CFG based grammar checker for Latvian

Proceedings of the 18th Nordic Conference of Computational Linguistics NODALIDA 2011. Editors: Bolette Sandford Pedersen, Gunta Nešpore and Inguna Skadiņa. NEALT Proceedings Series, Vol. 11 (2011), 275-278. © 2011 The editors and contributors. Published by Northern European Association for Language Technology (NEALT) http://omilia.uio.no/nealt . Electronically published at Tartu University Library (Estonia) http://hdl.handle.net/10062/16955

Toponym Disambiguation in English-Lithuanian SMT System with Spatial Knowledge

Proceedings of the 18th Nordic Conference of Computational Linguistics NODALIDA 2011. Editors: Bolette Sandford Pedersen, Gunta Nešpore and Inguna Skadiņa. NEALT Proceedings Series, Vol. 11 (2011), 191-197. © 2011 The editors and contributors. Published by Northern European Association for Language Technology (NEALT) http://omilia.uio.no/nealt . Electronically published at Tartu University Library (Estonia) http://hdl.handle.net/10062/16955

Zināšanās bāzētu un korpusā bāzētu metožu kombinētā izmantošanas mašīntulkošanā

ANOTĀCIJA. Mašīntulkošanas (MT) sistēmas tiek būvētas izmantojot dažādas metodes (zināšanās un korpusā bāzētas). Zināšanās bāzēta MT tulko tekstu, izmantojot cilvēka rakstītus likumus. Korpusā bāzēta MT izmanto no tulkojumu piemēriem automātiski izgūtus modeļus. Abām metodēm ir gan priekšrocības, gan trūkumi. Šajā darbā tiek meklēta kombināta metode MT kvalitātes uzlabošanai, kombinējot abas metodes. Darbā tiek pētīta metožu piemērotība latviešu valodai, kas ir maza, morfoloģiski bagāta valoda ar ierobežotiem resursiem. Tiek analizētas esošās metodes un tiek piedāvātas vairākas kombinētās metodes. Metodes ir realizētas un novērtētas, izmantojot gan automātiskas, gan cilvēka novērtēšanas metodes. Faktorēta statistiskā MT ar zināšanās balstītu morfoloģisko analizatoru ir piedāvāta kā perspektīvākā. Darbā aprakstīts arī metodes praktiskais pielietojums. Atslēgas vārdi: mašīntulkošana (MT), zināšanās balstīta MT, korpusā balstīta MT, kombinēta metodeABSTRACT. Machine Translation (MT) systems are built using different methods (knowledge-based and corpus-based). Knowledge-based MT translates text using human created rules. Corpus-based MT uses models which are automatically built from translation examples. Both methods have their advantages and disadvantages. This work aims to find a combined method to improve the MT quality combining both methods. An applicability of the methods for Latvian (a small, morphologically rich, under-resourced language) is researched. The existing MT methods have been analyzed and several combined methods have been proposed. Methods have been implemented and evaluated using an automatic and human evaluation. The factored statistical MT with a rule-based morphological analyzer is proposed to be the most promising. The practical application of methods is described. Keywords: Machine Translation (MT), Rule-based MT, Statistical MT, Combined approac

Toys in the playrooms of children’s hospitals : A potential source of nosocomial bacterial infections?

Publisher Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Pediatric patients are more susceptible and vulnerable to nosocomial infections, in part because of their nascent and developing immune system and in part due to certain congenital conditions. Consequently, we found limited literature that investigated and reported children’s toys in hospital playrooms as potential reservoirs of pathogenic microbes. Hence, in the present study, we aimed to investigate toys as potential vectors for nosocomial infections in children’s hospitals. Microbiological samples from 120 toys were collected between April 2018 and November 2018. The specimens were cultivated on suitable cultivation agars for 24–72 h at 37◦ C and CFU/cm2 (colony forming units) was determined. Antibiotic susceptibility testing was performed using disc diffusion and E-tests. Our results indicate that 84% of samples were contaminated with different microbes. Four distinct genera and thirty-seven species of bacteria were identified. The most frequently isolated pathogen was Sphingomonas paucimobilis (>603 CFU/cm2 ). Most of the identified microorganisms were members of normal human microbiota. Although Staphylococcus aureus and Acinetobacter baumannii were identified, CFU/cm2 was relatively low and they were found to be sensitive to antibiotics. Additionally, plastic toys showed the highest average CFU/cm2 of 91.9. Our results bolster the need for adoption and strict enforcement of proper disinfection techniques for toys in the hospital playrooms.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Antibacterial effects of oak bark (Quercus robur) and heather herb (Calluna vulgaris L.) extracts against the causative bacteria of bovine mastitis

Funding Information: This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No. 857287. Funding Information: This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No. 857287. Publisher Copyright: © ukele, et al. Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.Background and Aim: Bovine mastitis has a negative impact on animals, and improper antibiotic use has caused an increase in bacterial resistance. Therefore, medicinal plants could serve as an alternative treatment for this condition. Polyphenols have potential as antibiotic agents. Oak bark has long been used as a medicine and has shown antibacterial effects. Moreover, research on heather plant demonstrated that it has antibacterial properties. This study aimed to assess the antibacterial effects of oak (Quercus robur) bark and heather (Calluna vulgaris L.) herb extracts against common bovine mastitis pathogens. Materials and Methods: Dried oak bark and heather herb were used to prepare extracts using 30%, 50%, and 70% ethanol and acetone as solvents. Their polyphenol content was determined using the Folin-Ciocalteu method. Bovine mastitis-inducing clinical isolates of Escherichia coli, Streptococcus agalactiae, Streptococcus uberis, Serratia liquefaciens, Staphylococcus aureus, and reference cultures of S. aureus and E. coli were used for antibacterial tests. All extracts were screened through a disk diffusion test to ascertain their antibacterial effects, and the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimal bactericidal concentration (MBC) were determined for the most effective extracts. Results: Oak bark extracts had variable antibacterial effects against S. aureus and Streptococcus strains, but no statistically significant difference was observed in activity against E. coli. The disk diffusion test showed that the oak bark extracts obtained using acetone and ethanol at 30% yielded the best results. However, the 70% acetone oak extract alone affected all types of bacteria. Further antibacterial tests of 70% acetone and 30% ethanol oak extracts revealed that the lowest MIC and MBC scores were against S. aureus strains and E. coli reference cultures. Conversely, the heather herb extracts exhibited broader activity against all types of bacteria, although better results were observed against Gram-positive bacteria. There was also a negative correlation between solvent concentration and antibacterial effect (p < 0.05, r = −0.507). The highest inhibition zone scores and broadest spectrum were observed in samples prepared in 30% ethanol. There was no statistically significant correlation between the phenolic content of plants and their antibacterial effects. Conclusion: Oak bark and heather extracts could be used as potential antibacterial agents against bovine mastitis pathogens.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Adhesion and colonisation of microorganisms on porous TiO2 and TiO2-Silver Biomaterials

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Comprehension Assistant for Languages of Baltic States

Proceedings of the 16th Nordic Conference of Computational Linguistics NODALIDA-2007. Editors: Joakim Nivre, Heiki-Jaan Kaalep, Kadri Muischnek and Mare Koit. University of Tartu, Tartu, 2007. ISBN 978-9985-4-0513-0 (online) ISBN 978-9985-4-0514-7 (CD-ROM) pp. 167-174

Influence of antibiotic-impregnated biomaterials on inflammatory cytokines

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Histopathological Findings of Oral Mucosa in Smokeless Tobacco Users : Case Report

Funding Information: We are grateful for help and support from the Department of Biology and Microbiology, Rīgas Stradiņa University. Funding Information: This research has been developed with financing from the European Social Fund and the Latvian state budget within project no. 8.2.2.0/20/I/004 ᰀSupport for involving doctoral students in scientific research and studies ? at Rīga Stradiņš University. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 Miļuna et al.Background: New tobacco products, such as smokeless tobacco, are becoming more popular every year. In talking with our patients, we determined several reasons for that trend. The sale of these products is prohibited in many countries; hence, people obtain the product illegally. This is important, since when these products are stored under inappropriate conditions and temperatures, the quality and properties of the product change, including their carcinogenic properties. Sometimes people use a lot of this product or more than one tobacco product daily. It is challenging for dental practitioners to question their patients about tobacco consumption and more challenging to visually detect oral mucosal changes, because patients usually do not have concerns or they do not pay attention. Methods: In the two cases presented here, the patients did not have any pain, nor did they notice when the lesions appeared. These patients used conventional cigarettes for some time and then switched to smokeless tobacco due to relocation to Latvia. Soft tissue excision was performed and sent for histopathological examination. Results: The findings were proliferation of oral epithelial cells from buccal region, their overgrowth, an excessive amount of fibroblasts, cell destruction and necrosis, and a large amount of inflammatory cells, eosinophil leukocytes, and plasma cells. Conclusion: We can conclude that these intraoral findings are important risk factors for possibly developing precancerous lesions. Such mucosal changes can occur with different forms of tobacco, including Swedish snus and betel leaves. Dental practitioners should always question patients about tobacco use and regularly check for mucosal changes for early detection.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Can Our Blood Help Ensure Antimicrobial and Anti-Inflammatory Properties in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery?

Funding Information: This research was funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the grant agreement No 857287 and the Latvian Council of Science research project No. lzp-2020/1-0054 “Development of antibacterial autologous fibrin matrices in maxillofacial surgery (MATRI-X)”. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 by the authors.In recent decades, the potential of PRF has been extensively studied. The number of studies about PRF has increased three times since the year 2012, but the full spectrum of its fundamental properties, such as antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activity, is not clearly described. In oral and maxillofacial surgery, PRF is described in alveolar ridge preservation, orthognathic surgery, cleft lip and palate surgery, maxillary sinus augmentation, and dental implant placement as demonstrating favorable results and its clinical advantages. The structural complexity, inhomogeneous nature, and clotting ability of PRF make its antimicrobial effect evaluation complicated. Nevertheless, most of the used antimicrobial testing methods are based on antibacterial agent diffusion ability in culture media. Because the oral and maxillofacial region is the most frequent area of PRF application, its antimicrobial activity evaluation also prevails in the oral microbiome. PRF’s biological potential is highly dependent on the specific preparation protocol and methodology used; it should be carefully prepared and kept under proper conditions to keep cellular content alive. PRF’s influence on living cells demonstrates a stimulating effect on bone regeneration, and an angiogenetic effect, and it provides anti-inflammatory activity. According to analyzed studies, PRF demonstrated success in oral and maxillofacial surgery in various methods of application. Antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties were proven by antibacterial activity against different bacterial species, sustained growth factor, sustained release, and cell activity on the material application. Accurately and correctly prepared PRF can ensure antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties, and it can be a beneficial clinical tool in oral and maxillofacial surgery.publishersversionPeer reviewe