Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Efficient decoding and training procedures for utterance verification in continuous speech recognition

It is often necessary in speech recognition to include a mechanism for verifying decoded utterances in order to account for incorrectly decoded vocabulary words and utterances corresponding to words or sounds that are not included in a prespecified lexicon. This paper describes an utterance verification procedure for hidden Markov model (HMM) based continuous speech recognition that is based on a likelihood ratio (LR) criterion. There are two important contributions. The first is a search algorithm which directly optimizes a likelihood ratio criterion. This search algorithm is important because it allows decoding to be performed in speech recognition according to the same measure of confidence that is used in hypothesis testing. The second contribution is a corresponding training procedure for estimating model parameters which also directly optimizes the same likelihood ratio criterion. These techniques are applied to spontaneous spoken queries in the context of a "movie locator" dialog system.
Hypolipidemic Activity of Okra is Mediated Through Inhibition of Lipogenesis and Upregulation of Cholesterol Degradation

Little is known about the hypolipidemic activity of okra; therefore, we investigated the hypolipidemic activity of okra and its interaction with gene expression of several key components involved in lipid homeostasis. Male C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into three groups and fed with hyperlipidemic diet or two hyperlipidemic diets supplemented with 1% or 2% okra powder for eight weeks. Results demonstrated that okra dose‐dependently decreased serum and hepatic total cholesterol and triglyceride, and enhanced fecal excretion of bile acids. Gene expression analysis revealed that okra upregulated cholesterol 7α‐hydroxylase (CYP7A1) expression, downregulated expression of sterol regulatory element‐binding protein 1c (SREBP1c) and fatty acid synthase (FAS), with no effect on sterol regulatory element‐binding protein 2 (SREBP2), 3‐hydroxy‐3‐methylglutaryl‐CoA reductase (HMGR), low‐density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) and carnitine palmitoyltransferase‐1A (CPT1A). It was suggested that hypolipidemic activity of okra was mediated most likely by upregulation of cholesterol degradation through CYP7A1 and by inhibition of lipogenesis through SREBP1c and FAS. Okra raw and fractionated polysaccharide showed strong bile acid binding capacity in vitro, which may contribute to the hypolipidemic activity observed. In conclusion, okra has potential application in the management of hyperlipidemia and its associated metabolic disorders. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The burden of pediatric asthma

Childhood asthma is common and its prevalence is increasing in most countries of the world. Large‐scale studies indicate that approximately one‐third of children with asthma have had five or more episodes of wheezing in the previous 12 months. Such frequency of symptoms leads to a significant number of days lost from school, interference with physical exercise, and underfunctioning at school because of interrupted sleep. In cases of more severe asthma, the more frequent school absences may affect the individual's education and, possibly, choice of career. In addition to the extensive individual burden of asthma, the burden on the family is substantial. Additional housework may be required to reduce the child's exposure to potential environmental triggers. Time “off work” may be required to take care of a sick child. In cases of severe asthma, children regularly wake at night, and 50% of parents indicate limitation of their social life. Sibling studies show that sometimes siblings who do not have asthma are neglected and that parents may have insufficient time to devote to them. Mortality in pediatric asthma is low, but there has been little reduction in recent years. When viewed as potential life‐years lost, the burden is considerable in social and economic terms. In the United States, the mean annual cost per patient has been estimated at in excess of US$1,000. In Australia, the cost ranges from A$85 to A$884 per patient, depending on asthma severity. In the United Kingdom the estimated annual costs of childhood asthma to the Health Service are between £100 million and £150 million. To reduce the burden to patients, their families, and health care services, improved understanding of the basic pathophysiology of asthma is necessary. Environmental issues need to be addressed as does delivery of care using appropriate devices and effective therapeutic medications. Pediatr. Pulmonol. 1997; Supplement 15:13–16. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A Substrate Integrated Waveguide (SIW) Bandpass Filter in A Box Configuration With Frequency-Dependent Coupling

This letter presents the design of a microwave bandpass filter with frequency-dependent coupling implemented in substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) technology. The proposed filter implements a four-pole generalized Chebyshev filtering function with two transmission zeros. Resonators are arranged in an extended box configuration with dispersive coupling on a main signal path, which produces an extra zero in comparison to classical approaches. The frequency-dependent coupling is implemented as a shorted stub with an additional septum made from via-holes. Such modification allows better control of the positions of the resonant frequencies of coupled SIW cavities, as well as of the position of the transmission zero. The filter was fabricated in SIW technology and good agreement was achieved between the simulated results and those measured.
Two-echelon spare parts inventory system subject to a service constraint

In this paper, we consider a spare parts inventory problem faced by a manufacturer of electronic machines with expensive parts that are located at various customer locations. The parts fail infrequently according to a Poisson process. To serve customers when a failure occurs, the manufacturer operates a central warehouse and many field depots that stock spare parts. The central warehouse acts as a repair facility and replenishes stock at the field depots. There is a centralized decision-maker who manages the inventory in both the central warehouse and the field depots. We develop a continuous review, base stock policy for this two-echelon, multi-item spare parts inventory system. We formulate a model to minimize the system-wide inventory cost subject to a response time constraint at each field depot. We present an efficient heuristic algorithm and study its computational effectiveness.
Retracted: Intra‐arterial transplantation of human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (hBMMSCs) improves behavioral deficits and alters gene expression in rodent stroke model

Stroke is a multi‐factorial polygenic disease and is a major cause of death and adult disability. Administration of bone marrow stem cells protects ischemic rat brain by facilitating recovery of neurological functions. But the molecular mechanism of stem cells action and their effect on gene expression is not well explored. In this study, we have transplanted 1 × 106 human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (hBMMSCs) in middle cerebral artery occluded (MCAo) adult male Wistar rats through intracarotid artery route at 24 h after surgery. Motor behavioral tests (rotarod and open field) were performed to assess the changes in motor functions at day 0 and day1, 4, 8 and 14. The expression of studied genes at mRNA and protein level was quantified by using Q‐PCR and western blotting, respectively. Further, we have assessed the methylation pattern of promoter of these genes by using methylation‐specific PCR. Data were analyzed statistically and correlated. A significant improvement in behavioral deficits was observed in stem cells treated group after 14th day post stroke. Significantly (p < 0.05) increased mRNA and protein levels of brain derived neurotrophic factor and ANP genes in hBMMSCs treated group along with decrease in methylation level at their promoter was observed. On the other hand, significantly decreased mRNA and protein level of TSP1 and WNK1 in hBMMSCs treated group was observed. In conclusion, hBMMSCs administration significantly improves the behavioral deficits by improving motor and locomotor coordination. The promoter of TSP1 and WNK1 genes was found to be hyper‐methylated in hBMMSCs group resulting in their decreased expression while the promoter of ANP and brain derived neurotrophic factor was found to be hypo‐methylated. This study might shed a light on how hBMMSCs affect the gene expression by modulating methylation status.
Imaging modalities of gastrointestinal stromal tumors

Recent dramatic improvement of survival of Gastrointestinal stromal tumor patients alongside the development of a new targeted treatment has made the role of imaging increasingly more important not only in diagnosing the disease, but also in monitoring the treatment effect and surveillance. Computed tomography is currently the imaging modality of choice for these purposes. This article reviews the current roles of different imaging modalities in clinical management of the gastrointestinal stromal tumors. J. Surg. Oncol. 2011; 104:907–914. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Combination of amorolfine with various antifungal drugs in dermatophytosis

Summary. The fungistatic activity of ketocona‐zole, griseofulvin and terbinafine alone and in combination with amorolfine was tested in casi‐tone agar. The fungistatic activity of all three against Trichophyton mentagrophytes is slightly increased by the addition of amorolfine. In yeasts the results are not so clear. The combinations of amorolfine with griseofulvin, terbinafine, itracon‐azole and fluconazole were always more efficient in a murine model of dermatophytosis than the monotherapy, thus a clear synergism between amorolfine and other antifungals was seen.
Image super-resolution based on the pairwise dictionary selected learning and improved bilateral regularisation

A pairwise dictionary selected learning (PDSL) model is proposed in this study, which is specially tailored to synthesise a low-resolution image. This is accomplished with the use of an external dictionary of high-resolution images, which is selectively learned based on the internal dictionary of the target reconstruction image. The PDSL can avoid interpolating the fictitious information to the reconstructed image. Optimisation is performed using a bilateral regularisation term in an edge reserving based on the aid of spatial and directional proximity. Using the proposed approach, the results achieved are superior to the existing dictionary learning-based methods. The authors also present a quantitative evaluation of super-resolution reconstruction using various statistics which demonstrated significant average peak signal-to-noise ratio improvements by their model. A comparison of the proposed method with five other state-of-the-art methods is presented and the authors’ method achieves better visual effects in edge structures.
Two-step approach to scheduling quantum circuits

As the effort to scale up existing quantum hardware proceeds, it becomes necessary to schedule quantum gates in a way that minimizes the number of operations. There are three constraints that have to be satisfied: the order or dependency of the quantum gates in the specific algorithm, the fact that any qubit may be involved in at most one gate at a time, and the restriction that two-qubit gates are implementable only between connected qubits. The last aspect implies that the compilation depends not only on the algorithm, but also on hardware properties like connectivity. Here we suggest a two-step approach in which logical gates are initially scheduled neglecting connectivity considerations, while routing operations are added at a later step in a way that minimizes their overhead. We rephrase the subtasks of gate scheduling in terms of graph problems like edge-coloring and maximum subgraph isomorphism. While this approach is general, we specialize to a one-dimensional array of qubits to propose a routing scheme that is minimal in the number of exchange operations. As a practical application, we schedule the quantum approximate optimization algorithm in a linear geometry and quantify the reduction in the number of gates and circuit depth that results from increasing the efficacy of the scheduling strategies.
Endurance but not resistance training increases intra‐myocellular lipid content and β‐hydroxyacyl coenzyme A dehydrogenase activity in active elderly men

Aim: Endurance and resistance training (ET and RT, respectively) in older subjects have been proven beneficial against metabolic or cardiovascular disorders and against sarcopaenia respectively. Like ET, RT may also increase muscle oxidative capacities. In addition, it could be questioned whether RT, similarly to ET, is able to increase muscle energetic stores such as intra‐myocellular lipids (IMCL) and glycogen contents. To evaluate a possible ET‐ and RT‐induced parallel increase in oxidative capacity and energetic stores, active elderly men (72 ± 2 years) were submitted to a 14‐week training programme (three times week−1) combining lower body endurance and upper body resistance.
Oxidative stress and regulation of anti‐oxidant enzymes in cytochrome P4502E1 transgenic mouse model of non‐alcoholic fatty liver

Background and Aim: Reactive oxygen species produced by cytochrome P4502E1 (CYP2E1) are believed to play a role in pathophysiology of non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). However, little is known about the expression, protein content and activity of anti‐oxidant enzymes and the role of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), a source of reactive nitrogen species, in NAFLD. In the present study, we evaluate gene expression, protein content and activity of anti‐oxidant enzymes, and iNOS, in a CYP2E1 overexpressing model of non‐alcoholic fatty liver (NAFL).
Transfer RNA Methylase Alterations in Polyoma Transformed Rat Embryo Culture Cells 1

Summary A polyoma-transformed cell line of proven tumorigenicity is demonstrated to have greater tRNA methylase activity than its nontumorigenic parent cell line when cultured, harvested, and assayed under controlled conditions. The marked differences in capacity to methylate heterologous tRNA substrates suggests, but does not prove, that qualitative differences may exist between the methylases of the paired cell lines.
Latitude gradients for lymphoid neoplasm subtypes in Australia support an association with ultraviolet radiation exposure

Given the uncertainty surrounding solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposure and risk of lymphoid neoplasms, we performed an ecological analysis of national Australian data for incident cases diagnosed between 2002 and 2006. Subtype‐specific incidence was examined by latitude band (<29°S, 29–36°S, ≥37°S), a proxy for ambient UVR exposure, using multiple Poisson regression, adjusted for sex, age‐group and calendar year. Incidence increased with distance from the equator for several mature B‐cell non‐Hodgkin lymphomas, including diffuse large B‐cell [incidence rate ratio (IRR) = 1.37; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.16–1.61 for latitude ≥37°S relative to <29°S], lymphoplasmacytic (IRR = 1.34; 95% CI: 1.12–1.61), mucosa‐associated lymphoid tissue (IRR = 1.32; 95% CI: 0.97–1.80) and mantle cell lymphoma (IRR = 1.29; 95% CI: 1.05–1.58), as well as plasmacytoma (IRR = 1.52; 95% CI: 1.09–2.11) and plasma cell myeloma (IRR = 1.15; 95% CI: 1.03–1.27). A similar pattern was observed for several mature cutaneous T‐cell neoplasms, including primary cutaneous anaplastic large cell lymphoma (IRR = 4.26; 95% CI: 1.85–9.84), mycosis fungoides/Sézary syndrome (IRR = 1.72; 95% CI: 1.20–2.46), and peripheral T‐cell lymphoma not otherwise specified (NOS) (IRR = 1.53; 95% CI: 1.17–2.00). Incidence of mixed cellularity/lymphocyte‐depleted (IRR = 1.60; 95% CI: 1.16–2.20) and nodular sclerosis Hodgkin lymphoma (IRR = 1.57; 95% CI: 1.33–1.85) also increased with distance from the equator. Many of these subtypes have a known association with infection or immune dysregulation. Our findings support a possible protective effect of UVR exposure on the risk of several lymphoid neoplasms, possibly through vitamin D‐related immune modulation critical in lymphomagenesis.
MLL amplification in myeloid leukemias: A study of 14 cases with multiple copies of 11q23

We here report the clinical, cytogenetic, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), and Southern blot data on 14 patients with a myeloid malignancy and structural aberration of chromosome band 11q23 associated with overrepresentation or amplification of the MLL gene. The number of copies of MLL varied from three (two cases) to a cluster consisting of multiple hybridization spots. Together with previous reports, available data indicate that amplification of 11q23/MLL is a recurrent genetic change in myeloid malignancy. It affects mainly elderly patients and is often associated with dysplastic bone marrow changes or with complex karyotypic aberrations, suggestive of genotoxic exposure. It is associated with a poor prognosis. In addition, FISH analysis of nine cases with additional 11q probes showed that the overrepresented chromosomal region is generally not restricted to MLL, and Southern blot analysis indicated that amplification does not involve a rearranged copy of this gene. The significance of MLL amplification and the mechanisms by which it could play a role in leukemogenesis and/or disease progression remain to be elucidated. Genes Chromosomes Cancer 29:40–47, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
EXTERNAL VERSUS INTERNAL APPROACH TO THE REMOVAL OF METALLIC INTRAOCULAR FOREIGN BODIES

Objective: To review the management of metallic intraocular foreign bodies (IOFB) at a single institution and to compare the use of internal and external approaches for their removal. Subjects and Methods: A retrospective review was conducted on 70 eyes from 70 patients who underwent surgical removal of a metallic IOFB with either an internal (vitrectomy followed by forceps or internal magnet use) or external approach (large electromagnet) by seven vitreoretinal surgeons at a single institution between 1973 and 1996. Visual acuity and complications occurring with the two approaches were the main outcome measures studied. Results: Overall, patients showed significant improvement in visual acuity following surgical intervention (P < 0.001) despite widely varying surgical techniques. When the authors compared patients treated with an external versus an internal approach they found no statistically significant difference with regard to visual outcome and a trend toward a higher rate of postoperative endophthalmitis in the external approach group. Conclusion: Surgical removal of metallic IOFB results in significant visual improvement. The external approach to the removal of magnetic metallic IOFB remains a viable treatment option in select cases. RETINA 20:364‐369, 2000
Characterization of a complex chromosome aberration in two cases of peritoneal mesothelioma arising primarily in the hernial sac

Malignant mesotheliomas of the hernial sac are uncommon and only a few cases have been diagnosed incidentally during herniorrhaphy procedures. The prognosis is poor and patient management is difficult because current treatment modalities do little to prolong survival. Molecular markers could be useful to identify potential therapeutic targets. Using microarray‐comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH), two cases of peritoneal mesothelioma that were found incidentally at the time of hernia repair, were investigated. A high number of genetic aberrations was detected in both cases. The gains were prevalent. The tumors showed identical lost regions at 2q13, 6q25.3, 6q26, 6q26→q27, 9q31.1→9q31.3, 10p15.3, 11q13.2, 13q14.2, 19q13.42→q43, and gains at 1p36.33, 3q29, 5p15.33, 7p22.3, 10p15.1→10p14, 11q13.2, 12q24.23, 12q24.33, 16p13.3, 17p13.3, 18p11.31, 19q13.43, 21q21.1→q21.2, 22q11.1→q11.22, Xp21.2, Xq28. Survival was longer in the patient with a lower total number of genetic defects. aCGH provides a high‐resolution map of copy number changes that may be critical to mesothelioma progression.
Serum urate determines antioxidant capacity in middle‐aged men – a controlled, randomized diet and exercise intervention study

Rosell M, Regnström J, Kallner A, Hellénius M‐L (Karolinska Hospital and Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden). Serum urate determines antioxidant capacity in middle‐aged men – a controlled, randomized diet and exercise intervention study. J Intern Med 1999; 246: 219–226.
Nursing Swallow Screens: Why Is Testing Water Only Not Enough?

&NA; The speech-language pathologist (SLP) standardized a Nursing Bedside Swallowing Screen (NBSS) tool for all patients admitted to the hospital. The adults engaged in the NBSS before oral intake (i.e., medication included) as part of the Brain Attack Pathway for patients with neurological symptoms. If the patient failed the NBSS in the emergency department (ED), then the screen was repeated again after the patient had been admitted before the SLP dysphagia evaluation. Fifty-three male and female patients ranging from 34 to 96 years old with an initial diagnosis of stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA) admitted during an 8-week time period from April 25, 2010, to June 19, 2010, were included in this study. There were 32 women and 17 men including 27 strokes and 22 TIAs tested. As a whole, the NBSS and SLP dysphagia evaluation results were consistent with each other for 40 of 46 patients (86.96% perfect agreement). The NBSS had 74% of sensitivity (34 of 46) with the nursing and the speech pathologist in agreement with the patients passing the swallow screen. Accurate identification of aspiration with the patients failing the NBSS was evident with the nursing and speech pathology assessment, which resulted in 83% of sensitivity (10 of 12). The positive predictive value with the corresponding identification of aspiration with the staff was 96% (44 of 46). The naturalistic observation of the patients exhibited internal consistency reliability between the two disciplines. Extraneous variables affecting the results included spontaneous resolution of stroke or TIA symptoms or the patient’s decline in neurological status. Video Abstract: For more insights from the authors, see Supplemental Digital Content 1, at http://links.lww. com/JNN/A9.