Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Neural Correlates of Morphological Decomposition during Visual Word Recognition

Considerable behavioral research has demonstrated that the visual word recognition system is sensitive to morphological structure. It has typically been assumed that analysis of morphologically complex words occurs only when the meaning of these words can be derived from the meanings of their constituents (e.g., hunter = hunt + er). However, results from recent behavioral research using the masked priming technique have demonstrated that morphological analysis can occur at an earlier orthographic level, in cases in which the meanings of complex words cannot be derived from their constituents (e.g., corner = corn + er). Here, we combine the logic of behavioral masked priming with the neurophysiological phenomenon of functional magnetic resonance imaging priming suppression to look for evidence of nonsemantic morphological priming at the neural level. Both behavioral and functional magnetic resonance imaging results indicated priming effects associated with the mere appearance of morphological structure (cornerCORN). In addition, these effects were distinguishable from lexical-semantic effects (bucketPAIL) and orthographic effects (brothelBROTH). Three left-lateralized occipito-temporal regions showed sensitivity to early morphological components of visual word recognition. Two of these regions also showed orthographic priming (BA 37, peak: 48 60 17; BA 19, peak: 40 77 1), whereas one was sensitive only to morphological similarity between primes and targets (BA 19, peak: 37 67 7). These findings provide a neurobiological basis for a purely structural morphemic segmentation mechanism operating at early stages of visual word recognition.
Cognitive-Behavioural Group Intervention for Climacteric Syndrome

Background: During peri- and postmenopause there is a high prevalence of psychological symptoms such as emotional instability, depressive moods, anxiety, sleep disorders, and sexual dysfunction. Aetiologically relevant factors for discomfort are decline of sex hormones and psychosocial factors such as lifestyle, attitude towards menopause, pre-menopausal mental health and sociocultural factors. In contrast to the relevance of psychosocial factors, there are few studies on psychological interventions. The present study evaluates an open trial of cognitive-behavioural group intervention consisting of psychoeducation, group discussion and coping skills training for women suffering from climacteric symptoms. Methods: Thirty women were enrolled in this first trial. Standardised (MRS, HADS-D, Partnership Questionnaire, McCoy Female Sexuality Questionnaire) and especially developed (‘Attitudes Towards the Menopause’) instruments were administered 3 times, twice before (T1 and T2) and once after the group intervention (T3). General linear model repeated measures were used to analyse changes in questionnaire measures. Results: Taking the average of the two pre-intervention scores, significant improvements were observed in anxiety (p < 0.01), depression (p < 0.02), partnership relations (p < 0.02), overall score of sexuality (p < 0.02), hot flashes (p < 0.01) and cardiac complaints (p < 0.01) from pre- to post-intervention. No changes were found for sexual satisfaction and stressfulness of menopausal symptoms. Conclusions: This pilot study points at a possible effectiveness of cognitive-behavioural interventions for the treatment of climacteric syndrome. Further studies will have to use randomised trials, comparing different treatments (HRT, phyto-oestrogens, relaxation training, discussion groups) for their effectiveness.
Impact of aerosols on radiation during a heavy haze event in Beijing

In order to understand the influence of anthropogenic aerosols on radiation in the urban boundary layer, we measured atmospheric aerosol mass concentrations (PM10 and PM2.5), integrated solar radiation, wind and temperature at different layers of a 325-m iron tower. A typical heavy haze process occurring during the period of October 2004 was analyzed. It is observed that the inversion layer and the weak wind was the most important factor causing the accumulation of pollutants. The results show that the PM10 concentrations under polluted day conditions is about 84 times (537.1μgm−3) higher than those on clear weather conditions (6.4μgm−3). The difference in the solar radiation between 2m and 280m became smaller (93.07 Wm−2 to 16.07 Wm−2) when pollution turned heavy, while the attenuations rate changed large (16.76% to 20.96%)
Single carrier transmission for multi-gigabit 60-GHz WPAN systems

This paper proposes a new channel model for millimeter wave (60 GHz) for indoor applications, power amplifier and phase noise models at 60 GHz, an optimal global channelization over 9 GHz bandwidth, common mode signaling to bridge SC (single carrier) and OFDM (orthogonal frequency division multiplex) camps, and a robust payload as well as a header and preamble design for single carrier for practical applications. The computer simulations have validated these new proposals for WPAN (wireless personal are network) design and significantly contributed a lot to global (IEEE802.15.3c) standardization which will be closed in the near future by issuing system specifications.
Integrated upper gastrointestinal response to food intake.

Ingestion of food simultaneously activates gastrointestinal motility, gastric and pancreatic secretion, and release of gastrointestinal hormones that, in turn, modulate motor, secretory, and absorptive functions in the upper gut. The hormones involved in these integrated functions include gastrin, cholecystokinin (CCK), ghrelin, and pancreatic polypeptide from the upper gut and incretins, such as glucagon-like peptide (GLP)-1 and peptide YY (PYY), from the distal small intestine. The responses to ingestion of food are complex and have been traditionally considered in 3 phases: cephalic, gastric, and intestinal. While this allows the different functions to be reduced to manageable descriptions, it is important to note that this is an integrated process with overlap between the different phases. Variations in function result in part from the physical properties of meals, the different proportions of macronutrients, and the rate of emptying from the stomach. In contrast, the enormous functional reserve of the pancreas results in a fairly standard response, influenced mainly by the rate of delivery of nutrients to the duodenum and the nature of nutrients that stimulate the release of enteropancreatic hormones. The ingestion of food leads eventually to a sensation of fullness and cessation of food intake. In this report, the term “satiation” refers to the sensation of fullness developed during the end of meal ingestion or during the early postprandial period. Operationally, this is investigated by the maximum tolerated volume of a nutrient drink ingested at a standard rate and the symptoms 30 minutes postchallenge. On the other hand, satiety refers to the appetite level that is manifested by the timing of the subsequent meal and the number of calories ingested. This is measured in practice by means of ad libitum buffet meals in which the calories and types of nutrients preferred from standard meals are calculated.
Kinetics of methionine and choline and their incorporation into plasma lipids and milk components in lactating goats.

Rates of entry of L-methionine and choline and their incorporations into lipids of blood plasma and milk components were studied in lactating goats fed a concentrate-roughage ration with primed constant infusion of L-[methyl-carbon-14] methionine and [methyl-carbon-14] choline. Entry rates of methionine and choline were 30 and 47 mumol/h/kg body weight. Of the methionine pool, 10 and 28% were recovered in carbon dioxide and choline of blood plasma, but the contribution of methionine to the total carbon dioxide production was negligible. Two percent of serine was derived from methionine. Six percent of the choline pool was derived from methionine, whereas labeled choline was not recovered in methionine. Methionine and choline contributed to at least 4 and 19% of the phospholipid pool. Of the methionine dose, . 2 and 3.7% appeared in milk lactose and protein. Little (.3%) labeled choline was recovered in milk; however, its contribution to milk fat was 10 times as high as that of methionine. The lipogenic effect of methionine in the liver is proposed as one mechanism among others stimulating production of milk and milk fat.
Identified FMRFamide-immunoreactive neuron LPL16 in the left pleural ganglion of Aplysia produces presynaptic inhibition of siphon sensory neurons

The gill- and siphon-withdrawal reflex of Aplysia undergoes transient inhibition following noxious stimuli such as tail shock. This behavioral inhibition appears to be due in part to transient presynaptic inhibition of the siphon sensory cells, which can be mimicked by application of the peptide FMRFamide. Although FMRFamide is widespread in the Aplysia nervous system, an FMRFamide-containing inhibitory neuron has not previously been identified. We have searched for such a neuron by combining FMRFamide immunofluorescence with fluorescent dye backfilling from the abdominal ganglion, the location of the siphon sensory cells. These methods localized a neuron in the left pleural ganglion, which we have named LPL16. LPL16 is FMRFamide immunoreactive; it is excited by tail shock; and stimulation of LPL16 produces inhibition of siphon sensory cell-to-motor cell postsynaptic potentials and narrowing of action potentials in the sensory cells in tetraethylammonium solution. These results indicate that LPL16 participates in the inhibitory effects of tail shock, and support the idea that FMRFamide plays a physiological role in the inhibition.
Too much, too soon? A review of the effects of increasing wildfire frequency on tree mortality and regeneration in temperate eucalypt forests

In temperate Australia, wildfires are predicted to be more frequent and severe under climate change. This could lead to marked changes in tree mortality and regeneration in the region’s predominant eucalypt forests, which have been burned repeatedly by extensive wildfires in the period 2003–14. Recent studies have applied alternative stable state models to select ‘fire sensitive’ forest types, but comparable models have not been rigorously examined in relation to the more extensive ‘fire tolerant’ forests in the region. We review the effects of increasing wildfire frequency on tree mortality and regeneration in temperate forests of Victoria, south-eastern Australia, based on the functional traits of the dominant eucalypts: those that are typically killed by wildfire to regenerate from seed (‘obligate seeders’) and those that mostly survive to resprout (‘resprouters’). In Victoria, over 4.3 million ha of eucalypt forest has been burned by wildfire in the last decade (2003–14), roughly equivalent to the cumulative area burned in the previous 50 years (1952–2002; 4.4 million ha). This increased wildfire activity has occurred regardless of several advancements in fire management, and has resulted in over 350 000 ha of eucalypt forest being burned twice or more by wildfire at short (≤11 year) intervals. Historical and recent evidence indicates that recurrent wildfires threaten the persistence of the ‘fire sensitive’ obligate seeder eucalypt forests, which can facilitate a shift to non-forest states if successive fires occur within the trees’ primary juvenile period (1–20 years). Our review also highlights potential for structural and state changes in the ‘fire tolerant’ resprouter forests, particularly if recurrent severe wildfires kill seedlings and increase tree mortality. We present conceptual models of state changes in temperate eucalypt forests with increasing wildfire frequency, and highlight knowledge gaps relating to the development and persistence of alternative states driven by changes in fire regimes.
Two functionally distinct 4-aminopyridine-sensitive outward K+ currents in rat atrial myocytes

In the experiments here, the detailed kinetic properties of the Ca(2+)- independent, depolarization-activated outward currents (Iout) in enzymatically dispersed adult rat atrial myocytes were studied. Although there is only slight attenuation of peak Iout during brief (100 ms) voltage steps, substantial decay is evident during long (10 s) depolarizations. The analyses here reveal that current inactivation is best described by the sum of two exponential components, which we have termed IKf and IKs to denote the fast and slow components, respectively, of Iout decay. At all test potentials, IKf inactivates approximately 20-fold more rapidly than IKs. Neither the decay time constants nor the fraction of Iout remaining at the end of 10-s depolarizations varies over the potential range of 0 to +50 mV, indicating that the rates of inactivation and recovery from inactivation are voltage independent. IKf recovers from inactivation completely, independent of the recovery of IKs, and IKf recovers approximately 20 times faster than IKs. The pharmacological properties of IKf and IKs are similar: both components are sensitive to 4- aminopyridine (1-5 mM) and both are relatively resistant to externally applied tetraethylammonium (50 mM). Taken together, these findings suggest that IKf and IKs correspond to two functionally distinct K+ currents with similar voltage-dependent properties and pharmacologic sensitivities, but with markedly different rates of inactivation and recovery from inactivation. From the experimental data, several gating models were developed in which voltage-independent inactivation is coupled either to channel opening or to the activation of the individual channel subunits. Experimental testing of predictions of these models suggests that voltage-independent inactivation is coupled to activation, and that inactivation of only a single subunit is required to result in functional inactivation of the channels. This model closely approximates the properties of IKf and IKs, as well as the composite outward currents, measured in adult rat atrial myocytes.
Suicidal Behavior and Mortality in First-Episode Psychosis

Abstract Suicide is a serious public health problem, with more than 800,000 deaths taking place worldwide each year. Mental disorders are associated with increased risk of suicide. In schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, the lifetime risk of suicide death is estimated to be 5.6%. The risk is particularly high during the first year of the initial contact with mental health services, being almost twice as high as in the later course of the illness. The most consistently reported risk factor for suicide among people with psychotic disorders is a history of attempted suicide and depression. Suicide risk in psychosis in Denmark decreased over time, most likely because of improved quality of inpatient and outpatient services. There is a high proportion of young people with first-episode psychosis who attempted suicide before their first contact with mental health services. This finding suggests that the mortality rates associated with psychotic disorders may be underreported because of suicide deaths taking place before first treatment contact. However, currently, no data exist to confirm or refute this hypothesis. Attempted suicide can be an early warning sign of later psychotic disorder. Data from different studies indicate that the risk of suicide attempt during the first year of treatment is as high as 10%. The most important risk factors for attempted suicide after the first contact are young age, female sex, suicidal plans, and a history of suicide attempt. Early intervention services are helpful in first-episode psychosis, and staff members should, in collaboration with the patients, monitor the risk of suicide and develop and revise crisis plans.
Telomere lengths in human oocytes, cleavage stage embryos and blastocysts

Telomeres are repeated sequences that protect the ends of chromosomes and harbour DNA repair proteins. Telomeres shorten during each cell division in the absence of telomerase. When telomere length becomes critically short, cell senescence occurs. Telomere length therefore reflects both cellular ageing and capacity for division. We have measured telomere length in human germinal vesicle (GV) oocytes and preimplantation embryos, by quantitative fluorescence in situ hybridization (Q-FISH), providing baseline data towards our hypothesis that telomere length is a marker of embryo quality. The numbers of fluorescent foci suggest that extensive clustering of telomeres occurs in mature GV stage oocytes, and in preimplantation embryos. When calculating average telomere length by assuming that each signal presents one telomere, the calculated telomere length decreased from the oocyte to the cleavage stages, and increased between the cleavage stages and the blastocyst (11.12 versus 8.43 versus 12.22 kb, respectively, P < 0.001). Other methods of calculation, based upon expected maximum and minimum numbers of telomeres, confirm that telomere length in blastocysts is significantly longer than cleavage stages. Individual blastomeres within an embryo showed substantial variation in calculated average telomere length. This study implies that telomere length changes according to the stage of preimplantation embryo development.
Molecular genetics of syndromic and non‐syndromic forms of parathyroid carcinoma

Parathyroid carcinoma (PC) may occur as part of a complex hereditary syndrome or an isolated (i.e., non‐syndromic) non‐hereditary (i.e., sporadic) endocrinopathy. Studies of hereditary and syndromic forms of PC, which include the hyperparathyroidism‐jaw tumor syndrome (HPT‐JT), multiple endocrine neoplasia types 1 and 2 (MEN1 and MEN2), and familial isolated primary hyperparathyroidism (FIHP), have revealed some genetic mechanisms underlying PC. Thus, cell division cycle 73 (CDC73) germline mutations cause HPT‐JT, and CDC73 mutations occur in 70% of sporadic PC, but in only ∼2% of parathyroid adenomas. Moreover, CDC73 germline mutations occur in 20%–40% of patients with sporadic PC and may reveal unrecognized HPT‐JT. This indicates that CDC73 mutations are major driver mutations in the etiology of PCs. However, there is no genotype–phenotype correlation and some CDC73 mutations (e.g., c.679_680insAG) have been reported in patients with sporadic PC, HPT‐JT, or FIHP. Other genes involved in sporadic PC include germline MEN1 and rearranged during transfection (RET) mutations and somatic alterations of the retinoblastoma 1 (RB1) and tumor protein P53 (TP53) genes, as well as epigenetic modifications including DNA methylation and histone modifications, and microRNA misregulation. This review summarizes the genetics and epigenetics of the familial syndromic and non‐syndromic (sporadic) forms of PC.
Computation Reduction for Statistical Analysis of the Effect of Nano-CMOS Variability on Integrated Circuits

The intrinsic atomistic variability of nano-scale integrated circuit (IC) technology must be taken into account when analysing circuit designs to predict likely yield. These ? atomistic? variabilities are random in nature and are so great that new circuit analysis techniques are needed which adopt a statistical treatment of the variability of device performances. Monte Carlo (MC) based statistical techniques aim to do this by analysing many randomized copies of the circuit. The randomization can take into account correlation between parameters due to both intra-die and inter-die effects. A major problem is the computational cost of carrying out sufficient analyses to produce statistically reliable results. The use of principal components analysis (PCA) and ? Statistical Behavioural Circuit Blocks (SBCB)? is investigated as a means of reducing the dimensionality of the analysis, and this is combined with an implementation of ? Statistical Blockade (SB)? to achieve significant reduction in the computational costs. The purpose of SBCBs is to model the most important aspects of the device? s or circuit building block? s behaviour, to an acceptable accuracy, with a relatively small number of parameters. The SB algorithm applies Extreme Value Theory (EVT) to circuit analysis by eliminating randomised parameter vectors that are considered unlikely to produce ? rare event? circuits. These circuits are needed for circuit yield failure predictions and occur on the ? tails? of Gaussian-like probability distributions for circuit performances. Versions of the circuit analysis program ? SPICE? with a Python harness called RandomSPICE are used to produce SBCBs by generating and statistically analysing randomized transistor-level versions of the sub-blocks for which behavioural models are required. The statistical analysis of circuits employing these sub-blocks is achieved by a new MATLAB harness called RandomLA. The computational time savings that may be achieved are illustrated by the statistical analysis of representative circuits. A computation time reduction of 98.7% is achieved for a commonly used asynchronous circuit element. Quasi-Monte Carlo (QMC) analysis with ? low discrepancy sequences (LDS)? is introduced for further computation reduction. QMC analysis using SBCB behavioural models with SB is evaluated by applying it to more complex examples and comparing the results with those of transistor level simulations. The analysis of SRAM arrays is taken as a case study for VLSI circuits containing up to 1536 transistors, modeled with parameters appropriate to 35nm technology. Significantly faster statistical analysis is shown to be possible when the aim is to obtain predictions of the yield for fabrication. Saving of up to 99.85% in computation time was obtained with larger circuits.
Effects of virtual reality-based ankle exercise on the dynamic balance, muscle tone, and gait of stroke patients

[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to investigate the therapeutic effects of virtual reality-based ankle exercise on the dynamic balance, muscle tone, and gait ability of stroke subjects. [Subjects and Methods] Twenty persons who were in the chronic stroke subjects of this study and they were included and assigned to two groups: experimental (VRAE; Virtual Reality-based Ankle Exercise group) (n=10) and control groups (n=10). The VRAE group performed virtual environment system ankle exercise, and the control group watched a video. Both groups performed their respective interventions for 30 minutes per day, 5 times per week over a 6-week period. To confirm the effects of the intervention, dynamic balance, muscle tone, and spatiotemporal gait were evaluated. [Results] The results showed that the dynamic balance and muscle tone was significantly more improved after the intervention compared to before in the VRAE group (dynamic balance: 5.50±2.57; muscle tone: 0.90±0.39), and the improvements were more significant than those in the control (dynamic balance: 1.22±2.05; muscle tone: 0.10±0.21). Spatiotemporal gait measures were significantly more increased in the paretic limb after the intervention compared to before in the VRAE group and the improvements were more significant than those in the control group. [Conclusion] This study demonstrated that virtual reality-based ankle exercise effectively improves the dynamic balance, muscle tone, and gait ability of stroke patients.
Mapping the geometry of an aquifer system with a high‐resolution reflection seismic profile

A high‐resolution P‐wave seismic reflection survey was conducted in the area of Lambro Park within the city of Milan (northern Italy). Several high permeability channel sequences were identified and the stratigraphy of the infill was accurately mapped. The seismic signature imaged a previously undefined unit and also established the lateral correlation of some depositional units within the three major aquifer groups along the survey line.