Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
ToneNet: A CNN Model of Tone Classification of Mandarin Chinese

In Mandarin Chinese, correct pronunciation is the key to convey word meaning correctly and the correct pronunciation is closely related to the tone of text. Therefore, tone classification is a critical part of speech evaluation system. Traditional tone classification is based on F0 and energy or MFCCs. But the extraction of these features is often subject to noise and other uncontrollable environmental factors. Thus, in order to reduce the influence of environment, we designed a CNN network named ToneNet which adopts mel-spectrogram as a feature and uses a customed convolutional neural network and multi-layer perceptron to classify Chinese syllables into one of the four tones. We trained and tested ToneNet on the Syllable Corpus of Standard Chinese Dataset (SCSC). The result shows that the best accuracy and f1-score of our method have reached 99.16% and 99.11% respectively. Besides, ToneNet has achieved 97.07% of accuracy and 96.83% of f1-score with the condition of gaussian noise.
Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear : Unemployment , retrospective error , and life satisfaction

100 words): I compare current and one-year retrospective data on unemployment in the GSOEP. 17 percent of all unemployment spells are not reported one year later, and another 8 percent are misreported. The ratio of retrospective to current unemployment (as a measure of unemployment salience) has increased in recent years and it is related to the loss in life satisfaction associated with unemployment. Individuals with weak labour force attachment, e.g. women with children or individuals close to retirement, have the largest propensity to underreport unemployment retrospectively. The data are consistent with evidence on retrospective bias found by cognitive psychologists and survey methodologists. Keyword: Unemployment, Retrospective Bias, Salience, Life Satisfaction JEL-Codes: C81, J64 * Mannheim Research Institute for the Economics of Aging; University of Mannheim; L13, 17; D-68131 Mannheim; Germany. Tel: +49-181-3519, Fax: +49-181-1863, Email: juerges@mea.uni-mannheim.de. I would like to thank Andrew Clark and seminar participants at the University of Mannheim for valuable comments.
Effects of ribose supplementation on anaerobic performance, plasma pH, lactate, ammonia and inorganic phosphate levels

The purpose of this study was to estimate the effects of ribose supplementation on interval anaerobic performance and fatiguing substance concentrations. The study cohort consisted of physically active, young male volunteers (n = 15). With a double-blind cross over study design, each participant completed two all-out anaerobic exercise sessions, one week apart, one by supplementing maltodextrine and the other by supplementing ribose (150 mg/kg in each test). Two repetitions of 30-s maximal performance with a 4-min interval were completed. Blood samples were taken at rest and five minutes after the second sprint repetition. Neither the biochemical parameters: pH (−0.32± 0.09 vs.−0.26± 0.11), lactate (La) (13.8± 1.9 vs. 13.3± 2.7 mM, ammonia (423 ± 190 vs. 404 ± 166 μmol/L), inorganic phosphate (Pi) (0.68 ± 0.53 vs. 0.72 ± 0.63 mM) nor the anaerobic output (746.2 ± 82.5 vs. 760.2 ± 86.8 watts) were affected by placebo and ribose supplementations significantly (p > 0.05). In conclusion, based on this protocol, anaerobic performance and/or biochemical status are not affected by ribose supplementation.
Magnetic Stimulation of the Human Nervous System

THE DEVELOPMENT OF MAGNETIC BRAIN STIMULATION BIOPHYSICS OF MAGNETIC STIMULATION ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY MOTOR EFFECTS OF BRAIN STIMULATION STIMULATION OF PERIPHERAL NERVE BRAIN STIMULATION OF THE VISUAL SYSTEM REPETITIVE BRAIN STIMULATION BRAIN STIMULATION IN A CLINICAL SETTING DEMYELINATING DISEASE OF THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM DISEASES OF THE SPINAL MOTONEURONE CEREBROVASCULAR DISEASE DISEASES OF THE PERIPHERAL NERVOUS SYSTEM DEGENERATIVE DISEASES OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM MOVEMENT DISORDERS SPINAL CORD DISEASES MISCELLANEOUS NEUROLOGICAL CONDITIONS PLASTICITY OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM MONITORING MOTOR FUNCTION DURING SURGERY CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
VALIDATION OF IMMUNOCRIT AS A DIAGNOSTIC TEST TO DETECT FAILURE OF PASSIVE TRANSFER OF IMMUNITY IN HAND-REARED NONDOMESTIC RUMINANT NEONATES

Abstract: Domestic and nondomestic ruminant neonates with failure of passive transfer of immunity (FPI) have an increased risk of morbidity and mortality. Hand-reared individuals often have a higher incidence of FPI compared with those that are dam-reared. Hand-reared, nondomestic ruminant neonates raised at zoological establishments are often fed a commercially available bovine colostrum replacer. Consequently, it is desirable to monitor for FPI using a single test that performs well across a wide range of species. The immunocrit test method has been reported to have acceptable diagnostic sensitivity for detecting FPI in dairy calves. Advantages of the immunocrit are that it is inexpensive, quick, easy to perform, non-species-specific, and only precipitates immunoglobulins. This study evaluated the ability of immunocrit to predict serum immunoglobulin levels and FPI via comparison with radial immunodiffusion (reference method). The study used 100 serum samples collected from hand-reared ruminant neonates from 29 nondomestic species, 12–120 hr old, that were fed a commercial bovine colostrum replacer at a zoological institution. Sensitivity, specificity, and likelihood ratios for FPI were determined using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. The immunocrit cutoff point of 14% maximized sensitivity at 88.6% (95% CI, 78.7–94.9%) and specificity at 83.3% (95% CI, 65.3–94.4%). The area under the ROC curve was 0.92 (95% CI, 0.87–0.98; P < 0.001). This research demonstrates that the immunocrit test has acceptable performance in detecting FPI in a wide variety of nondomestic hand-reared ruminant neonates. Use of the immunocrit test will help improve the identification of FPI neonates and aid in the management of colostrum feeding practices of nondomestic ruminant species in captivity.
Seroprevalence rates and awareness of hepatitis B and C viral infections among pregnant antenatal women attending the state specialist hospital Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria

Background: The global burden of hepatitis (inflammation of the liver) infection is still a major public health challenge and burden in the 21st century, especially in endemic regions due to unavailability of early diagnostic techniques and treatments. The presence of chronic or fulminant hepatitis B virus (HBV) and/or hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection(s) had caused extensive and irreversible liver damage in different population groups from different parts of the world today, including Nigeria. Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the seropositivity prevalence rates of HBV and HCV infections among pregnant women attending antenatal clinic at the State Specialist Hospital Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria. Materials and Methods: A review of hematological data was done for a period of 1 year which spanned from May 2015 to April 2016. During this period, pregnant women were recruited prospectively from the antenatal clinic and screened for HBV and HCV infections. The evaluation includes risk factor assessment based on age group and determination of rapid serology for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and hepatitis C antibodies. Results: The results from our study revealed that out of the 1758 pregnant women recruited and screened, 1.47% and 0.00% within the age range of 25–29 years were positive to HBsAg and HCV, respectively. Conclusion: In conclusion, the 4.2% overall prevalence rate obtained for HBsAg-positive women fell within the reference range for the general population in Nigeria (2.4%–18.4%). The observed overall prevalence value for HBsAg positive women also fell within the 2%–7% reference range for South-Western region geographical prevalence category for Nigeria which showed an intermediate endemic rate within the age range of 25–39 years. The prevalence outcome of this study is an alert threshold attributed to endemic sexual activity of this age range (25–39 years) and prevailing epidemic factors for HBV transmission among reproductive age group.
Robust Formation Control for Multiple Underwater Vehicles

This paper addresses the distance-based formation control problem for multiple Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) in a leader-follower architecture. The leading AUV is assigned a task to track a desired trajectory and the following AUVs try to set up a predefined formation structure by attaining specific distances among their neighboring AUVs, while avoiding collisions and enabling at the same time relative localization. More specifically, a decentralized control protocol of minimal complexity is proposed that achieves prescribed, arbitrarily fast and accurate formation establishment. The control signal of each vehicle is calculated based on the relative position of its neighbors and its own velocity only, which can be easily acquired by the onboard sensors without necessitating for explicit network communication. Finally, a realistic simulation study with five AUVs performing seabed scanning was conducted to clarify the approach and verify the theoretical findings of this work.
Language, Gesture, and Emotional Communication: An Embodied View of Social Interaction

Spoken language is an innate ability of the human being and represents the most widespread mode of social communication. The ability to share concepts, intentions and feelings, and also to respond to what others are feeling/saying is crucial during social interactions. A growing body of evidence suggests that language evolved from manual gestures, gradually incorporating motor acts with vocal elements. In this evolutionary context, the human mirror mechanism (MM) would permit the passage from “doing something” to “communicating it to someone else. ” In this perspective, the MM would mediate semantic processes being involved in both the execution and in the understanding of messages expressed by words or gestures. Thus, the recognition of action related words would activate somatosensory regions, reflecting the semantic grounding of these symbols in action information. Here, the role of the sensorimotor cortex and in general of the human MM on both language perception and understanding is addressed, focusing on recent studies on the integration between symbolic gestures and speech. We conclude documenting some evidence about MM in coding also the emotional aspects conveyed by manual, facial and body signals during communication, and how they act in concert with language to modulate other’s message comprehension and behavior, in line with an “embodied” and integrated view of social interaction.
Vision in the 1980s: A Bright Outlook for Senior Citizens

Geriatric ophthalmology is assuming an increased importance in the 1980s. Never before have elderly citizens had the opportunities for visual rehabilitation and vision care that they have today. Geriatric ophthalmology stresses the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of vision problems in an understanding, caring, and efficient manner. This article discusses three aspects of geriatric ophthalmology: facts about vision and aging, modern advances in geriatric ophthalmology, and recommendations.
Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics of Gamithromycin Treatment of Pasteurella multocida in a Murine Lung Infection Model

Gamithromycin is approved for the treatment and prevention of bovine respiratory disease (BRD), which is caused mainly by Mannheimia haemolytica, Pasteurella multocida, Histophilus somni, and Mycoplasma species. In this study, multiple dosage regimens were administered to the neutropenic mouse lung infection model in order to investigate the pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) parameters of gamithromycin treatment of P. multocida and to further define the PK/PD parameter that best correlates with the efficacy of gamithromycin against P. multocida. The PK characteristics of gamithromycin were analyzed after a single subcutaneous (s.c.) injection (1, 3, 6, and 9 mg/kg). The concentration–time profiles of unbound (f) gamithromycin in plasma samples were analyzed by non-compartmental analysis. The main PK parameters of gamithromycin for the area under the concentration–time curve from 0 to 24 h (f AUC0–24) and the peak drug concentration (f C max) values ranged from 0.86 to 8.42 µg·h/ml and from 0.55 to 5.69 µg/ml, respectively. The PD values were calculated based on multiple s.c. injections over 24 h (1, 3, 6, and 9 mg/kg at 6, 8, 12, and 24 h, respectively; total dosage 1–36 mg/ kg). The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of gamithromycin against P. multocida in mice serum was 0.15 μg/ml. Analysis of PK/PD indices using the inhibitory effect E max model indicated a strong correlation (R 2 = 0.9624) between the f AUC0–24/MIC ratio and various antibacterial effects. The area under the unbound concentration–time curve over 24 h to MIC (f AUC0–24/MIC) predicted for bacteriostatic action, 1-log10 reduction, 2-log10 reduction, and 3-log10 reduction were 56.77, 90.18, 143.06, and 239.44 h, respectively. These in vivo data may facilitate gamithromycin dosage optimization against P. multocida in veterinary medicine.
NK Cell Metabolism and Tumor Microenvironment

Natural Killer (NK) cells are characterized by their potential to kill tumor cells by different means without previous sensitization and have, therefore, become a valuable tool in cancer immunotherapy. However, their efficacy against solid tumors is still poor and further studies are required to improve it. One of the major restrictions for NK cell activity is the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME). There, tumor and other immune cells create the appropriate conditions for tumor proliferation while, among others, preventing NK cell activation. Furthermore, NK cell metabolism is impaired in the TME, presumably due to nutrient and oxygen deprivation, and the higher concentration of tumor-derived metabolic end products, such as lactate. This metabolic restriction of NK cells limits their effector functions, and it could represent a potential target to focus on to improve the efficacy of NK cell-based therapies against solid tumors. In this review, we discuss the potential effect of TME into NK cell metabolism and its influence in NK cell effector functions.
Hippocampal-Cortical Memory Trace Transfer and Reactivation Through Cell-Specific Stimulus and Spontaneous Background Noise

The hippocampus plays important roles in memory formation and retrieval through sharp-wave-ripples. Recent studies have shown that certain neuron populations in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) exhibit coordinated reactivations during awake ripple events. These experimental findings suggest that the awake ripple is an important biomarker, through which the hippocampus interacts with the neocortex to assist memory formation and retrieval. However, the computational mechanisms of this ripple based hippocampal-cortical coordination are still not clear due to the lack of unified models that include both the hippocampal and cortical networks. In this work, using a coupled biophysical model of both CA1 and PFC, we investigate possible mechanisms of hippocampal-cortical memory trace transfer and the conditions that assist reactivation of the transferred memory traces in the PFC. To validate our model, we first show that the local field potentials generated in the hippocampus and PFC exhibit ripple range activities that are consistent with the recent experimental studies. Then we demonstrate that during ripples, sequence replays can successfully transfer the information stored in the hippocampus to the PFC recurrent networks. We investigate possible mechanisms of memory retrieval in PFC networks. Our results suggest that the stored memory traces in the PFC network can be retrieved through two different mechanisms, namely the cell-specific input representing external stimuli and non-specific spontaneous background noise representing spontaneous memory recall events. Importantly, in both cases, the memory reactivation quality is robust to network connection loss. Finally, we find out that the quality of sequence reactivations is enhanced by both increased number of SWRs and an optimal background noise intensity, which tunes the excitability of neurons to a proper level. Our study presents a mechanistic explanation for the memory trace transfer from the hippocampus to neocortex through ripple coupling in awake states and reports two different mechanisms by which the stored memory traces can be successfully retrieved.
Neural Correlates of Self-Construal Priming in the Ultimatum Game

Research from cultural and social psychology has identified a central role of self-construal, or the way one views themselves in relation to others, in social cognition. Accordingly, it is plausible that self-construal plays an instrumental role in important aspects of decision-making relating to fairness considerations. Prior research has shown that priming methodology is a useful tool to experimentally isolate the effect of self-construal on social decision-making processes. In the current study we investigated the neural effects of self-construal priming on fairness considerations, using an Ultimatum Game setup (N = 97). Based on previous findings, we predicted an interaction between the self-construal prime and gender on Ultimatum Game behavior; males primed with interdependence would reject the offer relatively more compared to independence, and vice versa for females. As previous neuro-imaging research has established an instrumental role of the anterior insula (AI) and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) in the rejection of unfair offers, we expected higher rejection rates to be mirrored by increased activity in these regions. However, the analyses did not confirm these predictions. As further inspection of the data revealed a habituation effect, we performed a follow-up analysis on the first block (N = 59). This subsequent analysis revealed that priming interdependence resulted in reduced AI activity compared to priming independence, although no behavioral differences were observed. The difference was theorized to result from motivations as conflict avoidance and harmony maintenance, commonly associated with interdependence. Furthermore, the analysis revealed greater vmPFC activity for females compared to males for rejected offers, although this effect was not robust when controlled for trait self-construal. These follow-up analyses suggest that self-construal priming influences insula activity, as well as implicating an underlying role of trait self-construal in observed gender differences in vmPFC activity relating to fairness considerations.
The Emerging Role of Major Regulatory RNAs in Cancer Control

Alterations and personal variations of RNA interactions have been mechanistically coupled with disease etiology and phenotypical variations. RNA biomarkers, RNA mimics, and RNA antagonists have been developed for diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic uses. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and microRNAs (miRNAs) are two major types of RNA molecules with regulatory roles, deregulation of which has been implicated in the initiation and progression of many human malignancies. Accumulating evidence indicated the clinical roles of regulatory RNAs in cancer control, stimulating a surge in exploring the functionalities of regulatory RNAs for improved understanding on disease pathogenesis and management. In this review, we highlight the critical roles of lncRNAs and miRNAs played in tumorigenesis, scrutinize their potential functionalities as diagnostic/prognostic biomarkers and/or therapeutic targets in clinics, outline opportunities that ncRNAs may bring to complement current clinical practice for improved cancer management and identify challenges faced by translating frontier knowledge on non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) to bedside clinics as well as possible solutions.
Disruption of Immune Homeostasis in Human Dendritic Cells via Regulation of Autophagy and Apoptosis by Porphyromonas gingivalis

As fundamental processes of immune homeostasis, autophagy, and apoptosis must be maintained to mitigate risk of chronic inflammation and autoimmune diseases. Periodontitis is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by oral microbial dysbiosis, and dysregulation of dendritic cell (DC) and T cell responses. The aim of this study was to elucidate the underlying mechanisms by which the oral microbe Porphyromonas gingivalis (P. gingivalis) manipulates dendritic cell signaling to perturb both autophagy and apoptosis. Using a combination of Western blotting, flow cytometry, qRT-PCR and immunofluorescence analysis, we show a pivotal role for the minor (Mfa1) fimbriae of P. gingivalis in nuclear/cytoplasmic shuttling of Akt and FOXO1 in human monocyte-derived DCs. Mfa1-induced Akt nuclear localization and activation ultimately induced mTOR. Activation of the Akt/mTOR axis downregulated intracellular LC3II, also known as Atg8, required for autophagosome formation and maturation. Use of allosteric panAkt inhibitor MK2206 and mTOR inhibitor rapamycin confirmed the role of Akt/mTOR signaling in autophagy inhibition by P. gingivalis in DCs. Interestingly, this pathway was also linked to induction of the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl2, decreased caspase-3 cleavage and decreased expression of pro-apoptotic proteins Bax and Bim, thus promoting longevity of host DCs. Addition of ABT-199 peptide to disrupt the interaction of antiapoptotic Bcl2 and its proapoptotic partners BAK/BAX restored apoptotic death to P. gingivalis-infected DC cells. In summary, we have identified the underlying mechanism by which P. gingivalis promotes its own survival and that of its host DCs.
Pembrolizumab Induced Ocular Hypotony With Near Complete Vision Loss, Interstitial Pulmonary Fibrosis and Arthritis

Clinical outcomes for patients with advanced melanoma have improved significantly with the introduction of immune checkpoint inhibitors. These agents have distinct adverse effects with the potential for heightened host immune responses manifesting as an autoimmune reaction in any organ. We report a unique case who developed pembrolizumab induced arthritis, ocular hypotony with vision loss and pulmonary interstitial fibrosis. A 57-year old gentleman with advanced melanoma was treated with pembrolizumab and attained complete response with no evidence of disease on functional imaging. Treatment was well-tolerated with the only side effect being arthritis controlled with low dose steroids. Following a work related blunt trauma to the right eye, the patient developed bilateral visual impairment secondary to ocular hypotony. The ocular hypotony failed to respond to high-dose glucocorticoid and multiple surgeries. Intraoperatively, ciliary body atrophy was found. Pembrolizumab was ceased after the eye trauma and he remained in complete remission from melanoma. After a further 10 months, the patient developed symptomatic pulmonary fibrosis. There was moderate symptomatic improvement with nintedanib, an antifibrotic agent. This case describes two rare and unique adverse effects. Ocular adverse effects are extremely uncommon and this is the first case to report immune checkpoint inhibitor related ocular hypotony without uveitis to the best of our knowledge. Similarly, the incidence of severe pneumonitis is reported to be low, however limited data is available regarding pulmonary interstitial fibrosis. The occurrence of multiple adverse effects in this case including one occurring several months after cessation of treatment highlights the need for vigilance by clinicians who manage patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors. Further research is necessary with regards to rare adverse effects of immune checkpoint inhibitors and the relation of these to treatment administration.