Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cybertherapy: Advantages, Limitations, and Ethical Issues

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are becoming more and more common in Clinical Psychology. Two of the technologies that are more consolidated in this field are virtual reality (VR) and telepsychology. There are other technological innovations that are beginning to be used in clinical and health psychology such as ambient intelligence, ubiquitous computing or persuasive computing. In the last fifteen years there has been a proliferation of studies testing the efficacy of immersive virtual reality in the delivery of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for several mental disorders and health conditions. The essence of VR is that it can simulate reality and add a new possibility: the user has the illusion of “being” in the computer-generated environment while interacting with the VR objects. This unique feature of VR is very relevant for its use in Clinical Psychology. At the same time, it can raise several ethical issues. It is important to investigate the possible effects of blurring the distinction between real and virtual worlds in vulnerable populations. Some other concerns regarding the use of VR in therapy have already been investigated, such as cybersickness. After ten years of experience treating patients with VR, this has not been a problem in the published efficacy studies. Telepsychology has also been used to improve the delivery of CBT. A number of Internet-delivered programs have already become important tools in the health system. The main advantage is that online therapy can reach people who might not otherwise seek therapy, such as disabled people or those who live in remote areas. However, several concerns have been raised about self-help procedures, like the issue of self-diagnosis. and the fact that patients usually have all of the necessary self-help information at their disposal. It is important to establish criteria to protect people from the possible negative effects of this.
Multiple suppression with land data: A case study

Some of the most important methods for multiple suppression are based on the moveout difference between the hyperbolas corresponding to primary and multiple reflections in a CMP gather. This moveout difference is exploited by means of the Parabolic Radon Transform. In this case study I review the methodology and show the result of its application to a 2-D land seismic line are. Of particular importance are the results that show that without the suppression of multiples a distorted image is obtained of the Paleozoic and its stratigraphic terminations against basement, which constitute the exploratory objective in the area. This is partly due to the improved stacking velocities afforded by the suppression of the multiples. INTRODUCTION Accurate interpretation of subsurface seismic images is of the utmost importance for oil exploration and production. To achieve this goal it is necessary not only that the images be of good quality, but also that they correspond exclusively to the energy from the primary reflections, that is, those reflected from only one subsurface interface before their recording at the surface of the earth. Any other form of energy is undesirable. Such energy may correspond, for instance, to refractions, surface noise, guided waves and multiple reflections. They are collectively called coherent noise. Multiple reflections, energy that has been reflected at more than one interface, are particularly troublesome for seismic interpretation since they can be easily mistaken as primary reflections. Figure 1 shows a schematic representation of some of the more common forms of multiples. In general, long period multiples are more common in marine data, whereas short period multiples are more common in land data. Multiple reflections are particularly difficult to discriminate from primary reflections in land data because they generally lack the familiar periodicity associated with marine data multiples. This has led to the misconception that multiple reflections are only a problem with marine data. Seismic interpretation in areas such as the one illustrated here can be severely jeopardized by the presence of short period multiples which are extremely difficult to identify. Figure 2 shows such a seismic line. It will be shown later that it is plagued with multiple reflections; but just 1email: gabriel@sep.stanford. edu SEP–108 Multiple suppression 2 Alvarez Figure 1: Broad multiple classification. Left: long period multiples. Right: short period multiples. mul_esq1 [NR]
Mutations in NYX of individuals with high myopia, but without night blindness

Purpose High myopia is a common genetic variant that severely affects vision. Genes responsible for myopia without linked additional functional defects have not been identified. Mutations in the nyctalopin gene (NYX) located at Xp11.4 are responsible for a complete form of congenital stationary night blindness (CSNB1). High myopia is usually observed in patients with CSNB1. This study was designed to test the possibility that mutations in the NYX gene might cause high myopia without congenital stationary night blindness (CSNB). Methods The genomic sequence of NYX in 52 male probands with high myopia but without CSNB was analyzed through direct DNA sequencing. Variations in the NYX were verified by analyzing available family members and 232 controls. Results Two unrelated male individuals with high myopia but without night blindness were found to have novel Cys48Trp and Arg191Gln mutations in NYX. The mutations were found to be located in distinct regions, different from the locations of mutations known to cause congenital stationary night blindness with myopia (CSNB1). Conclusions Mutations in NYX may cause high myopia without CSNB. The observations suggest that NYX may have independent effects on myopia and night blindness.
Diet and cancer and heart disease

The modern Western diet bears little resemblance to the diet which forged the human genome over many million years. The change in basic food structure is operating to distort biology even before conception and into late years, with the epidemic of obesity and diabetes likely to lead to stroke, heart disease, and now dementia, being flagged as a consequence. In addition, mental ill health is overtaking all other burdens of ill health, and almost certainly has its roots in early disturbance of brain development. Whilst lifestyle will be playing its part, there can be little doubt that the common denominator is the aberrations in food development, predominantly in the last century. It seems it is time to reassess food policy. The principle of food production should be nutrition and human health. The globalisation of a food structure linked to such disorders and their appearance globally in response asks that steps be taken to protect other countries from making the same mistakes.
Galangin Activates the ERK/AKT-Driven Nrf2 Signaling Pathway to Increase the Level of Reduced Glutathione in Human Keratinocytes

Previously, we demonstrated that galangin (3,5,7-trihydroxyflavone) protects human keratinocytes against ultraviolet B (UVB)-induced oxidative damage. In this study, we investigated the effect of galangin on induction of antioxidant enzymes involved in synthesis of reduced glutathione (GSH), and investigated the associated upstream signaling cascades. By activating nuclear factor-erythroid 2-related factor (Nrf2), galangin treatment significantly increased expression of glutamate-cysteine ligase catalytic subunit (GCLC) and glutathione synthetase (GSS). This activation of Nrf2 depended on extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERKs) and protein kinase B (AKT) signaling. Inhibition of GSH in galangin-treated cells attenuated the protective effect of galangin against the deleterious effects of UVB. Our results reveal that galangin protects human keratinocytes by activating ERK/AKT-Nrf2, leading to elevated expression of GSH-synthesizing enzymes.
Atlas based automated segmentation of the quadratus lumborum muscle using non-rigid registration on magnetic resonance images of the thoracolumbar region

Large volume asymmetries of the quadratus lumborum (QL) muscle, determined from time- and expertise-intensive manual segmentation of axial magnetic resonance (MR) images, have been associated with an increased risk of developing pars interarticularis stress lesions in the lumbar spine of cricket fast bowlers. The purpose of the present study was to develop an atlas-based automated segmentation procedure to determine QL volume from MR images. An MR database of axial lumbar spine images from 15 fast bowlers and 6 athletic control subjects was used to generate the atlas-based segmentation procedures. Initially, all images were preprocessed with a bias field correction algorithm and reverse diffusion interpolation algorithm followed by affine and non-rigid registration methods to generate firstly an average shape atlas (AVG), then based on propagation of manually segmented QL data, develop a probability atlas for automated QL segmentation to calculate muscle volume. The Dice similarity metric (DSC) was used to compare between the QL volume data from the manual and automated segmentation procedures. The mean DICE similarity coefficients between the manual and atlas-based automated segmentation values for the right and left QL muscle volumes were 0.75 (sd=0.1) and 0.76 (sd=0.09), respectively. These preliminary results for the automated segmentation of the QL are encouraging. Further development of the atlas-based segmentation procedures will involve incorporating hierarchical probability atlases for adjacent thoracolumbar muscles to improve the robustness and accuracy of the morphometric analyses obtained by this statistical shape modeling approach.
Adding the leads-to operator to Dijkstra's calculus

A temporal operator, namely leads-to, has been incorporated into the Dijkstra's weakest precondition calculus. It is demonstrated that the augmented calculus provides a basis, not only for the modeling but also, for a straightforward and thorough analysis of large and complex distributed systems. The technique has been illustrated by describing a data link layer protocol. This analysis contributes to the understanding of the system.
The critical amplifying role of increasing atmospheric moisture demand on tree mortality and associated regional die-off

Drought-induced tree mortality, including large-scale die-off events and increases in background rates of mortality, is a global phenomenon (Allen et al., 2010) that can directly impact numerous earth system properties and ecosystem goods and services (Adams et al., 2010; Breshears et al., 2011; Anderegg et al., 2013). Tree mortality is particularly of concern because of the likelihood that it will increase in frequency and extent with climate change (McDowell et al., 2008, 2011; Adams et al., 2009; McDowell, 2011; Williams et al., 2013). Recent plant science advances related to drought have focused on understanding the physiological mechanisms that not only affect plant growth and associated carbon metabolism, but also the more challenging issue of predicting plant mortality thresholds (McDowell et al., 2013). Although some advances related to mechanisms of mortality have been made and have increased emphasis on interrelationships between carbon metabolism and plant hydraulics (McDowell et al., 2011), notably few studies have specifically evaluated effects of increasing atmospheric demand for moisture (i.e., vapour pressure deficit; VPD) on rates of tree death. In this opinion article we highlight the importance of considering the key risks of future large-scale tree die-off and other mortality events arising from increased VPD. Here we focus on mortality of trees, but our point about the importance of VPD is also relevant to other vascular plants.
2013 7th International Conference on Pervasive Computing Technologies for Healthcare and Workshops Vibrotactile Cueing Using Wearable Computers for Overcoming Learned Non-use in Chronic Stroke

A bstract-Outpatient stroke rehabilitation is often lengthy and expensive due to patients' lack of functional use of the impaired arm outside of the clinic caused by "learned non-use. " Learned non-use is detrimental to stroke recovery, often resulting in chronic disability. To overcome learned non-use, a wearable "personal assistant" solution is proposed that employs ubiquitous cueing to stimulate patient use of the paretic arm while outside of therapy sessions. A pilot user study is presented that evaluated stroke survivors' tolerance and acceptance of cueing, and the usability of the proposed implementation.
Nutritional quality of children's school lunches: differences according to food source

Abstract Objective To assess the nutritional quality of lunchtime food consumption among elementary-school children on Prince Edward Island according to the source of food consumed (home v. school). Design Students completed a lunchtime food record during an in-class survey. Dietary adequacy was assessed by comparing median micronutrient intakes with one-third of the Estimated Average Requirement; median macronutrient intakes were compared with the Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Ranges. The Wilcoxon signed rank test was used to assess differences in nutrient intakes according to source of food consumed. Setting Elementary schools in Prince Edward Island, Canada. Subjects Grade 5 and 6 students (n 1980). Results Foods purchased at school were higher in nutrient density for ten micronutrients (Ca, Mg, K, Zn, vitamin A, vitamin D, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6 and vitamin B12) compared with packed lunch foods from home, which were higher in three micronutrients (Fe, vitamin C and folate). School lunches provided sufficient protein but were higher in sugar and fat than home lunches. Foods brought from home were higher in carbohydrates, fibre and Na than foods purchased at school. Conclusions The overall nutritional quality of lunches was poor, regardless of source. A significant proportion of foods consumed by the students came from home sources; these were lower nutritional quality and were higher in Na than foods offered at school. Findings suggest that improving the dietary habits of school-aged children will require a collaborative effort from multiple stakeholders, including parents.
Nicotinic regulation of energy homeostasis.

INTRODUCTION The ability of nicotine, the primary psychoactive substance in tobacco smoke, to regulate appetite and body weight is one of the factors cited by smokers that prevents them from quitting and is the primary reason for smoking initiation in teenage girls. The regulation of feeding and metabolism by nicotine is complex, and recent studies have begun to identify nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) subtypes and circuits or cell types involved in this regulation. DISCUSSION We will briefly describe the primary anatomical and functional features of the input, output, and central integration structures of the neuroendocrine systems that regulate energy homeostasis. Then, we will describe the nAChR subtypes expressed in these structures in mammals to identify the possible molecular targets for nicotine. Finally, we will review the effects of nicotine and its withdrawal on feeding and energy metabolism and attribute them to potential central and peripheral cellular targets.
Distributed optimization of multi-building energy systems with spatially and temporally coupled constraints

In this paper, we formulate the distributed optimization of multi-building energy systems as a cost minimization problem with spatially and temporally coupled constraints. The problem is divided into subproblems of each building at each time slot via Lagrangian dual decomposition. The strong duality of the primal and dual problem is proved, and distributed algorithms are proposed based on the subgradient projection method to converge to the global optimum. Specifically, the local temperature control signals are designed for handling the temporally coupled constraints of each building, while an information sharing platform is designed to update and broadcast the congestion price to autonomous buildings to handle the spatially coupled constraints. Numerical results are provided to illustrate the convergence and effectiveness of the proposed method.
Compact Trace Trees in Dynamic Binary Translators

Trace Tree (TT) is a technique to collect program execution traces, which is commonly used in JIT environments. Its main features are the ability to perform loop unrolling and function inlining at no cost, while detecting application loop kernels. In this paper we evaluate a TT implementation in a DBT environment. We show that, under DBT, trace trees suffer from severe code duplication, considerably degrading its performance. In order to take advantage of the TTs interesting features in DBTs, we propose a variation called Compact Trace Trees (CTTs), which we show to be faster and to reduce code duplication.
Natural Small Molecules as Stabilizers and Activators of Cancer-Associated NQO1 Polymorphisms.

NAD(P)H quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1) is an antioxidant and detoxifying enzyme involved in the two-electron reduction of a wide variety of quinones. As a non-enzymatic function, it is involved in the stabilization of several tumour suppressors such as p53, p33 and p73α. NQO1 is overexpressed in several types of tumours, and two common polymorphisms are associated with increased cancer risk, making NQO1 a potential target for new cancer treatments. Here we review the structural and enzymological properties of NQO1, as well as its roles in cancer development and treatment. Particularly, we focus on recent developments on the understanding of the molecular basis leading to loss-of-function in cancer-associated polymorphisms, and propose new approaches to target these molecular defects to develop new pharmacological agents to rescue them. We will focus on pharmacological therapies aimed at correcting the abnormal properties of polymorphic proteins (such as protein stability and dynamics) and modulating intracellular factors leading to loss-of-function (such as accelerated proteasomal degradation).
Oligodeoxynucleotides containing CpG motifs can induce rejection of a neuroblastoma in mice.

Phosphorothioate oligodeoxynucleotides with CpG motifs (CpG-ODNs) activate various immune cell subsets and induce production of numerous cytokines. To evaluate whether CpG-ODNs can induce rejection of established malignant tumor, A/J mice were challenged by the s.c. implantation of a syngenic neuroblastoma cell line (neuro2a) and subsequently injected with CpG-ODNs in the vicinity of the tumor. Daily injections of 10 microg CpG-ODNs for 15 days seemed to be the most potent regimen, leading to the eradication of 5-mm-diameter tumors in one-half of the animals and a significant tumor growth inhibition when compared with controls (88% reduction volume; P<0.001). CpG-ODN-cured animals were further protected against a new tumor challenge. The antitumoral effect of CpG-ODNs was dependent on CpG motifs, and natural killer cells seemed to play a critical role in tumor rejection. We conclude that immunostimulatory CpG-ODNs may induce the rejection of established tumors and warrant further evaluation as a potential immunotherapeutic agent.
Successful correction of hemophilia by CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing in vivo: delivery vector and immune responses are the key to success

Hemophilia B is a serious hemostasis disorder due to mutations of the factor IX gene in the X chromosome. Gene therapy has gained momentum in recent years as a therapeutic option for hemophilia B. In hemophilia, reconstitution with a mere 1–2% of the clotting factor improves the quality of life, while 5–20% suffices to ameliorate the bleeding disorder. A paper by Guan et al ( ) in this issue of EMBO Molecular Medicine reports on the direct CRISPRs/Cas9‐mediated correction in the liver of a hemophilia‐causing point mutation in FIX.
On storage allocation for maximum service rate in distributed storage systems

Storage allocation affects important performance measures of distributed storage systems. Most previous studies on the storage allocation consider its effect separately either on the success of the data recovery or on the service rate (time) where it is assumed that no access failure happens in the system. In this paper, we go one step further and incorporate the access model and the success of data recovery into the service rate analysis. In particular, we focus on quasi-uniform storage allocation and provide a service rate analysis for both fixed-size and probabilistic access models at the nodes. Using this analysis, we then show that for the case of exponential waiting time distribution at individuals storage nodes, minimal spreading allocation results in the highest system service rate for both access models. This means that for a given storage budget, replication provides a better service rate than a coded storage solution.
SAINT: A Security Analysis Integration Tool

This paper presents the design of SAINT, a tool being developed at the National Autonomous University of Mexico that will allow integrated analysis of information gathered from various sources, such as security tools and system logs. By simulating events occurring in the systems, and collected from the different sources, SAINT will allow detection, or even prevention of problems that may otherwise go undetected due to lack of information about them in any single place. SAINT’s modular and extensible architecture make it feasible to add new modules for processing new data types, detecting new kinds of problems, or presenting the results in different formats.
Exploring Erythropoietin and G-CSF Combination Therapy in Chronic Stroke Patients

Erythropoietin (EPO) and granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) are known to have neuroprotective actions. Based on previous reports showing the synergistic effects of EPO+G-CSF combination therapy in experimental models, we investigated the safety of EPO+G-CSF combination therapy in patients with chronic stroke. In a pilot study, 3 patients were treated with EPO and G-CSF for 5 consecutive days, with follow-up on day 30. In an exploratory double-blind study, 6 patients were allocated to treatment with either EPO+G-CSF or placebo. Treatment was applied once a day for 5 days per month over 3 months. Participants were followed up for 6 months. To substantiate safety, vital signs, adverse events, and hematological values were measured on days 0, 5, and 30 in each cycle and on day 180. Functional outcomes were determined on day 0 and 180. In the laboratory measurements, EPO+G-CSF combination therapy significantly elevated erythropoietin, CD34+ hematopoietic stem cells, white blood cells, and neutrophils on day 5 of each cycle. There were no observations of serious adverse events. In the functional outcomes, the grip power of the dominant hand was increased in the EPO+G-CSF treatment group. In conclusion, this exploratory study suggests a novel strategy of EPO+G-CSF combination therapy for stroke patients.