Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
M2 Muscarinic Acetylcholine Receptor Knock-Out Mice Show Deficits in Behavioral Flexibility, Working Memory, and Hippocampal Plasticity

Muscarinic acetylcholine receptors are known to play key roles in facilitating cognitive processes. However, the specific roles of the individual muscarinic receptor subtypes (M1-M5) in learning and memory are not well understood at present. In the present study, we used wild-type (M2+/+) and M2 receptor-deficient (M2-/-) mice to examine the potential role of M2 receptors in learning and memory and hippocampal synaptic plasticity. M2-/- mice showed significant deficits in behavioral flexibility and working memory in the Barnes circular maze and the T-maze delayed alternation tests, respectively. The behavioral deficits of M2-/- mice were associated with profound changes in neuronal plasticity studied at the Schaffer-CA1 synapse of hippocampal slices. Strikingly, short-term potentiation (STP) was abolished, and long-term potentiation (LTP) was drastically reduced after high-frequency stimulation of M2-/- hippocampi. Treatment of M2-/- hippocampal slices with the GABAA receptor antagonist, bicuculline, restored STP and significantly increased LTP. Whole-cell recordings from CA1 pyramidal cells demonstrated a much stronger disinhibition of GABAergic than glutamatergic transmission in M2-/- hippocampi, which was particularly prominent during stimulus trains. Increased strength of GABAergic inhibition is thus a likely mechanism underlying the impaired synaptic plasticity observed with M2-/- hippocampi. Moreover, the persistent enhancement of excitatory synaptic transmission in CA1 pyramidal cells induced by the transient application of a low concentration of a muscarinic agonist (referred to as LTPm) was totally abolished in M2-/- mice. Because impaired muscarinic cholinergic neurotransmission is associated with Alzheimer's disease and normal aging processes, these findings should be of considerable therapeutic relevance.
Investigating the Role of Prior Disambiguation in Deep-learning Compositional Models of Meaning

This paper aims to explore the effect of prior disambiguation on neural network- based compositional models, with the hope that better semantic representations for text compounds can be produced. We disambiguate the input word vectors before they are fed into a compositional deep net. A series of evaluations shows the positive effect of prior disambiguation for such deep models.
Perceptual Confusions of American-English Vowels and Consonants by Native Arabic Bilinguals

This study investigated the perception of American-English (AE) vowels and consonants by young adults who were either (a) early Arabic-English bilinguals whose native language was Arabic or (b) native speakers of the English dialects spoken in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where both groups were studying. In a closed-set format, participants were asked to identify 12 AE vowels presented in /hVd/ context and 20 AE consonants (C) in three vocalic contexts: /ɑCɑ/, /iCi/, and /uCu/. Both native Arabic and native English groups demonstrated high accuracy in identification of vowels (70 and 80% correct, respectively) and consonants (94 and 95% correct, respectively). For both groups, the least-accurately identified vowels were /ɑ/, /ɔ/, /æ/, while most consonant errors were found for /ð/, which was most frequently confused with /v/. However, for both groups, identification of /ð/ was vocalic-context dependent, with most errors occurring in /iCi/ context and fewest errors occurring in /uCu/ context. Lack of significant group differences suggests that speech sound identification patterns, including phonetic context effects for /ð/, were influenced more by the local English dialects than by listeners’ Arabic language background. The findings also demonstrate consistent perceptual error patterns among listeners despite considerable variation in their native and second language dialectal backgrounds.
Genetic Enhancement of Memory and Long-Term Potentiation but Not CA1 Long-Term Depression in NR2B Transgenic Rats

One major theory in learning and memory posits that the NR2B gene is a universal genetic factor that acts as rate-limiting molecule in controlling the optimal NMDA receptor's coincidence-detection property and subsequent learning and memory function across multiple animal species. If so, can memory function be enhanced via transgenic overexpression of NR2B in another species other than the previously reported mouse species? To examine these crucial issues, we generated transgenic rats in which NR2B is overexpressed in the cortex and hippocampus and investigated the role of NR2B gene in NMDA receptor-mediated synaptic plasticity and memory functions by combining electrophysiological technique with behavioral measurements. We found that overexpression of the NR2B subunit had no effect on CA1-LTD, but rather resulted in enhanced CA1-LTP and improved memory performances in novel object recognition test, spatial water maze, and delayed-to-nonmatch working memory test. Our slices recordings using NR2A- and NR2B-selective antagonists further demonstrate that the larger LTP in transgenic hippocampal slices was due to contribution from the increased NR2B-containing NMDARs. Therefore, our genetic experiments suggest that NR2B at CA1 synapses is not designated as a rate-limiting factor for the induction of long-term synaptic depression, but rather plays a crucial role in initiating the synaptic potentiation. Moreover, our studies provide strong evidence that the NR2B subunit represents a universal rate-limiting molecule for gating NMDA receptor's optimal coincidence-detection property and for enhancing memory function in adulthood across multiple mammalian species.
Characterization of airborne particles generated from metal active gas welding process

Abstract This study is focused on the characterization of particles emitted in the metal active gas welding of carbon steel using mixture of Ar + CO2, and intends to analyze which are the main process parameters that influence the emission itself. It was found that the amount of emitted particles (measured by particle number and alveolar deposited surface area) are clearly dependent on the distance to the welding front and also on the main welding parameters, namely the current intensity and heat input in the welding process. The emission of airborne fine particles seems to increase with the current intensity as fume-formation rate does. When comparing the tested gas mixtures, higher emissions are observed for more oxidant mixtures, that is, mixtures with higher CO2 content, which result in higher arc stability. These mixtures originate higher concentrations of fine particles (as measured by number of particles by cm3 of air) and higher values of alveolar deposited surface area of particles, thus resulting in a more severe worker's exposure.
Reticuloendotheliosis Virus Strain T by in Vitro Chicken Spleen Cells Transformed Morphological , Immunological , and Biochemical Analyses of Updated

Reticuloendotheliosis virus strain T (REV-T) is a highly oncogenic avian retrovirus which causes a rapid neoplastic dis ease of the lymphoreticular system. We derived six cell lines (1-3, 1-5, 2-10,2-14, 2-16, and 2-20) from chicken spleen cells infected with REV-T. These cells can produce both the REV-T and its associated reticuloendotheliosis helper virus, REV-A. Histochemical analyses of these cells indicate that, while they are not stained by benzidine, peroxidase, /8-glucuronidase or acid a-naphthyl acetate esterase, they contain a high proportion (95%) of cells positive for acid phosphatase. Light and electron microscopic studies of these cells also revealed morphologies of lymphoblasts or activated lympho cytes with irregular nuclei and dispersed chromatin. Immunochemical analyses indicate that essentially all (90 to 100%) of the cells contain the surface marker la, but no cytoplasmic immunoglobulin M and immunoglobulin G could be detected by immunofluorescence staining. Results also show that some of these cell lines contain a low level of terminal transferase (0.02 to 0.17 unit/109 cells), and a proportion (3 to 35%) of these cells can be stained by an antiserum directed against chicken bursa cells. These results are consistent with the conclusion that the cells transformed by the highly oncogenic REV-T are lymphoid in nature. In addition, at least some of these cell clones may contain features characteristic of acti vated B-lymphocytes. Analysis of these cell clones indicates that some cell lines contain an adherent and nonadherent population with some differences in morphologies. In addition, electron microscopic examination revealed that, while the nonadherent cells are actively producing type C viruses, type C viruses are either absent or very rare in the adherent cell populations. These results support the conclusion that some of these cell lines are heterogeneous and contain subpopulations of cells with differences in their ability to produce viruses.
Prevalence of Substance Abuse Among Dormitory Students of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Background: Adolescence is a risky period with high tendency towards drug abuse. Addressing the problem of drug abuse among students is essential. Objectives: This study was carried out in 2013 with the purpose of investigating the prevalence of substance abuse among dormitory students of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. Patients and Methods: In this descriptive analytical study, which was carried out in 2013, a total of 604 students living at dormitories of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences were selected by random sampling method. A questionnaire designed by the researcher was used to collect the data. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and chi-square test. Results: The prevalence of substance abuse among the students was 15.4%. With respect to the types of the drug used by students, the highest frequencies belonged to smoking 4.47% and hookah with 42.9%. Forty-eight percent of the students, who used drugs, started it for the first time when they were 18 years old or younger. About 58% of students used drugs for the first time in dormitories and parks. Students’ meetings and parties with friends were frequent occasions for substance abuse (47.5%). Conclusions: Students are considered one of the most vulnerable groups of society. The students living in dormitories are more vulnerable to drug abuse due to the lack of parental supervision and the impact of peer pressure. Therefore, localization of acceptance at Universities in order to prevent cultural mixing of students and education programs for teaching life skills to students efficiently reduce their substance abuse.
EFFECT OF THE LESION DUE TO INFLUENZA VIRUS ON THE RESISTANCE OF MICE TO INHALED PNEUMOCOCCI

1. The normal lung of the mouse possesses the power of reducing markedly its content of Type I pneumococci within 3 hours after inhalation of the organisms in the form of fine droplets. 2. Lungs with fully developed influenza viral pneumonia not only fail to reduce the pulmonary content of pneumococci administered in this manner but, on the contrary, support their growth. 3. After intrabronchial inoculation into mice, influenza virus multiplies rapidly in the lung within 24 hours. 4. Criteria have been established for distinction between true viral lesions of the lung and changes due to the inoculation of diluents as vehicles for the virus. 5. 24 hours after inoculation of virus, there are no macroscopic lesions in the lung and the microscopic changes are due to the diluent. 6. Presence and multiplication of the virus in the lung 24 hours after inoculation have no apparent effect on the power of the lung to reduce rapidly its content of inhaled pneumococci. 7. The effect of the virus in lowering resistance to secondary bacterial infection appears to be due to the presence of the lesion produced by the virus.
Automated Sentiment Analysis

Abstract : This project develops a software tool to automate the collection of sentiment data from electronic media reports. Through analyses the report illustrates that the data generated from the new software tool produces valid and reliable data measuring attitudes and beliefs about political candidates, their actions, and their policies. The report further shows that such data improves the model fit of political behavior models. Specifically, the new data reveals important impacts on the actions and interactions of political actors. The report closes with the prospects for future analyses and research in this area and the area of national security.
Fitting the smallest enclosing Bregman balls

Finding a point which minimizes the maximal distortion with respect to a dataset is an important estimation problem that has recently received growing attentions in machine learning, with the advent of one class classification. In this paper, we study the problem from a general standpoint, and suppose that the distortion is a Bregman divergence, without restriction. Applications of this formulation can be found in machine learning, statistics, signal processing and computational geometry. We propose two theoretically founded generalizations of a popular smallest enclosing ball approximation algorithm for Euclidean spaces coined by Bădoiu and Clarkson in 2002. Experiments clearly display the advantages of being able to tune the divergence depending on the data’s domain. As an additional result, we unveil an useful bijection between Bregman divergences and a family of popular averages that includes the arithmetic, geometric, harmonic and power means.
Learning to Avoid in Older Age

The dopamine hypothesis of aging suggests that a monotonic dopaminergic decline accounts for many of the changes found in cognitive aging. The authors tested 44 older adults with a probabilistic selection task sensitive to dopaminergic function and designed to assess relative biases to learn more from positive or negative feedback. Previous studies demonstrated that low levels of dopamine lead to avoidance of those choices that lead to negative outcomes, whereas high levels of dopamine result in an increased sensitivity to positive outcomes. In the current study, age had a significant effect on the bias to avoid negative outcomes: Older seniors showed an enhanced tendency to learn from negative compared with positive consequences of their decisions. Younger seniors failed to show this negative learning bias. Moreover, the enhanced probabilistic integration of negative outcomes in older seniors was accompanied by a reduction in trial-to-trial learning from positive outcomes, thought to rely on working memory. These findings are consistent with models positing multiple neural mechanisms that support probabilistic integration and trial-to-trial behavior, which may be differentially impacted by older age. As individuals age, they are faced with a variety of decisions, ranging from mundane (e.g., choosing an entrée on the dinner menu) to highly consequential (e.g., choosing a retirement plan). In making such choices, at least two different strategies can be employed to maximize benefit while minimizing risk. Individuals can opt for choices that have had positive outcomes in the past (e.g., " the roasted chicken was outstanding last time "), or they can avoid those decisions that have led to negative outcomes (e.g., " the shrimp made me sick last time "). The integration of these reinforcement outcomes over multiple experiences can lead to the development of a " gut feeling " for making choices without regard for any one individual memory. A possible mechanism for such reinforcement-based decision making is the neurotransmitter dopamine and its effects on synaptic plasticity. Dopamine plays a key role in the process of decision making and trial-and-error learning A recent study further established the relationship between dopamine and reinforcement learning using a probabilistic selection task in which individuals were given feedback about their choices (Frank et al., 2004). We found that Parkinson's patients, who have depleted levels of dopamine, showed a greater tendency to avoid decisions leading to negative consequences than to seek positive outcomes. This pattern was reversed when patients took medications that elevated dopamine …
Improved speech summarization with multiple-hypothesis representations and kullback-leibler divergence measures

Imperfect speech recognition often leads to degraded performance when leveraging existing text-based methods for speech summarization. To alleviate this problem, this paper investigates various ways to robustly represent the recognition hypotheses of spoken documents beyond the top scoring ones. Moreover, a new summarization method stemming from the Kullback-Leibler (KL) divergence measure and exploring both the sentence and document relevance information is proposed to work with such robust representations. Experiments on broadcast news speech summarization seem to demonstrate the utility of the presented approaches.
Socio-hydrologic drivers of the pendulum swing between agricultural development and environmental health: a case study from Murrumbidgee River basin, Australia

This paper presents a case study centred on the Murrumbidgee River basin in eastern Australia. It illustrates the dynamics of the balance between water extraction and use for food production, and efforts to mitigate and reverse consequent degradation of the riparian environment. In par- ticular, the paper traces the history of a pendulum swing be- tween an exclusive focus on agricultural development and food production in the initial stages and its attendant socio- economic benefits, followed by the gradual realization of the adverse environmental impacts, subsequent efforts to miti- gate these with the use of remedial measures, and ultimately concerted efforts and externally imposed solutions to restore environmental health and ecosystem services. The 100-year history of development within the Murrumbidgee is divided into four eras, each underpinned by the dominance of dif- ferent values and norms and turning points characterized by their changes. The various stages of development can be characterized by the dominance, in turn, of infrastructure sys- tems, policy frameworks, economic instruments, and techno- logical solutions. The paper argues that, to avoid these costly pendulum swings, management needs to be underpinned by long-term coupled socio-hydrologic system models that ex- plicitly include the two-way coupling between human and hydrological systems, including the slow evolution of hu- man values and norms relating to water and the environ- ment. Such coupled human-water system models can pro- vide insights into dominant controls of the trajectory of their co-evolution in a given system, and can also be used to in- terpret patterns of co-evolution of such coupled systems in different places across gradients of climatic, socio-economic and socio-cultural conditions, and in this way to help develop generalizable understanding.
Inequality and inequity in healthcare utilization in urban Nepal: a cross-sectional observational study

Inequality in access to quality healthcare is a major health policy challenge in many low- and middle-income countries. This study aimed to identify the major sources of inequity in healthcare utilization using a population-based household survey from urban Nepal. A cross-sectional survey was conducted covering 9177 individuals residing in 1997 households in five municipalities of Kathmandu valley between 2011 and 2012. The concentration index was calculated and a decomposition method was used to measure inequality in healthcare utilization, along with a horizontal inequity index (HI) to estimate socioeconomic inequalities in healthcare utilization. Results showed a significant pro-rich distribution of general healthcare utilization in all service providers (Concentration Index: 0.062, P < 0.001; HI: 0.029, P < 0.05) and private service providers (Concentration Index: 0.070, P < 0.001; HI: 0.030, P < 0.05). The pro-rich distribution of probability in general healthcare utilization was attributable to inequalities in the level of household economic status (percentage contribution: 67.8%) and in the self-reported prevalence of non-communicable diseases such as hypertension (36.7%) and diabetes (14.4%). Despite the provision of free services by public healthcare providers, our analysis found no evidence of the poor making more use of public health services (Concentration Index: 0.041, P = 0.094). Interventions to reduce the household economic burden of major illnesses, coupled with improvement in the management of public health facilities, warrant further attention by policy-makers.
The Impact of Osteopontin Gene Variations on Multiple Sclerosis Development and Progression

Osteopontin is a proinflammatory molecule, modulating TH1 and TH17 responses. Several reports suggest its involvement in multiple sclerosis (MS) pathogenesis. We previously reported that OPN gene variations at the 3′ end are a predisposing factor for MS development and evolution. In this paper, we extended our analysis to a gene variation at the 5′ end on the −156G > GG single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and replicated our previous findings at the 3′ end on the +1239A > C SNP. We found that only +1239A > C SNP displayed a statistically significant association with MS development, but both +1239A > C and −156G > GG had an influence on MS progression, since patients homozygous for both +1239A and −156GG alleles displayed slower progression of disability and slower switch to secondary progression than those carrying +1239C and/or −156G and those homozygous for +1239A only. Moreover, patients homozygous for +1239A also displayed a significantly lower relapse rate than those carrying +1239C, which is in line with the established role of OPN in MS relapses.