Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Retinopathy and cognitive impairment in adults with CKD.

BACKGROUND Retinal microvascular abnormalities have been associated with cognitive impairment, possibly serving as a marker of cerebral small-vessel disease. This relationship has not been evaluated in persons with chronic kidney disease (CKD), a condition associated with increased risk of both retinal pathology and cognitive impairment. STUDY DESIGN Cross-sectional study. SETTING & PARTICIPANTS 588 participants 52 years or older with CKD in the Chronic Renal Insufficiency Cohort (CRIC) Study. PREDICTOR Retinopathy graded using the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study severity scale and diameters of retinal vessels. OUTCOMES Neuropsychological battery of 6 cognitive tests. MEASUREMENTS Logistic regression models were used to evaluate the association of retinopathy, individual retinopathy features, and retinal vessel diameters with cognitive impairment (≤1 SD from the mean), and linear regression models were used to compare cognitive test scores across levels of retinopathy, adjusting for age, race, sex, education, and medical comorbid conditions. RESULTS The mean age of the cohort was 65.3±5.6 (SD) years, 51.9% were nonwhite, and 52.6% were men. The prevalence of retinopathy was 30.1%, and the prevalence of cognitive impairment was 14.3%. Compared with those without retinopathy, participants with retinopathy had an increased likelihood of cognitive impairment on executive function (35.1% vs 11.5%; OR, 3.4 [95% CI, 2.0-6.0]), attention (26.7% vs 7.3%; OR, 3.0 [95% CI, 1.8-4.9]), and naming (26.0% vs 10.0%; OR, 2.1 [95% CI, 1.2-3.4]) after multivariable adjustment. Increased level of retinopathy also was associated with lower cognitive performance on executive function and attention. Microaneurysms were associated with cognitive impairment on some domains, but there were no significant associations with other retinal measures after multivariable adjustment. LIMITATIONS Unknown temporal relationship between retinopathy and impairment. CONCLUSIONS In adults with CKD, retinopathy is associated with poor performance on several cognitive domains, including executive function and attention. Evaluation of retinal microvascular abnormalities may be a promising tool for identifying patients with CKD who are at increased risk of cognitive impairment.
Reducing correlated noise in fMRI data

The sensitivity of functional MRI (fMRI) in detecting neuronal activation is dependent on the relative levels of signal and noise in the time‐series data. The temporal noise level within a single voxel is generally substantially higher than the intrinsic NMR (thermal) noise, and the noise is often correlated between voxels. This work introduces and evaluates a method that allows fMRI sensitivity improvement by reduction of these correlated noise sources. The method allows model‐free estimation of the correlated noise from brain regions not activated by the functional paradigm using a short (1–2 min) reference scan. A single regressor representing this noise‐source estimate is added to the design matrix used in the data analysis. Results obtained from five volunteers show an average t‐score improvement of 11.3% and a 24.2% increase in the size of the activated area. Magn Reson Med 59:939–945, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Co-location pattern mining for unevenly distributed data: algorithm, experiments and applications

We considered co-location pattern mining algorithm that uses the Voronoi diagram. In general, the density of spatial objects is much higher in urban areas than in rural areas. The proposed algorithm is suitable for such unevenly distributed database. We have applied the co-location pattern mining algorithm for real spatial databases and show the capability of the proposed algorithm for a real spatial database. We also applied our methods for analysing web pages that contains spatial information. There are many web pages that contain spatial information such as addresses, postal codes, and telephone numbers. Most of the spatial information in web pages are location information and is unevenly distributed. We collected such web pages by web-crawling programs. For each page determined to contain location information, we apply geocoding techniques to compute geographic coordinates, such as latitude-longitude pairs. Next, we augment the location information with keyword descriptors extracted from the web page contents. We then apply co-location mining on the augmented location information.
Depressed Mood Differentially Mediates the Relationship between Pain Intensity and Pain Disability Depending on Pain Duration: A Moderated Mediation Analysis in Chronic Pain Patients

Research has shown that pain is associated with disability and that depressed mood mediates the relationship between pain and disability. The question of whether duration of pain moderates these effects was addressed in this cross-sectional study with 356 chronic pain patients. A simple mediation model replicated the notion that depressed mood explains a significant proportion of the relationship between pain and disability (in the study at hand: 12%). A moderated mediation model revealed that the indirect effect of pain on disability through depressed mood is moderated by pain duration: while depressed mood did not mediate the effect of pain on disability in chronic pain patients with shorter pain duration, depressed mood significantly mediated the effect pain exerts on disability in chronic pain patients with longer pain duration. Pain duration did not moderate the direct effect of pain on disability. Implications of these findings for the treatment of chronic pain might be that targeting depressed mood is especially relevant in chronic pain patients with longer pain duration to reduce the effect of pain on disability.
The Community Effect and Purkinje Cell Migration in the Cerebellar Cortex: Analysis of Scrambler Chimeric Mice

The Disabled-1 protein in mouse is known to be an intercellular signaling component of the Reelin molecular pathway that subserves neuronal migration in several structures in the brain and spinal cord. The scrambler mutant mouse, which is phenotypically identical to the reeler mouse, is due to a mutation in the disabled-1gene (Howell et al., 1997; Sheldon et al., 1997). The Purkinje cells of the cerebellum express Disabled-1 and experience a massive failure of migration in the scrambler mutant mouse (Howell et al., 1997; Sheldon et al., 1997; Gallagher et al., 1998; Rice et al., 1998). We sought to define the developmental basis of this mutation by studying the Purkinje cell population in experimental mouse aggregation chimeras using a cell marker that permitted the identification of neurons derived from the mutant lineage. We found that a genetically normal component to the environment cannot assist scrambler mutant Purkinje cells in the migratory process. However, the presence of a mutant component to the environment can cause the ectopia of wild-type Purkinje cells. There appears to be a linear relationship between the percentage of the cerebellum that is genetically mutant and the number of wild-type Purkinje cells that express a mutant phenotype. These studies point to the interplay between cell-intrinsic and cell-extrinsic properties in the migration of neurons to form laminated structures during CNS development.
Leadership Response to Workplace Bullying in Academe: A Collective Case Study

Workplace bullying is a type of harassing behavior that can have negative, even devastating, consequences for both employees and the organization, but because the abuse is status blind (not related to legally protected classes of race, gender, religion, national origin, physical or mental disability, age or sexual orientation), antiharassment and antidiscrimination laws do not adequately address this phenomenon. The unique status of faculty and the protections of academic freedom, tenure, and peer review present challenges for those dealing with cases of incivility and unprofessional behavior among and between faculty members. This interpretive collective case study captured the experiences and responses of four private college senior academic leaders, Chief Academic Officers (CAOs), who had dealt with incidences of workplace bullying between faculty. Data analysis began with in-depth examination of each individual case, where participant interviews provided the primary sources and were triangulated with secondary-source interviews and review of available documents. The cross case analysis revealed three major themes: the influence of the environment and academic culture; the influence of the unique factors of faculty employment, especially the protections and entitlements of tenure; and strategies CAOs employed at the individual and systemic levels to address bullying. The research is significant to the field of organization development in that it shines a spotlight on the challenges of addressing this incivility in the sheltered environment of academe. Insights gained through this study may be of value to academic leaders grappling with similar situations on their own campuses and may add to the body of workplace bullying literature regarding higher education. -
A yield and speed enhancement scheme under within-die variations on 90nm LUT array

In this paper, we propose a yield and speed enhancement scheme using a reconfigurable device. An LUT array LSI is fabricated on a 90nm process to measure process variations of LUTs. D2D and WID variations are clearly observed. Reconfiguration using the measurement process variations boosts yield and also increases the average operating speed by 4.1%. In addition, it is proved that expansion of WID variations make the proposed method more effective
Solutions to the Problem of K-SAT / K-COL Phase Transition Location

As general theories, currently there are concentration inequalities (of random walk) only for the cases of independence and martingale differences. In this paper, the concentration inequalities are extended to more general situations. In terms of the theory presented in the paper, the condition of independence is $\frac { \partial y } {\partial t}=$ constant and martingale difference's is $\frac { \partial y } {\partial t} = 0 $. This paper relaxes these conditions to $\frac { \partial^2 y } {\partial u_i \partial t} \le L$; i.e. $\frac { \partial y } {\partial t}$ can vary. Further, the concentration inequalities are extended to branching random walk, the applications of which solve some long standing open problems, including the well known problems of K-SAT and K-COL phase transition locations, among others.
Membrane currents in taste cells of the rat fungiform papilla. Evidence for two types of Ca currents and inhibition of K currents by saccharin

Taste buds were isolated from the fungiform papilla of the rat tongue and the receptor cells (TRCs) were patch clamped. Seals were obtained on the basolateral membrane of 281 TRCs, protruding from the intact taste buds or isolated by micro-dissection. In whole-cell configuration 72% of the cells had a TTX blockable transient Na inward current (mean peak amplitude 0.74 nA). All cells had outward K currents. Their activation was slower than for the Na current and a slow inactivation was also noticeable. The K currents were blocked by tetraethylammonium, Ba, and 4-aminopyridine, and were absent when the pipette contained Cs instead of K. With 100 mM Ba or 100 mM Ca in the bath, two types of inward current were observed. An L-type Ca current (ICaL) activated at - 20 mV had a mean peak amplitude of 440 pA and inactivated very slowly. At 3 mM Ca the activation threshold of ICaL was near -40 mV. A transient T-type current (ICaT) activated at -50 mV had an average peak amplitude of 53 pA and inactivated with a time constant of 36 ms at -30 mV. ICaL was blocked more efficiently by Cd and D600 than ICaT. ICaT was blocked by 0.2 mM Ni and half blocked by 200 microM amiloride. In whole-cell voltage clamp, Na-saccharin caused (in 34% of 55 cells tested) a decrease in outward K currents by 21%, which may be expected to depolarize the TRCs. Also, Na-saccharin caused some taste cells to fire action potentials (on-cell, 7 out of 24 cells; whole-cell, 2 out of 38 cells responding to saccharin) of amplitudes sufficient to activate ICaL. Thus the action potentials will cause Ca inflow, which may trigger release of transmitter.
Reconceptualizing the practice of teacher preparation : On not throwing out the concurrent model with the reform bathwater

Dans cet article, l'auteur affirme d'une part, qu'il est necessaire de repenser la pratique dans les programmes de formation des enseignants au Canada et, d'autre part, que cette reconceptualisation doit se faire selon le modele concurrent. Sa critique ne concerne pas tant les programmes consecutifs comme tels que le courant reformiste influence par les Etats-Unis et qui accepte sans critique la dominance du modele consecutif. L'auteur precise que la formation des enseignants doit se faire par le biais de partenariats entre les facultes d'education et les responsables des postes en salle de classe d'une part, et entre les facultes d'education et les facultes universitaires d'arts et de sciences d'autre part. Une telle entente implique une reconceptualisation de l'orientation des enseignants. L'auteur poursuit en maintenant que si les facultes d'education saisissent l'occasion et reconceptualisent ainsi leur mission et leurs programmes d'orientation, les formateurs d'enseignants au Canada seront en mesure de diriger les efforts qui visent a revitaliser la formation des enseignements de par le monde. L'article a un double objet: d'etablir comment une reconceptualisation de la formation des enseignants impliquera des partenariats pluridisciplinaires et de la recherche par les enseignants sur un nouveau programme de preparation concurrent qui lierait les connaissances particulieres des divers domaines aux connaissances pratiques. Ce programme reposerait sur l'engagement des enseignants en formation dans la recherche active sur les dilemmes en enseignement, et sur l'integration rigoureuse des arts liberaux et des sciences a la pedagogie professionnelle.
Importance of Phase Information in Speech Enhancement

At present, the performance of multimedia technology used for processing speech and images and for mobile telecommunications is often degraded due to equipment limitations. For example, noise reduces both signal strength and quality, while channel noise leads to significant signal distortion. Hence, new techniques to deal with noise processing are an inherent part of efforts to develop multimedia technology. This study utilized speech phase information to boost the performance of speech enhancement algorithms and proved experimentally that significant improvement could be achieved by applying a modified spectral subtraction method.
Team Building through Wilderness Activities in Eighth Grade Special Education.

The Outdoor Program is part of the special education program in a Northwest U.S. junior high school that combines wilderness activities with traditional classroom activities for students with behavior disorders. The goals of the program are to help the students learn to trust each other and the tek.chers, to teach students how to cooperate, and to build a team that wpiald climb Mount Ranier. Observation and interviews with students and teachers show that team building is accomplished through group identification and through individual, collaborative, and temporal aspects of team building. The teachers and students exhibited the group identification strategies of finding common ground, antithesis, and the transcendent "we. " Individual aspects of team building involved individual effort, planning, and commitment. Collaborative aspects of team building required cooperation and trust. Team building was also found to be an ongoing dynamic process that changes and moves back and forth toward accomplishing a team atmosphere within the group. (Contains 18 references.) (JDD) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** Team Building through Wilderness Activities in Eighth Grade Special Education
The Triphasic Intrinsic Signal: Implications for Functional Imaging

Intrinsic signal optical imaging with red illumination (ISOI) is used extensively to provide high spatial resolution maps of stimulus-evoked hemodynamic-related signals as an indirect means to map evoked neuronal activity. This evoked signal is generally described as beginning with an undershoot or “dip” in signal that is faster, more transient, and weaker compared with the subsequent signal overshoot. In contrast, the evoked signal detected with blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is generally described as containing an undershoot after the initial dip and overshoot, even though it, too, detects hemodynamic-related signals and its first two phases appear complementary to those of ISOI. Here, we used ISOI with 635 nm illumination to image over 13.5 s after a 1 s stimulus delivery to detect and successfully use the ISOI undershoot phase for functional mapping. Eight spatiotemporal attributes were assessed per signal phase including maximum areal extent and peak magnitude, both of which were largest for the ISOI overshoot, followed by the undershoot and then the initial dip. Peak activity location did not colocalize well between the three phases; furthermore, we found mostly modest correlations between attributes within each phase and sparse correlations between phases. Extended (13.5 s) electrophysiology recordings did not exhibit a reoccurrence of evoked suprathreshold or subthreshold neuronal responses that could be associated with the undershoot. Beyond the undershoot, additional overshoot/undershoot fluctuations were also mapped, but were typically less spatiotemporally specific to stimulus delivery. Implications for ISOI and BOLD fMRI are discussed.
Is the Helmholtz Equation Really Sign-Indefinite?

The usual variational (or weak) formulations of the Helmholtz equation are sign-indefinite in the sense that the bilinear forms cannot be bounded below by a positive multiple of the appropriate norm squared. This is often for a good reason, since in bounded domains under certain boundary conditions the solution of the Helmholtz equation is not unique at wavenumbers that correspond to eigenvalues of the Laplacian, and thus the variational problem cannot be sign-definite. However, even in cases where the solution is unique for all wavenumbers, the standard variational formulations of the Helmholtz equation are still indefinite when the wavenumber is large. This indefiniteness has implications for both the analysis and the practical implementation of finite element methods. In this paper we introduce new sign-definite (also called coercive or elliptic) formulations of the Helmholtz equation posed in either the interior of a star-shaped domain with impedance boundary conditions or the exterior of a star-shape.
Methylphenidate Increases cGMP Levels in Rat Brain

Methylphenidate increases cGMP levels in rat brain Objective: Methylphenidate (MPH) is commonly and effectively used to treat children and adolescents with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. However, MPH still poses a number of questions on which mechanisms of effect it has on the brain. The present study addresses the question of whether MPH induces cyclic guanosine 3',5’-monophosphate (cGMP) in rat brain. Methods: MPH at a dose of 10mg /kg p.o. was administered to rats daily for 8 weeks, whereas control rats were given distilled water. The level of cGMP was measured in total brains of the rats. Results: Brain cGMP levels were higher in the study group when compared with the control group (p=0.004). Conclusions: Our results suggested that the long term MPH administration might increase cGMP activity in rat brain.
Oxygen Tension and Riboflavin Gradients Cooperatively Regulate the Migration of Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 Revealed by a Hydrogel-Based Microfluidic Device

Shewanella oneidensis is a model bacterial strain for studies of bioelectrochemical systems (BESs). It has two extracellular electron transfer pathways: (1) shuttling electrons via an excreted mediator riboflavin; and (2) direct contact between the c-type cytochromes at the cell membrane and the electrode. Despite the extensive use of S. oneidensis in BESs such as microbial fuel cells and biosensors, many basic microbiology questions about S. oneidensis in the context of BES remain unanswered. Here, we present studies of motility and chemotaxis of S. oneidensis under well controlled concentration gradients of two electron acceptors, oxygen and oxidized form of riboflavin (flavin+), using a newly developed microfluidic platform. Experimental results demonstrate that either oxygen or flavin+ is a chemoattractant to S. oneidensis. The chemotactic tendency of S. oneidensis in a flavin+ concentration gradient is significantly enhanced in an anaerobic in contrast to an aerobic condition. Furthermore, either a low oxygen tension or a high flavin+ concentration considerably enhances the speed of S. oneidensis. This work presents a robust microfluidic platform for generating oxygen and/or flavin+ gradients in an aqueous environment, and demonstrates that two important electron acceptors, oxygen and oxidized riboflavin, cooperatively regulate S. oneidensis migration patterns. The microfluidic tools presented as well as the knowledge gained in this work can be used to guide the future design of BESs for efficient electron production.
Naked objects versus traditional mobile platform development: a comparative case study

It has been suggested that use of the naked objects pattern could contribute to business agility of applications and reduce the amount of the application code up to 75 percent in a desktop environment. Very little empirical evidence exists to support these claims, however. This paper reports results of a study where two agile software development projects created the same mobile application using two different technologies. The first project did the development using the traditional mobile platform, and the second project used the naked objects framework. Both projects used the same agile software development process. The results show that naked objects produced 79% less application code and 91% less user interface code. Yet, the version of the naked objects framework used was not found to be mature enough for proper implementation of all required functionality. It is concluded that, if further developed, naked objects can be a very potential technical development platform for business-oriented applications. Implications of the study are addressed.