Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Neural correlates of the orthographic neighborhood size effect in Chinese

Word recognition research with alphabetical scripts has revealed a facilitatory neighborhood size effect, whereby naming of words with more orthographic neighbors is faster than that of words with fewer neighbors. Preliminary behavioral evidence in Chinese revealed both facilitatory and inhibitory neighborhood size effects, depending on whether there are higher‐frequency neighbors (HFNs) than the target. This functional magnetic resonance imaging study examined the neural substrates of the neighborhood size effect with silent naming. Neighborhood size and the HFN factor were factorially manipulated. Behavioral results replicated previous findings showing that larger neighborhood size facilitated naming in the absence of HFNs, but inhibited naming in their presence. Imaging results identified greater activation in the left middle frontal gyrus for small than larger neighborhood size, and bilateral inferior frontal activations for the with‐HFN condition as compared with the without‐HFN condition. Critically, there was an interaction in the right middle occipital gyrus showing greater activation for large than for small neighborhood size in the absence of HFNs but no neighborhood size effect in their presence. The results support a proposal that, in addition to a facilitatory contribution from orthographic activation of neighborhoods, naming is also affected by whether there are higher‐frequency neighbors, particularly in scripts with deep orthography, where orthographically similar words can be pronounced very differently.
Evidence for Genetic Similarity of Vegetative Compatibility Groupings in Sclerotinia homoeocarpa

Vegetative compatibility groups (VCGs) are determined for many fungi to test for the ability of fungal isolates to undergo heterokaryon formation. In several fungal plant pathogens, isolates belonging to a VCG have been shown to share significantly higher genetic similarity than those of different VCGs. In this study we sought to examine the relationship between VCG and genetic similarity of an important cool season turfgrass pathogen, Sclerotinia homoeocarpa. Twenty-two S. homoeocarpa isolates from the Midwest and Eastern US, which were previously characterized in several studies, were all evaluated for VCG using an improved nit mutant assay. These isolates were also genotyped using 19 microsatellites developed from partial genome sequence of S. homoeocarpa. Additionally, partial sequences of mitochondrial genes cytochrome oxidase II and mitochondrial small subunit (mtSSU) rRNA, and the atp6-rns intergenic spacer, were generated for isolates from each nit mutant VCG to determine if mitochondrial haplotypes differed among VCGs. Of the 22 isolates screened, 15 were amenable to the nit mutant VCG assay and were grouped into six VCGs. The 19 microsatellites gave 57 alleles for this set. Unweighted pair group methods with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) tree of binary microsatellite data were used to produce a dendrogram of the isolate genotypes based on microsatellite alleles, which showed high genetic similarity of nit mutant VCGs. Analysis of molecular variance of microsatellite data demonstrates that the current nit mutant VCGs explain the microsatellite genotypic variation among isolates better than the previous nit mutant VCGs or the conventionally determined VCGs. Mitochondrial sequences were identical among all isolates, suggesting that this marker type may not be informative for US populations of S. homoeocarpa.
Kalman Filtering with Nonlinear State Constraints

In [Simon and Chia, 2002], an analytic method was developed to incorporate linear state equality constraints into the Kalman filter. When the state constraint is nonlinear, linearization was employed to obtain an approximately linear constraint around the current state estimate. This linearized constrained Kalman filter is subject to approximation errors and may suffer from a lack of convergence. In this paper, we present a method that allows exact use of second-order nonlinear state constraints. It is based on a computational algorithm that iteratively finds the Lagrangian multiplier for the nonlinear constraints. The method therefore provides better approximation when higher order nonlinearities are encountered. Computer simulation results are presented to illustrate the algorithm
Clinical trials in neonates and children: Report of the pulmonary hypertension academic research consortium pediatric advisory committee

Drug trials in neonates and children with pulmonary hypertensive vascular disease pose unique but not insurmountable challenges. Childhood is defined by growth and development. Both may influence disease and outcomes of drug trials. The developing pulmonary vascular bed and airways may be subjected to maldevelopment, maladaptation, growth arrest, or dysregulation that influence the disease phenotype. Drug therapy is influenced by developmental changes in renal and hepatic blood flow, as well as in metabolic systems such as cytochrome P450. Drugs may affect children differently from adults, with different clearance, therapeutic levels and toxicities. Toxicity may not be manifested until the child reaches physical, endocrine and neurodevelopmental maturity. Adverse effects may be revealed in the next generation, should the development of ova or spermatozoa be affected. Consideration of safe, age-appropriate tablets and liquid formulations is an obvious but often neglected prerequisite to any pediatric drug trial. In designing a clinical trial, precise phenotyping and genotyping of disease is required to ensure appropriate and accurate inclusion and exclusion criteria. We need to explore physiologically based pharmacokinetic modeling and simulations together with statistical techniques to reduce sample size requirements. Clinical endpoints such as exercise capacity, using traditional classifications and testing cannot be applied routinely to children. Many lack the necessary neurodevelopmental skills and equipment may not be appropriate for use in children. Selection of endpoints appropriate to encompass the developmental spectrum from neonate to adolescent is particularly challenging. One possible solution is the development of composite outcome scores that include age and a developmentally specific functional classification, growth and development scores, exercise data, biomarkers and hemodynamics with repeated evaluation throughout the period of growth and development. In addition, although potentially costly, we recommend long-term continuation of blinded dose ranging after completion of the short-term, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial for side-effect surveillance, which should include neurodevelopmental and peripubertal monitoring. The search for robust evidence to guide safe therapy of children and neonates with pulmonary hypertensive vascular disease is a crucial and necessary goal.
In Vivo Evaluation of the Phenox CRC Mechanical Thrombectomy Device in a Swine Model of Acute Vessel Occlusion

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Mechanical thrombectomy in ischemic stroke is of increasing interest as it is a promising strategy for fast and efficient recanalization. Several thrombectomy devices have been introduced to the armentarium of mechanical thrombectomy. Currently, new devices are under development and are continuously added to the neurointerventional tool box. Each device advocated so far has a different design and mechanical properties in terms of thrombus-device interaction. Therefore, a systematic evaluation under standardized conditions in vivo of these new devices is needed. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficiency, thrombus-device interaction, and potential complications of the novel Phenox CRC for distal mechanical thrombectomy in vivo. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The device was evaluated in an established animal model in the swine. Recanalization rate, thromboembolic events, vasospasm, and complications were assessed. Radiopaque thrombi (2 cm length) were used for the visualization of thrombus-device interaction during retrieval. The Phenox CRC (4 mm diameter) was assessed in 15 vessel occlusions. For every occlusion a maximum of 3 retrieval attempts were performed. RESULTS: Complete recanalization (TICI 3/TIMI 3) was achieved in 86.7% of vessel occlusions. In 66.7% (10/15), the first retrieval attempt was successful, and in 20% (3/15), the second attempt led to complete recanalization of the parent artery. In 2 cases (13.3%) thrombus retrieval was not successful (TICI 0/TIMI 0). In 1 case (6.7%) a minor embolic event occurred in a small side branch. No distal thromboembolic event was observed during the study. Thrombus-device interaction illustrated the entrapment of the thrombus by the microfilaments and the proximal cage of the device. No significant thrombus compression was observed. No vessel perforation, dissection, or fracture of the device occurred. CONCLUSIONS: In this small animal study, the Phenox CRC was a safe and effective device for mechanical thrombectomy. The unique design with a combination of microfilaments and proximal cage reduces thrombus compression with a consequently high recanalization and low complication rate.
Efficacy of intravenous paracetamol compared to dipyrone and parecoxib for postoperative pain management after minor-to-intermediate surgery: a randomised, double-blind trial

Background and objective Paracetamol has a well established pharmacological profile, but its postoperative efficacy is in question. This double-blind, placebo-controlled study was designed to compare the efficacy of intravenous paracetamol with other intravenous non-opioids as part of a multimodal concept for perioperative pain therapy. Methods Patients undergoing minor-to-intermediate surgery under general anaesthesia were randomly assigned to receive infusions of paracetamol (1 g every 6 h), dipyrone (1 g every 6 h), parecoxib (40 mg every 12 h) separated by infusions of physiological saline 0.9%, or placebo (0.9% saline every 6 h), respectively, for at least 48 h as part of a multimodal pain concept. Patient-controlled piritramide was administered as rescue medication. Dependent variables were recorded 1, 6, 18, 30 and 42 h after extubation and 1 week after surgery. Surgical and associated pain was scored as the primary outcome on a visual analogue scale. Additionally, time to first dose and total piritramide dosage, satisfaction, respiratory depression, nausea, vomiting, sedation, itching and sweating were recorded. Results A total of 196 patients were recruited. The efficacy of paracetamol was similar to that of the other non-opioid analgesics. Surgical pain was reduced with all non-opioids compared to placebo; there was no effect on associated pain. Piritramide dosage and incidence of side effects were not reduced. Conclusion Intravenous paracetamol has equivalent efficacy to non-opioids dipyrone and parecoxib that improves postoperative pain therapy when used as part of a multimodal concept after minor-to-intermediate surgery.
Parents’ Stress and Coping Related to Children's Use of a Cochlear Implant: A Qualitative Study

ABSTRACT The aim was to increase understanding of parents’ experiences of having a child with a cochlear implant (CI) and to explore how these related to children’s use of CI. Twelve parents of children, full-time users or limited users of CIs, participated in the study. Qualitative content analysis showed that the parents of children who used their CI differed from the parents with limited users in how they handled stressors. Support from health care professionals was seen as insufficient. Parents need to get involved in dynamic processes in which health care resources promote parental coping.
Regime Switching Stochastic Approximation Algorithms with Application to Adaptive Discrete Stochastic Optimization

This work is devoted to a class of stochastic approximation problems with regime switching modulated by a discrete-time Markov chain. Our motivation stems from using stochastic recursive algorithms for tracking Markovian parameters such as those in spreading code optimization in CDMA (code division multiple access) wireless communication. The algorithm uses constant step size to update the increments of a sequence of occupation measures. It is proved that least squares estimates of the tracking errors can be developed. Assume that the adaptation rate is of the same order of magnitude as that of the time-varying parameter, which is more difficult to deal with than that of slower parameter variations. Due to the time-varying characteristics and Markovian jumps, the usual stochastic approximation (SA) techniques cannot be carried over in the analysis. By a combined use of the SA method and two-time-scale Markov chains, asymptotic properties of the algorithm are obtained, which are distinct from the usual SA .
Cortical microcircuits as gated-recurrent neural networks

Cortical circuits exhibit intricate recurrent architectures that are remarkably similar across different brain areas. Such stereotyped structure suggests the existence of common computational principles. However, such principles have remained largely elusive. Inspired by gated-memory networks, namely long short-term memory networks (LSTMs), we introduce a recurrent neural network in which information is gated through inhibitory cells that are subtractive (subLSTM). We propose a natural mapping of subLSTMs onto known canonical excitatory-inhibitory cortical microcircuits. Our empirical evaluation across sequential image classification and language modelling tasks shows that subLSTM units can achieve similar performance to LSTM units. These results suggest that cortical circuits can be optimised to solve complex contextual problems and proposes a novel view on their computational function. Overall our work provides a step towards unifying recurrent networks as used in machine learning with their biological counterparts.
Cheiloscopy, Palatoscopy and Odontometrics in Sex Prediction and Dis-crimination - a Comparative Study

Background and Objectives: Human identification is the forensic odontologist’s primary duty in the fields like violent crime, child abuse, elder abuse, missing persons and mass disaster scenarios. In each context, dental traits may produce compelling evidence to aid victim identity, suspect identity and narrow down the outcome of investigative casework. Sometimes it becomes necessary to apply some least known and less popular techniques in identification procedure where lip prints, rugae patterns and canine odontometrics can give us comparatively valid conclusions pertaining to person’s identification. This study elucidates the significance of cheiloscopy, palatoscopy and canine odontometry in sex prediction and discrimination. Materials and Methods: A cross- sectional study involving a total of 60 subjects, 30 males and 30 females were selected from the outpatient department of oral medicine and radiology. Lip prints were recorded using lipstick, palatal impressions were taken with alginate and odontometric measurements were taken with digital vernier calipers from every subject. All the obtained records were analyzed by two observers. Results: Reliability of lip prints was assessed using Kappa coefficient. Comparison of rugae patterns was done using Chi-square test. Mean canine and inter canine width was compared using t test. A p-value of <0.05 was considered significant. Statistically significant difference was found with the different lip print patterns analyzed in males and females, while no significant difference was observed in the rugae patterns but a significant difference in the mesio-distal width of mandibular canines in males and females was found with right mandibular canine(3.73%) showing greater sexual dimorphism compared to left mandibular canine(3.06%). Conclusion: This study shows the uniqueness of the lip prints and rugae patterns with the lip prints showing sensitivity of 81.7% giving reliable prediction of sex over palatoscopy. Hence, cheiloscopy along with the canine odontometrics aid in sex determination and can be considered as an ancilliary forensic tool in identification.
Resolving mobile database overflow with most idle replacement

In a personal communications service (PCS) network, mobility databases called visitor location registers (VLRs) are utilized to temporarily store the subscription data and the location information for the roaming users. Because of user mobility, it is possible that the VLR is full when a mobile user arrives. Under such a circumstance, the incoming user has no VLR record and thus cannot receive PCS services. This issue is called VLR overflow. To resolve the VLR overflow problem, a VLR record can be selected for replacement when the VLR is full and then the reclaimed storage is used to hold the record of the requesting user. This paper considers the most idle replacement policy to provide services to mobile users without VLR records. In this policy, the record with the longest idle time is selected for replacement. We propose an analytic model to investigate the performance of this replacement policy. The analytic results are validated against simulation experiments. The results indicate that our approach effectively resolves the VLR overflow problem.
First Results from the Parkes Multibeam High-velocity Cloud Survey

Abstract With the onset of the HI Parkes All-Sky Survey (HIPASS), a new view of the high-velocity cloud (HVC) distribution in the southern sky is being revealed. The dense spatial sampling and unbiased coverage of HIPASS gives it multiple advantages over previous surveys of the southern sky. Detailed views of the clouds' structure and large mosaics of the HI sky allow us to link individual concentrations to larger structures (such as the Magellanic Clouds and the Galaxy), providing pictorial clues as to the origins of HVCs. It is clear that HVCs cannot be uniformly assigned a single origin scenario, and must be categorised appropriately.
ERGR: An ethanol-related gene resource

Over the last decade rapid progress has been made in the study of ethanol-related traits including alcohol abuse and dependence, and behavioral responses to ethanol in both humans and animal models. To collect, curate, integrate these results so as to make them easily accessible and interpretable for researchers, we developed ERGR, a comprehensive ethanol-related gene resource. We collected and curated more than 30 large-scale data sets including linkage, association and microarray gene expression from the literature and 21 mouse QTLs from public databases. At present, the ERGR deposits ethanol-related information of ∼7000 genes from five organisms: human (3311), mouse (2129), rat (679), fly (614) and worm (228). ERGR provides gene annotations and orthologs, detailed gene study information (e.g. fold changes of gene expression, P-values), and both the text and BLAST searches. Moreover, ERGR has data integration tools such as for data union and intersection, and candidate gene selection based on evidence in multiple datasets or organisms. The ERGR database is evolving with new data releases. More functions will also be added. ERGR has a user-friendly web interface with browse and search functions at multiple levels. It is freely available at http://bioinfo.vipbg. vcu.edu/ERGR/.
Adaptative Potential of the Lactococcus Lactis IL594 Strain Encoded in Its 7 Plasmids

The extrachromosomal gene pool plays a significant role both in evolution and in the environmental adaptation of bacteria. The L. lactis subsp. lactis IL594 strain contains seven plasmids, named pIL1 to pIL7, and is the parental strain of the plasmid-free L. lactis IL1403, which is one of the best characterized lactococcal strains of LAB. Complete nucleotide sequences of pIL1 (6,382 bp), pIL2 (8,277 bp), pIL3 (19,244 bp), pIL4 (48,979), pIL5 (23,395), pIL6 (28,435 bp) and pIL7 (28,546) were established and deposited in the generally accessible database (GeneBank). Nine highly homologous repB-containing replicons, belonging to the lactococcal theta-type replicons, have been identified on the seven plasmids. Moreover, a putative region involved in conjugative plasmid mobilization was found on four plasmids, through identification of the presence of mob genes and/or oriT sequences. Detailed bioinformatic analysis of the plasmid nucleotide sequences provided new insight into the repertoire of plasmid-encoded functions in L. lactis, and indicated that plasmid genes from IL594 strain can be important for L. lactis adaptation to specific environmental conditions (e.g. genes coding for proteins involved in DNA repair or cold shock response) as well as for technological processes (e.g. genes encoding citrate and lactose utilization, oligopeptide transport, restriction-modification system). Moreover, global gene analysis indicated cooperation between plasmid- and chromosome-encoded metabolic pathways.
Investigation of the Impact of Fuel Properties on Particulate Number Emission of a Modern Gasoline Direct Injection Engine

Gasoline Direct Injection (GDI) has become the preferred technology for spark-ignition engines resulting in greater specific power output and lower fuel consumption, and consequently reduction in CO2 emission. However, GDI engines face a substantial challenge in meeting new and future emission limits, especially the stringent particle number (PN) emissions recently introduced in Europe and China. Studies have shown that the fuel used by a vehicle has a significant impact on engine out emissions. In this study, nine fuels with varying chemical composition and physical properties were tested on a modern turbocharged side-mounted GDI engine with design changes to reduce particulate emissions. The fuels tested included four fuels meeting US certification requirements; two fuels meeting European certification requirements; and one fuel meeting China 6 certification requirements being proposed at the time of this work. Two risk safeguard fuels (RSG), representing the properties of worst case market fuels in Europe and China, were also included. The particle number concentration of the solid particulates was measured in the engine-out exhaust flow at steady state engine operations with load and speed sweeps, and semi-transient load steps. The test results showed a factor of 6 PN emission difference among all certification fuels tested. Combined with detailed fuel analyses, this study evaluated important factors (such as oxygenates, carbon chain length and thermo-physical properties) that cause PN emissions which were not included in PMI index. A linear regression was performed to develop a PN predictive model which showed improved fitting quality than using PMI.
Four New Glycosides from the Rhizoma of Anemarrhena asphodeloides

Four new compounds, aneglycoside A–C (1–3) and timosaponin U (4), were isolated from the rhizomes of Anemarrhena asphodeloides. Their structures were determined through extensive spectroscopic analysis, chemical characteristics, and high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS). All the isolations were evaluated for cytotoxicity against HepG2, Hela, and SGC7901 human cancer lines. Compounds 1, 2, and 4 showed weak antiproliferative activities on HepG2, Hela, and SGC7901 cells.
Piecewise Linear Finite Element Approximation of a Generalized Stokes System Related to Viscolelastic Flow 1

A three-field finite element scheme designed for solving systems of partial dif- ferential equations governing stationary viscoelastic flows is studied. It is based on the simulation of a time-dependent behavior. Once a classical time-discretization is performed, the resulting three-field system of equations allows for a stable approximation of velocity, pressure and extra stress tensor, by means of continuous piecewise linear finite elements, in both two and three dimension space. This is proved to hold for the linearized form of the system. An advantage of the new formulation is the fact that it implicitly provides an algo- rithm for the iterative resolution of system non-linearities. Convergence in an appropriate sense applying to these three flow fields is demonstrated.