). FL was associated with hormonal contraception (pooled OR = 1.30, 95% CI 1.04-1.63), and risks were increased when use started after the age of 21, was used for <5 years or stopped for >20 years before diagnosis. DLBCL, on the other hand, was not associated with hormonal contraception (pooled OR = 0.87, 95% CI 0.65-1.16). CONCLUSIONS Hormonal contraception is associated with an increased risk of FL but not of DLBCL or NHL overall.
Climatic timescale temperature and precipitation increases on long Island, New York

Abstract Global warming due to increased greenhouse gases is believed to result in not only higher surface temperatures but also an acceleration of the hydrological cycle leading to increased precipitation. Although climate models consistently predict increases in global temperatures due to increasing greenhouse gases and the accompanying global warming, observations at the climatic timescales necessary to confirm the models are rare. Multidecadal studies at global and regional scales are necessary to determine whether the presently observed changes in temperature and precipitation are due to short‐term fluctuations or long‐term trends. In this study, we address this issue by examining changes in temperature and precipitation on Long Island, New York over a 74‐year time period (1931 to 2004) using a network of rain gauges and temperature measurements. The mean annual temperature on Long Island has increased at a rate of 0.05°C per decade, which is less than that of observed global values and is most likely due to the urban warming effects of New York City, not large‐scale climate change. The mean total annual precipitation has increased at a rate of 0.71 cm per decade during the study period, which is consistent with global observations. Intra‐annual temperature fluctuations are decreasing at a rate of 0.36% per decade, while precipitation variations are increasing at a rate of 0.91% per decade. Empirical orthogonal function analysis indicates that variations in temperature and precipitation on Long Island are dominated by island‐wide fluctuations that are directly related to the North Atlantic Oscillation, the Arctic Oscillation, and the El Niño Southern Oscillation.
High rates of nitrogen fixation during an in‐situ phosphate release experiment in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea

Nitrogen fixation and δ15N were measured within a warm‐core eddy during an in‐situ phosphate experiment (CYCLOPS) in the Eastern Mediterranean, with experimental procedures performed on unconcentrated, bulk water. Mean rates of 129 nmol‐N L−1d−1 were measured at control stations in the absence of phosphate (<2 nmolL−1), inferring the bioavailability of DOP to diazotrophs. In P‐enriched waters, rates increased by 48% to 197 nmol‐N L−1d−1 five days after addition. δ15N of particulate material was homogenous throughout the upper mixed layer, but changed with time at both amended and control stations from +3.8‰ on day 1, to −0.6‰ on day 4–5 before returning to +3.1‰ after 9 days. This trend matched the observed response in other components of the biota and biogeochemistry in the P‐enriched patch. In‐vitro addition experiments indicated that diazotrophy was not limited by Fe availability.
Monitoring snowmelt across the Arctic forest–tundra ecotone using Synthetic Aperture Radar

Detailed snowpack observations, meteorology, topography and landcover classification were integrated with multi‐temporal SAR data to assess its capability for landscape scale snowmelt mapping at the forest–tundra ecotone. At three sites along an approximately 8° latitudinal gradient in the Fennoscandian mountain range, 16 multi‐temporal spaceborne ERS‐2 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) were used for mapping snowmelt. Comparison of field measurements and backscatter values demonstrates the difficulty of interpreting observed backscatter response because of complex changes in snow properties on diurnal and seasonal temporal scales. Diurnal and seasonal melt–freeze effects in the snowpack, relative to the timing of ERS‐2 SAR image acquisition, effectively reduce the temporal resolution of such data for snow mapping, even at high latitudes. The integration of diverse data sources did reveal significant associations between vegetation, topography and snowmelt. Several problems with the application of thresholding for the automatic identification of snowmelt were encountered. These largely related to changes in backscattering from vegetation in the late stages of snowmelt. Due to the impact of environmental heterogeneity in vegetation at the forest–tundra ecotone, we suggest that the potential to map snow cover using single polarization C‐band SAR at the forest–tundra ecotone may be limited to tundra areas.
Body size and weight, and the nutrition and activity behaviors of sexual and gender minority youth: Findings and implications from New Zealand

3 Objective 4 To describe the body size and weight, and the nutrition and activity behaviors of sexual and gender 5 minority (SGM) students, and compare them with those of exclusively opposite-sex-attracted 6 cisgender students. Male and female SGM students were also compared. 7 Design 8 Data were from a nationally representative health survey. 9 Setting 10 Secondary schools in New Zealand, 2012. 11 Subjects 12 A total of 7,769 students, 9% were SGM individuals. 13 Results 14 Overall, weight control behaviors, poor nutrition and inactivity were common and, in many cases, 15 more so for SGM students. Specifically, male SGM students were significantly more likely to have 16 tried to lose weight (aOR=1.95; 95% CI 1.47, 2.59), engage in unhealthy weight control 17 (aOR=2.17; 95% CI 1.48, 3.19), consume fast food and takeaways (aOR=2.89; 95% CI 2.01, 4.15), 18 and be physically inactive (aOR=2.54; 95% CI 1.65, 3.92), and were less likely to participate in a 19 school sports team (aOR=0.57; 95% CI 0.44, 0.75), compared with other males. Female SGM 20 students were significantly more likely to engage in unhealthy weight control (aOR=1.58; 95% CI 21 1.20, 2.08), be overweight or obese (aOR=1.24; 95% CI 1.01, 1.53), and consume fast food and 22 takeaways (aOR=2.19; 95% CI 1.59, 3.03), and were less likely to participate in a school sports 23 team (aOR=0.62; 95% CI 0.50, 0.76), compared with other females. Generally, female SGM 24 students were more negatively affected than comparable males, except they were less likely to 25 consume fast food and takeaways frequently (aOR 0.62; 95% CI 0.40, 0.96). 26 Conclusions 27 SGM students reported increased weight control behaviors, poor nutrition and inactivity. 28 Professionals, including public health nutritionists, must recognize and help to address the 29 challenges facing sexual and gender minorities. 30
Direct Simulation of Internal Wave Energy Transfer

Abstract A three-dimensional nonhydrostatic numerical model is used to calculate nonlinear energy transfers within decaying Garrett–Munk internal wavefields. Inviscid wave interactions are calculated over horizontal scales from about 1 to 80 km and for vertical mode numbers less than about 40 in an exponentially stratified model ocean 2000 m deep. The rate of energy transfer from these scales to smaller, numerically damped scales is used to make predictions of the dissipation rate e in the open ocean midlatitude thermocline. In agreement with the theoretical analyses based on resonant interaction and eikonal theories, the simulation results predict e ∝ Ē2 N2, where Ē and N are the internal wave energy density and the ambient buoyancy frequency respectively. The magnitudes of the simulated dissipation rates are shown to be in good agreement with the dissipation measurements taken from six diverse sites in the midlatitude thermocline. The results suggest that the rates of dissipation and mixing in the ocean.
Modeling human visual perception for target detection in military simulations

Abstract : The search and target acquisition models used in current military simulations for visual detection of ground soldiers are empirical. Although taking into account human performance data collected in field trials, they do not attempt to realistically model human search behavior. This, however, is necessary to achieve realistic target detection performance, including such phenomena as false positive detections at realistic locations. Working towards this goal, this research creates a model of human visual perception for the search of a human target. The contributions of bottom-up and top-down information on human visual perception are examined in a visual search experiment, which includes eye movement recording of the participants. The results show that semantically relevant scene information is used to guide the search process, influencing eye movements. Consequently, a predictive model of eye fixations is created which takes semantically relevant scene locations into account. These meaningful locations are extracted from ground truth simulation data and fused into a relevancy map. The relevance map is compared with eye fixations of participants searching for human targets in realistic scenes. This comparison shows that the relevance map predicts fixation locations very well. A combination of the relevance map with a salience map achieves even better prediction of eye fixations.
Net ecosystem metabolism in Texas shallow water estuaries: an indicator of freshwater inflow effects, scales of variability, and changes due to climate change and watershed development

Estuaries and other coastal ecosystems by definition depend on freshwater inflow to exist. Freshwater inflow rates in many estuaries are changing due to changing land use patterns, water diversions for human consumption, and climate effects, but there are no standard criteria to determine minimum inflow rates. An indicator is required so that a model can be produced that can predict how changing hydrology might affect estuarine metabolic rates, productivity, and impairment. One indicator of estuarine metabolic rates is net ecosystem metabolism (NEM). It is hypothesized that NEM in a Texas shallow water estuary will depend on recently delivered freshwater inflow. To test this hypothesis, daily NEM was calculated from short term changes in dissolved oxygen measurements in Lavaca Bay, Texas and related to freshwater inflow and other environmental conditions. There was a significant relationship between NEM and cumulative ten-day freshwater inflow (FW) in upper Lavaca Bay, with more heterotrophic conditions occurring after high freshwater inflow events. No significant relationship existed between NEM and FW in lower Lavaca Bay, where other environmental conditions may be more influential. An empirical model simulating NEM’s response to FW in upper Lavaca Bay was more accurate during moderate to high
Excitatory Contribution to Binocular Interactions in Human Visual Cortex Is Reduced in Strabismic Amblyopia

Binocular summation in strabismic amblyopia is typically reported as being absent or greatly reduced in behavioral studies and is thought to be because of a preferential loss of excitatory interactions between the eyes. Here, we studied how excitatory and suppressive interactions contribute to binocular contrast interactions along the visual cortical hierarchy of humans with strabismic and anisometropic amblyopia in both sexes, using source-imaged steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEP) over a wide range of relative contrast between the two eyes. Dichoptic parallel grating stimuli modulated at unique temporal frequencies in each eye allowed us to quantify spectral response components associated with monocular inputs (self-terms) and the response components because of interaction of the inputs of the two eyes [intermodulation (IM) terms]. Although anisometropic amblyopes revealed a similar pattern of responses to normal-vision observers, strabismic amblyopes exhibited substantially reduced IM responses across cortical regions of interest (V1, V3a, hV4, hMT+ and lateral occipital cortex), indicating reduced interocular interactions in visual cortex. A contrast gain control model that simultaneously fits self- and IM-term responses within each cortical area revealed different patterns of binocular interactions between individuals with normal and disrupted binocularity. Our model fits show that in strabismic amblyopia, the excitatory contribution to binocular interactions is significantly reduced in both V1 and extra-striate cortex, whereas suppressive contributions remain intact. Our results provide robust electrophysiological evidence supporting the view that disruption of binocular interactions in strabismus or amblyopia is because of preferential loss of excitatory interactions between the eyes. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT We studied how excitatory and suppressive interactions contribute to binocular contrast interactions along the visual cortical hierarchy of humans with normal and amblyopic vision, using source-imaged SSVEP and frequency-domain analysis of dichoptic stimuli over a wide range of relative contrast between the two eyes. A dichoptic contrast gain control model was used to characterize these interactions in amblyopia and provided a quantitative comparison to normal vision. Our model fits revealed different patterns of binocular interactions between normal and amblyopic vision. Strabismic amblyopia significantly reduced excitatory contributions to binocular interactions, whereas suppressive contributions remained intact. Our results provide robust evidence supporting the view that the preferential loss of excitatory interactions disrupts binocular interactions in strabismic amblyopia.