Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Medial Rectus Surgery for Convergence Excess Esotropia with an Accommodative Component: A Comparison of Augmented Recession, Slanted Recession, and Recession with Posterior Fixation

Richard G. Scobee was an internationally renowned strabismologist whose life was short yet very productive. The first section of this paper describes his life and contributions to strabismology and orthoptics. The second section of this paper reports the results of our strabismological study. Introduction and Purpose Many different surgical procedures exist for the treatment of children or adults with convergence excess esotropia. We report on our results of augmented recession, slanted recession, and recession with posterior fixation of the medial rectus muscle in such situations. We also report on the incidence of induced vertical deviations. Methods Using a retrospective chart review of 800 patients, we excluded patients with confounding strabismus conditions and pharmacological treatments leaving 131 patients included in the study. Slanted reinsertion of medial rectus (twenty-seven patients); posterior fixation with recession of medial rectus (twenty-two patients); augmented medial rectus recession (fifty-eight patients); nonaugmented recession of medial rectus (seventy-three patients). The distance near disparity postoperatively was evaluated using a life table analysis in which all patients were grouped according to the length of time postoperatively. Induced vertical deviation was evaluated at least 6 months postoperatively. Results At all time periods postoperatively, the patients with slanted recessions showed the greatest reduction in distance near disparity and that reduction was the most stable over time. At 12–14 months postoperatively, the range in reduction measured 7.9–11Δ among all three procedures. At 15–18 months postoperatively, the range in reduction measured 16.9–19. 3Δ diopters among the three procedures. At greater than 6 months postoperatively, the slanted and augmented recession groups showed up to 1Δ of right hypertropia and the posterior fixation and nonaugmented groups showed up to 0. 6Δ of left hypertropia. Conclusions All three medial rectus procedures used in our retrospective study (slanted recession, augmented recession, recession with posterior fixation) reduced the distance near disparity. The greatest and most stable reduction at all time periods postoperatively occurred with the slanted recession. The induced vertical deviation is small in all procedures and is acceptable at 1Δ or less. The augmented and slanted recessions are easier to perform than the posterior fixation with recession. We recommend that the slanted reinsertion of the medial rectus recession be considered as a viable option in the surgical correction of esotropia with a distance near disparity.
[F]Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography after Human Neuronal Implantation for Stroke

OBJECTIVE: There is no known effective treatment for chronic stroke. In this report, we used positron emission tomography (PET) with [F]fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) to map the metabolic brain response to neuronal cell implantation in the first human neuroimplantation trial for stroke. METHODS: Twelve patients (nine men, three women; mean age standard deviation, 60.8 8.3 yr) with chronic basal ganglia infarction and persistent motor deficit underwent FDG PET within 1 week before and 6 and 12 months after stereotactic implantation of human neuronal cells. Serial neurological evaluations during a 52-week postoperative period included the National Institutes of Health stroke scale and the European stroke scale. RESULTS: Alterations in glucose metabolic activity in the stroke and surrounding tissue at 6 and 12 months after implantation correlated positively with motor performance measures. CONCLUSION: FDG PET performed as part of an initial open-label human trial of implanted LBS-Neurons (Layton BioScience, Sunnyvale, CA) for chronic stroke demonstrates a relationship between relative regional metabolic changes and clinical performance measures. These preliminary findings suggest improved local cellular function or engraftment of implanted cells in some patients. (Neurosurgery 49:586–592, 2001)
Relationships of Parenting Practices, Independent Learning, Achievement, and Family Structure

An independent learner is one who actively takes responsibility for his or her own acquisition of knowledge, skills, and expertise. The capacity to self-regulate one’s own learning is a necessity for success in higher education. Researchers have found that characteristics of independent learners begin to emerge in young children and continue to develop throughout childhood and adolescence as students grow into self-governing adults. The purpose of this study is to assess students’ levels of independent learning attitudes and behaviors and to examine the relationships among parents’ actions, family structure, independent learning, and academic achievement. Using a national sample of 10 grade students from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002, several statistical analyses were performed in order to answer these research questions: 1. How do parents’ actions relate to children’s independent learning characteristics? 2. How do students’ independent learning behaviors and attitudes correlate with their academic achievement? 3. How are parents’ actions associated with their children’s academic achievement? 4. Are single-parent children less likely to have developed characteristics of independent learning by grade 10 than children living with both of their parents? Exploratory factor analysis was conducted to arrange the available variables into appropriate subscales to be used in the statistical procedures for this study. Canonical correlations were used to measure the magnitude of relationships between three pairs of concepts: parents’ actions and students’ independent learning; students’ independent learning and academic achievement; and parents’ actions and students’ academic achievement. Structural equation modeling was employed to test the hypothesized model of relationships among parents’ actions, students’ independent learning behaviors, and academic achievement. Finally, multivariate analysis of variance was used to compare the independent learning scores of students living in four different family structures to determine if a significant difference in the development of independent learning between groups exists. Results suggest actions that parents can take to help their children develop as independent learners and succeed in the academic realm.
Factor Graphs for Image Processing

Here, we turn our attention to factor graphs and examine their message passing properties for image processing tasks. To this end, we focus on the maximum a posteriori (MAP) inference process in multi-layered graphs and exploit the ability of factor graphs to capture subtle interactions between image tokens, i.e. pixels, super pixels, features, etc. This leads to a general, yet simple belief propagation scheme. The benefits of doing this are two-fold. Firstly, this yields the ability to perform more accurate joint probability inference tasks at minimal additional computational cost. Secondly, we gain the advantage of modelling structural interactions between image tokens more accurately on graphical models with multiple levels of interaction (layers). We illustrate the use of factor graphs for image defogging and segmentation and compare our results against other techniques elsewhere in literature.
Ectomycorrhizal fungal diversity, tree diversity and root nutrient relations in a mixed Central European forest.

Knowledge is limited about whether root nutrient concentrations are affected by mixtures of tree species and interspecific root competition. The goal of this field study was to investigate root nutrient element concentrations in relation to root and ectomycorrhizal (EM) diversity in six different mixtures of beech (Fagus sylvatica), ash (Fraxinus excelsior) and lime (Tilia sp.) in an old-growth, undisturbed forest ecosystem. Root biomass and nutrient concentrations per tree taxon as well as the abundance and identity of all EM fungi were determined in soil cores of a volume of 1 L (r=40 mm, depth=200 mm). Stand-level nutrient concentrations in overall root biomass and H' (Shannon-Wiener diversity) were obtained by pooling the data per stand. At stand level, Shannon H' for roots and aboveground tree species abundance were correlated. H' for roots and EM fungi were not correlated because of the contribution of ash roots that form only arbuscular mycorrhizal but no EM associations. Nutrient element concentrations in roots showed taxon-related differences and increased in the following order: beech ≤ lime < ash with the exception of calcium (Ca), which was lower in ash. Stand-level concentrations of Ca, magnesium, potassium and sulfur in roots increased with increasing tree diversity because of two effects: increasing contribution of ash roots to the mixture and increasing Ca accumulation in beech roots with increasing root diversity. On a small scale, increasing root diversity, but not EM diversity, was correlated with decreasing P concentrations in beech roots pointing to interspecific tree competition. Nitrogen (N) concentrations of beech roots were unaltered in relation to root and EM diversity. Opposing behavior was observed for lime and ash: the N concentrations in lime roots increased, whereas those in ash roots decreased with increasing EM diversity in a given soil volume. This suggests that EM diversity facilitates N acquisition of lime roots at the expense of non-EM ash.
Performance Guaranteed Computation Offloading for Mobile-Edge Cloud Computing

In this letter, we investigate an energy efficiency with performance guaranteed problem in mobile-edge computing. The mobile users desire lower energy consumption with better performance of tasks, for that we propose an energy minimizing optimization problem for mobile-edge cloud computing. We apply KKT conditions to solve it, and also present a request offloading scheme for this issue. In particular, the offloading scheme is determined by energy consumption and bandwidth capacity at each time slot. Numerical results demonstrate that our proposed offloading scheme outperforms local computing and entirely offloading method on energy consumption and performance on delay.
Diagnostic yield of non-guided flexible bronchoscopy for peripheral pulmonary neoplasia

The role of conventional bronchoscopy for peripheral pulmonary neoplasia remains controversial. We aimed to assess the diagnostic yield and the added value of non‐guided bronchial aspiration, bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL), and brushing for the diagnosis of pulmonary neoplasia not visible endoscopically.
Similarity in L2 Phonology: Evidence from L1 Spanish late-learners’ perception and lexical representation of English vowel contrasts

Adult second language (L2) learners often experience difficulty producing and perceiving nonnative phonological contrasts. Even relatively advanced learners, who have been exposed to an L2 for long periods of time, struggle with difficult contrasts, such as /ɹ/–/l/ for Japanese learners of English. To account for the relative ease or difficulty with which L2 learners perceive and acquire nonnative contrasts, theories of L2 speech perception and phonology often appeal to notions of ‘similarity’, but how is ‘similarity’ best captured? In this article, we review two prominent approaches to similarity in L2 speech perception and phonology and present the findings from two experiments that investigated the role of phonological features in the perception and lexical representation of two vowel contrasts that exist in English, but not in Spanish. In particular, we explored whether L1 phonological features can be reused to represent nonnative contrasts in the second language (Brown, 1998, 2000), as well as to what extent new phonological structure might be acquired by advanced late-learners. We show that second language acquisition of phonology is not constrained by the phonological features made available by the learner’s native language grammar, nor is the use of particular phonological features in the native language grammar sufficient to trigger redeployment. These findings suggest that feature availability is neither a necessary, nor a sufficient, condition to predict the observed learning outcomes. These results are discussed in the context of current theories of nonnative and L2 speech perception and phonological development.
Highly Efficient CRISPR/Cas9-Mediated Homologous Recombination Promotes the Rapid Generation of Bacterial Artificial Chromosomes of Pseudorabies Virus

Bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs) are powerful tools for the manipulation of the large genomes of DNA viruses, such as herpesviruses. However, the methods currently used to construct the recombinant viruses, an important intermediate link in the generation of BACs, involve the laborious process of multiple plaque purifications. Moreover, some fastidious viruses may be lost or damaged during these processes, making it impossible to generate BACs from these large-genome DNA viruses. Here, we introduce the CRISPR/Cas9 as a site-specific gene knock-in instrument that promotes the homologs recombination of a linearized transfer vector and the Pseudorabies virus genome through double incisions. The efficiency of recombination is as high as 86%. To our knowledge, this is the highest efficiency ever reported for Pseudorabies virus recombination. We also demonstrate that the positions and distances of the CRISPR/Cas9 single guide RNAs from the homology arms correlate with the efficiency of homologous recombination. Our work show a simple and fast cloning method of BACs with large genome inserted by greatly enhancing the HR efficiencies through CRISPR/Cas9-mediated homology-directed repair mechanism, and this method could be of helpful for manipulating large DNA viruses, and will provide a successful model for insertion of large DNA fragments into other viruses.
Mechanisms of activation, inhibition and specificity: crystal structures of the NMDA receptor NR1 ligand‐binding core

Excitatory neurotransmission mediated by the N‐methyl‐D‐aspartate subtype of ionotropic glutamate receptors is fundamental to the development and function of the mammalian central nervous system. NMDA receptors require both glycine and glutamate for activation with NR1 and NR2 forming glycine and glutamate sites, respectively. Mechanisms to describe agonist and antagonist binding, and activation and desensitization of NMDA receptors have been hampered by the lack of high‐resolution structures. Here, we describe the cocrystal structures of the NR1 S1S2 ligand‐binding core with the agonists glycine and D‐serine (DS), the partial agonist D‐cycloserine (DCS) and the antagonist 5,7‐dichlorokynurenic acid (DCKA). The cleft of the S1S2 ‘clamshell’ is open in the presence of the antagonist DCKA and closed in the glycine, DS and DCS complexes. In addition, the NR1 S1S2 structure reveals the fold and interactions of loop 1, a cysteine‐rich region implicated in intersubunit allostery.
Low-Level Lead Exposure and Elevations in Blood Pressure during Pregnancy

Background Lead exposure is associated with elevated blood pressure during pregnancy; however, the magnitude of this relationship at low exposure levels is unclear. Objectives Our goal was to determine the association between low-level lead exposure and blood pressure during late pregnancy. Methods We collected admission and maximum (based on systolic) blood pressures during labor and delivery among 285 women in Baltimore, Maryland. We measured umbilical cord blood lead using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Multivariable models were adjusted for age, race, median household income, parity, smoking during pregnancy, prepregnancy body mass index, and anemia. These models were used to calculate benchmark dose values. Results Geometric mean cord blood lead was 0.66 μg/dL (95% confidence interval, 0.61–0.70). Comparing blood pressure measurements between those in the highest and those in the lowest quartile of lead exposure, we observed a 6.87-mmHg (1.51–12.21 mmHg) increase in admission systolic blood pressure and a 4.40-mmHg (0.21–8.59 mmHg) increase in admission diastolic blood pressure after adjustment for confounders. Corresponding values for maximum blood pressure increase were 7.72 (1.83–13.60) and 8.33 (1.14–15.53) mmHg. Benchmark dose lower limit values for a 1-SD increase in blood pressure were < 2 μg/dL blood lead for all blood pressure end points. Conclusions A significant association between low-level lead exposures and elevations in maternal blood pressure during labor and delivery can be observed at umbilical blood lead levels < 2 μg/dL.
EXISTENCE OF LISTERIA SPECIES IN FRESHWATER FISH AND ITS CONTROL USING SANITIZED ICE

Received at: 24/3/2014 Accepted: 5/5/2014 The present study was designed to investigate the occurrence of Listeria spp. in two of economically important freshwater fish species namely Oreochromis niloticus (tilapia) and Clarias gariepinus which were collected from commercial fish markets in Assiut, also to explore the efficiency of five ice formulations : tab water ice (control), three ices sanitized using trisodium phosphate (TSP) 2.5%,5% and 10% in addition to an ice sanitized using sodium acetate (SA) 2.5% against Listeria monocytogenses (LM) artificially loaded on Tilapia fish at level of (5.5log10 CFU/g) and the effect of formulated ices on ice stability, sensory quality and pH of fish during storage at room temperature (25 oC). The microbiological analysis of sampled fish revealed that sampled fish represents health hazard to consumer and contact surfaces. O. niloticus were more contaminated with Listeria spp. compared with C.gariepinus samples (16%and 4%, respectively). The contamination with LM in both fish species was parallel (4%) while Listeria innocua was present in O. niloticus only (12%). Storage of Tilapia loaded with LM (5.5 log10CFU/g) on formulated crushed ices separately for 4h revealed that both (SA) 2.5% and (TSP) 10% ices had the efficacy (P>0.05) of reduction of LM on fish and in water from melted ice when compared with the control thus improves the safety and reduces the potential for cross contamination. Formulated ices were more stable (slow melting rate) when compared with the control. Storage of fish on formulated ices for 4h was not associated with any defects in sensory parameters (P>0.05). A desirable lowering of pH values of stored fish was noticed by application of (SA) 2.5% ice while (TSP) 10% ice resulted in a significant rise (P<0.05) of pH at the end of storage period. Despite this study demonstrates the effectiveness of (SA) 2.5% ice or (TSP) 10% ice application to control the growth of LM to enhance the microbiological safety of raw fish, (SA) 2.5% ice has the advantages of its organic origin and its desirable lowering pH of stored fish. The public health importance of the organism was discussed and the suggestive measures for control were outlined.
Politická participace a její determinanty v postkomunistických zemích

The article focuses on the differences in political participation among post-communist countries. First, it explores the variation in the level of political participation among post-communist states. Second, it deals with the differences in the determinants that account for political participation in individual countries. The second objective is met by introducing a three-dimensional explanatory model of political participation: individual resources, motivations, and social networks. In an empirical analysis political participation in nine post-communist countries is examined using data from the International Social Survey Programme 2004. Results show that the countries under study vary in the level of political participation both at the aggregate and individual levels. The most active citizens are in the former East Germany and Slovakia. Polish and Hungarian citizens participate in politics the least. Further, two modes of political participation – protest activity and contacting – are identified and used as dependent variables in further analysis. In the second part of the article, the explanatory model is tested against data from individual countries. The analysis shows that there is a difference in the factors that account for political participation in various post-communist countries. Generally, the three-level model of political participation works best in Hungary, Bulgaria, and East Germany. It explains very little variation in Russia and Poland.
F-Actin Organization and Pollen Tube Tip Growth in Arabidopsis Are Dependent on the Gametophyte-Specific Armadillo Repeat Protein ARO1[W]

The signal-mediated and spatially controlled assembly and dynamics of actin are crucial for maintaining shape, motility, and tip growth of eukaryotic cells. We report that a novel Armadillo repeat protein in Arabidopsis thaliana, ARMADILLO REPEAT ONLY1 (ARO1), is of fundamental importance for polar growth and F-actin organization in tip-growing pollen tubes. ARO1 is specifically expressed in the vegetative cell of pollen as well as in the egg cell. ARO1-GFP (for green fluorescent protein) fusion proteins accumulate most notably in pollen tube tips and partially colocalize with F-actin in the shank of pollen tubes. ARO1 knockout results in a highly disorganized actin cytoskeleton, growth depolarization, and ultimately tube growth arrest. Tip-localized ARO1-GFP is spatially shifted toward the future site of tip growth, indicating a role of ARO1 in the signaling network controlling tip growth and regulating actin organization. After the pollen tube discharges its contents into the receptive synergid, ARO1-GFP colocalizes with emerging F-actin structures near the site of sperm cell fusion, suggesting additional participation in the mechanism of sperm cell tracking toward the female gametes. The variable localization of ARO1 in the cytoplasm, the nucleus, and at the plasma membrane, however, indicates a multifunctional role like that of β-catenin/Armadillo and the p120 catenins.
A PLSA-Based Semantic Bag Generator with Application to Natural Scene Classification under Multi-instance Multi-label Learning Framework

Classifying natural scenes into semantic categories has always been a challenging task. So far, many works in this field are primarily intended for single label classification, where each scene example is represented as a single instance vector. The multi-instance multi-label (MIML) learning framework proposed by Z.H. Zhou et al. [1] provides a new solution to the problem of scene classification in a different way. In this paper, we propose a novel scene classification method based on pLSA-based semantic bag generator and MIML learning framework. Under the framework of MIML learning, we introduce the mechanism that transfers an image into a set of instances through the pLSA-based bag generator. Experiments show that our approach achieves better classification performance comparing with the previous work.
Health-Related Quality of Life for Caregivers of Patients With Alzheimer Disease

We investigated the relationship of caregivers' health-related quality of life (HRQOL) to the burden of caring for patients with Alzheimer disease (AD) and resource utilization. Caregiver HRQOL was assessed using the SF-12 Mental and Physical Summary scores. Compared with a normative, age-adjusted sample, the 2477 caregivers had lower mental and physical scores (for the latter, only those <54 years of age). Increased caregiver mental functioning was associated with caregiver support and perceived quality of patient medical care, fewer hours of caregiving, and fewer patient behavioral symptoms. The burden of caregiving has substantial effects on HRQOL. Interventions that improve AD status and reduce caregiving hours have the potential to improve caregivers' HRQOL.