Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Studies of tocopherol deficiency in infants and children. II. Plasma tocopherol and erythrocyte hemolysis in hydrogen peroxide.

Although concentrations of tocopherol in tissues or blood and estimates of dietary intake have been used as indices of vitamin E nutrition, the absence in man of recognized clinical, biochemical, or physiological correlations of vitamin E deficiency has hindered interpretation of the findings. 1 Rose and Gyorgy 2 have established that hemolysis of erythrocytes in dilute solutions of hydrogen peroxide can be used as an index of tocopherol deficiency in rats and have reported that some newborn full-term infants show this evidence of deficiency. 3 In previous studies, we have reported the presence of positive hemolysis tests in premature and full-term infants fed partially skimmed cows' milk mixtures, in unfed newborn infants, both full-term and premature, and in infants and children with steatorrhea associated with cystic fibrosis of the pancreas or biliary atresia. * It is the purpose of this report to present data correlating plasma tocopherol levels and hemolysis in
Speaker Re-identification with Speaker Dependent Speech Enhancement

While the use of deep neural networks has significantly boosted speaker recognition performance, it is still challenging to separate speakers in poor acoustic environments. Here speech enhancement methods have traditionally allowed improved performance. The recent works have shown that adapting speech enhancement can lead to further gains. This paper introduces a novel approach that cascades speech enhancement and speaker recognition. In the first step, a speaker embedding vector is generated , which is used in the second step to enhance the speech quality and re-identify the speakers. Models are trained in an integrated framework with joint optimisation. The proposed approach is evaluated using the Voxceleb1 dataset, which aims to assess speaker recognition in real world situations. In addition three types of noise at different signal-noise-ratios were added for this work. The obtained results show that the proposed approach using speaker dependent speech enhancement can yield better speaker recognition and speech enhancement performances than two baselines in various noise conditions.
MIMO channel estimation: optimal training and tradeoffs between estimation techniques

Channel estimation in multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless communication systems plays a key role in the performance of space-time decoders that depends on the accuracy of the channel knowledge. In this paper, we study the performance of MIMO channel estimation using training sequences. The least squares (LS), minimum-mean-square error (MMSE), and a new scaled LS (SLS) approaches to the channel estimation are studied and the optimal choice of training signals is investigated for each of these techniques.
Antioxidant intake and cognitive function of elderly men and women: the Cache County Study.

OBJECTIVE We prospectively examined associations between intakes of antioxidants (vitamins C, vitamin E, and carotene) and cognitive function and decline among elderly men and women of the Cache County Study on Memory and Aging in Utah. PARTICIPANTS AND DESIGN In 1995, 3831 residents 65 years of age or older completed a baseline survey that included a food frequency questionnaire and cognitive assessment. Cognitive function was assessed using an adapted version of the Modified Mini-Mental State examination (3MS) at baseline and at three subsequent follow-up interviews spanning approximately 7 years. Multivariable-mixed models were used to estimate antioxidant nutrient effects on average 3MS score over time. RESULTS Increasing quartiles of vitamin C intake alone and combined with vitamin E were associated with higher baseline average 3MS scores (p-trend = 0.013 and 0.02 respectively); this association appeared stronger for food sources compared to supplement or food and supplement sources combined. Study participants with lower levels of intake of vitamin C, vitamin E and carotene had a greater acceleration of the rate of 3MS decline over time compared to those with higher levels of intake. CONCLUSION High antioxidant intake from food and supplement sources of vitamin C, vitamin E, and carotene may delay cognitive decline in the elderly.
School of Economics and Finance The Cost of Segregation in Social Networks

This paper investigates the private provision of public goods in segregated societies. While most research agrees that segregation undermines public provision, the findings are mixed for private provision: social interactions, being strong within groups and limited across groups, may either increase or impede voluntary contributions. Moreover, although efficiency concerns generally provide a rationale for government intervention, surprisingly, little light is shed in the literature on the potential effectiveness of such intervention in a segregated society. This paper first develops an index based on social interactions, which, roughly speaking, measures the welfare impact of income redistribution in an arbitrary society. It then shows that the proposed index vanishes when applied to large segregated societies, which suggests an “asymptotic neutrality” of redistributive policies. JEL classification: C72, D31, H41.
Heterogeneity of the Ca2+ sensitivity of secretion in a pituitary gonadotrope cell line and its modulation by protein kinase C and Ca2+

Modulation of the Ca2+ sensitivity and cooperativity of secretion is an important means of regulating neurotransmission and hormone secretion. Employing high‐time resolution measurement of membrane capacitance (Cm) stimulated by step‐like or ramp [Ca2+]i elevation, we have identified the co‐existence of both a high and low Ca2+‐sensitive exocytosis in an immortal pituitary gonadotrope cell line, LβT2. Ramp [Ca2+]i generated by slow uncaging elicited a biphasic Cm response. The first phase of response, which represents a highly Ca2+‐sensitive pool (HCSP) of vesicles, began to secrete at low [Ca2+]i concentration (<1 µM) with low Ca2+ cooperativity. In contrast, the second phase, which represents a lowly Ca2+‐sensitive pool (LCSP) of vesicles, only exocytozed at higher [Ca2+]i (>5 µM) and displayed a steep Ca2+ cooperativity. The co‐existence of vesicle populations with different Ca2+ sensitivities was further confirmed by flash photolysis stimuli. The size of the HCSP was ∼30 fF under resting conditions, but was dramatically increased (∼ threefold) by application of phorbol‐12‐myristate‐13‐acetate (PMA, an activator of protein kinase C). Forskolin (an activator of protein kinase A), however, exerted no significant effect on the size of both HCSP and LCSP. GnRH (gonadotropin releasing hormone) augmented the size of both pools to a larger extent (5‐ and 1.7‐fold increase for HCSP and LCSP, respectively). The heterogeneity of Ca2+ sensitivity from different pools of vesicles and its differential modulation by intracellular signals suggests that LβT2 cells are an ideal model to further unravel the mechanism underlying the modulation of Ca2+‐sensing machineries for exocytosis. J. Cell. Physiol. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Bioavailability of organic matter in a highly disturbed estuary: The role of detrital and algal resources

The importance of algal and detrital food supplies to the planktonic food web of a highly disturbed, estuarine ecosystem was evaluated in response to declining zooplankton and fish populations. We assessed organic matter bioavailability among a diversity of habitats and hydrologic inputs over 2 years in San Francisco Estuary's Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta. Results show that bioavailable dissolved organic carbon from external riverine sources supports a large component of ecosystem metabolism. However, bioavailable particulate organic carbon derived primarily from internal phytoplankton production is the dominant food supply to the planktonic food web. The relative importance of phytoplankton as a food source is surprising because phytoplankton production is a small component of the ecosystem's organic-matter mass balance. Our results indicate that management plans aimed at modifying the supply of organic matter to riverine, estuarine, and coastal food webs need to incorporate the potentially wide nutritional range represented by different organic matter sources.
Divergent Evolution in Enolase Superfamily: Strategies for Assigning Functions*

Nature's strategies for evolving catalytic functions can be deciphered from the information contained in the rapidly expanding protein sequence databases. However, the functions of many proteins in the protein sequence and structure databases are either uncertain (too divergent to assign function based on homology) or unknown (no homologs), thereby limiting the utility of the databases. The mechanistically diverse enolase superfamily is a paradigm for understanding the structural bases for evolution of enzymatic function. We describe strategies for assigning functions to members of the enolase superfamily that should be applicable to other superfamilies.
An unusual cause of gastrointestinal bleed

Gastrointestinal (GI) bleed often brings the patient to the emergency medical service with great anxiety. Known common causes of GI bleed include ulcers, varices, Mallory-Weiss among others. All causes of GI bleed should be considered however unusual during the evaluation. Aortoenteric fistula (AEF) is one of the unusual causes of GI bleed, which has to be considered especially in patients with a history of abdominal surgery in general and aortic surgery in particular.
Index filtrations and the homology index braid for partially ordered Morse decompositions

Abstract : On a Morse decomposition of an invariant set in a flow there are partial orderings defined by the flow. These are called admissable orderings of the Morse decomposition. The index filtrations for a total ordering of a Morse decomposition are generalized in this paper with the definition and proof of existence of index filtrations for admissable partial orderings of a Morse decomposition. It is shown that associated to an index filtration there is a collection of chain complexes and chain maps called the chain complex braid of the index filtration. The homology index braid of the corresponding admissable ordering of the Morse decomposition is obtained by passing to homology in the chain complex braid. Keywords: Morse decomposition; Conley index; Index filtration.
La respuesta del precio de las acciones a los cambios en la política de dividendos y sus factores determinantes: evidencia en el mercado español

El presente trabajo analiza la existencia del efecto informativo del anuncio publico de dividendos en el mercado bursatil espanol. Para ello, se centra en el examen de las reacciones de los precios de las acciones que cotizan en el mercado continuo ante diferentes tipos de anuncios publicos de dividendos para los anos 1995, 1996 y 1997. Los datos han sido extraidos de la Seccion de Anuncios Oficiales del Boletin de Cotizacion de la Bolsa de Madrid. El analisis se lleva a cabo clasificando los anuncios de incremento, mantenimiento y disminucion, dado que su contenido informativo se espera sea diferente. La evidencia empirica obtenida revela que los anuncios unicamente aportan informacion relevante al mercado en el caso de anuncios publicos de incremento en los dividendos
Fiscal Multipliers in the 21st Century

Fiscal multipliers appear to vary greatly over time and space. Based on VARs for a large number of countries, we document a strong correlation between wealth inequality and the magnitude of fiscal multipliers. In an attempt to account for this finding, we develop a life-cycle, overlapping-generations economy with uninsurable labor market risk. We calibrate our model to match key characteristics of a number of OECD economies, including the distribution of wages and wealth, social security, taxes, and government debt and study how a fiscal multiplier depends on various country characteristics. We find that the fiscal multiplier is highly sensitive to the fraction of the population who face binding credit constraints and also to the average wealth level in the economy. These findings together help us generate a cross-country pattern of multipliers that is quite similar to that in the data.
FOOD PAIRING FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE ‘ VOLATILE COMPOUNDS IN FOOD ’ DATABASE

The database ‘Volatile Compounds in Food’ started in 1963. In the edition released in November 2007, a ‘compare’ function is offered as a new option. The database is used to evaluate the food pairing theory: if the major volatile molecules of two foods are the same, they might taste (and smell) nice when the foods are eaten together. With a sensory test it was proved whether the hypothesis of food pairing is valid. Seven different ingredients were mixed in all combinations. It was tested whether the score for the two combined ingredients was higher than the average score for the two separate ingredients. On basis of this experiment the food pairing theory can be rejected.
Ror2 signaling is required for local upregulation of GDF6 and activation of BMP signaling at the neural plate border

The receptor tyrosine kinase Ror2 is a major Wnt receptor that activates β-catenin-independent signaling and plays a conserved role in the regulation of convergent extension movements and planar cell polarity in vertebrates. Mutations in the ROR2 gene cause recessive Robinow syndrome in humans, a short-limbed dwarfism associated with craniofacial malformations. Here, we show that Ror2 is required for local upregulation of gdf6 at the neural plate border in Xenopus embryos. Ror2 morphant embryos fail to upregulate neural plate border genes and show defects in the induction of neural crest cell fate. These embryos lack the spatially restricted activation of BMP signaling at the neural plate border at early neurula stages, which is required for neural crest induction. Ror2-dependent planar cell polarity signaling is required in the dorsolateral marginal zone during gastrulation indirectly to upregulate the BMP ligand Gdf6 at the neural plate border and Gdf6 is sufficient to rescue neural plate border specification in Ror2 morphant embryos. Thereby, Ror2 links Wnt/planar cell polarity signaling to BMP signaling in neural plate border specification and neural crest induction. Summary: The Wnt receptor Ror2 links planar cell polarity and cell movements during gastrulation via the upregulation of BMP signaling at the neural plate border and subsequent induction of the neural crest.
miR-101 suppresses tumor proliferation and migration, and induces apoptosis by targeting EZH2 in esophageal cancer cells.

AIM To investigate the role of miR-101 in the regulation of tumor proliferation, invasion, apoptosis and to its target gene in human ESCC. METHODS The expression level of miR-101 in Eca109 cell line was determined by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). After transfected with miR-101 mimics and inhibitor, proliferation, migration and apoptosis in ESCC cell line (Eca109) were detected by MTT, cell wound healing assay and flow cytometry, respectively. The expression of EZH2 in Eca109 cell was examined by immunohistochemical staining. RESULTS We found that miR-101 was significantly down-regulated in ESCC cell than in matched normal esophageal epithelium cell. The expression level of miR-101 was inversely correlated to EZH2 protein expression in ESCC cell. In Eca109 cells, over-expression of miR-101 significantly inhibited the migration and invasion of ESCC cells, and promotes cell apoptosis. CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest that decreased expression of miR-101 might promote metastasis of human ESCC by inducing accumulation of EZH2 protein.
The Role of Maternal-Fetal Cholesterol Transport in Early Fetal Life: Current Insights1

ABSTRACT The importance of maternal cholesterol as an exogenous cholesterol source for the growing embryo was first reported in studies of Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome. Although most of the fetus's cholesterol is synthesized by the fetus itself, there is now growing evidence that during the first weeks of life, when most organs develop, the fetus largely depends on maternal cholesterol as its cholesterol source. The maternal-fetal cholesterol transport mechanism, by transporters in both the yolk sac and placenta, is becoming better understood. This minireview summarizes current insights on maternal-fetal cholesterol transport based on in vitro and in vivo studies. As the prevalence of maternal diseases, such as diabetes, obesity, and the metabolic syndrome that adversely affect maternal cholesterol levels, is now rapidly reaching epidemic proportions, we urgently need to determine the impact of these maternal conditions on the developing human fetus.
Impact of Selection Bias on Treatment Effect Size Estimates in Randomized Trials of Oral Health Interventions: A Meta-epidemiological Study

Emerging evidence suggests that design flaws of randomized controlled trials can result in over- or underestimation of the treatment effect size (ES). The objective of this study was to examine associations between treatment ES estimates and adequacy of sequence generation, allocation concealment, and baseline comparability among a sample of oral health randomized controlled trials. For our analysis, we selected all meta-analyses that included a minimum of 5 oral health randomized controlled trials and used continuous outcomes. We extracted data, in duplicate, related to items of selection bias (sequence generation, allocation concealment, and baseline comparability) in the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool. Using a 2-level meta-meta-analytic approach with a random effects model to allow for intra- and inter-meta-analysis heterogeneity, we quantified the impact of selection bias on the magnitude of ES estimates. We identified 64 meta-analyses, including 540 randomized controlled trials analyzing 137,957 patients. Sequence generation was judged to be adequate (at low risk of bias) in 32% (n = 173) of trials, and baseline comparability was judged to be adequate in 77.8% of trials. Allocation concealment was unclear in the majority of trials (n = 458, 84.8%). We identified significantly larger treatment ES estimates in trials that had inadequate/unknown sequence generation (difference in ES = 0.13; 95% CI: 0.01 to 0.25) and inadequate/unknown allocation concealment (difference in ES = 0.15; 95% CI: 0.02 to 0.27). In contrast, baseline imbalance (difference in ES = 0.01, 95% CI: –0.09 to 0.12) was not associated with inflated or underestimated ES. In conclusion, treatment ES estimates were 0.13 and 0.15 larger in trials with inadequate/unknown sequence generation and inadequate/unknown allocation concealment, respectively. Therefore, authors of systematic reviews using oral health randomized controlled trials should perform sensitivity analyses based on the adequacy of sequence generation and allocation concealment.
To Slip or Skip, Visualizing Frameshift Mutation Dynamics for Error-prone DNA Polymerases*

Three models describing frameshift mutations are “classical” Streisinger slippage, proposed for repetitive DNA, and “misincorporatation misalignment” and “dNTP-stabilized misalignment,” proposed for non-repetitive DNA. We distinguish between models using pre-steady state fluorescence kinetics to visualize transiently misaligned DNA intermediates and nucleotide incorporation products formed by DNA polymerases adept at making small frameshift mutations in vivo. Human polymerase (pol) μ catalyzes Streisinger slippage exclusively in repetitive DNA, requiring as little as a dinucleotide repeat. Escherichia coli pol IV uses dNTP-stabilized misalignment in identical repetitive DNA sequences, revealing that pol μ and pol IV use different mechanisms in repetitive DNA to achieve the same mutational end point. In non-repeat sequences, pol μ switches to dNTP-stabilized misalignment. pol β generates –1 frameshifts in “long” repeats and base substitutions in “short” repeats. Thus, two polymerases can use two different frameshift mechanisms on identical sequences, whereas one polymerase can alternate between frameshift mechanisms to process different sequences.
Unbiased Deep Reinforcement Learning: A General Training Framework for Existing and Future Algorithms

In recent years deep neural networks have been successfully applied to the domains of reinforcement learning \cite{bengio2009learning,krizhevsky2012imagenet,hinton2006reducing}. Deep reinforcement learning \cite{mnih2015human} is reported to have the advantage of learning effective policies directly from high-dimensional sensory inputs over traditional agents. However, within the scope of the literature, there is no fundamental change or improvement on the existing training framework. Here we propose a novel training framework that is conceptually comprehensible and potentially easy to be generalized to all feasible algorithms for reinforcement learning. We employ Monte-carlo sampling to achieve raw data inputs, and train them in batch to achieve Markov decision process sequences and synchronously update the network parameters instead of experience replay. This training framework proves to optimize the unbiased approximation of loss function whose estimation exactly matches the real probability distribution data inputs follow, and thus have overwhelming advantages of sample efficiency and convergence rate over existing deep reinforcement learning after evaluating it on both discrete action spaces and continuous control problems. Besides, we propose several algorithms embedded with our new framework to deal with typical discrete and continuous scenarios. These algorithms prove to be far more efficient than their original versions under the framework of deep reinforcement learning, and provide examples for existing and future algorithms to generalize to our new framework.
[SPR detection of affinity of antibacterial peptides in bactericidal/permeability-increasing protein domain for endotoxin].

AIM To study the affinity of endotoxin for three antibacterial peptides derived from N-terminal domain of bactericidal/permeability-increasing protein(BPI). METHODS To design and synthesize three peptides from N-terminal domain of BPI, BPI22-36, BPI85-99 and BPI147-161.Surface plasmon resonance(SPR) was used to monitor the interaction between LPS/lipid A and the peptides and polymyxin B(PMB) immobilized on CM5 sensor chip. RESULTS In three peptides, BPI147-161 was proved to have a best binding capacity with LPS/lipid A, followed by BPI85-99, but BPI22-36 could not interact with LPS/lipid A.The affinity constant K(A) of BPI147-161 with lipid A was 1.12 x 10⁶ L/mol. In contrast, the K(A) of PMB was 5.58 x 10⁶ L/mol. CONCLUSION The results suggest that the peptide BPI147-161 from BPI effectively neutralize endotoxin and probably provide a novel treatment method for septic shock.
Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma: Treatment Options and Novel Therapies

Malignant pleural mesothelioma is a rare primary tumor rising from the pleura and is associated with exposure to asbestos fibers. Mesothelioma is a locally aggressive disease that usually presents at an advanced stage and has a median overall survival of 1 year. Treatment options rarely result in cure of disease and range from trimodality treatment, including chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery, to supportive care. In patients with limited local disease and good functional status, trimodality treatment with extra-pleural pneumonectomy, chemotherapy, and radiation is frequently employed. Best supportive care should be instituted for patients with metastatic disease and poor functional status. Palliative therapy focuses on control of pleural effusions with drainage techniques and pain with radiation therapy. Novel therapies are showing promise, including photodynamic therapy, immunotherapy, and molecular targeted therapy.