Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Parent Perception of the Impacts of Inclusion on Their Nondisabled Child

We studied parents' perceptions of the effects of their nondisabled child's participation in a classroom in which a child with severe disabilities was enrolled full time. Survey responses from 389 parents indicated that they generally perceived their nondisabled child to have benefited from this experience. A minority of parents held negative views of inclusion after their child's participation. Analysis of narrative comments on surveys returned by some of these parents indicated that concerns about behavioral disruption and loss of teacher time allocated to their child were the major source of their dissatisfaction. Survey comments suggested in some cases that parents did not view academic and social learning experiences to be highly related. Implications of this and other viewpoints expressed by these parents are considered in terms of priorities for teacher education and for subsequent research.
Brain-Mind Institute FOR FUTURE LEADERS OF BRAIN-MIND RESEARCH

17 Salient Region Detection by Combining Background Contrast and Connectivity Jiamei Shuai, Zhiguo Ma, Laiyun Qing and Jun Miao . 17 An Experimental Study on Simulating Human Eye Searching Paths Using an Eye-Movement Control Model Based on Neural Coding of Visual Context Lijuan Duan, Zhiguo Ma, Jili Gu and Jun Miao . 18
Novel Biological Activities of Allosamidins

Allosamidins, which are secondary metabolites of the Streptomyces species, have chitin-mimic pseudotrisaccharide structures. They bind to catalytic centers of all family 18 chitinases and inhibit their enzymatic activity. Allosamidins have been used as chitinase inhibitors to investigate the physiological roles of chitinases in a variety of organisms. Two prominent biological activities of allosamidins were discovered, where one has anti-asthmatic activity in mammals, while the other has the chitinase-production- promoting activity in allosamidin-producing Streptomyces. In this article, recent studies on the novel biological activities of allosamidins are reviewed.
Ang II Accumulation in Rat Renal Endosomes During Ang II-Induced Hypertension: Role of AT1 Receptor

Hypertension induced by long-term infusion of angiotensin II (Ang II) is associated with augmented intrarenal Ang II levels to a greater extent than can be explained on the basis of the circulating Ang II levels. Although part of this augmentation is due to AT1 receptor–dependent internalization, the intracellular compartments involved in this Ang II accumulation remain unknown. In the present study, we sought to determine whether Ang II trafficking into renal cortical endosomes is increased during Ang II hypertension, and if so, whether the AT1 receptor antagonist, candesartan, prevents this accumulation. Compared with controls (n=12; 114±2 mm Hg), Ang II-infused rats (n=12; 80 ng/kg/min, SC, for 13 days) developed hypertension with systolic blood pressure rising to 185±4 mm Hg by Day 12. In Ang II hypertensive rats, plasma renin activity was suppressed, whereas plasma and kidney Ang II levels were increased by 3-fold (348±58 versus 119±16 fmol/mL) and 2-fold (399±39 versus 186±26 fmol/g). Intracellular endosomal Ang II levels were increased by more than 10-fold (1100±283 versus 71±12 fmol/mg protein), whereas intermicrovillar cleft Ang II levels were increased by more than 2-fold (88±22 versus 37±7 fmol/mg protein). Flow cytometric analysis detected significant increases in AT1A receptor antibody binding in endosomal and intermicrovillar clefts of Ang II–infused rats. The hypertension induced by Ang II was prevented in rats treated concurrently with candesartan (2 mg/kg/d, 119±3 mm Hg). Candesartan treatment (n=8) also prevented increases in kidney (215±19 fmol/g), endosomal (96±29 fmol/mg protein), and intermicrovillar cleft Ang II levels (11±2 fmol/mg protein). These results indicate that there is substantial intracellular accumulation of angiotensin peptides in renal cortical endosomes during Ang II–dependent hypertension via an AT1 receptor–mediated process.
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug use after 3 years of aspirin use and colorectal adenoma risk: observational follow-up of a randomized study.

BACKGROUND Frequent use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) has been shown to reduce the risk of colorectal adenomas in randomized trials. We examined the persistence of the protective effect after the cessation of randomized aspirin treatment and whether it is affected by the duration and frequency of subsequent NSAID use. METHODS We used data from the Aspirin/Folate Polyp Prevention Study (AFPPS), in which 1121 subjects were randomly assigned to receive placebo or aspirin (81 or 325 mg/d) for 3 years. After the end of treatment and a follow-up colonoscopy, AFPPS participants were invited to remain under follow-up until their next surveillance colonoscopies, scheduled 3-5 years later. Information regarding use of NSAIDs during posttreatment follow-up was gathered periodically via questionnaires. Average weekly NSAID use was classified as sporadic (<2 days per week), moderate (2 to <4 days per week), or frequent (>or=4 days per week). The analysis was stratified according to randomized aspirin groups and posttreatment NSAID use; placebo subjects who later were sporadic NSAID users formed the reference group. The primary outcomes were all adenomas and advanced lesions. Adjusted relative risks and 95% confidence intervals were computed with generalized linear models. All statistical tests were two-sided. RESULTS A total of 850 subjects underwent a posttreatment colonoscopy, on average 4 years after the end of study treatment. The protective effect of 81 mg of aspirin for colorectal adenomas persisted with continued posttreatment NSAID use. The risk of any adenoma among frequent NSAID users was 26.8% vs 39.9% among placebo subjects who later used NSAIDs sporadically (adjusted relative risk = 0.62, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.39 to 0.98; P(trend) with NSAID use frequency = . 03). The unadjusted absolute risk reduction was 13.1 percentage points (95% CI = -0.3 to 26.5 percentage points) (P = .07). Results for 325 mg of aspirin were similar, although not statistically significant. For advanced lesions, small numbers of endpoints limited the analysis, but findings among subjects randomly assigned to 81 mg of aspirin suggested a protective association regardless of posttreatment NSAID use. CONCLUSION Long-term and frequent use of NSAIDs may enhance the chemopreventive effect of aspirin against colorectal neoplasia.
Impaired glucose tolerance, beta cell function and lipid metabolism in HIV patients under treatment with protease inhibitors.

OBJECTIVES To evaluate metabolic abnormalities, beta-cell function, lipid profile and vascular risk factors in HIV patients on protease inhibitors (PI). DESIGN Prospective cross-sectional study. METHODS Thirty-eight HIV-1-infected patients receiving at least one PI were compared with 17 PI-naive HIV patients in an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). Serum glucose, insulin, proinsulin, and C-peptide were determined. The fasting lipid pattern was analysed using electrophoresis and the assessment of apolipoproteins including lipoprotein (a). Fibrinogen, homocysteine, and anticardiolipin antibodies were also assessed. RESULTS Twenty-seven (71%) of the PI-treated group had detectable hyperlipidaemia. Isolated hypertriglyceridaemia was present in 12 patients (44%), two (7%) of them had type V and 10 (37%) subjects had type IV hyperlipidaemia (Frederickson classification). Type IIb hyperlipidaemia defined as an increase of both very-low-density lipoproteins (VLDL) and low-density lipoproteins (LDL) was found in 10 (36%) subjects, and five (18%) patients presented with isolated hypercholesterolaemia (type IIa). PI treatment was associated with significant higher fasting cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL and VLDL levels. Apolipoprotein B and E concentrations were significantly increased in patients receiving PI. Elevated concentrations of lipoprotein (a) (> 30 mg/dl) were detected in six (16%) of the hyperlipidaemic patients on PI. Eighteen (46%) patients on PI had impaired oral glucose tolerance and five (13%) had diabetes. Although four (24%) of the PI-naive patients were glucose intolerant, none had diabetes. Fasting concentrations and secretion response of insulin, proinsulin, and C-peptide to glucose ingestion was significantly increased in the PI-treated group suggesting a beta-cell dysfunction in addition to peripheral insulin resistance. Beta-cell abnormalities were associated with the abnormal lipid pattern and PI treatment. CONCLUSION Combination drug regimens including PI are accompanied by impaired glucose tolerance, hyperproinsulinaemia as an indicator for beta-cell dysfunction, and lipid abnormalities proved to be significant risk factors for coronary heart disease. Moreover, PI may have an impact on the processing of proinsulin to insulin.
Recent Developments in Delivery, Bioavailability, Absorption and Metabolism of Curcumin: the Golden Pigment from Golden Spice

Curcumin (diferuloylmethane) is a yellow pigment present in the spice turmeric (Curcuma longa) that has been associated with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, antiviral, and antibacterial activities as indicated by over 6,000 citations. In addition, over one hundred clinical studies have been carried out with curcumin. One of the major problems with curcumin is perceived to be the bioavailability. How curcumin should be delivered in vivo, how bioavailable is it, how well curcumin is absorbed and how it is metabolized, is the focus of this review. Various formulations of curcumin that are currently available are also discussed.
Fables of the prefrontal cortex

Abstract On the basis of neuroiinaging studies, Posner & Raichle summarily report that the prefrontal cortex is involved in executive functioning and attention. In contrast to that superficial view, we briefly describe a testable model of the kinds of representations that are stored in prefrontal cortex, which, when activated, are expressed via plans, actions, thematic knowledge, and schemas.
Finding small separators in linear time via treewidth reduction

We present a method for reducing the treewidth of a graph while preserving all of its minimal <i>s</i>-<i>t</i> separators up to a certain fixed size <i>k</i>. This technique allows us to solve <i>s</i>-<i>t</i> <scp>Cut</scp> and <scp>Multicut</scp> problems with various additional restrictions (e.g., the vertices being removed from the graph form an independent set or induce a connected graph) in linear time for every fixed number <i>k</i> of removed vertices. Our results have applications for problems that are not directly defined by separators, but the known solution methods depend on some variant of separation. For example, we can solve similarly restricted generalizations of <scp>Bipartization</scp> (delete at most <i>k</i> vertices from <i>G</i> to make it bipartite) in almost linear time for every fixed number <i>k</i> of removed vertices. These results answer a number of open questions in the area of parameterized complexity. Furthermore, our technique turns out to be relevant for (<i>H</i>, <i>C</i>, <i>K</i>)- and (<i>H</i>, <i>C</i>,≤K)-coloring problems as well, which are cardinality constrained variants of the classical <i>H</i>-coloring problem. We make progress in the classification of the parameterized complexity of these problems by identifying new cases that can be solved in almost linear time for every fixed cardinality bound.
Attention Improves Transfer of Motion Information between V1 and MT

Selective attention modulates activity within individual visual areas; however, the role of attention in mediating the transfer of information between areas is not well understood. Here, we used fMRI to assess attention-related changes in coupled BOLD activation in two key areas of human visual cortex that are involved in motion processing: V1 and MT. To examine attention-related changes in cross-area coupling, multivoxel patterns in each visual area were decomposed to estimate the trial-by-trial response amplitude in a set of direction-selective “channels. ” In both V1 and MT, BOLD responses increase in direction-selective channels tuned to the attended direction of motion and decrease in channels tuned away from the attended direction. Furthermore, the modulation of cross-area correlations between similarly tuned populations is inversely related to the modulation of their mean responses, an observation that can be explained via a feedforward motion computation in MT and a modulation of local noise correlations in V1. More importantly, these modulations accompany an increase in the cross-area mutual information between direction-selective response patterns in V1 and MT, suggesting that attention improves the transfer of sensory information between cortical areas that cooperate to support perception. Finally, our model suggests that divisive normalization of neural activity in V1 before its integration by MT is critical to cross-area information coupling, both in terms of cross-area correlation as well as cross-area mutual information.
Combat medical informatics: present and future

In this paper, we describe a U.S. Army concept to monitor soldier physiologic status and provide computer-based medical support to increase the likelihood of soldier survival on the battlefield. Supported by an underlying platform of complex wearable computerized systems, the "Warfighter Physiological Status Monitoring" (WPSM) concept consists of an array of biosensors embedded in the soldier's uniform integrated with a database management system and a decision support system that will provide assistance in casualty prevention and casualty management. We discuss the main components of the WPSM, its present status, key requirements and outstanding challenges, and near- and far-term research directions.
Optimal pilot symbol design for spatially correlated MIMO-OFDM channels

This paper addresses the optimal transmitted pilot signal design for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems under spatially correlated frequency-selective fading channels. With the aid of the optimization theory framework, we develop the optimal pilot symbols and obtain the optimal placement of pilot tones with respect to the mean square error of the linear channel estimate. In addition, using the majorization theory, we derive the optimal power allocation for pilot symbols subject to the power allocated for training.
Range Effects in Experiments on People

Range effects occur when each person receives more than one experimental condition. Sometimes the range effects are studied deliberately; sometimes they are considered traps to be avoided; often they go unrecognized. Examples from studies in psychophysics, perception, learning and memory, reaction times, and motor skills demonstrate that range effects are critical to the measurement of almost any kind of human behavior. The results of a within-subjects design should always be regarded with suspicion. No psychologist should use a withinsubjects design, except for a special purpose, without combining it with a separate-groups design. In a within-subjects experimental design, each person performs more than one condition. The latin square of Figure 1 is an example. A withinsubjects design is said to take care of the effects of practice, but it does not do so. The difference between the two conditions A and B depends partly on the two conditions compared, and partly on the other experimental conditions, C and D, in the design. No clear interpretation of the difference between A and B is possible. It is not possible to tell how much is main effect, and how much is range effect due to including C and D in the experimental design.
Noncommutative Inspired Black Holes in Extra Dimensions

In a recent string theory motivated paper, Nicolini, Smailagic and Spallucci (NSS) presented an interesting model for a noncommutative inspired, Schwarzschild-like black hole solution in 4-dimensions. The essential effect of having noncommutative co-ordinates in this approach is to smear out matter distributions on a scale associated with the turn-on of noncommutativity which was taken to be near the 4-d Planck mass. In particular, NSS assumed that this smearing was essentially Gaussian. This energy scale is sufficiently large that in 4-d such effects may remain invisible indefinitely. Extra dimensional models which attempt to address the gauge hierarchy problem, however, allow for the possibility that the effective fundamental scale may not be far from {approx} 1 TeV, an energy regime that will soon be probed by experiments at both the LHC and ILC. In this paper we generalize the NSS model to the case where flat, toroidally compactified extra dimensions are accessible at the TeV-scale and examine the resulting modifications in black hole properties due to the existence of noncommutativity. We show that while many of the noncommutativity-induced black hole features found in 4-d by NSS persist, in some cases there can be significant modifications due the presence of extra dimensions. Wemore » also demonstrate that the essential features of this approach are not particularly sensitive to the Gaussian nature of the smearing assumed by NSS. « less
Switched Directional/Omnidirectional Antenna Module for Amplitude Monopulse Systems

An L-band switched directional/omnidirectional antenna module, consisting of a four-monopole antenna, a switched beamforming network (SBFN), a matching network, and an interface, is described. The antenna includes four folded monopoles, parasitic elements, a special base plate, a common capacitive top hat, and a radome. The special switched-line 0°/180° phase shifter of the switched beamforming network provides switching between the directional and the omnidirectional modes. The beamforming network (BFN) includes four 90° hybrids, connected with each other through four invertors. A practical application of this antenna module for aircraft amplitude monopulse systems is considered in this article. Over a frequency range of 10%, the experimental antenna module exhibited directional gain greater than +10 dBi, from 90° to 100° beamwidth, a return loss less than -13.0 dB, side/back lobe levels than -10.0 dB, and an rms bearing error of less than 2°.
Profile of two cohorts: UK and US prospective studies of military health.

Abstract : In the United Kingdom and United States, these two independent cohort studies have been instituted to prospectively study the health of service personnel and veterans. From comparisons with baseline information, these studies are designed to better inform the military and the public on how best to protect the health of their armed forces and better understand the long-term risks of some occupational exposures that extend beyond military communities. In order to do this, these studies consider: 1) The underlying physical and mental health of the military populations before, during, and after military service; and 2) The specific effects of deployment, deployment-related exposures, and other occupational exposures upon personnel compared with unexposed subgroups. Whilst previous studies have attempted to address these topics, they have often been limited in their generalisability to all service branches and components of the military, or previous population-based methodologies have been largely limited to cross-sectional or retrospective methods. Although follow-up to the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Survey, called the National Vietnam Veterans Longitudinal Study, is still ongoing, this study is focused on a single deployment. Similarly, the Air Force Health study, a 20-year longitudinal study of approximately 20,000 Vietnam veterans, assessed potential health effects associated with exposure to aerial spraying of dioxins. Here, we present two prospective, longitudinal, multi-service studies of active duty and Reserve/National Guard personnel that will continue to follow participants even after they have left military service. We describe these two studies in detail, comparing study populations, methodology, and the published literature so far. Potential areas for future collaboration are also explored. By understanding the inherent similarities and differences between these two cohorts and leveraging each study? s unique strengths and strategies to minimize
Prerequisites for accountability and political efficacy

The literature offers two strategies for voters to apply when voting in elections: delegation and accountability. Most electoral research indicates that voters are becoming more volatile and parties more alike, which makes delegation a difficult task. But if voters are becoming more interested in the second strategy – ex post controls – it appears other institutional characteristics are likely to be desirable. This study looks at how the political context of elections affects voters’ view of governmental responsiveness. More specifically focus is put on the two concepts “clarity of responsibility” and “clarity of available alternatives” that are likely to of importance if voters are to be able assign responsibility in an effective manner. It appears logic that voters may have a more pessimistic view of their possibilities to influence politics and the importance of voting – what is generally known as external efficacy – in contexts where power distribution is blurred and no obvious alternatives to take stand for are offered before the election. Results, however, indicate the opposite.
Providing preschool foundations for later reading comprehension: The importance of and ideas for targeting inferencing in storybook‐sharing interventions

A significant gap in emerging literacy intervention with preschoolers relates to a skill that is crucial to later reading comprehension–the ability to engage in inferencing. This article presents a theoretical rationale for fostering inferential language during book sharing with preschool children, and provides research-based ideas for how this can be best accomplished. It is suggested that, at the preschool level, children can be supported in their ability to make inferences about stories read aloud to them by having adults ask both literal and inferential questions that, first and foremost, relate to the causal structure of stories. Additionally, questions focused on informational and evaluative inferences serve to further enhance story comprehension. A rubric for connecting such questions to the elements of story grammar is offered, and a specific example from a published preschool level storybook is provided. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Scheduling algorithms for input-queued switches with virtual output queueing

A set of packet scheduling algorithms are proposed for improving the performance of an iterative longest port first (iLPF) algorithm for virtual output queueing (VOQ) switches. In our proposed algorithms, scheduling priority is given according to different criteria that include input port occupancy, output port occupancy and critical port in VOQ. One of the proposed algorithms, called longest input port first with throughput maximization (LIPF with TM), gives significant performance improvement in mean packet delay and throughput when compared with iLPF. We found that for a 16/spl times/16 switch with input load p=0.85, the mean packet delay is 7.08 slots for iLPF and 3.21 slots for LIPF with TM. This represents a 55% cut in mean packet delay.