Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A novel herbal treatment reduces depressive-like behaviors and increases brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels in the brain of type 2 diabetic rats

Background Radix Puerariae and hawthorn fruit have been demonstrated to treat diabetes. They offer potential benefits for preventing depression in diabetes. Objective The aim of this study was to investigate whether the combination of Radix Puerariae and hawthorn fruit (CRPHF) could prevent depression in a diabetic rat model generated by feeding the rats with a high-fat diet and a low-dose streptozotocin (STZ). Methods The CRPHF was provided by the Shanghai Chinese Traditional Medical University. Twenty-four rats were randomly divided into four groups: normal control, normal-given-CRPHF (NC), diabetic control, and diabetic-given-CRPHF (DC) groups. The type 2 diabetic model was created by feeding the rats with a high-fat diet for 4 weeks followed by injection of 25 mg/kg STZ. CRPHF was given at 2 g/kg/d to the rats of NC and DC groups by intragastric gavage daily for 4 weeks after the type 2 diabetic model was successfully created. Body weight, random blood glucose (RBG), oral glucose tolerance test, total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) were measured during the study. Depressive-like behavior was evaluated at the end of the treatment by using the open field test (OFT), the elevated plus-maze test (EPMT), locomotor activity test (LAT), and forced swimming test (FST). Levels of extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase (ERK) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the prefrontal cortex were evaluated by using Western blot. Results 1) CRPHF reduced RBG and improved glucose tolerance in diabetic rats; 2) CRPHF reduced TC and TG but did not significantly change HDL-C or LDL-C in diabetic rats; 3) CRPHF reversed the loss in body weights observed in diabetic rats; 4) CRPHF reduced depressive-like behavior as measured by OFT, EPMT, LAT, and FST; 5) BDNF was upregulated, and ERK was activated in the prefrontal cortex of diabetic rats treated with CRPHF. Conclusion CRPHF has the potential of preventing depression in patients with diabetes.
Back to the Future: Radial Basis Function Network Revisited

Radial Basis Function (RBF) networks are a classical family of algorithms for supervised learning. The most popular approach for training RBF networks has relied on kernel methods using regularization based on a norm in a Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Space (RKHS), which is a principled and empirically successful framework. In this paper we aim to revisit some of the older approaches to training the RBF networks from a more modern perspective. Specifically, we analyze two common regularization procedures, one based on the square norm of the coefficients in the network and another one using centers obtained by <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$k$</tex-math><alternatives><mml:math><mml:mi>k</mml:mi></mml:math><inline-graphic xlink:href="que-ieq1-2906594.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula>-means clustering. We show that both of these RBF methods can be recast as certain data-dependent kernels. We provide a theoretical analysis of these methods as well as a number of experimental results, pointing out very competitive experimental performance as well as certain advantages over the standard kernel methods in terms of both flexibility (incorporating of unlabeled data) and computational complexity. Finally, our results shed light on some impressive recent successes of using soft <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$k$</tex-math><alternatives><mml:math><mml:mi>k</mml:mi></mml:math><inline-graphic xlink:href="que-ieq2-2906594.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula>-means features for image recognition and other tasks.
Helicobacter pylori Serology Inversely Correlated With the Risk and Severity of Reflux Esophagitis in Helicobacter pylori Endemic Area: A Matched Case-Control Study of 5,616 Health Check-Up Koreans

Background/Aims The role of Helicobacter pylori in gastroesophageal reflux disease remains still controversial and the effect of the organism on severity of reflux esophagitis have been rarely issued. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between H. pylori infection and reflux esophagitis, and especially the severity of reflux esophagitis. Methods We performed a cross-sectional case-control study of 5,616 subjects undergoing both upper endoscopy and H. pylori serology during health Check-up (2,808 cases vs age- and sex-matched controls). Smoking, alcohol, body mass index and waist circum - ference were added to a multiple regression model. Results Prevalence of H. pylori infection was lower in cases with reflux esophagitis than in controls (38.4% vs 58.2%, P < 0.001) and negative associations with H. pylori infection continued across the grade of esophagitis (46.7% in Los Angeles classification M [LA-M], 34.3% in LA-A or LA-B and 22.4% in LA-C or LA-D, P < 0.001). Positive serology for H. pylori independently reduced the risk of reflux esophagitis (adjusted OR, 0.44; 95% CI, 0.39-0.49). Notably, the negative associations continued across the grade of esophagitis with adjusted ORs of 0.63 in LA-M, 0.36 in LA-A or LA-B and 0.20 in LA-C or LA-D (P < 0.001). Conclusions In a age-sex matched Korean, H. pylori seropositivity was independently and inversely associated with the risk and severity of reflux esophagitis, suggesting the organism may have a protective role against gastroesophageal reflux disease.
FDG-PET imaging in mild traumatic brain injury: a critical review

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) affects an estimated 1.7 million people in the United States and is a contributing factor to one third of all injury related deaths annually. According to the CDC, approximately 75% of all reported TBIs are concussions or considered mild in form, although the number of unreported mild TBIs (mTBI) and patients not seeking medical attention is unknown. Currently, classification of mTBI or concussion is a clinical assessment since diagnostic imaging is typically inconclusive due to subtle, obscure, or absent changes in anatomical or physiological parameters measured using standard magnetic resonance (MR) or computed tomography (CT) imaging protocols. Molecular imaging techniques that examine functional processes within the brain, such as measurement of glucose uptake and metabolism using [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose and positron emission tomography (FDG-PET), have the ability to detect changes after mTBI. Recent technological improvements in the resolution of PET systems, the integration of PET with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and the availability of normal healthy human databases and commercial image analysis software contribute to the growing use of molecular imaging in basic science research and advances in clinical imaging. This review will discuss the technological considerations and limitations of FDG-PET, including differentiation between glucose uptake and glucose metabolism and the significance of these measurements. In addition, the current state of FDG-PET imaging in assessing mTBI in clinical and preclinical research will be considered. Finally, this review will provide insight into potential critical data elements and recommended standardization to improve the application of FDG-PET to mTBI research and clinical practice.
Immigration and Political Instability

Immigration may adversely affect political stability if immigrants are perceived unfavourably by host country populations. Using a large sample of countries this study confirms that a higher immigrant share of a population is associated with decrease in the level of political stability. We further demonstrate that a higher immigrant share leads to increased military spending through the channel of political stability. The negative effect of immigration on political stability appears to be stronger in countries with assimilative citizenship laws. We account for the endogeneity of immigrant share by using an instrument constructed from gravity model estimates.
Constructing visual phrases for effective and efficient object-based image retrieval

The explosion of multimedia data necessitates effective and efficient ways for us to get access to our desired ones. In this article, we draw an analogy between image retrieval and text retrieval and propose a visual phrase-based approach to retrieve images containing desired objects (object-based image retrieval). The visual phrase is defined as a pair of frequently co-occurred adjacent local image patches and is constructed using data mining. We design methods on how to construct visual phrase and how to index/search images based on visual phrase. We demonstrate experiments to show our visual phrase-based approach can be very efficient and more effective than current visual word-based approach.
Is Toxoplasma Gondii Infection a Risk Factor for Leukemia? An Evidence-Based Meta-Analysis

Background Possible associations of parasite infection with cancer risk have recently attracted much attention. Published studies concerning the association between Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) infection and leukemia risk have generated inconsistent results. In the present study, we aimed to address this topic by conducting a quantitative meta-analysis. Material/Methods Relevant publications were searched in electronic databases and eligible studies were rigorously screened and selected. Essential information was extracted and the data were pooled. Subgroup analysis on source of controls and detection target was also performed. Results A total of 6 studies that met the inclusion criteria were selected. The overall data show that T. gondii infection might have an association with increased leukemia risk (OR=3.05; 95%CI=1.83–5.08). Similar results were shown in the subgroups regarding source of controls and detection target. Conclusions Our results suggest that T. gondii infection might be a risk factor for leukemia, providing new insight into the etiology of leukemia. Future studies with large sample sizes in different geographic areas are needed to confirm this conclusion.
Pattern Discovery from Stock Time Series Using Self-organizing Maps †

Pattern discovery from time series is of fundamental importance. Particularly when the domain expert derived patterns do not exist or are not complete, an algorithm to discover specific patterns or shapes automatically from the time series data is necessary. Such an algorithm is noteworthy in that it does not assume prior knowledge of the number of interesting structures, nor does it require an exhaustive explanation of the patterns being described. In this paper, a clustering approach is proposed for pattern discovery from time series. In view of its popularity and superior clustering performance, the self-organizing map (SOM) was adopted for pattern discovery in temporal data sequences. It is a special type of clustering algorithm that imposes a topological structure on the data. To prepare for the SOM algorithm, data sequences are segmented from the numerical time series using a continuous sliding window. Similar temporal patterns are then grouped together using SOM into clusters, which may subsequently be used to represent different structures of the data or temporal patterns. Attempts have been made to tackle the problem of representing patterns in a multi-resolution manner. With the increase in the number of data points in the patterns (the length of patterns), the time needed for the discovery process increases exponentially. To address this problem, we propose to compress the input patterns by a perceptually important point (PIP) identification algorithm. The idea is to replace the original data segment by its PIP's so that the dimensionality of the input pattern can be reduced. Encouraging results are observed and reported for the application of the proposed methods to the time series collected from the Hong Kong stock market.
Requirements for Follicular Exclusion and Competitive Elimination of Autoantigen-Binding B Cells1

Results from several mouse tolerance models indicate that autoreactive B cells in peripheral lymphoid organs develop an anergic phenotype, migrate to the boundary between the T cell zone and the B cell follicle (T/B boundary), and undergo rapid cell death. We have used B cells from mice that are double-transgenic for soluble hen egg lysozyme (HEL) and an Ig that recognizes HEL with a high affinity to characterize the mechanisms underlying the migration and elimination of autoreactive B cells. In contrast to the situation for acutely activated B cells, we find that anergic B cells have reduced levels of CXCR5, the receptor for the follicular chemokine, CXCL13, and this contributes to their exclusion from follicles. CCR7 expression is required for follicular exclusion of anergic cells, although up-regulation of the receptor does not appear to be necessary. By TUNEL analysis, we observe that excluded anergic cells die in situ at the T/B boundary. We also show that this elimination occurs via a Fas-independent mechanism. Using CCR7−/−IgHEL-transgenic B cells we find that localization to the T/B boundary is not a necessary event to achieve the competitive elimination of autoantigen-binding B cells. These findings characterize the mechanism for follicular exclusion of autoantigen-binding B cells and they indicate that B cells compete for survival by mechanisms that are separate from competition for the follicular niche.
ASAC Toronto

n today’s globalized business environment, North American workplaces are becoming increasingly diverse. In Canada a growing number of ethnic minorities and women has increased their percentage of the existing workforce (Cox, 1991a, 1994; Wilson, 1996). The Canadian paid labour force is now comprised of approximately 60% women and visible minorities, and this trend continues to increase (Statistics Canada, 2001a, 2001b). Given these demographic changes, organizations must consider diversity management as a key component of a productive, inclusive workplace (Cox, 1991b, 1994). The failure to manage diverse workforces will likely escalate organizational costs with respect to turnover, lost productivity, loss of sales, and workplace neglect (Cox, 1994). Cox’s (1994) Interactional Model of Cultural Diversity, identifies diversity climate as a combination of individual, group, and organizational factors that influence individual affective and achievement outcomes resulting in increased organizational effectiveness. Cox (1991b, 1994) argues these factors create a synergy of diversity awareness within an organization and foster or impede the organization’s tolerance for colleagues of different ethnicity or gender. Ultimately, higher levels of diversity tolerance result in greater organization effectiveness in such areas as problem solving, workgroup cohesiveness, and productivity (Cox, 1994).
Experimentally induced visual projections to the auditory thalamus in ferrets: Evidence for a W cell pathway

We have previously reported that following specific neonatal brain lesions in ferrets, a retinal projection is induced into the auditory thalamus (Sur et al., Science 242:1437, '88). In these “rewired” ferrets, a novel visual pathway is established through auditory thalamus [the medial geniculate nucleus (MGN)] and primary auditory cortex (A1); cells in both MGN and A1 are visually responsive and exhibit properties similar to those of visual cells in the normal visual pathway.
Contact Structures on Open 3-Manifolds

CONTACT STRUCTURES ON OPEN 3-MANIFOLDS James J. Tripp John B. Etnyre, Advisor In this thesis, we study contact structures on any open 3-manifold V which is the interior of a compact 3-manifold. To do this, we introduce proper contact isotopy invariants called the slope at infinity and the division number at infinity. We first prove several classification theorems for T 2 × [0,∞), T 2 ×R, and S ×R2 using these concepts. This investigation yields infinitely many tight contact structures on T 2 × [0,∞), T 2 × R, and S × R which admit no precompact embedding into another tight contact structure on the same space. Finally, we show that if every S ⊂ V bounds a ball or an S end, then there are uncountably many tight contact structures on V that are not contactomorphic, yet are isotopic. Similarly, there are uncountably many overtwisted contact structures on V that are not contactomorphic, yet are isotopic.
Phylogeny and divergence times inferred from rps16 sequence data analyses for Tricyrtis (Liliaceae), an endemic genus of north-east Asia

The rate of molecular evolution of Tricyrtis plant groups as a model system was estimated. The outcome further highlights the importance of conserving biodiversity in a rapidly changing Earth environment. This phylogenetic analyses of Tricyrtis with its high endemism in north-east Asia sheds light on processes of speciation processes.
Effect of carbohydrate type and concentration on polyhydroxy alcohol and trehalose content of conidia of three entomopathogenic fungi

The entomopathogenic fungi Beauveria bassiana, Metarhizium anisopliae and Paecilomyces farinosus were cultured on solid agar media containing different carbohydrate components (glycerol, glucose, trehalose or starch) at concentrations of ≤ 142.7 g added carbon I-1 for 30 d at 25 °C. The water activity (aw) of the media ranged from 0.925 to 0.998. Growth of M. anisopliae and P. farinosus was stimulated between 0.975 and 0.995 aw on glucose media and that of P. farinosus at 0.975 aw on glycerol media. At 50.0 g added carbon I-1 than that in conidia produced at lower glucose concentrations. Conidia contained between 10.8 and 20.8 mg glycerol plus erythritol g-1 on glucose media with 142.7 g added carbon I-1, depending on species. Conversely, conidia of B. bassiana and P. farinosus contained maximum amounts of trehalose (≤ 23.5 mg g-1) when produced on glucose media with 25.0 g added carbon I-1, conidia of B. bassiana contained up to 154.0 mg glycerol plus erythritol g-1. When B. bassiana and P. farinosus were grown on trehalose media, conidia contained up to 222.1 mg trehalose g-1. By contrast, conidia of M. anisopliae contained < 17.0 mg trehalose g-1 under all conditions tested. The water availability of solutions of different polyols is discussed in relation to their potential to act in osmotic adjustment during germination. The ability to manipulate polyol and trehalose content of fungal propagules may be critical in enhancing the storage life and efficacy of biological control agents.
Dual-Band Impedance Transformer Using Two-Section Shunt Stubs

This study presents a modified shunt-stub dual-band impedance transformer. The load impedances can be complex and unequal at two uncorrelated frequencies. The proposed transformer has two parts; each part is composed of a two-section transmission line. Similar to the single-stub matching network at a single frequency, a two-section transmission line is connected to the load and transforms the load impedances to normalized unit conductance at the two designated frequencies simultaneously. The resulting susceptances are then canceled out simultaneously by a two-section shunt stub at the two frequencies. The required nonlinear simultaneous equations are derived and solved to obtain the physical parameters of transmission lines. Rearranging the simultaneous equations to construct an objective function with only one unknown variable makes it easier to solve the equations. This approach avoids high-impedance transmission lines by choosing the characteristic impedance of each transmission line first. Return losses for various load impedances are simulated to validate the proposed structures. Good agreements between numerical and measured results validate the proposed structure.
Forward Pricing Behavior of Corn and Soybean Producers

Forward pricing behavior of random samples of Indiana, Nebraska, and Mississippi crop producers was analyzed using Heckman's two-step limited information maximum likelihood estimation procedure. Producers who forward priced during the 1995–1998 period generally expected to forward price in 1999 using similar techniques. Probit models were estimated for cash forward contracts and taking a direct position in futures or options separately and combined. Results provide limited support for the hypothesis that forward pricing should be analyzed as an adoption decision. Variables reflecting risk attitudes do affect the decision to use forward pricing, while variables related to economic position affect the level of forward pricing.
Separation of cell types from embryonic chicken and rat spinal cord: characterization of motoneuron-enriched fractions

Single cell suspensions prepared from embryonic chick or rat spinal cords were separated into morphologically and functionally distinct subpopulation based on their buoyant densities The lightest fraction (F- 1) was highly enriched for cells containing the enzyme choline acetyltransferase (CAT), a marker for developing motoneurons. The morphology biochemistry, and in vitro development of this and other spinal cord cell fractions isolated by the outlined procedure were investigated. Spinal cords, dissected from 6-day chick or 12-day rat embryos, were dissociated with trypsin and applied to iso-osmotic metrizamide density gradients. After brief centrifugation, biochemical analysis revealed that cholinergic cells migrated to lower densities than other spinal cord cells. The use of discontinuous density gradients allowed rapid and simple isolation of three fractions of viable cells (designated F-1 to F-3, lowest to highest density). Characterization of chicken and rat embryo cell fractions gave similar results. The cells in Fraction 1 were large with prominent nuclei and nucleoli, while those in F-2 and F-3 were distinctly smaller. Fraction 1 was highly enriched for cholinergic cells. The CAT specific activity (CAT/cell) was increased 400% in Fraction 1 compared to unfractionated cells, while CAT specific activity in F-2 and F-3 was reduced to 25% and less than 4% that of unfractionated cells, respectively. The recovery of cholinergic cells using this procedure was much better than with other published procedures; greater than half the spinal cord CAT activity was routinely recovered in the enriched fraction. The cholinergic-enriched cells (F-1) were unique in their in vitro growth characteristics. All fractions had neuronal cells, while non-neuronal cells were distributed primarily in F-3, fewer in F-2, and were essentially absent from F-1. Neurons in F-2 and F-3 remained viable under a variety of conditions, most of which were not supportive of F-1 cell survival. The cholinergic-enriched F-1 cells survived and developed only in the presence of muscle cells or in muscle-conditioned medium on highly adhesive substrata. Large, multipolar neurons predominated under these conditions. The method described provides a means of characterizing the factors involved in the development of distinct populations of cells from the embryonic spinal cord.
Iterative approximation of fixed points of Lipschitzian strictly pseudocontractive mappings

Suppose X = Lp (or lp), p > 2, and K is a nonempty closed convex bounded subset of X. Suppose T: K -* K is a Lipschitzian strictly pseudo-contractive mapping of K into itself. Let {C, }? 00 be a real sequence satisfying: (i) 0 1, (ii) Eoo1 Cn = oo, and (iii) 0n= 2n 1, converges strongly to afixed point of T in K.