Methods and algorithms for unsupervised learning of morphology

This is an accepted manuscript of a chapter published by Springer in Computational Linguistics and Intelligent Text Processing. CICLing 2014. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 8403 in 2014 available online: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-54906-9_15 The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published version.This paper is a survey of methods and algorithms for unsupervised learning of morphology. We provide a description of the methods and algorithms used for morphological segmentation from a computational linguistics point of view. We survey morphological segmentation methods covering methods based on MDL (minimum description length), MLE (maximum likelihood estimation), MAP (maximum a posteriori), parametric and non-parametric Bayesian approaches. A review of the evaluation schemes for unsupervised morphological segmentation is also provided along with a summary of evaluation results on the Morpho Challenge evaluations.Published versio

Approach to hypoglycemia in the newborn: Turkish neonatal and pediatric endocrinology and diabetes societies consensus report

Hypoglycemia is one of the most important and most common metabolic problems of the newborn because it poses a risk of neurological injury, if it is prolonged and recurs. Therefore, newborns who carry a risk of hypoglycemia should be fed immediately after delivery and the blood glucose level should be measured with intervals of 2-3 hours from the 30th minute after feeding. The threshold value for hypoglycemia is 40 mg/dL for the first 24 hours in symptomatic babies. In asymptomatic babies, this value is considered 25 mg/dL for 0-4 hours, 35 mg/dl for 4-24 hours, 50 mg/dL after 24 hours and 60 mg/dL after 48 hours. Screening should be performed with bed-side test sticks. When values near the limit value are obtained, confirmation with laboratory method should be done and treatment should be initiated, if necessary. The level targeted with treatment is considered 50 mg/dL in the postnatal first 48 hours before feeding, 60 mg/dL after 48 hours in babies with high risk and above 70 mg/dL in babies with permanent hypoglycemia. In cases in which the blood glucose level is below the threshold value and can not be increased by feeding, a glucose infusion of 6-8 mg/kg/min should be initiated. If symptoms accompany, a mini bolus of 10% dextrose (2 ml/kg/min) should accompany. Incements (2 mg/kg/min) should be performed, if the target level can not be achieved and decrements (2 ml/kg/ min) should be performed, if nutrition and stabilization is provided. The infusion should be discontinued, if the infusion rate decreases to 3-5 mg/ kg/min. If necessary, blood samples should be obtained during hypoglycemia in terms of differential diagnosis and the investigation should be performed following a 6-hour fasting period in babies fed enterally and at any time when the plasma glucose is 60 mg/dL following a 6-hour fast. © 2018 by Turkish Pediatric Association

Neonatal Hyperglycemia, which threshold value, diagnostic approach and treatment?: Turkish Neonatal and Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes Societies consensus report

Hyperglycemia has become an important risk factor for mortality and morbidity in the neonatal period, especially with increased survival rates of very low birth weight babies. Hyperglycemia in the neonatal period develops as a result of various mechanisms including iatrogenic causes, inability to supress hepatic glucose production, insulin resistance or glucose intolerance, specifically in preterm babies. Initiation of parenteral or enteral feeding in the early period in preterm babies increases insulin production and sensitivity. The plasma glucose is targeted to be kept between 70 and 150 mg/dL in the newborn baby. While a blood glucose value above 150 mg/dL is defined as hyperglycemia, blood glucose values measured with an interval of 4 hours of >180-200 mg/dL and +2 glucosuria require treatment. Although glucose infusion rate is reduced in treatment, use of insulin is recommended, if two blood glucose values measured with an interval of 4 hours are >250 mg/dL and glucosuria is present in two separate urine samples. © 2018 by Turkish Pediatric Association

A novel missense mutation in human TTF-2 (FKHL15) gene associated with congenital hypothyroidism but not athyreosis

Background: Thyroid dysgenesis is the most frequent cause of congenital hypothyroidism (CH), and its genetic basis is largely unknown. Hitherto, two mutations in the human thyroid transcription factor 2 (TTF-2) gene have been described in unrelated cases of CH with cleft palate, spiky hair, variable choanal atresia, and complete thyroid agenesis. Here, we describe a novel TTF-2 mutation in a female child resulting in syndromic CH in the absence of thyroid agenesis. Results: The index case is homozygous for an arginine to cysteine mutation (R102C) of a highly conserved residue within the forkhead, DNA binding domain of TTF-2. Her consanguineous, heterozygous parents are unaffected, and the mutation was not detected in 100 control chromosomes. Consonant with its location, the R102C mutant TTF-2 protein showed loss of DNA binding and was transcriptionally inactive. CH in the proposita was associated with cleft palate, spiky hair, and bilateral choanal atresia. However, radiological studies showed the presence of thyroid tissue in a eutopic location. Conclusion: Our findings indicate that human thyroid development can occur despite loss of TTF-2 function and suggest that TTF-2 gene defects should also be considered in cases of syndromic CH without total athyreosis

Biofortification of wheat with zinc through zinc fertilization in seven countries

Aim Zinc (Zn) fertilization is an effective agronomic tool for Zn biofortification of wheat for overcoming human Zn deficiency. But it still needs to be evaluated across locations with different management practices and wheat cultivars, since grain Zn concentrations may be significantly affected by locations, cultivars and management. Materials Field experiments were conducted over 3 years with the following four Zn treatments: nil Zn, soil Zn application, foliar Zn application and soil + foliar Zn application to explore the impact of Zn fertilization in Zn biofortification of wheat. The experiments were conducted at a total of 23 experimental site-years in China, India, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Pakistan, Turkey and Zambia. Results The results showed that foliar Zn application alone or in combination with soil application, significantly increased grain Zn concentrations from 27 mg kg(-1) at nil Zn to 48 and 49 mg kg(-1) across all of 23 site-years, resulting in increases in grain Zn by 84 % and 90 %, respectively. Overall, soil Zn deficiency was not a growth limiting factor on the experimental sites. A significant grain yield increase in response to soil Zn fertilization was found only in Pakistan. When all locations and cropping years are combined, soil Zn fertilization resulted in about 5 % increase in grain yield. Foliar Zn application did not cause any adverse effect on grain yield, even slightly improved the yield. Across the 23 site-years, soil Zn application had a small effect on Zn concentration of leaves collected before foliar Zn application, and increased grain Zn concentration only by 12 %. The correlation between grain yield and the effectiveness of foliar Zn application on grain Zn was condition dependent, and was positive and significant at certain conditions. Conclusion Foliar Zn application resulted in successful biofortification of wheat grain with Zn without causing yield loss. This effect of Zn fertilization occurred irrespective of the soil and environmental conditions, management practices applied and cultivars used in 23 site-years. Foliar Zn fertilizer approach can be locally adopted for increasing dietary Zn intake and fighting human Zn deficiency in rural areas

Biofortification of wheat, rice and common bean by applying foliar zinc fertilizer along with pesticides in seven countries

Rice (Oryza sativa L.), wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) are major staple food crops consumed worldwide. Zinc (Zn) deficiency represents a common micronutrient deficiency in human populations, especially in regions of the world where staple food crops are the main source of daily calorie intake. Foliar application of Zn fertilizer has been shown to be effective for enriching food crop grains with Zn to desirable amounts for human nutrition. For promoting adoption of this practice by growers, it is important to know whether foliar Zn fertilizers can be applied along with pesticides to wheat, rice and also common bean grown across different soil and environmental conditions. The feasibility of foliar application of zinc sulphate (ZnSO4.7H(2)O) to wheat, rice and common bean in combination with commonly used five fungicides and nine insecticides was investigated under field conditions at the 31 sites-years of seven countries, i.e., China, India, Pakistan, Thailand, Turkey, Brazil and Zambia. Significant increases in grain yields were observed with foliar Zn/foliar Zn + pesticide (5.2-7.7 % of wheat and 1.6-4.2 % of rice) over yields with no Zn treatment. In wheat, as average of all experiments, higher grain Zn concentrations were recorded with foliar Zn alone (41.2 mg kg(-1)) and foliar Zn + pesticide (38.4 mg kg(-1)) as compared to no Zn treatment (28.0 mg kg(-1)). Though the magnitude of grain Zn enrichment was lesser in rice than wheat, grain Zn concentrations in brown rice were significantly higher with foliar Zn (24.1 mg kg(-1)) and foliar Zn + pesticide (23.6 mg kg(-1)) than with no Zn (19.1 mg kg(-1)). In case of common bean, grain Zn concentration increased from 68 to 78 mg kg(-1) with foliar Zn alone and to 77 mg kg(-1) with foliar Zn applied in combination with pesticides. Thus, grain Zn enrichment with foliar Zn, without or with pesticides, was almost similar in all the tested crops. The results obtained at the 31 experimental site-years of seven countries revealed that foliar Zn fertilization can be realized in combination with commonly-applied pesticides to contribute Zn biofortification of grains in wheat, rice and common bean. This agronomic approach represents a useful practice for the farmers to alleviate Zn deficiency problem in human populations