Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Deep maxout neural networks for speech recognition

A recently introduced type of neural network called maxout has worked well in many domains. In this paper, we propose to apply maxout for acoustic models in speech recognition. The maxout neuron picks the maximum value within a group of linear pieces as its activation. This nonlinearity is a generalization to the rectified nonlinearity and has the ability to approximate any form of activation functions. We apply maxout networks to the Switchboard phone-call transcription task and evaluate the performances under both a 24-hour low-resource condition and a 300-hour core condition. Experimental results demonstrate that maxout networks converge faster, generalize better and are easier to optimize than rectified linear networks and sigmoid networks. Furthermore, experiments show that maxout networks reduce underfitting and are able to achieve good results without dropout training. Under both conditions, maxout networks yield relative improvements of 1.1-5.1% over rectified linear networks and 2.6-14.5% over sigmoid networks on benchmark test sets.
Endoscopic Variceal Band Ligation: A Safe Way to Treat Oesophageal Varices

Bleeding from oesophageal varices is the most dreaded complication of chronic liver disease and is associated with high mortality. Endoscopic variceal ligation is one of the more recent effective treatment modalities. This study was aimed at evaluating our experience with endoscopic variceal ligation with a view to stressing the safety associated with the procedure. A prospective study of consecutive patients presenting to the Jos University Teaching Hospital and FOMAS hospital endoscopic units was conducted over a 6 year period. A total of 199 sessions of endoscopic sessions were carried out on 83 patients with different grades of varices. There were 68 males and 15 females (M:F = 4.5:1). The mean age of the study population was 48 +/- 7.4 years with age range of 17 to 63 years. The number of sessions of banding required for variceal obliteration in this study varied from 43 (51.8%) who had 3 sessions of banding, 30 (36.1%) who had 2 sessions and 10 (12.0%) that had a single session of variceal band ligation. All patients were placed on Propanolol tablets. There were no recorded episodes of procedure related bleeding, significant re-bleeding, post-procedure retrosternal pain, stricture or ulceration in this study, attesting to the safety of endoscopic variceal ligation.
An investigation of female adolescent twins with both major depression and conduct disorder.

OBJECTIVE Conduct disorder (CD) and major depression (MDD) frequently co-occur in adolescents, but little is known about the characteristics and functioning of youths, especially females, with both disorders. This study describes the functioning of female adolescents with histories of both CD and MDD. METHOD Subjects were selected from an epidemiological sample of 17-year-old female twins based on having a lifetime DSM-III-R diagnosis of MDD and/or CD; control subjects had no history of either disorder. RESULTS In nearly all domains examined, including measures of academic success (including academic achievement and school adjustment), personality, quality of peer relationships, and high-risk behavior (including substance dependence and early sexual experience), main effects of one or both disorders were found and related to impaired functioning. In addition, interaction effects were found in the areas of substance dependence symptoms (for all classes of substances), negative school-related events, and a personality-based predisposition not to experience positive emotions, indicating that those with both diagnoses were especially impaired. CONCLUSIONS In some domains, histories of MDD and CD interact and relate to particularly severe problems. The implications of these findings for research and treatment, including the high likelihood of substance and school adjustment problems in these youths, are discussed.
Counseling in Pemphigus

Pemphigus is a chronic, potentially life threatening, autoimmune intraepidermal blistering disease affecting the skin and the mucous membrane. Pemphigus may have profound impact on the quality of life in the affected patients. Counselling and adjuvant psychotherapy may be beneficial at least in few patients and should be considered as a part of multidisciplinary approach.
Blockade of Nitric Oxide Synthesis Modulates Rat Immunoglobulin A

Objective: Nitric oxide (NO) is known as a regulator of inflammation and immunity. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of this signal molecule on the rat immunoglobulin A (IgA) system using Nω-nitro-L-arginine-methyl ester (L-NAME), which inhibits the activity of all isoforms of NO synthase. Methods: The experiments were performed on adult female Wistar rats showing diestrus day 1 that were treated with L-NAME (30 or 50 mg/kg, s.c.). Untreated and saline-injected animals were used as controls. The rats were sacrificed 3 h following L-NAME or saline administration. The concentration of IgA in serum and intestinal extracts was determined by a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The number of IgA-expressing cells per area unit of Peyer’s patches and the intestinal lamina propria was evaluated using stereological analysis. Results: The results showed that L-NAME decreased the level of IgA in serum and elevated its concentration in intestinal extracts. Additionally, the increased number of IgA+ cells was found in the intestinal lamina propria in both experimental groups. Conclusion: Obtained findings imply that endogenous NO may modulate the IgA system in the rat.
A comparison of life satisfaction and mood in nursing home residents and community-dwelling elders.

This study compared life satisfaction and mood in a sample of 138 cognitively intact and ambulatory elders, including 70 who lived in nursing homes and 68 who lived independently in the community. Community-dwelling elders reported greater life satisfaction, and scored higher on the Vigor-Activity subscale of the Profile of Mood States (POMS) than those who lived in a nursing home. Nursing home residents scored higher on the Depression-Dejection, Tension-Anxiety, and Confusion-Bewilderment subscales of the POMS. No between group differences were shown on the Anger-Hostility and Fatigue-Inertia subscales of the POMS. The diminished life satisfaction and high depression found in the nursing home residents hold immediate implications for professionals who work in this area.
Spectrum of pathogen- and model-specific histopathologies in mouse models of acute pneumonia

Pneumonia may be caused by a wide range of pathogens and is considered the most common infectious cause of death in humans. Murine acute lung infection models mirror human pathologies in many aspects and contribute to our understanding of the disease and the development of novel treatment strategies. Despite progress in other fields of tissue imaging, histopathology remains the most conclusive and practical read out tool for the descriptive and semiquantitative evaluation of mouse pneumonia and therapeutic interventions. Here, we systematically describe and compare the distinctive histopathological features of established models of acute pneumonia in mice induced by Streptococcus (S.) pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Legionella pneumophila, Escherichia coli, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) coronavirus, influenza A virus (IAV) and superinfection of IAV-incuced pneumonia with S. pneumoniae. Systematic comparisons of the models revealed striking differences in the distribution of lesions, the characteristics of pneumonia induced, principal inflammatory cell types, lesions in adjacent tissues, and the detectability of the pathogens in histological sections. We therefore identified core criteria for each model suitable for practical semiquantitative scoring systems that take into account the pathogen- and model-specific patterns of pneumonia. Other critical factors that affect experimental pathologies are discussed, including infectious dose, time kinetics, and the genetic background of the mouse strain. The substantial differences between the model-specific pathologies underscore the necessity of pathogen- and model-adapted criteria for the comparative quantification of experimental outcomes. These criteria also allow for the standardized validation and comparison of treatment strategies in preclinical models.
Purification and cloning of interferon-stimulated gene factor 2 (ISGF2): ISGF2 (IRF-1) can bind to the promoters of both beta interferon- and interferon-stimulated genes but is not a primary transcriptional activator of either

Interferon-stimulated gene factor 2 (ISGF2) was purified from HeLa cells treated with alpha interferon. The factor, a single polypeptide of 56 kilodaltons (kDa), bound both to the central 9 base pairs of the 15-base-pair interferon-stimulated response element (ISRE) that is required for transcriptional activation of interferon-stimulated genes and to the PRD-I regulatory element of the beta interferon gene. ISGF2 was a phosphoprotein, and dephosphorylation in vitro reduced its DNA-binding activity. However, conditions that changed the amount of ISGF2 did not change the phosphorylated isoforms in vivo. ISGF2 in unstimulated cells existed in trace amounts and was induced by both alpha interferon and gamma interferon as well as by virus infection. Plasmid-bearing Escherichia coli clones encoding ISGF2 were selected with antibody against purified ISGF2. Sequence analysis revealed that the ISGF2 protein was the same as that encoded by the cDNA clone IRF-1, which has been claimed to activate transcription of interferon genes. We show that transcription of the ISGF2 gene was induced by alpha interferon, gamma interferon, and double-stranded RNA. However, ISGF2 was neither necessary nor sufficient for induced transcription of the beta interferon gene, while the factor NF kappa B was clearly involved.
Complete assignments of 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopic data for three new stigmastane glycosides from Vernonia cumingiana

Three new steroidal saponins, Vernoniosides S1 (1), Vernoniosides S2 (2) and Vernoniosides S3 (3) were isolated from the stem of Vernonia cumingian. Their chemical structures were elucidated on the basis of MS, NMR spectroscopic and chemical analysis. Complete assignment of 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopic data were achieved by 1D and 2D NMR experiments (HMQC, HMBC, ROESY). Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Prenatal protein malnutrition differentially affects the volume of the granule layer and mossy fibers in young male and female rats.

The hippocampal formation is critically involved in cognitive functions such as spatial memory and learning [1,2]. In mammals, two regions know as the dentate gyrus and the Cornus Ammonis essentially form the hippocampal formation, which is divided in four subfields referred to as CA1 through CA4. The dentate gyrus contains a population of granule neurons whose axons, the mossy fibers, reach the hippocampal CA3 subfield through distinct fiber tracts termed supra-, intraand infrapyramidal bundles [3,4]. The dentate gyrus receives afferents from the entorhinal cortex, and thus filters cortical information coming in to the hippocampus [5]. Our laboratory has focused on characterizing the effects of prenatal protein malnutrition on the hippocampal formation’s organization and physiology. Our anatomical studies have documented that protein restriction of various sorts markedly alters the morphology of granule cells [6] and pyramidal cells in the hippocampus [7,8]. The theta rhythm, a distinct hippocampal electrophysiological feature, is altered in protein malnourished rats [9,10], suggesting that the dentate gyrus-CA3 projection pathway might be affected by early dietary protein restriction. Accordingly, recent anatomical data show that mossy fiber growth, as well as synapse formation between granule and CA3 pyramidal neurons, are both impaired in animals subjected to protein malnutrition [11,12]. Despite data on hippocampal functional and anatomical disruptions following early protein dietary restriction, it is as yet unknown whether individuals of both sexes are equally affected. This is important as males and females develop at different rates when subjected to different dietary conditions. As protein restriction affects the developing brain during critical times of development, it may be that early protein malnutrition affects differentially the sexes. Thus, in the present study we investigated the effects of prenatal protein malnutrition on the volume of the dentate gyrus granule cell layer and of the mossy fibers in the hippocampal formation of young male and female rats.
Representation Learning for Answer Selection with LSTM-Based Importance Weighting

We present an approach to non-factoid answer selection with a separate component based on BiLSTM to determine the importance of segments in the input. In contrast to other recently proposed attention-based models within the same area, we determine the importance while assuming the independence of questions and candidate answers. Experimental results show the effectiveness of our approach, which outperforms several state-of-the-art attention-based models on the recent non-factoid answer selection datasets InsuranceQA v1 and v2. We show that it is possible to perform effective importance weighting for answer selection without relying on the relatedness of questions and answers. The source code of our experiments is publicly available.
Human Colonie Sulfomucin Identified by a Specific Monoclonal Antibody1

Since the 1960s, the loss of sulfomucin from colonie epithelium has been considered to be an indicator of an early stage of carcinogenesis; yet, the biochemical basis for this phenomenon has never been elucidated. We recently prepared a monoclonal antibody (inAh) 91.9H that immunoprecipitates the normal colonie mucins metabolically incorporating |35S|-sulfate. This mouse IgGl antibody did not cross-react with colon carcinoma mucins that lack sulfate groups. Using normal colonie epithelia unlabeled or radiolabeled with |35S|sulfate and [3H|glucosamine, we pu rified a high molecular weight glycoprotein that reacts with mAb 91.9H. This was achieved by a combination of DEAE-cellulose anion-exchange chromatography, consecutive treatments with chondroitinase ABC plus heparitinase and with sodium dodecyl sulfate plus 2-mercaptoethanol, and gel filtration on Sepharose CL-2B in the presence of 8 M urea. Antibody reactivity was found in acidic but not neutral high molecular weight glycoproteins. After Sepharose CL-2B fractionation, the mAh 91.9H-reactive fractions consisted of a component with an approximate molecular weight of 500,000-900,000. A purified sulfomucin contained protein, neutral sugar, amino sugar, sialic acid, and sulfate in an approx imate ratio of 2.5:1.0:1.1:0.4:0.5. The polypeptide portion was rich in hydrophilic amino acids, particularly threonine. Binding of mAb 91.9H in solid-phase assays was inhibited to 50% by purified normal colon acidic mucin at doses of 5-50 Mg/ml,depending on different preparations. Various glycosaminoglycans or sulfatides did not show inhibitory activity. Sulfomucin reactivity with mAh 91.9H, as determined by solid-phasebinding inhibition and by dot blot assays, was significantly reduced by chemical desulfation of sulfomucins with anhydrous hydrochloric acid, suggesting that sulfate groups served as a portion of the immunochemical determinant for this antibody. Sulfate residues were apparently linked to alkaline-sensitive carbohydrate chains, but alkaline-released carbohy drate chains did not react with mAh 91.9H. Immunohistochemical ex aminations showed that mAh 91.9H bound normal colonie epithelial cells, which also stained with high-iron diamine, more strongly than it bound colon carcinoma cells.
Disagreement between parent and adolescent reports of functional impairment.

OBJECTIVE Adolescents' functional impairment has become increasingly important as a criterion for diagnosis and service eligibility as well as a target of therapeutic intervention in mental health settings. This study examines three critical issues in measuring functioning: 1) agreement between parent and adolescent reports of functioning, 2) explanations for disagreement, and 3) clinicians' ratings of functioning compared with parent and adolescent reports. METHODS Agreement between parent and adolescent reports of functioning was estimated using the kappa statistic and conditional agreement in a sample of 258 adolescents. Rates of and reasons for expected disagreements between informants were explored in semi-structured interviews (n = 43). ANOVA was calculated for clinician ratings for parent-adolescent pairs categorized on the basis of their agreement or disagreement on impairment. Finally, the independent contribution of parents' or adolescents' reports of impairment on clinician ratings of functioning was examined. RESULTS From 12% to 97% of problems reported by one informant were denied by the other. Agreement was particularly poor for questions about relationships with friends, peers' delinquent behaviors, and leisure activities. On average, parents and adolescents were more likely to expect the other would agree with their ratings rather than disagree. Reasons for disagreement included: 1) differences in how parents and adolescents interpreted questions; 2) lack of parental awareness of adolescents' behaviors; and 3) different thresholds for what is considered problematic. Results also demonstrated that clinicians perceive problems reported only by parents as somewhat more serious than problems reported only by adolescents. CONCLUSIONS Implications for diagnosis, treatment planning and outcomes measurement are discussed.
Pharmacokinetics of Ceftazidime in CAPD-Related Peritonitis

Objective The aim of this study was to measure and evaluate the appropriateness of the actual concentrations of serum and dialysate ceftazidime in Thai continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) patients. Design Prospective and descriptive study of patients treated following the International Society for Peritoneal Dialysis (ISPD) 2000 recommendation for the empiric therapy of CAPD-related peritonitis. Setting Institutional level of clinical care. Patients CAPD-related peritonitis patients were diagnosed by dialysate effluent white blood cell count of more than 100/mm3 and polymorphonuclear leukocytes of at least 50%. There were 10 patients, all at least 18 years of age, entered; all completed the study. Intervention In accordance with the ISPD 2000 recommendations, the antibiotic regimen comprised continuous intraperitoneal (IP) cefazolin and once-daily IP ceftazidime. Cefazolin was administered as loading and continuous maintenance doses of 500 and 125 mg/L dialysate respectively. Ceftazidime (20 mg/kg body weight) was given IP once daily. Duration of treatment was 96 hours. Main Outcome Measures Serum and dialysate effluent samples of the 10 CAPD patients with peritonitis were measured for ceftazidime levels, which were used for the development of pharmacokinetic equations that could predict drug concentrations at any treatment time. Results Following ceftazidime administration as in the ISPD 2000 recommendation, serum ceftazidime levels were above 8 μg/mL, the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) recommended by NCCLS, throughout 24 hours. Dialysate ceftazidime levels were below the MIC for total periods of 4.19 and 6.26 hours in day 1 and day 4 respectively. The clinical response rate to the empiric regimen was 90%. Conclusions Once-daily IP administration of ceftazidime according to the ISPD 2000 recommendation could not provide adequately therapeutic levels of ceftazidime in dialysate throughout 24 hours. Despite this finding and the poor post-antibiotic property of ceftazidime, the empiric regimen including once-daily IP ceftazidime could yield good clinical outcome.
Enemy-Free Space for Parasitoids

ABSTRACT Natural enemies often cause significant levels of mortality for their prey and thus can be important agents of natural selection. It follows, then, that selection should favor traits that enable organisms to escape from their natural enemies into “enemy-free space” (EFS). Natural selection for EFS was originally proposed as a general force in structuring ecological communities, but more recently has become conceptually narrow and is typically only invoked when studying the evolutionary ecology of host plant use by specialized insect herbivores. By confining the application of EFS to specialist herbivores, its potential value to community and evolutionary ecology has been marginalized. As a first step toward exploring the potential explanatory power of EFS in structuring ecological niches of higher trophic-level organisms, we consider host use by parasitoids. Here, we present three distinct mechanisms from our studies of caterpillar host—parasitoid interactions suggesting that parasitoids may be under selection to exploit traits of their hosts and the plants on which those hosts feed to garner EFS for their developing offspring. The neglect of EFS as a top—down selective force on host use by parasitoids may be a serious limitation to basic and applied ecology, given the great diversity of parasitoids and their significance in controlling herbivore populations in both natural and managed ecosystems. Parasitoids and other mesopredators represent excellent candidates for further developments of EFS theory and testing of its broader importance.
Selective Modification of Eukaryotic Initiation Factor 4F (eIF4F) at the Onset of Cell Differentiation: Recruitment of eIF4GII and Long-Lasting Phosphorylation of eIF4E

ABSTRACT mRNA translation is mainly regulated at the level of initiation, a process that involves the synergistic action of the 5′ cap structure and the 3′ poly(A) tail at the ends of eukaryotic mRNA. The eukaryote initiation factor 4G(eIF4G) is a pivotal scaffold protein that forms a critical link between mRNA cap structure, poly(A) tail, and the small ribosomal subunit. There are two functional homologs of eIF4G in mammals, the original eIF4G, renamed eIF4GI, and eIF4GII that functionally complements eIF4GI. To date, biochemical and functional analysis have not identified differential activities for eIF4GI and eIF4GII. In this report, we demonstrate that eIF4GII, but not eIF4GI, is selectively recruited to capped mRNA at the onset of cell differentiation. This recruitment is coincident with a strong and long-lasting phosphorylation of eIF4E and the release of 4E-BP1, a suppressor of eIF4E function, from the cap structure, without a concomitant change in 4E-BP1's phosphorylation. Our data further indicate that cytokines such as thrombopoietin can differentially regulate eIF4GI/II activities. These results provide the first evidence that eIF4GI/II does fulfill selective roles in mammalian cells.
Risk of medical sharps injuries among Chinese nurses.

The risk of occupational exposure to bloodborne pathogens is a serious problem for Chinese health care workers. China has one of the highest rates of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in the world, with almost 58% of the population demonstrating serologic evidence of past or present hepatitis B infection.1-3 This proportion reaches more than 76% in Hunan Province.3 Hepatitis C virus is also present, with a prevalence of 3.2% for the total Chinese population and 4% in Hunan.3 In addition, the prevalence of HIV is rising. All of these bloodborne pathogens represent a significant health risk to medical personnel.4