Leukoaraiosis is a common imaging marker of cerebral small vessel disease. In recent years, with the continuous advances in brain imaging technology, the detection rate of leukoaraiosis is higher and its clinical subtypes are gradually gaining attention. Although leukoaraiosis has long been considered an incidental finding with no therapeutic necessity, there is now growing evidence linking it to, among other things, cognitive impairment and a high risk of death after stroke. Due to different research methods, some of the findings (...) are inconsistent and even contradictory. Therefore, a comprehensive and in-depth study of risk factors for leukoaraiosis is of great clinical significance. In this review, we summarize the literature on leukoaraiosis in recent years with the aim of elucidating the disease in terms of various aspects. (shrink)

Objectives: The present study aimed to systematically analyze the effects of physical activity on executive function, working memory, cognitive flexibility, and activities of daily living in Alzheimer's disease patients and to provide a scientific evidence-based exercise prescription.Methods: Both Chinese and English databases were used as sources of data to search for randomized controlled trials published between January 1980 and December 2019 relating to the effects of physical activity on executive function, working memory, cognitive flexibility, and ADL issues in AD patients. (...) Sixteen eligible RCTs were ultimately included in the meta-analysis.Results: Physical activity had significant benefits on executive function [standard mean difference = 0.42, 95% confidence interval 0.22–0.62, p < 0.05], working memory, cognitive flexibility, and ADLs among AD patients. Subgroup analysis indicated that, for executive function issues, more than 60 min per session for 16 weeks of moderate-to-high-intensity dual-task exercises or multimodal exercise had a greater effect on AD patients. For working memory and cognitive flexibility issues, 60–90 min of moderate-intensity dual-task exercises 1–4 times/week was more effective. For ADL issues, 30–90 min of multimodal exercise at 60–79% of maximal heart rate 3–4 times/week had a greater effect on AD patients.Conclusions: Physical activity was found to lead to significant improvements in executive function, working memory, cognitive flexibility, and ADLs in AD patients and can be used as an effective method for clinical exercise intervention in these patients. However, more objective, scientific, and effective RCTs are needed to confirm this conclusion. (shrink)

Understanding the neural basis of schizophrenia (SZ) is important for shedding light on the neurobiological mechanisms underlying this mental disorder. Structural and functional alterations in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), hippocampus, and medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) have been implicated in the neurobiology of SZ. However, the effective connectivity among them in SZ remains unclear. The current study investigated how neuronal pathways involving these regions were affected in first-episode SZ using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Forty-nine patients (...) with a first-episode of psychosis and diagnosis of SZ—according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision—were studied. Fifty healthy controls (HCs) were included for comparison. All subjects underwent resting state fMRI. We used spectral dynamic causal modeling (DCM) to estimate directed connections among the bilateral ACC, DLPFC, hippocampus, and MPFC. We characterized the differences using Bayesian parameter averaging (BPA) in addition to classical inference (t-test). In addition to common effective connectivity in these two groups, HCs displayed widespread significant connections predominantly involved in ACC not detected in SZ patients, but SZ showed few connections. Based on BPA results, SZ patients exhibited anterior cingulate cortico-prefrontal-hippocampal hyperconnectivity, as well as ACC-related and hippocampal-dorsolateral prefrontal-medial prefrontal hypoconnectivity. In summary, spectral DCM revealed the pattern of effective connectivity involving ACC in patients with first-episode SZ. This study provides a potential link between SZ and dysfunction of ACC, creating an ideal situation to associate mechanisms behind SZ with aberrant connectivity among these cognition and emotion-related regions. (shrink)

AimResting state functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to analyze changes in functional connectivity within various brain networks and functional network connectivity among various brain regions in patients with high myopia.Methodsrs-fMRI was used to scan 82 patients with HM and 59 healthy control volunteers matched for age, sex, and education level. Fourteen resting state networks were extracted, of which 11 were positive. Then, the FCs and FNCs of RSNs in HM patients were examined by independent component analysis.ResultsCompared with the HC (...) group, FC in visual network 1, dorsal attention network, auditory network 2, visual network 3, and sensorimotor network significantly increased in the HM group. FC in default mode network 1 significantly decreased. Furthermore, some brain regions in default mode network 2, default mode network 3, auditory network 1, executive control network, and significance network increased while others decreased. FNC analysis also showed that the network connection between the default mode network and cerebellar network was enhanced in the HM group.ConclusionCompared with HCs, HM patients showed neural activity dysfunction within and between specific brain networks, particularly in the DMN and CER. Thus, HM patients may have deficits in visual, cognitive, and motor balance functions. (shrink)

AimPatients with high myopia reportedly exhibit changes in functional brain activity, but the mechanism underlying such changes is unclear. This study was conducted to observe differences in dynamic spontaneous brain activity between patients with HM and healthy controls via dynamic regional homogeneity analysis.MethodsResting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans were performed on 82 patients with HM and 59 HCs who were closely matched for age, sex, and weight. The dReHo approach was used to assess local dynamic activity in the human brain. (...) The association between mean dReHo signal values and clinical symptoms in distinct brain areas in patients with HM was determined via correlation analysis.ResultsIn the left fusiform gyrus, right inferior temporal gyrus, right Rolandic operculum, right postcentral gyrus, and right precentral gyrus, dReHo values were significantly greater in patients with HM than in HCs.ConclusionPatients with HM have distinct functional changes in various brain regions that mainly include the L-FG, R-ITG, R-ROL, R-PoCG, and R-PreCG. These findings constitute important evidence for the roles of brain networks in the pathophysiological mechanisms of HM and may aid in the diagnosis of HM. (shrink)

A dynamic domain consists of a set of legal states and a transition function that maps states to states. AI formalisms for specifying dynamic domains have so far focused on describing the effects of actions, that is, the transition functions. In this paper we propose a notion of characteristic set of position systems for the purpose of describing legal states. A position system for a type of objects is a set of properties that are mutually exclusive, and that in each (...) state, every object of the type must satisfy exactly one of these properties called its position under the position system. A set of position systems, one for each type of objects in the domain, is characteristic if there is a one-to-one mapping between legal states and sets of objects’ positions under these position systems. These position systems are useful for reasoning about these dynamic systems including planning. In particular, we show that once we have characteristic sets of position systems for a dynamic domain, planning can be done by writing rules about when to move objects from one position to another. (shrink)

Humility, in a variety of forms, has been examined in educational contexts in recent years. However, its association with a particular pedagogical method remains an unexplored area of inquiry. Likewise, social justice and student voice are a concern in international education arenas, including in higher education, but are not usually connected to virtue acquisition or demonstration. The student voice for social justice (SVSJ) pedagogical method, based on the framework of Nancy Fraser, seeks to aid practitioners in higher education to ensure (...) that social justice and student voice, mediated by notions of humility, are at the forefront of higher education practices across disciplines. This is accomplished by creating spaces for students’ active participation and voice in course content development and classroom learning. In this paper, we expand philosophical explorations of intellectual humility (IH) and cultural humility (CH) as virtues that mediate teaching and learning practices and interactions in classrooms during SVSJ implementation. This ensures that each student is recognised as an important knowledge holder and that diverse ways of knowing, knowledge systems and cultural traditions are valued in higher education teaching and learning spaces. (shrink)

Traffic congestion is a common problem in many countries, especially in big cities. At present, China’s urban road traffic accidents occur frequently, the occurrence frequency is high, the accident causes traffic congestion, and accidents cause traffic congestion and vice versa. The occurrence of traffic accidents usually leads to the reduction of road traffic capacity and the formation of traffic bottlenecks, causing the traffic congestion. In this paper, the formation and propagation of traffic congestion are simulated by using the improved medium (...) traffic model, and the control strategy of congestion dissipation is studied. From the point of view of quantitative traffic congestion, the paper provides the fact that the simulation platform of urban traffic integration is constructed, and a feasible data analysis, learning, and parameter calibration method based on RBF neural network is proposed, which is used to determine the corresponding decision support system. The simulation results prove that the control strategy proposed in this paper is effective and feasible. According to the temporal and spatial evolution of the paper, we can see that the network has been improved on the whole. (shrink)

ObjectivesThis study aims to systematically analyze the effects of mind–body exercises on post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, depression, and anxiety in patients with PTSD. Furthermore, it intends to provide scientific evidence-based exercise prescriptions.MethodsChinese and English databases were used as data sources to search for studies on the effects of mind–body exercises on symptoms associated with patients with PTSD from January 1980 to November 2020. After a rigorous screening, 16 eligible randomized controlled trials were included in the meta-analysis.ResultsMind–body exercises exerted a significant (...) effect on PTSD symptoms [standard mean difference = −0.41, 95% confidence interval −0.64 to −0.19, p < 0.001], depression, and anxiety among patients with PTSD. Subgroup analysis demonstrated that 60–150 min per session for 8–16 weeks of mindfulness was more effective in improving symptoms in patients with PTSD under 45 years of age compared with other subgroups. For depression, 150–180 min of yoga exercises once per week was effective. For anxiety, the frequency, timing, duration, and type of mind–body exercises that are most effective in relieving anxiety in patients with PTSD cannot be determined at this time due to the limited number of eligible RCTs.ConclusionsMind–body exercises were found to be significantly effective in improving PTSD symptoms, depression, and anxiety in patients with PTSD. Therefore, they can be used as an adjunct to intervention for symptoms of patients with PTSD. However, this conclusion requires further confirmation through additional scientific and objective RCTs.Systematic Review Registration:Unique Identifier: INPLASY2020120072. (shrink)

This study investigates the Proteus effect from the first-person perspective and during avatar embodiment in actual exercise. In addition to the immediate measurements of the Proteus effect, prolonged effects such as next-day perception and exercise-related outcomes are also explored. We theorized the Proteus effect as altered perceived self-concept and explored the association between virtual reality avatar manipulation and self-concept in the exercise context. While existing studies have mainly investigated the Proteus effect in a non-VR environment or after VR embodiment, we (...) aim to contribute to the literature by addressing this concern to explore how the Proteus effect works in actual VR exercise. Through a 2 × 2 between-subject experiment, the results partially support the Proteus effect. Regarding actual physical activity, embodying an avatar with a six pack during exercise creates fewer body movements. No significant effect was found for perceived exertion. We also explored the role of sex as a potential moderator in the association of the Proteus effect on exercise outcomes. The Proteus effect was supported by immediate and next-day self-efficacy for core-muscle exercise only among female participants. The between-subject design allowed us to probe how avatar manipulation of muscular body shape with a six pack as opposed to normal body shape influences participants’ self-concept and exercise outcomes, as limited VR studies have employed within-subject comparisons. This also contributes to the literature by providing an upward comparison as opposed to the previous downward comparison regarding body fitness. The overall results supported the Proteus effect in the context of core-muscle exercise when comparing normal and ideal body shape avatars. However, the Proteus effect as an altered self-concept and its effects on self-efficacy for exercise were supported among females but not males. Whereas the female participants who embodied avatars with a six pack associated themselves more with the muscular concept than other people, the male participants who embodied avatars with a six pack perceived themselves as more normal than others. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. (shrink)

Graphical AbstractIt was recently discovered that the enzyme CTP synthase forms filamentous sub-cellular structures (called cytophidia) that seem to be highly conserved from prokaryotes to eukaryotes and whose functions still need to be elucidated.

Effective human–robot teaming increasingly requires humans to work with intelligent, autonomous machines. However, novel features of intelligent autonomous systems such as social agency and incomprehensibility may influence the human’s trust in the machine. The human operator’s mental model for machine functioning is critical for trust. People may consider an intelligent machine partner as either an advanced tool or as a human-like teammate. This article reports a study that explored the role of individual differences in the mental model in a simulated (...) environment. Multiple dispositional factors that may influence the dominant mental model were assessed. These included the Robot Threat Assessment, which measures the person’s propensity to apply tool and teammate models in security contexts. Participants were paired with an intelligent robot tasked with making threat assessments in an urban setting. A transparency manipulation was used to influence the dominant mental model. For half of the participants, threat assessment was described as physics-based ; the remainder received transparency information that described psychological cues. We expected that the physics-based transparency messages would guide the participant toward treating the robot as an advanced machine, while psychological messaging would encourage perceptions of the robot as acting like a human partner. We also manipulated situational danger cues present in the simulated environment. Participants rated their trust in the robot’s decision as well as threat and anxiety, for each of 24 urban scenes. They also completed the RoTA and additional individual-difference measures. Findings showed that trust assessments reflected the degree of congruence between the robot’s decision and situational danger cues, consistent with participants acting as Bayesian decision makers. Several scales, including the RoTA, were more predictive of trust when the robot was making psychology-based decisions, implying that trust reflected individual differences in the mental model of the robot as a teammate. These findings suggest scope for designing training that uncovers and mitigates the individual’s biases toward intelligent machines. (shrink)

The present study is a cross-sectional survey that investigates ethical practices among Chinese psychotherapists from the perspective of a large representative sample of Chinese clients (N?=?1,100). In reports from clients, we found that psychotherapists did poorly in providing informed consent and had other ethical difficulties in the therapeutic setting and with dual relationships. We conclude that Chinese culture, especially Confucianism, had significant impact on the attitudes toward the psychotherapists' ethical practices, which complicated ethical dilemmas. It is important for cross-cultural psychotherapists (...) to become sensitive to the influences of traditional Chinese culture when counseling Chinese clients. (shrink)

Is gender-emotion stereotype a “one-hundred percent” top-down processing phenomenon, or are there additional contributions to cognitive processing from background clues when they are related to stereotypes? In the present study, we measured the gender-emotion stereotypes of 57 undergraduates with a face recall task and found that, regardless of whether the emotional expressions of distractors were congruent or incongruent with targets, people tended to misperceive the fearful faces of men as angry and the angry faces of women as fearful. In particular, (...) there was a significantly larger effect in the distractor-incongruent condition. The revised process-dissociation procedure analysis confirmed that both automatic and controlled processing have their own independent effects on gender-emotion stereotypes. This finding supports a dual-processing perspective on stereotypes and contributes to future research in both theory and methodology. (shrink)

The current COVID-19 pandemic and the previous SARS/MERS outbreaks of 2003 and 2012 have resulted in a series of major global public health crises. We argue that in the interest of developing effective and safe vaccines and drugs and to better understand coronaviruses and associated disease mechenisms it is necessary to integrate the large and exponentially growing body of heterogeneous coronavirus data. Ontologies play an important role in standard-based knowledge and data representation, integration, sharing, and analysis. Accordingly, we initiated the (...) development of the community-based Coronavirus Infectious Disease Ontology in early 2020. -/- As an Open Biomedical Ontology (OBO) library ontology, CIDO is open source and interoperable with other existing OBO ontologies. CIDO is aligned with the Basic Formal Ontology and Viral Infectious Disease Ontology. CIDO has imported terms from over 30 OBO ontologies. For example, CIDO imports all SARS-CoV-2 protein terms from the Protein Ontology, COVID-19-related phenotype terms from the Human Phenotype Ontology, and over 100 COVID-19 terms for vaccines (both authorized and in clinical trial) from the Vaccine Ontology. CIDO systematically represents variants of SARS-CoV-2 viruses and over 300 amino acid substitutions therein, along with over 300 diagnostic kits and methods. CIDO also describes hundreds of host-coronavirus protein-protein interactions (PPIs) and the drugs that target proteins in these PPIs. CIDO has been used to model COVID-19 related phenomena in areas such as epidemiology. The scope of CIDO was evaluated by visual analysis supported by a summarization network method. CIDO has been used in various applications such as term standardization, inference, natural language processing (NLP) and clinical data integration. We have applied the amino acid variant knowledge present in CIDO to analyze differences between SARS-CoV-2 Delta and Omicron variants. CIDO's integrative host-coronavirus PPIs and drug-target knowledge has also been used to support drug repurposing for COVID-19 treatment. -/- CIDO represents entities and relations in the domain of coronavirus diseases with a special focus on COVID-19. It supports shared knowledge representation, data and metadata standardization and integration, and has been used in a range of applications. (shrink)

Invertebrate genetic models with their tractable neuromuscular systems are effective vehicles for the study of human nerve and muscle disorders. This is exemplified by insights made into spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) using the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster and the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans. For speed and economy, these invertebrates offer convenient, whole‐organism platforms for genetic screening as well as RNA interference (RNAi) and chemical library screens, permitting the rapid testing of hypotheses related to disease mechanisms and the exploration of new (...) therapeutic routes and drug candidates. Here, we discuss recent developments encompassing synaptic physiology, RNA processing, and screening of compound and genome‐scale RNAi libraries, showcasing the importance of invertebrate SMA models.Editor's suggested further reading in BioEssays: SMN and Gemins: ‘We are family’... or are we? Abstract. (shrink)

本書介紹兩千年來主要在西方傳播的基督教信仰與希伯來文化、希臘文化、拉丁文化、歐美多元文化，以及全球各地文化等交融互動中形成的思想演變史，分成上下兩冊。上冊涵蓋初代教會時期與中世紀教會時期，而下冊涵蓋宗 教改革時期、啟蒙運動時期與近代教會時期。本書可與西方歷史、西方思想史、西方哲學史等領域相互參照，適合作為基督宗教概論、基督宗教史、西方思想史、西方哲學史等課程的學習者參考。回首這兩千年的基督宗教思想史 ，起承轉合，高潮迭起，江山代有人才出，有如觀賞一齣精彩絕倫的大戲──「聽教會二千年思潮澎湃，觀天下神學家精彩演出」。.

唯有推行自由主義所蘊含的典章制度與思想文化，才能使中國走向長治久安的道路 百姓才能真正生活在一個合理、合乎人道、可以舒展性靈的，人間秩序中 林毓生特別關心自由主義在近現代中國，過去失敗的歷史原因檢討，以及未來發展的可能與如何發展，並探討左右兩派意識形態對大陸與台灣社會的影響。 自1979年完成對於「中國意識的危機」之系統分析並出版專著以後，多年來一直致力尋找解決「中國意識的危機」的切入點。 這個「切入點」，林毓生稱之為：作為導向理念的「中國傳統的創造性轉化」。關於它的思考，以及建立此一理念所需做的奠基工作，即呈現於《中國激進思潮的起源與後果》一書中。 全書分六部分及附錄，收文33篇，充分展現林毓生於深思中完成「中國意識的危機」與「中國傳統的創造性轉化」系統分析之成果。.

Zheng meng"shi bei Song si xiang jia Zhang Zai de zhong yao zhu zuo. Ben shu hui he nan Song yi lai de shi yi ge bu tong ban ben jia yi jiao kan, sou ji nan Song yi lai de shi jiu zhong jiu zhu jia yi ji shi, bing tong guo an yu xing shi zai wen ben he yi li deng fang mian jia yi kao shi bian xi.

There is a long-standing discussion on the positive interactions between enterprise value creation and business competitiveness. The corporate value can be seen as being created from three major sources within the cycle - from employees, from processes, and from customers or investors through reinvestment. To achieve competitive advantages, a firm must create more value than its competitors in the industry. Emphasizing that, firms should explore the positive drivers of customer value creation, allowing for a true value creation that will (...) lead to increments in competitiveness. In reality, however, there are also barriers that hinder customer value creation. Targeting the above issues that have not yet been explored or analyzed, we have collected related literature at the first stage. Based on these presumable assumptions, this paper then conducts an empirical study by surveying and analyzing the relevance given by the investigated leading machinery measuring equipment firms in Taiwan, regarding the concerns as drivers and barriers in relation to customer value creation. This paper expecially aims to answer several key questions: What drivers revolving around employees and processes can facilitate the organization to create more value for its customers? Conversely, what barriers block the organization from creating value for customers in examining the same dimensions? Does value creation direct an organization's profitability and competitiveness? Our questionnaire survey results show that the most recognized and agreed drivers of customer value creation in consideration of employees are "distinctive skills", "personal experience", "learning and training", and "team work"; and, in regard to the firm's processes, the key drivers are "innovation and evolution", "R&D capability", and "capability for differentiation". Conversely, the most recognized and agreed barriers to customer value creation in relation to employees are a "distrustful environment" and "inadequate knowledge"; and, in terms of processes, they are "short of core technology", "poor resource support", and "bad services and attitudes". Furthermore, our in-depth interview outcomes reveal that "capital sufficiency" and "mergers and acquisitions" are in practice considered to be other important customer value creation drivers; in contrast, "cultural and structural barriers" and "short of mechanisms to measure customer value creation effectively" are viewed as additional critical barriers to customer value creation. (shrink)