Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The control of interceptive arm movements

textabstractIn this thesis we addressed the strategies that normal human subjects employ t o make rapid interceptive movements. In the planning and continuous control of such movements, sensory information of very different modalities has to be integrated rapidly and accurately, and has to be translated into useful movements of the hand. We addressed the problem both with and without a model. With the mass-spring model we wanted to test whether such a model gives a valid description for both manipulations of the equilibrium point and of the endpoint (chapters 2, 6 and 7; cf. Fig. 1.1). In using a mass-spring model, we supposed that subjects used one single strategy for the sensory-motor control throughout an experiment (stable control). In chapter 5 we tested the validity of this assumption of stable control. Finally we specifically addressed the question whether –and if so, how– people use velocity information (rather than only position information) to guide their action (chapters 3, 4 and 6).
Performance and Measures of Stress in Lambs Weaned at 45 and 90 Days

A study was conducted to evaluate effects of age at weaning on various growth characteristics and stress measures of Zandi lambs. The lambs were weaned at 45 and 90 days of age. The body weights and average daily gain (ADG) were monitored during the experimental period and 5 months of age. Cortisol, glucose, blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and lamb behavior (agitation, vocalization) were recorded before and after weaning. After separation, lambs weaned at 45 d of age had greater agitation scores and bleats. Furthermore, serum cortisol, glucose and BUN concentration were higher for lambs at a weaning age of 45 d. The ADG and weaning and 5-months weights were similar. The results of the present study indicated that there is no significant difference in the growth traits of Zandi lambs, weaned at 45 or 90 days of age, and suggested that lamb could be weaned at 45 days of age.
Cognitive cues and visually induced motion sickness.

BACKGROUND The importance of cognitive processing of orientation cues in visually induced motion sickness and vection is often overlooked. Upright versus inverted visual scenes containing cues of different levels of salience were compared. METHODS Panoramic scenes of 360 degrees were projected in the visual equivalent to the nauseogenic situation of rotating about an axis tilted from the vertical with a field of view of 84 degrees rotating at 0.2 Hz (72 degrees x s(-1)). Exposures were for 10 min or until moderate nausea developed. The design was counterbalanced repeated measures. Pilot Study: Subjects (N = 12) viewed visual conditions: a distant bland coastline scene as from an aircraft, tilted 30 degrees (Up); the same scene but inverted (Invert); and the scene morphed with no obvious orientation cues (Abstract). Main Experiment: Subjects (N = 22) viewed a city street scene containing numerous unambiguous and strong verticality cues under two conditions: upright (Up) and inverted (Invert), with 18 degrees tilt of rotational axis. RESULTS Pilot Study: there were no significant differences between conditions in time (mean +/- SD min) to nausea endpoint (Up: 7.4 +/- 3.1; Invert: 7.1 +/- 3.1;Abstract: 7.8 +/- 2.4), nor for total symptom scores, nor for vection. Main Experiment: the upright scene was significantly more nauseogenic than the inverted, with shorter times to nausea endpoint (Up: 8.7 +/- 2.3; Invert: 9.2 +/- 2.2) and greater total symptom scores. Vection was marginally greater for Up than Invert. CONCLUSIONS Salient and unambiguous higher order cognitive cues may modulate the development of motion sickness induced by optokinetic stimuli. There was no one-to-one correspondence between vection and motion sickness.
Amlodipine-Valsartan Combination Decreases Central Systolic Blood Pressure More Effectively Than the Amlodipine-Atenolol Combination: The EXPLOR Study

The &bgr;-blocker atenolol is less effective than angiotensin-receptor blockers and calcium-channel blockers for reducing central blood pressure (BP). The trial was designed to determine whether the advantages of angiotensin-receptor blockers over atenolol remained significant when both were combined with the calcium-channel blocker amlodipine. A prospective, randomized, blinded endpoint (PROBE design) parallel group, multicenter trial including 393 patients with essential hypertension resistant to 4 weeks of 5 mg of amlodipine was set out. Central systolic BP, augmentation index (AIx; either rough or adjusted on heart rate), and carotid-to-femoral pulse wave velocity were measured with applanation tonometry (SphygmoCor) at inclusion and after 8 and 24 weeks of active treatment with an amlodipine-valsartan combination (5/80 mg and then 10/160 mg) or an amlodipine-atenolol combination (5/50 mg and then 10/100 mg). From baseline to week 24, central systolic BP decreased significantly more in the amlodipine-valsartan group (−13.70±1.15 mm Hg; P<0.0001) than in the amlodipine-atenolol group (−9.70±1.10 mm Hg; P<0.0001; difference: −4.00 mm Hg [95% CI: −7.10 to −0.90]; P=0.013), despite similar changes in brachial systolic BP. The difference in rough AIx reduction was −6.5% (95% CI: −8.3 to −4.7; P<0.0001) in favor of amlodipine-valsartan. AIx adjusted on heart rate was significantly reduced in favor of amlodipine-valsartan (−2.8% [95% CI: −4.92 to −0.68]; P<0.01). Heart rate decreased significantly more with amlodipine-atenolol (difference: −11 bpm [95% CI: −14 to −8 bpm]; P<0.001). Pulse wave velocity decreased by 0.95 m/s in both groups with no significant difference. Differences in central systolic BP and rough AIx remained significant after adjustment to the changes in heart rate. The amlodipine-valsartan combination decreased central (systolic and pulse) pressure and AIx more than the amlodipine-atenolol combination.
From Genes to Brain to Antisocial Behavior

This review summarizes recent brain-imaging and molecular-genetic findings on antisocial, violent, and psychopathic behavior. A “genes to brain to antisocial behavior” model hypothesizes that specific genes result in structural and functional brain alterations that, in turn, predispose to antisocial behavior. For instance, a common polymorphism in the monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) gene has been associated with both antisocial behavior and also reductions in the volume of the amygdala and orbitofrontal (ventral prefrontal) cortex—brain structures that are found to be compromised in antisocial individuals. Here I highlight key brain regions implicated in antisocial behavior, with an emphasis on the prefrontal cortex, along with ways these areas give expression to risk factors for antisocial behavior. Environmental influences may alter gene expression to trigger the cascade of events that translate genes into antisocial behavior. Neuroethical considerations include how responsibility and punishment should be determined given the hypothesis that neural circuits underlying morality are compromised in antisocial individuals.
Assessment of Minimal Residual Disease in Standard-Risk AML.

BACKGROUND Despite the molecular heterogeneity of standard-risk acute myeloid leukemia (AML), treatment decisions are based on a limited number of molecular genetic markers and morphology-based assessment of remission. Sensitive detection of a leukemia-specific marker (e.g., a mutation in the gene encoding nucleophosmin [NPM1]) could improve prognostication by identifying submicroscopic disease during remission. METHODS We used a reverse-transcriptase quantitative polymerase-chain-reaction assay to detect minimal residual disease in 2569 samples obtained from 346 patients with NPM1-mutated AML who had undergone intensive treatment in the National Cancer Research Institute AML17 trial. We used a custom 51-gene panel to perform targeted sequencing of 223 samples obtained at the time of diagnosis and 49 samples obtained at the time of relapse. Mutations associated with preleukemic clones were tracked by means of digital polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS Molecular profiling highlighted the complexity of NPM1-mutated AML, with segregation of patients into more than 150 subgroups, thus precluding reliable outcome prediction. The determination of minimal-residual-disease status was more informative. Persistence of NPM1-mutated transcripts in blood was present in 15% of the patients after the second chemotherapy cycle and was associated with a greater risk of relapse after 3 years of follow-up than was an absence of such transcripts (82% vs. 30%; hazard ratio, 4.80; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.95 to 7.80; P<0.001) and a lower rate of survival (24% vs. 75%; hazard ratio for death, 4.38; 95% CI, 2.57 to 7.47; P<0.001). The presence of minimal residual disease was the only independent prognostic factor for death in multivariate analysis (hazard ratio, 4.84; 95% CI, 2.57 to 9.15; P<0.001). These results were validated in an independent cohort. On sequential monitoring of minimal residual disease, relapse was reliably predicted by a rising level of NPM1-mutated transcripts. Although mutations associated with preleukemic clones remained detectable during ongoing remission after chemotherapy, NPM1 mutations were detected in 69 of 70 patients at the time of relapse and provided a better marker of disease status. CONCLUSIONS The presence of minimal residual disease, as determined by quantitation of NPM1-mutated transcripts, provided powerful prognostic information independent of other risk factors. (Funded by Bloodwise and the National Institute for Health Research; Current Controlled Trials number, ISRCTN55675535.).
Tn6001, a Transposon-Like Element Containing the blaVIM-3-Harboring Integron In450

ABSTRACT We describe the structure of a transposon-like element named Tn6001, which contains a blaVIM-3-harboring integron In450, which was derived from a multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa clinical isolate in Taiwan. The transposon backbone structure is most closely related to those of Tn1404* and Tn1403. Tn6001 was inserted into the chromosome of the clinical isolate.
Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumors: Differentiation Patterns and Immunohistochemical Features - A Mini-Review and Our New Findings

Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNST) represent a group of highly heterogeneous human malignancies often with multiple histological origins, divergent differentiation patterns, and diverse immunohistochemical presentations. The differential diagnosis of MPNST from other spindle cell neoplasms poses great challenges for pathologists. This report provides a mini-review of these unique features associated with MPNST and also presents the first cases of MPNST with six differentiation patterns.
Comprehensive and Creative Conclusions: Enhancing Structural Design Educational Opportunities in Labs for Architecture Students

For decades, structural design has erroneously been taught to architecture students using a modified version of an engineering-based pedagogical model. Instead of imparting a broad range of information for how structural design considerations could be critically integrated into architectural design, these courses instead focus on a narrow range of curricular topics and analytical methods that negatively impact the preparedness of architectural students for practice. To help address these deficiencies, the entire building technology course sequence at Iowa State University, has been dramatically reconfigured as a collaborative and integrative teaching environment that uses active learning environments and unique classroom activities to enhance student learning. Specifically this paper will present three different labs that occur during the final five-week course module of this structural design sequence. Each of the three exercises demonstrates particularly important, capstone-level, learning objectives. The paper will describe the means, methods, challenges, and benefits of these specific assignments and how these represent other important improvements throughout the new sequence. Examples of student work will be shown, and an assessment of the efficacy of the assignments will be presented including reflections upon lessons learned and suggestions for future improvements. INHERENT INEFFECTIVENESS Effectively teaching structural design to architecture students is an important, but complicated process. At its most basic level, architectural education teaches ways to create accommodating and experiential spaces and forms, yet the extent of possible responsive solutions requires the coalescence of a multiplicity of diverse cultural, aesthetic, and technological considerations. Although design is a reiterative process that rarely has a single correct or obvious answer, there are aspects, like structural design, that do require quantifiable verification for viability. Therefore, designing requires an ability to experiment and evaluate different arrangements and assembly options using both qualitative and quantitative analytical means and objectives. Learning these different skills can be complex and confusing, especially because these skills are frequently taught quite differently. Unfortunately, for the last fifty years, structural design has been predominantly taught to architecture students in a manner more in line with an engineering education. By continuing to base the course content and pedagogical approach primarily on calculation-based means of analytics and evaluations practiced by the engineers,
Resource Pricing for Connection-Oriented Networks

NINAN, BOBBY M. Resource Pricing for Connection-Oriented Networks. (Under the direction of Associate Professor Michael Devetsikiotis). Network pricing has important implications in the revenue generation, resource management, system optimization and congestion control of computer networks. We depart from the prevalent idea of marginal cost pricing and provide a holistic, bi-level optimization framework to model the interaction between network entities in a connection oriented network. Users are treated as utility maximizing entities who allocate the available bandwidth among themselves by playing a distributed, noncooperative rate game. The ensuing Nash equilibrium is analyzed for the single link Erlang network and the multi-link product form networks. Variants based on the upper bound of the blocking are also studied owing to their role in reducing computational complexity. Theoretical results are then validated using numerical simulation for varying network scenarios. An extension of the rate adaptation game based on Recursive Least Squares is proposed for dealing with the imperfect information scenario. These exhibited favorable convergence, accuracy and scalability properties. Gradient-free schemes are then developed for revenue maximization. These are based on novel stochastic approximation techniques such as Finite Difference Stochastic Approximation (FDSA) and Simultaneous Perturbation Stochastic Approximation (SPSA). It is observed that the network employed price discrimination for optimizing its objective function and partitioning its available capacity among competing users. Resource Pricing for Connection-Oriented Networks
Effects of biofeedback treatment on gait in children with cerebral palsy

Purpose: We evaluated the effectiveness of biofeedback treatment on gait function in children with cerebral palsy. Method: Thirty-six children with spastic cerebral palsy and dynamic equinus deformity were included in the study. The biofeedback group consisted of 21 children who each received EMG biofeedback training plus conventional exercise programme. The control group consisted of 15 children who each received conventional exercise programme only. Active range of motion of the ankle joints, muscle tone of plantar flexors, and gait function of the children were evaluated and compared. Results: The biofeedback group displayed statistically significant improvements regarding tonus of plantar flexor muscles and active ROM of ankle joints (p < 0.000 for all parameters). Gait function showed statistically significant progress in both of the groups, but the biofeedback group was superior to controls. Conclusions: Children with cerebral palsy and dynamic equinus deformities may benefit from biofeedback treatment for ambulation.
The importance of sleep.

‘Welcome little stranger’ wrote my grandmother when I was born. But I was not welcome for long. I was a ‘difficult baby’, as I was reminded half a century on. The problem was that I would not sleep. Keeping your mother awake is not the best start to a relationship. We all know the importance of sleep. Or do we?
Pooling mRNA in microarray experiments and its effect on power

MOTIVATION Microarrays can simultaneously measure the expression levels of many genes and are widely applied to study complex biological problems at the genetic level. To contain costs, instead of obtaining a microarray on each individual, mRNA from several subjects can be first pooled and then measured with a single array. mRNA pooling is also necessary when there is not enough mRNA from each subject. Several studies have investigated the impact of pooling mRNA on inferences about gene expression, but have typically modeled the process of pooling as if it occurred in some transformed scale. This assumption is unrealistic. RESULTS We propose modeling the gene expression levels in a pool as a weighted average of mRNA expression of all individuals in the pool on the original measurement scale, where the weights correspond to individual sample contributions to the pool. Based on these improved statistical models, we develop the appropriate F statistics to test for differentially expressed genes. We present formulae to calculate the power of various statistical tests under different strategies for pooling mRNA and compare resulting power estimates to those that would be obtained by following the approach proposed by Kendziorski et al. (2003). We find that the Kendziorski estimate tends to exceed true power and that the estimate we propose, while somewhat conservative, is less biased. We argue that it is possible to design a study that includes mRNA pooling at a significantly reduced cost but with little loss of information.
El Psicoanálisis basado en la Evidencia: Su Interacción Científica con la Neurociencia Cognitiva

Summary the author begins by keeping in mind the concept of Medicine based on evidence, with the objective of addressing the limits of Psychoanalysis as a rigorous system of autocritical thinking. It is desirable to show the importance for Psychoanalysis to associates itself to Neurosciences in order to acquire a scientific acknowledgment. this acknowledgment will be grounded on relating the psychoanalytical train of thought with the objective neurobiological phenomenon. As a starting point, Eric Kandel’s research papers, which have been centered in the molecular base of the Central Nervous System’s syntactical plasticity and the relationship between plasticity and the cognitive functions, are revised.
Microscopic correlations of non-Hermitian Dirac operators in three-dimensional QCD

In the presence of a non-vanishing chemical potential the eigenvalues of the Dirac operator become complex. We calculate spectral correlation functions of complex eigenvalues using a random matrix model approach. Our results apply to non-Hermitian Dirac operators in three-dimensional QCD with broken flavor symmetry and in four-dimensional QCD in the bulk of the spectrum. The derivation follows earlier results of Fyodorov, Khoruzhenko and Sommers for complex spectra exploiting the existence of orthogonal polynomials in the complex plane. Explicit analytic expressions are given for all microscopic k-point correlation functions in the presence of an arbitrary even number of massive quarks, both in the limit of strong and weak non-Hermiticity. In the latter case the parameter governing the non-Hermiticity of the Dirac matrices is identified with the influence of the chemical potential.
Effect of Stirring Duration on Hardness and Antibacterial Characteristics of Polyethylene Glycol-Hydroxyapatite Nanocomposites

We study the effect of stirring duration on the synthesis of polyethylene glycolhydroxyapatite (PEG/HA) nanocomposites and their hardness and antibacterial characteristics. The HA was used from natural deposit calcite rock from Druju-Malang. In this study, PEG/HA composite with a composition ratio of 20:80 in %Wt was obtained through co-precipitation method with various stirring duration of 1, 2, 4, and 6 hrs. The results indicate that the variation of stirring duration of the PEG/HA composite promotes a change of functional bonds, grain size, and hardness value. The optimum hardness was achieved by stirring duration of 2 hrs. Furthermore, the PEG/HA composite exhibited a relatively consistent value of antibacterial zone in a variation of stirring duration, but it still showed an antibacterial performance. Our study would give a good understanding of the technique to improve mechanical and antibacterial properties in HA-based biomedical applications for bone regeneration.
Effect of non-fluoride agents on the prevention of dental caries in primary dentition: A systematic review

Objective To assess the effect of non-fluoride agents on the prevention of dental caries in primary dentition. Materials and methods Medline, Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Library, CBM and CNKI databases were searched to identify all the relevant articles published prior to 16 December 2016. Grey literature was also searched. Randomized controlled human clinical trials in which non-fluoride agents were delivered by any method were considered. Results Of the 1,236 studies screened, 39 full articles were scrutinized and 14 selected for inclusion in the final sample. Five chemical agents, namely arginine, casein phosphopeptide-amorphous calcium phosphate (CPP-ACP), chlorhexidine, triclosan and xylitol were investigated in these included studies. The cariostatic effects of non-fluoride agents in vivo were evaluated in comparison with fluoride or placebos in randomized controlled trials. There is evidence that the use of certain doses of xylitol may be effective in arresting dental caries in primary dentition. However, quantitative synthesis could not be carried out because of the clinical and methodological heterogeneity of the included studies. Conclusions A study at low risk of bias indicated that daily use of xylitol wipes is a useful adjunct for caries control in young children, however, this conclusion should be interpreted with caution as this study had a very limited sample size. Chlorhexidine and CPP-ACP may be more effective than a placebo in managing caries in primary dentition, but their effectiveness is borderline when compared with fluoride. Arginine-containing mint confection and 0.3% triclosan varnish were found to reduce caries development in primary teeth but the evidence was at high risk of bias. High quality randomized controlled trials are needed in order to make a conclusive recommendation.
The Effects of a Web-Based Supplementary Program for Facilitating Nursing Students' Basic Nursing Skills

This study examined the effects of an asynchronous Web-based supplementary learning program on the performance of nursing students' basic nursing skills. A posttest quasi-experimental design was used. Students in the intervention group (n = 62) were given login information to access the online program, while the control group (n = 99) was not. Data from both groups were collected before and 4 weeks after the intervention. An objective assessment of basic nursing skills was used to evaluate the level of skill demonstrated by the participants. Results indicate that the Web-based supplementary learning program is effective at strengthening students' basic nursing skills (P = .002). The findings also reveal that students in the intervention group showed higher-than-average satisfaction with the supplementary program (mean, 3.80 [SD, 0.81]). Thus, this Web-based program offers a learning opportunity for nursing students to enhance their skills beyond their formal lectures.