Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
[Executive function differences between first episode and recurrent major depression patients].

OBJECTIVES The differences between recurrent episodes and first episode depression among depressive patients in terms of executive functions had not previously been investigated. In this study, we aimed to explore executive function differences between patient groups with depression and healthy control subjects. METHOD 19 first episode sufferers of depression, 14 sufferers of recurrent major depression and 33 healthy subjects, selected as suitable with regard to gender and educational level, were enrolled in this study. In the first session, we applied the SCID-I, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Mini Mental Test (MMT) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). In the second session we applied neuropsychological tests including the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), Verbal Fluency Test (VFT) and Stroop Tests to all participants. RESULTS Patients with depression exhibited worse performance in all tests compared to control subjects. While there were no differences between first episode and recurrent depression patients in terms of depression severity and anxiety levels, recurrent depression patients had significantly more perseveration tendency in WCST and significantly worse performance in word production. Among patients in the recurrent depression group, 63,5% had second, 22,2% third, 14,2% had had a fourth episode. There is a significant correlation between the number of depressive episode and the perseveration tendency in WCST. DISCUSSION The results indicate that, compared to first episode depression, the patients with recurrent depression have worse executive function performance and perseveration tendencies. Episode quantity and perseveration tendency were associated.
Fluctuations of fatty acid amide hydrolase and anandamide levels during the human ovulatory cycle

Implantation is possible within a defined period of the menstrual cycle, referred to as the ‘implantation window’. It is during this critical period that proper dialog can be established between the blastocyst and a receptive endometrium. If for any reason this dialog is not established or is altered, the embryo is aborted. The factors responsible for the interaction between the embryo and the mother at the moment of implantation remain poorly understood. Recent studies indicate that endocannabinoids may contribute to the development of an adequate milieu at the implantation site. Here we show that the levels of anandamide and of its degrading enzyme, the fatty acid amide hydrolase, in peripheral lymphocytes undergo specific variations during the various phases of the human ovulatory cycle. In particular, we found the highest levels of fatty acid amide hydrolase activity and protein content, paralleled by the lowest anandamide concentrations, in the period that temporally coincides with the putative window of implantation in humans. On the other hand, the anandamide-synthesizing phospholipase D, the anandamide membrane transporter and the anandamide-binding cannabinoid receptors of lymphocytes did not change during the menstrual cycle. This study indicates that high fatty acid amide hydrolase activity and lowanandamide levels may be among the factors that co-operate in the success of implantation. This would add to our understanding of the pathophysiological and therapeutic implications of the endocannabinoid system in human fertility.
Isolation of a Reovirus from a Case of Burkitt's Lymphoma

much longer period in selected cases. Long-term anticoagulant therapy should also be considered in patients after the first embolic episode, both in sinus rhythm and in atrial fibrillation. This is our present practice. We intend to continue and -to extend this study in the hope that it will enable us to define the place of anticoagulant treatment in the prevention of systemic embolism in rheumatic heart disease in a more satisfactory manner. It is, of course, fully appreciated that this aim can be achieved only if the study includes a proper control group. At the same time it should be emphasized that a more rational long-term approach to this problem is the prevention of the development of a vulnerable stage of the underlying rheumatic disease. Antistreptococcal prophylaxis should be introduced very early in the course of rheumatic cardiac involvement, and certainly before the valvular lesion has reached a degree severe enough to lead to significant haemodynamic alterations and to progressive cardiac changes irrespective of future rheumatic activity.
The ‘ripple effect’: Towards researching improvisational music therapy in dementia care homes

Increased interest in, and demand for, music therapy provision for persons with dementia prompted this study’s exploration of music therapists’ strategies for creating musical communities in dementia care settings, considering the needs and resources of people affected by dementia. Focus group discussions and detailed iterative study of improvisational music therapy work by six experienced practitioners clarify the contextual immediacy and socio-musical complexities of music therapy in dementia care homes. Music therapy’s ‘ripple effect’, with resonances from micro (person-to-person musicking), to meso (musicking beyond ‘session time’) and macro level (within the care home and beyond), implies that all who are part of the dementia care ecology need opportunities for flourishing, shared participation, and for expanded self-identities; beyond ‘staff’, ‘residents’, or ‘being in distress’. On such basis, managers and funders might consider an extended brief for music therapists’ roles, to include generating and maintaining musical wellbeing throughout residential care settings.
Distribution of 9-methoxycanthin-6-one from the intact plant parts and callus cultures of Eurycoma longifolia (Tongkat Ali)

Study was carried out to determine 9-methoxycanthin-6-one distribution in intact plants and callus cultures of Eurycoma longifolia. Qualitative analysis using TLC revealed that the compound 9-methoxycanthin-6-one was present in leaves, petioles, stem, rachis, tap roots, fibrous roots, cotyledons and embryo of the in vivo plants. The quantitative analysis using HPLC showed that the highest concentration of 9-methoxycanthin-6-one content was found in tap roots (4.10 mg.g -1 dry weight (DW) followed by fibrous roots (3.91 mg.g -1 DW), rachis (2.10 mg.g -1 DW), cotyledons (1.44 mg.g -1 DW) and embryo (0.84 mg.g -1 DW). Petioles stem and leaves had relatively low concentrations compared to other intact plant parts, with 0.15 mg.g -1 DW, 0.12 mg.g -1 DW and 0.08 mg.g -1 DW, respectively. Compound 9-methoxycanthin-6-one was also present in callus tissues derived from different explants. The highest concentration was detected in fibrous root-derived callus (7.12 mg.g -1 DW tissues), followed by stem-derived callus (4.18 mg.g -1 DW tissues), leaf-derived callus (2.17 mg.g -1 DW tissues), embryo-derived callus (2.03 mg.g -1 DW tissues), rachis-derived callus (1.25 mg.g -1 DW tissues), tap root-derived callus (0.96 mg.g -1 DW tissues), petiole-derived callus (0.61 mg.g -1 DW tissues) and cotyledonderived callus (0.18 mg.g -1 DW tissues). From the comparison between the data of using callus tissues and intact plant parts, it has shown that the higher concentration of 9-methoxycanthin-6-one of more than 73.7 % was detected in callus tissues.
Association of restless legs syndrome and cardiovascular disease in the Sleep Heart Health Study

Objective: We evaluated the cross-sectional association between restless legs syndrome (RLS) and prevalent cardiovascular disease (CVD) in a large community-based sample of middle-aged and elderly subjects. Methods: This is a cross-sectional observational study of 1,559 men and 1,874 women (mean age of 67.9 years) who were enrolled in the Sleep Heart Health Study, a community-based study of the cardiovascular consequences of sleep-disordered breathing. RLS was defined by positive responses on a self-administered questionnaire to the four diagnostic criteria, with symptoms occurring at least five times per month and associated with at least moderate distress. Coronary artery disease (CAD) was determined by self-report of doctor-diagnosed angina, myocardial infarction, or coronary revascularization procedure. Total CVD included CAD or history of physician-diagnosed stroke or heart failure. The relation of RLS to prevalent CAD and CVD was examined by multivariable logistic regression models Results: RLS was present in 6.8% of women (n = 128) and 3.3% of men (n = 51). After adjustment for age, sex, race, body mass index, diabetes mellitus, systolic blood pressure, antihypertensive medication use, total:high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio, and smoking history, the ORs for CAD were 2.05 (95% CI 1.38 to 3.04) and for CVD were 2.07 (1.43 to 3.00) for subjects with RLS compared to those without RLS. The associations of RLS with CAD and CVD were stronger in those with RLS symptoms at least 16 times per month and were stronger in those with severe than in those with moderately bothersome symptoms. Conclusions: Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is associated with prevalent coronary artery disease and cardiovascular disease. This association appears stronger in those with greater frequency or severity of RLS symptoms. GLOSSARY: AHI = apnea-hypopnea index; CAD = coronary artery disease; CVD = cardiovascular disease; DBP = diastolic blood pressure; ESRD = end-stage renal disease; HDL = high-density lipoprotein; IQR = interquartile range; LDL = low-density lipoprotein; OSA = obstructive sleep apnea; OSAH = obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea; PLMS = periodic leg movements of sleep; RLS = restless legs syndrome; SBP = systolic blood pressure; SHHS = Sleep Heart Health Study.
The Potential Targets of Chinese Medicines in the Treatment of Parkinson’s Disease: Old Wine in New Bottles

This article systematically reviews the present research situation of the pathogenesis of PD (Parkinson’s disease) and our recent research over the past decade, to discuss the potential targets of many TCM (traditional Chinese medicines) in prevention and treatment of PD, such as against oxidative stress (Astragaloside, protocatechuic aldehyde, Liu-Wei-Di-Huang), anti-apoptosis (Geniposide, Zhichan powder), improve mitochondrial function (Paeoniflorin, Da-Bu-Yin-Wan), inhibition of protein aggregation (Panax ginseng, Irisflorentin), induce autophagy (piperine, Paeoniflorin), and many other mechanisms and multiple effectiveness (Saponins, Acanthopanax). With the research and development in PD pathogenesis and clarifying the targets of a variety of traditional Chinese medicine, especially its monomeric components, the development of traditional Chinese medicine in prevention and treatment of PD will have very broad application value and prospect.
Motivation and attitude of preservice elementary teachers toward mathematics : is rural revevant?

MOTIVATION AND ATTITUDE OF PRESERVICE ELEMENTARY TEACHERS TOWARD MATHEMATICS: IS RURAL RELEVANT? Christine Ankrom Perry May 12, 2007 This dissertation was a quantitative study with a sample of preservice elementary teachers from four universities in Kentucky. The purpose of this study was to investigate preservice elementary teachers’ achievement goal orientations for learning mathematics and the relationship of those goals and their attitudes toward mathematics. A second goal of this study was to explore differences in the types of achievement goals and attitudes between rural preservice elementary teachers and their nonrural counterparts. Self-report instruments were administered to assess the level of three achievement goals – mastery, performance-approach, and performance-avoid, and three constructs of attitude – confidence in learning mathematics, usefulness of mathematics, and mathematics as a male domain. The participants also completed a questionnaire designed to determine their rural/nonrural educational background. The sample was divided into four subgroups based on locale: Appalachian rural, other rural, urban, and other nonrural.
Efficient Poisson Blending for Seamless Image Stitching

Image blending is an extensively studied phenomenon and producing seamlessly blended image composites has found many applications in the field of image processing. Poisson blending, introduced in [1], is one of the leading approaches for seamless blending and many people have built upon it and have come up with better and efficient solutions. In our project we worked on [2] which is an extension of [1] and focuses on an efficient implementation of the Poisson linear system using quad-trees. The paper focuses on producing smoothly blended panoramas and its key to efficiency is representation of unknowns in terms of a quadtree that is maximally subdivided along the seams. Our key contribution here is the extension of previous implementation to panoramas, and producing seamlessly blended panoramas even without user interaction. We sorted out the missing links between both the papers and ended up with a better understanding of the new realm of Poisson image blending. The algorithmic pipeline of [2] was solved up till the construction of quad-tree using the criteria of sub-division in case of nonzero internal laplacian.
Requirement of GTP hydrolysis for dissociation of the signal recognition particle from its receptor

The signal recognition particle (SRP) directs signal sequence specific targeting of ribosomes to the rough endoplasmic reticulum. Displacement of the SRP from the signal sequence of a nascent polypeptide is a guanosine triphosphate (GTP)-dependent reaction mediated by the membrane-bound SRP receptor. A nonhydrolyzable GTP analog can replace GTP in the signal sequence displacement reaction, but the SRP then fails to dissociate from the membrane. Complexes of the SRP with its receptor containing the nonhydrolyzable analog are incompetent for subsequent rounds of protein translocation. Thus, vectorial targeting of ribosomes to the endoplasmic reticulum is controlled by a GTP hydrolysis cycle that regulates the affinity between the SRP, signal sequences, and the SRP receptor.
Efeitos do exercicio físico sobre a expressão de receptores de glutamato no encéfalo de ratos.

REAL, CC. Effects of physical exercise on the glutamate receptors expression on the rat brain. [Dissertation] São Paulo: Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas da Universidade de São Paulo; 2009. Chronic physical exercise can promote many benefits for the central nervous system (CNS). For instance, exercise can improve memory and cognition, increase plasticity and learning, in addition to the protective effect on the mental decline that ensues with aging and after CNS injuries. However, little is known about the short-term effects of exercise. This study aimed at analyzing the plastic effects of the short-term exercise upon the rat cerebellum, hippocampus, motor cortex, and striatum. This assessment was made by verifying the expression of AMPA type glutamate receptor subunits (GluR1 and GluR2/3). We used Wistar adults rats, divided into 3 experimental groups based on duration of exercise: 3 days (COR3), 7 days (COR7), and 15 days (COR15); and a control group (CONT). The experimental animals were subjected to a light/moderate treadmill exercise protocol (KT 3000 – IMBRAMED) at speed of the 0.6Km/h for 40 minutes, so that the rats run approximately 395m/day. After training, the brains were subjected to the techniques of immunohistochemistry and immunoblotting, and the plasma corticosterone was measured by ELISA. We analyzed the optical density of resulting bands, and the data were statistically analyzed with an ANOVA test and the post-hoc Bonferroni test. Immunohistochemical material was subjectively analyzed. The significance level used was 5%. The GluR1 and GluR2/3 subunit expression showed distinct changes in the structures analyzed after physical exercise both for immunohistochemistry and immunoblotting. In the cerebellum, there was no statistically significant changes, with some tendency of a decrease for COR3 (17%), followed by a tendency of an increase for COR7 (23%). In the hippocampus, there was a significant decrease of the GluR1 expression for COR3 (40%) when compared to CONT, whereas the expression was similar to controls for COR7. In the cerebral cortex there was a drop of GluR1 expression for COR3, with COR7 exhibiting the largest drop (52%), apparently returning to the basal expression for COR15. In the striatum, there was no change of GluR1 expression during the first seven days, with a significant increase for COR15 (90%). The GluR2/3 expression did not change in any brain structure analyzed, except in the cerebellum, where there was a significant decrease for two distinct groups, COR3 (55%) and COR15 (25%). Our data show that short-term physical exercise was able to promote plastic changes during training. The changes were different for the structures and GluR subunits analyzed, and thus we can suggest a specific involvement of these receptors for each structure and training time. These changes, in turn, can promote changes in the motor response which is improved by training.
Alpha Lipoic Acid Attenuates Radiation-Induced Thyroid Injury in Rats

Exposure of the thyroid to radiation during radiotherapy of the head and neck is often unavoidable. The present study aimed to investigate the protective effect of α-lipoic acid (ALA) on radiation-induced thyroid injury in rats. Rats were randomly assigned to four groups: healthy controls (CTL), irradiated (RT), received ALA before irradiation (ALA + RT), and received ALA only (ALA, 100 mg/kg, i.p.). ALA was treated at 24 h and 30 minutes prior to irradiation. The neck area including the thyroid gland was evenly irradiated with 2 Gy per minute (total dose of 18 Gy) using a photon 6-MV linear accelerator. Greater numbers of abnormal and unusually small follicles in the irradiated thyroid tissues were observed compared to the controls and the ALA group on days 4 and 7 after irradiation. However, all pathologies were decreased by ALA pretreatment. The quantity of small follicles in the irradiated rats was greater on day 7 than day 4 after irradiation. However, in the ALA-treated irradiated rats, the numbers of small and medium follicles were significantly decreased to a similar degree as in the control and ALA-only groups. The PAS-positive density of the colloid in RT group was decreased significantly compared with all other groups and reversed by ALA pretreatment. The high activity index in the irradiated rats was lowered by ALA treatment. TGF-ß1 immunoreactivity was enhanced in irradiated rats and was more severe on the day 7 after radiation exposure than on day 4. Expression of TGF-ß1 was reduced in the thyroid that had undergone ALA pretreatment. Levels of serum pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-1ß and IL-6) did not differ significantly between the all groups. This study provides that pretreatment with ALA decreased the severity of radiation-induced thyroid injury by reducing inflammation and fibrotic infiltration and lowering the activity index. Thus, ALA could be used to ameliorate radiation-induced thyroid injury.
A privacy-preserving location tracking system for smartphones based on cloud storage

With the widespread use of smartphones, the loss of a device is a critical problem, which results both in disrupting daily communications and losing valuable property. As a result, tracking systems have been developed to track mobile devices. Previous tracking systems focus on recovering the device's locations after it goes missing, with security methods implemented on the clients. However, users' locations are stored in untrusted third-party services, which may be attacked or eavesdropped. In this paper, we propose a system, named Android Cloud Tracker, to provide a privacy-preserving tracking client and safe storing of user's locations. We use cloud storage controlled by users themselves as storage facilities, and they do not need to worry about any untrusted third party. We implement Android Cloud Tracker prototype on Android phones, and the evaluation shows that it is both practical and lightweight: it generates a small amount of data flow and its distributed architecture provides strong guarantees of location privacy while preserving the ability to efficiently track missing devices. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Letter to the Editor, “The Amazing Odontoblast: Activity, Autophagy, and Aging”

(2013) wrote, “There is an ongoing discussion on the appropriate terminology regarding the odontoblast phenotype along its cellular life,” with opposition to the renam-ing of old/mature odontoblasts “odontocytes” (Larmas, 2008; Larmas and Sandor, 2013). Some cytologic changes observed in bone cells are absent from odontoblasts, but “not all the markers appear to be differentially regulated in the same way in bone and dentin” (Simon
AlInN/AlN/GaN HEMT Technology on SiC With 10-W/mm and 50% PAE at 10 GHz

High-frequency high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) were fabricated on AlInN/AlN/GaN heterostructures grown by low-pressure metal-organic chemical vapor deposition on a SiC substrate. The results presented in this letter confirm the high performance that is reachable by AlInN-based technology with an output power of 10.3 W/mm and a power-added efficiency of 51% at 10 GHz with a gate length of 0.25 ¿m. A good extrinsic transconductance value that is greater than 450 mS/mm and exceeding AlGaN/GaN HEMT results was also measured on these transistors. To our knowledge, these results are the best power results published on AlInN/GaN HEMTs. These good results were attributed to optimized heterostructure properties associated with low-resistance ohmic contacts and an effective passivation layer minimizing drain current slump in high-frequency operations.
Exploiting a latchup circuit via commercial CMOS technologies

The stimulated ignition of latchup effects caused by external radiation has so far proven to be a hidden hazard. Here this effect is described as a novel approach to detect particles by means of a solid-state device susceptible to latchup effects. In addition, the device can also be used as a circuit for reading sensors' signals, leaving the capability of sensing to external sensors. As the MOS transistors are widely used at present in microelectronics devices and sensors, this latchup-based cell is proposed as a novel structure for future applications in particle detection, amplification of sensors' signals and radiation monitoring.
E-S-QUAL: Its Applicability in Evaluating E-government Web Sites Service Quality

With the rapid development of the e-government, citizens could enjoy much more service from e-gov web sites. However, the academic research in the field of assessing e-gov service quality is handful. Developed by A. Paramana et al., E-S-QUAL and E-Recs-QUAL are scales used to evaluate the service quality delivered by B2C web sites. In this article, Basing on E-S-QUAL and E-RecS-QUAL and taking the idiosyncrasies of the service delivered by e-gov web sites into account, scales named E-G-S-QUAL and E-G-RecS-QUAL were developed to evaluate the service quality of e-gov web sites. E-G-S-QUAL is a 22-item scale of four dimensions: efficiency, fulfillment, system availability, and privacy, and E-G-RecS-QUAL is a 10-item scale of three dimensions: responsiveness, compensation, and contact.