Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Analysis of English Nonsense Syllable Recognition in Noise

Abstract English nonsense consonant-vowel-consonant syllables were presented at four different signal-to-noise ratios for recognition. Information theory methods are used to analyze the response data according to segment type and phonological feature, and are consistent with previous studies showing that the consonantal contrast of voicing is more robust than place of articulation, word-initial consonants are more robust than word-final consonants, and that vowel height is more robust than vowel backing. Asymmetrical confusions are also analyzed, indicating a bias toward front vowels over back vowels. The results are interpreted as parts of phonetic explanations for synchronic and diachronic phonological patterns.
Facial expression recognition based on ISOMAP

In artificial intelligence, pattern recognition, machine learning and many other fields of study, people often have to face a problem is the growth of the pattern space dimension, this is the so-called “curse of dimensionality”. Dimension reduction can effectively avoid the “curse of dimensionality” improve the performance of subsequent classifiers and computing efficiency, noise suppression, saving computing and storage resources. Manifold learning algorithms is a new dimension reduction method, the objective is to discover the low-dimensional manifold structure which embedded in high-dimensional data space, and gives an effective low-dimensional expression. ISOMAP algorithm with a large number of good properties, it can ensures that the data's structure and mutual relations in high-dimensional space can be well retained in the low-dimensional space, based on the feature, the ISOMAP can be applied to the facial expression recognition, it achieved a good recognition rate.
Control of cytolysis of BALB/c‐3T3 cells by platelet‐derived growth factor: A model system for analyzing cell death

In culture medium supplemented with 10% clotted blood serum, the saturation density of BALB/c‐3T3 cells is determined jointly by cell replication and cell loss. By prelabelling cellular DNA with 3H‐thymidine and also by time lapse photography, we studied cell loss independently of replication. Cell loss was accelerated when BALB/c‐3T3 cells were transferred from serum‐supplemented medium, which contains the platelet derived growth factor (PDGF), to medium supplemented with platelet‐poor plasma which lacks it. Loss occurred via the disintegration of cell attached to the surface of the tissue culture dish. Cytolysis of individual cells occurred rapidly; less than 15 minutes transpired between the first indication of a perturbance (by phase contrast microscopy) and fragmentation of the cell cytoplasm. Kinetic analysis was consistent with random cell death rather than a fixed lifetime.
In-Vitro Susceptibility of Different Morphological Forms of Borrelia Burgdorferi to Common Lyme Antibiotics in Combination with Antimicrobial Peptides

Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was conducted with three antibiotics commonly used to treat Lyme disease (doxycycline, erythromycin, and tinidazole) and three AMPs (cecropin P1, magainin 1, and LL-37) against one strain of Borrelia burgdorferi. The susceptibility of spirochete and spheroplast (cyst) forms was determined by direct cell counting using dark field microscopy. Significant synergy was seen when erythromycin was combined with cecropin P1. Spirochete growth decreased (P=0.0015) and spheroplast (cyst) growth decreased (P=0.001) when compared to the growth control. Synergy was also seen when tinidazole was combined with LL-37. Spheroplast growth decreased (P=0.015). Combining antimicrobial peptides with commonly prescribed antibiotics to treat Lyme disease may provide a new approach to the treatment of chronic infections due to the significant synergistic effect of a combination therapy.
Synthetic bromated furanone inhibits autoinducer-2-mediated communication and biofilm formation in oral streptococci.

INTRODUCTION Autoinducer-2 (AI-2) is a widespread communication-signal molecule that allows bacteria to sense and react to environmental factors. In some streptococci AI-2 is reported to be involved in virulence expression and biofilm formation. It has earlier been shown that the alga Delisea pulchra produces bromated furanones, which prevent bacterial colonization of the algae. METHODS AND RESULTS We have previously published a novel and simple synthesis of (Z)-5-bromomethylene-2(5H)-furanone. In this study we showed that our synthesized furanone inhibited biofilm formation and bioluminescence induction by Streptococcus anginosus, Streptococcus intermedius, and Streptococcus mutans, as well as bioluminescence induction by Vibrio harveyi BB152. CONCLUSION We suggest that the effect is linked to interference with the AI-2 signaling pathway because adding furanone to the medium had no effect on the ability of the AI-2-defective S. anginosus luxS and S. intermedius luxS mutants to form biofilms.
Multilayer in-place learning networks: Multitask invariance and adaptive lateral connections

In the fields of neuroscience, psychology, computer science, and developmental robotics, currently there is a lack of biologically plausible general-purpose in-place learning models that incrementally learn multiple sensorimotor tasks, to develop "soft" multi-task-shared invariances in the internal representations while the human or robot interacts with its environment. The multilayer in-place learning network (MILN) (Weng and Luciw, 2006; Weng et al., 2007) is a developmental network aiming at this ambitious goal. This biologically inspired developmental model for sensorimotor pathways provides an unusually efficient learning algorithm whose simplicity, low computational complexity, and generality are set apart from typical conventional learning algorithms. It explains how a biological cortical layer uses three types of adaptive connections, bottom-up, lateral, and top-down to accomplish this very challenging goal through the miraculous developmental experience. The work presented here concentrates on multitask invariance and recent work about the adaptive lateral connections of the network.
Integrin antagonists as therapeutics for inflammatory diseases

Integrins are a family of heterodimeric cell surface receptors that mediate adhesion events crucial to cellular migration, proliferation and activation. Although critical to a normal immune response, integrins can also facilitate the progression of many inflammatory and autoimmune disorders. As such, they have attracted the attention of the pharmaceutical industry. Several humanised monoclonal antibodies directed against integrin targets have proven to be successful in clinical trials and have been approved for use in humans. This has not only resulted in effective therapies for patients, but also has provided important proof-of-concept studies for the development of small-molecule antagonists. This review focuses on those integrin subclasses that are being evaluated for their potential role in pulmonary, dermatological, gastrointestinal or rheumatic diseases. These include the α4 and β2 integrins, as well as an emerging group of targets from the collagen-binding family of integrins. Interfering with integrin signalling pathways represents a future area of interest. The rationale for pursuing these targets, as well as the drugs presently under development, are discussed.
COMMON GENOTYPES AND TREATMENT OUTCOMES OF HCV INFECTION AMONG ETHIOPIAN PATIENTS: A PROSPECTIVE STUDY.

BACKGROUND The treatment response of HCV infection is dependent on genotype and stage of the disease. However, genotype pattern and treatment outcomes of HCV infection among Ethiopian patients has not been studied so far. OBJECTIVES To evaluate the common HCV genotypes and treatment outcomes among Ethiopian adult patients. METHOD Adult patients aged 18 and above with HCV infection referred from various regions of the country were included in the study after written informed consent. As there was no free or insurance coverage for treatment of HCV infection in the country, those who could afford to pay for treatment with PEG Interferon and Ribavirin were recruited during January 1, 2008 through December 31,2013 at United Vision, Adera. Old Airport, and Mexico referral higher clinics in Addis Ababa. Patients with decompensated cirrhosis and pregnant ladies were excluded from the study. The patients were counseled on treatment options, cost, treatment outcomes, adverse drug effects, and possible complications. Data were collected on demographic features, clinical characteristics, viral genotypes, and treatment outcomes during follow up visits until six months after completion of recommended standard treatment. Data were analyzed using SPSS software. RESULTS A total of 200 adults with chronic HCV infection were treated with PEG-Interferon and Ribavirin (for 24 or 48 weeks according to the genotypes) during the study period. Of the 200 patients enrolled in the study, 120 (60%) were male, 90% were from Addis Ababa, and the median age was 48 years. Sixty per cent of the patients were infected with genotype 4,17% with genotype 1, 13.5% with genotype 2 and 9.5% with genotype 3. Eighty percent of the patients had end of treatment response; of these, 74.4% had undetectable HCV RNA at 6th month after end of treatment. The end of treatment response was noted to be close to 90% for patients with HCV genotypes 2 and.3 infections. CONCLUSION This study indicates that genotype 4 is the prevalent HCV genotype followed by 1, 2, and 3 among Ethiopian patients. Treatment with interferon and ribavirin was well tolerated and provided a very good response.
Water entry into astrocytes during brain edema formation

The process of brain edema formation has been studied extensively at the macroscopic level. In contrast, little is known about water fluxes and volume changes at the cellular level in the initial phase of brain edema. Insight in these “microscopic” events could pave the way for more efficient prevention and therapy. Here, we report measurements of brain cell volume responses recorded in vivo in a model of systemic hyponatremia. Transgenic mice expressing fluorescent proteins in astrocytes were subjected to hypo‐osmotic stress and two photon laser scanning microscopy. Volume measurements of glial cells in the cerebellum and the visual cortex indicate that individual astrocytes undergo a position‐dependent increase in cell volume by a factor of two or more during edema formation. Our data are the first to show that volume changes can be monitored at the cellular level in vivo and demonstrate that astrocytes are sites of water entry in the initial phase of brain edema formation. The uptake of water in astrocytes is likely to reflect the strong expression of aquaporin‐4 in these cells. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Research Agenda for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition: Developmental Physiology and Pathophysiology: Report of the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition for the Children's Digestive Health and Nutrition Foundation

Considerable progress has been made in recent years in elucidating the mechanisms regulating development of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Important insights have been gained through the use of model systems, including Caenorhabditis elegans, Drosophila melanogaster, Xenopus and transgenic mice. Recent findings have emphasized the common mechanisms and similar genes involved in regulating GI development in diverse organisms. Of necessity, much of this work has focused on individual genes and specific regulatory pathways. It is becoming clear that an understanding of physiology and pathophysiology requires an integrated approach to the simultaneous interaction of regulatory factors. Such an analysis is now becoming feasible through the use of accumulated genetic data provided by the genome projects currently under way or recently completed. The combination of these data with the rapidly developing technology for synthesizing and screening deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) arrays should make possible the comprehensive analysis of patterns of gene expression in the developing GI tract as well as of aberrant developments leading to pathophysiologic states. The availability of data from the human genome project will facilitate the identification of human genes involved in pathophysiology. Support for a major new emphasis on the comprehensive analysis of development should lead to advances in child health. In addition, many promising research directions have been identified recently, for which additional support should be generated. Involvement of clinically trained investigators in these emerging research areas for the study of GI development should be strongly encouraged.
Reflections of Electromagnetic Waves Obliquely Incident on a Multilayer Stealth Structure With Plasma and Radar Absorbing Material

To overcome some drawbacks of the plasma stealth technology in real-life application, a practical multilayer stealth structure composed of enclosed plasma slab and radar absorbing material (RAM) is presented in this paper. Based on a technique referred to as the transmission line analogy method, reflection coefficients of the perpendicularly polarized wave, the parallel polarized wave, and the circularly polarized wave obliquely incident upon this multilayer structure are determined, respectively. The effects of the incident angle, kinds of RAMs, and parameters of the plasma slab including electron density, collision frequency, and thickness on the stealthy effectiveness of this composite stealth structure have been studied systematically. The numerical results indicate that by a proper design, the power of reflected wave is significantly reduced over a wide frequency bandwidth, which provides some useful references to the plasma stealth technology applied to aircrafts, ships, and missiles.
The von Hippel-Lindau tumor suppressor gene product interacts with Sp1 to repress vascular endothelial growth factor promoter activity

The von Hippel-Lindau tumor suppressor gene (VHL) has a critical role in the pathogenesis of clear-cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC), as VHL mutations have been found in both von Hippel-Lindau disease-associated and sporadic RCCs. Recent studies suggest that vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) mRNA is upregulated in RCC- and von Hippel-Lindau disease-associated tumors. We have therefore assessed the effect of the VHL gene product on VEGF expression. VEGF promoter-luciferase constructs were transiently cotransfected with a wild-type VHL (wt-VHL) vector in several cell lines, including 293 embryonic kidney and RCC cell lines. wt-VHL protein inhibited VEGF promoter activity in a dose-dependent manner up to 5- to 10-fold. Deletion analysis defined a 144-bp region of the VEGF promoter necessary for VHL repression. This VHL-responsive element is GC rich and specifically binds the transcription factor Sp1 in crude nuclear extracts. In Drosophila cells, cotransfected VHL represses Sp1-mediated activation but not basal activity of the VEGF promoter. We next demonstrated in coimmunoprecipitates that VHL and Sp1 were part of the same complex and, by using a glutathione-S-transferase-VHL fusion protein and purified Sp1, that VHL and Sp1 directly interact. Furthermore, endogenous VEGF mRNA levels were suppressed in permanent RCC cell lines expressing wt-VHL, and nuclear run-on studies indicated that VHL regulation of VEGF occurs at least partly at the transcriptional level. These observations support a new mechanism for VHL-mediated transcriptional repression via a direct inhibitory action on Sp1 and suggest that loss of Sp1 inhibition may be important in the pathogenesis of von Hippel-Lindau disease and RCC.
5–6 GHz CMOS low-noise direct conversion receiver using a differential RF VGA with a differential inductor load

A low-noise low-power direct conversion receiver with a differential RF VGA is demonstrated using 0.18um CMOS technology. A topology that uses a differential inductor load for a differential RF VGA is employed for the single-to-differential conversion. Since the common-mode rejection ratio of a differential variable gain amplifier is increased by the mutual magnetic coupling in a differential inductor load, this work achieves noise floor less than 5 dB covering the 5-6 GHz band. Moreover, the conversion gain is around 50 dB and the total current consumption is 4.75 mA at 1.8 V supply voltage.
The active metabolite of prasugrel inhibits adenosine diphosphate- and collagen-stimulated platelet procoagulant activities.

BACKGROUND Prasugrel is a novel antiplatelet prodrug of the same thienopyridine class as clopidogrel and ticlopidine. Metabolism of prasugrel generates the active metabolite R-138727, an antagonist of the platelet P2Y(12) adenosine diphosphate (ADP) receptor, leading to inhibition of ADP-mediated platelet activation and aggregation. ADP also enhances the platelet response to collagen, and these two agonists contribute to the generation of platelet procoagulant activity. We therefore examined whether R-138727 inhibits ADP- and collagen-triggered platelet procoagulant activities. METHODS AND RESULTS As shown by whole blood flow cytometry, R-138727 inhibited surface phosphatidylserine expression on ADP plus collagen-stimulated platelets and tissue factor (TF) expression on ADP-, collagen-, and ADP plus collagen-stimulated monocyte-platelet aggregates. R-138727 reduced monocyte-platelet aggregate formation, thereby further inhibiting TF expression. ADP, collagen, and ADP plus collagen accelerated the kinetics of thrombin generation in recalcified whole blood and R-138727 significantly inhibited this acceleration. Clot strength in a modified thromboelastograph system was also inhibited by R-138727 (IC50 0.7 +/- 0.1 microM). CONCLUSIONS In addition to its previously known inhibitory effects on platelet activation and aggregation, the active metabolite of prasugrel, R-138727, inhibits platelet procoagulant activity in whole blood (as determined by phosphatidylserine expression on platelets and TF expression on monocyte-platelet aggregates), resulting in the functional consequences of delayed thrombin generation and impaired clot development.
Psychiatric and Cognitive Functioning in Adolescent Inpatients with Histories of Dating Violence Victimization

The presence of dating violence victimization as well as its relation to psychiatric diagnosis and cognitive processes was examined in a sample of 155 adolescents hospitalized in a psychiatric facility. Participants and their parents completed semistructured diagnostic interviews. Participants also completed self-report measures of dating violence victimization and cognitive functioning. Seventy-seven percent of adolescents who had initiated dating reported psychological, physical, sexual abuse, or some combination by a dating partner over the past year. Victims of psychological abuse alone as well as physical or sexual violence endorsed higher rates of major depressive disorder compared to nonvictims. Physical and sexual dating violence victims also endorsed significantly higher rates of posttraumatic stress disorder and alcohol use disorders, more frequent cooccurrence of externalizing and internalizing disorders, and more frequent negative cognitive biases, relative to nonvictimized adolescents. Findings suggest that psychiatrically hospitalized adolescents with dating violence histories represent a subgroup of adolescent inpatients with a particularly serious clinical picture.
mmunogenicity and protective efficacy of recombinant Haemophilus parasuis

Haemophilus parasuis (H. parasuis), the causative agent of swine polyserositis, polyarthritis, and meningitis, is one of the most important bacterial diseases of pigs worldwide. Little vaccines currently exist that have a significant effect on infections with all pathogenic serovars of H. parasuis. H. parasuis putative outer membrane proteins (OMPs) are potentially essential components of more effective vaccines. Recently, the genomic sequence of H. parasuis serovar 5 strain SH0165 was completed in our laboratory, which allow us to target OMPs for the development of recombinant vaccines. In this study, we focused on 10 putative OMPs and all the putative OMPs were cloned, expressed and purified as HIS fusion proteins. Primary screening for immunoprotective potential was performed in mice challenged with an LD50 challenge. Out of these 10 OMPs three fusion proteins rGAPDH, rOapA, and rHPS-0675 were found to be protective in a mouse model of H. parasuis infection. We further evaluated the immune responses and protective efficacy of rGAPDH, rOapA, and rHPS-0675 in pig models. All three proteins elicited humoral antibody responses and conferred different levels of protection against challenge with a lethal dose of H. parasuis SH0165 in pig models. In addition, the antisera against the three individual proteins and the synergistic protein efficiently inhibited bacterial growth in a whole blood assay. The data demonstrated that the three proteins showed high value individually and the combination of rGAPDH, rOapA, and rHPS-0675 offered the best protection. Our results indicate that rGAPDH, rOapA, and rHPS-0675 induced protection against H. parasuis SH0165 infection, which may facilitate the development of a multi-component vaccine.
Adaptation of the disector method to rare small organelles in TEM sections exemplified by counting synaptic bodies in the rat pineal gland

The disector is the only objective method for quantifying particles of variable size in a given volume. With this method, cell organelles are identified on adjacent sections, but only those present in one section are counted. When counting extremely rare structures in transmission electron microscope sections (physical disector), the usual procedure of counting on electron micrographs is limited for economic reasons (e.g. micrographs highly outnumbering the investigated structures). Hence, to apply this unbiased stereological method, a modification of the physical disector concerning 3 aspects has been developed. (1) The prerequisite of screening large corresponding tissue areas (here ∼65000 μm2) was fulfilled by examining tissue areas along the edges of ultrathin sections. (2) The size of the counting frame was determined by measuring the lengths of the section margins (minus a guard area) by means of a Morphomat. This value was multiplied by the width of the investigated tissue zone, corresponding to the diameter of the electron microscope viewing screen. (3) Disector counting was carried out simultaneously on both sections (bidirectional disector) to improve efficiency. In the present study tiny synaptic bodies (SBs) were quantitated by disector in a rat pineal gland, yielding ∼30 SBs/1000 μm3. By contrast, single section profile counts of SBs amounted to 90 SBs/20000 μm2. Since the presently described adaptation of the disector is time‐consuming, it is proposed to determine a proportion factor allowing to estimate number of structures per volume based on single section profile counts. This would decrease the evaluation time by more than 50%.