Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Speech and language development: monitoring process and problems.

1. Susan McQuiston, PhD* 2. Nancy Kloczko, MD† 1. *Pediatric Psychologist. 2. †Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrician, Baystate Children's Hospital, Springfield, MA. After completing this article, readers should be able to: 1. Describe the progression of normal speech-language development. 2. Recognize delayed and disordered speech-language development and indications for referral. 3. Understand possible biologic and environmental contributions to delayed language. 4. Implement appropriate management strategies. You are seeing a 2½-year-old boy for a routine health supervision visit. On a general developmental screening questionnaire, his mother reports that he is not yet talking. She has not been too concerned because the child's father was a late talker and they live in a bilingual household. Although the boy has had several episodes of otitis media, she feels strongly that there is no question of hearing loss because he seems to understand what is said to him. Other domains of development are reported as age-appropriate. His physical examination results are normal, and he appears to be a socially engaging toddler. However, you have concerns about his apparent low frustration tolerance and tendency to throw tantrums. It has been said that all typically developing children in all cultures master the basics of their language by 4 years of age. (1) However, 5% to 8% of children experience speech-language delays or disorders by the preschool years, which may be associated with later learning, socioemotional, or behavioral problems. The primary clinician often is the first professional to whom parents turn when a developmental problem is suspected, and in the course of routine health supervision visits, the clinician may encounter any of the following language-related questions or concerns:
Pharmaceutical Development Phases: A Duration Analysis

This paper estimates a duration model of late stage drug development in the pharmaceutical industry using publicly available data. The paper presents descriptive results on the estimated relationship between a particular drug's characteristics such as therapy category, route of administration and originator's size, and that drug's pathway through the three stages of human clinical trials and regulatory review. The results suggest that drugs with longer durations are less likely to succeed, drugs from larger firms are more likely to succeed and faster in the later phases of development, and that durations fell between 1995 and 2002.
DIETARY SALT INTAKE

Common salt (sodium chloride) is essential for life. Animals in the wild sometimes go to great lengths to satisfy their craving for it and we can assume that our early ancestors had similar instinctive needs. This may be the origin of our modern appetite for salt in present day circumstances where it is readily available and is included in many foods for preservation or processing purposes. In any event, the average Western intake exceeds the minimum necessary for survival by a factor of more than 10 to 1, so salt intake is only partially determined by physiological requirements.
Self-adjusting computation: (an overview)

Many applications need to respond to incremental modifications to data. Being incremental, such modification often require incremental modifications to the output, making it possible to respond to them asymptotically faster than recomputing from scratch. In many cases, taking advantage of incrementality therefore dramatically improves performance, especially as the input size increases. As a frame of reference, note that in parallel computing speedups are bounded by the number of processors, often a (small) constant. Designing and developing applications that respond to incremental modifications, however, is challenging: it often involves developing highly specific, complex algorithms. Self-adjusting computation offers a linguistic approach to this problem. In self-adjusting computation, programs respond automatically and efficiently to modifications to their data by tracking the dynamic data dependences of the computation and incrementally updating their output as needed. In this invited talk, I present an overview of self-adjusting computation and briefly discuss the progress in developing the approach and present some recent advances.
Mode of action of a Drosophila FMRFamide in inducing muscle contraction

Drosophila melanogaster is a model system for examining the mechanisms of action of neuropeptides. DPKQDFMRFamide was previously shown to induce contractions in Drosophila body wall muscle fibres in a Ca2+-dependent manner. The present study examined the possible involvement of a G-protein-coupled receptor and second messengers in mediating this myotropic effect after removal of the central nervous system. DPKQDFMRFamide-induced contractions were reduced by 70% and 90%, respectively, in larvae with reduced expression of the Drosophila Fmrf receptor (FR) either ubiquitously or specifically in muscle tissue, compared with the response in control larvae in which expression was not manipulated. No such effect occurred in larvae with reduced expression of this gene only in neurons. The myogenic effects of DPKQDFMRFamide do not appear to be mediated through either of the two Drosophila myosuppressin receptors (DmsR-1 and DmsR-2). DPKQDFMRFamide-induced contractions were not reduced in Ala1 transgenic flies lacking activity of calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase (CamKII), and were not affected by the CaMKII inhibitor KN-93. Peptide-induced contractions in the mutants of the phospholipase C-β (PLCβ) gene (norpA larvae) and in IP3 receptor mutants were similar to contractions elicited in control larvae. The peptide failed to increase cAMP and cGMP levels in Drosophila body wall muscles. Peptide-induced contractions were not potentiated by 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine, a phosphodiesterase inhibitor, and were not antagonized by inhibitors of cAMP-dependent or cGMP-dependent protein kinases. Additionally, exogenous application of arachidonic acid failed to induce myogenic contractions. Thus, DPKQDFMRFamide induces contractions via a G-protein coupled FMRFamide receptor in muscle cells but does not appear to act via cAMP, cGMP, IP3, PLC, CaMKII or arachidonic acid.
Collaboration in serious game development: a case study

This paper presents an ethnographic study of the development practices at a small but successful company that develops serious games for industry training. We concentrated on the day-to-day collaboration of the studio team responsible for the game content and software, and used qualitative research methods, including field observations, contextual interviews and conversation analysis. This paper reports our findings, emphasizing a holistic perspective encompassing social and technical factors influencing collaboration in serious game development. In particular, we report on how co-location and a positive social environment work together with the technical tools and infrastructure to provide an environment that facilitates full participation of professionals with differing disciplinary perspectives, and contributes to iterative development and refinement of the game.
Feather corticosterone reveals developmental stress in seabirds

In nest-bound avian offspring, food shortages typically trigger a release of the stress hormone corticosterone (CORT). Recent studies indicate that CORT is passively deposited in the tissue of growing feathers and thus may provide an integrated measure of stress incurred during development in the nest. The current hypothesis predicts that, assuming a constant rate of feather growth, elevated CORT circulating in the blood corresponds to higher levels of CORT in feather tissue, but experimental evidence for nutritionally stressed chicks is lacking. Here, we examined how food limitation affects feather CORT content in the rhinoceros auklet (Cerorhinca moncerata). We (i) used captive chicks reared on control versus restricted diets, and (ii) applied this technique to free-living chicks with unknown nutritional histories that fledged at three separate colonies. We found that (i) feather growth was not affected by experimentally induced nutritional stress; (ii) captive chicks raised on a restricted diet had higher levels of CORT in their primary feathers; (iii) feather CORT deposition is a sensitive method of detecting nutritional stress; and (iv) free-living fledglings from the colony with poor reproductive performance had higher CORT in their primary feathers. We conclude that feather CORT is a sensitive integrated measure revealing the temporal dynamics of food limitations experienced by rhinoceros auklet nestlings. The use of feather CORT may be a powerful endocrine tool in ecological and evolutionary studies of bird species with similar preferential allocation of limited resources to feather development.
'At Light Speed' - Attribution and Response to Cybercrime/Terrorism/Warfare

Nation-states utilize a two-pronged approach for maintaining social order: They use military forces to fend off external threats (warfare) from other nation-states; and they use a set of civil and criminal laws, the latter enforced by law enforcement officers and a set of legal procedures for sanctioning violators, to maintain internal order. Both crime and terrorism fall into the category of internal threat - "crime. " Cyberspace challenges nation-states' ability to utilize this scheme effectively because it becomes difficult to parse the nation of an attack (attack-attribution) and to identify attackers (attacker-attribution). It also creates problems in responding to threats (military for external threats, law enforcement for internal) because territorial borders become permeable. This article explores the legal and analytical challenges arising from the attack-attribution, attacker-attribution and response processes.
Measles in Sudan: Diagnosis, Epidemiology and Humoral Immune Response

textabstractDespite the availability of safe and effective live attenuated vaccines, measles remains endemic in many developing countries. Little is known about the pathogenesis of measles virus (MV) infections in the areas of itsendemicity, largely due to the limited infrastructure and political instability. Whereas measles in industrialised countries is often considered an “innocent” childhood disease, measles case-fatality rates are often well above 1% in developing countries, and can be even higher in outbreak situations (5). Oneexplanation for this observation is that measles is associated with a transient immunosuppression resulting in an increased susceptibility to other infectious agents: the infectious pressure of many human pathogens is substantially higher in developing countries than in the industrialised world. Incombination with vitamin deficiencies (e.g. vitamin A) and inadequate case management this increases the risk of MV infection developing into a serious life-threatening disease (3). However, prior to or co-infections with otherpathogens could also play a role in modifying the specific immune responseto MV infection. In particular the high prevalence of parasitic infections inmany developing countries could affect the development of the cellular immune system towards a dominance of T-helper (Th) cells producing type 2 cytokines such as IL-4, IL-5 IL-10 and IL-13. Such responses have beenassociated with immunosuppression (197), and counterbalance Th responsesproducing type 1 cytokines (such as IL-12 and interferon-γ) which sustaincytotoxic T cell (CTL) response and have been associated with clearance ofMV infection (198). Towards the control and eventual eradication of measles more insight will be required in the pathogenesis of measles in areas of its endemicity. However, another reason to study measles in these regions is that it allows the development and validation of alternative surveillance methods. Surveillance will become of crucial importance during the next decade(s),since several organisations including the World Health Organisation (WHO), United Nation Children’s funds (UNICEF), the American Red Cross and the Centres for Disease Control (CDC) have recently joined forces to proceed toa phase of accelerated measles control which should result in a substantialreduction in measles mortality (118), (www.measlesinitiative.org). It has been shown that in areas with decrease MV circulation the clinical diagnosis of measles becomes increasingly unreliable, and other rash-causing diseases such as those caused by infection with rubella virus, parvovirus B19, orhuman herpesvirus-6 are often mistaken for measles (199). We have studied diagnostic, virological and immunological aspects ofmeasles in suburban Khartoum, Sudan. Prospective studies were carried outin two cohorts of clinically diagnosed measles cases.
Transition from wing to leg forces during landing in birds

Transitions to and from the air are critical for aerial locomotion and likely shaped the evolution of flying animals. Research on take-off demonstrates that legs generate greater body accelerations compared with wings, and thereby contribute more to initial flight velocity. Here, we explored coordination between wings and legs in two species with different wingbeat styles, and quantified force production of these modules during the final phase of landing. We used the same birds that we had previously studied during take-off: zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata, N=4) and diamond dove (Geopelia cuneata, N=3). We measured kinematics using high-speed video, aerodynamics using particle image velocimetry, and ground-reaction forces using a perch mounted on a force plate. In contrast with the first three wingbeats of take-off, the final four wingbeats during landing featured ~2 times greater force production. Thus, wings contribute proportionally more to changes in velocity during the last phase of landing compared with the initial phase of take-off. The two species touched down at the same velocity (~1 m s−1), but they exhibited significant differences in the timing of their final wingbeat relative to touchdown. The ratio of average wing force to peak leg force was greater in diamond doves than in zebra finches. Peak ground reaction forces during landing were ~50% of those during take-off, consistent with the birds being motivated to control landing. Likewise, estimations of mechanical energy flux for both species indicate that wings produce 3–10 times more mechanical work within the final wingbeats of flight compared with the kinetic energy of the body absorbed by legs during ground contact.
Desiccation tolerance as a function of age, sex, humidity and temperature in adults of the African malaria vectors Anopheles arabiensis and Anopheles funestus

Adult mosquito survival is strongly temperature and moisture dependent. Few studies have investigated the interacting effects of these variables on adult survival and how this differs among the sexes and with age, despite the importance of such information for population dynamic models. For these reasons, the desiccation tolerance of Anopheles arabiensis Patton and Anopheles funestus Giles males and females of three different ages was assessed under three combinations of temperature and humidity. Females were more desiccation tolerant than males, surviving for longer periods than males under all experimental conditions. In addition, younger adults were more tolerant of desiccation than older groups. Both species showed reduced water loss rate (WLR) as the primary mechanism by which they tolerate desiccation. Although A. arabiensis is often considered to be the more arid-adapted of the two species, it showed lower survival times and higher WLR than A. funestus. The current information could improve population dynamic models of these vectors, given that adult survival information for such models is relatively sparse.
The Los Angeles Latino Eye Study

Purpose: To examine the relationship between type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and the risk of open-angle glaucoma (OAG) in an adult Latino population. Design: Population-based cross-sectional study. Participants: Latinos 40 years and older (n 5894) from 6 census tracts in Los Angeles, California. Methods: Participants from the Los Angeles Latino Eye Study (LALES), a large population-based s self-identified adult Latinos, answered an interviewer-administered questionnaire and underwent a clinic complete ocular examination, including visual field (VF) testing and stereo fundus photography. A particip defined as having diabetes mellitus (DM) if she or he had a history of being treated for DM, the p glycosylated hemoglobin was measured at 7.0% or higher, or the participant had random blood glucos mg% or higher. Type 2 DM was defined if the participant was 30 years or older when diagnosed Open-angle glaucoma was defined as the presence of an open angle and a glaucomatous VF abnormali evidence of glaucomatous optic disc damage in at least one eye. Logistic regression analysis was used the risk of having OAG in persons with T2DM. Main Outcome Measure: Prevalence of OAG. Results: Of the 5894 participants with complete data, 1157 (19.6%) had T2DM and 288 (4.9%) h The prevalence of OAG was 40% higher in participants with T2DM than in those without T2DM (ag intraocular pressure–adjusted odds ratio, 1.4; 95% confidence interval, 1.03–1.8; P 0.03). Trend analysi revealed that a longer duration of T2DM (stratified into 5-year increments) was associated with prevalence of OAG ( P 0.0001). Conclusion: The presence of T2DM and a longer duration of T2DM were independently associated with risk of having OAG in the LALES cohort. The high prevalences of T2DM and OAG and their association in growing segment of the United States population have significant implications for designing screening p targeting Latinos. Ophthalmology 2008;115:227–232 © 2008 by the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
Titin force is enhanced in actively stretched skeletal muscle

The sliding filament theory of muscle contraction is widely accepted as the means by which muscles generate force during activation. Within the constraints of this theory, isometric, steady-state force produced during muscle activation is proportional to the amount of filament overlap. Previous studies from our laboratory demonstrated enhanced titin-based force in myofibrils that were actively stretched to lengths which exceeded filament overlap. This observation cannot be explained by the sliding filament theory. The aim of the present study was to further investigate the enhanced state of titin during active stretch. Specifically, we confirm that this enhanced state of force is observed in a mouse model and quantify the contribution of calcium to this force. Titin-based force was increased by up to four times that of passive force during active stretch of isolated myofibrils. Enhanced titin-based force has now been demonstrated in two distinct animal models, suggesting that modulation of titin-based force during active stretch is an inherent property of skeletal muscle. Our results also demonstrated that 15% of the enhanced state of titin can be attributed to direct calcium effects on the protein, presumably a stiffening of the protein upon calcium binding to the E-rich region of the PEVK segment and selected Ig domain segments. We suggest that the remaining unexplained 85% of this extra force results from titin binding to the thin filament. With this enhanced force confirmed in the mouse model, future studies will aim to elucidate the proposed titin–thin filament interaction in actively stretched sarcomeres.
An epidemiological study to assess the utilization of maternal and child health care services at sub-center level by the target population in Northern India, Kashmir valley -

Background: In any community mothers and children constitute an important and priority group especially in developing countries like India where, their numbers (constituting up to 2/3rd of total population), vulnerability to morbidity and mortality (constituting as special risk group) and amenability to prevention of ill health and mortality, to a large extent, makes them candidate for special attention. By improving health of mothers and children in any society we contribute to a large segment of general population and it is because of this special and usually combined health services for mother and child, the Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Services are considered globally more so in developing countries. The main aim of MCH Services remains to ensure that, throughout pregnancy and puerperium, every mother maintains optimal health and at the end of pregnancy we have a healthy mother and a healthy baby and promote the child health throughout the infancy and childhood. Delivery of MCH services to the vast majority of rural communities has been through Sub-centers that are manned by two Multipurpose Health Workers (one male and one female [ANM]) and cover a population of 5000 in plain areas and 3000 in hilly or difficult terrain areas. The functions of female worker are mainly confined to Maternal and Child health (essential obstetric care, new born care, child health promotion, family planning, health education. Aims & Objective: To assess the Utilisation of maternal and child health services at Sub-center level by target population in a sub-center area. Material and Methods: A sample of 40 sub centres was obtained by multistage sampling procedure. The sample size was obtained by calculating number of mother child pair beneficiaries to be interviewed for assessing the utilization of maternal and child health services. Results: Out of the total 671 mothers studied 640 (95.4%) beneficiaries had received any antenatal check-up while 4.6% had not received any antenatal check-up. Only 10.3% of the women had greater than 3 antenatal check-ups at the sub centre while 5.46 % had received 3 antenatal checks up and 1.4 % had less than 3 antenatal check-ups at sub centre. MPHW (Female) was the service provider for antenatal care in only 3.1% of cases while 86.4% of the women preferred a doctor for antenatal check-ups. Conclusion: Utilization of ante-natal services is very low, intranatal is almost non-existent, post natal maternal services are decimal but child health services and some components of family planning services are being utilized from sub centers. KEY-WORDS: Maternal and Child
Cold acclimation increases cardiac myofilament function and ventricular pressure generation in trout

Reducing temperature below the optimum of most vertebrate hearts impairs contractility and reduces organ function. However, a number of fish species, including the rainbow trout, can seasonally acclimate to low temperature. Such ability requires modification of physiological systems to compensate for the thermodynamic effects of temperature on biological processes. The current study tested the hypothesis that rainbow trout compensate for the direct effect of cold temperature by increasing cardiac contractility during cold acclimation. We examined cardiac contractility, following thermal acclimation (4, 11 and 17°C), by measuring the Ca2+ sensitivity of force generation by chemically skinned cardiac trabeculae as well as ventricular pressure generation using a modified Langendorff preparation. We demonstrate, for the first time, that the Ca2+ sensitivity of force generation was significantly higher in cardiac trabeculae from 4°C-acclimated trout compared with those acclimated to 11 or 17°C, and that this functional change occurred in parallel with a decrease in the level of cardiac troponin T phosphorylation. In addition, we show that the magnitude and rate of ventricular pressure generation was greater in hearts from trout acclimated to 4°C compared with those from animals acclimated to 11 or 17°C. Taken together, these results suggest that enhanced myofilament function, caused by modification of existing contractile proteins, is at least partially responsible for the observed increase in pressure generation after acclimation to 4°C. In addition, by examining the phenotypic plasticity of a comparative model we have identified a strategy, used in vivo, by which the force-generating capacity of cardiac muscle can be increased.