Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Internet-based cognitive behaviour therapy for symptoms of depression and anxiety: a meta-analysis.

Specific interventions included in the review Studies comparing internet-based CBT programmes used for treatment or prevention with control or placebo were eligible for inclusion. The intervention was defined as standardised CBT that the user works through on the internet more or less independently. Studies with no therapist involvement and interventions with limited support, whereby a therapist only supports participants to work through the material (i.e. the traditional relationship between therapist and participants was not developed), were included. Computer-based interventions that did not involve the internet were excluded. The included studies had 4 to 10 intervention modules and most were treatment interventions. Controls included usual care, waiting-list, attention placebo, online discussion group, psychoeducation, self-monitoring and therapist-assisted CBT manual and information. Most of the included studies allowed usual care in both groups.
Age doesn't matter unless you're a cheese: wisdom from our elders Age doesn't matter unless you're a cheese: wisdom from our elders Kathryn and Ross Petras Workman Publishing , New York 409pp £6.99 0761125183 0761125183 [Formula: see text].

'Now, supposing the caterpillars have an annual meeting - the local society of caterpillars - and an older caterpillar says: "You know, it's an extraordinary thing, but we are all going to be butterflies". "Okay," the caterpillars say, "you poor fool, you are not just an old man who is frightened of dying; you're inventing something to comfort yourself". '
CUMULATIVE PROSPECT THEORY: NÃO LINEARIDADE DE PROBABILIDADES NAS DECISÕES DE INVESTIDORES BRASILEIROS.

A premissa da probabilidade linear para decisoes tomadas em condicoes de incerteza foi um dois pilares que sustentaram a Teoria da Utilidade Esperada. Apesar de fornecer parâmetros robustos e satisfatorios essa premissa vem sendo questionada por recentes modelos comportamentais que contrariam a ideia de racionalidade ilimitada de agentes economicos. O objetivo deste artigo e identificar a percepcao de risco de investidores brasileiros em situacoes com diferentes niveis de probabilidade. Para verificar os possiveis padroes, replicou-se a funcao proposta por Tversky e Kahneman (1992) conhecida como Cumulative Prospect Theory . Por meio de um questionario contento duas questoes, uma sobre prospectos positivos e uma sobre prospectos negativos, obteve-se uma amostra media de 143 investidores. Os resultados indicam padroes semelhantes aos encontrados em estudos anteriores, onde existe aversao ao risco para ganhos e propensao ao risco para perdas em casos de alta probabilidade; e propensao ao risco para ganhos e aversao para perdas em casos de baixa probabilidade.
Diseño y construcción de un guante de datos para el reconocimiento gestual de lenguajes gestuales complejos

espanolLa interaccion Hombre-Maquina esta en constante evolucion siendo la interaccion gestual una de las interfaces mas estudiadas en este ambito. Sin embargo, las interfaces actualmente disponibles presentan diferentes tipos de problemas (oclusion, lecturas erroneas, etc.) para que puedan ser aplicadas al reconocimiento e interpretacion de lenguajes complejos como el lenguaje de los sordomudos. Para establecer los mecanismos necesarios para lograr una solucion al problema de la deteccion y reconocimiento gestual en este articulo se estudia la fisiologia humana gestual en la realizacion del gesto, la lengua de signos espanola (LSE) como lenguaje de gestos base, los dispositivos gestuales actuales, las tecnicas utilizadas y sus mecanismos electronico-sensoriales. Ademas, proponemos el diseno y construccion de un guante de datos junto con un sistema que lo controle con la finalidad de llevar a la practica los estudios y conclusiones adoptadas de nuestra investigacion. EnglishHuman-Computer interaction is constantly evolving and gestural interaction is one of the most studied interfaces in this field. However, the currently available interfaces present different types of problems (occlusion, misreading, etc.) making difficult the recognition and interpretation of complex languages such as the language of the deaf-mute. In order to establish the necessary mechanisms to achieve a solution to the problem of gesture detection and recognition, in this article the human physiology involved in gestures, the Spanish Sign Language (SSL) as a basic gestural language, the current gesture devices, the techniques used and their electronicsensory mechanisms are studied in details. In addition, we propose the design and construction of a data glove together with a system that controls it in order to put into practice the studies and conclusions adopted by our research.
Um middleware reconfigurável para redes de sensores sem fio

A atratividade das Redes de Sensores Sem Fio (RSSF) para o monitoramento das condicoes do ambiente e para servir de ponte entre o mundo fisico e o virtual vem aumentando devido aos avancos da micro-eletronica, que possibilitaram a producao de varios tipos de sensores (luz, umidade, temperatura, fumaca, radiacao, acusticos, sismicos, etc.) no mesmo chip que processa o sinal e realiza a comunicacao. As RSSF podem ser consideradas ambientes de computacao distribuida com severas restricoes de velocidade de processamento, tamanho de memoria, energia e largura de banda. Individualmente os nos das redes de sensores sao tipicamente nao confiaveis e a topologia da rede pode mudar dinamicamente. As redes de sensores tambem se diferenciam por causa da estreita interacao com o ambiente fisico atraves de sensores e atuadores. Devido a todas estas diferencas, muitas solucoes desenvolvidas para plataformas de computacao genericas e para redes ad-hoc nao podem ser aplicadas as RSSF. Todavia, os nos das redes de sensores tambem exibem caracteristicas de sistema de proposito geral e de sistemas embutidos. Os sistemas de middleware para RSSF tem objetivos similares (ex., comunicacao) aos dos sistemas de middleware tradicionais como CORBA, RMI, JINI, DCOM e PVM, porem tem restricoes diferentes. Os sistemas de middleware tradicionais geralmente consomem demasiadamente recursos como processamento, memoria e largura de banda, enquanto que nas RSSF estes recursos sao escassos dificultando a tarefa de desenvolver sistemas de middleware para estas redes. O desenvolvimento de middleware para RSSF e o tema central desta dissertacao. O middleware desenvolvido nesta dissertacao deve possui as seguintes caracteristicas: adaptacao do comportamento da aplicacao devido a disponibilidade de recursos e caracteristicas do ambiente fisico; comunicacao entre nos da rede permitindo tambem a comunicacao assincrona, pois e mais adequada ao modelo de disseminacao de informacao requerido por aplicacoes em RSSF; combinacao ou fusao de dados provenientes de fontes diferentes eliminando redundância, minimizando o numero de transmissoes e assim economizando energia; e gerenciamento de grupos de nos para dar suporte a aplicacoes de rastreamento de objetos, tolerância a falhas, seguranca, sincronizacao de relogios e gerenciamento de energia. Para realizar as caracteristicas mencionadas, apresentamos o projeto, a implementacao e a validacao de um middleware para RSSF. Este middleware e visto como uma colecao de servicos (de middleware) fornecidos atraves de uma API (Application Programming Interface) e e composto pelos servicos de: comunicacao, que prove canais de comunicacao broadcast e publish-subscribe; reconfiguracao, responsavel pela reconfiguracao de componentes da aplicacao e servicos do middleware; gerenciamento de grupos, que prove um modelo de gerenciamento de grupos de nos da rede; e de agregacao, que realiza a combinacao de dados para diminuir o envio de dados pela rede
Comparison between rule-based and data-driven natural language processing algorithms for Brazilian Portuguese speech synthesis

Nos ultimos anos, devido ao grande crescimento no uso de computadores, assistentes pessoais e smartphones, o desenvolvimento de sistemas capazes de converter texto em fala tem sido bastante demandado. O bloco de analise de texto, onde o texto de entrada e convertido em especificacoes linguisticas usadas para gerar a onda sonora final e uma parte importante destes sistemas. O desempenho dos algoritmos de Processamento de Linguagem Natural (NLP) presentes neste bloco e crucial para a qualidade dos sintetizadores de voz. Conversao Grafema-Fonema, separacao silabica e determinacao da silaba tonica sao algumas das tarefas executadas por estes algoritmos. Para o Portugues Brasileiro (BP), os algoritmos baseados em regras tem sido o foco na solucao destes problemas. Estes algoritmos atingem bom desempenho para o BP, contudo apresentam diversas desvantagens. Por outro lado, ainda nao ha pesquisa no intuito de avaliar o desempenho de algoritmos data-driven, largamente utilizados para linguas complexas, como o ingles. Desta forma, expoe-se neste trabalho uma comparacao entre diferentes tecnicas data-driven e baseadas em regras para algoritmos de NLP utilizados em um sintetizador de voz. Alem disso, propoe o uso de Sequence-to-Sequence models para a separacao silabica e a determinacao da tonicidade. Em suma, o presente trabalho demonstra que o uso de algoritmos data-driven atinge o estado-da-arte na performance dos algoritmos de Processamento de Linguagem Natural de um sintetizador de voz para o Portugues Brasileiro.
Transdifferentiation of pulmonary arteriolar endothelial cells into smooth muscle‐like cells regulated by myocardin involved in hypoxia‐induced pulmonary vascular remodelling

Myocardin gene has been identified as a master regulator of smooth muscle cell differentiation. Smooth muscle cells play a critical role in the pathogenesis of hypoxia‐induced pulmonary hypertension (PH) and pulmonary vascular remodelling (PVR). The purpose of this study was to investigate the change of myocardin gene expression in the pulmonary vessels of hypoxia‐induced PH affected by Sildenafil treatment and the involvement of endothelial cells transdifferentiation into smooth muscle cells in the process of hypoxia‐induced PH and PVR. Myocardin and relative markers were investigated in animal models and cultured endothelial cells. Mean pulmonary artery pressure (mPAP) was measured. Immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence were used to show the expression of smooth muscle α‐actin (SMA), in situ hybridization (ISH) and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) were performed respectively to detect the myocardin and SMA expression at mRNA levels. Small interfering RNA (siRNA) induced suppression of myocardin in cultured cells. We confirmed that hypoxia induced the PH and PVR in rats. Sildenafil could attenuate the hypoxia‐induced PH. We found that myocardin mRNA expression is upregulated significantly in the hypoxic pulmonary vessels and cultured cells but downregulated in PH with Sildenafil treatment. The porcine pulmonary artery endothelial cells (PAECs) transdifferentiate into smooth muscle‐like cells in hypoxic culture while the transdifferentiation did not occur when SiRNA of myocardin was applied. Our results suggest that myocardin gene, as a marker of smooth muscle cell differentiation, was expressed in the pulmonary vessels in hypoxia‐induced PH rats, which could be downregulated by Sildenafil treatment, as well as in hypoxic cultured endothelial cells. Hypoxia induced the transdifferentiation of endothelial cells of vessels into smooth muscle‐like cells which was regulated by myocardin.
Psychosocial interventions for caregivers of people with dementia: a systematic review.

The content of interventions for caregivers of dementia patients is highly varied. None of the reviews conducted to date have focused on evaluating the effects of the content of interventions exclusively for dementia caregivers, and this issue is not well understood. The purpose of this review was to first identify the type of components (e.g. education, counselling) that have been utilized in psychosocial/psycho-educational interventions for dementia caregivers, and to evaluate the success of the different components or combination of components in producing positive outcomes for dementia caregivers. Forty studies were included in the review. Approximately two-thirds of the interventions did not show improvements in any outcome measures. Among those studies, which did demonstrate improvements, the inclusion of social components (e.g. social support) or a combination of social and cognitive (e.g. problem solving) components seemed to be relatively effective. It is important to note, however, that these analyses were based on small numbers and the review was limited by a number of methodological issues (e.g. poor description of interventions). To advance our understanding of the efficacy of psychosocial interventions for caregivers of people with dementia, a more systematic approach is required. Intervention components need to be carefully contrasted in appropriately designed studies of sufficient size.
ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AVERAGE COPULATION DURATION AND INSEMINATION REACTION IN THE GENUS DROSOPHILA

Drosophila insemination reactions were first reported by Patterson (1946). Although the intensity and duration of insemination reactions vary among species, a typical, strong response to copulation advances in the form of a massive secretion from the vaginal wall, swelling the cavity to several times its original size with a viscous mass that persists for about 8 h. After the mass has cleared, once-mated females may refrain from mating for several days; those that do remate form new reaction masses (Patterson, 1947). Patterson (1946) and Lee (1950) have shown that a non-sperm component of the ejaculate stimulates the vaginal secretions. Patterson (1946, 1947) speculated that intraspecific reactions may 1) serve preparatory roles in fertilization and egg production or, 2) function analogously to mating plugs as post-copulatory mechanisms against sperm competition. Wheeler (1947) extended the survey of intraspecific reactions to more than 70 Drosophila species. Roughly half of them formed pronounced, persistent reaction masses after mating; the remaining half were about equally divided into classes having either very slight reactions or no detectable reactions. If either of Patterson's interpretations about possible functions of insemination reactions is correct, the variability of manifested responses among Drosophila species is curious: how do species without the reaction get along? The genus is also diverse for copulation duration; species' averages range from under a minute to more than an hour (Spieth, 1952). Because prolonged copulation has been included as one of the mechanisms by which males of various species may guard sperm (see Smith, in press), perhaps the heterogeneity for insemination reaction and copulation duration in Drosophila reflect alternative systems against sperm competition. Or, perhaps, insemination reactions are more likely to arise in species with prolonged copulations. Whatever their functions might be, this survey was made to determine if an association between average copulation duration and insemination reaction exists in the genus Drosophila.
Sensorless Maximum Power Point Tracking of Wind by DFIG Using Rotor Position Phase Lock Loop (PLL)

This paper presents an invention, the rotor position phase lock loop (PLL), which enables maximum power point (MPPT) tracking of wind by doubly-fed induction generators without needing a tachometer, an absolute position encoder, or an anemometer. The rotor position PLL is parameter variation insensitive, requiring only an estimate of the magnetization inductance for it to operate. It is also insensitive to noise in the electrical measurements. Proof of concept is by: (1) digital simulations and (2) experimental testing of a laboratory prototype.
Why search for target absence is so slow (and careful!): the more targets there are, the more likely you are to miss one.

Five factors were tested as possible explanations of why it takes longer to find the critical row that does not contain a target letter (search for absence) than the critical row that does contain a target letter (search for presence). Various stratagems (e.g., asking subjects to search for a letter not in the memory set, presenting one row at a time and requiring a response to each row, and examination of sequential effects) led to the rejection of Factor 1 (Slower Processing of Targets), Factor 2 (Slower Recovery from Targets), Factor 3 (Spatial Chunking or Use of Peripheral Vision), and Factor 4 ( Temporal Chunking). The evidence favored Factor 5 (Opportunity for Misses): Targets, which as a rule are easy to miss, are relatively more numerous in search for absence, so to avoid making many more errors, the subject must search more slowly (and carefully! ). To estimate more accurately the slowing of search, the effect of self-termination (Factor 6), which speeds the search for absence, was removed. The slowing of search in search for absence was found to involve nontarget letters as well as target letters and to involve the memory-comparison stage.
Synthesis of new indole-2-carboxamide and 3-acetamide derivatives and evaluation their antioxidant properties

In recent years, antioxidant compounds play an important role as a health-protecting factor. Antioxidants protect cells against the damaging effects of reactive oxygen species (ROS). An imbalance between antioxidants and ROS results in oxidative stress, which leads to cellular damage and it is linked to many vital diseases. It was shown that heme oxygenase (HO) provides efficient cytoprotection against oxidative stress. In this study, a series of indole-2-carboxamide and 3-acetamide derivatives was tested for in vitro effects on HO activity and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) inhibition. Among the synthesized compounds, N-[3-(dimethylamino)propyl]-1H-indole-2-carboxamide 3 was found as the most activator of HO and N-(2-(dimethylamino)ethyl)-2-(1H-indol-3-yl)acetamide 8 was found the most potent inhibitor for DPPH at 10−4 M concentration.
Characterization of Pic, a Secreted Protease ofShigella flexneri and EnteroaggregativeEscherichia coli

ABSTRACT We have identified and characterized a secreted protein, designated Pic, which is encoded on the chromosomes of enteroaggregativeEscherichia coli (EAEC) 042 and Shigella flexneri 2457T. The product of the pic gene is synthesized as a 146.5-kDa precursor molecule which is processed at the N and C termini during secretion, allowing the release of a mature protein (109.8 kDa) into the culture supernatant. The deduced amino acid sequence of Pic shows high homology to autotransporter proteins, particularly a subgroup termed the SPATEs (serine protease autotransporters of the Enterobacteriaceae). Present in all members of this subgroup is a motif similar to the active sites of certain serine proteases. Pic catalyzes gelatin degradation, which can be abolished by disruption of the predicted proteolytic active site. Functional analysis of the Pic protein implicates this factor in mucinase activity, serum resistance, and hemagglutination. Our data suggest that Pic may be a multifunctional protein involved in enteric pathogenesis.
KCNQ1 Long QT Syndrome Patients Have Hyperinsulinemia and Symptomatic Hypoglycemia

Patients with loss-of-function mutations in KCNQ1 have KCNQ1 long QT syndrome (LQTS). KCNQ1 encodes a voltage-gated K+ channel located in both cardiomyocytes and pancreatic β-cells. Inhibition of KCNQ1 in β-cells increases insulin secretion. Therefore KCNQ1 LQTS patients may exhibit increased insulin secretion. Fourteen patients, from six families, diagnosed with KCNQ1 LQTS were individually matched to two randomly chosen BMI-, age-, and sex-matched control participants and underwent an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), a hypoglycemia questionnaire, and continuous glucose monitoring. KCNQ1 mutation carriers showed increased insulin release (area under the curve 45.6 ± 6.3 vs. 26.0 ± 2.8 min ⋅ nmol/L insulin) and β-cell glucose sensitivity and had lower levels of plasma glucose and serum potassium upon oral glucose stimulation and increased hypoglycemic symptoms. Prolonged OGTT in four available patients and matched control subjects revealed hypoglycemia in carriers after 210 min (range 1.4–3.6 vs. 4.1–5.3 mmol/L glucose), and 24-h glucose profiles showed that the patients spent 77 ± 18 min per 24 h in hypoglycemic states (<3.9 mmol/L glucose) with 36 ± 10 min (<2.8 mmol/L glucose) vs. 0 min (<3.9 mmol/L glucose) for the control participants. The phenotype of patients with KCNQ1 LQTS, caused by mutations in KCNQ1, includes, besides long QT, hyperinsulinemia, clinically relevant symptomatic reactive hypoglycemia, and low potassium after an oral glucose challenge, suggesting that KCNQ1 mutations may explain some cases of “essential” reactive hypoglycemia.
O corpo silencioso e a expressão da vida psíquica no sujeito acometido pela esclerose lateral amiotrófica

Esta pesquisa tem por objeto refletir sobre a expressao da vida psiquica do sujeito acometido pela Esclerose Lateral Amiotrofica (ELA), compreendida na vivencia do seu corpo silenciado . Por esse termo designamos a peculiar condicao do sujeito que, com o avanco da doenca, tende a perder tanto a articulacao da fala quanto dos movimentos, com um grave prejuizo em sua capacidade de se comunicar. Pretendemos compreender a expressao psiquica de tal sujeito a partir da interacao dos cuidadores, familiares e profissionais de saude no convivio com esse sujeito na fase avancada da doenca. Utilizamos o metodo clinicoqualitativo de investigacao (Turato, 2005), cuja pertinencia a pesquisa humana em saude esta em buscar interpretar significados psicologicos e socioculturais trazidos por sujeitos afetados por doenca, bem como dos cuidadores, familiares e profissionais. O numero de participantes foi determinado pelo criterio de saturacao (Minayo, 1994), em que o pesquisador fecha o grupo quando determinado numero de entrevistas ja alcanca o nivel de informacoes esperadas. Coletamos depoimentos livres de oito participantes, sendo quatro profissionais de saude com experiencia no atendimento a casos de ELA: um neurologista, uma psicologa, uma fonoaudiologa e uma fisioterapeuta, e quatro cuidadores e/ou familiares de pessoas acometidas pela ELA: uma filha de paciente, uma cuidadora contratada, uma esposa e uma viuva de paciente. Os participantes foram questionados a partir de dois aspectos de sua interacao com o sujeito acometido pela ELA; em primeiro lugar, perguntamos de que modo, no convivio com o sujeito, conseguiam captar, interpretar e compreender suas vicissitudes. Em seguida, questionamos quais os recursos utilizados para o estabelecimento de uma comunicacao intersubjetiva entre este profissional de saude, familiar ou cuidador e o sujeito acometido pela ELA. Consideramos, finalmente, que a expressao-compreensao de vida psiquica do sujeito com ELA abrange uma gradacao que vai desde elementos pragmaticos a posicoes relacionais por parte cuidadores, cuja complementaridade tem por efeito a apreensao dos conteudos subjetivos dos pacientes