Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Neural Mechanisms of Social and Nonsocial Reward Prediction Errors in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by impaired predictive abilities; however, the neural mechanisms subsuming reward prediction errors in ASD are poorly understood. In the current study, we investigated neural responses during social and nonsocial reward prediction errors in 22 adolescents with ASD (ages 12–17) and 20 typically developing control adolescents (ages 12–18). Participants performed a reward prediction error task using both social (i.e., faces) and nonsocial (i.e., objects) rewards during a functional magnetic resonance imaging scan. Reward prediction errors were defined in two ways: (a) the signed prediction error, the difference between the experienced and expected reward; and (b) the thresholded unsigned prediction error, the difference between expected and unexpected outcomes regardless of magnitude. During social reward prediction errors, the ASD group demonstrated the following differences relative to the TD group: (a) signed prediction error: decreased activation in the right precentral gyrus and increased activation in the right frontal pole; and (b) thresholded unsigned prediction error: increased activation in the right anterior cingulate gyrus and bilateral precentral gyrus. Groups did not differ in brain activation during nonsocial reward prediction errors. Within the ASD group, exploratory analyses revealed that reaction times and social‐communication impairments were related to precentral gyrus activation during social prediction errors. These findings elucidate the neural mechanisms of social reward prediction errors in ASD and suggest that ASD is characterized by greater neural atypicalities during social, relative to nonsocial, reward prediction errors in ASD. Autism Res 2020, 13: 715–728. © 2020 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Diagnosis and Treatment of Parkinson Disease: A Review.

Importance Parkinson disease is the most common form of parkinsonism, a group of neurological disorders with Parkinson disease-like movement problems such as rigidity, slowness, and tremor. More than 6 million individuals worldwide have Parkinson disease. Observations Diagnosis of Parkinson disease is based on history and examination. History can include prodromal features (eg, rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder, hyposmia, constipation), characteristic movement difficulty (eg, tremor, stiffness, slowness), and psychological or cognitive problems (eg, cognitive decline, depression, anxiety). Examination typically demonstrates bradykinesia with tremor, rigidity, or both. Dopamine transporter single-photon emission computed tomography can improve the accuracy of diagnosis when the presence of parkinsonism is uncertain. Parkinson disease has multiple disease variants with different prognoses. Individuals with a diffuse malignant subtype (9%-16% of individuals with Parkinson disease) have prominent early motor and nonmotor symptoms, poor response to medication, and faster disease progression. Individuals with mild motor-predominant Parkinson disease (49%-53% of individuals with Parkinson disease) have mild symptoms, a good response to dopaminergic medications (eg, carbidopa-levodopa, dopamine agonists), and slower disease progression. Other individuals have an intermediate subtype. For all patients with Parkinson disease, treatment is symptomatic, focused on improvement in motor (eg, tremor, rigidity, bradykinesia) and nonmotor (eg, constipation, cognition, mood, sleep) signs and symptoms. No disease-modifying pharmacologic treatments are available. Dopamine-based therapies typically help initial motor symptoms. Nonmotor symptoms require nondopaminergic approaches (eg, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors for psychiatric symptoms, cholinesterase inhibitors for cognition). Rehabilitative therapy and exercise complement pharmacologic treatments. Individuals experiencing complications, such as worsening symptoms and functional impairment when a medication dose wears off ("off periods"), medication-resistant tremor, and dyskinesias, benefit from advanced treatments such as therapy with levodopa-carbidopa enteral suspension or deep brain stimulation. Palliative care is part of Parkinson disease management. Conclusions and Relevance Parkinson disease is a heterogeneous disease with rapidly and slowly progressive forms. Treatment involves pharmacologic approaches (typically with levodopa preparations prescribed with or without other medications) and nonpharmacologic approaches (such as exercise and physical, occupational, and speech therapies). Approaches such as deep brain stimulation and treatment with levodopa-carbidopa enteral suspension can help individuals with medication-resistant tremor, worsening symptoms when the medication wears off, and dyskinesias.
Organic electrochemical transistor arrays for real-time mapping of evoked neurotransmitter release in vivo

Though neurotransmitters are essential elements in neuronal signal transduction, techniques for in vivo analysis are still limited. Here, we describe an organic electrochemical transistor array (OECT-array) technique for monitoring catecholamine neurotransmitters (CA-NTs) in rat brains. The OECT-array is an active sensor with intrinsic amplification capability, allowing real-time and direct readout of transient CA-NT release with a sensitivity of nanomolar range and a temporal resolution of several milliseconds. The device has a working voltage lower than half of that typically used in a prevalent cyclic voltammetry measurement, and operates continuously in vivo for hours without significant signal drift, which is inaccessible for existing methods. With the OECT-array, we demonstrate simultaneous mapping of evoked dopamine release at multiple striatal brain regions in different physiological scenarios, and reveal a complex cross-talk between the mesolimbic and the nigrostriatal pathways, which is heterogeneously affected by the reciprocal innervation between ventral tegmental area and substantia nigra pars compacta.
Comment établir le bilan de fin de traitement des patients atteints de lymphomes non-hodgkiniens (LNH) de malignité intermédiaire ou élevée ?

La regression incomplete d'une masse tumorale apres traitement pour lymphome est un probleme. clinique important. En cas de maladie residuelle, il est souhaite de debuter immediatement un traitement de rattrapage suivi eventuellement d'une transplantation de cellules souches plutot que d'attendre une rechute clinique. Les auteurs passent en revue les differentes techniques d'imagerie utiles dans la mise au peint d'une masse residuelle. La tomodensitometrie (TDM) et la resonance magnetique nucleaire (RMN) ne peuvent pas distinguer une masse fibrotique d'une maladie residuelle. Bien que la scintigraphie au 67 Ga ait ete longtemps consideree comme la technique de reference dans cette indication, la TEP au 10 F-FDG est maintenant la nouvelle technique d'imagerie de choix. Les auteurs rapportent leur experience personnelle dans ce domaine. Une biopsie pour confirmer un examen TEP positif reste indispensable avant de debuter un traitement de rattrapage. En effet, la fixation du 18 F-FDG n'est pas pathognomonique d'un processus tumoral.
Targeting Viral DNA and Promoter Hypermethylation in Salivary Rinses for Recurrent HPV-Positive Oropharyngeal Cancer

Objective The incidence and survivorship of human papillomavirus (HPV)–associated oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) are increasing. Presence of HPV DNA and epigenetic alterations in salivary rinses are independently associated with clinical prognosis. We evaluated the utility of a combined panel in detecting disease recurrence during surveillance. We also assessed the assay’s applicability in screening for HPV+ OPSCC. Study Design Retrospective cohort study. Setting Two tertiary academic hospitals. Subjects and Methods Forty-nine patients with posttreatment OPSCC were enrolled. Separately, 21 treatment-naive patients and 40 controls were included in the screening analysis. Salivary rinses were obtained from these cohorts and biomarker levels were quantified. Receiver operative characteristic (ROC) curves and multivariate logistic models were used to assess performance of biomarker combinations. Results Eight patients (16.3%) in the posttreatment cohort developed locoregional recurrence. Recurrence was associated with alcohol use (odds ratio [OR], 6.12; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.26-3.79) and advanced nodal disease (OR, 2.21; 95% CI, 1.52-3.01). A panel of HPV DNA and methylated EDNRB improved detection of recurrent disease (area under the curve [AUC], 0.88) compared to single markers (AUC, 0.69-0.78). Positive biomarkers preceded clinical detection by 2.4 ± 1.6 months and was associated with nearly 40-fold risk of recurrence (OR, 36.4; 95% CI, 1.15-45.22). Within the screening analysis, single biomarkers demonstrated moderate sensitivity and specificity (AUC, 0.59-0.83) in the detection of primary disease. A panel combining HPV DNA markers with methylated EDNRB and methylated PAX5 improved AUC to 0.93. Conclusion Detection of high-risk HPV DNA or aberrant hypermethylation in oral rinses is associated with presence and recurrence of OPSCC. Targeting both markers in saliva may have utility in long-term surveillance.
RUNX1 Mutations in the Leukemic Progression of Severe Congenital Neutropenia

Somatic RUNX1 mutations are found in approximately 10% of patients with de novo acute myeloid leukemia (AML), but are more common in secondary forms of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) or AML. Particularly, this applies to MDS/AML developing from certain types of leukemia-prone inherited bone marrow failure syndromes. How these RUNX1 mutations contribute to the pathobiology of secondary MDS/AML is still unknown. This mini-review focusses on the role of RUNX1 mutations as the most common secondary leukemogenic hit in MDS/AML evolving from severe congenital neutropenia (SCN).
Newly graduated nurses' clinical competencies and need for further training in acute care hospitals.

AIM To assess self-reported clinical competence and the need for further training among newly graduated registered nurses (NGRNs) working in Swedish acute care hospital settings. BACKGROUND NGRNs are expected to take full responsibility for patients' nursing care in an increasingly complex clinical context and professional nurses' clinical competence is critical in providing high quality and safe nursing care. DESIGN A cross-sectional design. METHODS Data were collected using the 50-item ProffNurse SAS II. A total of 85 NGRNs who had recently commenced working with direct patient care at three hospitals in central Sweden participated in the study. The response rate was 69%. The STROBE cross-sectional reporting guidelines was used. RESULTS The NGRNs assessed their clinical competence as being highest in areas relating to team collaboration and ethics and lowest in areas relating to professional development and direct clinical practice. The need for further training was greatest in areas such as direct clinical practice and patient safety and lowest in areas such as team collaborating and ethics. CONCLUSION The use of instruments to identify NGRNs' self-assessed clinical competence is of value when designing and evaluating introductory programs for NGRNs taking on positions in acute care hospital settings. The availability of experienced nurses from whom NGRNs can gain clinical competence and learn from is of importance, both from the perspective of the NGRNs themselves as well as patient safety. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE An understanding of NGRNs' clinical competence and their need for further training may assist in both planning and organizing nursing programs and in making clinical policy decisions when designing introduction programs in acute care settings.
Mild Obstructive Sleep Apnea Increases Hypertension Risk Challenging Traditional Severity Classification.

STUDY OBJECTIVES The association of mild obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) with important clinical outcomes remains unclear. We aimed to investigate the association between mild OSA and systemic arterial hypertension (SAH) in the European Sleep Apnoea Database (ESADA) cohort. METHODS In a multicentre sample of 4732 patients we analyzed the risk of mild OSA (sub-classified into two groups: mildAHI 5-<11/h (apnoea-hypopnoea frequency/hour [AHI] 5 to <11/h) and mildAHI 11-<15/hOSA (AHI ≥11 to <15/h ) compared to non-apnoeic snorers for prevalent SAH after adjustment for relevant confounding factors including gender, age, smoking, obesity, daytime sleepiness, dyslipidaemia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, type 2 diabetes and sleep test methodology [polygraphy (PG) or polysomnography (PSG)]. RESULTS SAH prevalence was higher in the mildAHI 11-<15/h OSA group compared with the mildAHI 5-<11/h group and non-apnoeic snorers (52 vs 45 vs 30%, p<0.001). Corresponding adjusted Odds Ratios (OR) for SAH were 1.789 (mildAHI 11-<15/h, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.49-2.15) and 1.558 (mildAHI 5-<11/h, 95%, CI 1.34-1.82), respectively; p<0.001. In sensitivity analysis, mildAHI 11-<15/h OSA remained a significant predictor for SAH both in PG (OR = 1.779, 95% CI 1.403-2.256; p<0.001) and PSG group (OR = 1.424, 95% CI 1.047-1.939; p=0.025). CONCLUSION Our data suggest a dose response relationship between mild OSA and SAH risk, starting from 5 events/hour in PG-recordings and continuing with a further risk increase in the 11 to <15 range. These findings potentially introduce a challenge to traditional thresholds of OSA severity and may help to stratify OSA patients according to cardiovascular risk.
“There and Then” in the “Here and Now”: Commentary on Kernberg

E lsewhere I have said that upon being “asked to identify the five most influential theorists in our field since Freud, most wellinformed psychoanalysts would come up with the names of Melanie Klein, Donald Winnicott, Wilfred Bion, André Green, and Otto Kernberg. Occupying a place of great distinction, Kernberg is the pre-eminent psychoanalytic theoretician of our times” (Akhtar 2012, p. 995). In contributions spanning well over fifty years, he has painstakingly and consistently sought to integrate diverse conceptual strands in psychoanalysis, forge links between descriptive psychiatry and metapsychology, underscore the pitfalls of customary psychoanalytic education, shed light on problems of love, hate, and mourning, and delineate the intricate ways in which psychoanalytic technique can be modified and adapted for the treatment of patients with severe psychopathology. Kernberg’s depth of knowledge, his breadth of concern, and a literary style that combines the precision of a surgeon and the parsimony of a banker makes it hard to “discuss” a piece of his writing, let alone “critically evaluate” it. Add to this the personal element of my great debt, both conceptual and professional, to him for his innumerable acts of kindness toward me and you will get some sense of the daunting nature of my task here. But forge ahead I must and say a few things about this most recent contribution of his.
Mechanism for neurotransmitter-receptor matching

Significance Neurotransmitter switching generally involves replacement of an excitatory transmitter with an inhibitory transmitter or vice versa and has been linked to changes in animal behavior. There are corresponding switches in postsynaptic receptors that enable continued function of the circuit, but the mechanism by which receptor expression is regulated in this context was unknown. Sustained exposure to the neurotransmitter glutamate during development is both necessary and sufficient for the upregulation of ionotropic glutamate receptors in vertebrate striated skeletal muscle cells. This finding suggests a basis by which neurotransmitter release up-regulates expression of matching receptors at newly formed synapses during development of the nervous system and in response to neurotransmitter switching at established synapses. Synaptic communication requires the expression of functional postsynaptic receptors that match the presynaptically released neurotransmitter. The ability of neurons to switch the transmitter they release is increasingly well documented, and these switches require changes in the postsynaptic receptor population. Although the activity-dependent molecular mechanism of neurotransmitter switching is increasingly well understood, the basis of specification of postsynaptic neurotransmitter receptors matching the newly expressed transmitter is unknown. Using a functional assay, we show that sustained application of glutamate to embryonic vertebrate skeletal muscle cells cultured before innervation is necessary and sufficient to up-regulate ionotropic glutamate receptors from a pool of different receptors expressed at low levels. Up-regulation of these ionotropic receptors is independent of signaling by metabotropic glutamate receptors. Both imaging of glutamate-induced calcium elevations and Western blots reveal ionotropic glutamate receptor expression prior to immunocytochemical detection. Sustained application of glutamate to skeletal myotomes in vivo is necessary and sufficient for up-regulation of membrane expression of the GluN1 NMDA receptor subunit. Pharmacological antagonists and morpholinos implicate p38 and Jun kinases and MEF2C in the signal cascade leading to ionotropic glutamate receptor expression. The results suggest a mechanism by which neuronal release of transmitter up-regulates postsynaptic expression of appropriate transmitter receptors following neurotransmitter switching and may contribute to the proper expression of receptors at the time of initial innervation.
Subsidy/Donation and Performance of Microfinance Institutions

Subsidies and Donations are veritable tools that are supposed to engender effective performance in Microfinance institutions. On the face value, subsidies seem to be very positive but they can be counterproductive when related to their effects on performance, efficiency and self-sustainability of the Microfinance institutions. This paper therefore focuses on the assessment and review of issues relating to Subsidy/Donation and their effect on Performance of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) in Nigeria. The methodology adopted is descriptive in nature and secondary source of data were made use of. Our review revealed mix results on the empirical findings of effect of subsidies/donations on performance of Microfinance institutions. This review shows that Subsidies can disincentive workers and managers, thereby creating moral hazard problems (Corruption and Financial impropriety). However, when applied to effect low borrowing costs and Tax incentives/concessions, it affects performance positively. The review also shows that subsidies ought to be used only in the startup phases of the life cycle and to be withdrawn when the Microfinance institution improves. Overall, to achieve the double bottom lines of social and financial sustainability obligations, funding structure in Microfinance should de-emphasise subsidy dependence and encourage market based principles and commercialisation. For effective corporate governance, big Microfinance institutions at the status of Banks and big NGOs should be mandated to disclose their accounts to the public and not just mere annual returns to the Central bank of Nigeria (This may involve quoting them in Nigeria Stock Exchange).
Deconstructing Stellar Consensus

Some of the recent blockchain proposals, such as Stellar and Ripple, allow for open membership while using quorum-like structures typical for classical Byzantine consensus with closed membership. This is achieved by constructing quorums in a decentralised way: each participant independently chooses whom to trust, and quorums arise from these individual decisions. Unfortunately, the consensus protocols underlying such blockchains are poorly understood, and their correctness has not been rigorously investigated. In this paper we rigorously prove correct the Stellar Consensus Protocol (SCP), with our proof giving insights into the protocol structure and its use of lower-level abstractions. To this end, we first propose an abstract version of SCP that uses as a black box Stellar’s federated voting primitive (analogous to reliable Byzantine broadcast), previously investigated by García-Pérez and Gotsman [7]. The abstract consensus protocol highlights a modular structure in Stellar and can be proved correct by reusing the previous results on federated voting. However, it is unsuited for realistic implementations, since its processes maintain infinite state. We thus establish a refinement between the abstract protocol and the concrete SCP that uses only finite state, thereby carrying over the result about the correctness of former to the latter. Our results help establish the theoretical foundations of decentralised blockchains like Stellar and gain confidence in their correctness. 2012 ACM Subject Classification Theory of computation → Distributed computing models
Die Empfnger von Innovationsfrderung: Ergebnisse einer Unternehmensbefragung in Niedersachsen

In diesem Diskussionspapier werden die Ergebnisse einer im Mai/Juni 2007 durchgefuhrten Unternehmensbefragung im Raum Niedersachsen vorgestellt in Bezug auf die Fragestellung, ob sich Unternehmen, die In-novationsforderung erhalten, von nicht geforderten Unternehmen in Bezug auf generelle Unternehmenscharakteristika und Unternehmereigenschaften unterscheiden. Es existieren systematische Unterschiede zwischen geforderten und nicht geforderten Unternehmen, die darauf hindeuten, dass Innovationsforderprogramme nur von einer bestimmten Gruppe wahrgenommen werden. This discussion paper presents the results of a survey carried out in May/June 2007 among Lower Saxon businesses. The paper discusses the eventual effects of subsidies for innovation by comparing businesses that have received subsidies in the past and non-subsidised businesses. In particular, attention is given to general firm characteristics and personal attributes of the entrepreneur. It can be shown that systematic differences exist between subsidised and non-subsidised businesses, implying that programs for subsidies for innovation are only utilised by a certain group of entrepreneurs.