Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of Selenium and Zinc Supplementation on Hypothyroidism in Rats

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of selenium and zinc supplementation on thyroid hormones (THs) in rats suffering from hypothyroidism (HT). Forty eight adult male albino rats (200 ± 7 g) were divided in two main groups. The first main group (n=6) was a -ve control, the second main group (n=42) was injected with PTU to induce HT. Then, these rats were divided into seven subgroups, subgroup one was fed on basal diet as a positive control; subgroups 2 -3 were fed on basal diet supplemented with sodium selenate at two levels. While subgroups 4-5 were fed on basal diet supplemented with zinc carbonate at two levels. Subgroups 6 -7 were fed on basal diet supplemented with the combination of sodium selenate and zinc carbonate. At the end of the experimental period (6 weeks), rats were sacrificed to get serum. Biochemical analysis of serum THs, Se, Zn and GPx were determined. The results indicated that PTU treated rats showed significant reduction in FT4 and FT3 levels, however, TSH level was significantly increased compared to the (ve) control group. Administration of Se and /or Zn in the diet at the two levels of intake caused an improving in HT status as related to significant increase in the concentration of both FT4 and FT3 levels and significant reduction in the level of TSH. Also, the weight of thyroid gland was significantly decreased compared to the positive control group. Also, it was observed that the serum concentrations of Se, Zn and GPx were significantly increased for all treated groups. Histopathological examination revealed that PTU treated rats showed an enlarged and dilated thyroid follicles lined with flattened epithelium and congested capilleries. Administration of Se and Zn at the two combination levels of intake showed no histopathological changes when compared to the control (-ve) group. In conclusions, diet supplemented with combination of Se and Zn at the tested levels resulted in an improvement of biochemical and histological changes resulted from HT. It could be suggested that Zn and Se at the tested levels could be used as a suitable supplementation therapy for hypothyroid patients.
Proteomic analysis of the maize rachis: Potential roles of constitutive and induced proteins in resistance to Aspergillus flavus infection and aflatoxin accumulation

Infection of the maize (Zea mays L.) with aflatoxigenic fungus Aspergillus flavus and consequent contamination with carcinogenic aflatoxin is a persistent and serious agricultural problem causing disease and significant crop losses worldwide. The rachis (cob) is an important structure of maize ear that delivers essential nutrients to the developing kernels and A. flavus spreads through the rachis to infect kernels within the ear. Therefore, rachis plays an important role in fungal proliferation and subsequent kernel contamination. We used proteomic approaches and investigated the rachis tissue from aflatoxin accumulation resistant (Mp313E and Mp420) and susceptible (B73 and SC212m) maize inbred lines. First, we compared rachis proteins from resistant and susceptible inbred lines, which revealed that the young resistant rachis contains higher levels of abiotic stress‐related proteins and proteins from phenylpropanoid metabolism, whereas susceptible young rachis contains pathogenesis‐related proteins, which are generally inducible upon biotic stress. Second, we identified A. flavus‐responsive proteins in rachis of both resistant and susceptible genotypes after 10‐ and 35‐day infection. Differential expression of many stress/defense proteins during rachis juvenility, maturation and after A. flavus challenge demonstrates that resistant rachis relies on constitutive defenses, while susceptible rachis is more dependent on inducible defenses.
Association of asthma and hay fever with irregular menstruation

Background: There is some evidence that asthmatic women are more likely to have abnormal sex hormone levels. A study was undertaken to determine whether asthma and allergy were associated with irregular menstruation in a general population, and the potential role of asthma medication for this association. Methods: A total of 8588 women (response rate 77%) participated in an 8 year follow up postal questionnaire study of participants of the ECRHS stage I in Denmark, Estonia, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. Only non-pregnant women not taking exogenous sex hormones were included in the analyses (n = 6137). Results: Irregular menstruation was associated with asthma (OR 1.54 (95% CI 1.11 to 2.13)), asthma symptoms (OR 1.47 (95% CI 1.16 to 1.86)), hay fever (OR 1.29 (95% CI 1.05 to 1.57)), and asthma preceded by hay fever (OR 1.95 (95% CI 1.30 to 2.96)) among women aged 26–42 years. This was also observed in women not taking asthma medication (asthma symptoms: OR 1.44 (95% CI 1.09 to 1.91); hay fever: OR 1.27 (95% CI 1.03 to 1.58); wheeze preceded by hay fever: OR 1.76 (95% CI 1.18 to 2.64)). Irregular menstruation was associated with new onset asthma in younger women (OR 1.58 (95% CI 1.03 to 2.42)) but not in women aged 42–54 years (OR 0.62 (95% CI 0.32 to 1.18)). The results were consistent across centres. Conclusions: Younger women with asthma and allergy were more likely to have irregular menstruation. This could not be attributed to current use of asthma medication. The association could possibly be explained by common underlying metabolic or developmental factors. The authors hypothesise that insulin resistance may play a role in asthma and allergy.
High-Dose Statin Pretreatment Decreases Periprocedural Myocardial Infarction and Cardiovascular Events in Patients Undergoing Elective Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: A Meta-Analysis of Twenty-Four Randomized Controlled Trials

Background Evidence suggests that high-dose statin pretreatment may reduce the risk of periprocedural myocardial infarction (PMI) and major adverse cardiac events (MACE) for certain patients; however, previous analyses have not considered patients with a history of statin maintenance treatment. In this meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs), we reevaluated the efficacy of short-term high-dose statin pretreatment to prevent PMI and MACE in an expanded set of patients undergoing elective percutaneous coronary intervention. Methods We searched the PubMed/Medline database for RCTs that compared high-dose statin pretreatment with no statin or low-dose statin pretreatment as a prevention of PMI and MACE. We evaluated the incidence of PMI and MACE, including death, spontaneous myocardial infarction, and target vessel revascularization at the longest follow-up for each study for subgroups stratified by disease classification and prior low-dose statin treatment. Results Twenty-four RCTs with a total of 5,526 patients were identified. High-dose statin pretreatment was associated with 59% relative reduction in PMI (odds ratio [OR]: 0.41; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.34–0.49; P<0.00001) and 39% relative reduction in MACE (OR: 0.61; 95% CI: 0.45–0.83; P = 0.002). The benefit of high-dose statin pretreatment on MACE was significant for statin-naive patients (OR: 0.69; 95% CI: 0.50–0.95; P = 0.02) and prior low dose statin-treated patients (OR: 0.28; 95% CI: 0.12–0.65; P = 0.003); and for patients with acute coronary syndrome (OR: 0.52; 95% CI: 0.34–0.79; P = 0.003), but not for patients with stable angina (OR: 0.71; 95% CI 0.45–1.10; P = 0.12). Long-term effects on survival were less obvious. Conclusions High-dose statin pretreatment can result in a significant reduction in PMI and MACE for patients undergoing elective PCI. The positive effect of high-dose statin pretreatment on PMI and MACE is significant for statin-naïve patients and patients with prior treatment. The positive effect of high-dose statin pretreatment on MACE is significant for patients with acute coronary syndrome.
Comparison and combination of features in a hybrid HMM/MLP and a HMM/GMM speech recognition system

Recently, the advantages of the spectral parameters obtained by frequency filtering (FF) of the logarithmic filter-bank energies (logFBEs) have been reported. These parameters, which are frequency derivatives of the logFBEs, lie in the frequency domain, and have shown good recognition performance with respect to the conventional mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) for hidden Markov models (HMM) based systems. In this paper, the FF features are first compared with the MFCCs and the relative spectral perceptual linear prediction (Rasta-PLP) features using both a hybrid HMM/MLP and a usual HMM/Gaussian mixture models (HMM/GMM) based recognition system, for both clean and noisy speech. Taking advantage of the ability of the hybrid system to deal with correlated features, the inclusion of both the frequency second-derivatives and the raw logFBEs as additional features is proposed and tested. Moreover, the robustness of these features in noisy conditions is enhanced by combining the FF technique with the Rasta temporal filtering approach. Finally, a study of the FF features in the framework of multistream processing is presented. The best recognition results for both clean and noisy speech are obtained from the multistream combination of the J-Rasta-PLP features and the FF features.
Cognitive Factors Associated with Depression in a Comparison Study of Helping Professionals.

This study investigated the influence of specific cognitive factors believed associated with the onset and maintenance of depression. Of specific interest was the relationship of dysfunctional attitudes to levels of depression in a comparison of two research populations of helping professionals: Presbyterian Church (USA) clergy and mental health professionals. Data from 515 respondents (51.5 percent clergy, 54.2 percent female) were utilized in regression analysis procedures. Results of the data analysis confirmed a positive, directional association between the level of dysfunctional attitudes and level of depression. The presence and persistence of thew dysfunctional attitudes evidently heightened the development of symptoms associated with depression. This finding emphasizes the importance of attending to the influence of cognitive features in personal and professional life. The results do not support the idea that a significant pattern of cognitive resistance to depression was present by virtue of membership in the clergy sample. Test scores indicated that clergy members were at greater risk for symptoms associated with depression than their counselor counterparts. Further study is needed to explore those variables which may increase the efficiency of belief systems as coping mechanisms and thereby reduce the effect of underlying attitudes which predispose a person to depression. (Contains 48 references.) (RJM) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** Cognitive Factors in Depression
PSD-95 Is Required to Sustain the Molecular Organization of the Postsynaptic Density

PSD-95, a membrane-associated guanylate kinase, is the major scaffolding protein in the excitatory postsynaptic density (PSD) and a potent regulator of synaptic strength. Here we show that PSD-95 is in an extended configuration and positioned into regular arrays of vertical filaments that contact both glutamate receptors and orthogonal horizontal elements layered deep inside the PSD in rat hippocampal spine synapses. RNA interference knockdown of PSD-95 leads to loss of entire patches of PSD material, and electron microscopy tomography shows that the patchy loss correlates with loss of PSD-95-containing vertical filaments, horizontal elements associated with the vertical filaments, and putative AMPA receptor-type, but not NMDA receptor-type, structures. These observations show that the orthogonal molecular scaffold constructed from PSD-95-containing vertical filaments and their associated horizontal elements is essential for sustaining the three-dimensional molecular organization of the PSD. Our findings provide a structural basis for understanding the functional role of PSD-95 at the PSD.
Analysis of a discrete-time queue for packet discarding policies in high-speed networks

A message (or a frame) is a group of consecutive packets in high-speed networks. Often a loss of one packet form the message can result in the loss of the whole message. Selective message discarding policies have been proposed to increase goodput and reduce network congestion by discarding the packets which are (or have potentials of being) damaged. In this paper we provide a discrete-time queue for analyzing early message discarding (EMD) policy under bursty fluid. In particular, we obtain exact expressions for the probability distribution of stationary buffer content and the fluid goodput ratio. Our analytical results shall be quite helpful in selecting an optimal discarding threshold and studying the sensitivity of goodput ratio to different parameters. Finally, we give some numerical results.
Bacteriology of acute otitis media in a cohort of Finnish children followed for the first two years of life

Background. Timely information on the bacteriology of primary, noncomplicated acute otitis media (AOM) may today be needed more than ever, because of the increasing antimicrobial resistance of its major bacterial causes and because of the potential of new pneumococcal and other bacterial vaccines for prevention of AOM. Methods. The study followed 329 children from 2 to 24 months of age at scheduled healthy visits and sick visits at the study clinic. Whenever AOM was diagnosed during the follow-up, myringotomy was performed and middle ear fluid was aspirated for bacterial culture. Results. At least one middle ear fluid sample was available from 772 AOM events;Streptococcus pneumoniae (Pnc) was isolated in 201 (26%), Moraxella catarrhalis (Mc) in 177 (23%) and Haemophilus influenzae (Hi) in 174 events (23%). The incidence of Pnc AOM peaked at 12 months of age, whereas the incidence of Mc AOM showed the first peak at 6 months and Hi AOM at 20 months. Pnc AOM showed less prominent seasonality in occurrence than Mc and Hi AOM. Hi was a rare cause of the first 2 AOM episodes (13%) but became increasingly common from the third episode on (32% on average). Conclusions. Pnc, Mc and Hi were almost equally common findings in AOM. Pnc seems to be the most pathogenic of these three, the role of Mc is increasing and Hi is clearly associated with recurrent AOM.
On the time invariance of linear systems

In this paper we revise the concept of time invariance of a system, using exclusively a time domain approach. To this aim, we adopt a group theoretical formulation which let us recognize that the concept of time invariance is truly confined to a few possible cases. This depends on the fact that, for a general multirate linear system, the shift invariance property depends not only on the kernel, but also on the input and output domains. We illustrate the concept with an example of application in one dimensional domains, indicating that our definition has a useful impact in the analysis and synthesis of multirate linear systems. Furthermore, the proposed approach permits to extend the concept of system invariance to multidimensional domains.
Intraoperative Consultation in Ovarian Pathology

Ovarian specimens are very commonly submitted for intraoperative consultation (frozen section diagnosis) in order to confirm the presence of malignancy, to give the surgeon all the information for the histologic type of the tumor and finally determine the extent of surgery. In most cases, intraoperative consultation regarding ovarian masses accurately determines the type of malignancy. The pathologist and the gynecologist must be aware of the applications, indications and limitations of frozen section. Despite its limitations, frozen section diagnosis represents a sensitive and specific technique that can play a very important role in the management of ovarian disease.
Learning Non-overlapping Convolutional Neural Networks with Multiple Kernels

In this paper, we consider parameter recovery for non-overlapping convolutional neural networks (CNNs) with multiple kernels. We show that when the inputs follow Gaussian distribution and the sample size is sufficiently large, the squared loss of such CNNs is $\mathit{~locally~strongly~convex}$ in a basin of attraction near the global optima for most popular activation functions, like ReLU, Leaky ReLU, Squared ReLU, Sigmoid and Tanh. The required sample complexity is proportional to the dimension of the input and polynomial in the number of kernels and a condition number of the parameters. We also show that tensor methods are able to initialize the parameters to the local strong convex region. Hence, for most smooth activations, gradient descent following tensor initialization is guaranteed to converge to the global optimal with time that is linear in input dimension, logarithmic in precision and polynomial in other factors. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that provides recovery guarantees for CNNs with multiple kernels under polynomial sample and computational complexities.
Role of pRb-related proteins in simian virus 40 large-T-antigen-mediated transformation

Simian virus 40 large T-antigen (TAg) transformation is thought to be mediated, at least in part, by binding to and modulating the function of certain cellular proteins, including the retinoblastoma tumor suppressor gene product, pRb. TAg can disrupt the inhibitory complexes formed by pRb with the oncogenic transcription factor E2F, and this mechanism has been suggested to be important for TAg-mediated transformation. Residues 102 to 114 of TAg (including the LXCXE motif) are required for binding to pRb. Mutations within this LXCXE motif abolish the ability of TAg to bind to pRb as well as to transform certain cell types. TAg can also bind to at least two other cellular proteins, p107 and p130, that are related to pRb by sequence homology and share the ability to bind E2F. However, whether p107 and p130 are also targets in TAg-mediated transformation is less clear. To assess the relative contribution of the inactivation of pRb, p107, and p130 to transformation by TAg, fibroblasts were prepared from embryos derived from matings of mice heterozygous for an Rb knockout allele. The ability of TAg to transform fibroblasts homozygous for either wild-type or knockout Rb alleles was evaluated. It is demonstrated that the integrity of the LXCXE motif provides a growth advantage in Rb+/+ and Rb-/- cells. Furthermore, wild-type TAg, but not the LXCXE mutants, could bind to p107 and p130 and disrupt p107-E2F and p130-E2F binding complexes. These results suggest that p107 and p130 participate in TAg-mediated transformation and that they may behave as tumor suppressors.
Measures and dimensions of Julia sets of semi-hyperbolic rational semigroups

We consider the dynamics of semi-hyperbolic semigroups generated by finitely many rational maps on the Riemann sphere. Assuming that the nice open set condition holds it is proved that there exists a geometric measure on the Julia set with exponent $h$ equal to the Hausdorff dimension of the Julia set. Both $h$-dimensional Hausdorff and packing measures are finite and positive on the Julia set and are mutually equivalent with Radon-Nikodym derivatives uniformly separated from zero and infinity. All three fractal dimensions, Hausdorff, packing and box counting are equal. It is also proved that for the canonically associated skew-product map there exists a unique $h$-conformal measure. Furthermore, it is shown that this conformal measure admits a unique Borel probability absolutely continuous invariant (under the skew-product map) measure. In fact these two measures are equivalent, and the invariant measure is metrically exact, hence ergodic.
Relationships of personality dimensions with impulsivity in alcohol-dependent inpatient men

Abstract Background: Impulsivity is closely related to substance use and abuse, both as a contributor to use and as a consequence of use. Particular dimensions of temperament and character were reported to be associated with trait impulsivity in different populations. Aim: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the relationship of personality dimensions with impulsivity among men with alcohol dependence. Also we wanted to control the effect of depression and anxiety symptoms on this relationship. Methods: Participants were consecutively admitted male alcohol-dependent inpatients (n = 94) and healthy controls (n = 63). Patients were investigated with the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, version 11 (BIS-11), the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) and the Symptom Checklist-Revised (SCL-90-R). Results: Severity of impulsivity and dimensions of impulsivity were higher in alcohol-dependent inpatients than in healthy controls. Impulsivity was negatively correlated with reward dependence, persistence, self-directedness and cooperativeness, but positively correlated with novelty seeking, harm avoidance, depression and anxiety. Although high depression and temperament dimensions (high novelty seeking, harm avoidance and low reward dependence) predicted impulsivity, combinations of personality dimensions that predict dimensions of impulsivity differed. Conclusions: Results may suggest that together with depression when impulsivity is the problem, both dimensions of impulsivity and personality must be evaluated and the treatment should be shaped accordingly for alcohol-dependent inpatients.
Cortical oscillations as temporal reference frames for perception

The timing of sensory events is a crucial perceptual feature, which affects both explicit judgments of time (e.g. duration, temporal order) and implicit temporal perception (e.g. movement, speech). Yet, while the relative external timing between events is commonly evaluated with a clock in physics, the brain does not have access to this external reference. In this dissertation, we tested the hypothesis that the brain should recover the temporal information of the environment from its own dynamics. Using magnetoencephalography (MEG) combined with psychophysics, the experimental work suggests the involvement of cortical oscillations in the encoding of timing for perception. In the first part of this dissertation, we established that the phase of low-frequency cortical oscillations could encode the explicit timing of events in the context of entrainment, i.e. if neural activity follows the temporal regularities of the stimulation. The implications of brain oscillations for the encoding of timing in the absence of external temporal regularities were investigated in a second experiment. Results from a third experiment suggest that entrainment does only influence audiovisual temporal processing when bound to low-frequency dynamics in the delta range (1-2 Hz). In the last part of the dissertation, we tested whether oscillations in sensory cortex could also ‘tag’ the timing of acoustical features for speech perception. Overall, this thesis provides evidence that the brain is able to tune its timing to match the temporal structure of the environment, and that such tuning may be crucial to build up internal temporal reference frames for explicit and implicit timing perception.