Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cortex Mediates Multisensory But Not Unisensory Integration in Superior Colliculus

Converging cortical influences from the anterior ectosylvian sulcus and the rostral lateral suprasylvian sulcus were shown to have a multisensory-specific role in the integration of sensory information in superior colliculus (SC) neurons. These observations were based on changes induced by cryogenic deactivation of these cortico-SC projections. Thus, although the results indicated that they played a critical role in integrating SC responses to stimuli derived from different senses (i.e., visual–auditory), they played no role in synthesizing its responses to stimuli derived from within the same sense (visual–visual). This was evident even in the same multisensory neurons. The results suggest that very different neural circuits have evolved to code combinations of cross-modal and within-modal stimuli in the SC, and that the differences in multisensory and unisensory integration are likely caused by differences in the configuration of each neuron's functional inputs rather than to any inherent differences among the neurons themselves. The specificity of these descending influences was also apparent in the very different ways in which they affected responses to the component cross-modal stimuli and their actual integration. Furthermore, they appeared to target only multisensory neurons and not their unisensory neighbors.
Supplementing introductory biology with on‐line curriculum *

We developed web‐based modules addressing fundamental concepts of introductory biology delivered through the LON‐CAPA course management system. These modules were designed and used to supplement large, lecture‐based introductory biology classes. Incorporating educational principles and the strength of web‐based instructional technology, choices were made about knowledge presentation, representation, and construction (W. A. Nelson, D. B. Palumbo (1992) J. Educ. Media Hypermedia 1, 287–299). Knowledge presentation focused on big and connecting ideas. Knowledge representation provided students the opportunity to interact with concepts in several ways using multiple representations. For knowledge construction, we facilitated students' active and meaningful interactions with content using interwoven high‐level questions. Students' extended responses to a questionnaire indicated that these modules influenced the students learning in meaningful ways. (For access to demonstration modules, go to demo.lon‐capa.org/cgi‐bin/signon.pl? hhmi.)
Effectiveness of vision rehabilitation treatment through MP-1 microperimeter in patients with visual loss due to macular disease.

PURPOSE To evaluate the effectiveness of biofeedback treatment for low-vision rehabilitation in patients affected by macular disease. MATERIALS AND METHODS 171 eyes of 99 patients (42 female and 57 male) between 50 to 75 years old (mean age: 64.6) were included in this study. All patients were suffering from age-related macular degeneration (AMD) (122 eyes) or macular myopic degeneration (MMD) (49 eyes). All patients underwent an assessment of examinations including visual acuity, reading speed test, slit lamp examination and tonometry, ophthalmoscopic fundus examination, microperimetry, fixation test, retinal sensitivity, fluorangiography (FAG), optical coherence tomography (OCT). The treatment was divided in 16 sessions, the patients underwent other examination assessment at 6 and 12 months, except for FAG and OCT. Statistical analysis was performed using Student's t-test, and p-value <=0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS After training 130 eyes of 171 in the study group (76.02%) had a statistically significant improvement of the distant visual acuity (p<0.01): 38 eyes suffering from MMD and 92 eyes suffering from AMD. After 12 months of follow-up a group of 25 eyes of 130 (19.23%) had a loss of benefits that were observed at the end of the treatment sessions: 16 eyes and 9 eyes were suffering from MMD and AMD respectively. Examination assessment during follow-up showed that 4 eyes and 2 eyes of the group that lost benefits had a worsening of MMD and AMD primary disease respectively. CONCLUSIONS It is not yet understood how biofeedback produces amelioration of visual function. According to the 'Eccentric fixation' theory, with biofeedback rehabilitation patients are trained to use the non-damaged retina areas to develop a new preferred retinal locus. In our study group we found a significant improvement in both visual acuity and fixation.
Monoclonal antibodies to stromal cell types of the mouse thymus

Seven hybridoma cell lines secreting monoclonal antibodies (mAb) to nonlymphoid cells of the mouse thymus have been prepared. These mAb clearly demonstrate the heterogeneity of the thymic stroma. Based on their anatomical distribution patterns observed with the immunoperoxidase technique on frozen tissue sections, they were subdivided into four groups. The first group of mAb, ER‐TR1, 2 and 3, detects antigens encoded for by the I region of the major histocompatibility complex. These antigens are expressed on both stromal and lymphoid cells in lymphoid organs. mAb of the second category, ER‐TR4, react with epithelial cells in the thymic cortex. mAb of the third group detect stromal cells of the thymic medulla. One antibody of this group, ER‐TR5, exclusively reacts with medullary epithelial cells. ER‐TR6, the other antibody of this group, reacts with medullary interdigitating cells and macrophages. The fourth type of antibodies, ER‐TR7, detects the reticular fibroblasts of the thymus. The possible role of the thymic cell types detected by the present antibodies in T cell differentiation is discussed.
Neural Activity Patterns in the Human Brain Reflect Tactile Stickiness Perception

Our previous human fMRI study found brain activations correlated with tactile stickiness perception using the uni-variate general linear model (GLM) (Yeon et al., 2017). Here, we conducted an in-depth investigation on neural correlates of sticky sensations by employing a multivoxel pattern analysis (MVPA) on the same dataset. In particular, we statistically compared multi-variate neural activities in response to the three groups of sticky stimuli: A supra-threshold group including a set of sticky stimuli that evoked vivid sticky perception; an infra-threshold group including another set of sticky stimuli that barely evoked sticky perception; and a sham group including acrylic stimuli with no physically sticky property. Searchlight MVPAs were performed to search for local activity patterns carrying neural information of stickiness perception. Similar to the uni-variate GLM results, significant multi-variate neural activity patterns were identified in postcentral gyrus, subcortical (basal ganglia and thalamus), and insula areas (insula and adjacent areas). Moreover, MVPAs revealed that activity patterns in posterior parietal cortex discriminated the perceptual intensities of stickiness, which was not present in the uni-variate analysis. Next, we applied a principal component analysis (PCA) to the voxel response patterns within identified clusters so as to find low-dimensional neural representations of stickiness intensities. Follow-up clustering analyses clearly showed separate neural grouping configurations between the Supra- and Infra-threshold groups. Interestingly, this neural categorization was in line with the perceptual grouping pattern obtained from the psychophysical data. Our findings thus suggest that different stickiness intensities would elicit distinct neural activity patterns in the human brain and may provide a neural basis for the perception and categorization of tactile stickiness.
Consumer Acceptability of Brief Videoconference-based Neuropsychological Assessment in Older Individuals with and without Cognitive Impairment

Growing evidence suggests that neuropsychological assessment via videoconference shows good agreement with traditional in-person assessment. However, there are few published studies regarding patient acceptability of this methodology, particularly in individuals with cognitive impairment. In this study we sought to evaluate patient preferences and acceptability of teleneuropsychology to further shed light on the viability of this cognitive assessment medium. We examined acceptability of videoconference-based neuropsychological assessment among healthy aging individuals and in subjects with mild cognitive impairment or early stage Alzheimer disease. We found that teleneuropsychology appears to be well accepted by consumers. Our results reflected 98% satisfaction, and roughly two-thirds of participants indicated no preference between traditional face-to-face testing and examination by teleneuropsychology. Furthermore, even participants with cognitive impairment showed good acceptability of teleneuropsychological assessment. In conjunction with the preliminary data on reliability and validity from this growing literature, these results support teleneuropsychology as a viable and acceptable method for assessing cognitive functioning, and show promise for the implementation and utilization of this cognitive assessment medium in clinical and research settings.
RNA synthesis in rat liver cells with different DNA contents.

The DNA content of mature rat liver parenchymal cells falls into three distinct classes with 1:2:4 amounts of DNA. These classes represent 2 N, 4 N, and 8 N cells. We have measured the changing proportions of these cells from 0.75 to 24 months of age. We have obtained a useful approximation for the numbers of each ploidy class, for cellular preparations from liver, as a function of the amount of DNA and age. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that the average DNA content per cell is given by the relationship DNA/cell = 41.28(1/2)--324.14 Age1/4 + 499.37 Age1/8--207.24, with a multiple correlation coefficient of 0.990. Measurements of the amount of RNA synthesized in a 15-min period revealed that the relative proportions were 1.2:1.0 for 4 N:2 N cells of young rats, 1.3:1.1. :1.0 for 8 N:4 N:2 N cells of intermediate ages, and 1.1:1.0 for 8 N:4 N cells of old rats. The absolute amounts of RNA synthesized by each ploidy class declined with age.
Modélisation des connaissances dans le cadre de bibliothèques numériques spécialisées

Nous presentons une application innovante de la modelisation des connaissances au domaine des bibliotheques numeriques specialisees. Nous utilisons la specification experte de la TEI (Text Encoding Initiative) pour modeliser la connaissance apportee par les chercheurs qui travaillent sur des archives manuscrites. Nous montrons les limites de la TEI dans le cas d’une approche diachronique du document, cette derniere impliquant la construction simultanee de structures de donnees concurrentes. Nous decrivons un modele qui presente le probleme et permet d’envisager des solutions. Enfin, nous justifions les structures arborescentes sur lesquelles se base ce modele.
Neuropsychological Functioning in Subgroups of Children With and Without Social Perception Deficits and/or Hyperactivity—Impulsivity

Objective: The purpose of this study is to ascertain whether there are differences among groups of children based on their social perception skills in visual perception and fluid reasoning to assist in more effective intervention planning. Method: A total of 80 children were grouped on the basis of their performance on a social perception measure (Child and Adolescent Social Perception) and the presence or absence of hyperactive—impulsive behaviors. They were administered a battery of tests to determine whether the groups differed in their visual perceptual skills and fluid reasoning abilities. Results: The groups with poor social perception significantly differed from groups with intact social perception on the Rey-O and Fluid Reasoning but not on the Judgment of Line Orientation or the Developmental Test of Visual Motor Integration. Conclusion: A subgroup of children with ADHD demonstrates poor social perception skills and accompanying deficits in complex visual perception and fluid reasoning. (J. of Att. Dis. 2008; 12(2) 177-190)
INVESTIGATION OF CROSS-CONTAMINATION IN A MYCOBACTERIUM TUBERCULOSIS LABORATORY USING EPIDEMIOLOGICAL DATA AND SPOLIGOTYPING

Objective: To investigate possible pseudo-outbreak of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) during a two week period July 2-15th 2005, as suggested by an increase in incidence of newly diagnosed patients with tuberculosis. Many of them had negative – smears for AFB and only one positive-MTB culture. Methodology: Retrorespective surveys of all medical and laboratory data using standard epidemiological tools and DNA fingerprinting in King Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Results: A total of 22 samples representing 20 individual patients were examined. Epidemiological and laboratory analysis of these samples revealed that 14 were identified as presumed false-positive reports due to laboratory cross-contamination. In a further 5 cases, patients were diagnosed clinically as having tuberculosis and were defined as cases of possible cross-contamination. The source was a patient with both clinical and radiographic evidence of TB and was the only one who was smear and culture positive for TB. Molecular analysis and epidemiological studies revealed that specimen patching and multi-use vials of buffer solution were the source of cross-contamination. Conclusions: This investigation strongly supports the idea that M.tuberculosis grown from smear-negative specimens from patients without clinical evidence of tuberculosis should be analyzed by rapid and reliable strain differentiation techniques, such as spoligotyping, to help rule-out laboratory contamination.
SKB-Tree: A Fixed-Outline Driven Representation for Modern Floorplanning Problems

In this paper, we propose an SKB-tree representation for two modern floorplaning problems: fixed-outline and voltage-island driven floorplanning. Since SKB-tree can dynamically allocate regions for blocks so that all blocks can be placed into a specific outline for each solution, it is a suitable representation for dealing with the fixed-outline constraint. Due to this good property, we also use it to deal with the voltage-island driven floorplanning. Different from previous works, we constrain blocks of the same voltage to be placed into one region to save power routing resource, simplify power planning, and reduce IR Drop. Experimental results show the feasibility of SKB-tree. For the fixed-outline constraint with zero deadspace, SKB-tree achieved significantly better wirelength than A-FP, Parquet 4.0, ZDS, and SAFFOA. SKB-tree can get better results than other fixed-outline driven floorplanners because it only needs to focus on wirelength optimization during simulated annealing. Besides, for voltage island driven floorplanning, SKB-tree also consumes less power and wirelength.
Demonstration by affinity chromatography of the cell-free synthesis of ribonuclease-specific immunoglobulin.

An immunoglobulin specific for RNase [EC 3.1. 4.22] has been synthesized in a cell-free system containing either lymph node microsomes or polysomes or spleen polysomes from rats previously immunized with RNase. The synthesis of anti-RNase immunoglobulin was demonstrated by affinity chromatography using an RNase-Sepharose column. Supporting evidence for the cell-free synthesis of immunoglobulin was obtained by separating the synthesized immunoglobulin from other proteins by DEAE-Sephadex A-25 column chromatography and by neutralization of RNase activity with the separated immunoglobulin. Lymph nodes and spleen had an almost equal capacity to synthesize the immunoglobulin to RNase. Under our experimental conditions, 5 to 15 per cent of the total protein synthesis was directed toward immunoglobulin synthesis.
The natural history of the systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS). A prospective study.

OBJECTIVE Define the epidemiology of the four recently classified syndromes describing the biologic response to infection: systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), sepsis, severe sepsis, and septic shock. DESIGN Prospective cohort study with a follow-up of 28 days or until discharge if earlier. SETTING Three intensive care units and three general wards in a tertiary health care institution. METHODS Patients were included if they met at least two of the criteria for SIRS: fever or hypothermia, tachycardia, tachypnea, or abnormal white blood cell count. MAIN OUTCOMES MEASURES Development of any stage of the biologic response to infection: sepsis, severe sepsis, septic shock, end-organ dysfunction, and death. RESULTS During the study period 3708 patients were admitted to the survey units, and 2527 (68%) met the criteria for SIRS. The incidence density rates for SIRS in the surgical, medical, and cardiovascular intensive care units were 857, 804, and 542 episodes per 1000 patient-days, respectively, and 671, 495, and 320 per 1000 patient-days for the medical, cardiothoracic, and general surgery wards, respectively. Among patients with SIRS, 649 (26%) developed sepsis, 467 (18%) developed severe sepsis, and 110 (4%) developed septic shock. The median interval from SIRS to sepsis was inversely correlated with the number of SIRS criteria (two, three, or all four) that the patients met. As the population of patients progressed from SIRS to septic shock, increasing proportions had adult respiratory distress syndrome, disseminated intravascular coagulation, acute renal failure, and shock. Positive blood cultures were found in 17% of patients with sepsis, in 25% with severe sepsis, and in 69% with septic shock. There were also stepwise increases in mortality rates in the hierarchy from SIRS, sepsis, severe sepsis, and septic shock: 7%, 16%, 20%, and 46%, respectively. Of interest, we also observed equal numbers of patients who appeared to have sepsis, severe sepsis, and septic shock but who had negative cultures. They had been prescribed empirical antibiotics for a median of 3 days. The cause of the systemic inflammatory response in these culture-negative populations is unknown, but they had similar morbidity and mortality rates as the respective culture-positive populations. CONCLUSIONS This prospective epidemiologic study of SIRS and related conditions provides, to our knowledge, the first evidence of a clinical progression from SIRS to sepsis to severe sepsis and septic shock.
Easy Process and Performance Improvement for Top-Emission Organic Light-Emitting Diodes by Using UV Glue as the Insulation Layer on Copper Substrate

A high heat dissipation material (copper, Cu) was employed as the substrate for top emission organic light-emitting diodes (TEOLEDs). The UV glue was spin-coated onto the Cu substrate as the insulation layer to effectively improve Cu surface roughness and reduce process complexity. From the optoelectronic results, the optimized device with the Cu substrate shows the maximum luminance of 14110 cd/m2 and luminance efficiency of 7.14 cd/A. The surface and junction temperatures are measured to discuss the heat-dissipating effect on device performance. From the results, TEOLED fabricated on a Cu substrate has lower junction (55.34°C) and surface (25.7°C) temperatures, with the lifetime extended seven times. We employed Cu foil as the substrate for flexible TEOLED with maximum luminance of 10310 cd/m2 and luminance efficiency of 7.3 cd/A obtained.
Precipitation of arabic acid and some seed polysaccharides by glycosylphenylazo dyes.

The use of 1,3,5-tri-(p-oc-L-fucosyloxyphenylazo)2,4,6-trihydroxybenzene for precipitation of an L-fucose-binding protein from the seed of Lotu8 tetragonolobu8 (Yariv, Kalb & Katchalski, 1967) revealed that some polysaccharide components present in aqueous extracts of various seeds are precipitated with this dye and with the related glucoside dye 1,3,5-tri-(p-fl-D-glucosyloxyphenylazo) 2,4,6 trihydroxybenzene (Yariv, Rapport & Graf, 1962). We observed that arabic acid is also precipitated with the glucoside dye. In this communication we describe the precipitation reaction and a procedure for the isolation of some seed polysaccharides based on this reaction. Precipitation of arabic acid (Pfanstiehl Laboratories Inc., Waukegan, Ill., U.S.A.) by the glucoside dye was effected at room temperature in 0-1Msodium phosphate buffer, pH6-8, in the range of 5-100 ,g. of polysaccharide/ml. A critical ratio of dye to arabic acid is necessary for precipitation. A plot ofprecipitated dye versus added dye is concave upwards at low dye concentration and becomes concave downwards at higher concentration, eventually reaching an asymptote. The asymptotic value of precipitated dye is proportional to the amount of polysaccharide. In an experiment, glucoside dye was added to each ofa series ofconical test tubes containing 40,ug. of arabic acid in 2ml. After 1 hr. the mixtures were centrifuged and the concentration of dye in the supernatants was measured. Precipitates were observed in all mixtures containing more than 12,ug. of added dye. The saturation value of 41 ,g. of bound dye was reached with 100,ug. of added dye and persisted up to 400,ug. of added dye. With a 1: 1 weight ratio of dye to polysaccharide more than 90% of the polysaccharide was found in the precipitate by means of a procedure described below for the isolation of the dye-binding polysaccharides. The dye did not precipitate arabic acid in 10% (w/v) NaCl or in 8M-urea. Heating an aqueous solution of arabic acid in a boiling-water bath for 1 hr. destroyed its ability to be precipitated with the dye. The following seed materials were used for isolation of the dye-binding polysaccharides: soyabean flour was a defatted product marketed as Soyafluff 200W by Central Soya, Chicago, Ill. ,
Cooperative Partial Demodulation for Multihop Wireless Communication

Vehicular Ad hoc NETworks (VANETs) are considered as the backbone of Intelligent Transport System (ITS). They are created for cooperative information exchange. Hence, cooperative communication among vehicles can significantly improve the performance of wireless communication. In this paper, a cooperative scheme named Partial Demodulation of Multi-hop Wireless Communication (PDMWC), which utilizes low-order demodulations to partially demodulate high-order modulated signals cooperatively at intermediate, relay vehicular nodes is propounded. Bit Error Rate (BER) probability is analyzed. The experiment results show that the proposed system significantly improves the performance of multi-hop VANETs with cooperative communication in terms of Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR), Bit Error Rate (BER), Throughput, Energy consumption and Delay.
WPP, No.110: Perception of spectral slopes and tone identification in White Hmong

This study investigates the importance of source spectrum slopes in the perception of phonation by White Hmong listeners. In White Hmong, non-modal phonation (breathy or creaky voice) accompanies certain lexical tones, but its importance in tonal contrasts is unclear. In this study, native listeners participated in two perception tasks, in which they were asked to identify the word they heard. In the _rst task, participants heard natural stimuli with manipulated F0 and duration (phonation unchanged). Results indicate that phonation is important in identifying the breathy tone, but not the creaky tone. Thus, breathiness can be viewed as contrastive in White Hmong. Next, to understand which parts of the source spectrum listeners use to perceive contrastive breathy phonation, source spectrum slopes were manipulated in the second task to create stimuli ranging from modal to breathy sounding, with F0 held constant. Results indicate that changes in H1-H2 (di_erence in amplitude between the _rst and second harmonics) and H2-H4 (di_erence in amplitude between the second and fourth harmonics) are independently important for distinguishing breathy from modal phonation, consistent with the view that the percept of breathiness is inuenced by a steep drop in harmonic energy in the lower frequencies.