Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Effects of Glucocorticoids on Fetal and Placental Development

Glucocorticoids (GCs), steroid hormones produced predominantly by the adrenal gland, are key mediators of stress responses. Whilst the acute and chronic effects of pharmacological glucocorticoid excess are well-recognized (including induction of hyperglycemia, insulin resistance, hyperlipidemia, hypertension and dysphoria, with suppression of immune, inflammatory and cognitive processes), their role in the biology of the response to stress is more nuanced, with balanced homeostatic effects to facilitate short-term survival and recovery from challenge [1, 2]. In addition, glucocorticoids play an essential role in normal fetal development and are important for the development and maturation of various fetal tissues including the liver, lungs, gut, skeletal muscle and adipose tissue in preparation for extrauterine life. Glucocorticoids most notably act during late gestation to stimulate surfactant production by the lung. This action is critical to prepare the fetus for extrauterine life, and it is for this reason that synthetic glucocorticoid treatment is so widely used in preterm pregnancies where lung immaturity threatens neonatal viability. Although these treatments greatly improve survival [3], they are not without adverse effects.
Probing neutrino masses with future galaxy redshift surveys

We perform a new study of future sensitivities of galaxy redshift surveys to the free-streaming effect caused by neutrino masses, adding the information on cosmological parameters from measurements of primary anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). Our reference cosmological scenario has nine parameters and three different neutrino masses, with a hierarchy imposed by oscillation experiments. Within the present decade, the combination of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and CMB data from the PLANCK experiment will have a $2\ensuremath{\sigma}$ detection threshold on the total neutrino mass close to 0.2 eV. This estimate is robust against the inclusion of extra free parameters in the reference cosmological model. On a longer term, the next generation of experiments may reach values of order $\ensuremath{\sum}{m}_{\ensuremath{\nu}}=0.1\mathrm{eV}$ at $2\ensuremath{\sigma},$ or better if a galaxy redshift survey significantly larger than SDSS is completed. We also discuss how the small changes on the free-streaming scales in the normal and inverted hierarchy schemes are translated into the expected errors from future cosmological data.
Multiple-pronunciation lexical modeling in a speaker independent speech understanding system

Over the past 40 years, significant progress has been made in the fields of speech recognition and speech understanding. Current state-of-the-art speech recognition systems are capable of achieving word-level accuracies of 90% to 95% on continuous speech recognition tasks using 5000 words. Even larger systems, capable of recognizing 20,000 words are just now being developed. Speech understanding systems have recently been developed that perform fairly well within a restricted domain. While the size and performance of modern speech recognition and understanding systems are impressive, it is evident to anyone who has used these systems that the technology is primitive compared to our own human ability to understand speech. Some of the difficulties hampering progress in the fields of speech recognition and understanding stem from the many sources of variation that occur during human communication. One of the sources of variation that occurs in human communication is the different ways that words can be pronounced. There are many causes of pronunciation variation, such as: the phonetic environment in which the word occurs, the dialect of the speaker, the speaker's age, the speaker's gender, and the speaking rate. Some researchers have shown improvements in speech recognition performance on a read-speech task through the use of explicit pronunciation modeling, while others have not shown any significant improvements. This thesis presents an algorithm for the construction of models that attempt to capture the variation that occurs in the pronunciations of words in spontaneous (i.e., non-read) speech. A technique for developing alternate pronunciations of words and then estimating the probabilities of the alternate pronunciations is presented. Additionally, we describe the development and implementation of a spoken-language understanding system called the Berkeley Restaurant Project (BeRP). Multiple pronunciation word models constructed using the algorithm proposed in this thesis are evaluated within the context of the BeRP system. The results of this evaluation show that the explicit modeling of variation in the pronunciation of words improves the performance of both the speech recognition and the speech understanding components of the BeRP system.
A Psychophysical Investigation of Differences between Synchrony and Temporal Order Judgments

Background Synchrony judgments involve deciding whether cues to an event are in synch or out of synch, while temporal order judgments involve deciding which of the cues came first. When the cues come from different sensory modalities these judgments can be used to investigate multisensory integration in the temporal domain. However, evidence indicates that that these two tasks should not be used interchangeably as it is unlikely that they measure the same perceptual mechanism. The current experiment further explores this issue across a variety of different audiovisual stimulus types. Methodology/Principal Findings Participants were presented with 5 audiovisual stimulus types, each at 11 parametrically manipulated levels of cue asynchrony. During separate blocks, participants had to make synchrony judgments or temporal order judgments. For some stimulus types many participants were unable to successfully make temporal order judgments, but they were able to make synchrony judgments. The mean points of subjective simultaneity for synchrony judgments were all video-leading, while those for temporal order judgments were all audio-leading. In the within participants analyses no correlation was found across the two tasks for either the point of subjective simultaneity or the temporal integration window. Conclusions Stimulus type influenced how the two tasks differed; nevertheless, consistent differences were found between the two tasks regardless of stimulus type. Therefore, in line with previous work, we conclude that synchrony and temporal order judgments are supported by different perceptual mechanisms and should not be interpreted as being representative of the same perceptual process.
Glycogen Synthase Kinase-3 Represses Cyclic AMP Response Element-binding Protein (CREB)-targeted Immediate Early Genes in Quiescent Cells*

Despite its central role in cell survival and proliferation, the transcriptional program controlled by GSK-3 is poorly understood. We have employed a systems level approach to characterize gene regulation downstream of PI 3-kinase/Akt/GSK-3 signaling in response to growth factor stimulation of quiescent cells. Of 31 immediate-early genes whose induction was dependent on PI 3-kinase signaling, 12 were induced directly by inhibition of GSK-3. Most of the GSK-3-regulated genes encoded transcription factors, growth factors, and signaling molecules. Binding sites for CREB were highly over-represented in the upstream regions of these genes, with 9 genes containing CREB sites that were conserved in mouse orthologs. Binding sites predicted in 6 genes were confirmed by CREB chromatin immunoprecipitation and forskolin induction of CBP binding. Moreover, CREB siRNA substantially blocked induction of 5 genes by forskolin and of 3 genes following inhibition of GSK-3. These results indicate that GSK-3 actively represses gene expression in quiescent cells, with inhibition of CREB playing a key role in this transcriptional response.
High Tie of the Inferior Mesenteric Artery in Curative Surgery for Left Colonic and Rectal Cancers: A Systematic Review

Background: During surgery for left colonic and rectal cancers, the inferior mesenteric artery (IMA) can be ligated either at its aortic origin (high tie) or below the origin of the left colic artery (low tie). There is no consensus as to which method should be employed. Methods: We searched Medline, EMBASE, Cochrane collaboration, and National Guidelines Clearinghouse databases and undertook a systematic review on the use of IMA high tie during curative resections for left colonic and rectal cancers and its impact on patient survival, peri-operative morbidity and mortality, and lymph node retrieval rates. Results: Sixteen studies were eligible for systematic review, including one randomized controlled study, 7 quasi-experimental studies, and 8 retrospective cohort studies. Data on 7,649 patients were analyzed, of whom 4,847 underwent high ligation of the IMA. Despite a trend for improved survival in patients in whom high tie was employed, there is no conclusive evidence to support this. Mortality and morbidity, including anastomotic leak and autonomic nerve injury rates, are similar, while lymph node retrieval is improved. Conclusions: Although there is no undisputable evidence of improved survival, the use of IMA high tie contributes to improved lymph node retrieval rates and accuracy of tumour staging.
The Effect of Cognitive Activity on Sleep Maintenance in a Subsequent Daytime Nap

ABSTRACT Background/Objective: The aim of this study is to assess the effects of a learning task on the characteristics of a subsequent daytime nap. Participants and Methods: Thirty-eight subjects were administered a control nap (C) and one preceded by a cognitive training session (TR). Results: Relative to C, TR naps showed significantly increased sleep duration with decreased sleep latency, as well as significantly increased sleep efficiency due to reduced awakening frequency. Meaningful trends were also found toward an increase of Stage 2 sleep proportion and a reduction of Stage 1 sleep, percentage of wake after sleep onset (WASO), and frequency of state transitions. Conclusions: Our results indicate that presleep learning favors sleep propensity and maintenance, offering the possibility to explore planned cognitive training as a low-cost treatment for sleep impairments.
Empirical Study on Deep Learning Models for QA

In this paper we explore deep learning models with memory component or attention mechanism for question answering task. We combine and compare three models, Neural Machine Translation, Neural Turing Machine, and Memory Networks for a simulated QA data set. This paper is the first one that uses Neural Machine Translation and Neural Turing Machines for solving QA tasks. Our results suggest that the combination of attention and memory have potential to solve certain QA problem.
Efficient delivery of RNA Interference to peripheral neurons in vivo using herpes simplex virus

Considerable interest has been focused on inducing RNA interference (RNAi) in neurons to study gene function and identify new targets for disease intervention. Although small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) have been used to silence genes in neurons, in vivo delivery of RNAi remains a major challenge limiting its applications. We have developed a highly efficient method for in vivo gene silencing in dorsal root ganglia (DRG) using replication-defective herpes simplex viral (HSV-1) vectors. HSV-mediated delivery of short-hairpin RNA (shRNA) targeting reporter genes resulted in highly effective and specific silencing in neuronal and non-neuronal cells in culture and in the DRG of mice in vivo including in a transgenic mouse model. We further establish proof of concept by demonstrating in vivo silencing of the endogenous trpv1 gene. These data are the first to show silencing in DRG neurons in vivo by vector-mediated delivery of shRNA. Our results support the utility of HSV vectors for gene silencing in peripheral neurons and the potential application of this technology to the study of nociceptive processes and in pain gene target validation studies.
COMP-JT WITH DYNAMIC CELL SELECTION , GLOBAL PRECODING MATRIX AND IRC RECEIVER FOR LTE-A

Coordinated multi-point transmission and reception (CoMP) is introduced in LTE-A to mitigate co-channel interference and improve the cell-edge user experience. In this paper we propose a joint transmission scheme for LTE-CoMP and we enhance the performance of CoMP with two techniques: 1dynamic MIMO cell selection and 2closed loop MIMO with global precoding matrix selection. A cell-edge user selects the base stations that jointly transmit the desired signal from the available ones (we assumed 3). The user also selects the closed loop precoding matrices for MIMO in a joint fashion to fit the independent MIMO channels from two base stations (eNBs). In addition, edge users are likely to be subject to severe Cochannel interference from eNBs outside the joint transmission set.To address co-channel interference from the base station(s) that are not included in CoMP joint transmission set, the user equipment employs Minimum Mean Squared Error receiver with Interference Rejection Combining (MMSE-IRC). We illustrate the effect of fading correlation between elements of the transmit and receive antennas. Also, the effect of the desired to interference eNB power ratio in case of medium correlation for 3 and 4 layers using MMSEIRC receiver is studied. Also we compare the BER performance for 3 and 4 layers in case of different values of the desired to interference eNB power ratio. Simulation results show that the performance of CoMP with cell selection considerably improves the performance. Also, global selection of the precoding matrices outperforms local selection. In addition, using MMSE-IRC gives much better performance than the conventional minimum mean square error (MMSE) in the presence of co-channel interference.
Submodular secretary problem and extensions

Online auction is the essence of many modern markets, particularly networked markets, in which information about goods, agents, and outcomes is revealed over a period of time, and the agents must make irrevocable decisions without knowing future information. Optimal stopping theory, especially the classic secretary problem, is a powerful tool for analyzing such online scenarios which generally require optimizing an objective function over the input. The secretary problem and its generalization the multiple-choice secretary problem were under a thorough study in the literature. In this article, we consider a very general setting of the latter problem called the submodular secretary problem, in which the goal is to select k secretaries so as to maximize the expectation of a (not necessarily monotone) submodular function which defines efficiency of the selected secretarial group based on their overlapping skills. We present the first constant-competitive algorithm for this case. In a more general setting in which selected secretaries should form an independent (feasible) set in each of l given matroids as well, we obtain an O(l log2 r)-competitive algorithm generalizing several previous results, where r is the maximum rank of the matroids. Another generalization is to consider l knapsack constraints (i.e., a knapsack constraint assigns a nonnegative cost to each secretary, and requires that the total cost of all the secretaries employed be no more than a budget value) instead of the matroid constraints, for which we present an O(l)-competitive algorithm. In a sharp contrast, we show for a more general setting of subadditive secretary problem, there is no õ(√n)-competitive algorithm and thus submodular functions are the most general functions to consider for constant-competitiveness in our setting. We complement this result by giving a matching O(√n)-competitive algorithm for the subadditive case. At the end, we consider some special cases of our general setting as well.
Creating Reciprocal Value Through Operational Transparency

We investigate whether organizations can create value by introducing visual transparency between consumers and producers. Although operational transparency has been shown to improve consumer perceptions of service value, existing theory posits that increased contact between consumers and producers may diminish work performance. Two field and two laboratory experiments in food service settings suggest that transparency that (1) allows customers to observe operational processes (process transparency) and (2) allows employees to observe customers (customer transparency) not only improves customer perceptions but also increases service quality and efficiency. The introduction of this transparency contributed to a 22.2% increase in customer-reported quality and reduced throughput times by 19.2%. Laboratory studies revealed that customers who observed process transparency perceived greater employee effort and thus were more appreciative of the employees and valued the service more. Employees who observed custom.
An Efficient, Variational Approximation of the Best Fitting Multi-Bernoulli Filter

The joint probabilistic data association (JPDA) filter is a popular tracking methodology for problems involving well-spaced targets, but it is rarely applied in problems with closely spaced targets due to its complexity in these cases, and due to the well-known phenomenon of coalescence. This paper addresses these difficulties using random finite sets (RFSs) and variational inference, deriving a highly tractable, approximate method for obtaining the multi-Bernoulli distribution that minimizes the set Kullback-Leibler (KL) divergence from the true posterior, working within the RFS framework to incorporate uncertainty in target existence. The derivation is interpreted as an application of expectation-maximization (EM), where the missing data is the correspondence of Bernoulli components (i.e., tracks) under each data association hypothesis. The missing data is shown to play an identical role to the selection of an ordered distribution in the same ordered family in the set JPDA algorithm. Subsequently, a special case of the proposed method is utilized to provide an efficient approximation of the minimum mean optimal subpattern assignment estimator. The performance of the proposed methods is demonstrated in challenging scenarios in which up to twenty targets come into close proximity.
Expression of melanocortin-4 receptor and agouti-related peptide mRNAs in arcuate nucleus during long term malnutrition of female ovariectomized rats

Objective: Melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R) and agouti-related peptide (AgRP) are involved in energy homeostasis in the rat. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the expression of MC4R and AgRP mRNAs in arcuate nucleus (ARC) during long term malnutrition of female ovariectomized rats. Materials and Methods: Ten female ovariectomized rats were divided into two equal groups (n=6) of normal and restricted diet groups. Using real-time PCR, the relative expressions (compared to controls) of MC4R and AgRP mRNAs were compared between both diet groups. Results: The relative expression of MC4R and AgRP mRNA in the ARC of female ovariectomized rats during long term malnutrition was higher than those with normal diet (P<0.05). Conclusion: Changes in the relative expression level of MC4R and AgRP mRNAs during long term malnutrition of rat indicated a stimulatory role of MC4R and AgRP in regulating energy balance in ARC of rat hypothalamus.
Recent prospective of surface engineered Nanoparticles in the management of Neurodegenerative disorders

Clinically, the therapeutic outcomes in neurodegenerative disorders (NDs) by drug treatment are very limited, and the most insurmountable obstacle in the treatment of NDs is the blood–brain barrier (BBB), which provides the highest level of protection from xenobiotics. A great deal of attention still needs to be paid to overcome these barriers, and surface-engineered polymeric nanoparticles are emerging as innovative tools that are able to interact with the biological system at a molecular level for the desired response. The present review covers the potential importance of surface-structure-engineered nanoparticles to overcome the BBB for good bioavailability, and the evaluation of drug therapy in NDs.
Serum antibody response in adult volunteers elicited by injection of Streptococcus pneumoniae type 12F polysaccharide alone or conjugated to diphtheria toxoid

Conjugates of an uronic acid-containing capsular polysaccharide (CP), pneumococcous type 12F (Pn12F) bound to diphtheria toxoid (DT), were studied for safety and immunogenicity in adult volunteers. In mice, these conjugates, prepared with the same lot of DT and Pn12F-40234-006, a homogenous CP of high molecular weight, or Pn12-812408, a polydisperse CP with lower-molecular-weight material, were more immunogenic than the Pn12F alone and had T-cell dependent properties (A. Fattom, W. F. Vann, S.C. Szu, A. Sutton, X. Li, B. Bryla, G. Schiffman, J. B. Robbins, and R. Schneerson, Infect. Immun. 56:2292-2298, 1988). Adult volunteers, randomized into three groups, were injected either with one of these two conjugates or with Pnu-Imune, the 23 valent pneumococcus vaccine containing 25 micrograms of Pn12F as one of its components. Volunteers were injected two times, 4 weeks apart, with the Pn12F-DT conjugates and once with the Pnu-Imune. Side reactions following injection of the conjugates of Pnu-Imune were mild and short-lived. At 4 weeks and at 7 months after the first injection, higher levels of Pn12F antibodies were found in the volunteers injected with the conjugates than in the Pnu-Imune group (P less than 0.001). The conjugate prepared with the higher-molecular-weight Pn12F elicited higher levels of antibodies than the conjugate prepared with a lower-molecular-weight Pn12F preparation (P = 0.05). Both conjugates elicited about a 13-fold rise in DT antibodies.
Connected substructure similarity search

Substructure similarity search is to retrieve graphs that approximately contain a given query graph. It has many applications, e.g., detecting similar functions among chemical compounds. The problem is challenging as even testing subgraph containment between two graphs is NP-complete. Hence, existing techniques adopt the filtering-and-verification framework with the focus on developing effective and efficient techniques to remove non-promising graphs. Nevertheless, existing filtering techniques may be still unable to effectively remove many "low" quality candidates. To resolve this, in this paper we propose a novel indexing technique, GrafD-Index, to index graphs according to their "distances" to features. We characterize a tight condition under which the distance-based triangular inequality holds. We then develop lower and upper bounding techniques that exploit the GrafD-Index to (1) prune non-promising graphs and (2) include graphs whose similarities are guaranteed to exceed the given similarity threshold. Considering that the verification phase is not well studied and plays the dominant role in the whole process, we devise efficient algorithms to verify candidates. A comprehensive experiment using real datasets demonstrates that our proposed methods significantly outperform existing methods.