Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A systematic review of factors that influence the efficacy of cognitive remediation therapy in schizophrenia

Objective: Cognitive remediation therapy is a moderately effective intervention for ameliorating cognitive deficits in individuals with schizophrenia-related disorders. With reports of considerable variability in individual response to cognitive remediation therapy, we need to better understand factors that influence cognitive remediation therapy efficacy to realise its potential. A systematic review was conducted to identify and evaluate predictors of cognitive outcome. Methods: An electronic database search was conducted identifying peer-reviewed articles examining predictors of cognitive response to cognitive remediation therapy. Results: A total of 40 articles accounting for 1681 cognitive remediation therapy participants were included; 81 distinct predictors of cognitive response were identified. Data synthesis and discussion focused on 20 predictors examined a minimum three times in different studies. Few of the examined predictors of cognitive outcome following cognitive remediation therapy were significant when examined through systematic review. A strong trend was found for baseline cognition, with reasoning and problem solving and working memory being strongly predictive of within-domain improvement. Training task progress was the most notable cross-domain predictor of cognitive outcome. Conclusion: It remains unclear why a large proportion of participants fail to realise cognitive benefit from cognitive remediation therapy. However, when considering only those variables where a majority of articles reported a statistically significant association with cognitive response to cognitive remediation therapy, three stand out: premorbid IQ, baseline cognition and training task progress. Each of these relates in some way to an individual’s capacity or potential for change. There is a need to consolidate investigation of potential predictors of response to cognitive remediation therapy, strengthening the evidence base through replication and collaboration.
I want to talk to a real person: theorising avoidance in the acceptance and use of automated technologies

Abstract Automated communication systems are increasingly common in mobile and ehealth contexts. Yet, there is a reason to believe that some high-risk segments of the population might be prone to avoid automated systems even though they are often designed to reach these groups. To facilitate research in this area, avoidance of automated communication (AAC) is theorised – and a measurement instrument validated – across two studies. In study 1, an AAC scale was found to be unidimensional and internally reliable as well as negatively correlated with comfort, perceptions, and intentions to use technology. Moreover, individuals with social phobia had lower AAC scores which was consistent with the idea that they preferred non-human interaction facilitated by automated communication. In study 2, confirmatory factor analysis supported the unidimensional structure of the measure and the instrument once again proved to be reliable. Individuals with lower AAC had greater intentions to utilise automated communication, EHRs, and an automated virtual nurse programme. AAC is a disposition that predicts significant variance in intentions and comfort with various automated communication technologies. Avoidance increases with age but may be mitigated by systems that allow participants to opt-out or immediately interact with a live person.
In-Situ Monitoring and Diagnosing for Fused Filament Fabrication Process Based on Vibration Sensors

Fused filament fabrication (FFF) is one of the most widely used additive manufacturing (AM) technologies and it has great potential in fabricating prototypes with complex geometry. For high quality manufacturing, monitoring the products in real time is as important as maintaining the FFF machine in the normal state. This paper introduces an approach that is based on the vibration sensors and data-driven methods for in-situ monitoring and diagnosing the FFF process. The least squares support vector machine (LS-SVM) algorithm has been applied for identifying the normal and filament jam states of the FFF machine, besides fault diagnosis in real time. The identification accuracy for the case studies explored here using LS-SVM is greater than 90%. Furthermore, to ensure the product quality during the FFF process, the back-propagation neural network (BPNN) algorithm has been used to monitor and diagnose the quality defects, as well as the warpage and material stack caused by abnormal leakage for the products in-situ. The diagnosis accuracy for the case studies explored here using BPNN is greater than 95%. Results from the experiments show that the proposed approach can accurately recognize the machine failures and quality defects during the FFF process, thus effectively assuring the product quality.
Mouse models of X-linked juvenile retinoschisis have an early onset phenotype, the severity of which varies with genotype.

X-linked juvenile retinoschisis (XLRS) is an early onset inherited condition that affects primarily males and is characterized by cystic lesions of the inner retina, decreased visual acuity and contrast sensitivity, and a selective reduction of the electroretinogram (ERG) b-wave. Although XLRS is genetically heterogeneous, all mouse models developed to date involve engineered or spontaneous null mutations. In the present study, we have studied three new Rs1 mutant mouse models: (1) a knock out (KO) with inserted lacZ reporter gene; (2) a C59S point mutant substitution, and (3) an R141C point mutant substitution. Mice were studied from postnatal day (P15) to 28 weeks by spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) and ERG. Retinas of P21-22 mice were examined using biochemistry, single cell electrophysiology of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) and by immunohistochemistry. Each model developed intraretinal schisis and reductions in the ERG that were greater for the b-wave than the a-wave. The phenotype of the C59S mutant appeared less severe than the other mutants by ERG at adult ages. RGC electrophysiology demonstrated elevated activity in the absence of a visual stimulus and reduced signal-to-noise ratios in response to light stimuli. Immunohistochemical analysis documented early abnormalities in all cells of the outer retina. Together, these results provide significant insight into the early events of XLRS pathophysiology, from phenotype differences between disease-causing variants to common mechanistic events that may play critical roles in disease presentation and progression.
An Adaptive Track Segmentation Algorithm for a Railway Intrusion Detection System

Video surveillance-based intrusion detection has been widely used in modern railway systems. Objects inside the alarm region, or the track area, can be detected by image processing algorithms. With the increasing number of surveillance cameras, manual labeling of alarm regions for each camera has become time-consuming and is sometimes not feasible at all, especially for pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) cameras which may change their monitoring area at any time. To automatically label the track area for all cameras, video surveillance system requires an accurate track segmentation algorithm with small memory footprint and short inference delay. In this paper, we propose an adaptive segmentation algorithm to delineate the boundary of the track area with very light computation burden. The proposed algorithm includes three steps. Firstly, the image is segmented into fragmented regions. To reduce the redundant calculation in the evaluation of the boundary weight for generating the fragmented regions, an optimal set of Gaussian kernels with adaptive directions for each specific scene is calculated using Hough transformation. Secondly, the fragmented regions are combined into local areas by using a new clustering rule, based on the region’s boundary weight and size. Finally, a classification network is used to recognize the track area among all local areas. To achieve a fast and accurate classification, a simplified CNN network is designed by using pre-trained convolution kernels and a loss function that can enhance the diversity of the feature maps. Experimental results show that the proposed method finds an effective balance between the segmentation precision, calculation time, and hardware cost of the system.
Exome sequencing revealed a p.G299R mutation in the COMP gene in an Iranian family suffering from pseudoachondroplasia

Short‐stature (SS) is multifactorial pathologic condition that originates from either genetic or environmental factors. The diagnosis is based on family history, clinical findings, radiological examination and genetic analysis. A variety of genes have been reported for SS, among which FGFR‐3 was the main gene in achondroplasia and hypochondroplasia. In other forms of SS, the gene involved varies from one patient to another. Whole exome sequencing (WES) and comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) have recently introduced a growing body of genes annually. The present study performed a WES analysis on an Iranian family suffering from an inherited form of SS aiming to diagnose the causative gene. The father and all of his four sons were diagnosed as SS.
Increased miR‐323a induces bladder cancer cell apoptosis by suppressing c‐Met

The current study aimed to evaluate the expression and role of miR‐323a in the progression of bladder cancer (BC), thereby providing a theoretical basis and potential therapy methods for BC patients. Our data showed that miR‐323a levels were significantly reduced in BC tissues compared with those of non‐cancerous tissues. Meanwhile, miR‐323a was significantly decreased in human BC cell lines (T24, J82, TCCSUP, RT‐112) than that in human normal bladder epithelial cell line SV‐HUC‐1. Furthermore, inhibition of miR‐323a markedly enhanced the migration and invasive capacity of T24 and TCCSUP cells. Moreover, overexpression of miR‐323a significantly prompted the apoptosis of BC cells. Dual luciferase reporter assay and western blot analysis confirmed that c‐Met was a target gene of miR‐323a. More importantly, upregulation of c‐Met significantly prompted BC cell proliferation mainly as a result of the enhanced level of phosphorylation of AKT. This effect could be abolished when c‐Met was silenced in BC cells. In summary, reduced miR‐323a expression in BC contributed to enhanced BC cell proliferation and migration mainly by targeting c‐Met.
Characterization of AtWRI1 in fatty acids and starch synthesis in rice

ABSTRACT WRINKLED1 (WRI1) belongs to AP2/EREBP transcription factor. Its function in dicots for fatty acids synthesis has been deeply studied, but its role in monocot, especially in rice, is still poorly understood. Here, with the overexpression of AtWRI1 in rice, we found its overexpression increased fatty acids content in vegetative organs and seed coat including aleurone layer (SCAL) but decreased fatty acids content in endosperm. Meanwhile, the overexpression of AtWRI1 increased starch content in endosperm. These results provide a new insight into the function of AtWRI1in monocot and make a previous basement for the study of the connection of fatty acids and starch synthesis in rice. Graphic abstract The overexpression of AtWRI1 in rice enhances fatty acids content in vegetative tissues, seed coat including aleurone layer of rice but decreases fatty acids content in the endosperm. Meanwhile, the starch content in the endosperm of WRI1 rice is increased.
The improved antiviral activities of amino-modified chitosan derivatives on Newcastle virus

Abstract Chitosan is widely used as a medical material because of its excellent biological activities. However, the low solubility of natural chitosan limited its medicinal activity to some extent. The solubility can be improved by introducing more active groups and lowering molecular weight. Therefore, 6-amine chitosan derivatives were synthesized in this paper since more active groups were introduced to increase the medicinal activity. Those derivatives were characterized by elemental analysis, HPLC, and FT-IR and the antiviral activity was tested by hemagglutination tests. Finally, 6-amine chitosan derivatives improved the antiviral activity, especially after the introduction of bromine ion. When 6-deoxy-6-bromo-N-phthaloyl chitosan was 1 g/L, they reduced the hemagglutination titer of virus to zero. The RT-PCR result showed that the expression level of TNF-α and IFN-β increased significantly, which indicated that the antiviral activity of amino-modified chitosan worked through the stimulation of immune response.
Antioxidation and symbiotic nitrogen fixation function of prxA gene in Mesorhizobium huakuii

Peroxiredoxins (Prxs) play an essential role in the antioxidant activity and symbiotic capacity of Mesorhizobium huakuii. A mutation in the M. huakuii prxA gene (encoding a Prx5‐like peroxiredoxin) was generated by homologous recombination. The mutation of prxA did not affect M. huakuii growth, but the strain displayed decreased antioxidative capacity under organic cumene hydroperoxide (CUOOH) conditions. The higher resistance of the prxA mutant strain compared with the wild‐type strain to more than 1 mmol/L H2O2 was associated with a significantly higher level of glutathione reductase activity and a significantly lower level of intracellular hydrogen peroxide content. Real‐time quantitative PCR showed that under 1 mmol/L H2O2 conditions, expression of the stress‐responsive genes katG and katE was significantly upregulated in the prxA mutant. Although the prxA mutant can form nodules, the symbiotic ability was severely impaired, which led to an abnormal nodulation phenotype coupled to a 53.25% reduction in nitrogen fixation capacity. This phenotype was linked to an absence of bacteroid differentiation and deregulation of the transcription of the symbiotic genes nifH, nifD, and fdxN. Expression of the prxA gene was induced during symbiosis. Thus, the PrxA protein is essential for antioxidant capacity and symbiotic nitrogen fixation, playing independent roles in bacterial differentiation and cellular antioxidative systems.
Rest-activity circadian rhythm in breast cancer survivors at 5 years after the primary diagnosis

ABSTRACT Rest-activity circadian rhythm (RAR) is a marker of the circadian timing system. Particular attention has been given to RAR characteristics in cancer diseases. Specifically, alterations of RAR parameters have been found, at different stages of clinical pathway, in breast cancer (BC) patients. No studies to date have analyzed RAR alterations in breast cancer survivors several years after the diagnosis. The aim of this study was to determine RAR by actigraphy in a population of BC survivors at 5 years after the primary diagnosis, and to compare their RAR characteristics with healthy controls. The study sample was 28 women: 15 BC survivors at 5 years from the primary diagnosis (BC-group) and 13 healthy controls (Ctrl-group), matched for age and body mass index. All participants have been monitored for 7 days by actigraphy to evaluate RAR. A statistically significant circadian rhythm (T = 24) was found in all 28 subjects (p < .001). The group analysis revealed a significant RAR both in BC- and Ctrl-group (p < .001). The acrophase was not different between the BC- and Ctrl-group (15:09 vs. 15:01 hr:min in BC- and Ctrl-group, respectively). In contrast, the MESOR (Midline Estimating Statistic of Rhythm) and the amplitude were lower in the BC-group with respect to the Ctrl-group. Indeed, the MESOR was 192.0 vs. 276.4 activity counts in BC- and Ctrl-group, respectively (p < .001), while the amplitude was 167.0 vs. 222.6 activity counts in BC- and Ctrl-group, respectively (p < .001). These results provide the first experimental evidence of alterations in RAR parameters in BC survivors at 5 years after the primary diagnosis. Larger studies with a prospective design are needed to assess the role of RAR in the quality of life and prognosis in BC survivors.
Lived Experience of Afghan Refugees in Iran Concerning Primary Health Care Delivery

ABSTRACT Objective: Access to primary health care (PHC) is very important for refugees. The aim of this study was to illuminate lived experience of Afghan refugees in Iran regarding PHC delivery. Methods: This qualitative study was conducted in 2016–2017 by using the content analysis technique. Data were collected through individual deep interviews with Afghan refugees who lived in Iran. The data were analyzed by using a method by Graneheim and Lundman. Results: Four main categories and 12 subcategories were emerged, including (1) challenges before PHC delivery: large number of children, high service cost, not having medical insurance, access to health centers, appointment to get services, simultaneity of breastfeeding, and pregnancy; (2) challenges during PHC delivery: understanding Iranian words, health care provider’s behavior, delay in getting service in PHC centers; (3) challenges after delivery PHC: referral patient, high costs of paraclinics; and (4) free and good services. Conclusion: Our results showed that Afghan refugees have several challenges in every stage of PHC delivery. Awareness of such problems can help medical personnel improve delivery of service to Afghan refugees, as well as using trained Afghani nurses to serve the refugees.
Phonetic Motivation as a Learning Bias in Phonological Acquisition: List of Figures and Tables Section 1: Introduction 1.0 Introduction 1.2 Phonetic Motivation and Acquisition

v Acknowledgments I would like to thank Colin Wilson for introducing me to this project and supporting my progress in it; Bruce Hayes and Megha Sundara for their invaluable comments; Henry Tehrani, the designer and builder of the essential custom hardware that controlled the physical peripherals necessary to the experiment; Brook Lillehaugen for recording the versatile stimuli; and of course Lauren Varner for doing the pioneering work in this experiment. I would also like to give a warm thanks to all the parents who took the time and energy, both of which are in such short supply with an infant as part of the household, to bring their children in to UCLA to participate in the study. For over a decade, linguists have debated what a priori phonological knowledge infants bring to bear on the language learning task. Studying children's production only sheds light on their grammars after they have made enough progress in learning a language to have adopted quite a bit of the language's phonology, thereby altering their knowledge base significantly. To learn about their a priori state, it is therefore necessary to study infants at a much younger age by inferring their phonological preferences from their reactions to different phonological phenomena. In the study presented here, 12 4.5-month-olds and 6 10.5-month-olds were exposed to stimuli exhibiting two phonological patterns, one with intervocalic voicing (a phonetically motivated pattern) and one with intervocalic devoicing (a phonetically unmotivated pattern), with no initial learning phase. The infants' looking times to the different stimuli were monitored to determine which pattern they preferred without prior familiarization. The 4.5-month-olds preferred the typologically common and phonetically motivated pattern of intervocalic voicing, while the 10.5-month-olds showed a preference for the unmotivated pattern. These results are interpreted as supporting evidence for Wilson's (2006) proposed framework of substantively-biased phonology. This hypothesis posits that there is a language-independent bias predisposing the learner toward phonetically motivated phonological patterns over those without such motivation, and further suggests that the effects of this bias emerge when the learner is given extremely minimal data from which to make generalizations. 2 1.1 Phonetic Motivation and Phonology Though the field of phonology has long operated more or less separately from that of phonetics, recently many phonologists (and phoneticians) have come to believe that phonological theory can be carried out much more elegantly when principles of phonetic motivation are taken into account, specifically considerations of ease …
Calcium signals in guard cells enhance the efficiency by which abscisic acid triggers stomatal closure

Summary During drought, abscisic acid (ABA) induces closure of stomata via a signaling pathway that involves the calcium (Ca2+)‐independent protein kinase OST1, as well as Ca2+‐dependent protein kinases. However, the interconnection between OST1 and Ca2+ signaling in ABA‐induced stomatal closure has not been fully resolved. ABA‐induced Ca2+ signals were monitored in intact Arabidopsis leaves, which express the ratiometric Ca2+ reporter R‐GECO1‐mTurquoise and the Ca2+‐dependent activation of S‐type anion channels was recorded with intracellular double‐barreled microelectrodes. ABA triggered Ca2+ signals that occurred during the initiation period, as well as in the acceleration phase of stomatal closure. However, a subset of stomata closed in the absence of Ca2+ signals. On average, stomata closed faster if Ca2+ signals were elicited during the ABA response. Loss of OST1 prevented ABA‐induced stomatal closure and repressed Ca2+ signals, whereas elevation of the cytosolic Ca2+ concentration caused a rapid activation of SLAC1 and SLAH3 anion channels. Our data show that the majority of Ca2+ signals are evoked during the acceleration phase of stomatal closure, which is initiated by OST1. These Ca2+ signals are likely to activate Ca2+‐dependent protein kinases, which enhance the activity of S‐type anion channels and boost stomatal closure.
Combined GLP-1, Oxyntomodulin, and Peptide YY Improves Body Weight and Glycemia in Obesity and Prediabetes/Type 2 Diabetes: A Randomized, Single-Blinded, Placebo-Controlled Study

OBJECTIVE Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) augments postprandial secretion of glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1), oxyntomodulin (OXM), and peptide YY (PYY). Subcutaneous infusion of these hormones (“GOP”), mimicking postprandial levels, reduces energy intake. Our objective was to study the effects of GOP on glycemia and body weight when given for 4 weeks to patients with diabetes and obesity. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS In this single-blinded mechanistic study, obese patients with prediabetes/diabetes were randomized to GOP (n = 15) or saline (n = 11) infusion for 4 weeks. We also studied 21 patients who had undergone RYGB and 22 patients who followed a very low-calorie diet (VLCD) as unblinded comparators. Outcomes measured were 1) body weight, 2) fructosamine levels, 3) glucose and insulin during a mixed meal test (MMT), 4) energy expenditure (EE), 5) energy intake (EI), and 6) mean glucose and measures of glucose variability during continuous glucose monitoring. RESULTS GOP infusion was well tolerated over the 4-week period. There was a greater weight loss (P = 0.025) with GOP (mean change −4.4 [95% CI −5.3, −3.5] kg) versus saline (−2.5 [−4.1, −0.9] kg). GOP led to a greater improvement (P = 0.0026) in fructosamine (−44.1 [−62.7, −25.5] µmol/L) versus saline (−11.7 [−18.9, −4.5] µmol/L). Despite a smaller weight loss compared with RYGB and VLCD, GOP led to superior glucose tolerance after a mixed-meal stimulus and reduced glycemic variability compared with RYGB and VLCD. CONCLUSIONS GOP infusion improves glycemia and reduces body weight. It achieves superior glucose tolerance and reduced glucose variability compared with RYGB and VLCD. GOP is a viable alternative for the treatment of diabetes with favorable effects on body weight.