Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ipsilateral Electric Acoustic Stimulation of the Auditory System: Results of Long-Term Hearing Preservation

Objective: To evaluate long-term ipsilateral hearing preservation in patients who underwent cochlear implantation for the combined electric acoustic stimulation of the auditory system. Methods: This was a prospective observational study conducted at a tertiary referral center. Twenty-three subjects were implanted with the MED-EL C40+ standard or C40+ medium electrode using an atraumatic surgical protocol via an anterior-inferior cochleostomy approach. The desired insertion depth was 18–24 mm or 360°. All patients showed significant low-frequency hearing prior to surgery and monosyllabic word scores did not exceed 40% in the best aided condition. Pure-tone audiometry was performed prior to implantation and at distinct intervals after surgery. Results: Nine patients (39.1%) showed complete pure-tone audiometric hearing preservation (0–10 dB) over an average of 29 months. Seven subjects (30.4%) showed partial preservation of residual hearing (hearing loss 15–40 dB) until an average of 25 months. Delayed loss of residual hearing was observed in 5 cases (21.7%) and 2 patients (8.6%) completely lost residual hearing during or immediately after surgery. Freiburger Monosyllabic word understanding scores in a group of patients with complete hearing preservation increased from 13.1% preoperatively to 75% in the electric acoustic stimulation condition. Conclusion: This study documents that complete and partial preservation of ipsilateral hearing after cochlear implantation can be achieved in about 70% of cases over an average period of 27.25 months when using 360° electrode insertions.
Neutrophil Extracellular Traps Kill Bacteria

Neutrophils engulf and kill bacteria when their antimicrobial granules fuse with the phagosome. Here, we describe that, upon activation, neutrophils release granule proteins and chromatin that together form extracellular fibers that bind Gram-positive and -negative bacteria. These neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) degrade virulence factors and kill bacteria. NETs are abundant in vivo in experimental dysentery and spontaneous human appendicitis, two examples of acute inflammation. NETs appear to be a form of innate response that binds microorganisms, prevents them from spreading, and ensures a high local concentration of antimicrobial agents to degrade virulence factors and kill bacteria.
The Diffusion of High Speed Broadband: A Cross Country Analysis

This research analyses the adoption of very high speed broadband (e.g. fiber to the home) and provides diffusion forecasts (i.e. yearly changes in subscription) for countries across the world. We present econometric models which estimate the diffusion rate according to a set of supply and demand characteristics. Based on data for 25 countries for the period of 1999-2009 we show that the demand- and supply-side factors such as income, monthly subscription price, and competition in broadband and television can explain 75% of the variance in the observed yearly change in subscription. Based on the econometric results we use a discrete form of the Logistic diffusion function and estimate the diffusion rate according to the above factors. We find that a country-specific diffusion model can substantially improve the forecast accuracy. Based on country specific models we show that 50% of households in most of the countries in Central and Eastern Europe will adopt high speed broadband through fiber to the home/building (i.e. FTTx) technology by 2015-2016. In contrast, we find that adoption rate in most countries in Western Europe is much slower and 50% of households will adopt FTTx broadband only after 2020.
Electrophoretic analysis of four high molecular weight sialoglycoproteins produced by metastatic human colon carcinoma cells

We have found that polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in 3% gels in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate is suitable for the separation of cellular glycoproteins having molecular weights ranging from 200,000 to 1,000,000. The gels secured on a rigid support (Gelbond) allow blotting techniques with lectins and antibodies for the detection of glycoproteins. Using these methods we have separated lysates of HT‐29 human colon carcinoma cells and detected at Jeast four distinct high molecular weight Sialoglycoproteins having molecular weights of 900,000, 740.000, 560,000, and 450,000. The expression of the 9000,000 component, as revealed by wheat germ agglutinin binding, was much higher in a subline of HT‐29 cells established from liver metastases in a nude mouse than it was in the parental cells. The relative intensity of wheat germ agglutinin binding to these four sialoglycoprotein components differs depending upon their growth phase in vitro. These glycoproteins were also detectable by the binding of peanut agglutinin, provided the glycoproteins were previously treated in the gels with mild acid to remove the sialic acid from their carbohydrate chains, suggesting that mucin‐type carbohydrate chains are present on these glycoproteins. The same set of glycoproteins can be detected by metabolic labeling of the cells with [3H] glucosamine in tissue culture. Very similar glycoprotein profiles are revealed by metabolic labeling of fresh colon carcinoma tissues with [3H] glucosamine in vitro.
Accurate evaluation and analysis of functional genomics data and methods

The development of technology capable of inexpensively performing large‐scale measurements of biological systems has generated a wealth of data. Integrative analysis of these data holds the promise of uncovering gene function, regulation, and, in the longer run, understanding complex disease. However, their analysis has proved very challenging, as it is difficult to quickly and effectively assess the relevance and accuracy of these data for individual biological questions. Here, we identify biases that present challenges for the assessment of functional genomics data and methods. We then discuss evaluation methods that, taken together, begin to address these issues. We also argue that the funding of systematic data‐driven experiments and of high‐quality curation efforts will further improve evaluation metrics so that they more‐accurately assess functional genomics data and methods. Such metrics will allow researchers in the field of functional genomics to continue to answer important biological questions in a data‐driven manner.
Prodromal dementia with Lewy bodies

Background The clinical condition of dementia is now recognized as a diagnosis that can only be applied too late in the disease process to be useful for therapeutic approaches centring on disease modification. As a result, in recent years increasing attention has been given to mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and the diagnosis of prodromal dementia. This paper reviews the evidence for the clinical presentation of prodromal dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). Method A Medline search was carried out to identify articles with original data on the prodromal presentation of DLB. Results In MCI cohorts that progress to dementia, the proportion diagnosed with DLB is similar to that reported in dementia cohorts. Prodromal DLB may present as any MCI subtype, although visuospatial and executive domains may be most commonly affected. Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behaviour disorder (RBD), autonomic symptoms, hyposmia, hallucinations and motor symptoms seem to be more common in prodromal DLB than in prodromal Alzheimer's disease (AD). Some of these symptoms can precede the diagnosis of DLB by several years. There has been little research into the use of biomarkers in prodromal DLB, although in RBD cohorts, clinical and imaging biomarkers have been associated with the development of DLB. Conclusions The evidence available suggests that prodromal DLB may be differentiated from other dementia prodromes in most cases. Further research is needed to confirm this, and to assess the utility of biomarkers such as 123I-FP-CIT and 123I-MIBG imaging.
From rigid templates to grammars: object detection with structured models

We develop models for localizing instances of a generic object category, such as cars or people, in images. We define these models using a grammar formalism. In this formalism compositional rules are used to encode models that can range in complexity from simple rigid templates to rich deformable part models with variable structure. A central contribution of this dissertation is an exploration along this axis, wherein we gradually enrich our object category representations. We demonstrate that these richer models lead to improved object detection performance on challenging datasets such as the PASCAL VOC Challenges. While building richer models, we would like to make use of existing training data and annotations. These annotations typically specify labels, such as object bounding boxes, that are "weak'' compared to the derivation trees produced by detection with a grammar model. We propose a new discriminative training framework that directly supports learning models from weakly-labeled examples. We show how to apply this framework to the problem of learning the parameters of a grammar model. This approach results in a top-performing method for detecting people in images. In order to achieve widespread use in research and applications, an object detection system must not only be accurate, but also fast. Along the line of efficient computation, we develop a technique for "compiling" one of our object models into a much faster detector that implements a cascade architecture. We show how to select the cascade thresholds in a way that is both safe and effective. We demonstrate that the cascaded detector produces detections 15x faster than the non-cascade approach with no loss in precision or recall.
How Legislative (In)Activity, Ideological Divergence, and Divided Government Impact Executive Unilateralism: A Test of Three Theories

During the past two decades scholars from a variety of different fields (law, history, journalism, political science) have written extensively about the development and implementation of the Unilateral Presidency. Because several explanations for unilateral action have been posited, we provide a thorough test of three theories of executive unilateral action. Applying a newly-developed methodology to the most comprehensive dataset of unilateral presidential directives to date, results of the Bayesian Poisson Vector Autoregressive model suggest that although executive orders, memoranda, and proclamations are all strategic tools that presidents utilize to unilaterally alter policy, fundamental differences exist between them, as well as the inter-dependence among them. More important, our results show that whereas the percentage of bills passed is related to presidential proclamations, legislative activity actually depends on the number of executive orders issued. However, CQ success scores are related to both executive orders and presidential proclamations. We also find that presidential ideology and congressional ideology are related to executive action, whereas the impact of divided government is at best only weakly related.
Designing Scholarships to Improve College Success: Final Report on the Performance-Based Scholarship Demonstration

Performance-based scholarships are designed to give students more money for college and to provide incentives for academic progress. MDRC launched the Performance-Based Scholarship Demonstration in 2008 to evaluate the effectiveness of these scholarships for as broad a range of low-income students as possible, in a variety of settings, and with varying incentive structures. The evaluation includes more than 12,000 students in institutions across six states. Institutions created performance-based scholarship programs tailored to what they perceived to be the specific needs of their students, by targeting the incentive, academic benchmarks, and in some cases additional services to address those needs.Each of the six programs in the demonstration was evaluated using a randomized controlled trial. Students were randomly assigned by researchers either to receive only their usual financial aid package and services or to be eligible to receive supplemental financial aid and services in the form of a performance-based scholarship, contingent upon meeting the given academic benchmarks.The results show that these scholarships improved students’ academic progress during the program — effects that remained evident several years after the program ended. The effects on students’ academic progress appear generally consistent across the different programs and student subgroups. In addition, one program targeted high school seniors and succeeded in increasing their matriculation in college, and three of the programs reduced students’ dependency on loans. Most important, this evaluation finds that the programs modestly increased degree completion, measured after five years.These results show that even relatively moderate investments in low-income students’ education can have modest but long-lasting impacts on their academic outcomes. These findings may be especially relevant to states, institutions, and private scholarship providers seeking purposeful and efficient ways to give low-income students additional financial aid that can also help them succeed academically.
A combination of techniques proves useful in the development of nuclear markers in the newt genus Triturus

To increase the number of markers available for study of phylogeny and phylogeography in the newt genus Triturus, we developed and tested 59 primer pairs using three different techniques. Primers were obtained from published sources, by designing exon‐primed intron‐crossing primers and from randomly cloned anonymous nuclear DNA fragments. Successful polymerase chain reaction products were cloned and sequenced. Five fragments were successfully amplified and sequenced for six species of Triturus: intron 7 of the β‐fibrinogen gene (βfibint7), third intron of the calreticulin gene (CalintC), the 11th intron of the α‐subunit of the platelet derived growth factor receptor (PDGFRα) and two anonymous markers (Cri1 and Cri4). The average percentage species divergence across all the markers is low (c. 3%), compared to what has been found in mitochondrial DNA (25–30%).
Influence of lamotrigine on progression of early Huntington disease

Objective: To assess the efficacy of lamotrigine, a novel antiepileptic drug that inhibits glutamate release, to retard disease progression in Huntington disease (HD). Background: Excitatory amino acids may cause selective neuronal death in HD, and lamotrigine may inhibit glutamate release in vivo. Methods: A double-blinded, placebo-controlled study was conducted of 64 patients with motor signs of less than 5 years’ duration who were randomly assigned to either placebo or lamotrigine and assessed at 0 (baseline), 12, 24, and 30 months. The primary response variable was total functional capacity (TFC) score. Secondary response variables included the quantified neurological examination and a set of cognitive and motor tests. Repeated fluorodeoxyglucose measurements of regional cerebral metabolism using PET also were included. Results: Fifty-five patients (28 on lamotrigine, 27 on placebo) completed the study. Neither the primary response variable nor any of the secondary response variables differed significantly between the treatment groups. Both the lamotrigine and the placebo group deteriorated significantly on the TFC, in the lamotrigine group by 1.89 and the placebo group by 2.11 points. No effect of CAG size on the rate of deterioration could be detected. Conclusions: There was no clear evidence that lamotrigine retarded the progression of early Huntington disease over a period of 30 months. However, more patients on lamotrigine reported symptomatic improvement (53.6 versus 14.8%; p = 0.006), and a trend toward decreased chorea was evident in the treated group (p = 0.08). The study also identified various indices of disease progression, including motor tests and PET studies, that were sensitive to deterioration over time.
Apoptosis pattern and alterations of expression of apoptosis-related factors of supporting cells in Kölliker’s organ in vivo in early stage after birth in rats

Kolliker’s organ is a temporary but indispensable structure in the development of the cochlea. Supporting cells (SCs) within it release adenosine 5’-triphosphate (ATP), which may play a crucial role in cochlear development before the onset of hearing. To reveal the apoptosis of Kolliker’s organ in new-born rats, we studied the morphological changes and expression of apoptosis-related factors during early postnatal development. We found SCs in Kolliker’s organ decreased in number and changed in appearance along the cochlea apex-to-base gradient, and the expression of caspase-3, caspase-8, caspase- 9 and bcl-2 in Kolliker’s organ of the cochlea fluctuated along the course of postnatal development, with an expression peak at postnatal day 3. This study demonstrates a time-dependent degeneration of Kolliker’s organ during postnatal cochlea development, which might be triggered by endogenous factors.
Aqueous Micro-hydration of Na+(H2O)n=1-7 Clusters: DFT Study

Abstract Sodium ion micro-solvated clusters, [Na(H2O) n]+, n = 1–7, were completed by (DFT) density functional theory at B3LYP/6-311+G(d,p) level in the gaseous phase. At the ambient situation, the four, five and six micro-solvated configurations can convert from each other. The investigation of the sequential water binding energy on Na+ obviously indicates that the influence of Na+ on the neighboring water molecules goes beyond the first solvation layer with the hydration number of 5. The hydration number of Na+ is 5 and the hydration space (rNa-O) is 2.43 Å. The current study displays that all our simulations have an brilliant harmony with the diffraction result from X-ray scattering study. The vibration frequency of H2O solvent was also determined. This work is important for additional identification of the Na+(H2O)n clusters in aqueous medium.
Sensorless Control of Surface-Mount Permanent-Magnet Synchronous Motors Based on a Nonlinear Observer

A nonlinear observer for surface-mount permanent-magnet synchronous motors (SPMSMs) was recently proposed by Ortega et al.(LSS, Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France, LSS Internal Rep., Jan. 2009). The nonlinear observer generates the position estimate ¿¿ via the estimates of sin ¿ and cos ¿. In contrast to Luenberger-type observers, it does not require speed information, thus eliminating the complexity associated with speed estimation errors. Further, it is simple to implement. In this study, the nonlinear observer performance is verified experimentally. To obtain speed estimates from the position information, a proportional-integral (PI) tracking controller speed estimator was utilized. The results are good with and without loads, above 10 r/min.
Introducing Hierarchical Adversarial Search, a Scalable Search Procedure for Real-Time Strategy Games

Real-Time Strategy (RTS) video games have proven to be a very challenging application area for Artificial Intelligence research. Existing AI solutions are limited by vast state and action spaces and real-time constraints. Most implementations efficiently tackle various tactical or strategic sub-problems, but there is no single algorithm fast enough to be successfully applied to full RTS games. This paper introduces a hierarchical adversarial search framework which implements a different abstraction at each level — from deciding how to win the game at the top of the hierarchy to individual unit orders at the bottom.
Mining gold dust under the genome wide significance level: a two‐stage approach to analysis of GWAS

We propose a two‐stage approach to analyze genome‐wide association data in order to identify a set of promising single‐nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). In stage one, we select a list of top signals from single SNP analyses by controlling false discovery rate. In stage two, we use the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression to reduce false positives. The proposed approach was evaluated using simulated quantitative traits based on genome‐wide SNP data on 8,861 Caucasian individuals from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study. Our first stage, targeted at controlling false negatives, yields better power than using Bonferroni‐corrected significance level. The LASSO regression reduces the number of significant SNPs in stage two: it reduces false‐positive SNPs and it reduces true‐positive SNPs also at simulated causal loci due to linkage disequilibrium. Interestingly, the LASSO regression preserves the power from stage one, i.e., the number of causal loci detected from the LASSO regression in stage two is almost the same as in stage one, while reducing false positives further. Real data on systolic blood pressure in the ARIC study was analyzed using our two‐stage approach which identified two significant SNPs, one of which was reported to be genome‐significant in a meta‐analysis containing a much larger sample size. On the other hand, a single SNP association scan did not yield any significant results. Genet. Epidemiol. 32:111‐118, 2011. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Noninvasive Assessment of Wedensky Modulated Signal‐Averaged Electrocardiograms

Subthreshold stimulation without capture reduces the stimulation threshold and changes the action potential of subsequent suprathreshold stimulation, a phenomenon known as Wedensky modulation (WM). Patients with ventricular tachycardia (VT) inducible during electrophysiological testing (n = 47, mean age 63 ± 13 years, 83% men), and healthy controls (n = 30, mean age 44 ± 16 years, 60% men) were subjected to transthoracic external subthreshold stimulation between surface precordial and left subscapular patch electrodes. Stimuli of 5, 10, 20, and 40 mA were delivered for 2 ms, in synchrony with, or 20 ms after, R wave detection. A total of 60–200 subthreshold stimulated QRS complexes were averaged and compared with averaged nonstimulated complexes recorded during the same experimental session. To detect transient changes within the QRS complex, both signals were decomposed with 54 scales of Morlet analyzing wavelets (central frequencies 40–250 Hz). Wavelet vector magnitude was obtained for stimulated and nonstimulated complexes. Their difference created a wavelet residuum (WR) that characterized WM numerically. The surface area of the three‐dimensional envelope of WR was measured and statistically compared between VT patients and healthy controls. WR showed a significantly greater increase in the spectral power of the stimulated complex in healthy controls than in VT patients (P < 0.01). In conclusion, (1) wavelet decomposition is a suitable tool to analyze WM, (2) WM in the late QRS complex is short, and (3) VT patients are less sensitive to WM, particularly at low subthreshold energies.
Prostaglandin E1 Transported into Cells Blocks the Apoptotic Signals Induced by Nerve Growth Factor Deprivation

Abstract: Neuronal apoptosis in rat pheochromocytoma PC12 cells, which was confirmed by TUNEL (terminal transferase‐mediated dUTP‐biotin nick end‐labeling) staining and detection of chromatin condensation, appeared within 8 h after nerve growth factor (NGF) deprivation. Prostaglandin (PG) E1 (10−7‐10−6M) reduced the incidence of apoptotic cell death in PC12 cells. The genes encoding PG transporter specific to prostaglandins such as PGE2 or PGF2α were expressed in the cell lines as shown by RT‐PCR. Bromcresol green, an inhibitor of PG transporter, reversed the antiapoptotic effect of PGE1. Moreover, treatment of PC12 cells with an antisense oligonucleotide corresponding to PG transporter cDNA also blocked the inhibitory effects of PGE1 on apoptotic cell death. In addition, PGE1 counteracted the increased activities of stress‐activated protein kinase/c‐Jun N‐terminal kinase within 1–2 h after NGF deprivation in PC12 cells. These results indicated that the antiapoptotic effect of PGE1 in NGF‐deprived PC12 cells was achieved by inhibitory signals following uptake into neurons through the PG transporter.