Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Corticosteroid response and supporting cell antibody in autoimmune hearing loss.

OBJECTIVE To determine whether antibodies to supporting cells are associated with response to corticosteroids in patients with autoimmune sensorineural hearing loss. DESIGN Prospective analysis of antibody to inner-ear antigens. SETTING Collaborating otology practices in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Indiana. PATIENTS Sixty-three patients with rapidly progressive unilateral or bilateral sensorineural hearing loss of unknown cause suggestive of autoimmune sensorineural hearing loss. INTERVENTIONS Pretreatment audiometry, serum analysis by Western blot (WB) and immunofluorescence (IF) tests, corticosteroid therapy, and follow-up audiometry. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Antibody reactivity and audiogram changes were analyzed for association with response to treatment. RESULTS More than half of the patients (37/63) had antibodies to both a 68- to 72-kDa protein and to inner-ear supporting cells, 16 patients had positive results on one assay only, and 10 had negative results on both. Twenty-eight patients improved and 35 did not. The WB findings did not correlate with response. Of the WB-positive patients, 49% (21/43) improved, as did 35% (7/20) of the WB-negative patients (P = .30). In contrast, 53% (25/47) of IF-positive patients improved, compared with only 19% (3/16) in the IF-negative group (P = .02). Of those who improved, 89% (25/28) were IF positive. CONCLUSIONS Antibody to an inner-ear supporting cell antigen was significantly associated with hearing improvement after corticosteroid therapy (relative rate, 2.8). Patients with IF-positive serum are nearly 3 times more likely to experience improved hearing with corticosteroid treatment than those who are IF negative. Antibodies to inner-ear supporting cell antigen may have value in diagnosis and treatment of patients with autoimmune sensorineural hearing loss.
Identification of the Human cDNA for New Survival/Evasion Peptide (DSEP): Studies in Vitro and in Vivo of Overexpression by Neural Cells

We identified the human cDNA encoding a peptide that has been partially purified from the secretions of oxidatively stressed neural cell lines, murine adenocarcinoma cells, and group Abeta-hemolytic steptococci. We then genetically modified mouse and human neural cells to overexpress this peptide and found these modified cells to be remarkably hearty, surviving under conditions of severe oxidative stress, in xenocultures when exposed to activated macrophages, and as xenografts in the brain of rats that were not immunosuppressed. The peptide is called DSEP (dee-sep) for diffusible survival evasion peptide. Part of the survival advantage of DSEP overexpressors may be due to their attenuated response to all-trans-retinoic acid, which regulates differentiation and apoptosis of several cell types including neural and immune cells.
Seller strategies on eBay: Does size matter?

We examine seller strategies in 1177 Internet auctions on eBay, to understand the diversity of strategies used, and their impacts. Dimensions of strategic choice include the use of a ‘Buy it Now’ option, the level of the starting price, and the use of a secret reserve price. A major focus of our analysis is on differences across sellers with different volumes of sales. The largest volume sellers (termed “retailers”) in our sample employ uniform selling strategies, but lower volume sellers exhibit a wide variety of strategic choices. While some components of sellers’ strategies appear important in raising seller revenue, including starting the auction with a ‘Buy it Now’ offer, the overall impact of seller strategy choices on the outcome appears to be quite small. We interpret this as evidence for the competitiveness of the online auction market for frequently traded items with conventional retail alternatives. An exception is provided by the use of a secret reserve price, which raises the winning bid conditional on a sale, but reduces the probability of a sale. Depending on sellers’ risk aversion and impatience, this may also be an efficient outcome.
Application of gene expression programming on dynamic job shop scheduling problem

In this paper, we consider a dynamic job shop scheduling problem (DJSSP) with job release dates. In such a problem, jobs arrive over time and are unknown in advance and they can not be scheduled before their arrivals. We apply gene expression programming (GEP), a new search technique based on evolutionary principle, on the scheduling problem to automatically construct efficient scheduling rules (SRs), which can generate high-quality schedules for the problem. A novel encoding scheme is proposed which prevents the length of chromosomes from increasing dramatically with the increase of the size of scheduling problems. And a new decoding scheme is also proposed which transfers a GEP chromosome into a schedule for each problem instance. The proposed GEP-based method is valuated for its solution quality. According to computational experiment results, the method is proved to be able to construct effective SRs for DJSSP with job release dates.
Metabolic activity and diversity of cryoconites in the Taylor Valley, Antarctica

[1] Metabolic activity and biogeochemical diversity within cryoconites from the Canada, Commonwealth, Howard, and Hughes glaciers in the McMurdo Dry Valleys revealed the presence of a productive microbial refuge in this polar desert ecosystem. Fluorescent in situ hybridization showed a high percentage of Cytophaga-Flavobacteria cells in cryoconite sediments (87.2%), while b-Proteobacterial cells dominated the ice overlying the sediment layer (54.2%). The biomass of bacterial cells in the sediments was also greater (4.82 mgC ml � 1 ) than that in the overlying ice (0.18 mgC ml � 1 ) and was related to bacterial productivity (on the basis of thymidine incorporation), which ranged from 36 ng Cl � 1 d � 1 in the overlying ice to 3329 ng C l � 1 d � 1 in the sediment-containing layers. Bacteria within both the sediments and overlying ice were able to actively incorporate and respire radio-labeled glucose, as well as 17 other dissolved organic carbon compounds. The cryoconites in the Taylor Valley support an active, diverse assemblage of organisms despite the fact that they may remain sealed from the atmosphere for decades. Given the density of the cryoconites in the dry valleys (� 4–6% of ablation zone surfaces), flushing of the cryoconites during warm years could provide a vital nutrient and organic carbon source to the surrounding polar desert.
Joint distribution matching model for distribution-adaptation-based cross-project defect prediction

Using classification methods to predict software defect is receiving a great deal of attention and most of the existing studies primarily conduct prediction under the within-project setting. However, there usually had no or very limited labelled data to train an effective prediction model at an early phase of the software lifecycle. Thus, cross-project defect prediction (CPDP) is proposed as an alternative solution, which is learning a defect predictor for a target project by using labelled data from a source project. Differing from previous CPDP methods that mainly apply instances selection and classifiers adjustment to improve the performance, in this study, the authors put forward a novel distribution–adaptation-based CPDP approach, joint distribution matching (JDM). Specifically, JDM aims to minimise the joint distribution divergence between the source and target project to improve the CPDP performance. By constructing an adaptive weight vector for the instances of the source project, JDM can be effective and robust at reducing marginal distribution discrepancy and conditional distribution discrepancy simultaneously. Extensive experiments verify that JDM can outperform related distribution–adaptation-based methods on 15 open-source projects that are derived from two types of repositories.
Differential heart rate changes to equally intense white noise and tone.

The psychophysiological literature has often ignored possible differences in the effects of white noise and tone stimulation. Twelve undergraduate Ss presented with 10 white noise and 12 Ss presented with 10 tone stimuli of 5-sec duration, uncontrolled, fast rise time, and equal SPL (85 dB re 0.0002 microbars) showed large differences in heart rate (HR) response. Noise elicited a diphasic response of marked acceleration followed by deceleration and tone a triphasic response of deceleration-acceleration-deceleration. The short-latency acceleration following noise habituated rapidly although some acceleration persisted throughout the 10 trials. With stimulus repetition, the response to tone showed lessened deceleration and an insignificant increase in long-latency acceleration. It was suggested that stimulus onset characteristics determine the short-latency HR response and steady-state characteristics the longer-latency phases. The relationship to fast and slow components of startle was discussed as well as possible mechanisms that may account for the differing effects of noise and tone.
An overview of image steganography

: Steganography is the art of hiding the fact that communication is taking place, by hiding information in other information. Many different carrier file formats can be used, but digital images are the most popular because of their frequency on the Internet. For hiding secret information in images, there exists a large variety of steganographic techniques some are more complex than others and all of them have respective strong and weak points. Different applications have different requirements of the steganography technique used. For example, some applications may require absolute invisibility of the secret information, while others require a larger secret message to be hidden. This paper intends to give an overview of image steganography, its uses and techniques. It also attempts to identify the requirements of a good steganographic algorithm and briefly reflects on which steganographic techniques are more suitable for which applications.
Determinants of parental satisfaction with ultrasound hip screening in child health care

Prior research has shown ultrasound (US) screening for developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH) in preventive child health care to be more effective than the current screening method. In the present study, 3-month-old infants were screened for DDH with US. The objective of this study was to examine parental satisfaction with the screening and determinants that affect satisfaction. Parental satisfaction was measured using a questionnaire. Independent variables included socio-demographic determinants, structure, process and outcome-related determinants and the meeting of expectations. Satisfaction with the screening was high. Parents who perceived the screener as competent, had enough time to ask questions, perceived the proceeding as fluent, perceived a low burden on their infant and whose expectations were met, were more likely to be satisfied. Satisfaction was influenced by process-related factors and not by factors related to the structure and the outcome of the screening. Good information provision before the screening and communication during the screening are means by which parental satisfaction can be influenced positively.
Galectin-9 Activates and Expands Human T-Helper 1 Cells

Galectin-9 (Gal-9) is known for induction of apoptosis in IFN-γ and IL-17 producing T-cells and amelioration of autoimmunity in murine models. On the other hand, Gal-9 induced IFN-γ positive T-cells in a sarcoma mouse model and in food allergy, suggesting that Gal-9 can have diametric effects on T-cell immunity. Here, we aimed to delineate the immunomodulatory effect of Gal-9 on human resting and ex vivo activated peripheral blood lymphocytes. Treatment of resting lymphocytes with low concentrations of Gal-9 (5–30 nM) induced apoptosis in ∼60% of T-cells after 1 day, but activated the surviving T-cells. These viable T-cells started to expand after 4 days with up to 6 cell divisions by day 7 and an associated shift from naïve towards central memory and IFN-γ producing phenotype. In the presence of T-cell activation signals (anti-CD3/IL-2) Gal-9 did not induce T-cell expansion, but shifted the CD4/CD8 balance towards a CD4-dominated T-cell response. Thus, Gal-9 activates resting T-cells in the absence of typical T-cell activating signals and promotes their transition to a TH1/C1 phenotype. In the presence of T-cell activating signals T-cell immunity is directed towards a CD4-driven response by Gal-9. Thus, Gal-9 may specifically enhance reactive immunological memory.
Mechanisms underlying PTP sigma-mediated synaptic differentiation and neuronal diversity

Brain function is dependent on both the properties of the individual neurons of which it is made up, as well as the precise pattern of connections between them. Both aspects of brain circuitry are determined in large part by the expression of specific genes. The products of these genes, including adhesion molecules, ion channels, and transcription factors, go on to shape neurons’ properties and as well as their connectivity. Neurons direct their connectivity in part by expressing trans-synaptic cell adhesion molecules, which act as “molecular velcro” in order to form physical connections between axons and dendrites. These adhesion molecules are able to recruit the necessary components for synaptic transmission, through mechanisms which are incompletely understood. Chapter 2 focuses on one presynaptic adhesion molecule, PTPσ, and its interaction with intracellular scaffolding proteins. PTPσ is a phosphatase, but I found that its phosphatase activity is not needed for its ability to induce new synapses. However, interaction with the presynaptic scaffolding protein liprin-α is required. Because liprin-α binds to multiple presynaptic components, this finding suggests a mechanism through which PTPσ recruits liprin-α to nascent synapses, and liprin-α in turn recruits other components, eventually leading to recruitment of vesicles, calcium channels, and everything else necessary for functional presynaptic release. Phenotypes of individual neurons, including electrophysiological activity and morphology, are known to be under genetic control. However, given the number of genes expressed by one organism and the difficulty of experimentally exploring the consequences of loss of function of any one gene, our understanding of the molecular underpinnings of any particular phenotype remains incomplete. In Chapter 3, I took the approach of searching for correlations between gene expression and neuronal phenotypes in a publicly available dataset. I found that controlling for broad cell class (that is, whether cells are inhibitory or excitatory) made a substantial difference to the results, and found much better correspondence with other datasets and with previously published literature when I took this step. In this work, I generated many testable hypotheses regarding the relationship between specific genes and neuronal phenotypes, which I hope will help to guide future studies.
Zinc Solubilizing Plant Growth Promoting Microbes Produce Zinc Nanoparticles

Strains of Pseudomonas, Bacillus and Azospirillum with plant growth promoting ability were checked for their zinc solubilizing ability. Efficient zinc solubilizers were checked for their ability to produce nano-scale zinc particles. The nanoparticles from the cell-free culture filtrates obtained from these strains were characterized for particle size, Zeta potential and functional groups. Presence of Zn nanoparticles in the bacterial culture filtrate was confirmed by particle distribution and Scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis. Most properties of nanoparticles are size dependent. Zinc nanoparticles were observed to be spherical in shape and size ranged from 52.0 to 106.0 nm. Zeta potential of the Zn nanoparticles was estimated to understand the stability of the particles. The measured zeta potentials varied from −14.5mV to +179.10 mV indicating high stability and dispersion of the zinc nanoparticles. FTIR peaks at different wave numbers depicted the role of functional groups of proteins in the biosynthesis of Zn nanoparticles. This finding opens a new area of research focusing on microbe-microbe interactions in rhizosphere and plant-microbe interactions at rhizosphere apart from biosynthesis of nanoparticles, which has major applications. To our knowledge, this is the first report of production of nanoparticles as part of nutrient mobilization by plant growth promoting rhizobacteria.
A Branch-and-Cut Approach for Solving Railway Line-Planning Problems

An important strategic phase in the planning process of a railway operator is the development of a line plan, i.e., a set of routes (paths) in a network of tracks, operated at a given hourly frequency. We consider a model formulation of the line-planning problem where total operating costs are to be minimized. This model is solved with a branch-and-cut approach, for which we develop a variety of valid inequalities and reduction methods. A computational study of five real-life instances based on examples from Netherlands Railways (NS) is included.
Benefits of Appraisal as Perceived by General Practitioners

Appraisal for general practitioners (GPs) has been in place since 2002. We conducted a review of current literature on what benefits GPs perceived appraisal to offer. GPs recognised that appraisal offers the chance to reflect on their personal development, and promotes educational activity. Furthermore, there is a strong perception that appraisal encourages changes in clinical practice and offers additional benefits such as mentorship and motivational support for the doctor. The conclusion we draw is that GPs, and the patients that they treat, should continue to benefit from outputs of medical appraisal after the introduction of medical revalidation.
Global Distribution of Neutrons from Mars: Results from Mars Odyssey

Global distributions of thermal, epithermal, and fast neutron fluxes have been mapped during late southern summer/northern winter using the Mars Odyssey Neutron Spectrometer. These fluxes are selectively sensitive to the vertical and lateral spatial distributions of H and CO2 in the uppermost meter of the martian surface. Poleward of ±60° latitude is terrain rich in hydrogen, probably H2O ice buried beneath tens of centimeter-thick hydrogen-poor soil. The central portion of the north polar cap is covered by a thick CO2 layer, as is the residual south polar cap. Portions of the low to middle latitudes indicate subsurface deposits of chemically and/or physically bound H2O and/or OH.
Mechanisms of fatigue and task failure induced by sustained submaximal contractions.

PURPOSE The present study was designed to investigate whether central neural mechanisms limit the duration of a sustained low-force isometric contraction and the maximal force-generating capacity of the knee extensors. METHODS Fourteen healthy males (28 ± 7 yr) were asked to sustain, until voluntary exhaustion, an isometric contraction with their right knee extensor muscles at a target force equal to 20% of their maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) force. At task failure, the muscle was immediately electrically stimulated for 1 min aiming the same target force (20% MVC force). Subsequently, subjects were asked to resume the voluntary contraction for as long as possible. Knee extensor neuromuscular function was assessed before and after the entire protocol for comparison. RESULTS When electrically stimulated at the point of task failure, all subjects developed the 20% MVC force target, indicating that lack of force-generating capacity from peripheral impairment had not limited the duration of the first task. We observed a reduction in MVC force after the entire protocol (-57% ± 12%), which correlated with a decrease in potentiated peak doublet force (-48% ± 17%, P < 0.001). The level of voluntary activation, as quantified with the interpolated twitch technique, was slightly depressed after the entire protocol (from 93% ± 7% to 87% ± 10%, P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS It follows that task failure from a sustained isometric contraction is mainly affected by central/motivational factors, whereas MVC force loss is largely explained by the extent of contractile failure of the muscle.
Cross-lingual alignment transfer: a chicken-and-egg story?

In this paper, we challenge a basic assumption of many cross-lingual transfer techniques: the availability of word aligned parallel corpora, and consider ways to accommodate situations in which such resources do not exist. We show experimentally that, here again, weakly supervised cross-lingual learning techniques can prove useful, once adapted to transfer knowledge across pairs of languages .
Effects of Mouth Rinses on Color Stability of Resin Composites

Objectives The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of 3 commercially available mouth rinses on the color stability of 4 different resin-based composite restorative materials. Methods Forty disc-shaped specimens (10x2 mm) were prepared from each of the following materials: A nanofill composite Filtek Supreme XT (3M/Espe, St. Paul, MN, USA); a packable low-shrinkage composite, AeliteLS Packable (BISCO, Inc, Shaumburg, IL, USA); nanoceramic composite resin Ceram-X (Dentsply, Konstanz, Germany); a microhybrid composite, and Aelite All-Purpose Body (BISCO). The specimens were then incubated in distilled water at 37°C for 24 hours. The baseline color values (L*, a*, b*) of each specimen were measured with a colorimeter according to the CIELAB color scale. After baseline color measurements, 10 randomly selected specimens from each group were immersed in 1 of the 3 mouth rinses and distilled water as control. The specimens were stored in 20 mL of each mouth rinse (Oral B Alcohol-free, Listerine Tooth Defense Anti-cavity Fluoride Rinse and Klorhex) for 12 hours. After immersion, the color values of all specimens were remeasured, and the color change value ΔE*ab was calculated. Data were analyzed using a 2-way analysis of variance at a significance level of . 05. Results All specimens displayed color changes after immersion, and there was a statistically significant difference among restorative materials and mouth rinses (P<.05); however, the change was not visually perceptible (ΔE*ab<3.3). The interaction between the effect of mouth rinses and type of restorative materials was not statistically significant (P>.05). Conclusions It may be concluded that although visually nonperceptible, all resin restorative materials tested showed a color difference after immersion in different mouth rinses.
Equivalence of Gromov-Prohorov- and Gromov's $\underline\Box_\lambda$-metric on the space of metric measure spaces

The space of metric measure spaces (complete separable metric spaces with a probability measure) is becoming more and more important as state space for stochastic processes. Of particular interest is the subspace of (continuum) metric measure trees. Greven, Pfaffelhuber and Winter introduced the Gromov-Prohorov metric $d_{\mathrm{GP}}$ on the space of metric measure spaces and showed that it induces the Gromov-weak topology. They also conjectured that this topology coincides with the topology induced by Gromov's $\underline\Box_1$ metric. Here, we show that this is indeed true, and the metrics are even bi-Lipschitz equivalent. More precisely, $d_{\mathrm{GP}}=\frac12\underline\Box_{\frac12}$, and hence $d_{\mathrm{GP}}\le \underline\Box_1 \le 2d_{\mathrm{GP}}$. The fact that different approaches lead to equivalent metrics underlines their importance and also that of the induced Gromov-weak topology. As an application, we give an easy proof of the known fact that the map associating to a lower semi-continuous excursion the coded $\mathbb{R}$-tree is Lipschitz continuous when the excursions are endowed with the (non-separable) uniform metric. We also introduce a new, weaker, metric topology on excursions, which has the advantage of being separable and making the space of bounded excursions a Lusin space. We obtain continuity also for this new topology.