Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Audiovestibular function in patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA)

Abstract Conclusion: It was found that JIR children had potential sensory neural hearing loss and vestibular affection. Therefore, this study recommends: early complete audiologic evaluation of JIA child followed by regular follow-up, including TOAEs, extended high-frequency audiometry, and VNG. This follow-up is important for preliminary diagnosis and management in order to prevent the negative impact of hearing loss on a child’s life. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess hearing in children with Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) and compare them with a healthy control group. In addition to conventional audiometry, extended high-frequency audiometry and Transient otoacoustic emission (TOAEs) were used. This study also tried to investigate the vestibular function in JIR children by videonystagmography (VNG). Patients and methods: The study group comprised of 28 children with JIR and 28 healthy children. All subjects were examined audiologically using basic audiological evaluation, high-frequency audiometry, TOAEs, and VNG. Results: Children with JIR had apparent normal peripheral hearing in conventional audiometry; sub-clinical sensory neural hearing loss was detected. This sub-clinical hearing loss appeared in statistically significant difference between them and normal in high-frequency audiometry and TOAEs. VNG test results showed affected tracking and second tests.
Impact of graphene reinforcement on mechanical properties of PLA 3D printed materials

The addition of graphene nanoplatelets to plastics and polymers is currently under investigation as a promising method to improve their working conditions, thanks to graphene's good mechanical, thermal and electrical properties. The present work investigates the impact of graphene addition on the mechanical properties of a poly-lactic acid 3D printed material. We 3D printed specimens with 0%, 1% and 2% of graphene nanoparticles by weight, and we performed tensile tests. We found that graphene addition does not contributes to increase both stress and strain at failure, while it improves stiffness at 45°, exhibiting an anomalous behavior with respect to standard composite materials.
Humanised mouse models in drug discovery for skin inflammation

Inflammatory skin diseases have a high prevalence in Western countries and pharmaceutical companies spend increasing amounts of money to develop drugs for these disorders. However, their complex pathophysiology is only partially reflected in classical rodent models, limiting their predictivity, and new compounds frequently fail in clinical trials. Therefore, there is an urgent need for more predictive and reliable animal models. Humanised mouse models seem to combine the convenience of small animal models with good correlation to the situation in patients and, thus, promise to be a valuable technique for translational medicine. Here, the authors summarise how mice can be humanised and which humanised models for inflammatory skin diseases exist. Application of these models in drug discovery and their advantages and limitations are discussed.
A Comparison of Mail and Telephone Interview Strategies for Mental Health Surveys *

The high cost of mental health surveys of the general population has sparked interest in less costly research methods. Two low-cost mental health survey strategies (mail and telephone) were compared in terms of cost, response rate and quality of data obtained. A total of 1,074 persons agreed to participate in the study as a sample, one-half by telephone and the other half by mail. They completed the Diagnostic Interview Schedule Self-Administered, a questionnaire designed to be self-administered, which was used to assess specific mental disorders and to evaluate risk factors. In addition, 239 respondents who were selected according to the presence or absence of specific diagnoses were re-interviewed face-to-face using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule as an external criterion. The telephone method yielded a better response rate (15% higher) and better control over answers (for example, less missing data). The mail strategy was less expensive and appeared to yield data of slightly better quality, particularly for respondents suffering from anxiety disorders.
Evaluation of Phytochemical and Anticancer Potential of Aphanamixis polystachya (Wall.) Parker Stem Bark using in-vitro Models

Cancer is one of the leading causes of mortality worldwide. Many of the Meliaceae plants traditionally reported to possess antitumor activity. The present study was carried out to evaluate the anticancer activity for Methanolic extract and N-Hexane fraction of Aphanamixis polystachya stem bark. The present research work had carried out on laboratory level assay to avoid the use of different animal models. The antioxidant activities were examined by Three different methods namely nitric oxide scavenging activity, reducing power, Scavenging of hydrogen peroxide The dried stem bark of Aphanmixis polystachya (wall.) Parker. Were successively extracted with petroleum ether, chloroform and Methanol. N-Hexane fraction of Methanolic extracts are subjected to in vitro Antimitotic assay by Allium cepa root inhibition The successive Methanol extract and it’s N-Hexane fraction was subjected to in vitro anticancer activity by SRB assay HeLa, MCF7 a cell lines. The antimitotic assay by onion root method was selected because this is easy to done and give fastest promising results. Onion was selected for the antimitotic assay which shows the root growth inhibition that compared with standard antimitotic drug (Vincristine). Methanolic extract and its N-Hexane fraction of Aphanamixis polystachya stem bark powder shows most promising anticancer activity and antioxidant activity.
Narrow-band interference excision in spread-spectrum systems using self-orthogonalizing transform-domain adaptive filters

Among many transform-domain interference excision techniques, transform-domain adaptive filtering has many advantages. It is based on a true optimization of some particular performance parameters such as the bit-error rate (BER). Moreover, it is insensitive to jammer frequency. However, transform-domain adaptive filtering also has the drawback of being incapable of tracking a rapidly changing interference because most adaptive algorithms require time to converge to the optimal solution. In this paper, a self-orthogonalizing transform-domain least mean square (SO-TRLMS) algorithm is used to speed up the convergence. Compared to a traditional transform-domain least mean square (TRLMS) algorithm, the SO-TRLMS algorithm can significantly improve the convergence rate of the LMS algorithm, thus making the transform-domain adaptive filtering technique more suitable for real-time processing. In order to show how the system performance is affected by various factors such as interference power and the transform used, this paper presents an analytical result for the BER performance that is applicable for arbitrary orthogonal linear transforms. Simulation results are also presented to demonstrate the validity of the analysis.
Cooperative ant colony optimization for multisatellite resource scheduling problem

Multisatellite resource scheduling problem is complicated and difficult to be solved because of the limited resources available. This paper develops a construction graph model of satellite overpasses, which involves several directed subgraphs. A cooperative ant colony optimization is employed to this model and to construct proper solutions, the ants in the same colony search in different subgraphs and communicate with each other by a cooperative strategy. Experimental results demonstrate that this algorithm is superior to the existing scheduling method with better qualities.
Proper expression of myosin genes in transgenic nematodes.

Caenorhabditis elegans has four genes which encode skeletal myosin heavy chain isoforms. We have re‐introduced clones of two of these genes, myo‐3 and unc‐54 at low copy number into the germline of C. elegans. The resulting loci behave as functional copies of the genes by two genetic criteria: (i) they can result in phenotypic rescue of strains carrying inactivating myo‐3 or unc‐54 mutations, and (ii) their presence in strains with wild‐type copies of the endogenous myosin loci has genetic consequences similar to duplicating the endogenous loci. The re‐introduced genes function at a level close to that of the endogenous loci. Monoclonal antibodies specific for the different isoforms have been used to localize the expressed proteins. The re‐introduced genes express in precisely the same cell types as the endogenous genes, and the myosin products produced assemble into filament structures as in wild‐type. Unexpectedly, we have found in the course of this work that very high copy numbers of the unc‐54 gene lead to a disruption of muscle structure which may result from overexpression of the protein product.
Vitamin D and Dysfunctional Adipose Tissue in Obesity

Vitamin D deficiency and dysfunctional adipose tissue are involved in the development of cardiometabolic disturbances (eg, hypertension, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes mellitus, obesity, and dyslipidemia). We evaluated the relation between vitamin D and adipocytokines derived from adipose tissue. We studied 50 obese individuals who were classified into different subgroups according to medians of observed anthropometric parameters (body mass index, body fat percentage, waist circumference, and trunk fat mass). There was a negative correlation between vitamin D level and leptin and resistin (r = −.61, P < .01), while a positive association with adiponectin concentrations was found (r = .7, P < .001). Trend estimation showed that increase in vitamin D level is accompanied by intensive increase in adiponectin concentrations (growth coefficient: 12.13). In conclusion, a positive trend was established between vitamin D and the protective adipocytokine adiponectin. The clinical relevance of this relationship needs to be investigated in larger studies.
Optimization, Maxent Models, and Conditional Estimation without Magic

This tutorial aims to cover the basic ideas and algorithms behind techniques such as maximum entropy modeling, conditional estimation of generative probabilistic models, and issues regarding the use of models more complex than simple Naive Bayes and Hidden Markov Models. In recent years, these sophisticated probabilistic methods have been used with considerable success on most of the core tasks of natural language processing, for speech language models, and for IR tasks such as text filtering and categorization, but the methods and their relationships are often not well understood by practitioners. Our focus is on insight and understanding, using graphical illustrations rather than detailed derivations whenever possible. The goal of the tutorial is that the inner workings of these modeling and estimation techniques be transparent and intuitive, rather than black boxes labeled "magic here". The tutorial decomposes these methods into optimization problems on the one side, and optimization methods on the other. The first hour of the tutorial presents the basics of non-linear optimization, assuming only knowledge of basic calculus. We begin with a discussion of convexity and unconstrained optimization, focusing on gradient methods. We discuss in detail both simple gradient descent and the much more practical conjugate gradient descent. The key ideas are presented, including a comparison/contrast with alternative methods. Next, the case of constrained optimization is presented, highlighting the method of Lagrange multipliers and presenting several ways of translating the abstract ideas into a concrete optimization method. The principal goal, again, is to make Lagrange methods appear as intuitively natural, rather than as mathematical sleight-of-hand.The second part of the tutorial begins with a presentation of maximum entropy models from first principles, showing their equivalence to exponential models (also known as loglinear models, and particular versions of which give logistic regression, and conditional random fields). We present many simple examples to build intuition for what maxent models can and cannot do. Finally, we discuss how to find parameters for maximum entropy models using the previously presented optimization methods. By this point in the tutorial, audience members should have a clear understanding of how to build a system for estimating maxent models. We conclude with a discussion of issues specific to the language technology domain, including conditional estimation of generative models, and the issues involved in choosing model structure (such as independence, label and observation biases, and so on). We also discuss methods of smoothing, focusing on how smoothing works differently for maxent models than for standard relative-frequency-based distributions.The tutorial will run 3 hours, with a break in the middle. Participants will be assumed to know basic calculus and probability theory, and to have some exposure to models such as Naive Bayes and HMMs, but need only have a basic awareness of language technology problems.
Dialog History Construction with Long-Short Term Memory for Robust Generative Dialog State Tracking

One of the crucial components of dialog system is the dialog state tracker, which infers user’s intention from preliminary speech processing. Since the overall performance of the dialog system is heavily affected by that of the dialog tracker, it has been one of the core areas of research on dialog systems. In this paper, we present a dialog state tracker that combines a generative probabilistic model of dialog state tracking with the recurrent neural network for encoding important aspects of the dialog history. We describe a two-step gradient descent algorithm that optimizes the tracker with a complex loss function. We demonstrate that this approach yields a dialog state tracker that performs competitively with top-performing trackers participated in the first and second Dialog State Tracking Challenges.
The use of low-frequency vibration measurement in orthopaedics

Abstract This paper reviews the literature regarding the use of applying conventional low-frequency vibration analysis as a possible diagnostic tool in the orthopaedic field. Although a considerable number of investigations have been carried out, including the effects of soft tissue, the technique has not been widely accepted clinically. The application of ultrasound appears to be a more realistic alternative.
Role of the lens capsule on the mechanical accommodative response in a lens stretcher.

PURPOSE To determine whether changes in elastic properties of the lens capsule ex vivo with age contribute to the forces necessary for accommodation. METHODS Postmortem human (n = 22; age average: 41 +/- 17 years; range: 6-7) and cynomolgus monkey (n = 19; age average: 7.7 +/- 1.8 years, range: 4.2-10) tissues including the lens, capsule, zonules, ciliary body, and sclera were mounted in an optomechanical lens-stretching system. Starting at 0 load, the sclera was symmetrically stretched to 2 mm in 0.25-mm steps at a speed of 0.1 mm x s(-1). The load and lens diameter were measured at each step. The lens contents were removed through a mini-capsulorhexis. The stretching cycles were repeated on the empty capsular bag. The forces necessary to stretch the natural lens and empty bag were quantified as a function of age and compared. RESULTS The force needed to stretch the empty lens capsule was independent of age (human, 2.6-34.9 g/mm [25.2-342.7 mN/mm]; monkey, 8.2-21.3 g/mm [80.3-208.6 mN/mm]). The ratio of the force necessary to stretch the empty lens capsule to the force necessary to stretch the natural lens decreased with age in the human and monkey lenses (P = 0.003, P = 0.72, respectively). CONCLUSIONS The mechanical properties of the empty lens capsule assessed ex vivo in a lens stretcher remain constant with age, suggesting that the changes in elasticity of the lens capsule do not play a significant role in presbyopia. In young eyes, the lens capsule determines the force necessary to stretch the whole lens. The age-related increase in force needed to stretch the lens is due to changes in the lens contents.
Encephalocytozoon intestinalis-specific monoclonal antibodies for laboratory diagnosis of microsporidiosis

Two monoclonal antibodies which can be used for the unambiguous identification by fluorescence microscopy of Encephalitozoon intestinalis spores in clinical specimens are described. Monoclonal antibody Si91 is specific for the extruded polar filament, and Si13 recognizes the surfaces of E. intestinalis spores. No cross-reaction with spores of Encephalitozoon hellem was observed. Immunogold electron microscopy confirmed the specific reactivities of both antibodies. Combined in an indirect immunofluorescence assay, these antibodies are used to identify spores in feces. Although there was some cross-reaction with fecal bacteria and fungi, the typical morphology of the extruded polar filaments enabled proper identification of the E. intestinalis spores. Parasites could also be demonstrated to be present in urine, nasal swabs, lung brush biopsy specimens, and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid from a patient with disseminated infection with E. intestinalis. The use of these monoclonal antibodies facilitates the detection and species determination of E. intestinalis in clinical specimens.
A new data fusion model for generating high spatial and temporal resolution images

In order to solve the problem of data shortages resulting from long revisit period and cloud contamination in high resolution imagery, this paper proposed a fusion model for generating high spatial and temporal resolution images based on semi-physical method and improved ESTARFM(enhanced spatial and temporal adaptive reflectance fusion model). The result shows that the new model can produce more precise reflectance than ESTARFM and take full use of high spatial resolution data.
Genetics of &bgr;2-Adrenergic Receptors and the Cardiopulmonary Response to Exercise

Exercise elicits a number of physiologic responses to increase oxygen delivery to working muscles. The &bgr;2-adrenergic receptors (ADRB2) play a role in the cardiopulmonary response to exercise. This review is focused on how the gene that encodes the ADRB2 influences the cardiopulmonary response to exercise. In addition, we discuss possible interactions between ADRB2 and other genes important in exercise performance.
The temptations of cult: Roman martyr piety in the age of Gregory the Great

Pope Gregory the Great (590–604) was arguably the most important Roman writer and civic leader of the early middle ages; the Roman martyrs were certainly the most important cult figures of the city. However modern scholarship on the relationship between Gregory and the Roman martyrs remains curiously underdeveloped, and has been principally devoted to comparison of the gesta martyrum with the stories of Italian holy men and women (in particular St Benedict) told by Gregory in his Dialogues; in the past generation the Dialogues have come to be understood as a polemic against the model of sanctity proposed by the Roman martyr narratives. This paper explores Gregory's role in the development of Roman martyr cult in the context of the immediate social world of Roman clerical politics of the sixth and seventh centuries. Gregory's authority as bishop of Rome was extremely precarious: the Roman clerical hierarchy with its well‐developed protocols did not take kindly to the appearance of Gregory and his ascetic companions. In the conflict between Gregory and his followers, and their opponents, both sides used patronage of martyr cult to advance their cause. In spite of the political necessity of engaging in such ‘competitive generosity’, Gregory was also concerned to channel martyr devotion, urging contemplation on the moral achievements of the martyrs – which could be imitated in the present – as opposed to an aggressive and unrestrained piety focused on their death. Gregory's complex attitude to martyr cult needs to be differentiated from that which was developed over a century later, north of the Alps, by Carolingian readers and copyists of gesta martyrum and pilgrim guides, whose approach to the Roman martyrs was informed by Gregory's own posthumous reputation.
Toxoplasma gondii Targets a Protein Phosphatase 2C to the Nuclei of Infected Host Cells

ABSTRACT Intracellular pathogens have evolved a wide array of mechanisms to invade and co-opt their host cells for intracellular survival. Apicomplexan parasites such as Toxoplasma gondii employ the action of unique secretory organelles named rhoptries for internalization of the parasite and formation of a specialized niche within the host cell. We demonstrate that Toxoplasma gondii also uses secretion from the rhoptries during invasion to deliver a parasite-derived protein phosphatase 2C (PP2C-hn) into the host cell and direct it to the host nucleus. Delivery to the host nucleus does not require completion of invasion, as evidenced by the fact that parasites blocked in the initial stages of invasion with cytochalasin D are able to target PP2C-hn to the host nucleus. We have disrupted the gene encoding PP2C-hn and shown that PP2C-hn-knockout parasites exhibit a mild growth defect that can be rescued by complementation with the wild-type gene. The delivery of parasite effector proteins via the rhoptries provides a novel mechanism for Toxoplasma to directly access the command center of its host cell during infection by the parasite.
Conformational flexibility in DNA structure as revealed by structural studies of drug intercalation and its broader implications in understanding the organization of DNA in chromatin.

This paper reviews evidence for conformational flexibility in DNA structure (i.e., the kink) as revealed by structural studies of drug intercalation. It then describes the implications these concepts have in understanding the organization of DNA in chromatin. It is possible that the kink has still broader meaning in understanding the nature of protein-DNA interactions that are important in RNA transcription and DNA replication.
Rapid and Highly Sensitive Non-Competitive Immunoassay for Specific Detection of Nodularin

Nodularin (NOD) is a cyclic penta-peptide hepatotoxin mainly produced by Nodularia spumigena, reported from the brackish water bodies of various parts of the world. It can accumulate in the food chain and, for safety reasons, levels of NOD not only in water bodies but also in food matrices are of interest. Here, we report on a non-competitive immunoassay for the specific detection of NOD. A phage display technique was utilized to interrogate a synthetic antibody phage library for binders recognizing NOD bound to an anti-ADDA (3-Amino-9-methoxy-2,6,8-trimethyl-10-phenyldeca-4(E),6(E)-dienoic acid) monoclonal antibody (Mab). One of the obtained immunocomplex binders, designated SA32C11, showed very high specificity towards nodularin-R (NOD-R) over to the tested 10 different microcystins (microcystin-LR, -dmLR, -RR, -dmRR, -YR, -LY, -LF, -LW, -LA, -WR). It was expressed in Escherichia coli as a single chain antibody fragment (scFv) fusion protein and used to establish a time-resolved fluorometry-based assay in combination with the anti-ADDA Mab. The detection limit (blank + 3SD) of the immunoassay, with a total assay time of 1 h 10 min, is 0.03 µg/L of NOD-R. This represents the most sensitive immunoassay method for the specific detection of NOD reported so far. The assay was tested for its performance to detect NOD using spiked (0.1 to 3 µg/L of NOD-R) water samples including brackish sea and coastal water and the recovery ranged from 79 to 127%. Furthermore, a panel of environmental samples, including water from different sources, fish and other marine tissue specimens, were analyzed for NOD using the assay. The assay has potential as a rapid screening tool for the analysis of a large number of water samples for the presence of NOD. It can also find applications in the analysis of the bioaccumulation of NOD in marine organisms and in the food chain.