Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Entropy in different text types

The present investigation is an attempt to investigate how the unique linguistic profile of different text types can be reflected in their respective entropy characteristics. With samples from the Lancaster Corpus of Mandarin Chinese and the Freiburg–Brown corpus of American English , the research investigates entropy performances in two dimensions: the relative entropy of words and their part-of-speech (POS) on different sentential positions, and entropy of aspect markers. Our research yields the following results: First, it shows a strikingly similar distribution pattern in Chinese and English concerning the relative entropy of word-forms and POS-forms on different sentential positions. The relative entropy of word-forms in descending order yields: news > essays > official > academic > fiction, and the POS-forms yields: fiction > essays > news > academic > official. The relative entropy of POS-forms may be a more reliable indicator of syntactical differences, which helps to distinguish dichotomous ‘narrative vs. expository’ text types in both Chinese and English. Second, there exists a cross-linguistic difference concerning entropy of aspect markers, namely, Chinese displays higher relative entropy than English. This indicates that aspect-marking in terms of variation is more prominent in Chinese grammar than in English. The ‘narrative vs. expository distinction’ is also identified by entropy of aspect markers in both Chinese and English, though more obviously in Chinese.
Epidemiology, clinical characteristics, outcome, morbidity and mortality in acromegaly based on the Spanish Acromegaly Registry (Registro Espanol de Acromegalia, REA).

OBJECTIVE To undertake a multicentre epidemiological study reflecting acromegaly in Spain. DESIGN Voluntary reporting of data on patients with acromegaly to an online database, by the managing physician. METHODS Data on demographics, diagnosis, estimated date of initial symptoms and diagnosis, pituitary imaging, visual fields, GH and IGF-I concentrations (requested locally), medical, radiotherapy and neurosurgical treatments, morbidity and mortality were collected. RESULTS Data were included for 1219 patients (60.8% women) with a mean age at diagnosis of 45 years (s.d. 14 years). Reporting was maximal in 1997 (2.1 cases per million inhabitants (c.p.m.) per year); prevalence was globally 36 c.p.m. , but varied between 15.7 and 75.8 c.p.m. in different regions. Of 1196 pituitary tumours, most were macroadenomas (73%); 81% of these patients underwent surgery, 45% received radiotherapy and 65% were given medical treatment (somatostatin analogues in 68.3% and dopamine agonists in 31.4%). Cures (GH values (basal or after an oral glucose tolerance test) <2 ng/ml, normal IGF-I, or both) were observed in 40.3% after surgery and 28.2% after radiotherapy. Hypertension (39.1%), diabetes mellitus (37.6%), hypopituitarism (25.7%), goitre (22.4%), carpal tunnel syndrome (18.7%) and sleep apnoea (13.2%) were reported as most frequent morbidities; 6.8% of the patients had cancer (breast in 3.1% of the women and colon in 1.2% of the cohort). Fifty-six patients died at a mean age of 60 years (s.d. 14 years), most commonly of a cardiovascular cause (39.4%); mortality was greater in patients given radiotherapy (hazard ratio 2.29; 95% confidence interval 1.03 to 5.08; P=0.026), and in those in whom GH and IGF-I concentrations were never normal (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS This acromegaly registry offers a realistic overview of the epidemiological characteristics, treatment outcome and morbidity of acromegaly in Spain. As active disease and treatment with radiotherapy are associated with an increase in mortality, efforts to control the disease early are desirable.
Association of QT interval with mortality by kidney function: results from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES)

Objective Prolonged QT interval predisposes to ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. However, the association between QT interval and mortality by the level of pre-existing kidney function has not been investigated. Methods We followed 6565 participants from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III for a median of 13.3 years. Sample divided according to corrected QT (QTc) interval was as follows: normal (QTc <450 ms for men and <460 ms for women) or prolonged. It was further categorised as follows: (1) no chronic kidney disease (CKD), that is, albumin to creatinine ratio (ACR) <30 mg/g and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) > 60 mL/min/1.73 m2 ; (2) CKD by eGFR only (eGFR <60 mL/min/1.73 m2, ACR <30 mg/g); (3) CKD by ACR only (ACR >30 mg/g, eGFR >60 mL/min/1.73 m2) and (4) CKD by both. Cox proportional hazards models were used. Results CKD group had prolonged QTc than those without CKD (20.5%vs12.9%, p<0.0001). Both prolonged QTc and CKD are independently associated with increased risk of mortality. When combined, risk of mortality is higher in those with CKD by eGFR with prolonged QTc than normal QTc (HR 2.6 (1.7–3.9) and 3.1 (1.7–5.4) vs 1.4 (1.1–1.7) and 1.7 (1.3–2.1) for all-cause and CV mortality). There is no significant difference in risk in those with CKD by ACR when QTc is prolonged. There is significant improvement in risk prediction for all-cause and CV mortality when QTc is added to CKD beyond established CV risk factors (net reclassification index p<0.00001). Conclusion A screening ECG in those with CKD may help in finer risk stratification and may be considered.
Correlation between CT Perfusion Parameters and Microvessel Density and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor in Adrenal Tumors

We evaluated the correlation between computed tomography (CT) perfusion parameters and markers of angiogenesis in adrenal adenomas and non-adenomas to determine if perfusion CT can be used to distinguish between them. Thirty-four patients with pathologically-confirmed adrenal tumors (17 adenomas, 17 non-adenomas) received CT perfusion imaging before surgery. CT perfusion parameters (blood flow [BF], blood volume [BV], mean transit time [MTT], and permeability surface area product [PS]) were calculated. Tumor tissue sections were examined with immunohistochemical methods for vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression and microvessel density (MVD). The mean age of the 34 patients was 43 years. The median BV was significantly higher in adenomas than in non-adenomas [12.3 ml/100 g, inter-quartile range (IQR): 10.4 to 16.5 ml/100 g vs. 8.8 ml/100 g, IQR: 3.3 to 9.4 ml/100 g, p = 0.001]. Differences in BF, MTT, and PS parameter values between adenomas and non-adenomas were not significant (p>0.05). The mean MVD was significantly higher in adenomas compared to non-adenomas (98.5±28.5 vs. 53.5±27.0, p<0.0001). Adenomas also expressed significantly higher median VEGF than non-adenomas (65%, IQR: 50 to 79% vs. 45%, IQR: 35 to 67%, p = 0.02). A moderately strong correlation between BF and VEGF (r = 0.53, p = 0.03) and between BV and MVD among adenomas (r = 0.57, p = 0.02) exist. Morphology, MVD, and VEGF expression in adenomas differ significantly from non-adenomas. Of the CT perfusion parameters examined, both BF and BV correlate with MVD, but only BF correlates with VEGF, and only in adenomas. The significant difference in BV suggests that BV may be used to differentiate adenomas from non-adenomas. However, the small difference in BV shows that it may only be possible to use BV to identify adenomas vs. non-adenomas at extreme BV values.
Vibration analysis of cracked frame structures

In this study, the effects of crack depth and crack location on the in-plane free vibration of cracked frame structures have been investigated numerically by using the Finite Element Method. For the rectangular cross-section beam, a crack element is developed by using the principles of fracture mechanics. The effects of crack depth and location on the natural frequency of multi-bay and multi-store frame structures are presented in 3D graphs. The comparison between the present work and the results obtained from ANSYS shows a very good agreement.
Role of Cellular Calcium in Salt Sensitivity of Patients with Essential Hypertension

The mechanism by which excessive sodium chloride intake raises blood pressure has not been fully clarified. The present study was therefore undertaken in patients with essential hypertension to investigate the possible role of an intracellular calcium-dependent mechanism in salt sensitivity. The difference in mean blood pressure between a week of low sodium chloride diet (3 g/day) and a week of high sodium chloride diet (20 g/day) was studied in relation to the intracellular free calcium concentration in lymphocytes and an acute hypotensive response to a 10-mg sublingual dose of nifedipine in 12 inpatients. Sodium chloride loading induced significant increases in mean blood pressure (from 111 ± 12 to 122 ± 11 mm Hg; p < 0.01), intracellular free calcium in lymphocytes (from 133 ± 13 to 145 ± 9 nmol/L;/K0.01), and the hypotensive response to nifedipine (from 19 ± 6 to 31 ± 10 mm Hg;/X0.01). In addition, serum total calcium concentration was decreased while urinary calcium excretion was increased. The elevation of mean blood pressure was closely and positively correlated with the increase in intracellular free calcium concentration (r=0.71, p < 0.05) and the increase in the hypotensive effect of nifedipine (r=0.91, p < 0.01) after sodium chloride loading. However, changes in these values had no relation to the change in serum concentration or urinary excretion of calcium. These data suggest that change in the cellular calcium-dependent vasoconstriction mechanism may be associated with salt sensitivity of patients with essential hypertension.
Probabilistic single function dual process theory and logic programming as approaches to non-monotonicity in human vs. artificial reasoning

In this paper, it is argued that single function dual process theory is a more credible psychological account of non-monotonicity in human conditional reasoning than recent attempts to apply logic programming (LP) approaches in artificial intelligence to these data. LP is introduced and among other critiques, it is argued that it is psychologically unrealistic in a similar way to hash coding in the classicism vs. connectionism debate. Second, it is argued that causal Bayes nets provide a framework for modelling probabilistic conditional inference in System 2 that can deal with patterns of inference LP cannot. Third, we offer some speculations on how the cognitive system may avoid problems for System 1 identified by Fodor in 1983. We conclude that while many problems remain, the probabilistic single function dual processing theory is to be preferred over LP as an account of the non-monotonicity of human reasoning.
Studies of the efficacy of a novel intranasal vaccine against feline bordetellosis

A novel intranasal vaccine against disease caused by Bordetella bronchiseptica in cats was tested in a series of three experiments. In the first experiment a vaccinated group and an unvaccinated control group of kittens were challenged by the aerosol route with virulent B bronchiseptica three weeks after they had been vaccinated. The control kittens developed upper respiratory tract signs typical of feline B bronchiseptica infection, including rhinitis, a serous ocular and nasal discharge, fever, sneezing and coughing. The mean (sd) clinical score for the cats in the unvaccinated control group was 19.5 (5.4) compared with 1.53 (1.9) for the vaccinated group. In the second experiment vaccinated kittens were challenged with virulent B bronchiseptica 72 hours after they were vaccinated. Their mean clinical score was 2.76 (2.62) compared with 13.4 (3.33) for the control group. In the final experiment, vaccinated and unvaccinated control cats were challenged after six or 12 months. After six months the mean clinical scores were 13.9 (4.7) for the control group, compared with 1.33 (1.56) for the vaccinated group, and after 12 months the scores were 9.92 (5.79) for the control group compared with 0.92 (0.89) for the vaccinated group.
[Studies on chemical constituents in fruit of Alpinia oxyphylla].

OBJECTIVE To study the chemical constituents in fruit of Alpinia oxyphylla and their cytotoxicities on cancer cell lines. METHOD Compounds were isolated and purified by various column chromatographic methods. Their structures were determined by physico-chemical properties and spectral analyses. Compound cytotoxicity was assessed by the sulforhodamine B (SRB) assay. RESULT Eight compounds were obtained from Me2CO-H2O (70%) extract of the fruit of A. oxyphylla and their structures were identified as: (9E)-humulene-2, 3; 6, 7-diepoxide (1), 3(12), 7(13), 9(E)-humulatriene-2, 6-diol (2), (-)-oplopanone (3), yakuchinone A (4), yakuchinone B (5), tectochrysin (6), isovanillin (7), (2E, 4E)-6-hydroxy-2, 6-dimethylhepta-2, 4-dienal (8), and the cytotoxicities of compounds 1, 3-5 on cancer cell lines, A549, HT-29 and SGC-7901, were also investigated. CONCLUSION Compounds 1-3, 7, 8 were isolated for the first time from this genus and compounds 1, 3-5 exhibited no cytotoxicity against three cancer cell lines at a concentration of 10 mg x L(-1).
Electrographic Seizures and New Recurrent Excitatory Circuits in the Dentate Gyrus of Hippocampal Slices from Kainate-Treated Epileptic Rats

Mossy fiber sprouting has been proposed to lead to new excitatory connections between dentate granule cells, which in turn cause electrographic seizures. We tested this hypothesis in hippocampal slices from rats made epileptic by kainate injections. The Timm’s histological method revealed intense staining of the inner molecular layer in slices from all kainate-treated rats. In bicuculline (10 μm) and 6 mm[K+]o, antidromic stimulation of the granule cells evoked bursts of population spikes superimposed on long-lasting negative shifts in all slices tested from all kainate-treated rats. Long-duration (2–47 sec), seizure-like bursts with tonic and clonic components occurred spontaneously (53%) or in response to antidromic stimulation (81%). Under identical conditions, prolonged bursts were never seen in slices from controls or from kainate-injected rats 2–4 d after treatment. Glutamate microdrops applied in the granule cell layer evoked abrupt increases in the frequency of excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) in two thirds of the cells tested. Glutamate microstimulation was effective at several sites in the granule cell layer but ineffective in the hilus. The proportion of granule cells responding to local application of glutamate by an increase in EPSPs was higher in slices with long bursts (80% with bursts of >3 sec) than in slices with shorter bursts (33% with bursts of <3 sec). Glutamate microstimulation did not affect EPSPs in granule cells from control preparations. These results support the hypothesis that kainate-induced mossy fiber sprouting forms new excitatory connections between granule cells and can lead to increased seizure susceptibility in the dentate gyrus.
Recent advances in the prevention and management of preterm birth

The management of preterm birth has seen major transformations in the last few decades with increasing interest worldwide, due to the impact of preterm birth on neonatal morbidity and mortality. The prevention strategies currently available for asymptomatic women at risk of preterm birth include progesterone, cervical cerclage and cervical pessary. Each approach has varying effects depending on the patient's prior history of preterm birth, cervical length and the presence of multiple gestations. There is a shift in the focus of antenatal treatment, with the use of prenatal magnesium sulphate and corticosteroids, to reduce neonatal intensive care admissions and longer-term disabilities associated with preterm birth, consequently relieving emotional and economical burden. This article provides an update on the recent advances in prevention and management approaches available for women at risk of preterm birth.
Classifying and Counting Linear Phylogenetic Invariants for the Jukes-Cantor Model

Linear invariants are useful tools for testing phylogenetic hypotheses from aligned DNA/RNA sequences, particularly when the sites evolve at different rates. Here we give a simple, graph theoretic classification for each phylogenetic tree T, of its associated vector space I(T) of linear invariants under the Jukes-Cantor one-parameter model of nucleotide substitution. We also provide an easily described basis for I(T), and show that if I is a binary (fully resolved) phylogenetic tree with n sequences at its leaves then: dim[I(T)] = 4n-F2n-2 where Fn is the nth Fibonacci number. Our method applies a recently developed Hadamard matrix-based technique to describe elements of I(T) in terms of edge-disjoint packings of subtrees in T, and thereby complements earlier more algebraic treatments.
Increased Intra-Individual Variability of Cognitive Processing in Subjects at Risk Mental State and Schizophrenia Patients

Intra-individual variability (IIV) has received recent attention as an indicator of the stability of cognitive functioning that may outperform mean performance in reflecting putative neurobiological abnormalities. Increased IIV is regarded as a core deficit in schizophrenia patients; however, whether this deficit is present in the prodromal phase before the onset of schizophrenia has not been well established. In the present study, we investigated IIV using the stop-signal paradigm in at-risk mental state (ARMS) individuals and in schizophrenia patients. The study included 27 ARMS subjects, 37 schizophrenia patients, and 38 normal controls. The stop-signal task was administered to assess IIV and response inhibition. IIV was estimated by calculating the standard deviation across sub-blocks for the three groups. We observed increased IIV in ARMS subjects and schizophrenia patients compared with normal controls in both the “stop” and the “go” processes even though the mean response inhibition performances were not impaired in the ARMS group. Schizophrenia patients showed impaired response inhibition that was associated with the severity of negative symptoms. Our findings suggest that the analysis of IIV may identify cognitive and clinical features of ARMS that are not detectable by conventional mean performance analysis. The unstable response patterns associated with ARMS may originate from abnormal processing in neural systems caused by alterations in the integrity of functional brain networks and dopamine neuromodulation.
Instructions for use Title Changes in growth kinetics of stamen filaments cause inefficient pollination in massugu 2 , an auxininsensitive , dominant mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana

We investigated the physiological and molecular basis of lower fecundity of massugu2 (msg2), which is a dominant mutant of an auxin primary response gene, IAA19, in Arabidopsis thaliana. By measuring the length of all stamens and pistils in inflorescences and the reference growth rate of pistils, we constructed growth curves of pistils and stamens between stages 12 and 15 of flower development. Pistil growth was found to consist of a single exponential growth, while stamen growth consisted of three exponential phases. During the second exponential phase, the growth rate of stamen filaments was ~10 times greater than the growth rates in the other two
Extracting attack manifestations to determine log data requirements for intrusion detection

Log data adapted for intrusion detection is a little explored research issue despite its importance for successful and efficient detection of attacks and intrusions. This paper presents a starting point in the search for suitable log data by providing a framework for determining exactly which log data that can reveal a specific attack, i.e. the attack manifestations. An attack manifestation consists of the log entries added, changed or removed by the attack compared to normal behaviour. We demonstrate the use of the framework by studying attacks in different types of log data. This work provides a foundation for a fully automated attack analysis. It also provides some pointers for how to define a collection of log elements that are both sufficient and necessary for detection of a specific group of attacks. We believe that this lead to a log data source that is especially adapted for intrusion detection purposes.
A new statistical distribution function for self-affine crack roughness parameters

The statistical topography of rupture lines in paper is studied. A new distribution function is introduced to characterize the crack roughness statistics. This function is employed to fit experimental data on the crack-Iength and crackwidth sample distributions for four kinds of paper. In all cases, the chi-squared test for the goodness of fit yields a significance level better than 0.97. The physical implications of experimental results are discussed.
An Experimental Test of the Information Model for Negotiation of Biparental Care

Background Theoretical modelling of biparental care suggests that it can be a stable strategy if parents partially compensate for changes in behaviour by their partners. In empirical studies, however, parents occasionally match rather than compensate for the actions of their partners. The recently proposed “information model” adds to the earlier theory by factoring in information on brood value and/or need into parental decision-making. This leads to a variety of predicted parental responses following a change in partner work-rate depending on the information available to parents. Methodology/Principal Findings We experimentally test predictions of the information model using a population of long-tailed tits. We show that parental information on brood need varies systematically through the nestling period and use this variation to predict parental responses to an experimental increase in partner work-rate via playback of extra chick begging calls. When parental information is relatively high, partial compensation is predicted, whereas when parental information is low, a matching response is predicted. Conclusions/Significance We find that although some responses are consistent with predictions, parents match a change in their partner's work-rate more often than expected and we discuss possible explanations for our findings.
Functional Integration of Embryonic Stem Cell-Derived Neurons In Vivo

Pluripotency and the potential for continuous self-renewal make embryonic stem (ES) cells an attractive donor source for neuronal cell replacement. Despite recent encouraging results in this field, little is known about the functional integration of transplanted ES cell-derived neurons on the single-cell level. To address this issue, ES cell-derived neural precursors exhibiting neuron-specific enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) expression were introduced into the developing brain. Donor cells implanted into the cerebral ventricles of embryonic rats migrated as single cells into a variety of brain regions, where they acquired complex morphologies and adopted excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitter phenotypes. Synaptic integration was suggested by the expression of PSD-95 (postsynaptic density-95) on donor cell dendrites, which in turn were approached by multiple synaptophysin-positive host axon terminals. Ultrastructural and electrophysiological data confirmed the formation of synapses between host and donor cells. Ten to 21 d after birth, all EGFP-positive donor cells examined displayed active membrane properties and received glutamatergic and GABAergic synaptic input from host neurons. These data demonstrate that, at the single-cell level, grafted ES cell-derived neurons undergo morphological and functional integration into the host brain circuitry. Antibodies to the region-specific transcription factors Bf1, Dlx, En1, and Pax6 were used to explore whether functional donor cell integration depends on the acquisition of a regional phenotype. Our data show that incorporated neurons frequently exhibit a lacking or ectopic expression of these transcription factors. Thus, the lack of an appropriate regional “code” does not preclude morphological and synaptic integration of ES cell-derived neurons.