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ABSTRACTBackgroundVitamin A deficiency increases susceptibility to infection caused by impaired immune function.ObjectivesWe investigated whether immunodeficiency could facilitate the development of vitamin A deficiency.MethodsVitamin A deficiency was followed in 2 mouse models of immunodeficiency: the athymic nude mouse (nu/nu) and the humoral immunodeficient SENCAR (SENsitive to CARcinogenesis) mouse. Vitamin A deficiency was also monitored in outbred Balb/c and in NIH mice. The monitoring of vitamin A deficiency was done after feeding the mice and their mothers a semisynthetic, vitamin A–deficient diet from birth of the experimental mice. These mice were weaned onto the same deficient diet at 3–4 wk of age, while control groups were fed the same diet containing 3 μg retinoic acid per gram of diet.ResultsThe immunodeficient nu/nu and SENCAR mice developed vitamin A deficiency earlier than either the heterozygous nu/+ controls or the Balb/c and NIH strains. In female mice, symptoms included depletion of liver retinol and retinyl palmitate, squamous metaplasia of the uterus, and death. Male mice lost weight more frequently and sooner than female mice, in which mortality generally occurred in the absence of loss of body weight. Pairwise comparisons using Tukey's honest significant difference test of the nu/nu and SENCAR mice versus the Balb/c and NIH mice showed a faster loss of retinol and retinyl palmitate in all pairs (P ≤ 0.0001) except for retinol when comparing nu/nu and NIH strains (P = 0.3383).ConclusionsOur findings are consistent with an increased usage of liver retinol and retinyl palmitate in the immunocompromised nu/nu and in the immunodeficient SENCAR mice and suggest that compensatory mechanisms dependent on vitamin A utilization are called upon to rescue immunodeficiency both in the T-cell–deficient phenotype of the nu/nu mice and in the humoral immunodeficient SENCAR mice.

Abstract We take a step towards addressing the under- representation of the African continent in NLP research by bringing together different stakeholders to create the first large, publicly available, high-quality dataset for named entity recognition (NER) in ten African languages. We detail the characteristics of these languages to help researchers and practitioners better understand the challenges they pose for NER tasks. We analyze our datasets and conduct an extensive empirical evaluation of state- of-the-art methods across both supervised and transfer learning settings. Finally, we release the data, code, and models to inspire future research on African NLP.1

Metadata 2020 have been thinking about how to spend the time during 2020 to ensure that our efforts result in the greatest impact possible. In reviewing our midpoint outputs, we recognized that a key piece that often is missing in the Scholarly Communications Metadata discussion is the change management activities necessary to ensure sustained action toward richer metadata. We feel that effective work here is essential to spur investment and evolved and widespread improved perspectives for metadata. On September 18-19, 2019, we held a Workathon workshop with key contributors to Metadata 2020 to discuss strategies and tactics for catalyzing this action. This paper provides the results of these discussion

This chapter presents step-by-step procedures for all techniques and materials associated with process of completing denture wax-up in complete denture therapy. All wax must be removed from the clinical crowns of denture teeth, otherwise it will be replaced by pink acrylic and/or teeth could dislodge during packing. The chapter contains photographs that illustrate the text, making it easy to follow and apply in the practice or laboratory.

The prelims comprise: Half-Title Page Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents Foreword Acknowledgements About the Companion Website