Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Response properties of neurons in temporal cortical visual areas of infant monkeys.

1. Inferior temporal cortex (IT) is a "high-order" region of primate temporal visual cortex implicated in visual pattern perception and recognition. To gain some insight into the development of this area, we compared the properties of single neurons in IT in infant monkeys ranging from 5 wk to 7 mo of age with those of neurons in IT in adult animals. Both anesthetized and awake behaving paradigms were used. 2. In immobilized infant monkeys under nitrous oxide anesthesia, the incidence of visually responsive cells was markedly less than in adult monkeys studied under similar conditions. In infants 4-7 mo of age, only half of IT neurons studied were visually responsive, compared with > 80% in adult monkeys. In monkeys < 4 mo old, even fewer (< 10%) could be visually driven. "Habituation" of IT cells to repeated stimulus presentation appeared more pronounced in infant monkeys under nitrous oxide anesthesia than in adult animals. 3. IT cells in the anesthetized infant monkeys that did respond showed receptive field properties similar to those of responsive adult IT neurons studied under similar conditions. Two thirds of the receptive fields plotted in the anesthetized 4 to 7-mo-old group were bilateral, and median field size did not differ between the infants and comparable adult groups, being approximately 20 degrees on a side in each case. 4. In contrast to the results obtained under anesthesia, most IT cells in alert infant monkeys 5 wk-7 mo of age (80%) were responsive to visual stimuli, and this incidence of visually responsive IT neurons did not differ from that obtained in awake adult macaques. However, response magnitude, measured as spikes per second above baseline rate, was significantly lower in the infant alert sample than in the adult control (5.2 vs. 12.6 spikes/s, mean +/- SE, deviation from spontaneous rate, respectively). 5. In addition to having lower magnitudes of visual response, IT cells in the awake infants also tended to have longer and more variable latencies. The overall mean for the infant cells was 196 ms, compared with an overall mean of 140 ms for IT neurons in the alert control adult. 6. Although the magnitude of response of neurons in alert infant IT cortex was lower overall, the incidence and features of stimulus selectivity shown by alert infant IT neurons were strikingly similar to those of IT cells of both anesthetized and unanesthetized adult monkeys. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
FDTD based EM modeling and analysis for microwave imaging of biological tissues

Breast cancer affects many women and early detection is important. The microwave imaging technique can play a vital role in the detection of breast tumor than X-ray mammography and other techniques. The basis of the microwave imaging technique for breast cancer detection and location is the significant contrast in the scattered electromagnetic signals that depends on the dielectric properties of normal and malignant tissues at microwave frequencies. Malignant tissues exhibit higher dielectric properties than normal breast tissues, especially at high frequencies. We have conducted a simulation study to find out the resolution of the microwave imaging using FDTD technique. In this paper, a Finite Difference Time Domain method is applied to investigate the presence and location of the buried object in a phantom material. The investigation considers a phantom formed by a spherical container filled with material whose permittivity and conductivity are similar to those of normal and abnormal tissues. The study shows that the E field variation in different dielectric mediums can be used for the detection of abnormality.
Sentiment of the Union: Analyzing Tone in Presidential State of the Union Addresses

As the machine learning and data science craze sweeps the nation, the implications and implementations are vast. This paper takes a look at both of them through the lens of a topic of national importance, at the very least for the United States. This topic is the words used by past Presidents of the United States, which are being pulled from their State of the Union Addresses. The focus of this research is on Natural Language Processing (NLP) and it’s applied processes. Natural Language Processing allows for effective analysis of text-based data. Using NLP, a sentiment analysis was conducted on the Addresses to gain further insight into the tone used by Presidents over the course of history. This sentiment analysis ultimately resulted in a set of sentiment scores pertaining to major topics in the United States. These sentiment score sets were then input in to several different learning algorithms in an attempt to utilize Presidential Sentiment to predict political party affiliation. This paper shares the methodology used to conduct this sentiment analysis and discusses the tools created for the analysis and visualizations.
The Coxiella burnetii type IV secretion system substrate CaeB inhibits intrinsic apoptosis at the mitochondrial level

Manipulation of host cell apoptosis is a virulence property shared by many intracellular pathogens to ensure productive replication. For the obligate intracellular pathogen Coxiella burnetii anti‐apoptotic activity, which depends on a functional type IV secretion system (T4SS), has been demonstrated. Accordingly, the C. burnetii T4SS effector protein AnkG was identified to inhibit pathogen‐induced apoptosis, possibly by binding to the host cell mitochondrial protein p32 (gC1qR). However, it was unknown whether AnkG alone is sufficient for apoptosis inhibition or if additional effector proteins are required. Here, we identified two T4SS effector proteins CaeA and CaeB (C. burnetii anti‐apoptotic effector) that inhibit the intrinsic apoptotic pathway. CaeB blocks apoptosis very efficiently, while the anti‐apoptotic activity of CaeA is weaker. Our data suggest that CaeB inhibits apoptosis at the mitochondrial level, but does not bind to p32. Taken together, our results demonstrate that C. burnetii harbours several anti‐apoptotic effector proteins and suggest that these effector proteins use different mechanism(s) to inhibit apoptosis.
Primate spinothalamic pathways: I. A quantitative study of the cells of origin of the spinothalamic pathway

In six monkeys spinothalamic (STT) cells were retrogradely labeled by injecting 2% wheat germ agglutinin–conjugated horseradish peroxidase into the somatosensory thalamus. Following a 5‐day survival period, the animals were perfused and the tissue was removed and processed with the tetramethyl benzidine technique. In all animals there were HRP‐labeled STT cells in all segments of the spinal cord. In one old world monkey, the injection included most of the thalamus and resulted in 18,235 estimated total number of STT cells. Of this total, 35% were located in the upper cervical segments (C1–C3), 18% were located in C4–C8, 19% were in the thoracic spinal cord with most found in T1–T3; 6% were in L1–L3, 13% were in L4–L7, and 7% were in the coccygeal segments. Of the total labeled STT cells, 17% were found in the spinal cord ipsilateral to the thalamic injection; 53% of these cells were located in C1–C3 primarily in lamina VIII. The percentage of label found in the contralateral lower cervical region laminae I–III (43–50%), IV–VI (33–48%), and VII–X (8–17%) was similar among three animals with similar thalamic injections.
Genital papillomavirus infection after treatment for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) III

Genital human papillomavirus (HPV) infection was studied in 150 women after conization for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade three (ON III). Colposcopically directed biopsies were taken from the cervix and vulva for histopathological diagnosis. 77 specimens were further analyzed immunohistochem‐ically for the presence of HPV capsid antigen. in ten randomly selected cervical biopsies cellular DNA was dot blot hybridized with HPV 6/11 and 16/18 DNA probes. Genital warts were seen in 10 (7%) of the patients. Among the routine cytological smears, HPV infection was only reported in 3 (2%). in 87/ 142 (61%) of the cervical tissues koilocytes were found. A further 9/142 (6%) associated with CIN. of the vulvar biopsies 91/145 (63%) contained koilocytes. A further 12/145 (8%) were associated with vulvar intraepithelial neoplasia. HPV capsid proteins were detected in 35/77 (45%) of the cervical and in 20/ 41 (49%) of the vulva biopsies. All cervical DNA samples hybridized with probes for HPV 6/11 and two also reacted with the HPV 16/18 probes. Conclusion: A latent HPV infection of the cervix or vulva, can be detected in 85% of the women previously treated for ON III by conization.
Customer Purchase Behavior Prediction from Payment Datasets

With the advances in the development of mobile payments, a huge amount of payment data are collected by banks. User payment data offer a good dataset to depict customer behavior patterns. A comprehensive understanding of customers' purchase behavior is crucial to developing good marketing strategies, which may trigger much greater purchase amounts. For example, by exploring customer behavior patterns, given a target store, a set of potential customers is able to be identified. In other words, personalized campaigns at the right time and in the right place can be treated as the last stage of consumption. Here we propose a probability graphical model that exploits the payment data to discover customer purchase behavior in the spatial, temporal, payment amount and product category aspects, named STPC-PGM. As a result, the mobility behavior of an individual user could be predicted with a probabilistic graphical model that accounts for all aspects of each customer's relationship with the payment platform. To achieve real time advertising, we then develop an online framework that efficiently computes the prediction results. Our experiment results show that STPC-PGM is effective in discovering customers' profiling features, and outperforms the state-of-the-art methods in purchase behavior prediction. In addition, the prediction results are being deployed in the marketing of real-world credit card users, and have presented a significant growth in the advertising conversion rate.
Rental Housing Assistance and Health: Evidence From the Survey of Income and Program Participation

Abstract Interest in the health impacts of renter housing assistance has grown in the wake of heated national discussions on health care and social welfare spending. Assistance may improve renters’ health by offering (a) low, fixed housing costs; (b) protection against eviction; and (c) access to better homes and neighborhoods. Using data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation and econometric analysis, I estimate the effect of receiving assistance from the public housing or Section 8 voucher programs on low-income renters’ reported health status and spending. Assisted renters spent less on health care over the year than unassisted low-income renters did, after controlling for other characteristics. This finding suggests that assisted housing leads to health benefits that may reduce low-income renters’ need to purchase health services. Voucher holders’ lower expenditures are influenced by their low, fixed housing costs, but public housing residents’ lower expenditures are not explained by existing theory.
Towards the Use of Deep Reinforcement Learning with Global Policy for Query-based Extractive Summarisation

Supervised approaches for text summarisation suffer from the problem of mismatch between the target labels/scores of individual sentences and the evaluation score of the final summary. Reinforcement learning can solve this problem by providing a learning mechanism that uses the score of the final summary as a guide to determine the decisions made at the time of selection of each sentence. In this paper we present a proof-of-concept approach that applies a policy-gradient algorithm to learn a stochastic policy using an undiscounted reward. The method has been applied to a policy consisting of a simple neural network and simple features. The resulting deep reinforcement learning system is able to learn a global policy and obtain encouraging results.
Different calcium channels are coupled to potassium channels with distinct physiological roles in vagal neurons

Whole-cell and sharp microelectrode recordings were obtained from neurons of rat dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus (DMV) in transverse slices of the rat medulla maintained in vitro. Calcium currents were studied with sodium currents blocked with tetrodotoxin, potassium currents blocked by perfusing the cell with caesium as the main cation and using barium as the charge carrier. From a holding potential of – 60 mV, inward currents activated at potentials positive of – 50 mV and peaked around 0 mV. Voltage clamping the neuron at more hyperpolarised potentials did not reveal any low-threshold inward current. The inward current was effectively blocked by cadmium (100 μM) and nicked (1 mM), suggesting that it is carried by voltage-dependent calcium channels. The inward current could be separated into three pharmacologically distinct components: 40% of the whole cell current was ω-conotoxin sensitive; 20% of the current was nifedipine sensitive; and the rest was blocked by high concentrations of cadmium and nickel. This remaining current cannot be due to P-type calcium channels as ω-agatoxin had no effect on the inward current. Nifedipine had no significant effect on the action potential. Application of ω-conotoxin reduced the calcium component of the action potential and significantly reduced the potassium current underlying the afterhyperpolarization. Application of charybdotoxin slowed action potential repolarization. When N-type calcium channels were blocked with ω-conotoxin, charybdotoxin was still effective in slowing repolarization. In contrast, charybdotoxin was ineffective when calcium influx was blocked with the non-specific calcium channel blocker cadmium. These results show that, during the action potential, both ω-conotoxin-sensitive and ω–conotoxin-insensitive calcium channels contribute to calcium influx. Calcium influx via N-type channels is responsible for activating potassium channels underlying the afterhyperpolarization. In contrast, influx via ω–CgTx and nifedipine-insensitive channels is responsible for activating potassium channels contributing to action potential repolarization. Calcium-activated potassium channels are thought to be in close proximity to voltage-dependent calcium channels. These results therefore suggest that in vagal neurons different calcium channels are colocalized with different calcium-activated potassium channels that subserve distinct functional roles.
Educating Resident Physicians Using Virtual Case-Based Simulation Improves Diabetes Management: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Purpose To test a virtual case-based Simulated Diabetes Education intervention (SimDE) developed to teach primary care residents how to manage diabetes. Method Nineteen primary care residency programs, with 341 volunteer residents in all postgraduate years (PGY), were randomly assigned to a SimDE intervention group or control group (CG). The Web-based interactive educational intervention used computerized virtual patients who responded to provider actions through programmed simulation models. Eighteen distinct learning cases (L-cases) were assigned to SimDE residents over six months from 2010 to 2011. Impact was assessed using performance on four virtual assessment cases (A-cases), an objective knowledge test, and pre–post changes in self-assessed diabetes knowledge and confidence. Group comparisons were analyzed using generalized linear mixed models, controlling for clustering of residents within residency programs and differences in baseline knowledge. Results The percentages of residents appropriately achieving A-case composite clinical goals for glucose, blood pressure, and lipids were as follows: A-case 1: SimDE = 21.2%, CG = 1.8%, P = . 002; A-case 2: SimDE = 15.7%, CG = 4.7%, P = . 02; A-case 3: SimDE = 48.0%, CG = 10.4%, P < . 001; and A-case 4: SimDE = 42.1%, CG = 18.7%, P = . 004. The mean knowledge score and pre–post changes in self-assessed knowledge and confidence were significantly better for SimDE group than CG participants. Conclusions A virtual case-based simulated diabetes education intervention improved diabetes management skills, knowledge, and confidence for primary care residents.
Suitability of e-business maturity models for digital economy

Companies today live in a context of cycles in which there is an increasingly competitive and shorter life cycles for products and services, such as requiring a deep knowledge of customers and suppliers. The electronic business is one way to structure all the processes of the organization supported by Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) that allow a direct connection with customers, business partners, employees and its own management. This paper is a reflection on whether the e-business maturity models will fit the new reality of electronic business, in which the social networks are turning into a “social business”.
Medium-term temporal stability of the helminth component community structure in bank voles (Clethrionomys glareolus) from the Mazury Lake District region of Poland

The structure of helminth communities in wild rodents is subject to seasonal variation, and is dependent on host age within years. Although between-year variation has been monitored, seldom has it been assessed rigorously by appropriate multifactorial analysis with potentially confounding factors taken into account. In this study we tested the null hypothesis that despite seasonal, host age and sex effects, helminth communities should show relative stability between years. Over a period of 3 years (1998–2000) we sampled bank vole (Clethrionomys glareolus) populations (total n=250) at 2 points in the year: in spring, at the start of the breeding season, and in autumn, after the cessation of breeding. In spite of seasonal differences and strong age effects, the between-year effects were surprisingly small. Measures of component community structure (Berger-Parker dominance index, the dominant species, S. petrusewiczi) did not vary, or varied only slightly from year to year. The majority of measures of infracommunity structure [Brillouin's index of diversity, prevalence of all helminths combined, prevalence and abundance of H. mixtum (the most prevalent helminth), mean species richness] did not differ significantly between years when other factors such as age, sex and seasonal variation had been taken into account. Some between-year variations were found (at the component community level, Simpson's index of diversity; at the infracommunity level, prevalence and abundance of S. petrusewiczi and abundance of all helminths combined), but even these were modest in comparison to seasonal and age differences, and were primarily attributable to S. petrusewiczi. We conclude that despite dynamic within-year fluctuations, helminth communities in bank voles in this region of Poland show relative stability across years. The sporadic occurrence of individual platyhelminths at low prevalence, makes little difference to the overall structure, which is largely maintained by the key roles played by the dominant intestinal nematodes of bank voles and the rarer species collectively.
Identifying factors that predict successful and difficult transitions to secondary school

This report summarizes results from the School Transition and Adjustment Research Study (STARS; www. ucl. ac. uk/stars). The report aims to provide a non-technical summary and to describe the practical implications of the research findings for parents and professionals involved in the transition from primary to secondary school. Full references are included for the scientific papers generated from this work at the end of the report and the interested reader is directed to those materials for further details.
Detection of infection or infectious agents by use of cytologic and histologic stains

A wide variety of stains are useful for detection of different organisms or, for viruses, the cytopathologic changes they induce, in smears prepared directly from clinical specimens and in tissue sections. Other types of stains, such as hematoxylin and eosin, are used routinely to stain tissue sections and are most valuable for assessing the immunologic response of the host to the invading pathogen. In many cases, the pattern of inflammation provides important clues to diagnosis and helps to guide the selection of additional "special" stains used predominantly for diagnosis of infectious diseases. A stain may be nonspecific, allowing detection of a spectrum of organisms, as do the Papanicolaou stain and silver impregnation methods, or detection of only a limited group of organisms, as do the different acid-fast techniques. Some nonspecific stains, such as the Gram stain, are differential and provide valuable preliminary information concerning identification. Immunohistochemical stains, on the other hand, are specific for a particular organism, although in some cases cross-reactions with other organisms occur. Despite the wealth of information that can be gleaned from a stained smear or section of tissue, however, the specific etiology of an infection often cannot be determined on the basis of only the morphology of the organisms seen; culture data are essential and must be considered in the final diagnosis.
Colorectal cancer with mutation in BRAF, KRAS, and wild-type with respect to both oncogenes showing different patterns of DNA methylation.

PURPOSE BRAF mutations are common in sporadic colorectal cancers (CRCs) with a DNA mismatch repair (MMR) deficiency that results from promoter methylation of hMLH1, whereas KRAS mutations are common in MMR proficient CRCs associated with promoter methylation of MGMT. The aim of this study was to further investigate the link between genetic alterations in the RAS/RAF/ERK pathway and an underlying epigenetic disorder. PATIENTS AND METHODS Activating mutations of BRAF and KRAS were identified and correlated with promoter methylation of 11 loci, including MINT1, MINT2, MINT31, CACNA1G, p16(INK4a), p14(ARF), COX2, DAPK, MGMT, and the two regions in hMLH1 in 468 CRCs and matched normal mucosa. RESULTS BRAF V599E mutations were identified in 21 (9%) of 234 CRCs, and KRAS mutations were identified in 72 (31%) of 234 CRCs. Mutations in BRAF and KRAS were never found in the same tumor. CRCs with BRAF mutations showed high-level promoter methylation in multiple loci, with a mean number of methylated loci of 7.2 (95% CI, 6.6 to 7.9) among 11 loci examined (P < .0001). Tumors with KRAS mutations showed low-level promoter methylation, and CRCs with neither mutation showed a weak association with promoter methylation, with an average number of methylated loci of 1.8 (95% CI, 1.5 to 2.1) and 1.0 (95% CI, 0.79 to 1.3), respectively. CONCLUSION In CRC, the methylation status of multiple promoters can be predicted through knowledge of BRAF and, to a lesser extent, KRAS activating mutations, indicating that these mutations are closely associated with different patterns of DNA hypermethylation. These changes may be important events in colorectal tumorigenesis.