Overexpression of CCND1 in oral carcinogenesis in a Chinese cohort

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A supervised learning algorithm for learning precise timing of multiple spikes in multilayer spiking neural networks

There is a biological evidence to prove information is coded through precise timing of spikes in the brain. However, training a population of spiking neurons in a multilayer network to fire at multiple precise times remains a challenging task. Delay learning and the effect of a delay on weight learning in a spiking neural network (SNN) have not been investigated thoroughly. This paper proposes a novel biologically plausible supervised learning algorithm for learning precisely timed multiple spikes in a multilayer SNNs. Based on the spike-timing-dependent plasticity learning rule, the proposed learning method trains an SNN through the synergy between weight and delay learning. The weights of the hidden and output neurons are adjusted in parallel. The proposed learning method captures the contribution of synaptic delays to the learning of synaptic weights. Interaction between different layers of the network is realized through biofeedback signals sent by the output neurons. The trained SNN is used for the classification of spatiotemporal input patterns. The proposed learning method also trains the spiking network not to fire spikes at undesired times which contribute to misclassification. Experimental evaluation on benchmark data sets from the UCI machine learning repository shows that the proposed method has comparable results with classical rate-based methods such as deep belief network and the autoencoder models. Moreover, the proposed method can achieve higher classification accuracies than single layer and a similar multilayer SNN

Dental attitudes of patients towards SARS in Hong Kong

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Oral yeasts and coliforms in HIV-infected patients in Hong Kong

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From Body to Mind and Spirit: Qigong Exercise for Bereaved Persons with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome-Like Illness

Bereavement may bring negative impacts on the mind, body, and spiritual well-being of grieving persons. Bereavement as a major negative life event is also a risk factor for chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). . Some bereaved persons with chronic fatigue syndrome- (CFS-) like illness experience a dual burden of distress. This study investigated the effects of bereavement on CFS-like illness by comparing bereaved and nonbereaved participants. It also adopted a random group design to investigate the effectiveness of Qigong on improving the well-being of bereaved persons with CFS-like illnessparticipants. The Qigong intervention comprised 10 group sessions delivered twice a week for 5 weeks and home-practice for at least three times a week lasting 15-30 minutes each lasting 15–30 minutes each. The participants’ fatigue, anxiety, and depression, quality of life (QoL), and spiritual well-being were measured at baseline and 3 months after treatment. The bereaved participants experienced significantly greater mental fatigue (16.09 versus 14.44,published_or_final_versio

Antibacterial effects of silver diamine fluoride on multi-species cariogenic biofilm on caries

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Isolation and characterization of Rhodococcus ruber CGMCC3090 that hydrolyzes aliphatic, aromatic and heterocyclic nitriles

A bacterial strain was isolated from soil samples that had been polluted by nitrile compounds. This strain converts acrylonitrile to acrylamide with high activity. The nitrile hydrolysis activity was tested using eight substrates, including aliphatic, aromatic and heterocyclic (di)nitriles. All of the nitrilecompounds were hydrolyzed by the resting cells. The main (cyano-)amide products demonstrated that nitrile hydratase was abundantly produced in this strain and that it mediated monohydrolysis. The specific conversion rate decreased in the following order: acrylonitrile > 3-cyanopyridine > valeronitrile> adiponitrile > 2,3,4,5,6-pentafluorobenzonitrile >  -hydroxyphenylacetonitrile > 3-indoleaceto-nitrile > phthalonitrile, suggesting a higher conversion capability towards aliphatic nitriles. The strain that hadbroad substrate spectra was identified and named Rhodococcus ruber CGMCC3090 based on the 16S rDNA sequence

Autosomal recessive disease in children of consanguineous parents: inferences from the proportion of compound heterozygotes

This short communication deals with the questions of how to calculate the expected proportion of compound heterozygous patients among affected offspring of consanguineous parents, and how, from an observed proportion of compound heterozygotes, to calculate both the proportion of homozygotes not identical by descent and the frequency of pathogenic alleles in the population. This estimate of allele frequency may be useful when dealing with populations with a considerable number of consanguineous matings

Identification of differential pharyngeal cytokine profiles during HIV infection

Poster Presentation: no. P90BACKGROUND: Significantly higher pharyngeal shedding of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is observed during HIV infection. Increased EBV shedding in pharynx is not affected even during highly active antiretroviral theyrapy (HAART). EBV positive monocyte populations have been shown to carry EBV to pharyngeal mucosa. Human cytokine profiles are often altered to facilitate herpes virus infection. Thus pharyngeal cytokine profiles may influence EBV reactivation and shedding during HIV infection. Our objective was to compare 37 pharyngeal cytokine profiles of HIV-seropositive patients who were or were not receiving HAART therapy …published_or_final_versio

Unveiling the critical role of TiO2-supported atomically dispersed Cu species for enhanced photofixation of N2 to nitrate

Nitrate products are widely used in manufacturing as crucial raw materials and fertilizers. The traditional nitrate synthesis process involves high energy consumption and emission, thereby opposing the goals of zero-carbon emission and green chemistry. Thus, a sustainable roadmap for nitrate synthesis that uses green energy input, clean N sources, and direct catalytic processes is urgently required (e.g., developing a novel photosynthesis system). Here, we synthesized TiO2-supported atomically dispersed Cu species for N2 photofixation to nitrate in a flow reactor. The optimized photocatalyst yielded a high nitrate photosynthesis rate of 0.93 μmol h−1 and selectivity of ∼90%, which is superior to most of the values reported thus far. Further, experimental results and in-situ investigations revealed that the atomically dispersed Cu sites in the as-designed sample significantly enhanced the separation and transfer efficiency of photogenerated carriers, adsorption and activation of reactants, and the formation of chemisorbed NOx intermediates, thereby realizing the excellent photofixation of N2 to nitrate