Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The CiaRH System of Streptococcus pneumoniae Prevents Lysis during Stress Induced by Treatment with Cell Wall Inhibitors and by Mutations in pbp2x Involved in β-Lactam Resistance

ABSTRACT The two-component signal-transducing system CiaRH of Streptococcus pneumoniae plays an important role during the development of beta-lactam resistance in laboratory mutants. We show here that a functional CiaRH system is required for survival under many different lysis-inducing conditions. Mutants with an activated CiaRH system were highly resistant to lysis induced by a wide variety of early and late cell wall inhibitors, such as cycloserine, bacitracin, and vancomycin, and were also less susceptible to these drugs. In contrast, loss-of-function CiaRH mutants were hypersusceptible to these drugs and were apparently unable to maintain a stationary growth phase in normal growth medium and under choline deprivation as well. Moreover, disruption of CiaR in penicillin-resistant mutants with an altered pbp2x gene encoding low-affinity PBP2x resulted in severe growth defects and rapid lysis. This phenotype was observed with pbp2x genes containing point mutations selected in the laboratory and with highly altered mosaic pbp2x genes from penicillin-resistant clinical isolates as well. This documents for the first time that PBP2x mutations required for development of beta-lactam resistance are functionally not neutral and are tolerated only in the presence of the CiaRH system. This might explain why cia mutations have not been observed in penicillin-resistant clinical isolates. The results document that the CiaRH system is required for maintenance of the stationary growth phase and for prevention of autolysis triggered under many different conditions, suggesting a major role for this system in ensuring cell wall integrity.
Recognition of out-of-vocabulary words with sub-lexical language models

A major source of recognition errors, out-of-vocabulary (OOV) words are also semantically important; recognizing them is, therefore, crucial for understanding. Success, so far, has been modest, even on very constrained tasks. In this paper we present a new approach to unlimited vocabulary speech recognition based on using grapheme-to-phoneme correspondences for sub-lexical modeling of OOV words, and also some very encouraging results we obtained with our approach on a large vocabulary speech recognition task.
The Minimum Error Minimax Probability Machine

We construct a distribution-free Bayes optimal classifier called the Minimum Error Minimax Probability Machine (MEMPM) in a worst-case setting, i.e., under all possible choices of class-conditional densities with a given mean and covariance matrix. By assuming no specific distributions for the data, our model is thus distinguished from traditional Bayes optimal approaches, where an assumption on the data distribution is a must. This model is extended from the Minimax Probability Machine (MPM), a recently-proposed novel classifier, and is demonstrated to be the general case of MPM. Moreover, it includes another special case named the Biased Minimax Probability Machine, which is appropriate for handling biased classification. One appealing feature of MEMPM is that it contains an explicit performance indicator, i.e., a lower bound on the worst-case accuracy, which is shown to be tighter than that of MPM. We provide conditions under which the worst-case Bayes optimal classifier converges to the Bayes optimal classifier. We demonstrate how to apply a more general statistical framework to estimate model input parameters robustly. We also show how to extend our model to nonlinear classification by exploiting kernelization techniques. A series of experiments on both synthetic data sets and real world benchmark data sets validates our proposition and demonstrates the effectiveness of our model.
The emergence of phonology from the interplay of speech comprehension and production ; A distributed connectionist approach

How do infantslearnto understandandproducespoken language? Despitedecadesof intensi ve investigation,the answerto this questionremainslargely a mystery. This is, in part, because, althoughthe use of languageseemsstraightforward to adultnative speakers,speechrecognitionandproductionpresentthe infantwith numerousdifficult computational problems(seeLively, Pisoni,& Goldinger , 1994). First of all, processingspeechis difficult bothbecauseit is extendedin time andbecauseit is subjectto considerable variability acrossspeakersandcontexts. Moreover, even with an accuraterepresentationof the underlying phoneticcontentof a heardutterance,mappingthis representationontoits meaningis difficult because the relationshipof spoken wordsto their meaningsis essentiallyarbitrary. On the outputside,the infant mustlearnto producecomprehensiblespeechin theabsenceof any directfeedbackfrom caretakersor the environmentasto whatarticulatorymovementsarerequiredto produceparticularsoundpatterns.Finally, theprocessesof learningto understandspeechandlearningto produceit mustbecloselyrelated(although certainly not synchronized;Benedict,1979) to ensurethat they eventually settleon mutually consistent solutions. In the currentwork, we formulatea generalframework for understandinghow the infant surmounts thesechallenges, andwepresentacomputational simulationof theframework thatlearnsto understandand producespoken wordsin the absenceof explicit articulatoryfeedback.Our initial focusis on addressing the relevant computationalissues;we postponeconsiderationof how the approachaccountsfor specific empiricalphenomenauntil theGeneralDiscussion. The framework, depictedin abstractform in Figure 1, is basedon connectionist/parall e distributed
Relations Among Classroom Support, Academic Self-Efficacy, and Perceived Stress During Early Adolescence

viii Chapter I: Introduction 1 Statement of the Problem 1 Theoretical Frameworks 1 Stage-environment fit 1 Social cognitive theory 2 Transactional approach 3 Definition of Key Terms 3 Classroom support 3 Academic self-efficacy 4 Perceived stress 5 Purpose of the Current Study 5 Research questions 6 Implications of findings for school psychologists 7 Contributions to the literature 8 Limitations of the Current Study 8 Significance of the Current Study 9 Chapter II: Review of the Literature 10 Developmental and School Structural Changes during Early Adolescence 10 Social cognitive development 11 Social relationships 12 Middle school transition 12 Academic motivation 13 Teacher and Classmate Social Support 14 Multidimensional social support 14 Perceived versus received social support 15 Social support and implications for academic adjustment 16 Social support and implications for mental health 18 Classroom support and group differences 24 Summary of perceived support 24 Self-Efficacy during Early Adolescence 25
The Industry Life Cycle, Acquisitions and Investment: Does Firm Organization Matter?

We examine the effect of industry life-cycle stages on within-industry acquisitions and capital expenditures by conglomerates and single-segment firms controlling for endogeneity of organizational form. We find greater differences in acquisitions than in capital expenditures, which are similar across organizational types. In particular, 36% of the growth recorded by conglomerate segments in growth industries comes from acquisitions, versus 9% for single-segment firms. In growth industries, the effect of financial dependence on acquisitions and plant openings is mitigated for conglomerate firms. Plants acquired by conglomerate firms increase in productivity. The results suggest that organizational forms’ comparative advantages differ across industry conditions. AN INFLUENTIAL BODY OF RESEARCH ARGUES that industries go through life-cycle stages and that these stages are characterized by marked differences in investment and restructuring activity (Gort and Klepper (1982), Jovanovic (1982), Klepper and Grady (1990), Klepper (1996)). The evidence suggests that changes in the number of firms in an industry occur at times of transition in an industry’s life cycle, that is, when the producers’ competitive advantages are changing. However, it is not known whether and how firm organization is associated with firm performance for industries that experience changes in exogenous long-run conditions. In this paper we examine whether long-term changes in industry conditions affect investment by single-industry firms and divisions of conglomerate (multisegment) firms differently. We control for the endogeneity of organizational form and financial dependence. We focus on two factors that the literature identifies as giving multidivision firms an advantage in some competitive environments: (i) access to internal capital markets, and (ii) the ability to restructure, ∗Maksimovic is with University of Maryland and Phillips is with University of Maryland and NBER. This research was supported by National Science Foundation grant 0218045. We would like to thank Mike Lemmon, Harold Mulherin, Sheri Tice, Bernie Yeung, the referee, Center for Economic Studies staff, and seminar participants at the American Finance Association meetings, Duke-UNC corporate finance conference, Financial Economics and Accounting conference at USC, 2005 Frontiers in Finance Conference, George Washington, HKUST, Minnesota, NYU, Oxford, Pittsburgh, Rice, Tanaka School, Texas, UBC, UCLA, and Wharton. The research in this paper was conducted while the authors were Special Sworn Status researchers of the U.S. Census Bureau at the Center for Economic Studies. Research results and conclusions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Census Bureau. This paper has been screened to ensure that no confidential data are revealed.
The Hostile-World Scenario and Mental Health Concomitants Among Gays and Lesbians

ABSTRACT We explored the hostile-world scenario (HWS) and its association with mental health among 219 Israeli gays and lesbians. HWS refers to the individual's image of threats to one's physical and mental integrity. We analyzed HWS items distinguishing gays and lesbians from comparative heterosexuals. Factor analysis indicated themes of disastrous thoughts and social concerns for gays and lesbians, and a theme of victimization for gay men. Higher endorsement of these themes correlated with lower subjective well-being, higher depressive symptoms, three of the five Big Five traits (higher neuroticism, lower conscientiousness, and lower agreeableness), and lower self-acceptance of one's sexual orientation. The results indicate HWS-related vulnerability among gays and lesbians. The study is discussed in relation to minority stress theory and offers practitioners a framework of unique concerns that preoccupy members of the sampled populations.
Surgical Site Infection Surveillance Analysis of Adherence to Recommendations for Routine Infection Control Practices

Objective. To evaluate the application of surgical site infection control procedures in general surgery departments in hospitals in the Piemonte region of Italy. Design. The descriptive study entailed 1 week of observation in the general surgery departments and 1 week of observation in the operating rooms of 49 hospitals in Piemonte; the survey was conducted in 2003. Methods. Data collection forms were designed to record information about presurgical patient preparation (form 1) and infection control practices routinely used by surgical teams (form 2). Results. A total of 856 patients were observed; 88% of operations were surgical wound class I or II; 70.6% of patients had hair removed, 28.8% showered the day before the operation; antimicrobial prophylaxis was administered in 63.3% of cases (68.4% on induction of anesthesia and 26% on the day of the operation) and was continued into the postoperative period in 43% of cases. A total of 799 operations were observed; the mean number of healthcare personnel in the operating room was 6; doors were opened an average of 12 times during an operation; 88% of the surgical team members wore a cap/hood and mask correctly; 25% of surgeons and 41% of instrument nurses wore an eye shield; preoperative hand and forearm scrubbing technique was correct in 78% of cases (surgeons, 74.6%; instrument nurses, 86.6%; and anesthesiologists, 73%). Conclusions. A comparison between the survey data and the international recommendations for SSI prevention highlighted practices that could be improved with corrective interventions. The study provided an opportunity for sharing feedback on appropriate data with healthcare personnel and was an effective instrument to audit infection control practices.
Food Catches the Eye but Not for Everyone: A BMI–Contingent Attentional Bias in Rapid Detection of Nutriments

An organism's survival depends crucially on its ability to detect and acquire nutriment. Attention circuits interact with cognitive and motivational systems to facilitate detection of salient sensory events in the environment. Here we show that the human attentional system is tuned to detect food targets among nonfood items. In two visual search experiments participants searched for discrepant food targets embedded in an array of nonfood distracters or vice versa. Detection times were faster when targets were food rather than nonfood items, and the detection advantage for food items showed a significant negative correlation with Body Mass Index (BMI). Also, eye tracking during searching within arrays of visually homogenous food and nonfood targets demonstrated that the BMI-contingent attentional bias was due to rapid capturing of the eyes by food items in individuals with low BMI. However, BMI was not associated with decision times after the discrepant food item was fixated. The results suggest that visual attention is biased towards foods, and that individual differences in energy consumption - as indexed by BMI - are associated with differential attentional effects related to foods. We speculate that such differences may constitute an important risk factor for gaining weight.
The effect of intravenous lactated Ringer's solution versus 0.9% sodium chloride solution on serum osmolality in human volunteers.

UNLABELLED Animal studies have shown that large volumes of IV lactated Ringer's solution (LR) decrease serum osmolality, thereby increasing cerebral water. These studies have led to recommendations to limit LR to avoid cerebral edema in neurosurgical patients. Eighteen healthy human volunteers aged 20-48 yr received 50 mL/kg LR over 1 h on one occasion and 0.9% sodium chloride (NS) on another. Venous samples were taken at baseline (T1), at infusion end (T2), and 1 h after T2 (T3). Time until first urination was noted. With LR, serum osmolality decreased by 4+/-3 mOsm/kg from T1 to T2 and increased insignificantly with NS. At T3, osmolality returned almost to baseline in the LR group. Blood pH increased from T1 to T2 with LR by 0.04+/-0.04 and decreased with NS by 0.04+/-0.04. These pH changes persisted at T3. Subjective mental changes occurred only with NS. Abdominal discomfort was more common with NS. Time until first urination was longer with NS (106+/-11 min) than with LR (75+/-10 min) (P < 0.001). In healthy humans, an infusion of large volumes of LR, but not NS, transiently decreased serum osmolality, whereas acidosis associated with NS persisted and urinary output was slower with NS. IMPLICATIONS Large volumes of lactated Ringer's solution administered to healthy humans produced small transient changes in serum osmolality. Large volumes of sodium chloride did not change osmolality but resulted in lower pH.
Disks around CQ Tau and MWC 758: Dense PDRs or gas dispersal ?

The Herbig Ae stars are the massive analogs of the TTauri stars. Very few disks surrounding these kind of stars have been studied in detail. To better constraint the disks parameters (temperature and density) we observed the disks around CQ Tau and MWC 758 with the IRAM array in continuum and CO line emissions. The disks properties are derived using a standard parametric model. The two sources show a surprising low CO abundance (assuming a standard gas-to-dust ratio). We use the Meudon PDR code to study the chemistry. For CQ Tau we find that photodissociation of CO is a viable mechanism to explain the CO depletion without modifying the gas-to-dust ratio. However, we find in both sources that the temperature of large grains can be low enough to prevent CO from being released from the grain surfaces. In addition the low inclination of the CQ Tau disk challenges the UX Ori classification of this star. We conclude that CO does not appear as a direct tracer of the gas-to-dust ratio.
Histoplasma capsulatum Synthesizes Melanin-Like Pigments In Vitro and during Mammalian Infection

ABSTRACT Melanin is made by several important pathogenic fungi and has been implicated in the pathogenesis of a number of fungal infections. This study investigated whether the thermally dimorphic fungal pathogen Histoplasma capsulatum var. capsulatum produced melanin or melanin-like compounds in vitro and during infection. Growth of H. capsulatum mycelia in chemically defined minimal medium produced pigmented conidia. Growth of H. capsulatum yeast in chemically defined minimal medium with l-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA) or (-)-epinephrine produced pigmented cells. Treatment of the pigmented cells with proteolytic enzymes, denaturant, and hot concentrated acid yielded dark particles that were similar in size and shape to their respective propagules. Melanin-binding monoclonal antibodies (MAb) labeled pigmented conidia, yeast, and the isolated particles as determined by immunofluorescence microscopy. Electron spin resonance spectroscopy revealed that pigmented yeast cells and particles derived from pigmented cells were stable free radicals consistent with their identification as melanins. Tissues from mice infected with H. capsulatum and from biopsy specimens from a patient with histoplasmosis contained fungal cells that were labeled by melanin-binding MAb. Digestion of infected mouse tissues yielded dark particles that reacted with the melanin-binding MAb and were similar in appearance to H. capsulatum yeast cells. Additionally, sera from infected mice contained antibodies that bound melanin particles. Phenoloxidase activity capable of synthesizing melanin from L-DOPA was detected in cytoplasmic yeast cell extracts. These findings indicate that H. capsulatum conidia and yeast can produce melanin or melanin-like compounds in vitro and that yeast cells can synthesize pigment in vivo. Since melanin is an important virulence factor in other pathogenic fungi, this pigment may have a similar role to play in the pathogenesis of histoplasmosis.
Antigens of the type-1 fimbriae of salmonellae and other enterobacteria.

Summary Antigens that determine agglutination reactions, and are distinct from the O-, H- and Vi-antigens, were demonstrated in the type-1 fimbriae of bacteria in fimbriate-phase cultures of salmonellae. Most strains of salmonellae produced fimbriate cultures when grown for a sufficient period, e.g., 24–48 hr, at 37°C in aerobic static broth. The same strains produced non-fimbriate-phase cultures lacking fimbrial antigens when grown for only 6 hr in broth, for 12 hr in glucose broth or for 24 hr on an agar plate. The independence of the fimbrial antigens from the O-, H- and Vi-antigens was shown by the finding that an antiserum raised against a fimbriate-phase culture and freed from O-, H- and other non-fimbrial agglutinins by absorption with non-fimbriate-phase bacteria (“pure fimbrial antiserum”) strongly agglutinated fimbriate-phase bacteria, but did not agglutinate either non-fimbriate-phase bacteria or fimbriate bacteria that had been defimbriated by heating at 100°C. Crude (unabsorbed) and pure (absorbed) fimbrial antisera to strains of several salmonella serotypes agglutinated fimbriate-phase bacteria of a wide variety of heterologous serotypes. The reactions indicated the presence of a common fimbrial antigen in all of 95 fimbriate strains in 79 serotypes of Salmonella and two strains each of Arizona and Citrobacter. Absorption findings suggested that other fimbrial antigens were present in addition to the common one in strains of certain serotypes, but that the same antigens were present in different strains of the same serotype. A common fimbrial antigen was demonstrated in strains of Shigella flexneri, Escherichia coli and Klebsiella aerogenes, but there was no sharing of antigens between this group of bacteria and the salmonella-arizona-citrobacter group. Misleading cross-reactions may be obtained in diagnostic agglutination tests unless only non-fimbriate bacteria are used for the preparation of agglutinable suspensions and the production of diagnostic antisera. The development of cross-reacting fimbrial agglutinins in persons who have been infected with a salmonella or immunised with a TAB vaccine containing fimbrial antigens may lead to false-positive reactions being obtained in Widal tests.
Expressive Body Movement Responses to Music Are Coherent, Consistent, and Low Dimensional

Embodied music cognition stresses the role of the human body as mediator for the encoding and decoding of musical expression. In this paper, we set up a low dimensional functional model that accounts for 70% of the variability in the expressive body movement responses to music. With the functional principal component analysis, we modeled individual body movements as a linear combination of a group average and a number of eigenfunctions. The group average and the eigenfunctions are common to all subjects and make up what we call the commonalities. An individual performance is then characterized by a set of scores (the individualities), one score per eigenfunction. The model is based on experimental data which finds high levels of coherence/consistency between participants when grouped according to musical education. This shows an ontogenetic effect. Participants without formal musical education focus on the torso for the expression of basic musical structure (tempo). Musically trained participants decode additional structural elements in the music and focus on body parts having more degrees of freedom (such as the hands). Our results confirm earlier studies that different body parts move differently along with the music.
A Clinical Assessment of the +1.00 Blur Test

Despite being a very commonly used test in the UK, the +1.00 blur test has received little, if any, attention in the research literature. In this study, the +1.00 blur test was shown to decrease visual acuity (VA) by an average value of approximately 0.4 logMAR in pre-presbyopic patients (four lines on a logMAR chart), with 95% confidence limits between 0.10 logMAR (one line) to 0.72 logMAR (seven lines). This large range of normal values for the +1.00 blur test is not due to unreliable measurements, as the repeatability of the scores was ±0.12 logMAR (approximately ± one line), but likely due to either variability in the ocular optics or perceptual interpretation of reduced-quality retinal images. In addition, larger reductions in VA with the +1.00 test appeared to be partly due to large pupils, while smaller reductions in VA were associated with small pupils. Note that average VA levels with a +1.00 blur depend on the original VA. If the original VA is about 6/4 (the average VA for a young patient), then VA will blur to about 6/12+ with a +1.00DS. However, note that 6/9 or even 6/6 VA with the +1.00DS may not necessarily indicate that the patient has been over-minused or under-plussed. Such values would, however, indicate that the spherical endpoint of the refractive correction should be rechecked.