Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Emphasis by Pausing

The study concerns how prosody, including pauses, is used to give extra weight to focused words when repeated with successively more emphasis. The analysis is based on the same three-word phrase produced in two different communicative contexts, one a dialogue interaction and one a reading-aloud situation. Results show greater adjustments in the dialogue context. When emphasis was increased, there were more pauses and longer word durations than when words were just read aloud. F0 maxima in the words, however, were less affected by emphasis. These findings are seen in the light of different demands of the two communicative situations as well as different production constraints on F0 and duration.
Rapid structural alterations of the active zone lead to sustained changes in neurotransmitter release

The likelihood with which an action potential elicits neurotransmitter release, the release probability (pr), is an important component of synaptic strength. Regulatory mechanisms controlling several steps of synaptic vesicle (SV) exocytosis may affect pr, yet their relative importance in determining pr and eliciting temporal changes in neurotransmitter release at individual synapses is largely unknown. We have investigated whether the size of the active zone cytomatrix is a major determinant of pr and whether changes in its size lead to corresponding alterations in neurotransmitter release. We have used a fluorescent sensor of SV exocytosis, synaptophysin-pHluorin, to measure pr at individual synapses with high accuracy and employed a fluorescently labeled cytomatrix protein, Bassoon, to quantify the amount of active zone cytomatrix present at these synapses. We find that, for synapses made by a visually identified presynaptic neuron, pr is indeed strongly correlated with the amount of active zone cytomatrix present at the presynaptic specialization. Intriguingly, active zone cytomatrices are frequently subject to synapse-specific changes in size on a time scale of minutes. These spontaneous alterations in active zone size are associated with corresponding changes in neurotransmitter release. Our results suggest that the size of the active zone cytomatrix has a large influence on the reliability of synaptic transmission. Furthermore, they implicate mechanisms leading to rapid structural alterations at active zones in synapse-specific forms of plasticity.
Pythium root rot associated with cool-season dieback of turfgrass in Ontario and Quebec

Pythium species were isolated from diseased samples of creeping bentgrass and annual bluegrass. Among fourteen isolates from decayed roots and crowns, seven were P. graminicola, five were P. torulosum and two were P. ultimum. These species were identified by comparison of cultural and morphological characteristics to literature and reference isolates. In a tissue culture plate assay for quantifying virulence of Pythium spp. , significant differences in seedling emergence were found among isolates. In general, isolates produced more severe root rot on perennial ryegrass than on creeping bentgrass, and isolates of P. ultimum were more virulent than those of P. graminicola or P. torulosum. Furthermore, greater virulence was generally found at 15C than at 30C. Virulence differences were confirmed in greenhouse pot tests. Oospores and sporangia were recovered from inoculated symptomatic samples. We conclude that Pythium species are a cause of cool-season dieback of golf course turfgrass in Ontario and Quebec.
Treebanking for Data-driven Research in the Classroom

Data-driven research in linguistics typically involves the processes of data annotation, data visualization and identification of relevant patterns. We describe our experience in incorporating these processes at an undergraduate course on language information technology. Students collectively annotated the syntactic structures of a set of Classical Chinese poems; the resulting treebank was put on a platform for corpus search and visualization; finally, using this platform, students investigated research questions about the text of the treebank.
Adenosine Hypothesis of Antipsychotic Drugs Revisited : Pharmacogenomics Variation in Nonacute Schizophrenia

The existing antipsychotic therapy is based on dopamine hyperfunction and glutamate hypofunction hypotheses of schizophrenia. Adenosine receptors (ADORA) have a neuromodulatory role and can control dopaminergic and glutamatergic systems. To elucidate the effect of ADORA polymorphisms on psychopathological symptoms and adverse effects in patients with schizophrenia on long-term antipsychotic treatment, we examined 127 nonacute schizophrenia outpatients in a cross-sectional study using the Positive and Negative Symptoms Scale, SimpsonAngus Scale, Barnes Akathisia Rating Scale, and Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale. All patients were genotyped for 18 polymorphisms in ADORA1, ADORA2A, and ADORA3. We found an association between ADORA1 rs3766566 and psychopathological symptoms ( p = 0.006), in particular, with positive psychopathological symptoms ( p = 0.010) and general psychopathological symptoms ( p = 0.023), between ADORA2A rs2298383 and general psychopathological symptoms ( p = 0.046), and between ADORA2A rs5751876 and akathisia ( p = 0.015). Haplotype analysis showed an association between ADORA1 CTCAACG haplotype and overall psychopathological symptoms ( p = 0.019), positive psychopathological symptoms ( p = 0.021), and akathisia ( p = 0.028). ADORA2A TCCTC haplotype was associated with parkinsonism ( p = 0.014). ADORA3 CACTAC was associated with akathisia ( p = 0.042), whereas CACTAT was associated with akathisia ( p = 0.045) and tardive dyskinesia ( p = 0.023). The results of this first comprehensive study on ADORA polymorphisms in patients with nonacute schizophrenia receiving long-term antipsychotic therapy suggest an important neuromodulatory role of ADORA receptors in both psychopathological symptoms and adverse effects of antipsychotics.
The Effects of Physical Exercise on the Concentrations of Ferritin and Transferrin Receptor in Plasma of Male Judoists

The aim of the study was to assess the within-subject (day-to-day) variability for iron status variables: ferritin (ferr) and soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR) concentrations in plasma and the sTfR/log ferr index in athletes subjected daily to high physical loads. Blood was sampled in the morning from 8 healthy male elite judoists, aged 20 - 31 years, for 10 consecutive days while at training camp. Mean concentrations of ferritin and sTfR in plasma for the 10 day period were 32.0. 1.771(+/-1) and 2.41. 1.324(+/-1) mg/l, respectively. The average within-subject, day-to-day variability for ferritin was 27.4 % (range: 16 - 44 %), and was much lower for sTfR (6.7 %; range: 4 - 15 %). Ferritin concentrations were significantly, albeit weakly, correlated with training loads on the preceding day (r = 0.256; p < 0.05) and with creatine kinase (CK) activities on the same day (r = 0.397; p < 0.001), while sTfR did not correlate with either training loads or CK activities. Mean day-to-day variability for the sTfR/log ferr index was 11.8 % (range: 5 - 21 %), i.e. markedly lower than for ferritin. Although the physical load-induced changes in iron metabolism indices in male subjects were similarly oriented as in the earlier reported female ones representing the same sport, the magnitude of those changes was less pronounced than in the females. This was evidenced by a markedly lower within-subject day-to-day variability in ferritin, still significant but weak correlation between load magnitude and ferritin levels, and a significant, negative correlation between ferritin and sTfR concentrations, not found previously in the female athletes. However, despite lower variability in ferritin than in women, the exercise-induced ferritin increases in male athletes might make a reliable assessment of iron stores in them difficult. The present results confirm our earlier reports that sTfR levels are stable under high physical loads, thus making them a useful indicator of iron status. Also sTfR/log ferr index is of a much higher diagnostic value than ferritin, despite high variability of the latter. That index is particularly valuable in detecting iron-deficient erythropoiesis.
Interleukin-12 synthesis is a required step in trehalose dimycolate-induced activation of mouse peritoneal macrophages

Trehalose dimycolate (TDM), a glycolipid present in the cell wall of Mycobacterium spp. , is a powerful immunostimulant. TDM primes murine macrophages (Mphi) to produce nitric oxide (NO) and to develop antitumoral activity upon activation with low doses of lipopolysaccharide (LPS). In this study, we investigated the ability of TDM to induce interleukin 12 (IL-12) and the role of this cytokine in TDM-induced activation of murine Mphi. RNA isolated from peritoneal exudate cells (PEC) collected at different times after TDM injection was used to determine IL-12 (p35 and p40 subunits) and gamma interferon (IFN-gamma) mRNA levels by semiquantitative reverse transcriptase-PCR. Constitutive expression of IL-12p35 was observed in PEC from untreated as well as from TDM-injected mice. In contrast, expression of the IL-12p40 subunit was almost undetectable in control PEC but was dramatically upregulated in PEC from TDM-injected mice. IL-12p40 expression peaked at 8 h and subsided to baseline levels at 39 h postinjection. TDM was also able to induce IFN-gamma expression; however, kinetics of induction of IFN-gamma was different from that of IL-12p40. Maximal levels of IFN-gamma mRNA were reached by 24 h and did not return to baseline by 4 days. In addition, pretreatment of mice with neutralizing monoclonal antibodies directed against IL-12 (C15.6.7 and C15.1.2) blocked IFN-gamma mRNA induction in PEC from TDM-treated mice. We further determined if the induction of IL-12 and/or IFN-gamma contributes to the in vivo priming effect of TDM on peritoneal Mphi. TDM-injected mice were treated in vivo with anti-IL-12 or anti-IFN-gamma (XMG.1.6) monoclonal antibodies. TDM-primed Mphi were then activated in vitro with LPS and tested for their ability to produce NO and to develop cytostatic activity toward cocultivated L1210 tumor cells. Priming of Mphi by TDM was completely blocked by in vivo neutralization of either IL-12 or IFN-gamma as demonstrated by an absence of tumoricidal activity and NO production by TDM-elicited Mphi in the presence of LPS. Taken together our results show that TDM, a defined molecule from M. tuberculosis, induces in vivo production of IL-12. Moreover, synthesis of IL-12 mediates TDM priming of mouse peritoneal Mphi through IFN-gamma induction.
ITS: a tool for rapidly developing interactive applications

The ITS architecture separates applications into four layers. The action layer implements back-end application functions. The dialog layer defines the content of the user interface, independent of its style. Content specifies the objects included in each frame of the interface, the flow of control among frames, and what actions are associated with each object. The style rule layer defines the presentation and behavior of a family of interaction techniques. Finally, the style program layer implements primitive toolkit objects that are composed by the rule layer into complete interaction techniques. This paper describes the architecture in detail, compares it with previous User Interface Management systems and toolkits, and describes how ITS is being used to implement the visitor information system for EXPO '92.
On-orbit calibration of the Seawinds scatterometer antennas

Measurements of ocean, sea-ice and terrain geophysical parameters can be remotely sensed using an active microwave sensor known as the microwave scatterometer. Satellite scatterometers are spaceborne radars that measure the absolute backscattered power from the Earth surface; and from this measurement, the normalized radar cross-section (/spl sigma//spl deg/) of that surface is determined. Two satellite scatterometers have been operated by NASA to provide global measurements of ocean surface wind vectors (wind speed and direction). To meet the required wind vector accuracy, separate antennas providing these multiple looks must be well calibrated to within few tenths of a dB. In the past, pre-launch scatterometer antenna gain calibrations have proven inadequate; and post-launch corrections have been applied. This paper proposes a simple calibration method applicable to the upcoming Seawinds scatterometer launch. The method, used to eliminate gain biases in the two antenna beams, is based on the results from the NASA scatterometer (NSCAT) beam balance. The NSCAT instrument is introduced, followed by a description of the NSCAT calibration method. The Seawinds geometry is described, and NSCAT-derived models, applicable to the Seawinds (/spl sigma//spl deg/) incidence angle response, are presented.
Phytochemical Characterization of Veronica officinalis L., V. teucrium L. and V. orchidea Crantz from Romania and Their Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Properties

Aerial parts of Veronica species are used in Romanian traditional medicine for the treatment of various conditions like kidney diseases, cough, and catarrh, and are known for their wound-healing properties. In the present study, the phenolic and sterolic content and the antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of three Veronica species (Plantaginaceae), V. officinalis L. , V. teucrium L. and V. orchidea Crantz, were studied. The identification and quantification of several phenolic compounds and phytosterols were performed using LC/MS techniques and the main components were p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid, luteoline, hispidulin and β-sitosterol. More than that, hispidulin, eupatorin and eupatilin were detected for the first time in the Veronica genus. Nevertheless, representatives of the Veronica genus were never investigated in terms of their phytosterol content. The antioxidant potential investigated by Trolox equivelents antioxidant capacity (TEAC) and EPR spectroscopy revealed that V. officinalis and V. orchidea extracts presented similar antioxidant capacities, whilst the values registered for V. teucrium extract are lower. Regarding the antimicrobial activity of the investigated species, Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes and Listeria ivanovii were the most sensitive strains with MIC values between 3.9 and 15.62 mg/mL. The results obtained by this study may serve to promote better use of representatives from the genus Veronica as antioxidant and antimicrobial agents.
Business Models in Compliance with Sulphur Emissions Control Area Regulations in the Baltic Sea Region. Väävli emissiooni kontrolli ala nõuetele vastavad ärimudelid Läänemere piirkonnas

46 Lühikokkuvõte . 48 Appendix 1 . 51 Publication 1 . 53 Publication 2 . 83 Publication 3 . 101 Publication 4 . 129 Publication 5 . 141 Appendix 2 . 157 Curriculum Vitae . 163 Elulookirjeldus . 164
Walleye Fishery Ecology in Lake Oahe of the Dakotas

viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION . 1 Dissertation Content and Format . 10 CHAPTER 2: INFLUENCE OF SPATIAL COMPLEXITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS ON WALLEYE RECRUITMENT IN A LARGE MISSOURI RIVER RESERVOIR . 15 Abstract . 15 Introduction . 16 Methods . 18 Results . 23 Discussion . 25 References . 31 CHAPTER 3: USE OF HIGH-REWARD TAGS AND DOUBLE-TAGGING TO ESTIMATE ANGLER REPORTING AND JAW-TAG LOSS RATE FOR LAKE OAHE WALLEYE . 45 Abstract . 45 Introduction . 46 Methods . 47 Results . 50 Discussion . 51 References . 55 CHAPTER 4: WALLEYE MOVEMENT PATTERNS INFERRED FROM TAGGING IN LAKE OAHE . 64 Abstract . 64 Introduction . 65 Methods . 68 Discussion . 78 References . 85 CHAPTER 5: ANGLER RESPONSE TO WALLEYE POPULATION VARIABILITY IN LAKE OAHE, SOUTH DAKOTA . 103 Abstract . 103 Introduction . 103 Methods . 106 Results . 109 Discussion . 109
High Expression of KLK14 in Prostatic Adenocarcinoma Is Associated with Elevated Risk of Prostate-Specific Antigen Relapse

Objective: Reliable prognostic tools for prostate cancer are still needed and KLK14, a young member of the growing family of human kallikrein-related peptidases, has been estimated to become a new significant marker. It is the aim of this study to analyze the clinical value of immunohistochemical expression of KLK14 in prostate cancer tissue samples. Methods: Protein expression of KLK14 was assessed immunohistochemically in 186 tissue samples from radical prostatectomies. Areas of normal prostatic tissue, of prostatic epithelial neoplasia and of prostatic adenocarcinoma were checked in relation to clinicopathological parameters of the patients. Expression of KLK14 mRNA was quantified in 25 matches of normal and cancerous prostatic tissue, collected by laser capture microdissection. Real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction analysis was used to supplement the immunohistochemical data. Results: Expression of the KLK14 protein correlated with the pathological tumor status in prostate cancer and was associated with disease progression defined by prostate-specific antigen relapse in univariate Kaplan-Meier analysis. The multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression model proved KLK14 to be an independent prognostic factor in prostate cancer. Conclusion: In conclusion, we consider KLK14 to be a suitable prognostic marker for the detection of cases at risk of disease progression after radical prostatectomy.
Developmental regulation of the multiple myogenic cell lineages of the avian embryo

The developmental regulation of myoblasts committed to fast, mixed fast/slow, and slow myogenic cell lineages was determined by analyzing myotube formation in high density and clonal cultures of myoblasts isolated from chicken and quail embryos of different ages. To identify cells of different myogenic lineages, myotubes were analyzed for content of fast and slow classes of myosin heavy chain (MHC) isoforms by immunocytochemistry and immunoblotting using specific monoclonal antibodies. Myoblasts from the hindlimb bud, forelimb bud, trunk, and pectoral regions of the early chicken embryo and hindlimb bud of the early quail embryo (days 3-6 in ovo) were committed to three distinct lineages with 60-90% of the myoblasts in the fast lineage, 10-40% in the mixed fast/slow lineage, and 0-3% in the slow lineage depending on the age and species of the myoblast donor. In contrast, 99-100% of the myoblasts in the later embryos (days 9-12 in ovo) were in the fast lineage. Serial subculturing from a single myoblast demonstrated that commitment to a particular lineage was stably inherited for over 30 cell doublings. When myoblasts from embryos of the same age were cultured, the percentage of muscle colonies of the fast, fast/slow, and slow types that formed in clonal cultures was the same as the percentage of myotubes of each of these types that formed in high density cultures, indicating that intercellular contact between myoblasts of different lineages did not affect the type of myotube formed. An analysis in vivo showed that three types of primary myotubes- -fast, fast/slow, and slow--were also found in the chicken thigh at day 7 in ovo and that synthesis of both the fast and slow classes of MHC isoforms was concomitant with the formation of primary myotubes. On the basis of these results, we propose that in the avian embryo, there is an early phase of muscle fiber formation in which primary myotubes with differing MHC contents are formed from myoblasts committed to three intrinsically different primary myogenic lineages independent of innervation and a later phase in which secondary myotubes are formed from myoblasts in a single, secondary myogenic lineage with maturation and maintenance of fiber diversity dependent on innervation.
MiRNA-196 Is Upregulated in Glioblastoma But Not in Anaplastic Astrocytoma and Has Prognostic Significance

Purpose: MicroRNAs (miRNA) are short noncoding RNAs that can play critical roles in diverse biological processes. They are implicated in tumorigenesis and function both as tumor suppressors and as oncogenes. The clinical significance of miRNA expression profiles in malignant gliomas remains unclear. Experimental Design: In this study, we examined the expression levels of 365 mature human miRNAs in 12 malignant gliomas, including 8 glioblastomas and 4 anaplastic astrocytomas, using TaqMan real-time quantitative PCR arrays. A validation study was done to corroborate a subset of the results, including expression levels of miR-196a, -196b, -21, and -15b, by analyzing 92 malignant gliomas by conventional real-time PCR. We modeled the relationship between the expression levels of these miRNAs and the survival rate of 39 glioblastoma patients by Kaplan-Meier method and multivariate analysis. Results: Expression profiles in glioblastomas and anaplastic astrocytomas suggested that 16 miRNAs were candidate markers associated with the malignant progression of gliomas. Among them, miR-196a showed the most significant difference ( P = 0.0038), with miR-196b also having a high significance ( P = 0.0371). Both miRNAs showed increased expression levels in glioblastomas relative to both anaplastic astrocytomas and normal brains in the validation study. Furthermore, patients with high miR-196 expression levels showed significantly poorer survival by the Kaplan-Meier method ( P = 0.0073). Multivariate analysis showed that miR-196 expression levels were an independent predictor of overall survival in all 39 glioblastoma patients ( P = 0.021; hazard ratio, 2.81). Conclusions: Our results suggest that miR-196 may play a role in the malignant progression of gliomas and may be a prognostic predictor in glioblastomas. Clin Res; 16(16); t -test, P ≤ 0.05). Taken together, our results determined that expression levels of miR-196a and -196b defin-itively higher in glioblastomas with either anaplastic astrocytomas normal brains, of
A conditional likelihood approach for regression analysis using biomarkers measured with batch‐specific error

Measurement error is common in epidemiological and biomedical studies. When biomarkers are measured in batches or groups, measurement error is potentially correlated within each batch or group. In regression analysis, most existing methods are not applicable in the presence of batch‐specific measurement error in predictors. We propose a robust conditional likelihood approach to account for batch‐specific error in predictors when batch effect is additive and the predominant source of error, which requires no assumptions on the distribution of measurement error. Although a regression model with batch as a categorical covariable yields the same parameter estimates as the proposed conditional likelihood approach for linear regression, this result does not hold in general for all generalized linear models, in particular, logistic regression. Our simulation studies show that the conditional likelihood approach achieves better finite sample performance than the regression calibration approach or a naive approach without adjustment for measurement error. In the case of logistic regression, our proposed approach is shown to also outperform the regression approach with batch as a categorical covariate. In addition, we also examine a ‘hybrid’ approach combining the conditional likelihood method and the regression calibration method, which is shown in simulations to achieve good performance in the presence of both batch‐specific and measurement‐specific errors. We illustrate our method by using data from a colorectal adenoma study. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.