It is an established assumption that eroded dental hard tissues are particularly prone to toothbrush abrasion. Only a few studies have aimed to show this for dentine and, if so, disregarded the complex histological structure of this tissue. Therefore, the present study sought (i) to investigate the effects of toothbrushing on eroded dentine and (ii) to analyze how the organic matrix influences ...

Previous studies demonstrated that several inflammation-based hematological indices are closely related to various malignancies, including colorectal cancer (CRC). In this study, the prognostic value of inflammation-based markers, including a combination index termed coNLR-PDW, comprising the preoperative neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and the platelet distribution width (PDW), was evalua...

Recent theory predicts that the fitness of pioneer populations can decline when species expand their range, due to high rates of genetic drift on wave fronts making selection less efficient at purging deleterious variants. To test these predictions, we studied the fate of mutator bacteria expanding their range for 1650 generations on agar plates. In agreement with theory, we find that growth ab...

Serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) concentrations correlate with tumor progression and poor outcome. We evaluated the predictive value of serum LDH level for overall survival (OS) of patients with advanced pancreatic cancer after gemcitabine-based chemotherapy. We retrospectively enrolled 364 patients with locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma who were then allocated to traini...

Inherent crystalline domains present in low formaldehyde to urea (F/U) molar ratio urea-formaldehyde (UF) resins are responsible for their poor adhesion wood-based composite panels. To modify the crystallinity of (LMR) UF resins, this study investigates additional effect cellulose nanomaterials (CNMs), such as microfibrils (CMFs), nanofibrils (CNFs), and TEMPO-oxidized CNFs (TEMPO-CNFs) on modi...

把一個來源語者(source speaker)的語音轉換成另一個目標語者(target speaker)的語音,這 種處理稱為語音轉換(voice conversion)[1, 2, 3],語音轉換可應用於銜接語音合成處理, 以獲得多樣性的合成語音音色。去年我們曾嘗試以線性多變量迴歸(linear multivariate regression, LMR)來建構一種頻譜對映(mapping)的機制[4],然後用於作語音轉換,希望 藉以改進傳統上基於高斯混合模型(Gaussian mixture model, GMM)之頻譜對映機制[3] 常遇到的一個問題,就是轉換出的頻譜包絡(spectral envelope)會發生過度平滑(over smoothing)的現象。我們經由實驗發現,音段式(segmental) LMR 頻譜對映機制不僅在平 均轉換誤差上可以比傳統 GMM 頻譜對映機...

(Seedling growth of fifteen Brazilian tropical tree species differing in successional status). Growth of seedlings of fifteen tropical tree species representative, at the adult stage, of different successional positions, was studied under field conditions. Seedlings were grown in three treatments: full sun (FS), artificial shade imposed by neutral screens (AS) and natural shade imposed by a clo...

Background Central immunity components especially microglia in dementia have been well studied and corresponding immunotherapy gradually caught the attention. However, few studies focused on peripheral dementia. Method To address issue, we examined longitudinal association between incident markers encompassing immune cell counts, their derived ratios including neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NL...

Topological materials often exhibit remarkably linear, non-saturating magnetoresistance (LMR), which is both of scientific and technological importance. However, the role topologically non-trivial states in emergence such a behaviour has eluded clear demonstration experiments. Here, by reducing coupling between topological surface (TSS) bulk carriers we controllably tune LMR behavior Pt1-xAuxLu...

High-resolution dive depth and acceleration recordings from nearshore (Sarasota Bay, < 30 m), offshore (Bermuda) bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops spp.) were used to estimate the diving metabolic rate (DMR) locomotor (LMR, L O2/min) during three phases of (descent, bottom, ascent). For shallow dives (depth ≤ we found no differences between two ecotypes in LMR diving, nor postdive interval dives. in...