Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Structural and functional integration between dorsal and ventral language streams as revealed by blunt dissection and direct electrical stimulation

The most accepted framework of language processing includes a dorsal phonological and a ventral semantic pathway, connecting a wide network of distributed cortical hubs. However, the cortico‐subcortical connectivity and the reciprocal anatomical relationships of this dual‐stream system are not completely clarified. We performed an original blunt microdissection of 10 hemispheres with the exposition of locoregional short fibers and six long‐range fascicles involved in language elaboration. Special attention was addressed to the analysis of termination sites and anatomical relationships between long‐ and short‐range fascicles. We correlated these anatomical findings with a topographical analysis of 93 functional responses located at the terminal sites of the language bundles, collected by direct electrical stimulation in 108 right‐handers. The locations of phonological and semantic paraphasias, verbal apraxia, speech arrest, pure anomia, and alexia were statistically analyzed, and the respective barycenters were computed in the MNI space. We found that terminations of main language bundles and functional responses have a wider distribution in respect to the classical definition of language territories. Our analysis showed that dorsal and ventral streams have a similar anatomical layer organization. These pathways are parallel and relatively segregated over their subcortical course while their terminal fibers are strictly overlapped at the cortical level. Finally, the anatomical features of the U‐fibers suggested a role of locoregional integration between the phonological, semantic, and executive subnetworks of language, in particular within the inferoventral frontal lobe and the temporoparietal junction, which revealed to be the main criss‐cross regions between the dorsal and ventral pathways. Hum Brain Mapp 37:3858–3872, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Physico-Chemical Properties and Microbiological Quality of Borehole Water in Four Crowded Areas of Benin City, Nigeria, During Rainfalls

Background: Boreholes are principal sources of drinking water in Benin city. This water can become contaminated by runoffs, especially during the rainy season, resulting in outbreaks of waterborne diseases. Objectives: This study aimed at assessing the microbiological and physicochemical qualities of borehole water from four crowded areas of Benin city, Nigeria. Methods: The Total Coliform Count (TCC) and antibiotic susceptibility test of the bacterial isolates were assessed using standard microbiological methods. The colour, turbidity, pH, total dissolved solid (TDS), nitrate, iron, chromium, copper, and fluoride of the samples were compared with national and international standards for drinking water. Results: Most physicochemical parameters were within acceptable limits. The mean TCC values of all the samples were higher when compared to standards. The isolated bacteria were Pseudomonas aeruginosa (38%), Escherichia coli (32.3%), Staphylococcus aureus (20%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (4.2%), and Enterococcus sp. (5.5%). Isolates were sensitive to amoxicillin + clavulanic acid, yet showed high resistance to ampicillin and low resistance to ceftriaxone; the predominant pattern of resistance was DOCRAMPR. Conclusions: Despite the fact that the physicochemical parameters were within acceptable limits when compared to the standards, the water sources still pose health risks. Consequently, constant microbiological monitoring of borehole water is necessary, especially during rainfalls in Benin city.
Extracellular glucose concentration alters functional activity of the intestinal oligopeptide transporter (PepT-1) in Caco-2 cells.

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of different cell culture media glucose concentrations on the functional activity of PepT-1 in Caco-2 cells. Uptake kinetics of Gly-Sar into Caco-2 cells that were maintained in iso-osmotic media containing 25 or 5.5 mM glucose were determined in the presence and absence of amino acid-selective chemical modifiers and dithiothreitol. Inhibition of Gly-Sar uptake into Caco-2 cells was measured in the presence of dipeptides and xenobiotics exhibiting various binding affinities for the PepT-1. The effect of extracellular glucose on PepT-1 gene expression was assessed using comparative RT-PCR. Long-term exposure of Caco-2 cells to 25 mM glucose reduced maximum transport capacity for Gly-Sar uptake without altering PepT-1 gene expression. In contrast, binding affinity of Gly-Sar and other dipeptides or xenobiotics was not significantly changed. Chemical modification of Lys and Tyr residues decreased V(max), while Cys modification increased the maximum transport capacity of the carrier. Preincubation of Caco-2 cells with dithiothreitol restored PepT-1 activity in cells maintained at 25 mM glucose. In conclusion, cell culture media containing 25 mM glucose decreases maximum transport capacity of PepT-1 in Caco-2 cells without affecting substrate recognition, at least in part, mediated via an oxidative pathway.
Optimal designs for variogram estimation

The variogram plays a central role in the analysis of geostatistical data. A valid variogram model is selected and the parameters of that model are estimated before kriging (spatial prediction) is performed. These inference procedures are generally based upon examination of the empirical variogram, which consists of average squared differences of data taken at sites lagged the same distance apart in the same direction. The ability of the analyst to estimate variogram parameters efficiently is affected significantly by the sampling design, i.e., the spatial configuration of sites where measurements are taken. In this paper, we propose design criteria that, in contrast to some previously proposed criteria oriented towards kriging with a known variogram, emphasize the accurate estimation of the variogram. These criteria are modifications of design criteria that are popular in the context of (nonlinear) regression models. The two main distinguishing features of the present context are that the addition of a single site to the design produces as many new lags as there are existing sites and hence also produces that many new squared differences from which the variograrn is estimated. Secondly, those squared differences are generally correlated, which inhibits the use of many standard design methods that rest upon the assumption of uncorrelated errors. Several approaches to design construction which account for these features are described and illustrated with two examples. We compare their efficiency to simple random sampling and regular and space-filling designs and find considerable improvements. (author's abstract)
Pandering to Persuade

An agent advises a principal on selecting one of multiple projects or an outside option. The agent is privately informed about the projects' benefits and shares the principal's preferences except for not internalizing her value from the outside option. We show that for moderate outside option values, strategic communication is characterized by pandering: the agent biases his recommendation toward "conditionally better-looking" projects, even when both parties would be better off with some other project. A project that has lower expected value can be conditionally better-looking. We develop comparative statics and implications of pandering. Pandering is also induced by an optimal mechanism without transfers. (JEL D23, D82)
Influence of Heat Shock Temperatures and Fast Freezing on Viability of Probiotic Sporeformers and the Issue of Spore Plate Count Versus True Numbers

Background and Objectives: The purpose of the present study was to investigate effects of various heat shock conditions and fast freezing and subsequent thawing on the viability and recovery of Bacillus coagulans and Bacillus subtilis as probiotic sporeformers, and also to compare spore plate and microscopic counts. Materials and Methods: After preparing the final suspensions of B. coagulans and Bacillus subtilis subsp. Natto spores, they were spread-plated before and after fast freezing treatment (-70°C for about 1 min). Heat shock treatments of the spores were carried out at 68C for 15, 20, and 30 min as well as at 80C for 10 and 15 min. Concentrations of the examined probiotic sporeformers were determined simultaneously by plate enumerations and microscopically determined counts. Student’s t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) of SPSS were used for statistical analysis of the data. Analysis of DoE results was carried out using Minitab. Results: The results presented here show that the highest recovery rates for B. coagulans (14.75 log CFU/mL) and B. subtilis spores (14.80 log CFU/mL) were under a heat shock condition of 68°C for 20 min in nutrient agar (p<0.05). In addition, the survival rates of B. coagulans and B. subtilis spores under the fast freezing and subsequent thawing condition were about 90% and 88%, respectively. Plate counts differed significantly from counts determined microscopically, with differences of almost 0.5 and 0.8 log for B. coagulans and B. subtilis spores, respectively (p<0.05). In addition, DoE results of the study revealed that both factors of spore count method and only freezing factor in fast freezing treatment have a significant effect on concentrations of the spores examined (p<0.05). Conclusions: Heat shock conditions, freezing and subsequent thawing circumstances, and plate counts or enumerations determined microscopically have significant influences on the viability of probiotic sporeformers and should be considered in determining of their accurate concentrations.
Internet-based home training is capable to improve balance in multiple sclerosis: a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND Balance disorders are common in multiple sclerosis. AIM Aim of the study is to investigate the effectiveness of an Internet-based home training program (e-Training) to improve balance in patients with multiple sclerosis. DESIGN A randomized, controlled study. SETTING Academic teaching hospital in cooperation with the therapeutic riding center Gut Üttingshof, Bad Mergentheim. POPULATION Eighteen multiple sclerosis patients (mean EDSS 3,5) took part in the trial. Outcome of patients using e-Training (N.=9) was compared to the outcome of patients receiving hippotherapy (N.=9), which can be considered as an advanced concept for the improvement of balance and postural control in multiple sclerosis. METHODS After simple random allocation patients received hippotherapy or Internet-based home training (balance, postural control and strength training) twice a week for 12 weeks. Assessments were done before and after the intervention and included static and dynamic balance (primary outcome). Isometric muscle strength of the knee and trunk extension/flexion (dynamometer), walking capacity, fatigue and quality of life served as secondary outcome parameters. RESULTS Both intervention groups showed comparable and highly significant improvement in static and dynamic balance capacity, no difference was seen between the both intervention groups. However looking at fatigue and quality of life only the group receiving hippotherapy improved significantly. CONCLUSION Since e-Training shows even comparable effects to hippotherapy to improve balance, we believe that the established Internet-based home training program, specialized on balance and postural control training, is feasible for a balance and strength training in persons with multiple sclerosis. CLINICAL REHABILITATION IMPACT We demonstrated that Internet-based home training is possible in patients with multiple sclerosis.
Shorter juvenile telomere length is associated with higher survival to spawning in migratory Atlantic salmon

The risk of mortality associated with a long-distance migration will depend on an animal's physiological state, as well as the prevailing ecological conditions. Here, we assess whether juvenile telomere length, which in endotherms has been shown to be a biomarker of physiological state and expected life span, predicts whether wild Atlantic salmon Salmo salar successfully complete their marine migration. Over 1,800 juvenile fish were trapped, measured, passive integrated transponder tagged and a tissue biopsy taken when migrating as juveniles down-river towards the sea. Survivors of the marine phase of the life cycle were then re-trapped and re-sampled when returning to the river to spawn as sexually mature adults, 1.5–2.5 years later. Most individuals experienced a reduction in telomere length during the marine migratory phase of their life cycle. While the relative rate of telomere loss was greater in males than females, telomere loss was unrelated to growth at sea. Contrary to expectations, salmon that had the shortest telomeres at the time of the outward migration had the greatest probability of surviving through to the return migration. This effect, independent of body size, may indicate a trade-off between investment in readiness for marine life (which favours high glucocorticoid levels, known to increase telomere attrition in other vertebrate species) and investment in telomere maintenance. Survival was also significantly influenced by the seasonal timing of outward migration, with the fish migrating downstream earliest in the spring having the highest probability of return. This study reveals that telomere length is associated with survival, although in ways that contrast with patterns seen in endotherms. This illustrates that while telomeres may be universally important for chromosome protection, the potential for telomere dynamics to predict performance may vary across taxa. A plain language summary is available for this article.
Sparse kernel approximations for efficient classification and detection

Efficient learning with non-linear kernels is often based on extracting features from the data that “linearise” the kernel. While most constructions aim at obtaining low-dimensional and dense features, in this work we explore high-dimensional and sparse ones. We give a method to compute sparse features for arbitrary kernels, re-deriving as a special case a popular map for the intersection kernel and extending it to arbitrary additive kernels. We show that bundle optimisation methods can handle efficiently these sparse features in learning. As an application, we show that product quantisation can be interpreted as a sparse feature encoding, and use this to significantly accelerate learning with this technique. We demonstrate these ideas on image classification with Fisher kernels and object detection with deformable part models on the challenging PASCAL VOC data, obtaining five to ten-fold speed-ups as well as reducing memory use by an order of magnitude.
Send Orders of Reprints at Reprints@benthamscience.org Maniace Castle in Syracuse, Italy: Comparison between Present Structural Situation and Hypothetical Original Configuration by Means of Full 3d Fe Models

The Maniace Castle in Syracuse, Italy, built under Emperor Frederick II in the first half of the 13th century, is analyzed from a structural point of view by means of a detailed 3D Finite Element model. The castle was struck by many catastrophic events during the centuries, which heavily damaged the structure and caused subsequent changes in the original implant. After a concise description of the main architectural characteristics of the building and its actual state of degradation, two full 3D FE numerical analyses are discussed, representing respectively the present geometric configuration and that obtained after a hypothetical intervention aimed at reporting the structure into its original conceived shape. Conventional static analyses in the linear range are performed on such large scale meshes, under gravity loads and horizontal loads conventionally representing seismic excitation, respectively investigating the role played by self-weight into the degradation of some structural elements (particularly central columns of the hypostyle hall) and the effect induced by horizontal forces on both the global behavior and the local widespread local regions with positive stresses. On the basis of such numerical results, some useful observations to be considered in a future plan of restoration aimed at reporting the castle in its original configuration are finally provided.
Freehand Sketch Recognition Using Deep Features

Freehand sketches often contain sparse visual detail. In spite of the sparsity, they are easily and consistently recognized by humans across cultures, languages and age groups. Therefore, analyzing such sparse sketches can aid our understanding of the neuro-cognitive processes involved in visual representation and recognition. In the recent past, Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) have emerged as a powerful framework for feature representation and recognition for a variety of image domains. However, the domain of sketch images has not been explored. This paper introduces a freehand sketch recognition framework based on "deep" features extracted from CNNs. We use two popular CNNs for our experiments -- Imagenet CNN and a modified version of LeNet CNN. We evaluate our recognition framework on a publicly available benchmark database containing thousands of freehand sketches depicting everyday objects. Our results are an improvement over the existing state-of-the-art accuracies by 3% - 11%. The effectiveness and relative compactness of our deep features also make them an ideal candidate for related problems such as sketch-based image retrieval. In addition, we provide a preliminary glimpse of how such features can help identify crucial attributes (e.g. object-parts) of the sketched objects.
Development of a Recombinant Epsilon Toxoid Vaccine against Enterotoxemia and Its Use as a Combination Vaccine with Live Attenuated Sheep Pox Virus against Enterotoxemia and Sheep Pox

ABSTRACT Sheep pox and enterotoxemia are important diseases of sheep, and these diseases cause severe economic losses to sheep farmers. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the potential of formaldehyde-inactivated recombinant epsilon toxin as a vaccine candidate. The potency of the recombinant epsilon toxoid with aluminum hydroxide as an adjuvant in sheep was determined. Vaccinated sheep were protected against enterotoxemia, with potency values of >5 IU being protective. Further, the use of this construct in a combination vaccine against sheep pox resulted in the sheep being protected against both sheep pox and enterotoxemia.
Evidence‐based topical treatments for tinea cruris and tinea corporis: a summary of a Cochrane systematic review

Tinea cruris and tinea corporis are common fungal infections. Most can be treated with a variety of topical antifungals. This review aimed to assess the evidence for the effectiveness and safety of topical treatments for tinea cruris and tinea corporis. Searches included the Cochrane Skin Group Specialised Register, CENTRAL in The Cochrane Library, Medline, Embase, LILACS and ongoing trials registries (August 2013). One hundred and twenty‐nine randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with 18 086 participants evaluated a range of interventions – mostly azoles. Pooling of data for several outcomes was only possible for two individual treatments. In five studies, terbinafine showed a statistically significant higher clinical cure rate compared with placebo [risk ratio (RR) 4·51, 95% confidence interval (CI) 3·10–6·56]. Data for mycological cure could not be pooled owing to substantial heterogeneity. Across three studies, mycological cure rates favoured naftifine (1%) compared with placebo (RR 2·38, 95% CI 1·80–3·14) but the quality of the evidence was low. Combinations of azoles with corticosteroids were slightly more effective than azoles for clinical cure, but there was no statistically significant difference with regard to mycological cure. Sixty‐five studies were assessed as ‘unclear’ and 64 as being at ‘high risk’ of bias; many were over 20 years old, and most were poorly designed and inadequately reported. Although most active interventions showed sufficient therapeutic effect, this review highlights the need for further, high‐quality, adequately powered RCTs to evaluate the effects of these interventions, which can ultimately provide reliable evidence to inform clinical decision making.
Increased Visceral Adipose Tissue as a Potential Risk Factor in Patients with Embolic Stroke of Undetermined Source (ESUS)

Purpose The etiology of an ischemic stroke remains undetermined in 20–35% of cases and many patients do not have any of the conventional risk factors. Increased visceral adipose tissue (VAT) is a suggested new risk factor for both carotid artery atherosclerosis (CAA) and atrial fibrillation (AF), but its role in the remaining stroke population is unknown. We assessed the amount of VAT in patients with embolic stroke of undetermined source (ESUS) after excluding major-risk cardioembolic sources, occlusive atherosclerosis, and lacunar stroke. Methods Altogether 58 patients (mean age 57.7±10.2 years, 44 men) with ischemic stroke of unknown etiology but without CAA, known AF or small vessel disease underwent computed tomography angiography and assessment of VAT. For comparison VAT values from three different reference populations were used. Conventional risk factors (smoking, hypertension, diabetes, increased total and LDL-cholesterol, decreased HDL-cholesterol) were also registered. Results Mean VAT area was significantly higher in stroke patients (205±103 cm2 for men and 168±99 cm2 for women) compared to all reference populations (P<0.01). 50% of male and 57% of female patients had an increased VAT area. In male patients, VAT was significantly higher despite similar body mass index (BMI). Increased VAT was more common than any of the conventional risk factors. Conclusion Increased VAT was found in over half of our patients with ESUS suggesting it may have a role in the pathogenesis of thromboembolism in this selected group of patients.
Proceedings modelling of SiC-PiN diode with adjust of ambipolar diffusion length

This article presents the development and implementation of a model for a silicon carbide PiN diode based on the physics of the semiconductor. The main novelty in this paper is modelling with Pspice the real stored charge inside SiC PiN diodes depending on the working regime of the device (turn-on, on-state, and turn-off). By means of this methodology a set of differential equations that models the main physical phenomena associated to the semiconductor device are obtained. The equations implemented in the electrical simulator can model, as the main goal, the behavior of the dynamics of the charges in the N- region of the PiN diode. The physical-based model allows predicting dynamic and static behaviours of the SiC PiN diode.