Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Amblyopia treatment outcomes after screening before or at age 3 years: follow up from randomised trial

Abstract Objective: To assess the effectiveness of early treatment for amblyopia in children. Design: Follow up of outcomes of treatment for amblyopia in a randomised controlled trial comparing intensive orthoptic screening at 8, 12, 18, 25, 31, and 37 months (intensive group) with orthoptic screening at 37 months only (control group). Setting: Avon, southwest England. Participants: 3490 children who were part of a birth cohort study. Main outcome measures: Prevalence of amblyopia and visual acuity of the worse seeing eye at 7.5 years of age. Results: Amblyopia at 7.5 years was less prevalent in the intensive group than in the control group (0.6% v 1.8%; P=0.02). Mean visual acuities in the worse seeing eye were better for children who had been treated for amblyopia in the intensive group than for similar children in the control group (0.15 v 0.26 LogMAR units; P<0.001). A higher proportion of the children who were treated for amblyopia had been seen in a hospital eye clinic before 3 years of age in the intensive group than in the control group (48% v 13%; P=0.0002). Conclusions: The intensive screening protocol was associated with better acuity in the amblyopic eye and a lower prevalence of amblyopia at 7.5 years of age, in comparison with screening at 37 months only. These data support the hypothesis that early treatment for amblyopia leads to a better outcome than later treatment and may act as a stimulus for research into feasible screening programmes. What is already known on this topic Observational studies have produced conflicting results about whether early treatment for amblyopia gives better results than later treatment A recent systematic review highlighted the lack of high quality data available and recommended the cessation of preschool vision screening programmes This has led to fierce debate and to confusion about the provision of vision screening services What this study adds Children treated for amblyopia are four times more likely to remain amblyopic if they were screened at 37 months only than if they were screened repeatedly between 8 and 37 months Children screened early can see an average of one line more with their amblyopic eye after treatment than children screened at 37 months Early treatment is more effective than later treatment for amblyopia, supporting the principle of preschool vision screening
Interaction of RAS Activation and Lipid Disorders Accelerates the Progression of Glomerulosclerosis

Background: The activation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) and lipid disorders are major risk factors in progressive chronic kidney disease. This study aimed to investigate the potential synergistic mechanisms of RAS activation and lipid disorders that contribute to glomerulosclerosis. Materials and methods: Human renal mesangial cells (HMCs) were treated with 10-7 mol/L angiotensin II (Ang II) or with 30 μg/ml cholesterol and 1 μg/ml 25-hydroxycholesterol (lipid loading) for 24 hours. Lipid accumulation in the cells was evaluated by Oil Red O staining and intracellular cholesterol quantitative assays. The gene and protein expression of molecules in the low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLr) pathway, the RAS family, and the extracellular matrix were examined by real-time polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting. The translocation of sterol regulatory element-binding protein (SREBP) cleavage activating protein (SCAP), which escorts SREBP-2 from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) to the Golgi, was examined by immunofluorescent staining. Results: Ang II increased lipid droplet accumulation in HMCs. Further analysis revealed that Ang II increased the mRNA and protein expression of LDLr, SCAP, and SREBP-2. This increase was correlated with an enhanced translocation of the SCAP/SREBP-2 complex from the ER to the Golgi in HMCs that was induced by Ang II, thereby activating LDLr gene transcription. Interestingly, lipid loading increased the mRNA and protein expression of angiotensinogen, Ang II, renin, angiotensin-converting enzyme, angiotensin II type 1 receptor, and type 2 receptor in HMCs with increased mRNA and protein expression of collagen I, α-smooth muscle actin, and fibronectin. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that the interaction of RAS activation and lipid disorders accelerates the progression of glomerulosclerosis.
POCSENSE: POCS‐based reconstruction for sensitivity encoded magnetic resonance imaging

A novel method for iterative reconstruction of images from undersampled MRI data acquired by multiple receiver coil systems is presented. Based on Projection onto Convex Sets (POCS) formalism, the method for SENSitivity Encoded data reconstruction (POCSENSE) can be readily modified to include various linear and nonlinear reconstruction constraints. Such constraints may be beneficial for reconstructing highly and overcritically undersampled data sets to improve image quality. POCSENSE is conceptually simple and numerically efficient and can reconstruct images from data sampled on arbitrary k‐space trajectories. The applicability of POCSENSE for image reconstruction with nonlinear constraining was demonstrated using a wide range of simulated and real MRI data. Magn Reson Med 52:1397–1406, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Better for the Break. By Enid Levin, Jo Moriarty and Peter Gorbach. London: HMSO. 1994. 200 pp. £12.95 (pb).

private agencies for these carers. The research was funded by the Department ofHealth and carried out at the National Institute for Social Work Research Unit. The study is based on a service sample, not a commu nity one and is drawn from three areas in England, covering a variety of urban and rural settings. It has three broad aims, to establish the characteristics and problems of elderly people and their carers using different types of services; to elicit carers of elderly persons and practitioners' views of the services;and to examine the effectiveness of different types of service and their impact on the carers' psychological health (as measured by GHQ) and on the elderly people. Throughout the study carers continued to use res pite services and to value them. The attributes of the carer, especially their attitude to residential care and their mental health were found to be among the main predictors of whether an elderly person remains at home or goes into residential care. The authors also note the lack of previous evaluation of sitter services and the need for these to become part of mainstream care. Existing respite services are neither very intensive nor very flexible. They conclude that given the heavy reliance of the elderly people on their carers it is unrealistic to expect that standard services could have an impact on the carers' psychological health and that there was no single typeorlevel ofrespitehatwouldhavesuited all carers. This book offers much more than a detailed account of a well conducted study. Issues surrounding the needsof thesepeopleand theircarers, therolesof doctors, social workers and community psychiatric nursesinassessment and long-term caremanagement andimprovements intheprovision ofservices aredealt withindetail. Itiswelllaidoutand easytoread.A reviewoftheliterature ispresented inrelation toeach service area alongside the study data. Tables are clear and the use of personal quotes by carers is helpful. References are clearly listed and there is a comprehen sive index. The volume provides guidance for all those provid ing care in health, social services and the voluntary and private sectors, but perhaps most importantly for planners of services and commissioning agents.
Knowledge management readiness measurement: Case study at institution of higher learning in Malaysia

An evaluation on organizational readiness for knowledge management (KM) process implementation is recommended before embarking on actual implementation. This study aims to measure the perceived KM readiness of a Malaysian higher education institution and to find the contributing factors of it. A model was developed and hypotheses were formulated. Data were collected from a sample of 46 academic staff using a survey. The findings shows that the institution is ready for KM process implementation, but only organizational strategy, ICT use, and performance expectancy of KM were became significant contributing factors out of seven factors proposed in the model. This study can be considered as the starting point for future studies in this area of KM and the proposed research framework might be applied in different settings and context to make it a robust. KM readiness, KM enablers, Individaul acceptance, Higher education institution
Se p 20 07 A tail inequality for suprema of unbounded empirical processes with applications to Markov chains Rados law Adamczak

The celebrated Talagrand’s tail inequality for suprema of empirical processes indexed by uniformly bounded classes of functions [20] has proved to be a very important tool in inifinite dimensional probability, machine learning and M-estimation. It drew considerable attention resulting in several simplified proofs (see [8, 2, 16]). Also some counterparts in terms of moment estimates for processes which are not necessarily bounded have been obtained [4, 3]. These estimates give a bound on the p-th moment of the supremum of empirical processes (sum of independent Banach space valued random variables) under the assumption that the summands have p-th moments. So far however there have been no counterparts of Talagrand’s inequality in the case of summands with bounded exponential Orlicz norms.
Limitations in the Use of Archived Vent Mussel Samples to Assess Genetic Connectivity Among Seafloor Massive Sulfide Deposits: A Case Study with Implications for Environmental Management

Genetic connectivity studies can inform the design of mitigation strategies used in environmental management. However, the expense of developing species-specific molecular markers and collecting samples at appropriate spatial and temporal scales can be prohibitive. Using archived material and existing molecular markers may provide a cost-effective way to assess population connectivity. Genetic connectivity studies are increasingly in demand in the deep sea in response to mounting anthropogenic pressures, including seafloor massive sulfide (SMS) mining. The feasibility of using archived material was assessed using the New Zealand-endemic vent mussel Gigantidas gladius, which inhabits areas licensed for the prospecting phase of SMS mining. Four molecular markers were tested, but only one (mitochondrial COI) provided suitable sequences. Of 942 specimens, only 150 individuals were informative, largely due to poor tissue quality of archived samples. Seven populations spanning the distributional range of G. gladius were assessed. The results indicate that G. gladius has high levels of gene flow among sites 10s to 100s km apart and limited genetic structure. Haplotypic diversity was not equally distributed among populations, with lower diversity for the Macauley Volcano population at the northern extent of the species distribution and greater diversity within central populations. Migrant exchange was also greatest between central populations, with one population at Rumble V Seamount appearing important in terms of maintaining genetic diversity within the Kermadec Volcanic Arc region. However, interpretation of the results should be viewed with caution as small sample sizes may have limited the ability to detect genetic structure. Despite these limitations, mitigation strategies that protect areas of seabed from mining activities should consider the genetic vulnerability of the population at the northern edge of the species’ distribution and the significance of certain central populations.
Attention and executive functions in adolescents with spina bifida.

OBJECTIVE This study was designed to examine attention processes and executive functioning in adolescents with spina bifida, and to explore whether impairment in these domains contributes to problems with social adjustment. METHODS A sample of adolescents with spina bifida (n = 68) and a matched comparison group (n = 68) and their families were followed longitudinally. All participants completed questionnaires, and the adolescent participants underwent neurocognitive testing. RESULTS The spina bifida sample showed greater impairment on objective and subjective measures of attention and executive functioning, even when differences in intellectual functioning were controlled. Additionally, attention and executive deficits were found to be predictive of social adjustment difficulties. A mediational analysis suggested the neurocognitive deficits mediate associations between spina bifida status and social adjustment difficulties. CONCLUSIONS Adolescents with spina bifida appear to exhibit clear impairment in attention and executive functioning and this impairment may contribute to their well-established social difficulties.
Markov encoding for detecting signals in genomic sequences

We present a technique to encode the inputs to neural networks for the detection of signals in genomic sequences. The encoding is based on lower-order Markov models which incorporate known biological characteristics in genomic sequences. The neural networks then learn intrinsic higher-order dependencies of nucleotides at the signal sites. We demonstrate the efficacy of the Markov encoding method in the detection of three genomic signals, namely, splice sites, transcription start sites, and translation initiation sites.
Advanced Eccentricity Fault Recognition in Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors Using Stator Current Signature Analysis

In this paper, a novel index is introduced for static and dynamic eccentricity fault diagnosis in permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSMs). The proposed index is a linear combination of the energy, shape factor, peak, head angle of the peak, area below the peak, gradient of the peak of the detail signals in wavelet decomposition, and coefficients of the autoregressive model, which are extracted from the stator current signature analysis. Principal component analysis is applied to the features as the linear transform for dimension reduction and elimination of linear dependence between the features. In order to demonstrate the capability of these indexes to estimate eccentricity type and degree, the fuzzy support vector machine is employed as a classifier. Classification of the results indicates that the nominated index can be utilized to detect eccentricity occurrence, recognize its type, and determine its degree precisely. Since extraction of efficient indexes closely depends on precise computation of necessary signals, the time-stepping finite element method is utilized to model the PMSM under eccentricity fault and calculate the stator currents as a proper signal for processing. Simulation results are verified by the experimental results.
Charge Transfer Efficiency for Very Faint Objects and a Reexamination of the Long-vs.-Short Problem for the WFPC2

An analysis of WFPC2 observations of Omega Cen and NGC 2419leads to the following results. 1. The correction formula developed by Whitmore, Heyer, and Casertano (1999; here- after WHC99) does a reasonable job of correcting for CTE loss down to extremely low count levels. There is no sharp cutoff to the detection threshold for very faint stars. 2. A comparison of the WHC99 formula with the Dolphin (2000; hereafter D00) formula shows reasonable agreement for bright and moderately bright stars, with the D00 formula giving better results. However, at very faint levels, the D00 formula overes- timates, and the WHC99 formula underestimates, the correction by tens of percent. Note: Our current recommendation is to use the new Dolphin 2002 (hereafter D02) formula for CTE loss correction, which is an improvement on the D00 formula. 3. A reexamination of the long-vs-short nonlinearity shows that the effect is very small (a few percent) or nonexistent for uncrowded fields, with less than ∼1000 stars per chip. However, for crowded fields, with ∼10,000 stars per chip, apparent nonlinearities of tens of percent are possible. We believe this is due to difficulties in measuring the sky values for the short exposures. 4. Preflashing may be a useful method of reducing the effects of CTE loss for certain observations (moderately bright objects on very faint backgrounds), but the effects of added noise and longer overheads limit its effectiveness.
Implicit and explicit gender attitudes as predictors of the effectiveness of non-traditionally gendered advertisements.

Explicit measures of gender attitudes are vulnerable to egalitarian norms and thus may not predict the effectiveness of gendered advertising consistently. We report three quantitative studies which manipulate egalitarian norms (Study 1) and employ hierarchical regression analyses to test the predictive power of explicit and implicit gender attitudes in explaining the effectiveness of gendered advertisements. Study 1 (n=47) showed uniquely that only under conditions where egalitarian norms were inactive did the (subtle) explicit Benevolence toward Men attitude predict the effectiveness of non-traditional Househusband advert types (i.e. the higher the benevolence the greater effectiveness of these adverts). Study 2 (n=60) showed that under the same conditions a new paper Implicit Association Test (IAT) predicted their effectiveness better than explicit attitudes (the higher the relative implicit preference for non-traditional vs. traditional male type the greater effectiveness of the Househusband advert). Study 3 (n=72) replicated these findings for non-traditional female advert types (the higher the relative implicit preference for non-traditional vs. traditional female type the greater effectiveness of the Businesswoman advert). Thus paper IATs had greater utility than explicit gender attitude measures in predicting the effectiveness of gendered ads.
Comparison of Radiographic and Surface Topography Measurements in Adolescents with Idiopathic Scoliosis

Purpose: In patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS), radiographic surveillance is the gold standard of assessing spinal deformity, but has negative long-term effects. The Formetric 4D surface topography system was compared to standard radiography as a safer option for evaluating patients with AIS. Methods: Fourteen volunteers with typical AIS patient stature had 30 repeated Formetric 4D measurements taken, and reproducibility was assessed. Sixty-four patients with AIS were then enrolled during routine clinic visits. Evaluation included standard radiographs and surface topography measurements. A comparison analysis was performed. Results: When assessing same-day repeated scans, a standard deviation of +/- 3.4 degrees for scoliosis curve measurements was determined, and the Reliability Coefficient (Cronbach) was very high (0.996). Cobb angles measured with the Formetric 4D differed from radiographic measurements by an average of 9.42 (lumbar) and 6.98 (thoracic) degrees, while the correlation between the two measurements was strong (95% confidence interval [CI]), 0.758 (lumbar) and 0.872 (thoracic) respectively. Conclusions: The Formetric 4D is comparable to radiography in terms of its test-retest reproducibility. Although this device does not predict curve magnitude exactly, the predictions correlate strongly with the Cobb angles determined from radiographs. It can be reliably used in the surveillance of patients with AIS.
Effects of nature-based environmental education on the attitudes of 7th grade students towards the environment and living organisms and affective tendency

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of nature-based education on the attitudes of 7th grade students towards the environment and living organisms as well as to assess the affective tendency of this education on the students. The study was carried out with 30 7th grade students at an elementary school. For this purpose, scales for “Attitudes towards Living Organisms”, “Environmentally Oriented Affective Trends”, and “Environmental Attitude” were used. In the study, an experimental research design using one group with pre- and post-testing was employed. The analysis of the data was conducted using the SPSS statistical software program. The study was conducted over 11 days in a natural setting. The participants completed 18 activities dealing with the natural environment, water and water pollution, pollution in general, natural habitats, recycling and biodiversity. At the end of the program, it was found that student’ attitudes towards the environment and living organisms, and the affective tendency on the 7th grade students were shown to be more highly developed than before the program. These results demonstrated that nature-based education had improved the students’ attitudes towards the environment and living organisms, as well as their affective tendency on the students.
New configurations for the three-phase asymmetrical multilevel inverter

This paper deals with cascade multilevel inverters. It focuses on asymmetrical topologies where the cell input voltages are of different values. These hybrid topologies might be used in several applications. Nevertheless, the need of DC-DC converters to supply the cells of reversible multilevel converters increases the cost and losses of such inverters. It limits their application field. Furthermore, the simultaneous-commutation problem, which increases the switching losses for some operating points, reduces the design choice to configurations of lower resolution. Combining in series a 3-phase 6-switch voltage source inverter with single-phase H-bridges, we obtain an asymmetrical hybrid cascaded multilevel inverter with advantageous properties in terms of voltage resolution and energetic efficiency. This paper describes the design and use of such a structure, the way to increase the asymmetrical multilevel inverters resolution.
Representation of auditory space by cortical neurons in awake and anesthetized cats.

Representation of Auditory Space by Cortical Neurons in Awake and Anesthetized Cats by Brian James Mickey Chair: John C. Middlebrooks The auditory cortex is known to be essential for normal sound localization behavior, yet we lack a complete understanding of how auditory space is represented by the activity of auditory cortical neurons. To investigate this representation, we presented sounds from loudspeakers at various locations while recording spike activity (action potentials) from the auditory cortex in awake and anesthetized cats. A newly developed preparation allowed simultaneous recordings at up to 16 cortical sites in awake animals. The firing patterns of neurons in awake animals depended strongly on sound-source location, although neurons often responded to sounds located throughout an entire hemifield of space. Spatial tuning was generally unaltered by changes in sound level. Spike timing carried information about source location that was not present in time-averaged firing rates. Spike patterns immediately following the onset of the sound tended to transmit the most information. In other experiments, we investigated neuronal correlates of the precedence effect by recording from cortical neurons in anesthetized cats. The precedence effect refers to the observation that, when multiple sounds arrive in quick succession, the earliest sound dominates the listener’s spatial percept. Paired sounds were presented from various locations with a variable delay between the sounds. When the delay was less than 5 ms, spike patterns resembled the response to a single sound. Furthermore, the locations associated with those spike patterns were generally dominated by the earlier sound, in agreement with the reports of human listeners. When the delay was greater than 5 ms, discrete responses to the lagging sound were usually suppressed to an extent that was inconsistent with a listener’s perception. Nonetheless, most neurons were sensitive to the presence of the lagging sound, and a small minority of neurons responded in a manner qualitatively consistent with the precedence effect.