Reducing errors by increasing the error rate: MLP Acoustic Modeling for Broadcast News Transcription

Neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are involved in a plethora of fundamental biological processes ranging from muscle contraction to the formation of memories. The studies described in this work focus on the transcriptional regulation of the CHRNB4 gene, which encodes the !4 subunit of neuronal nAChRs. We previously identified a regulatory sequence (5 – CCACCCCT –3 ), or “CA box”, critical for CHRNB4 promoter activity in vitro. Here I report transcription factor interaction at the CA box along with an in vivo analysis of CA box transcriptional activity. My data indicate that Sp1, Sp3, Sox10 and c-Jun interact with the CHRNB4 CA box in the context of native chromatin. Using an in vivo transgenic approach in mice, I demonstrated that a 2.3-kb fragment of the CHRNB4 promoter region, containing the CA box, is capable of directing cell-type specific expression of a reporter gene to many of the brain regions that endogenously express the CHRNB4 gene. Site-directed mutagenesis was used to test the hypothesis that the CA box is critical for CHRNB4 promoter activity in vivo. Transgenic animals were generated in which LacZ expression is driven by a mutant form of the CA box. Reporter gene expression was not detected in any tissue or cell type at ED18.5. Similarly, I observed dramatically reduced reporter gene expression at PD30 when compared to wild type transgenic animals, indicating that the CA box is an important regulatory feature of the CHRNB4 promoter. ChIP analysis of brain tissue from mutant transgenic animals demonstrated that CA box mutation results in decreased interaction of the transcription factor Sp1 with the CHRNB4 promoter.

Two-component systems are the most common mechanism of transmembrane signal transduction in bacteria and are involved in many cellular processes. They control the expression of genes for nutrient acquisition, virulence, antibiotic resistance, and numerous other processes in diverse bacteria. These systems are often used by soil bacteria that have to adapt to frequent changes in nutritional availability and in environmental conditions to regulate their gene expression. By contrast, bacteria that live in stable niches (symbionts of aphids, extremophiles or some marine hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria, etc.) seem to have less regulatory systems. Recently, a functionally active two- component system (named PhMAlRS) probably involved in the of expression regulation of a C4-dicarboxylate transporter system was identified in the Antarctic bacterium Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis TAC125. Our data demonstrated that the expression of the C4-dicarboxylate transporter system (consisting of genes coding for an outer membrane porin and a periplasmic transporter, renamed Phdct A and B, respectively) is induced by the presence of L-malate under the control of the PhMalRS two-component regulatory system. The DNA region located upstream the PhdctA porin gene was further investigated; two different transcriptional start sites and two different promoter sequences were defined, one of which is a typical σ core promoter. A 53 bp inverted repeat sequence located 77 bp upstream the distal transcriptional start site was also identified. Functional analysis of this element showed that the inverted repeat sequence was specifically recognised by protein extracts of PhTAC125 only when the cells were grown in the presence of L-malate, suggesting a putative regulatory role for this DNA region. We can speculate that this DNA sequence represents the cis-acting region requested for the binding of transcriptional regulatory proteins leading to the induction of the PhdctAB operon expression. These results demonstrated the occurrence of a fine transcriptional mechanism that regulates the expression of a C4-dicarboxylate transporter operon in Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis TAC125. In the presence of L-malate, the PhMalRS regulatory system controls the expression of the PhdctA and B genes very likely through binding of a regulatory protein to the cis-acting region located upstream the outer membrane porin gene. The interaction of the regulatory protein with this DNA sequence probably strengthens the binding of RNA polymerase on the σ core promoter sequence and activates the transcription of downstream genes responsible for L-malate uptake.

Transcription factor binding sites (TFBS) in gene promoter regions are often predicted by using position specific scoring matrices (PSSMs), which summarize sequence patterns of experimentally determined TF binding sites. Although PSSMs are more reliable than simple consensus string matching in predicting a true binding site, they generally result in high numbers of false positive hits. This study attempts to reduce the number of false positive matches and generate new predictions by integrating various types of genomic data by two methods: a Bayesian allocation procedure, and support vector machine classification. Several methods will be explored to strengthen the prediction of a true TFBS in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome: binding site degeneracy, binding site conservation, phylogenetic profiling, TF binding site clustering, gene expression profiles, GO functional annotation, and k-mer counts in promoter regions. Binding site degeneracy (or redundancy) refers to the number of times a particular transcription factor's binding motif is discovered in the upstream region of a gene. Phylogenetic conservation takes into account the number of orthologous upstream regions in other genomes that contain a particular binding site. Phylogenetic profiling refers to the presence or absence of a gene across a large set of genomes. Binding site clusters are statistically significant clusters of TF binding sites detected by the algorithm ClusterBuster. Gene expression takes into account the idea that when the gene expression profiles of a transcription factor and a potential target gene are correlated, then it is more likely that the gene is a genuine target. Also, genes with highly correlated expression profiles are often regulated by the same TF(s). The GO annotation data takes advantage of the idea that common transcription targets often have related function. Finally, the distribution of the counts of all k-mers of length 4, 5, and 6 in gene's promoter region were examined as means to predict TF binding. In each case the data are compared to known true positives taken from ChIP-chip data, Transfac, and the Saccharomyces Genome Database. First, degeneracy, conservation, expression, and binding site clusters were examined independently and in combination via Bayesian allocation. Then, binding sites were predicted with a support vector machine (SVM) using all methods alone and in combination. The SVM works best when all genomic data are combined, but can also identify which methods contribute the most to accurate classification. On average, a support vector machine can classify binding sites with high sensitivity and an accuracy of almost 80%.

Previously, competence was conceptualized as a static individual construct that could be measured with regard to grammatical, sociolinguistic, pragmatic, and discursive dimensions of second language (L2) knowledge. This perspective was criticized with the emergence of constructivist views in second language acquisition (SLA), and interaction was assumed to be coconstructed in specific contexts by all the members of the group, and was referred to as interactional competence. This study aimed at investigating the highlighted features of interactional competence from raters' point of view. The raters were also required to compare and contrast the differences between the performance of paired vs. group interactions. For this purpose, 16 male and female proficient English language and literature students of Shiraz university participated in the study; also, 10 experienced raters were chosen to rate the performances. The participants were given a set of controversial questions, once to argue their viewpoints in four-member groups, and once more in paired interaction. Having videotaped the discussions, the raters were asked to watch the clips and were interviewed to comment their perspective. The detailed analysis of the transcription of interviews revealed at least three aspects of interactional competence, each with some subcategories: management, engagement and attention, and paralinguistic aspects. Moreover, peer-to-peer interactions were filled with turn-taking, other-initiated self-repair, use of pauses and wait times, backchanneling, and facial features such as eye contact. Group performances were prominent with self-initiated self-repair, open-ended clarification requests, and employment of vocal features.

In this thesis I use conversation analytic (CA) and discursive psychological (DP) principles to examine the ways in which groups of people watch situation comedy shows (sitcoms) together. More specifically, this thesis addresses three aims, the first of which is to explore how people watch, engage with, and understand sitcoms together in a domestic setting. My second aim is to examine the ways in which laughter is utilised by sitcom viewers. Finally, this thesis also aims to explore the ways in which people interact with each other whilst watching TV. To address these aims, almost twelve hours of video and audio recordings were made of groups of people watching sitcoms together in their homes as part of their usual TV watching routines, with 25 participants in total. The only inclusion criteria for this research was that participants would be watching a sitcom with another person as part of their usual TV watching routine. This ensured that recordings could be made of naturally occurring sitcom watching, that is, sitcom watching happening outside the artificial setting of a laboratory or requiring the intervention of a researcher. As such, recordings made via unobtrusive video cameras offer an insight into how individuals ‘do’ sitcom watching in their own homes. The main findings from this thesis demonstrate that sitcom watching audiences are not just passive receptors of the show that is playing out on-screen, but that they are engaged in a range of hitherto undiscovered interactional business. This interactional business deals with i) the ways that laughter is deployed by viewers, ii) the ways in which certain types of humorous content is oriented and attended to by viewers, iii) how individuals respond to each other’s responses to the sitcom, and how co-viewers work collaboratively to understand on-screen content. More specifically, in Chapter 3 I offer a close inspection of the laughter produced by the sitcom viewers and demonstrate how multifaceted and diverse the laughs produced by these individuals are. This is discussed in relation to how laughter is transcribed for research and this chapter offers suggestions for how we can better capture the performative qualities of laughter in the transcripts we create for CA/DP research. Continuing with the topic of laughter, Chapter 4 builds upon the observations of Chapter 3 and outlines how laughter is deployed by individuals in ways that are sensitive to the material to which the laughter is responsive to. I show how laughter can be designed and utilised by speakers to accomplish a range of social actions, such as displaying shock or disgust. Here, the CA/DP concepts of accountability and stance will be discussed and the role in which laughter plays in managing will be examined. In Chapter 5, I explore the ways in which sitcom watching is a collaborative accomplishment and how issues of understanding what is happening on-screen are facilitated through interaction between co-viewers. My specific focus here is on the ways in which viewers ‘get’ the jokes in sitcoms, the role that laughter plays in this, and how this is tied to issues of accountability management. Finally, the last chapter of this thesis discusses the implications of my findings in relation to current understanding of laughter, TV audiences, transcription of talk, and humour more generally. I demonstrate how watching sitcoms together is a social activity which individuals work together to accomplish. In addition, more general concerns about naturally occurring data and the adequacy of video recordings to capture this are considered in relation to the sitcom watching dataset. Also, the ways in which this present work contributes to discussions about the taken for granted nature of everyday life and the social organization that underpins it, will also be discussed here.

Members of the Runx family of transcription factors play essential roles in the differentiation and development of several organ systems. Here we address the contribution of the osteoblast-related Runx gene, Runx2 , to the osteogenic and chondrogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells. Using a transgenic mouse model, we observe Runx2 transcription through one of its two known promoters (designated P1 in pre-cartilaginous mesenchymal condensations as early as E9.5. Runx2 gene activity is later repressed at the onset of cartilage formation, both in vivo and in vitro , necessitating examination of the regulation and function of Runx2 in mesenchymal stem cells. We demonstrate that Runx2 gene activity is repressed by the direct interaction of the homeodomain transcription factor Nkx3.2 with the proximal Runx2 P1 promoter. This repression was found to be required for the progression of BMP-induced chondrogenesis, thereby identifying Runx2 as a modulator of BMP activity in the chondrogenic as well as osteogenic differentiation program. To further understand the regulation of the Runx2 P1 promoter and to determine the contribution of P1-derived gene product, Runx2 Type II, to the formation of mineralized tissue, we have generated a Runx2 Type II- LacZ gene replacement mouse model in which the initial coding sequences and splice donor sites of the Type II isoform are replaced with the LacZ reporter gene. Activity of the endogenous P1 promoter can therefore be monitored by β-galactosidase production. Analysis of Runx2 Type II-LacZ mice demonstrates that the P1 promoter is transcriptionally most active in mature osteoblasts, but its product, Runx2 Type II is dispensable for embryonic skeletal formation. Lastly, we examine the link between growth control and osteogenic differentiation by tissue-specific deletion of the Mdm2 proto-oncogene in developing skeletal tissues of the mouse embryo. Loss of Mdm2 results in impaired bone formation, with skeletal elements exhibiting lower bone mineral content and higher porosity. Ex vivo cultures of calvarial osteoprogenitor cells exhibit severely decreased osteoblastogenesis and bone nodule formation accompanied by a failure to activate Runx2 gene activity. These findings suggest that Mdm2 is required for inhibition of p53 activity that ultimately allows for post-confluent proliferation and induction of Runx2 during maturation of the osteogenic phenotype. Taken together, our findings suggest that Runx2 modulates the commitment of progenitor cells to the osteogenic and chondrogenic lineages, and that Runx2 activity is inextricably linked to mechanisms that control cellular proliferation.

Error handling in multimodal voice-enabled interfaces of tour-guide robots using graphical models

The DNA topology is an important modifier of DNA functions. Torsional stress is generated when right handed DNA is either over- or underwound, producing structural deformations which drive or are driven by processes such as replication, transcription, recombination and repair. DNA topoisomerases are molecular machines that regulate the topological state of the DNA in the cell. These enzymes accomplish this task by either passing one strand of the DNA through a break in the opposing strand or by passing a region of the duplex from the same or a different molecule through a double-stranded cut generated in the DNA. Because of their ability to cut one or two strands of DNA they are also target for some of the most successful anticancer drugs used in standard combination therapies of human cancers. An effective anticancer drug is Camptothecin (CPT) that specifically targets DNA topoisomerase 1 (TOP 1). The research project of the present thesis has been focused on the role of human TOP 1 during transcription and on the transcriptional consequences associated with TOP 1 inhibition by CPT in human cell lines. Previous findings demonstrate that TOP 1 inhibition by CPT perturbs RNA polymerase (RNAP II) density at promoters and along transcribed genes suggesting an involvement of TOP 1 in RNAP II promoter proximal pausing site. Within the transcription cycle, promoter pausing is a fundamental step the importance of which has been well established as a means of coupling elongation to RNA maturation. By measuring nascent RNA transcripts bound to chromatin, we demonstrated that TOP 1 inhibition by CPT can enhance RNAP II escape from promoter proximal pausing site of the human Hypoxia Inducible Factor 1 (HIF-1) and c-MYC genes in a dose dependent manner. This effect is dependent from Cdk7/Cdk9 activities since it can be reversed by the kinases inhibitor DRB. Since CPT affects RNAP II by promoting the hyperphosphorylation of its Rpb1 subunit the findings suggest that TOP 1inhibition by CPT may increase the activity of Cdks which in turn phosphorylate the Rpb1 subunit of RNAP II enhancing its escape from pausing. Interestingly, the transcriptional consequences of CPT induced topological stress are wider than expected. CPT increased co-transcriptional splicing of exon1 and 2 and markedly affected alternative splicing at exon 11. Surprisingly despite its well-established transcription inhibitory activity, CPT can trigger the production of a novel long RNA (5’aHIF-1) antisense to the human HIF-1 mRNA and a known antisense RNA at the 3’ end of the gene, while decreasing mRNA levels. The effects require TOP 1 and are independent from CPT induced DNA damage. Thus, when the supercoiling imbalance promoted by CPT occurs at promoter, it may trigger deregulation of the RNAP II pausing, increased chromatin accessibility and activation/derepression of antisense transcripts in a Cdks dependent manner. A changed balance of antisense transcripts and mRNAs may regulate the activity of HIF-1 and contribute to the control of tumor progression After focusing our TOP 1 investigations at a single gene level, we have extended the study to the whole genome by developing the “Topo-Seq” approach which generates a map of genome-wide distribution of sites of TOP 1 activity sites in human cells. The preliminary data revealed that TOP 1 preferentially localizes at intragenic regions and in particular at 5’ and 3’ ends of genes. Surprisingly upon TOP 1 downregulation, which impairs protein expression by 80%, TOP 1 molecules are mostly localized around 3’ ends of genes, thus suggesting that its activity is essential at these regions and can be compensate at 5’ ends. The developed procedure is a pioneer tool for the detection of TOP 1 cleavage sites across the genome and can open the way to further investigations of the enzyme roles in different nuclear processes.

Transcriptional regulation of CD8 + T cell differentiation during acute and chronic viral infections is an intricate web made up of many of transcription factors. While several transcription factors have been elucidated in this process, there are still many more that remain elusive. In this work, we look into the role of two transcription factors, IRF4 and Runx2, and their role in CD8 + T cell terminal effector cells and memory precursor cells during acute LCMV-Armstrong infection. We found that IRF4 expression was regulated by TCR signal strength during infection, and that IRF4 expression levels directly correlated with the magnitude of the effector cell response. IRF4 was also shown to regulate T-bet and Eomes, two transcription factors critical for CD8 + T cell differentiation into effector and memory cells. From these results, we were interested in the potential role of IRF4 during chronic LCMV-clone 13 infection, where ratios of T-bet and Eomes are critical for viral clearance. We found that haplodeficiency of IRF4 in the T cell compartment lead to an increase in the ratio of Eomes to T-bet in T cells, which in turn affected the proportion of Eomes hi versus T-bet hi cells and resulted in a loss in ability to clear viral infection. Irf4 +/- Eomes +/- compound heterozygous mice were generated to test if decreasing Eomes expression would rescue the Irf4 +/- phenotype. Irf4 +/- Eomes +/- mice were phenotypically similar to WT mice in terms of Eomes to T-bet ratios, and were able to clear viral infection, demonstrating a critical role of IRF4 in regulating T-bet and Eomes during chronic viral infection. Next we looked into the role of Runx2 during acute LCMV-Armstrong infection and found that Runx2-deficient pathogen-specific CD8 + T cells had a defect in the total number of memory precursor cells compared to WT controls. We further showed that Runx2 was inversely correlated with TCR signal strength, and that Runx2 expression was repressed by IRF4. From these work, we have introduced two more transcription factors that are critical for CD8 + T cells differentiation during acute and chronic viral infection. Given the sheer number of transcription factors known to regulate these processes, having a full understanding of the transcriptional network will allow us to find the best targets for therapeutic intervention for treatments ranging from vaccine development and autoimmunity to cancer immunotherapy and treatment of chronic viral infections.

Fluorescence and Labelling: How to choose and what to do -- Fluorescent biosensors: design and application to motor proteins -- Rapid Reaction Kinetic Techniques -- Fluorescence to study the ATPase mechanism of Motor Proteins -- Use of pyrene labelled actin to probe actin myosin interactions; kinetic and equilibrium studies -- Fluorescent methods to study transcription initiation and transition into elongation -- Single-molecule and single-particle imaging of molecular motors in vitro and in vivo -- Fluorescence methods in the investigation of the DEAD-box helicase mechanism -- Use of Fluorescent Techniques to Study the In Vitro Movement of Myosins -- Fluorescence Tracking of Motor proteins in vitro -- Measuring Transport of Motor Cargos -- Measuring two at the same time: Combining Magnetic Tweezers with Single-Molecule FRET -- Using fluorescence to study actomyosin in yeasts.

Emerging evidence in both vertebrates and invertebrates is redefining glia as active and mobile players in synapse formation, maturation and function. However, the molecular mechanisms through which neurons and glia interact with each other to regulate these processes is not well known. My thesis work begins to understand how glia use secreted factors to modulate synaptic function. We use Drosophila melanogaster, a simple and genetically tractable model system, to understand the molecular mechanisms by which glia communicate with neurons at glutamatergic neuromuscular junctions (NMJs). We previously showed that a specific subtype of glia, subperineurial peripheral glia cells (SPGs), establish dynamic transient interactions with synaptic boutons of the NMJ and is required for synaptic growth. I identified a number of potential functional targets of the glial transcription factor, reverse polarity (repo) using ChIP-chip. I found that one novel target of Repo, Wg, is expressed in SPGs and is regulated by repo in vivo. Wnt/Wg signaling plays a pivotal role during synapse development and plasticity, including the coordinated development of the molecular architecture of the synapse. While previous studies demonstrated that Wg is secreted by motor neurons, herein I provide evidence that a significant amount of Wg at the NMJ is additionally provided by glia. I found that Wg derived from SPGs is required for proper GluR distribution and electrophysiological responses at the NMJ. In summary, my results show that Wg expression is

Many metabolic pathways in bacteria are modulated by metabolite-sensing riboswitches, which regulate gene expression at the level of transcription elongation or translation initiation. Riboswitches represent promising targets to modulate expression of genes and operons relevant for the biotechnological production of commercially relevant compounds. In Firmicutes, approximately 70% of all putative and validated riboswitches (are predicted to) act exclusively at the transcriptional level using a termination-antitermination mechanism. In a first attempt to interfere with purine-sensing riboswitches and deregulate purine metabolism in Bacillus subtilis, a set of synthetic small RNAs (sRNAs) targeting the purine-sensing aptamers were designed to impair ligand binding using rational design combined with in silico evolution. However, the designed sRNAs did not show any activity in vivo on the riboswitch controlling purine biosynthesis (pur operon riboswitch). The effect of the antisense RNA (asRNA) perfectly complementary to the aptamer of the pur operon riboswitch was also tested; The asRNA did not affect negatively expression of a riboswitch-regulated lacZ gene, yet similarly to the partially complementary sRNAs, the asRNA did not impair the downregulation exerted by the riboswitch in the presence of ligand. Finally, expression of the small RNAs in B. subtiliswas quantified, and the kinetic limitations for their hybridization with the aptamer and their competition with the ligand are discussed. A second metabolic engineering strategy based on editing the genome of B. subtilis with regard to transcriptional riboswitches was investigated. Removal of the riboswitches that control purine biosynthesis and riboflavin biosynthesis in B. subtilis led to auxotrophic strains. As an alternative, a rational approach was developed for engineering transcriptional riboswitches independently from the availability of their 3D structures. This approach consists in the identification and deletion of a key nucleotide sequence exclusively involved in transcription termination without affecting formation of other secondary and tertiary structures potentially involved in other roles. To demonstrate the efficacy of the approach, it was applied to derepress the purine and the riboflavin biosynthetic pathways in B. subtilis. Following the proof of concept using specialized reporter strains, the approach was implemented into a B. subtilis wild-type strain employing CRISPR-Cas genome editing. The CRISPRCas9 system displayed an efficiency of 61% in editing the genome, and the resulting purine and riboflavin production strains were characterized at the level of gene expression, metabolite synthesis, and growth. With a substantial enhancement observed at each level, the strategy established here represents a powerful tool for deregulating pathways modulated by transcriptional riboswitches. Finally, applying this strategy to derepress the purine pathway of an industrial riboflavin overproducing strain, with impaired growth, led to an increase in biomass by 53% and resulted in an enhanced total production of riboflavin in the culture.

In this paper, we analyze the impact of five Arabic dialects on the front-end and pronunciation dictionary components of an Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) system. We use ASR's phonetic decision tree as a diagnostic tool to compare the robustness of MFCC and MLP front-ends to dialectal variations in the speech data and found that MLP Bottle-Neck features are less robust to such variations. We also perform a rule-based analysis of the pronunciation dictionary, which enables us to identify dialectal words in the vocabulary and automatically generate pronunciations for unseen words. We show that our technique produces pronunciations with an average phone error rate 9.2%. Arabic language is characterized by its multitude of dialects. Although Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) is used in writing, TV/radio broadcasts and for formal communication, all informal communication is typically carried out in one of the regional dialects of Arabic. Dialectal variations influence the pronunciation dictionary, acoustic and language models in an ASR. Previous works on dialectal Arabic ASR include cross- dialectal data sharing (1), improved pronunciation and language modeling (2, 3), etc. In this paper, we describe our experiments on a dialectal Arabic speech database, where we focus on analyzing the behavior of different front-ends and pronunciation dictionary due to dialectal variations between speakers. We evaluate Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC) and Multi-Layer Perceptrons (MLP), on their ability to handle these variations that arise due to different dialects. Extending our previous work on gender normalization (4), we use phonetic decision trees as a diagnostic tool to analyze the influence of dialect in the clustered models. We introduce questions pertaining to dialect in addition to context in the building of the decision tree. We then build the tree to cluster the contexts and calculate the number of leaves that belong to branches with dialectal questions. The ratio of such 'dialectal' models to the total model size is used as a measure for dialect normalization. The higher the ratio, the more models are affected by the dialect, hence less normalization and vice versa. We further extend our analysis to the pronunciation dictionary, where we investigate ways to generate rule-based pronunciations for unseen words in a dialect with minimum manual effort. Our setup features a 'Pan-Arabic' dictionary, which contains pronunciations typically found in five Arabic dialects. We analyze the pronunciation variants in our common dictionary using acoustic model alignments to derive the dialect-specific pronunciations for each word. This forms the source of our rule-learning algorithm which maps word pronunciations from one dialect to another. These rules are then used to generate pronunciations for unseen words and the accuracy is estimated.

In males, congenital adrenal hyperplasia due to 21 hydroxylase deficiency is associated to normal fertility or infertility caused by a hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism (HH) or gonadal damage caused by intratesticular adrenal remnants. We report a 29-year-old male with azoospermia, without any important personal or family background. Physical examination was normal, his height was 150 cm and his testicular volume was 10 ml (normal 15 to 25 ml). Laboratory showed a normal testosterone and FSH and LH in the low normal limit. These results discarded a HH, whose diagnostic requirements are a low testosterone and inadequately normal or low gonadotrophins. A testicular biopsy was informed as compatible with HH. A 21 hydroxylase deficiency was suspected and confirmed with extremely high levels of 17 hydroxyprogesterone at baseline and after stimulation with fast acting ACTH. Clomiphene citrate did not increase testosterone or gonatrophin levels. Testicular ultrasound discarded the presence of adrenal nodules. Betametasone therapy resulted in a normal testicular development, normalization of sperm count, reduction of 17 hydroxyprogesterone and testosterone levels with an ulterior rise of the latter. Spontaneous paternity was achieved twice. It must be remembered that in cases of azoospermia due to congenital adrenal hyperplasia, testosterone produced by adrenal glands hinders the laboratory diagnosis of HH.

Under the correct leadership of the Party Central Committee and the joint efforts of the people across the country, the prevention and control of the new crown pneumonia epidemic have entered a stage of normalization, showing an overall trend of stability and improvement. At this stage, the continuous development of community epidemic prevention work is still needed. This article discussed the role social work plays in the normalization of community epidemic prevention and control. It starts with the connotation and role of social work, briefly analyzes the status quo of the normalization of community epidemic prevention and control, and discusses the role of social work in the normalization of community epidemic prevention and control, with the aim of accelerating progress of restoring the order of social production and life.