Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Presymptomatic cognitive decline in familial frontotemporal dementia

Objective: In this prospective cohort study, we performed a 2-year follow-up study with neuropsychological assessment in the presymptomatic phase of familial frontotemporal dementia (FTD) due to GRN and MAPT mutations to explore the prognostic value of neuropsychological assessment in the earliest FTD disease stages. Methods: Healthy, at-risk, first-degree relatives of patients with FTD who had a MAPT (n = 13) or GRN mutation (n = 30) and healthy controls (n = 39) underwent neuropsychological assessment at baseline and 2-year follow-up. We investigated baseline and longitudinal differences, as well as relationship with age and estimated years before symptom onset. Results: At baseline, GRN mutation carriers showed lower scores on mental processing speed than healthy controls (p = 0.043). Two years later, MAPT mutation carriers showed a steeper decline than GRN mutation carriers on social cognition (p = 0.002). Older age was related to cognitive decline in visuoconstruction (p = 0.005) and social cognition (p = 0.026) in MAPT. Memory significantly declined from 8 to 6 years before estimated symptom onset in MAPT and GRN mutation carriers, respectively, and language and social cognition declined only in MAPT mutation carriers from 7 to 5 years before estimated symptom onset, respectively (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Using longitudinal neuropsychological assessment, we detected gene-specific neuropsychological patterns of decline in, e.g., social cognition, memory, and visuoconstruction. Our results confirm the prognostic value of neuropsychological assessment as a potential clinical biomarker in the presymptomatic phase of familial FTD.
Analyse verschiedener Architekturvarianten des CoreVA-VLIW-Prozessors

Die Leistungsfahigkeit eingebetteter Prozessoren gewinnt in der mobilen Signalverarbeitung aufgrund der stetig steigenden Anforderungen aktueller Multimediaanwendungen immer mehr an Bedeutung. Da mobile Systeme in den meisten Fallen batteriebetrieben sind, steht zur Ausfuhrung dieser Anwendungen jedoch nur ein stark begrenztes Energiebudget zu Verfugung. Aus diesem Grund muss die Energieeffizienz, die sowohl von der Rechenleistung als auch von der Leistungsaufnahme eines Systems abhangt, so hoch wie moglich sein. Um diesen Anforderungen gerecht zu werden, verfolgt die Arbeitsgruppe Kognitronik und Sensorik einen CPU-gestutzten Ansatz auf Basis des 32-Bit VLIW-Prozessors CoreVA. Der CoreVA-Prozessor kann zur Entwurfszeit durch eine variable Anzahl parallel angeordneter Verarbeitungs- und Funktionseinheiten erweitert werden. Da sich durch das Hinzufugen der Verarbeitungseinheiten jedoch nicht nur die Rechenleistung des Prozessors sondern auch seine Ressourcenanforderungen erhohen, mussen umfangreiche Entwurfsraumexplorationen durchgefuhrt werden, um diese Wechselwirkungen bewerten zu konnen. Dies ist angesichts der vielschichtigen Konfigurierbarkeit des CoreVA-Prozessors jedoch auserst zeitaufwandig. Vor diesem Hintergrund wurden in dieser Arbeit verschiedene Verfahren einer modellbasierten Entwurfsraumexploration entwickelt. Die Charakterisierung der Zielanwendungen erfolgt hierbei entweder auf Basis einzelner Simulationsdurchgange des CoreVA-Instruktionssatzsimulators oder durch statische Programmcodeanalysen. Die Ermittlung der Ressourcenanforderungen geschieht mit Hilfe eines Hardwaremodells, das aus wenigen Probesynthesen gewonnen werden kann. Die Energie, die die jeweiligen Prozessorkonfigurationen zur Ausfuhrung der Zielanwendungen benotigen, wird schlieslich durch eine Kombination dieser Modelle bestimmt. Hierbei ergibt sich ein durchschnittlicher Approximationsfehler von etwa -5%. Aufgrund dieses geringen Fehlers konnen die modellbasierten Verfahren die Entwurfsraumexploration des CoreVA-Prozessors masgeblich beschleunigen. Fur einen Prozessor mit bis zu vier Verarbeitungseinheiten lasst sich die Anzahl der genauer zu untersuchenden Prozessorkonfigurationen von 352 auf weniger als zehn Konfigurationen reduzieren. Bei einem Grosteil der vorgestellten Anwendungen kann die modellbasierte Entwurfsraumexploration die energieeffizientesten Konfigurationen sogar direkt detektieren.
Identification of exopolysaccharide‐deficient mutants of Mycoplasma pulmonis

The presence of capsular exopolysaccharide (EPS) in Mollicutes has been inferred from electron micrographs for over 50 years without conclusive data to support the production of complex carbohydrates by the organism. Mycoplasma pulmonis binds the lectin Griffonia simplicifolia I (GS‐I), which is specific for terminal β‐linked galactose residues. Mutants that failed to produce the EPS bound by GS‐I were isolated from a transposon library. All of the mutants had the transposon located in open reading frame MYPU_7410 or MYPU_7420. These overlapping genes are predicted to code for a heterodimeric pair of ABC transporter permeases and may code for part of a new pathway for synthesis of EPS. Analysis by lectin‐affinity chromatography in conjunction with gas chromatography demonstrated that the wild‐type mycoplasma produced an EPS (EPS‐I) composed of equimolar amounts of glucose and galactose that was lacking in the mutants. Phenotypic analysis revealed that the mutants had an increased propensity to form a biofilm on glass surfaces, colonized mouse lung and trachea efficiently, but had a decreased association with the A549 lung cell line. Confounding the interpretation of these results is the observation that the mutants missing EPS‐I had an eightfold overproduction of an apparent second EPS (EPS‐II) containing N‐acetylglucosamine.
Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of Illicit Drug Mixtures on Paper Currency Using Raman Microspectroscopy

Measurement of illicit drugs on paper currency is of interest for evidentiary purposes in legal cases involving the drug trade. Current methods, primarily based on mass spectrometry, are destructive and prevent re-analysis of the evidence. This article details a method based on Raman microspectroscopy that is able to collect spectra from individual crystals on the surface of paper currency. Mixtures of isoxsuprine and norephedrine, which are non-pharmacologically active drug surrogates, as well as lidocaine and benzocaine, common excipients in street drugs, were doped in small quantities onto US currency. Significant fluorescence interference resulted from the underlying dollar bill. This work presents two methods for reducing the fluorescence background, photobleaching and background subtraction, which both worked well. Finally, a method for determining the percent composition of individual components in heterogeneous mixtures was developed by systematically sampling the surface of the dollar bill. Results were accurate within a few percent, although the method was quite time consuming.
TGF β 1 promotes actin cytoskeleton reorganization and migratory phenotype in epithelial tracheal cells in primary culture

Sonja Boland1, Emmanuelle Boisvieux-Ulrich1,*, Odile Houcine1, Armelle Baeza-Squiban1, Marcel Pouchelet2, Damien Schoëvaërt3 and Francelyne Marano1 1Laboratoire de Cytophysiologie et de Toxicologie Cellulaire, Université Paris 7 Denis Diderot, Case 7073, 2 place Jussieu, 75251 Paris Cédex 05, France 2Cinématographie, INSERM, Centre de Recherches du Vésinet, 44 Chemin de Ronde, 78110 Le Vésinet, France 3Laboratoire d’Analyse d’Images en Pathologie Cellulaire, Institut Universitaire d’Hématologie, Hopital Saint-Louis, 1 Avenue Claude Vellefaux, 75475 Paris Cedex, France
The Inferior Performance of State Owned Enterprises: Is it Due to Ownership or Market Structure?

We analyze differences in performance between private companies (PCs) and state owned enterprises (SOEs), with an emphasis on the effects of market structure. We use a comprehensive panel covering all registered companies during the 1990s in Norway, a country where SOEs play an important role in regular markets. Return on assets as well as costs relative to sales revenue are used as measures of performance in models that investigate markets where SOEs and PCs actually compete with each other. After controlling for other factors that may affect performance, we find that SOE-performance is markedly lower than that of PCs. We also find that performance is positively related to the market share of companies and market concentration rates.
Edge effects and patch size in seagrass landscapes : an experimental test using fish

Edge effects and bed size are 2 main landscape-scale parameters that may affect fish in seagrass. We tested their influence on the species richness per unit area and density of fish in 6 Zostera capricorni seagrass beds ranging in size from 2300 to 211 200 m 2 , in the Pittwater estuary, NSW, Australia. The effect of edge interacted with bed size. The species richness was lower in edge than inner regions of the larger beds, but did not differ between regions in smaller beds, in which the species richness was similar to the inner regions of large beds. The density of fish (all species combined) varied with bed size in 1 of the 2 seasons sampled, but not with region. The densities of some individual species were lower in the larger beds compared to smaller beds (5 species), while others were greater (3 species), although for some species this was inconsistent between seasons. We then tested whether species richness and abundance were responding to patch area, perimeter, or perimeter: area ratio (P:A ratio) using artificial seagrass units (ASUs) of different shapes and sizes. All ASU designs had similar total abundances of fish species (per ASU), yet 1 design was smaller in area, so these smaller ASUs had greater species richness per unit area. The ASUs were smaller than the natural seagrass beds, and it seems that, although edge effects appeared in large natural seagrass beds, in smaller patches the total area rather than amount of edge influenced the species richness.
Beneficial effects of high dietary fiber intake in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

BACKGROUND The effect of increasing the intake of dietary fiber on glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus is controversial. METHODS In a randomized, crossover study, we assigned 13 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus to follow two diets, each for six weeks: a diet containing moderate amounts of fiber (total, 24 g; 8 g of soluble fiber and 16 g of insoluble fiber), as recommended by the American Diabetes Association (ADA), and a high-fiber diet (total, 50 g; 25 g of soluble fiber and 25 g of insoluble fiber), containing foods not fortified with fiber (unfortified foods). Both diets, prepared in a research kitchen, had the same macronutrient and energy content. We compared the effects of the two diets on glycemic control and plasma lipid concentrations. RESULTS Compliance with the diets was excellent. During the sixth week, the high-fiber diet, as compared with the the sixth week of the ADA diet, mean daily preprandial plasma glucose concentrations were 13 mg per deciliter [0.7 mmol per liter] lower (95 percent confidence interval, 1 to 24 mg per deciliter [0.1 to 1.3 mmol per liter]; P=0.04) and mean median difference, daily urinary glucose excretion 1.3 g (0.23; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.03 to 1.83 g; P= 0.008). The high-fiber diet also lowered the area under the curve for 24-hour plasma glucose and insulin concentrations, which were measured every two hours, by 10 percent (P=0.02) and 12 percent (P=0.05), respectively. The high-fiber diet reduced plasma total cholesterol concentrations by 6.7 percent (P=0.02), triglyceride concentrations by 10.2 percent (P=0.02), and very-low-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations by 12.5 percent (P=0.01). CONCLUSIONS A high intake of dietary fiber, particularly of the soluble type, above the level recommended by the ADA, improves glycemic control, decreases hyperinsulinemia, and lowers plasma lipid concentrations in patients with type 2 diabetes.
What are the symptoms of varicose veins? Edinburgh vein study cross sectional population survey

Abstract Objective: To define the relations between age, sex, lower limb symptoms, and the presence of trunk varicose veins on clinical examination. Design: Cross sectional population study. Setting: 12 general practices with catchment areas geographically and socioeconomically distributed throughout Edinburgh. Participants: An age stratified random sample of 1566 people (699 men and 867 women) aged 18-64 selected from the computerised age-sex registers of participating practices. Main outcome measures: Self administered questionnaire on the presence of lower limb symptoms and physical examination to determine the presence and severity of varicose veins. Results: Women were significantly more likely than men to report lower limb symptoms such as heaviness or tension, swelling, aching, restless legs, cramps, and itching. The prevalence of symptoms tended to increase with age in both sexes. In men, only itching was significantly related to the presence and severity of trunk varices (linear test for trend, P=0.011). In women there was a significant relation between trunk varices and the symptoms of heaviness or tension (P 0.001), aching (P 0.001), and itching (P 0.005). However, the level of agreement between the presence of symptoms and trunk varices was too low to be of clinical value, especially in men. Conclusions: Even in the presence of trunk varices, most lower limb symptoms probably have a non-venous cause. Surgical extirpation of trunk varices is unlikely to ameliorate such symptoms in most patients.
Shaping Reforms and Business Models for the OTC Derivatives Market: Quo Vadis?

Now that the worst of the financial storm is over, regulators are setting new strategies to deal with the systemic importance of the €427 trillion ($604 trillion) over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives market. This paper explores the three major sources of disruptive effects in OTC derivatives: liquidity, counterparty risk and legal uncertainty. These risks affect the value chain of a typical derivative transaction and weaken the economic and legal rationale behind their widespread use. On the policy side, commitments have been made at G-20 level to draft uniform rules on a global scale “to build a safer financial system”. This paper finds, however, that in practice, the EU and US proposals lay out divergent roads to meet common objectives and the author warns that such divergences may encourage regulatory and supervisory arbitrage. Policy options currently under discussion may need further revision. For instance, access to network clearing infrastructures, such as CCPs, can only be made available to a restricted group of eligible derivative products. Mechanisms of adverse selection and moral hazard, then, may at any time affect the efficient functioning of these crucial infrastructures for financial markets.
The Role of Anxiety Sensitivity in Subjective and Physiological Responses to Social and Physical Stressors

This study examined the specificity of the relationship between anxiety sensitivity (AS), a measure of catastrophizing about arousal‐related sensations, and pain responses, by examining the effect of AS on responses to stressors of a physical and social nature. Healthy men and women (n = 129) between the ages of 18 and 25 years were recruited from the community to participate in a study examining subjective, cognitive and behavioural responses to different types of stressors. Participants were randomly assigned to one of 3 groups: (i) a neutral condition in which they sat quietly and read a popular magazine; (ii) a social stress condition in which they anticipated having to give a self‐disclosing speech; and (iii) a physical stress condition in which they were presented with 3 countdown to shock trials where a mild electrical shock was administered on the non‐dominant arm. Subjective ratings and physiological responses were recorded in anticipation of the stressor and immediately after stress exposure. Results indicated that AS was indirectly related to pain ratings via its effect on anticipatory anxiety ratings. AS was associated with anticipatory anxiety ratings, regardless of whether the stressor was of a physical or social nature. Furthermore, AS was not shown to be directly associated with exaggerated subjective or physiological reactions to the physical stressor. These results indicate that the role of AS in pain responses may be mediated through a global effect on anxiety, and limited to the anticipatory stage of the pain experience. If future studies yield similar findings in pain patients, then they would suggest that interventions for helping individuals high in AS should focus on catastrophic thinking in anticipation of stressors in general, rather than on pain‐specific stressors.
Wireless digital advertising: nature and implications

The convergence of the Internet and wireless telecommunications in the late 1990s has opened the way for a plethora of data services for the mobile handset user. One potential area of development is wireless advertising. The personal, always-at-hand nature of devices, along with the ability to assess context dependence (e.g. time and location), presents a rich platform for wireless advertising. Using a range of wireless platforms, operators will be able to offer very different advertising services that go beyond those of the wired Internet. The purpose of this paper is to review the emerging technologies, applications and research issues associated with wireless advertising. It concludes with some predictions on the future role of wireless advertising.
The economic analysis of beef marketing in Akure, Ondo State

This study examined the economic efficiency of beef marketing in Akure, Ondo State. In this regard, the different marketing function performed by the beef sellers were identified and evaluated. Also the size and different components of beef marketing costs and margins were determined. A total sample of 110 respondents were randomly selected from three markets in the study area. Descriptive statistics and some other mathematical computations were also carried out.The evaluation of the beef sellers marketing efficiency showed that they are highly efficient with average efficiency ratio of 0.85. Analysis of the size and different components of marketing costs and margins revealed that purchase cost and transportation cost constituted the highest share of the total marketing cost. The gross and profit margin analysis also showed that beef sellers had high margins. When the gross and profit margins were expressed as a percentage of total revenue, the average was found to be 22.62 and 14.41 per cent respectively. (Af. J. of Livestock Extension: 2003 2: 61-66)
Developing profitable new products with target costing

To survive today, firms must become adept at developing products that deliver the quality and functionality that customers demand while generating the desired profits. To ensure that products are sufficiently profitable when launched, many firms subject them to target costing, a profit management technique. The authors studied the mature, highly effective target costing systems of seven Japanese companies and documented their costing procedures. Although practices differ among these firms, the authors identified an underlying generic approach for implementing target costing systems. A highly disciplined process, effective target costing comprises the following facets that the authors discuss in detail: ? Market-driven costing consists of three companywide tasks ? setting the company's long-term sales and profit objectives, structuring product lines to achieve maximum profitability, and establishing a product's target selling price ? and two steps applicable to new products ? setting a target profit margin consistent with the company's long-term profit objectives and computing the product's allowable cost (by subtracting the target profit margin from the target selling price). Product-level target costing comprises setting a reasonably achievable product-level target cost, imposing discipline upon the development process to attain the target cost (whenever feasible), and achieving the cost goal without sacrificing functionality and quality (primarily through value engineering and other engineering-based cost reduction techniques). Component-level target costing includes decomposing the product-level target cost to the major functions or subassemblies (e.g., in a car, the engine, transmission, cooling system, air conditioning system, and audio system), setting component-level target costs, and managing suppliers (clearly conveying to them the competitive cost pressures facing the lean enterprise). The cardinal rule of the companies studied is: "Never exceed the target cost. " They enforce this rule in three ways ? by offsetting design improvements that result in increased costs with savings elsewhere in the design, by not launching products that exceed the target cost, and by carefully managing the transition to manufacturing in order to achieve the target cost.
The aerodynamic cost of flight in the short-tailed fruit bat (Carollia perspicillata): comparing theory with measurement

Aerodynamic theory has long been used to predict the power required for animal flight, but widely used models contain many simplifications. It has been difficult to ascertain how closely biological reality matches model predictions, largely because of the technical challenges of accurately measuring the power expended when an animal flies. We designed a study to measure flight speed-dependent aerodynamic power directly from the kinetic energy contained in the wake of bats flying in a wind tunnel. We compared these measurements with two theoretical predictions that have been used for several decades in diverse fields of vertebrate biology and to metabolic measurements from a previous study using the same individuals. A high-accuracy displaced laser sheet stereo particle image velocimetry experimental design measured the wake velocities in the Trefftz plane behind four bats flying over a range of speeds (3–7 m s−1). We computed the aerodynamic power contained in the wake using a novel interpolation method and compared these results with the power predicted by Pennycuick's and Rayner's models. The measured aerodynamic power falls between the two theoretical predictions, demonstrating that the models effectively predict the appropriate range of flight power, but the models do not accurately predict minimum power or maximum range speeds. Mechanical efficiency—the ratio of aerodynamic power output to metabolic power input—varied from 5.9% to 9.8% for the same individuals, changing with flight speed.
[Ultrastructural and immunohistochemical characteristics of pericytes during neovascularization in breast carcinoma].

OBJECTIVE To study the morphology of pericyte, the relationship between pericytes and neovascularization of breast carcinoma. METHODS Ultrastructural, immunohistochemical and quantitative morphology analysis techniques were used to study 89 cases of human breast carcinoma. 4 human granulation tissues cases were used as control. RESULTS The positive cells for FVIIIRAg were endothelial cells situated inside the vascular wall with abundant cytoplasm containing caveolae and Weibel-palade bodies. The positive cells for alpha-SMA were pericytes with cytoplasm containing abundant myofilament, and connections with endothelial cells. The pericyte-endothelial junctions can be found. Quantitative morphological analysis showed that the number of pericytes in the low-microvascular density areas are much higher than that in the high- microvascular density areas (P < 0.0005). CONCLUSION Ultrastructural observation and immunohistochemical staining of alpha-SMA are useful in identifying pericytes. The results of this study imply that pericytes may possibly inhibit angiogenesis.