Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cognitive performance in patients with Alzheimer's disease receiving cholinesterase inhibitors for up to 5 years

The cholinesterase inhibitors (ChE‐Is) – rivastigmine, donepezil and galantamine – demonstrated efficacy in large, 6‐month, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled trials, and are widely used for the symptomatic treatment of patients with mild‐to‐moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD). Over the past few years, data have emerged, suggesting that these agents may have long‐term benefits. These data have been summarized in this study, followed by an interpretation of clinical relevance.
Turismo e meio ambiente na mitificação dos lugares

No periodo contemporâneo, a valorizacao estetica das paisagens naturais deu um papel privilegiado as praticas do turismo e as concepcoes de meio ambiente. O fenomeno turistico da atualidade potencializou este processo e, alem de impor novas territorialidades nos lugares atrativos, transformou estes lugares em mercadorias simbolicas - paisagens naturais que povoam o imaginario social. Este artigo propoe a analise de duas formas de enclaves turisticos, implantados em areas naturais ainda preservadas, e coloca em evidencia as contradicoes socioespaciais da mitificacao dos lugares turisticos. The Latter-day aesthetic evaLuation of naturaL Landscapes has brought up a new, priviLeged dimension to tourism practicing, as well as to the very conceptuaLization of the environment. The tourism boom currently taking place worldwide has strengthen this conceptual evoLution, and imposed a new territorialism to attractive places, converting them into symbolic merchandize - idyllic natural Landscapes that fill lhe social imagery. The present paper proposes an analysis of two kinds oftouristic enclaves established within natural preserves, and evidences the socio-spatial contradictions ofthe touristic places' imagery.
Intermittent hypoxia mobilizes bone marrow-derived very small embryonic-like stem cells and activates developmental transcriptional programs in mice.

BACKGROUND obstructive sleep apnea is a prevalent disorder associated with cognitive dysfunction and cardiovascular and metabolic morbidity and is characterized by recurrent episodes of hypoxia during sleep. Bone marrow-derived very small embryonic-like (VSEL) pluripotent stem cells represent a recruitable pool that may play an important role in organ repair after injury. We hypothesized that exposure to intermittent hypoxia (IH) can mobilize VSELs from the bone marrow (BM) to peripheral blood (PB) in mice and can activate distinct transcriptional programs. METHODS adult mice were exposed to IH or normoxia for 48 hours. VSELs were sorted from BM and PB using flow cytometry. Plasma levels of stem cell chemokines, stromal cell derived factor-1 (SDF-1), hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), and leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) were measured. Transcriptional profiling of VSELs was performed, and differentially expressed genes were mapped to enriched functional categories and genetic networks. RESULTS exposure to IH elicited migration of VSELs from BM to PB and elevations in plasma levels of chemokines. More than 1100 unique genes were differentially expressed in VSELs in response to IH. Gene Ontology and network analysis revealed the activation of organ-specific developmental programs among these genes. CONCLUSIONS exposure to IH mobilizes VSELs from the BM to PB and activates distinct transcriptional programs in VSELs that are enriched in developmental pathways, including central nervous system development and angiogenesis. Thus, VSELs may serve as a reserve mobile pool of pluripotent stem cells that can be recruited into PB and may play an important role in promoting end-organ repair during IH.
Investigating the effect of the reality gap on the human psychophysiological state in the context of human-swarm interaction

The reality gap is the discrepancy between simulation and reality-the same behavioural algorithm results in different robot swarm behaviours in simulation and in reality (with real robots). In this paper, we study the effect of the reality gap on the psychophysiological reactions of humans interacting with a robot swarm. We compare the psychophysiological reactions of 28 participants interacting with a simulated robot swarm and with a real (non-simulated) robot swarm. Our results show that a real robot swarm provokes stronger reactions in our participants than a simulated robot swarm. We also investigate how to mitigate the effect of the reality gap (i.e., how to diminish the difference in the psychophysiological reactions between reality and simulation) by comparing psychophysiological reactions in simulation displayed on a computer screen and psychophysiological reactions in simulation displayed in virtual reality. Our results show that our participants tend to have stronger psychophysiological reactions in simulation displayed in virtual reality (suggesting a potential way of diminishing the effect of the reality gap).
Differential impact of parental BMI and diet on overweight and obesity in young school children in southern Brazil.

Aims: To analyze simultaneous impact of biological, socioeconomic and behavioral determinants of excess weight in schoolchildren. Study Design: Cross-sectional study based on a representative sample of schoolchildren from 2nd to 5th grades of elementary school. Place and Duration of Study: City of Florianopolis, Brazil, 2007. Methodology: A representative sample of 1232 schoolchildren aged 7-10 years had their weight and height measured. Their diet and physical activity, as well as parental height, weight and income were all self-reported. Multinomial regression analysis was used to allow for differential impact of child diet on overweight without obesity versus obesity. Results: Different food groups were associated with overweight without obesity compared to obesity and some of these were gender-specific. Maternal BMI modified these associations to some extent and exerted highly significant influence on child nutritional Original Research Article British Journal of Medicine & Medical Research, 4(35): 5642-5656, 2014 5643 status both for overweight and obesity, whereas paternal BMI was significant only for the latter. Physical activity and family socioeconomic status had a limited impact once parental BMI was taken into account. Conclusion: Some markers of unhealthy diet are specific to gender and to the level of excess weight in young schoolchildren. Maternal BMI is one of the key determinants of excess weight in schoolchildren.
Design of a wideband phase shifter using loaded element

This paper presents a novel transmission line which has a constant phase shifter over a wide band, referenced to a uniform transmission line. The novel transmission line is loaded with lumped element. Compared with the conventional coupled line phase shifter, the configuration shows good performance with simplicity in both design and fabrication. And the use of lumped elements make the size more compact, especially for low band phase shifter design. To verify the configuration, a 90 degree phase shifter using a transmission line loaded with a capacitor and an inductor is designed. Excellent performance is achieved with small insertion loss and phase deviation over a bandwidth of 116%. The operating frequency ranges from 824 MHz to 2690 MHz, covering the bands of mobile communication 2G, 3G and 4G.
Framework for understanding misleading information in daily shopping

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of disagreement between companies and consumers with respect to misleading information and to make suggestions as to how the conflict might be resolved.Design/methodology/approach – Based on qualitative research methods, the authors discuss possible grounds for controversies with respect to product information and present a possible framework, inspired by the work of Boltanski and Thevenot, for examining these controversies.Findings – An analysis of arguments shows that consumer representatives and companies, not surprisingly, agree on general moral principles as, for instance, the importance of not lying about the product; however they tend to disagree about where the boundaries between acceptable and misleading information should be drawn in practice. The findings point to the fact that the differences might partly be explained by Boltanski and Thevenots' “orders of worth” and that this classification would seem to provide a fruit.
Effect of Maternal Schistosoma mansoni Infection and Praziquantel Treatment During Pregnancy on Schistosoma mansoni Infection and Immune Responsiveness among Offspring at Age Five Years

Introduction Offspring of Schistosoma mansoni-infected women in schistosomiasis-endemic areas may be sensitised in-utero. This may influence their immune responsiveness to schistosome infection and schistosomiasis-associated morbidity. Effects of praziquantel treatment of S. mansoni during pregnancy on risk of S. mansoni infection among offspring, and on their immune responsiveness when they become exposed to S. mansoni, are unknown. Here we examined effects of praziquantel treatment of S. mansoni during pregnancy on prevalence of S. mansoni and immune responsiveness among offspring at age five years. Methods In a trial in Uganda (ISRCTN32849447, http://www.controlled-trials.com/ISRCTN32849447/elliott), offspring of women treated with praziquantel or placebo during pregnancy were examined for S. mansoni infection and for cytokine and antibody responses to SWA and SEA, as well as for T cell expression of FoxP3, at age five years. Results Of the 1343 children examined, 32 (2.4%) had S. mansoni infection at age five years based on a single stool sample. Infection prevalence did not differ between children of treated or untreated mothers. Cytokine (IFNγ, IL-5, IL-10 and IL-13) and antibody (IgG1, Ig4 and IgE) responses to SWA and SEA, and FoxP3 expression, were higher among infected than uninfected children. Praziquantel treatment of S. mansoni during pregnancy had no effect on immune responses, with the exception of IL-10 responses to SWA, which was higher in offspring of women that received praziquantel during pregnancy than those who did not. Conclusion We found no evidence that maternal S. mansoni infection and its treatment during pregnancy influence prevalence and intensity of S. mansoni infection or effector immune response to S. mansoni infection among offspring at age five years, but the observed effects on IL-10 responses to SWA suggest that maternal S. mansoni and its treatment during pregnancy may affect immunoregulatory responsiveness in childhood schistosomiasis. This might have implications for pathogenesis of the disease.
Physical and Functional Association of Human Protein O-Mannosyltransferases 1 and 2*

A defect of protein O-mannosylation causes congenital muscular dystrophy with brain malformation and structural eye abnormalities, so-called Walker-Warburg syndrome. Protein O-mannosylation is catalyzed by protein O-mannosyltransferase 1 (POMT1) and its homologue, POMT2. Coexpression of POMT1 and POMT2 is required to show O-mannosylation activity. Here we have shown that POMT1 forms a complex with POMT2 and the complex possesses protein O-mannosyltransferase activity. Results indicate that POMT1 and POMT2 associate physically and functionally in vivo. Recently, three mutations were reported in the POMT1 gene of patients who showed milder phenotypes than typical Walker-Warburg syndrome. We coexpressed these mutant POMT1s with POMT2 and found that none of them had any activity. However, all POMT1 mutants, including previously identified POMT1 mutants, coprecipitated with POMT2. These results indicate that the mutant POMT1s could form heterocomplexes with POMT2 but that such complexes are insufficient for enzymatic activity.
The Conditioned head turn procedure as a method for testing infant speech perception

B.C. Research Institute for Child and Family Health, Vancouver, CanadaThe purpose of this paper is to present and describe theConditioned Head Turn procedure, with primary focus on itsuse as a method for testing infant speech perception. The paperbegins with a brief history of the Conditioned Head TurnProcedure followed by a fairly detailed description of howthe procedure is currently implemented. We then briefly outlinethe methods of analysis that are best suited for data obtained withthe Conditioned Head Turn procedure. Next discussed arevariations in the Conditioned Head Turn procedure when it isused with subjects of different ages. Then, some of the kinds offindings that have been revealed in the area of infant speechperception are presented to give the reader a sense of the range ofquestions that can be answered using this procedure. Followingthis, the strengths and limitations of the procedure are discussedfrankly. We end with a presentation of new variations to theprocedure that have been developed in recent years, and note howthese new variations are expanding the range of questions theprocedure can address. ’1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Photoselected electron transfer pathways in DNA photolyase

Cyclobutane dimer photolyases are proteins that bind to UV-damaged DNA containing cyclobutane pyrimidine dimer lesions. They repair these lesions by photo-induced electron transfer. The electron donor cofactor of a photolyase is a two-electron-reduced flavin adenine dinucleotide (FADH−). When FADH− is photo-excited, it transfers an electron from an excited π → π* singlet state to the pyrimidine dimer lesion of DNA. We compute the lowest excited singlet states of FADH− using ab initio (time-dependent density functional theory and time-dependent Hartree–Fock), and semiempirical (INDO/S configuration interaction) methods. The calculations show that the two lowest π → π* singlet states of FADH− are localized on the side of the flavin ring that is proximal to the dimer lesion of DNA. For the lowest-energy donor excited state of FADH−, we compute the conformationally averaged electronic coupling to acceptor states of the thymine dimer. The coupling calculations are performed at the INDO/S level, on donor–acceptor cofactor conformations obtained from molecular dynamics simulations of the solvated protein with a thymine dimer docked in its active site. These calculations demonstrate that the localization of the 1FADH−* donor state on the flavin ring enhances the electronic coupling between the flavin and the dimer by permitting shorter electron-transfer pathways to the dimer that have single through-space jumps. Therefore, in photolyase, the photo-excitation itself enhances the electron transfer rate by moving the electron towards the dimer.
Autologous bone marrow transplantation in high-risk remission B-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia using a cocktail of three monoclonal antibodies (BA-1/CD24, BA-2/CD9, and BA-3/CD10) plus complement and 4-hydroperoxycyclophosphamide for ex vivo bone marrow purging.

Fourteen patients with high-risk B-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in complete remission underwent autologous bone marrow transplantation (BMT) using a combined immunochemopurging protocol. A monoclonal antibody (MoAb) cocktail of BA-1, BA-2, and BA-3 plus rabbit complement (C') plus 4-hydroperoxycyclophosphamide (4-HC) was used to eliminate residual occult leukemia cells from autografts. All patients were conditioned with single-dose total body irradiation (TBI) followed by high-dose Ara-C. All 14 patients engrafted at a median of 24 days (range, 12 to 36 days). Three patients are alive and disease free at 3.5 years, 3.9 years, and 4.1 years post-BMT. The Kaplan-Meiser estimate and standard error of the probability of sustained remission was 23% +/- 12% at 3.5 years post-BMT with a mean relapse-free interval of 1.4 +/- 0.4 years. The disease-free survival (DFS) at 3.5 years was 21% +/- 11%, with a mean DFS time of 1.3 +/- 0.4 years. A novel and quantitative minimal residual disease (MRD) detection assay, which combines fluorescence-activated multiparameter flow cytometry and cell sorting with leukemic progenitor cell (LPC) colony assays, was used to analyze remission BM samples from B-lineage ALL patients for residual LPC, and to evaluate the efficacy of ex vivo BM purging. Notably, the minimal residual leukemia burden before BMT, as measured by the percentage of B-lineage LPC in the pre-BMT remission BM samples, indicated the outcome of the BMT. The median value for the minimal residual leukemia burden before BMT was 0.0035% (35 LPC/10(6) mononuclear cells). The Kaplan-Meier estimates and standard errors of the probability of remaining in remission after BMT were 43% +/- 19% for patients whose BM samples contained less than or equal to 0.0035% LPC and 0% +/- 0% for patients whose BM samples contained greater than 0.0035% B-lineage LPC (P less than .05). In contrast to the minimal residual leukemia burden measured by the described MRD assay system, the percentage of blasts or TdT+ cells in the remission BM samples did not correlate with the probability of relapse. The applied purging protocol showed variable success in destroying target B-lineage LPC populations contaminating the autografts. While in some cases purging was highly effective, eliminating up to greater than or equal to 4 logs of residual B-lineage LPC, in other cases only 0.1 to 0.2 logs of B-lineage LPC were purged. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Experimental measurements of field effects on dielectronic recombination cross sections and Rydberg product-state distributions.

Experimental details are presented for the measurement of the effects of extrinsic electric fields on cross sections and Rydberg product-state distributions for dielectronic recombination of Mg/sup +/ with electrons. A new type of Rydberg state detector is described. Experimental results for dielectronic recombination in the presence of fields are presented for three field values, and these results are compared with theoretical calculations.
Toward Spoken Dialogue as Mutual Agreement

This paper re-envisions human-machine dialogue as a set of mutual agreements between a person and a computer. The intention is to provide the person with a habitable experience that accomplishes her goals, and to provide the computer with sufficient flexibility and intuition to support them. The application domain is particularly challenging: for its vocabulary size, for the number and variety of its speakers, and for the complexity and number of the possible instantiations of the objects under discussion. The brittle performance of a traditional spoken dialogue system in such a domain motivates the design of a new, more robust social system, one where dialogue is necessarily represented on a variety of different levels.
Habitual sleep duration is associated with BMI and macronutrient intake and may be modified by CLOCK genetic variants.

BACKGROUND Short sleep duration has been associated with greater risks of obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Also, common genetic variants in the human Circadian Locomotor Output Cycles Kaput (CLOCK) show associations with ghrelin and total energy intake. OBJECTIVES We examined associations between habitual sleep duration, body mass index (BMI), and macronutrient intake and assessed whether CLOCK variants modify these associations. DESIGN We conducted inverse-variance weighted, fixed-effect meta-analyses of results of adjusted associations of sleep duration and BMI and macronutrient intake as percentages of total energy as well as interactions with CLOCK variants from 9 cohort studies including up to 14,906 participants of European descent from the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology Consortium. RESULTS We observed a significant association between sleep duration and lower BMI (β ± SE = 0.16 ± 0.04, P < 0.0001) in the overall sample; however, associations between sleep duration and relative macronutrient intake were evident in age- and sex-stratified analyses only. We observed a significant association between sleep duration and lower saturated fatty acid intake in younger (aged 20-64 y) adults (men: 0.11 ± 0.06%, P = 0.03; women: 0.10 ± 0.05%, P = 0.04) and with lower carbohydrate (-0.31 ± 0.12%, P < 0.01), higher total fat (0.18 ± 0.09%, P = 0.05), and higher PUFA (0.05 ± 0.02%, P = 0.02) intakes in older (aged 65-80 y) women. In addition, the following 2 nominally significant interactions were observed: between sleep duration and rs12649507 on PUFA intake and between sleep duration and rs6858749 on protein intake. CONCLUSIONS Our results indicate that longer habitual sleep duration is associated with lower BMI and age- and sex-specific favorable dietary behaviors. Differences in the relative intake of specific macronutrients associated with short sleep duration could, at least in part, explain previously reported associations between short sleep duration and chronic metabolic abnormalities. In addition, the influence of obesity-associated CLOCK variants on the association between sleep duration and macronutrient intake suggests that longer habitual sleep duration could ameliorate the genetic predisposition to obesity via a favorable dietary profile.
Scaling star-coupler-based optical networks for avionics applications

In this work scaling of an optical broadcast-and-select network based on a passive star coupler is explored for avionics applications. Each client in the network is equipped with a transmitter unit and a multichannel receiver capable of receiving signals from all other clients connected to the star coupler. We propose a connecting node concept to scale the number of clients supported by the architecture. These connecting nodes act as bridges between star couplers, enabling the organization of several star couplers into a topology with additional clients. This design is modeled in the PhoenixSim simulation environment, and system-level simulation results are reported. We then propose the ring topology and dimension-N topology to interconnect and scale star couplers. Finally we compare the ring and dimension-N topologies in terms of scalability limit at different crossing traffic loads, revealing the trade-offs between latency, system complexity, and scalability. Our study shows that a robust, low-latency network of up to hundreds of clients, sufficient for current and next-generation avionics applications, can be built using off-the-shelf and near-term commercial technology.
MultiUN v2: UN Documents with Multilingual Alignments

MultiUN is a multilingual parallel corpus extracted from the official documents of the United Nations. It is available in the six official languages of the UN and a small portion of it is also available in German. This paper presents a major update on the first public version of the corpus released in 2010. This version 2 consists of over 513,091 documents, including more than 9% of new documents retrieved from the United Nations official document system. We applied several modifications to the corpus preparation method. In this paper, we describe the methods we used for processing the UN documents and aligning the sentences. The most significant improvement compared to the previous release is the newly added multilingual sentence alignment information. The alignment information is encoded together with the text in XML instead of additional files. Our representation of the sentence alignment allows quick construction of aligned texts parallel in arbitrary number of languages, which is essential for building machine translation systems.