Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Public–private partnerships improve health outcomes in individuals with early stage Alzheimer’s disease

Purpose In a collaborative effort between the Missouri Department of Health, Area Agencies on Aging (AAA), Alzheimer Association, and academic researchers, we tested whether early dementia detection and comprehensive care consultations would improve health outcomes in care receivers (CRs) and their family caregivers (FCGs), therefore addressing an important public health concern. Participants and methods A total of 244 community-dwelling older adults screened for early-stage dementia by the AAA field staff were referred to the Alzheimer Association and participated in Project Learn MORE (Missouri Outreach and Referral Expanded) (PLM) – a 2-year, nonrandomized multisite intervention consisting of comprehensive care consultations to improve coping skills. PLM participants were compared against 96 controls receiving the Alzheimer Association’s “usual services” between January 2011 and December 2012. We examined CR and FCG outcomes, including burden, care confidence, and mood, as effects of PLM, on delaying transitions in level of care. Results CRs showed improved knowledge (P=0.002) and reduced depression (P=0.007), while FCGs demonstrated improved knowledge (P=0.003) and ability to identify sources of support for the CR (P=0.032) and for themselves (P=0.043). However, FCGs were more burdened after PLM (P=0.02), due to increased awareness of Alzheimer’s disease. PLM delayed transitions in care (odds ratio [OR] 3.32, 95% confidence level [CI]: 1.25–8.83) with the number needed to treat =6.82. Conclusion PLM was successful in improving detection of incident cases of dementia in the community and in connecting patients and their families with needed services. Our findings support the use of state agencies and community service partners to detect dementia. Early implementation of psychosocial interventions could have significant impact in improving patient- and family-centered outcomes, potentially providing a cost-efficient alternative to pharmacotherapy.
Mice Deficient of Glutamatergic Signaling from Intrinsically Photosensitive Retinal Ganglion Cells Exhibit Abnormal Circadian Photoentrainment

Several aspects of behavior and physiology, such as sleep and wakefulness, blood pressure, body temperature, and hormone secretion exhibit daily oscillations known as circadian rhythms. These circadian rhythms are orchestrated by an intrinsic biological clock in the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) of the hypothalamus which is adjusted to the daily environmental cycles of day and night by the process of photoentrainment. In mammals, the neuronal signal for photoentrainment arises from a small subset of intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs) that send a direct projection to the SCN. ipRGCs also mediate other non-image-forming (NIF) visual responses such as negative masking of locomotor activity by light, and the pupillary light reflex (PLR) via co-release of neurotransmitters glutamate and pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating peptide (PACAP) from their synaptic terminals. The relative contribution of each neurotransmitter system for the circadian photoentrainment and other NIF visual responses is still unresolved. We investigated the role of glutamatergic neurotransmission for circadian photoentrainment and NIF behaviors by selective ablation of ipRGC glutamatergic synaptic transmission in mice. Mutant mice displayed delayed re-entrainment to a 6 h phase shift (advance or delay) in the light cycle and incomplete photoentrainment in a symmetrical skeleton photoperiod regimen (1 h light pulses between 11 h dark periods). Circadian rhythmicity in constant darkness also was reduced in some mutant mice. Other NIF responses such as the PLR and negative masking responses to light were also partially attenuated. Overall, these results suggest that glutamate from ipRGCs drives circadian photoentrainment and negative masking responses to light.
Detection of non-H2 antigen(s) which, like Ia antigens, are associated with the Fc receptor of B lymphocytes

Antibodies contained in an A/J anti-B10 antiserum, when tested on lymphocytes from B10.A mice, were shown to bind to both B and T cells and to inhibit the binding of Ig complexes to the Fc receptors of B lymphocytes. These antibodies could be removed by absorption with B10.D2 lymphocytes. Similar results were obtained with lymphocytes from two to six (B6A)F1 x A/J backcross mice which had H-2a/a genotype. These data indicate that alloantigens determined by at least one non-H- 2 locus are associated with or a part of Fc receptors. These antigens may be similar in structure and function to Ia antigens.
Body and Visual Sensor Fusion for Motion Analysis in Ubiquitous Healthcare Systems

Human motion analysis provides a valuable solution for monitoring the wellbeing of the elderly, quantifying post-operative patient recovery and monitoring the progression of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s. The development of accurate motion analysis models, however, requires the integration of multi-sensing modalities and the utilization of appropriate data analysis techniques. This paper describes a robust framework for improved patient motion analysis by integrating information captured by body and visual sensor networks. Real-time target extraction is applied and a skeletonization procedure is subsequently carried out to quantify the internal motion of moving target and compute two metrics, spatiotemporal cyclic motion between leg segments and head trajectory, for each vision node. Extracted motion metrics from multiple vision nodes and accelerometer information from a wearable body sensor are then fused at the feature level by using K-Nearest Neighbor algorithm and used to classify target’s walking gait into normal or abnormal. The potential value of the proposed framework for patient monitoring is demonstrated and the results obtained from practical experiments are described.
Family Patterns of Reaction to a Child with a Learning Disability

The impact of a child's learning disability on the family system is explored with regard to the general consequences for the system and to the parents' abilities to react to the problems generated for the child and family. Feuerstein's concept of mediated learning experience is proposed as a useful way of understanding the process issues, to assess parental reactions, and to guide more productive and adaptive interventions. Four prototypical patterns of family response are presented, with descriptions of the mediational restrictions and potentialities embedded within them. Implications are presented for both dysfunctional responses and the development of positive and adaptive reactions.
Wnt pathway, an essential role in bone regeneration

Fracture repair is a complex regenerative process initiated in response to injury, resulting in optimal restoration of skeletal function. Although histology characteristics at various phases of fracture repair are clear and well established, much remains to be understood about the process of bone healing, particularly at the molecular signaling level. During the past decade, secreted signaling molecules of the Wnt family have been widely investigated and found to play a central role in controlling embryonic development processes. Wnt signaling pathway also plays a pivotal role in the regulation of bone mass. Recent published data reveal that Wnt signaling pathway is activated during postnatal bone regenerative events, such as ectopic endochondral bone formation and fracture repair. Dysregulation of this pathway greatly inhibits bone formation and healing process. Interestingly, activation of Wnt pathway has potential to improve bone healing, but only utilized after mesenchymal cells have become committed to the osteoblast lineage. These advances suggest an essential role of Wnt pathway in bone regeneration. J. Cell. Biochem. 106: 353–362, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Community Information Needs: The Case of Wife Assault.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between community needs for information about wife assault and the information response offered through social service networks in six communities of varying sizes. In the first phase of the research, 543 randomly selected women were interviewed during household surveys to assess their knowledge of different kinds of information resources that would be helpful in a hypothetical situation involving wife assault. In the second phase, 179 interviews were conducted with agencies and professionals identified as likely sources of help during the household interviews. Analyses of both surveys provided a map of the degree to which the the information delivery system's response provided a map of the degree to which the information delivery system's response overlaps with the public's need for information. The implications for the design of community information delivery systme, including information and referral centers , are discussed
Aging-aware voltage scaling

As feature sizes of transistors began to approach atomic levels, aging effects have become one of major concerns when it comes to reliability. Recently, aging effects have become a subject to voltage scaling as the latter entered the sub-μs regime. Hence, aging shifted from a sole long-term (as treated by state-of-the-art) to a short and long-term reliability challenge. This paper interrelates both aging and voltage scaling to explore and quantify for the first time the short-term effects of aging. We propose “aging-awareness” with respect to voltage scaling which is indispensable to sustain runtime reliability. Otherwise, transient errors, caused by the short-term effects of aging, may occur. Compared to state-of-the-art, our aging-aware voltage scaling optimizes for both short-term and long-term aging effects at marginal guardband overhead.
Laparoscopic surgery for recurrent ileocolic Crohn's disease†

Background: Laparoscopic (LAP) surgery is increasingly performed for primary ileocolic Crohn's disease (CD), but its application in patients with recurrent ileocolic CD is less well described. Our aim was to assess whether or not a laparoscopic approach was safe, feasible, and conferred meaningful short‐term benefits in this patient population. Methods: Patients undergoing LAP surgery for recurrent ileocolic CD at our institution from 1998–2008 were identified using a prospectively maintained database. Potential risk factors for conversion to open surgery and overall patient outcomes were assessed with univariate analysis. Results: Forty patients were identified, of which 30 (75%) were LAP‐completed and 10 (25%) were LAP‐converted. The groups did not differ with respect to clinicopathological features. LAP‐converted patients were significantly more likely to require adhesiolysis than LAP‐completed patients (100% versus 67%, P = 0.04). There was 1 intraoperative complication in a converted patient. LAP‐converted patients had longer times to soft diet (4 versus 3 days, P = 0.03) and longer length of stay (7 versus 4 days, P = 0.003). The groups did not differ with respect to incidence of postoperative complications or frequency of readmission within 30 days. There was no mortality. Concusions: In up to 20% of patients with recurrent ileocolic, successful laparoscopic re‐resection may be prevented by adhesions. Conversion increased the length of stay without increasing morbidity. We conclude that LAP surgery can be safely performed in selected patients with recurrent ileocolic CD and leads to short‐term benefits. (Inflamm Bowel Dis 2010)
Smart Memories: a modular reconfigurable architecture

Trends in VLSI technology scaling demand that future computing devices be narrowly focused to achieve high performance and high efficiency, yet also target the high volumes and low costs of widely applicable general purpose designs. To address these conflicting requirements, we propose a modular reconfigurable architecture called Smart Memories, targeted at computing needs in the 0.1 /spl mu/m technology generation. A Smart Memories chip is made up of many processing tiles, each containing local memory, local interconnect, and a processor core. For efficient computation under a wide class of possible applications, the memories, the wires, and the computational model can all be altered to match the applications. To show the applicability of this design, two very different machines at opposite ends of the architectural spectrum, the Imagine stream processor and the Hydra speculative multiprocessor, are mapped onto the Smart Memories computing substrate. Simulations of the mappings show that the Smart Memories architecture can successfully map these architectures with only modest performance degradation.
Apparent Overinvestment in Leaf Venation Relaxes Leaf Morphological Constraints on Photosynthesis in Arid Habitats1[OPEN]

Aridity-adapted Eucalyptus and Corymbia species invest in high leaf vein densities to offset the negative effect of leaf thickness on photosynthesis. Leaf veins supply the mesophyll with water that evaporates when stomata are open to allow CO2 uptake for photosynthesis. Theoretical analyses suggest that water is optimally distributed in the mesophyll when the lateral distance between veins (dx) is equal to the distance from these veins to the epidermis (dy), expressed as dx:dy ≈ 1. Although this theory is supported by observations of many derived angiosperms, we hypothesize that plants in arid environments may reduce dx:dy below unity owing to climate-specific functional adaptations of increased leaf thickness and increased vein density. To test our hypothesis, we assembled leaf hydraulic, morphological, and photosynthetic traits of 68 species from the Eucalyptus and Corymbia genera (termed eucalypts) along an aridity gradient in southwestern Australia. We inferred the potential gas-exchange advantage of reducing dx beyond dy using a model that links leaf morphology and hydraulics to photosynthesis. Our observations reveal that eucalypts in arid environments have thick amphistomatous leaves with high vein densities, resulting in dx:dy ratios that range from 1.6 to 0.15 along the aridity gradient. Our model suggests that, as leaves become thicker, the effect of reducing dx beyond dy is to offset the reduction in leaf gas exchange that would result from maintaining dx:dy at unity. This apparent overinvestment in leaf venation may be explained from the selective pressure of aridity, under which traits associated with long leaf life span, high hydraulic and thermal capacitances, and high potential rates of leaf water transport confer a competitive advantage.
A hybrid equivalent-bit spacing scheme for low energy and high performance for bus signalling

Interconnects on deep submicron (DSM) buses incur significantly larger power dissipation, delay performance degradation, and induced signal interference due to coupling capacitance between adjacent wires on the bus. This paper proposes a novel encoding scheme to, further, reduce the coupling energy dissipation, and delay. Further, the energy cost of the overhead encoding scheme in our proposed scheme is significantly reduced. We present an 8-bit to 10-bit equivalent solution that reduces the energy dissipation by 55%, delay by 24%, and energy delay product by 65%, without any additional area penalty on the bus. It also requires much less complex codec circuitry requiring 96% less area overhead, when compared with transition pattern coding (TPC) scheme. Our analysis is based on 65nm CMOS technology.
Learning a Hierarchical Deformable Template for Rapid Deformable Object Parsing

In this paper, we address the tasks of detecting, segmenting, parsing, and matching deformable objects. We use a novel probabilistic object model that we call a hierarchical deformable template (HDT). The HDT represents the object by state variables defined over a hierarchy (with typically five levels). The hierarchy is built recursively by composing elementary structures to form more complex structures. A probability distribution-a parameterized exponential model-is defined over the hierarchy to quantify the variability in shape and appearance of the object at multiple scales. To perform inference-to estimate the most probable states of the hierarchy for an input image-we use a bottom-up algorithm called compositional inference. This algorithm is an approximate version of dynamic programming where approximations are made (e.g., pruning) to ensure that the algorithm is fast while maintaining high performance. We adapt the structure-perceptron algorithm to estimate the parameters of the HDT in a discriminative manner (simultaneously estimating the appearance and shape parameters). More precisely, we specify an exponential distribution for the HDT using a dictionary of potentials, which capture the appearance and shape cues. This dictionary can be large and so does not require handcrafting the potentials. Instead, structure-perceptron assigns weights to the potentials so that less important potentials receive small weights (this is like a ? soft? form of feature selection). Finally, we provide experimental evaluation of HDTs on different visual tasks, including detection, segmentation, matching (alignment), and parsing. We show that HDTs achieve state-of-the-art performance for these different tasks when evaluated on data sets with groundtruth (and when compared to alternative algorithms, which are typically specialized to each task).
ON SPOKEN LANGUAGE PROCESSING Progress Report No . 29 ( 2008 ) Indiana University Implicit Sequence Learning in Hearing Children and Deaf Children with Cochlear Implants 1

Understanding what cognitive mechanisms contribute to successful language acquisition and development has remained an important but elusive goal of the psychological sciences. Current theories suggest that the ability to learn structured sequential patterns – i.e. ,”implicit” or “statistical” learning -may underlie language processing and development. In this paper, we investigate the role that implicit sequence learning plays in the development of spoken language skills in both normal-hearing children and deaf children with cochlear implants (CIs). Both groups of children completed a novel implicit sequence learning task, which measured learning through improvement to immediate serial recall for statistically-consistent visual sequences. The children were also assessed on several measures of language processing and development, including an online sentence perception task. The results demonstrated two key findings. First, the deaf children with CIs showed disturbances in their implicit visual sequence learning abilities relative to the normal-hearing children. Second, in both groups of children, implicit learning was significantly correlated with measures of spoken language processing and development. These findings suggest that a period of auditory deprivation has secondary effects related to general sequencing deficits, and that individual differences in sequence learning are associated with the development of spoken language under both typical and atypical conditions.
Effect of the Calcium Antagonist Verapamil on Necrosis following Temporary Coronary Artery Occlusion in Dogs

Calcium metabolism may play an important role in the pathogenesis of myocardial ischemic injury. The effect of the sarcolemmal calcium flux inhibitor, verapamil, on myocardial necrosis was studied in dogs subjected to temporary coronary artery occlusion. One group of dogs was untreated. A second group was given 0.8 mg/kg verapamil intravenously over a 30 min period beginning 10 min prior to coronary occlusion. In a third group, the dose of verapamil was increased until complicated by hypotension or conduction abnormalities. Cardiac necrosis was produced in all dogs by 40 min of left circumflex coronary artery occlusion followed by 2-4 days of reperfusion. At the end of the experiment, animals were sacrificed and necrosis was quantitated histologically in transmural slices through the posterior papillary muscle. Pre-treatment with the lower dose of verapamil resulted in significantly less necrosis (14% treated vs 35% untreated) with minimal hemodynamic consequences. Higher doses of verapamil were even more effective in limiting cardiac necrosis despite the development of hypotension and varying degrees of heart block.
Generation of Spheres from Dental Epithelial Stem Cells

The in vitro three-dimensional sphere model has already been established as an important tool in fundamental sciences. This model facilitates the study of a variety of biological processes including stem cell/niche functions and tissue responses to injury and drugs. Here we describe the complete protocol for the in vitro formation of spheres originated from the epithelium of rodent incisors. In addition, we show that in these spheres cell proliferation is maintained, as well as the expression of several key molecules characterizing stem cells such as Sox2 and p63. These epithelial dentospheres could be used as an in vitro model system for stem cell research purposes.
Neurodevelopmental animal models of schizophrenia-like behaviours: Behavioural and neurochemical consequences of maternal immune challenge and prenatal NMDA receptor blockade

Schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric illness characterized by positive, negative, and cognitive symptoms. The observation that the onset of clinical symptoms is often in early adulthood has led to the neurodevelopmental hypothesis which posits that schizophrenia results from altered developmental processes beginning long before onset of clinical symptoms. The present thesis aimed to evaluate two neurodevelopmental animal models of schizophrenia-like behaviours. Chapter one explored the epidemiological association between maternal infection and schizophrenia by using a well-validated animal model of maternal viral infection. Pregnant Wistar rats were injected with the viral mimic polyriboinosinic-polyribocytidilic acid (poly I:C) and juvenile and adult offspring were assessed for altered novel object preference (NOP), sensitivity to the locomotor-activating effects of amphetamine, and deficits in preattentive sensorimotor gating mechanisms. Our findings suggest that prenatal poly I:C did not result in the expected behavioural deficits in adulthood. Our findings challenge the robustness of the poly I:C model. In chapter two, we examined behavioural and neurochemical consequences of prenatal blockade of the glutamate receptor, N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA), in juvenile and adult offspring. Pregnant Long-Evans rats received daily injections of saline or the NMDA receptor antagonist, MK-801. Offspring were exposed to a battery of behavioural tasks. The most dramatic of our findings were the altered NOP, hyposensitivity to MK-801 challenges, and deficits in cognitive flexibility observed in the adult male offspring. Although sometimes contrary to our hypotheses, the overall pattern of our results suggest that prenatal NMDA receptor blockade disrupted normal brain development and induced important behavioural deficits in adulthood.
A regime-switching Heston model for VIX and S&P 500 implied volatilities

Volatility products have become popular in the past 15 years as a hedge against market uncertainty. In particular, there is growing interest in options on the VIX volatility index. A number of recent empirical studies have examine whether there is significantly greater risk premium in VIX option prices compared with S&P 500 option prices. We address this issue by proposing and analysing a stochastic volatility model with regime switching. The basic Heston model cannot capture VIX-implied volatilities, as has been documented. We show that the incorporation of sharp regime shifts can bridge this shortcoming. We take advantage of asymptotic and Fourier methods to make the extension tractable, and we present a fit to data, both in times of crisis and relative calm, which shows the effectiveness of the regime switching.