Input: Claim: Human behavior is almost entirely determined by genetic factors, with little influence from culture or environment. [SEP] Text: ’of the B: 370 neuronal kinesin UNC-104/KIF1A is a key regulator of synaptic aging and insulin signaling-regulated memory26 of Drosophila life span by olfaction and food-derived odorsScience 315:1133–1137 of epigenetic aging rates in blood reveals a critical role for 2018 9:1 9:1–13 methylation age of blood predicts all-cause mortality in later life16 é ähönen -ää ägg äki -2021Genome-wide association studies identify 137 genetic loci for DNA methylation biomarkers of aging22:1–25 genetics of human ageingGenet SBarzilai N2016Dissecting the mechanisms underlying unusually successful human health span and life spanMed 6 lifespan of Korean eunuchs impact of apolipoprotein E4 on cause of death in Alzheimer’s diseaseNeurology 49:76–81 longevity: 25 genetic loci associated in 389,166 UK biobank participantsAging 9:2504–2520 PG2022An explainable AI framework for interpretable biological agemedRxiv FFaure-Delanef LGuénot -Ginot LCohen D1994Genetic associations with human longevity at the APOE and ACE loci1994 6:1 6:29–32 Alleles and Longevityof Gerontology: 74:44–51 sequencing of Chinese centenarians reveals important genetic variants in aging WGS of centenarian for genetic analysis of aging14 OHattersley AT2009A genetic diagnosis of HNF1A diabetes alters treatment and improves glycaemic control in the majority of insulin-treated patients26:437–441 aging across multiple organ systems and prediction of chronic disease and mortality2023 29:5 29:1221–1231 of 1 million parent lifespans implicates novel pathways and common diseases and distinguishes survival chancesElife 8:1–40 randomization of genetically independent aging phenotypes identifies LPA and VCAM1 as biological targets for human aging2022 2:1 2:19–30 genomic scan implicates novel loci and haem metabolism in human ageing2020 11:1 11:1–10 der é ård örr ’-Moret NCvan der der Ärnlöv JV.

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: All herbs can be safely consumed in unlimited quantities. [SEP] Text: Encuesta sobre equipamiento y uso de tecnologías de información y comunicación en los hogares. (accessed 29 December 2021) Klein DV. 1990. Foiling the cracker: a survey of, and improvements to, password security. . 2011. Of passwords and people: measuring the effect of password-composition policies. . 2016. A study of personal information in human-chosen passwords and its security implications. . 2013. Measuring password guessability for an entire university. Morris R, Thompson K. 2002. Password security: a case history. Communications of the ACM 22(11):594-597 Narayanan A, Shmatikov V. 2005. Fast dictionary attacks on passwords using time-space tradeoff. Notoatmodjo G, Thomborson C. 2009. Passwords and perceptions. Conferences in Research and Practice in Series 98:71-78 RAE. 2021. Current spanish reference corpus. (accessed 29 December 2021) Riley S. 2006. Password security: what users know and what they actually do. 8(1):2833-2836 Schneier B. 2005. Write down your password. (accessed 29 December 2021). 2017. Ethical issues in research using datasets of illicit origin. Vanhoef M, Piessens F. 2016. Predicting, decrypting, and abusing WPA2/802. 11 group keys. Vanhoef M, Piessens F. 2017. Key reinstallation attacks: forcing nonce reuse in WPA2. Vanhoef M, Ronen E. 2019. Dragonblood: a security analysis of WPA3’s SAE handshake. IACR Cryptology e2019:383. 2014. On semantic patterns of passwords and their security impact. . 2021. Usable comprehensive-factor authentication for a secure time attendance system. PeerJ 7(3):e678. 2016. Targeted online password guessing: an underestimated threat. . 2016. Understanding password choices: how frequently entered passwords are re-used across websites. . 2010. Testing metrics for password creation policies by attacking large sets of revealed passwords. . 2009. Password cracking using probabilistic context-free grammars. WPEngine. 2021. Unmasked: what 10 million passwords reveal about the people who choose them.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Some claim that life on Earth could have originated from extraterrestrial sources. [SEP] Text: The signal, discovered during a search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), bore a remarkable resemble to the properties expected from an alien transmitter, leading the volunteer analyst to famously annotate ‘Wow! ’ on the computer printout (Ehman 1998). The time-dependent intensity of the emission matched the antenna pattern signature of a transiting celestial source (Gray & Marvel 2001), unlike what would be expected for interference. This behaviour, combined with its narrowband nature and location near 21 cm, leads to a trifecta of features long predicted from a genuine SETI signal (Cocconi & Morrison 1959), causing Wow to be one of the few astronomical observations that have bled into popular culture. Although the field was observed many times, Wow was only seen once during the entire baseline of observations from the Observatory, known as the ‘Big Ear’ (Kraus 1979). Further, Wow only occurred in one beam of a dual-beam transit antenna system (Dixon & Cole 1977), implying that the signal switched on/off in the brief interval between the two beams sweeping over the source (∼3 min). However, Wow appears consistent with being continuously ‘on’ during the 72 s of one beam passing over the source. Despite numerous attempts to replicate the detection of Wow (Gray 1994; Gray & Marvel 2001; Gray & Ellingsen 2002; Harp et al. 2020), the signal has not been observed again. The single-beam detection and lack of any repetition (especially with greater sensitivity, longer observations and broader spectral coverage), ostensibly places considerable pressure on the credibility of the Wow signal. 1 However, a recent Bayesian formulation of one-off events showed that at least an order-of-magnitude more data than that used in the original discovery is often required to place statistically significant tension on a signal’s credibility (Kipping 2021). Motivated by that work, we here explore a rigorous statistical approach to address: (i) how likely is it that Wow repeats but has simply been missed by follow-up efforts to date, and (ii) if so, what are the most likely properties of the signal under this scenario? There are two basic ways that Wow could remain a genuine SETI signal yet remain consistent with all observations to date. It could either be a non-continuous emission source and/or a continuous source that drifts in frequency.

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: Human behavior is almost entirely determined by genetic factors, with little influence from culture or environment. [SEP] Text: AbstractWhy people age at different rates is a fundamental, unsolved problem in biology. We created a model that predicts an individual’s age from physiological traits that change with age in the large UK Biobank dataset, such as blood pressure, lung function, strength and stimulus-reaction time. The model best predicted a person’s age when it heavily-weighted traits that together query multiple organ systems, arguing that most or all physiological systems (lung, heart, brain, etc. ) contribute to the global phenotype of chronological age. Differences between calculated “biological” age and chronological age (ΔAge) appear to reflect an individual’s relative youthfulness, as people predicted to be young for their age had a lower subsequent mortality rate and a higher parental age at death, even though no mortality data were used to calculate ΔAge. Remarkably, the effect of each year of physiological ΔAge on Gompertz mortality risk was equivalent to that of one chronological year. A Genome-Study (GWAS) of ΔAge, and analysis of environmental factors associated with ΔAge identified known as well as new factors that may influence human aging, including genes involved in synapse biology and a tendency to play computer games. We identify a small number of readily measured physiological traits that together assess a person’s biological age and may be used clinically to evaluate therapeutics designed to slow aging and extend healthy life. IntroductionThe process of aging is universally similar yet deeply unique to each person. By observing a person for a moment, one can deduce their age with high accuracy, even though no two people age the same way. Some individuals might lose hair with age or develop chronic diseases, whereas others might not. Investigating both the universal aspects of aging as well as the basis of individual differences, and developing means of measuring physiological age and health, will provide opportunities to improve human lives. The rate of aging; that is, the rate at which organisms lose physiological fitness and accumulate morbidity, has both genetic and environmental determinants. Humans age more slowly than, for example, dogs, so genes play a key role, but environmental factors like smoking and exercise influence aging as well. In this study, we have used publicly available data of human health parameters to systematically identify genetic and environmental variables that influence human aging.

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: All herbs can be safely consumed in unlimited quantities. [SEP] Text: Research 10. 7554/eLife. 35850 Open access Copyright information Version of RecordJune 8, 2018 Download Cite Share Comment Open annotations (there are currently 0 annotations on this page). 3,026 views 470 downloads 48 5850. Copy to clipboard Download BibTeX DownloadRIS Full text Figures and data Peer review Side by side Peer review process Decision letter Author response Peer review process This 1. This N-terminal segment binds within the receptor transmembrane pocket. The authors explored the influence of the bound N-terminal segment on receptor activation. The authors utilized US28 fused with nanobodies that stabilize apo-US28 in active-like conformations, and screened a yeast-displayed library of CX3CL1 in which the N-terminal seven residues are randomized. A large number of chemokine variants that bind to the receptor and signal are identified. These variants have essentially no sequence similarity in the N-terminal segment of CX3CL1, and signal to varying extents. A structure of a CX3CL variant complexed to US28 provides a framework to understand the interactions that various sequences can form with different residues in the transmembrane pocket. The structure reveals modest conformational changes in the receptor compared to a previous complex structure and the apo receptor structure, but the chemokine amino terminus itself adopts a highly distinct conformation. Two chimeric chemokines between the globular domain of CX3CL1 and the N-terminus of vMIP-II (NVF) and CCR5 (N5F) have weak Ca2+ and migration activity. What is novel is the conversion of vMIP-II antagonist to an agonist in the NVF chimera. By integrating all these data, the authors conclude that the specific molecular contacts of the amino terminus are largely dispensable for receptor activation in the case of US28. Overall, this is a rigorously-performed and well-written study that is likely to be of considerable interest to the field, particularly those interested in protein ligand-GPCR interactions controlling receptor signaling. Essential points to address: 1) The design of the library allows broad, but non-uniform, sampling of possible amino acids at each position. The analysis of resulting frequencies is difficult to interpret, since the input frequencies of amino acids are not equal.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Certain researchers argue that the properties of proteins can predict their functions accurately. [SEP] Text: , 2021), we find that the global structural accuracy of the AF2 models is substantially better than that of the traditional template-based models. In particular, when computing RMSDs based on all non-hydrogen atoms in each protein, we find a median RMSD of 2. 9 Å between AF2 models and corresponding experimentally determined structures, compared to a median RMSD of 4. 3 Å for traditional models (Figure 1—figure supplement 1). Next, we turn our attention to the orthosteric binding pocket of each protein—that is, the region where native ligands and most other ligands, including those in our dataset, bind. AF2 was trained to optimize global structural accuracy, with an emphasis on correctly predicting the structure of the protein backbone. The accuracy of binding pocket prediction, on the other hand depends heavily on side-chain conformations in this local region. Nevertheless, we find that AF2 predictions of binding pocket structures are typically very accurate. In fact, the binding pocket RMSD between an AF2 model and an experimentally determined structure is typically nearly as low as the RMSD between two experimentally determined structures of the same protein with different ligands bound (Figure 1). In contrast, binding pockets in the traditional template-based models are much less accurate, with a median RMSD of 3. 3 Å for traditional models vs. 1. 3 Å for AF2 models. We note that the binding pockets of a few AF2 models are highly inaccurate (approximately 5 Å RMSD), as is the case for several of the traditional models. Figure 1 with 2 supplements see all Download asset Open asset Structural accuracy of modeled binding pockets. Binding pockets are defined to include all amino acid residues with any atom within 5 Å of the ligand in an experimentally determined structure. We compute all-atom binding pocket root mean squared deviations (RMSDs) between each modeled structure and all experimentally determined structures of the same protein. For comparison, we also compute binding pocket RMSDs between all pairs of experimentally determined structures of the same protein with different ligands bound. The middle line of each box in the plot is the median RMSD, with the box extending from the first to the third quartile and defining the ‘interquartile range’.

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: Human behavior is almost entirely determined by genetic factors, with little influence from culture or environment. [SEP] Text: To generate an inclusive, wholistic model of human aging, we queried a large, well-annotated human database (the BioBank or UKBB) comprising over 3000 phenotypes that together span the functions of multiple organs and physiological systems. The UKBB’s medical, environmental, and genetic data on ∼500,000 British volunteers is a unique resource to investigate the biology of aging. While participants of UKBB are not a random cross-section of society (Abdellaoui et al. , n. d. ; Haworth et al. , 2019), this rich database nonetheless likely provides generalizable insights into human aging and disease (et al. , 2022). A number of published studies describe and employ methods to identify genes that might influence human aging. The majority of those studies (et al. , 2018; Pilling et al. , 2017; Wright et al. , 2019) focus on lifespan (Joshi, n. d. ; Timmers et al. , 2022, 2019); for example, age at death or parents’ age at death, or analyze cohorts of people with exceptional lifespan (Bae et al. , 2022; Shen et al. , 2020); or the presence or absence of one or few age-associated diseases (Timmers et al. , 2022, 2020; Zenin et al. , n. d. ). Additionally, researchers have used molecular traits, such as blood proteins (Coenen et al. , 2023), or blood DNA methylation patterns to build and analyze biological age prediction algorithms (clocks) to identify genes that influence aspects of human aging (Gibson et al. , 2019; Lu et al. , 2018; McCartney et al. , 2021). Biological age clocks derived from one or few physiological measures have also been constructed, such as a biological clock built using 3D facial scans (Xia et al. , 2020). Likewise, a biological clock built using the gut microbiome (Wilmanski et al. , 2021) was used to identify individuals who might be aging slower or faster than average and suggest drugs that might influence gut health. Recently, aging of separate organs has been investigated and linked to age-associated diseases and mortality (Tian et al. , 2023), and biological age has been estimated using AI methods (Qiu et al. , 2022).

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: All herbs can be safely consumed in unlimited quantities. [SEP] Text: For example, the authors point to the high frequency of hydrophobic residues at position 1 as evidence that signal peptidase cleavage efficiency is not a major factor in sequence enrichment. However, the input frequency expected here is skewed toward hydrophobic residues by library design, with F, I, L, and V collectively expected to occur about four times as often as either D or E. There may be additional bias if mixed bases are not incorporated with equal efficiency, or if library amplification PCR skewed sequence distributions. As a result, comparison of input and output frequencies is necessary to draw conclusions about the relative enrichment for particular features. It would have been straightforward to have sequenced the input libraries as well, and this would allow a direct assessment of what the receptor binding and FACS is really selecting. Are these data available? This would substantially improve the analysis presented. If not, could some calibration experiments be done? 2) The reviewers feel that single-point signaling assays, like those presented in Figure 3, offer limited information, and a lack of activity may reflect either antagonism or insufficient potency. To properly characterize these new binders the authors should at least perform dose-response signaling analysis, ideally alongside a binding assay to measure the affinities of these clones. To show biased signaling, there should be dose-response curves of two assays – for G protein-coupling pathway (US28-induced IP3 turnover or Ca2+ response) and β-arrestin pathway (β-arrestin-recruitment or US28-induced migration assay). If these assays cannot be done, then the claims about biased signaling should be removed. 3) It would be helpful to show the affinities to US28 of different ligands, such as ligands typical of those selected. Indeed, the potency of these variants is not shown in the present manuscript. 4) In general, binding to the receptor N-terminus (mostly by the globular domain of the cytokine) plays a role in the affinity of the receptor-chemokine interaction. The conversion of antagonist vMIP-II to agonist by exchanging the globular domain with CX3CL1 suggests signaling roles of the globular domain interactions. To what extent is binding determined by the chemokine's amino-terminal peptide vs. the folded C-terminal domain?

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Certain researchers argue that the properties of proteins can predict their functions accurately. [SEP] Text: , 2023; Heo and Feig, 2022; Scardino et al. , 2023). Our results agree with this conclusion but go beyond it in several ways. We compare AF2 models and traditional template-based models, rigorously ensuring that none of these models was informed by experimentally determined structures of the protein being modeled. We find that, in terms of structural accuracy of the binding pocket, AF2 models are much better than traditional models; indeed, the RMSD between an AF2 model and an experimentally determined structure is typically comparable to the RMSD between two structures determined experimentally with different ligands bound. Yet, when used for docking, AF2 models yield pose prediction accuracy similar to that of traditional models and much worse than that of experimentally determined structures. A few caveats are in order. First, building a traditional template-based model is not always possible. We only considered template-based models in cases where a structure was available for another protein with at least 40% sequence identity. However, 80% of human drug targets have at least 50% sequence identity to a protein whose structure was known in 2017 (Somody et al. , 2017), and that number is even higher today. In addition, we note that the traditional models we used were generated relatively quickly by an academic group along with models for hundreds of other proteins. An expert working on a drug discovery project could frequently build a better template-based model—for example, by examining the predictive utility of several models (Carlsson et al. , 2011; Haddad et al. , 2020). Second, our study examined only GPCRs. The results might in principle be different for other classes of drug targets. However, GPCRs have very diverse binding pockets, which have evolved to binding an extremely broad range of ligands, ranging from very small molecules to peptides and proteins, with high specificity (Venkatakrishnan et al. , 2013). Our conclusions thus likely apply to many non-GPCR drug targets—and GPCR targets alone account for roughly half of drug discovery projects. We also note that, for GPCRs specifically, one can often improve docking performance by using a model or an experimentally determined structure in the activation state to which a given ligand preferentially binds (Heo and Feig, 2022; Lee et al. , 2022).

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: Human behavior is almost entirely determined by genetic factors, with little influence from culture or environment. [SEP] Text: In our approach, we set out to measure human aging directly and wholistically, making sure that all systems relevant to health are represented. To do so, we sampled and analyzed traits reporting on multiple organ systems and physiological domains. We quantified the markers of aging that reflect overall physiological health, such as strength, stimulus-reaction time and blood pressure. This multi-systemic approach does not rely on a presence or absence of recognized diseases or a small number of binary events, such as death or stroke, and therefore reflects human aging more directly. Likewise, instead of concentrating on diseases, we aimed to evaluate a multitude of physiological parameters that change in “healthy” people, to allow us to identify factors missed by previous studies. We developed a series of mathematical models that consider 121 age-related traits and predict a biological age for each individual. We show that the model that best predicts age incorporates data reflecting the activity of most if not all the organs and physiological systems. By comparing predicted biological age to actual age, we identified individuals who may be aging slower or faster than average. Using this model, we identified new environmental factors and genetic loci that may influence biological age. By building models lacking clusters of phenotypically correlated (typically organ-specific) traits, we further categorized these genetic loci and environmental factors as those likely to influence aging globally vs those that likely impact a single organ system. Likewise, by analyzing a smaller, healthier sub-cohort of UKBB participants, we identified factors likely to influence apparent age by conferring an age-related disease. Notably, our findings highlighted neural function as an important determinant of overall biological age. Finally, after analyzing the performance of different physiological clocks, we identified twelve key physiological traits that together could measure biological age in longitudinal clinical trials for interventions that increase human healthspan. ResultsPhysiological traits that change with ageTo identify age-dependent traits, we conducted linear regression analysis on every UKBB parameter relative to the age of the participants (see 1a, b) and recorded the list of those with a non-zero slope and adjusted statistical significance better than 10-3 (see 2a, b). Examples include systolic blood pressure (shown in Fig. 1a), which increases with age, and hand-grip strength (shown in Fig. 1b), which decreases with age. Figure 1.

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: All herbs can be safely consumed in unlimited quantities. [SEP] Text: The authors state that a poly-Gly N-terminus is not sufficient (Results and Discussion, fifth paragraph), which helps argue that the peptide is a key determinant, but they don't show data. Given the fact that the whole paper is about the role of the amino terminal peptide in binding and signaling, it is important to actually show data for this, and the statement "data not shown" in the submitted version of the manuscript implies that they've already done the experiment. Less critical points: 1) The authors provide an excellent description of the differences between variant 1. 35 and the wt structure. The difference between 1. 35 and wt interactions with the receptor are profound (Figure 4—figure supplement 2), especially in the globular section of the chemokine. Are there crystal contacts of the 1. 35 variant or of the previously published wt CX3CL1 complex that could influence the globular portion with respect to the receptor? 2) The authors conclude that "steric bulk of the ligand is more important than specific bonding chemistries" in the TM cavity. They also should discuss the steric bulk in the context of GPCR dynamics, which is known to also be important in activation and signaling. Although the crystallography is impressive, the authors should be careful of over-interpreting their results as the fusion with Nb will prevent conformational changes to occur and signaling proteins to bind. Unfortunately, although the authors offer a "caveat" about their structures, the over-interpretation occurs. 3) There is an invariant Pro at position 3 for all of the sequences in Figure 3C and D. It is difficult to see anything about the structural features of a proline vis-à-vis the interaction with the pocket in the figures. 4) Please explain how "strains on the walls of the binding pocket" results in activation, if the mechanism is similar to Kobilka's mechanism for adrenergic activation. 5) Should the amino acid possibilities in position 1 shown in Figure 2—figure supplement 2 include also lysine (codon AAA)? Author response Essential points to address: 1) The design of the library allows broad, but non-uniform, sampling of possible amino acids at each position. The analysis of resulting frequencies is difficult to interpret, since the input frequencies of amino acids are not equal.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Some argue that all GMOs are entirely safe and have no ecological impact. [SEP] Text: При оценке вероятности потенциального горизонтального переноса генов из трансгенных растений к прокариотам было показано, что она крайне низка и скорее всего не оказывает влияния на эволюцию прокариот (Brigulla, Wackernagel, 2010). Изучение видового разнообразия в агроценозах показало, что возделывание ГМО не сказывается негативно на нецелевых организмах.

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: Human behavior is almost entirely determined by genetic factors, with little influence from culture or environment. [SEP] Text: a) Systolic blood pressure (UKBB field ID# 4080) and b) hand-grip strength (UKBB field ID# 47) of a random set of 10,000 female UKBB participants is plotted against their age; c) Number of age-sensitive phenotypes plotted against the declining number of people in whom these phenotypes were measured; d, e) sex hormone binding globulin concentrations (UKBB field# 30830) of a random set of 10,000 males (d) and females (e); f) Average number of lifetime sexual partners is plotted against the age of UKBB participants (UKBB field ID# 2149). Grey area denotes 99% confidence interval. Color of dots on the plot represents relative density of dots in the area. Before proceeding to modelling, we needed to address three issuesCertain phenotypes, such as MRI brain scans, were only available for a subset of UKBB participants (in this case <50,000). Therefore, we could not use MRI data to estimate the age of the remaining participants. Thus, the inclusion of such incomplete phenotypes in the UKBB database required an optimization strategy. The objective was to identify individuals who appeared young for their age, and the more individuals in the study, the greater the likelihood of discovering them. Likewise, including more diverse phenotypes improves the robustness and global assessment of overall aging. However, as we increased the number of age-dependent phenotypes, the number of individuals evaluated decreased. From the curve’s shape (Fig. 1c), we estimated an optimal inclusion threshold to be ∼120 +/- 15 phenotypes. Significant phenotypic differences exist between the sexes. For example, the parameters “age at which first facial hair appeared”, “age at menopause” and “degree of pattern balding” are gender specific. Additionally, shared phenotypes may have different dynamics in males versus females. For example, increasing plasma concentration of sex-hormone binding globulin (SHBG) is one of the best predictors of age in males (Fig. 1d); however, in females, its plasma concentration stays nearly constant or even tends to decrease (Fig. 1e). Thus, we analyzed male and female aging separately. The dataset we used is largely cross-sectional, meaning that each data point represents a different person at a different age.

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: All herbs can be safely consumed in unlimited quantities. [SEP] Text: For example, the authors point to the high frequency of hydrophobic residues at position 1 as evidence that signal peptidase cleavage efficiency is not a major factor in sequence enrichment. However, the input frequency expected here is skewed toward hydrophobic residues by library design, with F, I, L, and V collectively expected to occur about four times as often as either D or E. There may be additional bias if mixed bases are not incorporated with equal efficiency, or if library amplification PCR skewed sequence distributions. As a result, comparison of input and output frequencies is necessary to draw conclusions about the relative enrichment for particular features. It would have been straightforward to have sequenced the input libraries as well, and this would allow a direct assessment of what the receptor binding and FACS is really selecting. Are these data available? This would substantially improve the analysis presented. If not, could some calibration experiments be done? The reviewers are correct to note that the library allows a non-uniform distribution and that it is possible for skew to arise in its construction. The naïve library was deep sequenced after construction and prior to selection. The resulting amino acid distribution by position was used as the baseline against which to measure enrichment or depletion during selections. This data is presented in Figure 2—figure supplement 3. The legend for this figure has been updated and expanded to clarify this point. All conclusions in the text, such as those raised by the reviewers above, are supported by this analysis. 2) The reviewers feel that single-point signaling assays, like those presented in Figure 3, offer limited information, and a lack of activity may reflect either antagonism or insufficient potency. To properly characterize these new binders the authors should at least perform dose-response signaling analysis, ideally alongside a binding assay to measure the affinities of these clones. To show biased signaling, there should be dose-response curves of two assays – for G protein-coupling pathway (US28-induced IP3 turnover or Ca2+ response) and β-arrestin pathway (β-arrestin-recruitment or US28-induced migration assay). If these assays cannot be done, then the claims about biased signaling should be removed. The reviewers raise an important point that we clarify in the revision. Ca2+ response and US28-induced migration dose-response analyses been included in Figure 1—figure supplements 1 and 2 and Figure 3—figure supplements 1 and 2.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Some argue that all GMOs are entirely safe and have no ecological impact. [SEP] Text: Однако эта вставка присутствует во всех культурных разновидностях батата, отсутствует у их диких родственников. Следовательно, формы со вставкой образуют монофилетическую группу. За ее пределами IbT-ДНК1 не выявлено. IbT-ДНК2 охарактеризована слабее, но именно она распространена только в некоторых разновидностях диких и культурных бататов (Kyndt et al.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Human behavior is almost entirely determined by genetic factors, with little influence from culture or environment. [SEP] Text: Consequently, phenotypes that are used to predict age could be indicative of cultural and societal changes over time, rather than biological changes associated with aging. For instance, a good predictor of age (with a p-value < 10-52) is the lifetime number of sexual partners (Fig. 1f). While sexual activity and fertility have been linked to human aging and longevity (Min et al. , 2012), the correlation here is most likely driven by evolving social norms in Britain. Other examples of such traits include “how many siblings do you have” or “how long have you lived in your current house. ” Moreover, some biological measurements were derived using age as a parameter. For instance, BMR (Rate) is an outstanding age predictor (p-value < 10-255). However, BMR was not measured directly; instead, it was computed using a formula that incorporates height, weight, gender, and age itself. Therefore, we examined each age-dependent parameter independently, aiming to satisfy three broad criteria: a) the trait should not reflect societal norms and structures; b) the trait should not be a function of elapsed time (e. g. , how long have you been drinking green tea? ); and c) the trait’s value should not depend on a person’s actual age. We endeavored to use purely biological and physiological parameters. Although it is possible that the selected phenotypes were still influenced to some degree by the birth cohort, these considerations should have reduced this effect. The complete list of age-related traits we selected, along with the reasons behind our choices, can be found in supplementary tables S2 c and d. Age-dependent physiological traits fall into clustersThe phenotypes we selected for our age-prediction model were often correlated to one another; for example, left-hand and right-hand grip strength. To assess the degree and pattern of correlations among the age-dependent traits (see Supp. Table S1), we first normalized each phenotype by its mean and standard deviation. For phenotypes represented as multiple-choice questions (e. g. , do you take naps - often, sometimes, rarely, never? ), we encoded each answer option as a binary vector (one or zero), and these vectors were also normalized. Correlations were computed for each pair of phenotypes and visualized as dendrograms (fig. 2a, b).

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: All herbs can be safely consumed in unlimited quantities. [SEP] Text: There were several confounding factors that hampered our ability to achieve saturation of the dose-response curves. First, negative effects on cell viability preclude data inclusion at concentrations of 1 μM chemokine and greater. Second, the rapid constitutive internalization rates of US28 make it very hard to fully complete the dose-response curves at the highest concentrations. While many of these curves do not reach saturation and allow for precise quantification of bias factors, the data are strongly suggestive of bias in US28’s signaling and we are careful not to make quantitative claims about bias, and only limit our conclusions about bias to qualitative differences. We have indicated the need for caution with regard to these data in the main text (subsection “Chemokine-induced US28 signaling”, second paragraph) but believe the data justify qualitative discussion. We have also inserted the sentence “Because the high basal signaling of US28 results in a narrow dynamic range in which to measure differences between agonists, we can only make qualitative conclusions about signaling bias. ” 3) It would be helpful to show the affinities to US28 of different ligands, such as ligands typical of those selected. Indeed, the potency of these variants is not shown in the present manuscript. Affinities of selected CX3CL1 library variants are now shown in Figure 3—figure supplement 3 and the main text has been modified to address this (subsection “The sequence space of chemokine agonism”, last paragraph). Clones selected from the CX3CL1 library bind equivalently to wild type CX3CL1 when yeast displayed and stained with nanobody-stabilized receptor. Radioligand competition experiments of the CX3CL1 library variants reveal weaker competition with wild type CX3CL1 (i. e. a lower affinity in heterologous competition binding experiments) than the wild type chemokine competes with itself (i. e. in homologous competition binding experiments). This apparent low affinity in the heterologous competition binding setting is precedented by wild type CCL3 and CCL5 (Figure 1A) that are unable to displace radiolabeled CX3CL1.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Some assert that using pathogens for pest control will never affect beneficial insects. [SEP] Text: 2012; 57:1–20. 3. van den Bosch R: Conservation and augmentation of natural enemies. In: (Eds. ), Theory and Practice of Biological Control. 1976; 254. 4. Barbosa P: Conservation biological control. San Diego, CA: Academic Press, 2003. 5. : Conserving parasitoid assemblages of pest Lepidoptera: Does biologixal control by native parasitoids depend on landscape complexity. 2006; 37:173–185. 6. : Recent advances in conservation biological control of arthropods by arthropods. 2008; 45:172–175. 7. Pilkington LJ, Messelink G, van : “Protected biological control” biological pest management in the greenhouse industry. 2010; 52:216–220. 8. Debach P, Rosen D: Biological control by natural enemies (2nd edn). 1991; 1. 9. Wäckers FL, van (Eds. ): Plant-provided food for carnivorous insects: A protective mutualism and its applications. 2005. 10. : Maximizing ecosystem services from conservation biological control: The role of habitat management. 2008; 45:254–271. 11. Sotherton NW: The distribution and abundance of predatory arthropods overwintering on farmland. Biol 1984; 105:423–429. 12. Leather SR: Overwintering in six arable aphid pests: A review with particular relevance to pest management. J 1993; 116:217–233. 13. äckers FL: Effects of flower attractiveness and nectar availability in field margins on biological control by parasitoids. 2008; 46:400–408. 14. : Habitat management to conserve natural enemies of arthropod pests in agriculture. Entomol 2000; 45:175–201. 15. : Biocontrol of persea mite, Oligonychus perseae, with an exotic spider mite predator and an indigenous pollen feeder. 2011; 59:147–157. 16. Wäckers FL, van Rijn PCJ: Pick and mix: Selecting flowering plants to meet the requirements of target biological control insects. In: (Eds. ), Biodiversity and Insect Pests: for Sustainable Management. Wiley, Chichester, UK, 2012; 165. 17.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Human behavior is almost entirely determined by genetic factors, with little influence from culture or environment. [SEP] Text: As expected, highly correlated phenotypes grouped together, such as “BMI”- “Weight”- “Waist Circumference” or “Cholesterol”- “LDL”. Surprisingly, this analysis uncovered strong correlations that were not obvious, such as “I drive faster than the speed limit most of the time (id# 1100)” with “I like my drinks very hot (id# 1518)” (fig. 2a, b; marked with yellow shadows). Notably, most of the clusters appeared to be enriched for phenotypes associated with a specific organ or physiological system. For example, the cluster that contains “Creatinine”, “Urea”, “Cystatin-C” and “Phosphate” likely reflects kidney function; whereas the cluster that contains “Systolic blood pressure” and “Diastolic blood pressure” likely reflects cardiovascular function (fig. 2a, b). That said, upon close examination, it is not intuitively obvious why some physiological traits do or do not cluster with one another. Thus, this dendrogram might be a valuable data source for future hypothesis generation and exploration. Figure 2. Age-dependent phenotypic clustering. Dendrogram plots of age-dependent female (a) and male (b) phenotypes selected for age prediction. Numbers in the name of “rays” represent numbers for multichoice questions (see supplementary table 1 or the UKBB website), followed by the answer. Major clusters were colored and subjectively assigned a name that reflects a possible biological function of the cluster; The number of principle components included in the PLS (Projection to Latent Structures) model to predict age vs root mean square error of the predictions is plotted for females (c) and (d) males; e) the top phenotypes with the highest weights in the age-predicting PLS model are listed for (e) females and (f) males. Phenotypes shaded in green are shared between sexes, red are specific to females, and blue are specific to males.

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: All herbs can be safely consumed in unlimited quantities. [SEP] Text: Importantly this impaired competition does not reflect low affinity for the unliganded receptor (as described earlier for US28 in Kledal, Rosenkilde, and Schwartz, 1998 and for the NK1 receptor (Rosenkilde et al. , 1994, JBC). 4) In general, binding to the receptor N-terminus (mostly by the globular domain of the cytokine) plays a role in the affinity of the receptor-chemokine interaction. The conversion of antagonist vMIP-II to agonist by exchanging the globular domain with CX3CL1 suggests signaling roles of the globular domain interactions. Additional language has been added to the main text to address this possibility (subsection “Chemokine-induced US28 signaling”, last paragraph). It is possible that the globular domains contribute to signaling only insofar as they align how the chemokine amino terminus is positioned within the receptor binding site. A difference in chemokine N-terminus positioning is likely given the CC to CX3C conversion in NVF. To what extent is binding determined by the chemokine's amino-terminal peptide vs. the folded C-terminal domain? The balance of contributions from sites 1 and 2 to chemokine affinity for the nanobody-stabilized receptor are chemokine-specific. When the receptor N-terminus is removed, CX3CL1 affinity for the receptor is largely unchanged. CCL3 on the other hand loses all binding to US28Nb7. We believe that nanobody7 is enhancing US28’s affinity for the amino termini of certain chemokines. We have included a new figure supplement (Figure 2—figure supplement 2) and language in the main text addressing this point (subsection “The sequence space of chemokine agonism”, second paragraph). The authors state that a poly-Gly N-terminus is not sufficient (Results and Discussion, fifth paragraph), which helps argue that the peptide is a key determinant, but they don't show data. Given the fact that the whole paper is about the role of the amino terminal peptide in binding and signaling, it is important to actually show data for this, and the statement "data not shown" in the submitted version of the manuscript implies that they've already done the experiment.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Some assert that using pathogens for pest control will never affect beneficial insects. [SEP] Text: ; (2) the chrysopids, Chrysopa formosa Brauer and Chrysoperla sinica (Tjeder); (3) the thripid, Acolothrips fasciatus (L. ); (4) the anthocorid, Orius similis Zhang; and (5) the spider, Misumenopos tricuspidata (Fabricius) (Acari: Thumicidae). They found that species composition and seasonal abundance of such predators did not differ significantly between those in Bt and non-Bt cotton every year. Lu et al. (2012) reported a remarkable decline in aphid populations in Bt cotton fields in 36 locations in 6 districts north of China. They related this decline to the increase of populations of the coccinellids, chrysopids, and spiders. In addition, these increased populations of the predators on Bt cotton were found to have a considerable role for insect biological control on cotton, corn, and peanut crops adjacent to Bt cotton. Also, Dahi (2013) reported that Bt cotton producing Cry1Ac and Cry2Ab did not affect the populations or abundance of common predators-species prevailing in cotton fields in Egypt. These results agree with those reported by Dhillon and Sharma (2013). Arshad et al. (2015) estimated the populations of insect predators from the 1st week of July to the 2nd week of November in Bt cotton and conventional cotton fields. They found that the population densities and abundance of the predators, C. carnea, Coccinella septempunctata, Geocoris spp. , and Minochilus sexmaculatus (Fab. ) (Coccinellidae), did not differ significantly in both fields. cornAl-Deeb and Wilde (2003) found that the populations of prevailing predators in a Bt corn field did not differ significantly from those on a conventional corn field. These predators were Hyppodamia convergens Guer, Orius insidiosus (Say), and Scymnuss spp. Similarly, Wolfenbarger et al. (2008) detected no significant negative effects for the predators, Orius spp. , Coleomegilla spp. , Hypodamia spp. , or Chrysoperla spp. , in Bt maize.

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: Human behavior is almost entirely determined by genetic factors, with little influence from culture or environment. [SEP] Text: All phenotypes were used for both sexes, and this shading reflects only the position in list of top-13 traits; g) list of phenotypes used to predict age of females and (h) males projected on 2D space using correlation as the distance measure. The degree of correlation is also depicted by grey lines, the darker the shade, the stronger the correlation. Note that the distortion in positioning is an inevitable consequence of projecting high-dimensional data into 2D space. As before, groups of related phenotypes were subjectively assigned a name that likely depicts their physiology, and phenotypes with the highest weight in the PLS model were depicted by red dots. A mathematical model to predict ageTo develop a model that predicts age, we experimented with several algorithms, including simple linear regression, Machine (GBM) and Squares regression (PLS). The outcomes of these approaches were almost identical, likely due to the small number of predictors (121 phenotypes) and comparatively large number of participants (over 400,000). We selected PLS regression because it enabled us to determine the number and composition of components required to predict age optimally from the data. PLS modeling is not tolerant of missing values, and in the UKBB dataset we used, over 60,000 participants (∼15%) lacked at least one phenotypic measurement. To prevent excessive imputation, we excluded any individual missing more than 15 datapoints from the study, thereby decreasing number of selected female participants from 222,111 to 215,949 (∼2. 7% loss), and males from 188,609 to 183,715 (∼2. 6% loss). We imputed and scaled the values of the remaining participants with missing data (Methods). Next, we determined how many PLS components (each derived from UKBB phenotypes) were required to predict chronological age. To do so, we constructed a series of age-prediction models using an increasing number of these components. The first model was built using only component #1, the second using components #1 and #2, and so on. At each step, we calculated the root-mean-square error of the age prediction and determined its decline using the R function “selectNcomp” (see Fig. 2c, d). Our analysis revealed that only 11 independent components were required to describe female aging dynamics, and 9 independent components were required for males.

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: All herbs can be safely consumed in unlimited quantities. [SEP] Text: This data is now included as Figure 2—figure supplement 4. The combination of the loss of CX3CL1 affinity when the chemokine amino terminus is changed with the lack of effect when the receptor N-terminus is completely removed convince us that CX3CL1 affinity for US28Nb7 is largely derived from site 2 interactions. Less critical points: 1) The authors provide an excellent description of the differences between variant 1. 35 and the wt structure. The difference between 1. 35 and wt interactions with the receptor are profound (Figure 4—figure supplement 2), especially in the globular section of the chemokine. Are there crystal contacts of the 1. 35 variant or of the previously published wt CX3CL1 complex that could influence the globular portion with respect to the receptor? The reviewers are correct to note that lattice contacts may influence the conformation of the chemokine. We have added data (Figure 4—figure supplement 4) and discussion (subsection “Structural basis for US28’s chemokine promiscuity”) of this possibility. This includes arguments that the CX3CL1. 35 complex most likely has a unique orientation that is captured, rather than induced, by the crystal lattice. 2) The authors conclude that "steric bulk of the ligand is more important than specific bonding chemistries" in the TM cavity. They also should discuss the steric bulk in the context of GPCR dynamics, which is known to also be important in activation and signaling. Although the crystallography is impressive, the authors should be careful of over-interpreting their results as the fusion with Nb will prevent conformational changes to occur and signaling proteins to bind. Unfortunately, although the authors offer a "caveat" about their structures, the over-interpretation occurs. It is difficult to see where the reviewers think we are over-interpreting. At the same time, none of our methods are sensitive to issues of dynamics. 3) There is an invariant Pro at position 3 for all of the sequences in Figure 3C and D. It is difficult to see anything about the structural features of a proline vis-à-vis the interaction with the pocket in the figures. This proline’s conservation is merely a function of its having been used as a hallmark by which to delineate this family of related sequences.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: It's argued that biological control agents are always effective regardless of context. [SEP] Text: Perform double diffusion test to confirm the presence of Pf-and Foc-specific antibodies. v. Conjugate the antibodies (0. 353 mg/ml) with fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) and determine the concentrations spectrophotometrically at 280 nm. B. Detection of Pf and Foc by FITC-conjugated antibodies i. Inoculate 2-month old hardened tissue cultured banana plants with Pf (50 g) alone in charcoal base (1. 024 × 108 CFU/ml) or Foc (50 g) grown on sorghum seeds (9. 2 × 104 CFU/ml) or coinoculate with 50 g each of Pf and Foc and maintain controls without inoculation with either Pf or Foc. ii. Collect root samples from different treatments; and wash them thoroughly with distilled water. iii. Take thin sections with sharp razor blade; place them on clean glass slides; place drops of conjugated antibodies and air-dry for 20 min to fix them firmly. iv. Dip the slides into phosphate buffered saline (pH7. 2) + bovine serum albumin (BSA, 1 % w/v) to block non-specific protein binding sites; remove the slides and drain the excess solution. v. Treat with 10–20 μl of FITC-conjugated Pf-and Foc-antibodies separately in a humification chamber under dark condition for 1 h and wash off the excess antibody with PBS + 0. 1 % BSA solution. vi. Examine the slides under a fluorescence microscope at 20 sections for each treatment and record the observation and repeat the experiment three times. 4. 3: of Pyrrolnitrin-by Real-Time PCR Assay (Garbeva et al. 2004) A. Extraction of DNA from bacterial species i. Extract bacterial cells from soil samples (10 g) using suspension in 95 ml 0. 1 % tetra sodiumpyrophosphate (NaPP: Na2P2O7. 12H2O) containing 10 g gravel (2–4 mm diameter) by shaking for 25 min at 250 rpm; ii. Serially dilute by 10-folds in 0. 8 % NaCl and streak 100 μl of 10−2 and 10−3 dilutions on appropriate medium. iii.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Human behavior is almost entirely determined by genetic factors, with little influence from culture or environment. [SEP] Text: Consistent with this interpretation, we observed a significant correlation of residuals between two assessments for a small number of UKBB participants who were evaluated longitudinally (twice) with intervals of up to 12 years (R2∼0. 56, p<10-255). To estimate biological age from this cross-sectional data, we computed a value termed ΔAge for each participant. We define ΔAge as the individual’s chronological age subtracted from their predicted age and normalized such that the average ΔAge for the entire population at each age is zero. ΔAge is negative if an individual is predicted to be younger than they are and positive if an individual is predicted to be older. The ΔAge parameter carries no information about the person’s actual chronological age, as it is equally distributed across zero at any age (fig. 3a). Comparable approaches have been employed previously, such as using DNA methylation patterns (Marioni et al. , 2015), or facial images and computer vision (Chen et al. , 2015) to predict age and identify potentially “fast agers” and “slow agers”. Figure 3. ΔAge has biological meaning. a) delta-age (ΔAge, predicted biological age minus chronological age) is plotted against chronological age for a random subset of 10,000 UKBB participants. Note that there is no correlation between age and ΔAge; b) histogram of age distribution (blue), and death distribution (red, right y-axis) is presented for UKBB males; c) mortality of UKBB male participants vs their age is platted, note the classical exponential (Gompertzian) shape. Blue dots are actual data, the red line is an exponential fit, and the black dash line is 95% confidence interval; d) histogram of the ΔAge distribution (blue), and death distribution (red, right y-axis) is presented for UKBB males of 62 years of age only; e) mortality of 62-year-old males is plotted against their ΔAge. Blue dots are actual data, the red line is an exponential fit, and the black dashed line is 95% confidence interval.

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: All herbs can be safely consumed in unlimited quantities. [SEP] Text: Science Unlimited? of Scientism edited by University of Chicago Press, 2017Cloth: 978-0-226-49800-3 | Paper: 978-0-226-49814-0 | Electronic: 978-0-226-49828-7DOI: 10. 7208/chicago/9780226498287. 001. 0001 of (paper, ebook) too often in contemporary discourse, we hear about science overstepping its proper limits—about its brazenness, arrogance, and intellectual imperialism. The problem, critics say, is scientism: the privileging of science over all other ways of knowing. Science, they warn, cannot do or explain everything, no matter what some enthusiasts believe. Unlimited? , noted philosophers of science gather a diverse group of scientists, science communicators, and philosophers of science to explore the limits of science and this alleged threat of scientism. In this wide-ranging collection, contributors ask whether the term scientism in fact (or in belief) captures an interesting and important intellectual stance, and whether it is something that should alarm us. Is scientism a well-developed position about the superiority of science over all other modes of human inquiry? Or is it more a form of excessive confidence, an uncritical attitude of glowing admiration? What, if any, are its dangers? Are fears that science will marginalize the humanities and eradicate the human subject—that it will explain away emotion, free will, consciousness, and the mystery of existence—justified? Does science need to be reined in before it drives out all other disciplines and ways of knowing? Both rigorous and balanced, Science Unlimited? interrogates our use of a term that is now all but ubiquitous in a wide variety of contexts and debates. Bringing together scientists and philosophers, both friends and foes of scientism, it is a conversation long overdue. is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Philosophy and at Ghent University, Belgium. is the K. D. of Philosophy at the of New York. He is the author of many books, including Nonsense on Stilts: How to from Bunk and, most recently, How to Be a Stoic: Philosophy to Live a Modern Life. Together they are the coeditors of Philosophy of Pseudoscience: Reconsidering the Demarcation Problem. “Science Unlimited?

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Certain claims suggest that the benefits of biocontrol outweigh any potential risks. [SEP] Text: Academy of Enter your Email address: Subscribe to eTOC Home > of Risk. . . of 6, 2007 ExplainedThe official US advisory warning women to eat less seafood during pregnancy to prevent neurological deficits associated with mercury exposure in the womb could have just the opposite effect — depriving infants of long-chain omega 3 fatty acids and other nutrients in fish that promote healthy brain development, according to researchers in the US and Great Britain. In 2004, the US FDA cautioned expectant mothers to limit seafood to under 340 grams per week — 12 ounces or around three servings. But a longitudinal outcome study of nearly 9,000 children, published in the Feb. 17 Lancet, revealed that infants born to mothers who consumed more than that amount had more robust cognitive development throughout early childhood, and had higher IQ scores at age eight (2007;369:578–585). study involved women in Bristol, England, who were pregnant between April 1991 and December 1992. Dietary questionnaires were sent four times during the pregnancy, and then periodically afterward. Child development was monitored through questionnaires sent to the parents and with IQ testing when the boys and girls were 8-years-old. Among findings, toddlers of mothers who ate less than 340 grams per week had significantly slower social and behavioral development and less developed fine motor and communication skills than mothers who ate more seafood. By age 8, children of mothers who ate little seafood scored in the lowest 25 percent of verbal IQ. “The findings suggest that advice to limit seafood consumption could actually be detrimental,” said lead researcher Joseph L. Hibbeln, MD, chief of the Laboratory of and Biochemistry at the on and Alcoholism at the NIH. The data were adjusted for 28 different possible confounders and maternal seafood intake was divided into three categories: none, 340 grams per week, or more than that amount. Without adjustment, there was a six-point difference in IQ scores between children of mothers in the highest and lowest categories. When adjusted for the 28 variables, the difference was a statistically significant three to four IQ points, Dr. Hibbeln told in a telephone interview. Although they did not include maternal or paternal IQ scores, the researchers did consider education and job status as potential confounders, as well as ethnicity. “This was the world's largest and most comprehensive longitudinal study on pregnancy and childhood outcomes. At 12 ounces of seafood during pregnancy, the beneficial effects on cognitive development far outweigh the risks.

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: Human behavior is almost entirely determined by genetic factors, with little influence from culture or environment. [SEP] Text: Once again, note the classical exponential (Gompertzian) shape with ΔAge, even though all the subjects are the same age chronologically; f) distribution of ΔAge for all the people in UKBB (all ages and all genders, green shape). The distribution of ΔAge for people who died within 5 years after enrolling in the UKBB (red line) is shown for comparison; note a shift of the deceased distribution to the right, towards larger ΔAge (predicted older on average). The mortality penalty due to ΔAge is plotted as blue dots (left y-axis), the exponential fit of these data is presented as a blue line, and the 99% confidence interval as a grey shade; g) average ΔAge is plotted for UKBB males (g) and females (h) against their highest education (qualification) level achieved; i) the fraction of people who play computer games “sometimes” (yellow dots), never (red dots), and people who play computer games “often” (green dots); j) average Δage of people at different ages separated by their computer gaming habits (see 3i). As a group, people who play computer games “often” are biologically younger than people who play computer games “sometimes”, or “never”. One year of ΔAge carries approximately the same mortality risk as one year of chronological ageThe classical paradigm of aging described by Gompertz stipulates that mortality rates increase exponentially with time, doubling roughly every 8 years (Kirkwood, 2015). In the UKBB dataset that we analyzed, a small number of participants (8,883 males and 5,668 females, fig. 3b) passed away within 5 years of their initial test-center attendance. The distribution of these deaths among UKBB participants has a typical “Gompertzian” shape, with mortality rates exponentially doubling every 7. 7 years for both males and females (figure 3c). In Gompertz’ model, where mortality depends only on age, everyone of the same age has an equal likelihood of dying. However, by incorporating ΔAge, we were able to further forecast death among individuals of the same age. To illustrate this point, consider males who are 62 years old and group them based on their ΔAge (as shown in figure 3d).

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: All herbs can be safely consumed in unlimited quantities. [SEP] Text: tries to establish a clarity to the debate over the scope and limits of scientific knowledge, and whether there are forms of knowledge other than the scientific. With breadth and topicality, the contributors’ arguments critical of and defending scientism ring true. This book will appeal to a wide range of scholars, including those working in the fields of (obviously) philosophy, but also the sciences themselves, religion-based specialties, and the humanities in general. ” — John S. Wilkins, author of "Species: A History of the Idea" "What is scientism? Can there be too much science? What are the limits in the pursues of science? Is there room for other valid ways of knowing? Can science address questions of religion, morality, philosophy, alternative medicine, and economics? What is the relation between science and the humanities or the social sciences? How does scientism affect politics,from education to health care? Science unlimited is a collection of 10. 7208/chicago/9780226498287. 003. 0001[scientism;Science Unlimited;pseudoscience]This 10. 7208/chicago/9780226498287. 003. 0002[humanities;rational inquiry;scientism;unity of knowledge]Many questions must be investigated by methods that are not “scientific,” in the popular and historical senses of that word. In particular, much legitimate and rational inquiry within the humanities cannot meaningfully be classified as scientific. At the same time, there is no clear boundary between the sciences and the humanities. In principle, all academic disciplines contribute to a unity of knowledge. Nor does any cluster of academic disciplines hold a monopoly on particular methods of inquiry. Neither the sciences nor the humanities have access to reliable supernatural methods, but insistence on this point should not be denigrated as “scientism. ” It would be better, in fact, to avoid talk of scientism and to employ more precise terminology and concepts where needed. For example, we can speak of philistinism about the humanities and of inappropriate mimicry by humanities scholars of the superficial trappings of science. (pages 11 - 30)This 10. 7208/chicago/9780226498287. 003. 0003[limits of science;supernatural;methodological naturalism;web of knowledge;is/ought divide;moral realism]This 10.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Neural networks can simulate certain aspects of human cognition. [SEP] Text: the of Jobs at optics. org. org and + +. Calls for Top 5 + + + for an & a at : - Researchers' "creatures" use neural networks that simulate animals' nervous systems From OE 187 - July 1999 01 July 1999 Satellites learn to be dynamicResearchers at in are in the final stages of completing a very simple, but robust, attitude control system. The new board is a direct heir of research into simulating the nervous systems of real animals using analog electronics, which has produced compelling results. The first stage of the work involved building electronic "creatures" that crawl, slither, and generally appear extremely realistic. They are so robust that many have survived, interacting in the lab "vivarium" for many years. However, later this year the new technology will truly be put to the test when it is blasted into orbit with the satellite. Technology imitates lifeThis field was pioneered by Brosl Hasslacher, Mark Tilden, and their colleagues, when they started to copy simple "nervous networks" from animals such as lobsters, fish, and insects. 1,2 Their building blocks were simple analog electronics, sensors, and actuators. These artificial creatures were not designed to be intelligent in the normal sense. The systems contained no "knowledge" of the world, nor were they equipped to acquire it. Instead, the nervous networks provided a way for the machines to adaptively interact with the world, and the results have been incredibly lifelike (Figure 1). Figure 1. Hasslacher and Tilden's "Lobster," named for the animal on which its neural structure is based. This analog creature is made from just 68 transistors, yet it can learn to walk (from a "cold start") in just three seconds. As well as avoiding obstacles, retreating, and attacking, this machine exhibits 64 different "moods" and has six distinct walking gaits (stop, pace, trot, cantor, pronk, and crabwalk). The components were connected in a simple-but powerful-design. In the nervous network, the input and output of each actuator (arm, leg, or other moving part) are nonlinearly coupled together. The more force a limb experiences, the more it pushes back. The controller neurons are analog neurons that "fire" (relay signals) that are related to incoming signals by some nonlinear function.

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: Human behavior is almost entirely determined by genetic factors, with little influence from culture or environment. [SEP] Text: Individuals on the left side (with negative ΔAge values) were predicted by the model to be younger than 62, while those on the right were predicted to be older. In this UKBB sub-cohort, several hundred subjects died within five years following their enrollment. Plotting the average mortality for each ΔAge bin in this stratification of 62-year-olds resulted in a Gompertz-like mortality distribution. Notably, the effect of one year of ΔAge on the mortality rate was almost identical to that of one year of chronological age. It is important to emphasize that death data were not considered during the development of the model of biological age or derivation of ΔAge, and that ΔAge does not exhibit any correlation with chronological age (as illustrated in fig. 3a). The capacity of ΔAge to predict mortality with a similar level of accuracy as chronological age is consistent across genders and ages and can even be observed when individuals of all ages are combined (fig. 3f). We consider this progressive increase in mortality rates with progressively larger ΔAge to be a powerful validation of this modeling strategy for assessing biological age. The fact that combining chronological age with ΔAge leads to a more precise prediction of mortality risk than relying on chronological age alone might be of interest to actuaries. ΔAge correlates with parental lifespanRemarkably, we observed a robust correlation of ΔAge with the age at death of the participant’s father (p-value = 1. 9*10-43 for females, and p-value = 3. 9*10-31 for males), and mother (p-value = 1. 1*10-68 for females, and p-value = 1. 3*10-32 for males). Individuals predicted to be biologically younger had parents who lived longer. Previous studies have reported that the lifespans of parents and offspring are correlated (et al. , 2018; Milman and Barzilai, 2016). These findings, too, provide strong validation for the model, reinforcing the idea that ΔAge is not simply noise, but rather carries significant information about the aging process and its variability in the population. Environmental factors that influence biological agePrevious studies have shown that personal wealth is positively associated with human lifespan (Chetty et al. , 2016; Wang and Geng, 2019), whereas smoking and excessive drinking are negatively associated with lifespan.

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: All herbs can be safely consumed in unlimited quantities. [SEP] Text: 7208/chicago/9780226498287. 003. 0004[supervenience;reductionism;folk psychology;monism;anomalous monism]The idea that everything supervenes on the physical, or that the physical facts fix all the (experiential, mental, social…) facts, figures prominently in a broad family of arguments that appeal to those who have convinced themselves that physics, the science which by definition explores the physical and nothing but the physical, explains everything. But what does ‘fixing all the other facts’ exactly mean? This 10. 7208/chicago/9780226498287. 003. 0005[scientism;naturalism;parapsychology;alternative medicine;metaethics]Accusations of scientism are part of the defensive rhetoric of enterprises threatened by science taking over of their territory. Sometimes, as in the case of psychical research, the accusation serves as an excuse for failure. Alternative medicine presents a more ambiguous case: while a scientific style of understanding is critical for understanding disease processes, the purposes of medicine are not limited to investigation, explanation, and a straightforward application of biological knowledge. Finally, the case of morality illustrates an occasion where a strictly scientific approach is not adequate. There is no good reason to think there are moral facts akin to the sort of facts investigated by the sciences, or that moral debates can be translated into a kind of applied science of human flourishing. Even if we take a broad and ambitious view of science, hoping to achieve a comprehensive naturalistic understanding of our world that is continuous with the natural sciences, we have many purposes in life that are not always advanced by a single-minded devotion to scientific purposes. Especially those of who harbor such ambitions have to be more careful to distinguish between harmful and harmless varieties of scientism. (pages 73 - 94)This 10. 7208/chicago/9780226498287. 003. 0006[ethics;is/ought divide;morality;normative statement;non-normative statement]If scientism is true, and if there is anything anyone should do or should believe, then it must be legitimate to derive a normative ("ought") statement from a non-normative ("is") statement. However, a generally accepted philosophical view is that one cannot legitimately derive an ought from an is.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Neural networks can simulate certain aspects of human cognition. [SEP] Text: From a practical perspective, this blurring of the boundaries between the machine and the world around it makes the electronic creature fast, smart, and very hard to break. Removing a couple of limbs or sensors need not be disastrous; the lack of feedback from that part of the circuit (no push, no push-back) inherently forces the machine to use the resources that are really available. Beasts of burdenInitially Hasslacher, Tilden, and their colleagues saw their electronic bodies as sturdy "horses" that could carry other types of artificial intelligence. Even if the AI "rider" was missing, disabled or dead, the machine itself could still survive as long as it was not too badly damaged. However, survival of the machine was not always the main concern, particularly because the creatures were cheap enough to be considered "disposable" for some applications. A good example of this is a project the researchers carried out at the Yuma proving grounds in Arizona, which is an area that has been littered with mines, missiles, shells, and bombs since the 1940s. In order to clear that section of desert of unexploded ordinance (UXO), they designed many different types of "biomechs" (their term) to detect and gather this dangerous refuse. It was a particularly challenging test because of the extreme conditions: the temperature could get as high as 165 deg. F during the day, down to freezing at night, the nominal humidity was 80 percent and the air was full of dust. Not to mention the real creatures -- such as snakes and scorpions -- that the machines would have to deal with. The experiment was not entirely successful, in that the machines tended not to "live" very long, but the fact that they could survive at all and detect and gather some of the UXO was encouraging. Particularly interesting was a machine they dubbed the "ground pounder," whose sole job was to trigger buried mines to explode. Figure 2. This simple neural network circuit allows the analog sensors to directly control their motor, thus forcing it to turn and "lock" onto an infrared target. Sensing victoryThough the robotics work continues, another line of research that has been fruitful has been that of a simpler kind of sensor-actuator coupling. This has been pursued by Tilden with colleagues. 3,4 In one experiment, the nervous network idea was adapted to allow infrared tracking using two sensors coupled to a motor (see Figure 2).

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: Human behavior is almost entirely determined by genetic factors, with little influence from culture or environment. [SEP] Text: To investigate whether this measure of physiological ΔAge has similar associations, and possibly to identify new environmental factors that influence aging, we calculated the correlation of ΔAge with every parameter available from UKBB (supplemental tables S3a, b). Correlations with p-values lower than 10-5 (calculated to correct for multiple testing) were considered statistically significant. Interestingly, we observed a strong association of ΔAge with age-dependent biological phenotypes that were not included in the model to predict ΔAge due to the low number of people who underwent the assessment. For example, heel bone density (UKBB field #3148) and Thalamus volume (UKBB field #25011) both had strong associations with ΔAge (p-values were ∼10-11 and 10-10, respectively). These and other phenotypes with strong ΔAge correlations again help to validate the model and might be useful parameters to consider when building biological clocks in the future. Tables S3c and S3d list the environmental factors we found to correlate with ΔAge. As predicted, wealth was positively correlated with a more youthful ΔAge. For instance, parameters such as “home location” (UKBB field id# 20075), “place of birth” (UKBB field id# 129), “Townsend deprivation index” (UKBB field id# 189), and “total income” have a strong and significant correlation with ΔAge (Tables S3). Additionally, smoking and exposure to smoke (UKBB field ids# 20161 and 20162) were positively correlated with an older ΔAge. The impact of moderate alcohol drinking on long-term health is still a subject of debate. In our data, the overall frequency of alcohol consumption (numerous UKBB fields, like 20414) did not have a significant correlation with ΔAge, however, the alcohol type did. Consuming beer and hard cider (UKBB field id# 1588) were positively correlated with ΔAge, whereas consuming Champagne and other white wines (UKBB field id# 4418) was negatively correlated. It is likely that drinking Champagne frequently is an indicator of higher socio-economic status. The single most significant non-biological parameter that correlated with ΔAge in both males and females (p-value<10-200) was “Qualifications” or the level of education achieved (UKBB field id# 6138).

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: All herbs can be safely consumed in unlimited quantities. [SEP] Text: After briefly reviewing a few case studies in which the is/ought divide is crossed, this 10. 7208/chicago/9780226498287. 003. 0007[science;humanities;progress;method;history;ethnography]The appeal of scientism rests on five claims about the contrast between scientific and humanistic inquiry. First comes the charge that the humanities undergo directionless change, with no cumulative progress. Second is the recognition of the extraordinary successes achieved in some areas of natural science. Third is an appreciation of the precise articulation of method in some scientific domains. Fourth is the contention that humanists only reason cogently when they confine themselves to banal general claims. Finally, the history of the humanities and the social sciences seems to be dominated, for long periods, by theories whose severe shortcomings have subsequently been exposed. This 10. 7208/chicago/9780226498287. 003. 0008[supernatural;religion;theism;scientism;NOMA;philosophy]Critics of religious, New Age, and other forms of divine or supernatural belief are often accused of scientism, with the accusation typically involving the thought that critics have crossed a line or boundary demarcating those topics or subjects that are the proper province of science, and those that are beyond its capacity to adjudicate. Within discussion of religious, spiritual, New Age, and popular divine or supernatural beliefs, this boundary marking the "limits of science" is almost always supposed to play an immunizing role: to explain why science constitutes no threat to such beliefs. "You scientists," say the believers, "may come this far, but no further. " This 10. 7208/chicago/9780226498287. 003. 0009[anti-science;cognitive illusions;future discounting;pragmatism;science hype;scientific change;scientific progress;scientific realism;scientism]This 10. 7208/chicago/9780226498287. 003. 0010[inter-subjectivity;knowledge;natural science;rationality;pepeatability;scientism;Fundamental Argument]One influential version of scientism says that only natural science provides rational belief or knowledge. This paper spells out and defends what the author calls the against scientism.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: The brain's visual cortex processes visual information in a hierarchical manner. [SEP] Text: is Open Access? is an initiative that aims to make scientific research freely available to all. To date our community has made over 100 million downloads. It’s based on principles of collaboration, unobstructed discovery, and, most importantly, scientific progression. As PhD students, we found it difficult to access the research we needed, so we decided to create a new publisher that levels the playing field for scientists across the world. How? By making research easy to access, and puts the academic needs of the researchers before the business interests of publishers. are a community of more than 103,000 authors and editors from 3,291 institutions spanning 160 countries, including winners and some of the world’s most-cited researchers. Publishing on IntechOpen allows authors to earn 10. 5772/46011 this 1. Choose citation style Select style to clipboard Get citation 2. Choose citation style Select format Bibtex RIS Download citation and by From the - by and purchase hard copies of this book, please contact the representative in India: CBS Publishers & Distributors Pvt. Ltd. www. cbspd. com | customercare@cbspd. com 1. Choose citation style Select style to clipboard Get citation 2. Choose citation style Select format Bibtex RIS Download citation Impact of this 1. IntroductionComplex mechanisms from retina to different visual areas allow us to read these lines. The visual system is inevitable for the way we interact with our surroundings as majority of our impressions, memories, feelings are bound to the visual perception. Millions of cortical neurons are implicated and programmed specifically to frame this incredible interface (perception) for us to interact with the world. Neurons in the visual cortex respond essentially to the variations in luminance occurring within their receptive fields, where each neuron fires maximally by acting as a filter for stimulus features such as orientation, motion, direction and velocity, with an appropriate combination of these properties [1-5]. The seminal work of Hubel and Wiesel on the visual cortex of cat [1, 2, 6-8], has been instrumental in establishing the anatomical and physiological aspects of the visual cortex. Many studies by various investigators on the visual cortex of different animals, thereafter, have been phenomenal in understanding the brain in general and the vision in particular; yet, neuronal mechanisms involved in processing of stimuli still elude our complete understanding of cortical functioning. These findings have been crucial in unravelling the organization of the visual cortex.

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: Human behavior is almost entirely determined by genetic factors, with little influence from culture or environment. [SEP] Text: Each additional level of education was progressively associated with increased “youthfulness” (Fig. 3g, h). Interestingly, the effect size of education (-1. 51) was much greater than that of wealth (-0. 81) or place of birth (-0. 13). Certain leisure and social activities were also correlated with ΔAge. The amount of TV watching (UKBB filed# 1070) was positively correlated with ΔAge in both males and females, whereas time spent outdoors (UKBB filed# 1050) for males, and DIY projects (UKBB filed# 2624) for females were correlated with younger ΔAge. Intriguingly, the second strongest behavioral trait that associated with ΔAge was the “frequency with which people play computer games”. This is a novel association, and one that is less likely to reflect socioeconomic status, as access to computer gaming is inexpensive and widely available. Playing computer games associated with youthfulness (fig. 3i, j, Supp. Item #1), with a size effect of -2. 2 and p-value of 4*10-8. This association was equally strong if “age” was factored out from the regression, indicating that generational changes in leisure activities do not explain this association. Genetic loci associated with biological ageTo identify potential genetic determinants of physiological ΔAge, we carried out a genome-wide association study (GWAS), using linear models separately on males and females (Methods). Manhattan plots for male and female GWAS models are presented in figures 4a-d (for summary statistics, see supplementary tables S4). The inflation factor in our analysis was λgc=1. 2005 for males and λgc =1. 2531 for females. Linkage disequilibrium regression intercepts were 1. 0213+/-0. 0083 and 1. 0285+/-0. 0119 for males and females respectively. Figure 4. Genetic analysis of ΔAge. a, c) Quantile-Quantile plots for female and male -log10 p-values; b, d) Manhattan plots from genome-wide association analysis of female and male ΔAge; e) Correlation of ΔAge GWAS determination with other GWAS performed and reported by the UKBB consortium.

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: All herbs can be safely consumed in unlimited quantities. [SEP] Text: The argument is that the fundament or basis of natural science itself consists of the deliverances of non-scientific sources of belief, such as auditory perception, memory, and logical intuition, so that if one claims that we should discard any non-scientific sources of belief, one undermines science itself. After laying out the argument in detail, this 10. 7208/chicago/9780226498287. 003. 0011[demarcation projects;Karl Popper;signs of scientism;Susan Haack]The author conceives of scientism as an at least implicit project of cultural imperialism, where "science" becomes the only source of human understanding, and scientific projects are the only ones worth pursuing. Scientistically oriented individuals -- a group of misguided scientists and philosophers -- pursue this project by proposing such as expansive concept of science that it begins to coincide with reason itself, thus "winning" the game by definitional fiat. This 10. 7208/chicago/9780226498287. 003. 0012[humanities;scientism;philosophical questions;physics]Scientism is defined as the exaggerated respect for the findings of the natural sciences and the unreasonable extension of their methods to answer questions outside their original domains. Advocates of scientism accept this definition subject to the elimination of the qualifications "exaggerated" and "unreasonable. " We hold that science can answer all cognitively significant questions and that such questions as it cannot answer are in one respect or another pseudo-questions, based on mistaken presuppositions. Scientism has the answers to many of the philosophical questions that have attracted the most interest by philosophers since Plato and that still hold the attention of philosophers and non-philosophers: Is there a God? No. What is the nature of reality? Just ask physics. What is the purpose of the universe, life, humanity? None. What justifies our common moral core? Nothing. Is there free will? Not a chance. Could there be a self, person, soul that lasts even over the body’s lifetime? No. (pages 203 - 224)This 10. 7208/chicago/9780226498287. 003.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: The brain's visual cortex processes visual information in a hierarchical manner. [SEP] Text: The visual cortex reorganises itself in the postnatal development, within a specific period called ‘the critical period’ [9], which is a period characterised with pronounced brain plasticity. In recent years, the focus of the research has been to comprehend the ‘reorganization’ of neuronal framework, especially after the so called ‘critical period’ [10-12] in response to various conditions and its ability to adapt accordingly. This amazing tendency of brain to change its neuronal connections and properties is termed ‘plasticity’ [13]. Two common approaches to study the reorganization of visual cortex are frequently applied: deprivation and induced adaptation. Deprivation refers to the removal of sensory inputs, whereas induced adaptation refers to the forceful application of a sensory input. Consequently, neurons communicate dynamically with each other in a specific way self-assembling, auto-calibrating, memorizing and adapting to different stimuli properties, thus responding accordingly to several experiences [14-16]. The aim of this 2. Visual system: Organization2. 1. IntroductionVisual area constitutes about 25 % of the cortex in humans with approximately 5 billion neurons. The study of the visual cortex has revealed many of these visual regions such as V1, V2, V3, V4 and MT on the basis of their anatomical architecture, topography and physiological properties [17, 18]. These regions are involved in processing of multitude of informations (shape, orientation, color, movement, size etc) resulting from the visual pathways, thus making up an image applied to retina. The cortical area of higher mammals such as cats, monkeys and humans is generally divided into modules of selectivity (e. g. the visual cortex is divided into areas of selectivity called orientation columns). Several characteristics of the visual system of mammals appear to be common to many species [19, 20], though the neurons are distributed in a salt and pepper fashion in the visual cortex of lower animals such as rats and mice, lacking the orientation domains [21, 22]. Research on animal models is used on a large scale to study and investigate the structure and function of the visual system. Monkeys, cats, and mice are commonly used in neurophysiological experiments for understanding cortical mechanisms in general and visual pathways in particular [23]. 2. 2.

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: Human behavior is almost entirely determined by genetic factors, with little influence from culture or environment. [SEP] Text: Note the strong genetic relation between GWASs for ΔAge and parental age at death; f) effect of APOE alleles on average ΔAge plotted across different ages. Beneficial APOE2 alleles are in green, and detrimental APOE4 alleles are in red. Using a stringent multiple testing correction for GWAS (Chen et al. , 2021) with a threshold of 10-9, we identified 9 loci associated with ΔAge in males and 25 loci in females (fig. 4a, b, table S4). Four of these loci were found in both sexes. Specifically, these include the HLA locus, located at chr6:32,600,000; chr10:64,900,000, a locus that contains NRBF2, JMJD1C, and TATDN1P1 genes; chr19:45,413,233, a locus that contains 40, and APOC genes; and chr20:23,613,000, a locus that contains the CST3 gene. These genes are strong candidates to influence whether a person is biologically young or old for their age. Two of these loci, APOE (Schächter et al. , 1994; Sebastiani et al. , 2019) and HLA (Yang et al. , 2017), have previously been associated with human longevity, which increases our confidence in the analysis. GWAS analysis of combined male and female ΔAge data identified 12 additional loci (and candidate genes associated with these loci), are listed in table S4, and figure 5b. Figure 5. Models. a) Correlation between ΔAge calculated using full set of identified parameters and each of ten dropout models. Note that ΔAge values remain robust between models, meaning that if the person is predicted to have large ΔAge by the complete model, the “dropout” models will predict large ΔAge as well; b) The list of genes nearest to GWAS loci that associate with female and male ΔAge in the full model. Each hit is presented as a bubble, colored according to the significance of association of the locus with ΔAge, with size representing the effect size of the top SNP in the locus. The full summary is reported in Supplementary table 4.

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: All herbs can be safely consumed in unlimited quantities. [SEP] Text: 0013[economic modeling;scientism;physics borrowing;the economist as craftsperson]Critics of economics have frequently accused its practitioners of "scientism" for claiming, falsely it is alleged, that economists discover objective constraints on policy and social action. This 10. 7208/chicago/9780226498287. 003. 0014[metaphors in science;mechanical philosophy;religion]This 10. 7208/chicago/9780226498287. 003. 0015[experimental philosophy;intuitions;moral philosophy;scientism]One strand of experimental philosophy seems to be defined by its rejection of the kind of appeal to intuitions built into well-known analyses of concepts like knowledge and causation. Experimental philosophers complain that "knowns" and "causes" are items of the public property of a linguistic community, and yet only a small number of language-users – philosophers in their armchairs, or participants in philosophy classes or seminars, or contributors to philosophy journals – provide the linguistic intuitions that conceptual analyses are tested against. According to surveys conducted by experimental philosophers, many people’s intuitions are different from those of philosophers. The question to be pursued in this 10. 7208/chicago/9780226498287. 003. 0016[reductionism;Einstein-Bergson controversy;demarcation problem;pseudoscience;sociobiology;Aristotle’s theory of science]Science and philosophy are too closely intertwined ever to be divorced, but not so closely tied as to be indistinguishable. We cannot disentangle them without impoverishing both. Scientism, however defined, necessarily involves poor relations between the sciences and other disciplines. If only for this it must be combatted. But what is it to combat scientism? Many of scientism’s detractors insist on better policing of boundaries between disciplines, especially between science and other forms of inquiry. This 2017. Page maintained by BiblioVault.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: The brain's visual cortex processes visual information in a hierarchical manner. [SEP] Text: From retina to visual areasVisual perception begins in the retina where the received light is transformed into electrical signal by a biochemical cascade produced in the rods and cones. The retinal ganglion cells relay the message to the lateral geniculate body (LGN) which consists of six layers [24]. Each layer receives information from the retinal hemi-field of one eye. The axon terminals of ganglion cells which project on each layer form a precise retinotopic map. This retinotopy denotes the spatial organization of neuronal responses to visual stimuli. Indeed, in many parts of the brain, neurons that respond to stimulation from a given portion of the visual field are located right next to the neurons whose receptive fields cover adjacent portions. Therefore, all the neurons in these brain regions form a topographical map of the visual field from its projection onto the retina. From the LGN, axons are organized into thalamocortical fibres forming the optic radiations. These optic radiations project onto the cortex in specialized visual areas. The distribution of fibres in the cortex can reproduce the visual field on the cortical layer, and the stimulation of a small cortical area leads to the appearance of bright spots called ‘phosphenes’ [25] in a specific location of the visual field. Visual areas begin in the occipital lobe, and the primary visual cortex or area 17 is the main entrance to cortex for thalamic relay cells [24]. The primary visual cortex is organized into functional modules. Neurons with similar receptive fields are organized into columns [26, 27]. Visual neurons have other fundamental properties, such as the direction selectivity of cells in the layer IVβ, and the selectivity for speed [3, 6]. There is another system of alternating columns, which corresponds to the separation of afferents from both eyes. These are the ocular dominance columns. The ocular dominance columns represent bands of cortical tissue alternately occupied by afferents from the left eye or right eye [28-30]. These bands are particularly pronounced at the cortical layer IV, which receives the afferent endings of the lateral geniculate nucleus. Thus the visual cortex is organized into functional maps of orientation, spatial frequency, ocular dominance, temporal frequency which are interrelated to each other [31-33]. Figure 1.

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: Human behavior is almost entirely determined by genetic factors, with little influence from culture or environment. [SEP] Text: A healthy sub-cohort distinguishes genes that affect aging vs age-related diseaseSome genes that associated with ΔAge in our analysis are known disease risk factors. For example, the HNF1A (hepatocyte nuclear factor 1 homeobox A) locus (top SNP – rs1169284, ΔAge association p-value = 3. 0*10-23) is associated with diabetes (Shepherd et al. , 2009) and cancer (Abel et al. , 2018). The APOE (apolipoprotein E) locus (top SNP – rs7412, ΔAge association p-value = 4. 4*10-33) is associated with Alzheimer’s disease and coronary heart disease (Xu et al. , 2016). It is possible that people who carry risk alleles for age-related disease have a higher ΔAge due to the disease itself, even though their aging may be unaffected otherwise. To investigate this, we calculated the association of top loci with ΔAge in a “healthy-only” cohort, excluding people who had been diagnosed with disease; specifically, diabetes, cancer, asthma, emphysema, bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cystic fibrosis, sarcoidosis, pulmonary fibrosis tuberculosis, any vascular or heart problems (such as high blood pressure, stroke, angina, or heart attack) or anybody with a history of allergic complications. These exclusion criteria decreased the number of the people in the study by almost 50%, however, the association of ΔAge for top hits remained (supplementary table 4). These findings suggest that most of the genetic signal associated with ΔAge comes not from a few susceptibility alleles for specific diseases but rather from alleles that describe and possibly drive fundamental processes that change with age; that is, possibly with aging itself. Conversely, this analysis also identified genes that were specifically responsible for certain diseases that present similarly to accelerated aging. For instance, the GCKR (glucokinase regulatory protein) locus showed a strong association with ΔAge (p-value=8*10-12); however, the association disappeared when we excluded individuals diagnosed with diabetes. This demonstrates that mutations in GCKR cause a disease that resembles aging but do not have a detectable effect on the overall aging of healthy individuals.

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: All herbs can be safely consumed in unlimited quantities. [SEP] Text: literature (critical appraisals) Can we safely reuse N95 masks? by Justin Morgenstern|29, 2020-7, 2020|12 comments N95 masks are designed to be single use. In normal times, they shouldn’t be reworn. In normal times, they shouldn’t be decontaminated and reused. But these are not normal times. COVID-19 has resulted in drastic PPE shortages around the world, and has left many hospital systems considering options for reusing their normally disposable equipment. This is a controlled study looking at 4 different possible techniques for decontaminating and reusing N95 masks. The paper van Doremalen N, et al. Assessment of N95 respirator decontamination and re-use for SARS-CoV-2. 2020. Prepublished online. This is a laboratory based study, in which 4 different N95 decontamination methods were compared. The 4 methods were UV radiation, 70 degree Celsius heat, 70% ethanol, and vaporized hydrogen peroxide. (If you are actually using these methods, it is probably worth reading the paper to delve into the details. ) They looked at each method’s ability to reduce contamination of SARS-CoV-2, and they also assessed the effect of each method on respirator function. Decontamination was measured by performing titrated viral cultures at various time frames after each decontamination method and on a control. Respirator function was determined by quantitative testing, using the “fit tester”, which measures aerosols both inside and outside the mask. They did dynamic testing, in that they had participants move and talk while wearing the mask. The results are reported as the “fit factor”, which is the ratio of p2. 2020. Prepublished online. Cite this 2020.

Output: pass