Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Patients With First-Episode Psychosis are Not a Homogeneous Population: Implications for Treatment

Objective: This study aimed at defining the characteristics of a population of patients diagnosed with first-episode psychosis (FEP), and accessing for the first time a center for early intervention in psychosis in the health district of Milan and its surroundings. Methods: Patients were included in the study from January 2007 to December 2008; criteria: first contact with any public mental health service of the catchment area for a first episode of schizophrenia or related syndromes according to the ICD-10 criteria. Cluster analysis was used to divide patients into groups based on the main socio-demographic and clinical characteristics at presentation. Results: Overall, 91 FEP patients were enrolled in the study. Two clusters were identified, which differed principally by symptom profile. Patients in cluster 1 (n=36) had severe agitation, and a history of alcohol and/or substance abuse at presentation more often than those in cluster 2 (n=55), who were more likely to suffer at presentation from severe depression or apathy, anxiety, poor self-care, functional or work impairment and severe social withdrawal. After six months of treatment patients improved on almost all symptomatic dimensions on the Health of the Nation Outcome Scale and the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, with greater improvement in cluster 1 than in cluster 2. Conclusions: The findings of this study need replication in larger samples and on a wider severity scale. Nevertheless, the heterogeneity of patients with FEP might impact on treatment. Policymakers should recognize the importance of the diagnostic and outcome assessment in the treatment of severe mental disorders.
A survey of student perceptions of team‐based learning in anatomy curriculum: Favorable views unrelated to grades

Team‐based learning (TBL) combines independent out of class preparation with in class small group discussion. We adopted TBL in teaching first year medical gross anatomy. In this study, we evaluated student perceptions of TBL by using a survey that elicited perceptions of both pedagogy and mode of learning. Anatomy lectures were replaced with required preclass readings, self‐assessment quizzes, small group discussions of assignments, and groups retaking the same quizzes for deeper learning. At the course conclusion, students were surveyed to assess their preference for TBL, their perceptions of TBL effectiveness, and their perceptions of successful interpersonal relationships within groups. Respondents (n = 317; 89% response) were asked to rate the extent that they agreed (−2 = strongly disagree; −1 = disagree; 0 = neutral; 1 = agree; and 2 = strongly agree). A principal components factor analysis with varimax rotation identified two 8‐item factors: “perceptions of TBL” and “perceptions of teamwork. ” Internal consistency for each was high [Cronbach's alpha = 0.908 (preference for TBL); 0.884 (preference of teamwork)]. Results of one‐way analysis of variance between Honors/High Pass/Pass/Fail students indicated that Honors (n = 73) tended to rate perceptions of TBL higher than Pass (n = 54) [mean difference = 2.92; 95% CI (0.05, 5.79)], and also higher than Fail (n = 11) [mean difference = 6.30; 95% CI (1.13, 11.47)]. However, each had overallpositive ratings. No difference was noted between mean ratings of teamwork, which were also, overall, positive. We conclude that medical students view TBL favorably irrespective of their grades. Anat Sci Educ 2:150–155, 2009. © 2009 American Association of Anatomists.
A simplified thermodynamic effect model for cavitating flow in hot water

When cavitation occurs, under the evaporation cooling effect, the local temperature decreases, saturated vapor pressure decreases, then cavitation is suppressed. This is known as “thermodynamic effect” of cavitation, which is normally neglected in water cavitation at room temperature. Due to the low liquid-vapor density ratio, the thermodynamic effect becomes much more important and cannot ignore in hot water cavitation. Therefore, in numerical simulation, the thermodynamic effect needs to be taken into account. This study, a simplified thermodynamic model, which has been applied to liquid nitrogen cavitation, combining with our cavitation model is extended to hot water cavitation. The cavitation experiment on a 2-D triangle cylinder in the water at 90°C is conducted. The temperature depression in cavity under thermodynamic effect is measured by using the thermistor probe. Then, experimental data is used for validating the present simplified thermodynamic model. Furthermore, the present model is extended to cryogenic cavitation. The numerical result shows good agreement in cavity volume and temperature comparison with experiment in the present hot water and cryogenic liquid.
Removal of Ni (II) and Cr (VI) ions from aqueous solution using by-product from the production of aluminium

A. Štrkalj, Z. Glavaš, University of Zagreb, Faculty of Metallurgy, Sisak, Croatia G. Matijašić, University of Zagreb, Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Zagreb, Croatia In this paper comparative adsorption equilibrium studies of Ni (II) and Cr (VI) ions on commercial activated carbon (CAC) and carbon anode dust (CAD) are presented. The equilibrium studies confirmed that Freundlich model best describes the adsorption systems CAC + Cr (VI), CAD + Ni (II) and CAD + Cr (VI). The Dubinin-Radushevich isotherm can be used to describe system CAC + Ni (II). The results indicate that the intra-particle diffusion model is applicable for adsorption system CAC + Cr (VI) and pseudo-second kinetic model is applicable for adsorption systems CAC + Ni (II), CAD + Cr (VI) and CAD + Ni (II). Obtained results indicate that adsorption of Ni (II) and Cr (VI) ions on CAC and CAD depends on the temperature.
Data-Driven Language Understanding for Spoken Language Dialogue

We present a natural-language customer service application for a telephone banking call center, developed as part of theAMITIES dialogue project (Automated Multilingual Interaction with Information and Services). Our dialogue system, based on empirical data gathered from real call-center conversations, features data-driven techniques that allow for spoken language understanding despite speech recognition errors, as well as mixed system/customer initiative and spontaneous conversation. These techniques include robust named-entity extraction and vector-based task identification and dialogue act classification. Preliminary evaluation results indicate efficient dialogues and high user satisfaction, with performance comparable to or better than that of current conversational information systems.
Adolescents on the lookout for suicidal friends on social networking sites

Title of Dissertation: ADOLESCENTS ON THE LOOKOUT FOR SUICIDAL FRIENDS ON SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES Jill Berger, Doctor of Philosophy, 2013 Dissertation directed by: Professor Gary D. Gottfredson Department of Counseling, Higher Education, and Special Education There are opportunities to identify and intervene with suicidal adolescents through social media outlets. This study explored the effectiveness of using two types of persuasive messages to encourage adolescents to get help for Facebook friends who might be suicidal. Facebookusing adolescents (N = 299) were recruited to participate in an online survey within which a randomized experiment was embedded. More than one third of participants reported seeing Facebook friends post about suicide. Participants were randomly assigned in a 2x2x2 design to exposure or no exposure to suicide prevention information, a suicide intervention story, and a pre-test assessment. The effects of these conditions on participants’ knowledge of what to do and their intentions to get adult help were examined. Participants exposed to information were more likely to report that they knew what to do for a suicidal friend; whereas those exposed to the story were more likely to express intentions to get adult help when presented with suicidal scenarios. Stories depicting social role models appear to be an effective way to encourage adolescents to take appropriate actions when friends post content suggestive of suicide on Facebook. Further research exploring how youth suicide prevention efforts can be integrated with social media is warranted.
A comparison of two suffix tree-based document clustering algorithms

Document clustering as an unsupervised approach extensively used to navigate, filter, summarize and manage large collection of document repositories like the World Wide Web (WWW). Recently, focuses in this domain shifted from traditional vector based document similarity for clustering to suffix tree based document similarity, as it offers more semantic representation of the text present in the document. In this paper, we compare and contrast two recently introduced approaches to document clustering based on suffix tree data model. The first is an Efficient Phrase based document clustering, which extracts phrases from documents to form compact document representation and uses a similarity measure based on common suffix tree to cluster the documents. The second approach is a frequent word/word meaning sequence based document clustering, it similarly extracts the common word sequence from the document and uses the common sequence/ common word meaning sequence to perform the compact representation, and finally, it uses document clustering approach to cluster the compact documents. These algorithms are using agglomerative hierarchical document clustering to perform the actual clustering step, the difference in these approaches are mainly based on extraction of phrases, model representation as a compact document, and the similarity measures used for clustering. This paper investigates the computational aspect of the two algorithms, and the quality of results they produced.
Chronic antioxidant therapy reduces oxidative stress in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease

Oxidative modifications are a hallmark of oxidative imbalance in the brains of individuals with Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and prion diseases and their respective animal models. While the causes of oxidative stress are relatively well-documented, the effects of chronically reducing oxidative stress on cognition, pathology and biochemistry require further clarification. To address this, young and aged control and amyloid-β protein precursor-over-expressing mice were fed a diet with added R-alpha lipoic acid for 10 months to determine the effect of chronic antioxidant administration on the cognition and neuropathology and biochemistry of the brain. Both wild type and transgenic mice treated with R-alpha lipoic acid displayed significant reductions in markers of oxidative modifications. On the other hand, R-alpha lipoic acid had little effect on Y-maze performance throughout the study and did not decrease end-point amyloid-β load. These results suggest that, despite the clear role of oxidative stress in mediating amyloid pathology and cognitive decline in ageing and AβPP-transgenic mice, long-term antioxidant therapy, at levels within tolerable nutritional guidelines and which reduce oxidative modifications, have limited benefit.
Are bitvectors optimal?

We study the it static membership problem: Given a set S of at most n keys drawn from a universe U of size m, store it so that queries of the form "Is u in S? " can be answered by making few accesses to the memory. We study schemes for this problem that use space close to the information theoretic lower bound of $\Omega(n\log(\frac{m}{n}))$ bits and yet answer queries by reading a small number of bits of the memory. We show that, for $\epsilon > 0$, there is a scheme that stores $O(\frac{n}{\epsilon^2}\log m)$ bits and answers membership queries using a randomized algorithm that reads just one bit of memory and errs with probability at most $\epsilon$. We consider schemes that make no error for queries in S but are allowed to err with probability at most $\epsilon$ for queries not in S. We show that there exist such schemes that store $O((\frac{n}{\epsilon})^2 \log m)$ bits and answer queries using just one bitprobe. If multiple probes are allowed, then the number of bits stored can be reduced to $O(n^{1+\delta}\log m)$ for any $\delta > 0$. The schemes mentioned above are based on probabilistic constructions of set systems with small intersections. We show lower bounds that come close to our upper bounds (for a large range of n and $\epsilon$): Schemes that answer queries with just one bitprobe and error probability $\epsilon$ must use $\Omega(\frac{n}{\epsilon\log(1/\epsilon)} \log m)$ bits of storage; if the error is restricted to queries not in S, then the scheme must use $\Omega(\frac{n^2}{\epsilon^2 \log (n/\epsilon)}\log m)$ bits of storage. We also consider deterministic schemes for the static membership problem and show tradeoffs between space and the number of probes.
Resveratrol Suppresses the Angiogenesis and Tumor Growth of Gliomas in Rats

Purpose: We wanted to investigate the antitumor effects and effect on angiogenesis of resveratrol in rat RT-2 gliomas. Experimental Design: RT-2 glioma cells were treated with resveratrol, and then cytotoxicity was assayed, apoptosis was measured by flow-activated cell sorter flow cytometry, and expression of vascular endothelial growth factor was measured by reverse transcription-PCR. Tumor size, animal survival time, and survival rate were followed in resveratrol-treated rats with s.c. or intracerebral gliomas. Furthermore, in vitro proliferation was assayed to explore the effect of resveratrol on the proliferation of ECV304 human umbilical vein endothelial cells. Expression of CD31 in resveratrol-treated gliomas was followed immunohistochemically to study the effect of resveratrol on the glioma-induced angiogenesis. Results: Resveratrol was demonstrated to exert cytotoxic effects and induce glioma cell apoptosis in a concentration- and time-dependent manner (P < 0.05). Resveratrol (40 mg/kg/day) exerted significant antitumor effects on s.c. tumors, including slower tumor growth rate, longer animal survival time, and higher animal survival rate (P < 0.05). In contrast, resveratrol affected intracerebral tumors at only an increased dose (100 mg/kg/day), prolonging animal survival (P < 0.05) without affecting survival rate. The expression of vascular endothelial growth factor in the glioma cells and the proliferation of ECV304 cells were inhibited by resveratrol in a concentration-dependent manner. Immunohistochemical analyses showed that the s.c. gliomas from resveratrol-treated rats had fewer microvessel densities than did control rats (P < 0.01). Conclusions: Resveratrol caused significant glioma cell cytotoxicity and apoptosis, exerted antitumor effects on the s.c. and intracerebral gliomas, and inhibited angiogenesis in s.c. gliomas. Thus, resveratrol might be considered a possible treatment strategy for gliomas.
MARTE-based design of a multimedia application and formal analysis

Digital television (DTV) is an advanced broadcasting technology that is spreading fast today. It gives broadcasters the capability to send programs with a better picture and sound quality. Moreover, broadcasters can send several programming choices, called multicasting. DTV consists of a high-performance system combining both control and intensive data processing. In this paper, we first show how the OMG MARTE profile can serve to model such a system. Then, we use the synchronous approach to formally check some temporal properties of the expected system implementation for validation purpose.
Cirrus: Towards Business Provenance As-a-Service in the Cloud

The problem of systematically capturing and managing business provenance across loosely coupled systems has received insignificant attention despite of its relevance. Business provenance gives the flexibility to selectively capture information required to address specific compliance, security or QoS goals. This paper presents a native cloud-based architecture named Cirrus, it may collect retrospective provenance generated by business processes across multiple internal and external organizational boundaries.
Association of TRAP1 with infliximab‐induced mucosal healing in Crohn's disease

Anti‐tumor necrosis factor (TNF) agents, such as infliximab (IFX), have been increasingly used to induce and maintain disease remission in patients with Crohn's disease (CD). Despite a considerable non‐response rate, little is known about the genetic predictors of response to anti‐TNF therapy in CD. Our aim in this study was to investigate the genetic factors associated with response to anti‐TNF therapy in patients with CD.
Uncovering undetected hypoglycemic events

Hypoglycemia is the rate-limiting factor that often prevents patients with diabetes from safely and effectively achieving their glycemic goals. Recent studies have reported that severe hypoglycemia is associated with a significant increase in the adjusted risks of major macrovascular events, major microvascular events, and mortality. Minor hypoglycemic episodes can also have serious implications for patient health, psychological well being, and adherence to treatment regimens. Hypoglycemic events can impact the health economics of the patient, their employer, and third-party payers. Insulin treatment is a key predictor of hypoglycemia, with one large population-based study reporting an overall prevalence of 7.1% (type 1 diabetes mellitus) and 7.3% (type 2 diabetes mellitus) in insulin-treated patients, compared with 0.8% in patients with type 2 diabetes treated with an oral sulfonylurea. Patients with type 1 diabetes typically experience symptomatic hypoglycemia on average twice weekly and severe hypoglycemia once annually. The progressive loss of islet cell function in patients with type 2 diabetes results in a higher risk of both symptomatic and unrecognized hypoglycemia over time. Patients with diabetes who become hypoglycemic are also more susceptible to developing defective counter-regulation, also known as hypoglycemia awareness autonomic failure, which is life-threatening and must be aggressively addressed. In patients unable to recognize hypoglycemia symptoms, frequent home monitoring or use of continuous glucose sensors are critical. Primary care physicians play a key role in the prevention and management of hypoglycemia in patients with diabetes, particularly in those requiring intensive insulin therapy, yet physicians are often unaware of the multitude of consequences of hypoglycemia or how to deal with them. Careful monitoring, adherence to guidelines, and use of optimal treatment combinations are all important steps toward improving care in patients with diabetes. The most important goals are for primary care physicians to recognize that every patient treated with antihyperglycemic medications is at risk of iatrogenic hypoglycemia and to ask patients about hypoglycemia at every visit.
Metabolic Engineering of Tomato Fruit Organic Acid Content Guided by Biochemical Analysis of an Introgression Line1[W][OA]

Organic acid content is regarded as one of the most important quality traits of fresh tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). However, the complexity of carboxylic acid metabolism and storage means that it is difficult to predict the best way to engineer altered carboxylic acid levels. Here, we used a biochemical analysis of a tomato introgression line with increased levels of fruit citrate and malate at breaker stage to identify a metabolic engineering target that was subsequently tested in transgenic plants. Increased carboxylic acid levels in introgression line 2-5 were not accompanied by changes in the pattern of carbohydrate oxidation by pericarp discs or the catalytic capacity of tricarboxylic acid cycle enzymes measured in isolated mitochondria. However, there was a significant decrease in the maximum catalytic activity of aconitase in total tissue extracts, suggesting that a cytosolic isoform of aconitase was affected. To test the role of cytosolic aconitase in controlling fruit citrate levels, we analyzed fruit of transgenic lines expressing an antisense construct against SlAco3b, one of the two tomato genes encoding aconitase. A green fluorescent protein fusion of SlAco3b was dual targeted to cytosol and mitochondria, while the other aconitase, SlAco3a, was exclusively mitochondrial when transiently expressed in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) leaves. Both aconitase transcripts were decreased in fruit from transgenic lines, and aconitase activity was reduced by about 30% in the transgenic lines. Other measured enzymes of carboxylic acid metabolism were not significantly altered. Both citrate and malate levels were increased in ripe fruit of the transgenic plants, and as a consequence, total carboxylic acid content was increased by 50% at maturity.
Data flow partitioning with clock period and latency constraints

We propose an efficient performance-driven two-way partitioning algorithm to take into account clock period and latency with retiming. We model the problem with a quadratic programming formulation to minimize the crossing edge count with nonlinear timing constraints. By using a Lagrangian Approach on Modular Partitioning (LAMP), we merge nonlinear constraints into the objective function. We then decompose the problem into primal and dual subprograms. The primal program is solved by a heuristic quadratic Boolean programming approach and the dual program is solved by a subgradient method using a cycle mean method. Experimental results on seven industrial circuits have demonstrated our algorithm is able to achieve an average of 23.25% clock period and latency reductions compared to the best results produced by 20 rum on each test case using a Fiduccia-Mattheyses algorithm. In terms of the average number of crossing edges, our results are only 1.85% more than those of the Fiduccia-Mattheyses algorithm without timing constraints. Compared with previous network flow based approach, our algorithm reduces the average crossing edge count by 14.59%. Furthermore, an average of 7.70% clock period and latency reductions are achieved,.
Noninvasive optical measures of CBV, StO2, CBF index, and rCMRO2 in human premature neonates' brains in the first six weeks of life

With the causes of perinatal brain injuries still unclear and the probable role of hemodynamic instability in their etiology, bedside monitoring of neonatal cerebral hemodynamics with standard values as a function of age are needed. In this study, we combined quantitative frequency domain near infrared spectroscopy (FD‐NIRS) measures of cerebral tissue oxygenation (StO2) and cerebral blood volume (CBV) with diffusion correlation spectroscopy (DCS) measures of a cerebral blood flow index (CBFix) to test the validity of the CBV‐CBF relationship in premature neonates and to estimate cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen (rCMRO2) with or without the CBFix measurement. We measured 11 premature neonates (28–34 weeks gestational age) without known neurological issues, once a week from one to six weeks of age. In nine patients, cerebral blood velocities from the middle cerebral artery were collected by transcranial Doppler (TCD) and compared with DCS values. Results show a steady decrease in StO2 during the first six weeks of life while CBV remains stable, and a steady increase in CBFix. rCMRO2 estimated from FD‐NIRS remains constant but shows wide interindividual variability. rCMRO2 calculated from FD‐NIRS and DCS combined increased by 40% during the first six weeks of life with reduced interindividual variability. TCD and DCS values are positively correlated. In conclusion, FD‐NIRS combined with DCS offers a safe and quantitative bedside method to assess CBV, StO2, CBF, and rCMRO2 in the premature brain, facilitating individual follow‐up and comparison among patients. A stable CBV‐CBF relationship may not be valid for premature neonates. Hum Brain Mapp, 2010. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.