Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Screening for Hearing Impairment in High Risk Neonates: A Hospital Based Study.

BACKGROUND Hearing loss very early in life can have multiple deleterious effects on the new born most commonly being related to attainment of speech and language. Also, it can affect social, emotional and academic achievement of the child.Early identification of hearing impairment has been shown to improve prognosis and hence screening programs have been widely and strongly advocated. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES To estimate the incidence of neonatal hearing loss in high risk neonates admitted in tertiary level teaching hospital and to determine the risk factors predictive of hearing impairment in them. MATERIALS AND METHODS It was a prospective study over a period of one year. We screened high risk neonates for hearing impairment admitted to NICU using Brain stem Auditory Evoked Response (BAER). The morphology of the response and wave and interwave latencies was examined in respect to age-appropriate forms. Follow up BAER after one month was performed in cases where initial BAER was abnormal. Babies who tested abnormal on the follow-up were referred for detailed audiology diagnostic work up. RESULTS A total of 200 cases comprising 118 males (59%) and 82 females (41%) were enrolled. On initial BAER testing, 18 (15.25%) males and 14 (17%) female neonates had hearing loss. Whereas 7 males (70%) and 3 females (30%) had hearing loss out of the total 10 hearing loss cases in the Follow up-BAER testing. Two out of the 6 neonates with birth weight <1500g had hearing loss in the follow up of BAER testing. Use of ototoxic medications, hyperbilirubinemia requiring exchange transfusion, perinatal asphyxia and bacterial meningitis were the major risk factors occurring in 45%, 30% and 26% and 10%. Five neonates had unilateral hearing loss and the rest five (5%) had bilateral impairment.Meningitis was the significant independent clinical risk factors for predicting hearing impairment in high risk neonates.The risk of BAER increased cumulatively with BAER abnormality rate of 4.2%, 22.2% and 33.3% with one two and three risk factors respectively. CONCLUSION The overall incidence of hearing loss in initial BERA testing was 16%, in males it was 15.25% in males and in 17% in females,only 62.5% of neonates had a persistent abnormal BAER, with male gender a significant risk factor for this. The incidence of hearing loss increased with number of risk factors. The study highlights that although universal hearing screening programs are warranted; most newborns with a detected hearing loss can be identified based on the risk factors. Thus, a targeted approach for hearing screening may be more feasible in resource limited settings.
THE CAUSAL MANIPULATION OF CHAIN EVENT GRAPHS

Discrete Bayesian Networks (BN’s) have been very successful as a framework both for inference and for expressing certain causal hypotheses. In this paper we present a class of graphical models called the chain event graph (CEG) models, that generalises the class of discrete BN models. It provides a flexible and expressive framework for representing and analysing the implications of causal hypotheses, expressed in terms of the effects of a manipulation of the generating underlying system. We prove that, as for a BN, identifiability analyses of causal effects can be performed through examining the topology of the CEG graph, leading to theorems analogous to the back-door theorem for the BN. 1. Introduction. Bayesian networks have now been extended to Causal Bayesian Networks (CBN’s) using a non-parametric representation based on structural equation models [11, 17, 18, 30]. These provide a framework for expressing assertions about what might happen when the system under study is externally manipulated and some of its variables are assigned certain values. Motivated by comments in [25], we develop an alternative graphical
Cytogenetics of the razor clam Solen marginatus (Mollusca: Bivalvia: Solenidae)

The razor clam Solen marginatus has a diploid chromosome number of 38. The karyotype consists of one metacentric/submetacentric, three submetacentric/metacentric, five submetacentric, one submetacentric/subtelocentric, one subtelocentric/submetacentric, six subtelocentric and two telocentric chromosome pairs. Staining with chromomycin A 3 revealed bright positive bands subcentromerically in the long arms of one medium-sized subtelocentric pair, while DAPI staining showed uniform fluorescence in all chromosomes of the complement. Fluorescence in situ hybridization using an 18S-5.8S-28S rDNA probe locates these loci at the subcentromeric region of one subtelocentric pair and at the subtelomeric region of another subtelocentric pair.
Deconvolution of Ultrasound Images

Based on physical models, it is indicated that the received pressure field in ultrasound B-mode images can be described by a convolution between a tissue reflection signal and the emitted pressure field. This result is used in a description of current image formation and in formulating a new processing scheme. The suggested estimator can take into account the dispersive attenuation, the temporal and spatial variation of the pulse, and the change in reflection strength and signal-to-noise ratio. Details of the algorithm and the estimation of parameters to be used are given. The performance is indicated by two examples. One is for a synthetic signal and the other is for data measured from a tissue mimicking phantom. The last example shows a finer speckle pattern, giving an increased resolution.
Interest Organization Demography Research in Europe

European population ecological studies of interest organizations are rare. The concern about the Schattschneiderian upper-class accent motivating such studies in the United States never gained much traction in European ‘organized’ interest systems. There have been, however, several large-n studies that seek to describe or explain the numbers and types of interest organizations. These fall under several theoretical headings that have some affiliation with ‘population ecological’ interests such as resource dependency or complex associations theory. Such studies tend to focus on a specific sector or organizational type, such as social movement organizations or business interest associations, rather than a system-level behavioral focus on what Jordan et al. (2004) label ‘pressure participants’. Only very recently, scholars in several European countries have initiated system-wide population ecological studies (e.g. Halpin & Jordan 2012, Messer et al. 2010) or have started data collection on such populations of interest organizations (e.g. Fisker 2012, Kluver 2015, Naurin & Borang 2012). In this review I assess the longer running research traditions of large-n studies, recently published ecological studies and some projects that are still ongoing.
Statistical Profiling-based Techniques for Effective Provisioning of Power Infrastructure in Consolidated Data Centers

Emerging energy-aware initiatives (such as billing of powe r usage based on de-couplingbetween electricity sales and utility profits/fixed-cost recovery) rend r current capacity planning practices based on heavy over-provisioning of power infrastructure unprofitable for data centers. We explore a combination of statistical multiplexing techniques (including controlled under-provisioning and overbooking ) to improve the utilization of the power hierarchy in a data ce nter. Our techniques are built upon a measurement-driven profiling and prediction technique to c haracterize key statistical properties of the power needs of hosted workloads and their aggregates. As a re presentative result from our evaluation on a prototype data center, by accurately identifying the wo rst-case needs of hosted workloads, our technique is able to safely operate 2.5 times as many servers running copies of the e-commerce benchmark TPC-W as allowed by the prevalent practice of using faceplate ratings. Exploiting statistical multiplexing among the power usage of these servers along wi th controlled under-provisioning by 10% based on tails of power profiles offers a further gain of 10 0% over face-plate provisioning. Reactive techniques implemented in the Xen VMM running on our s ervers dynamically modulate CPU DVFS-states to ensure power draw below safe limits despite a ggressive provisioning. Finally, information captured in our profiles also provides ways of control ling application performance degradation despite the above under-provisioning: the 95 percentile of TPC-W session response time only grew from 1.59 sec to 1.78 sec.
IMMUNE RESPONSE TO ANTIGENIC DETERMINANT OF TMVP

The recent use of chemically defined polypeptides to investigate immunological phenomena has resulted in a wealth of information regarding the chemical and biological basis of antigenicity, immunogenicity, skin reactivity, and cell-antigen interactions. Information obtained from chemically defined systems is more meaningful and comprehensive than that obtained from the chemically ill-defined systems previously used, in that these systems lend themselves more readily to specific experimental manipulation. In these respects peptides and proteins of known amino acid sequence and /o r stucture offer excellent immunochemical tools. Studies utilizing these systems have been recently reviewed (1-4). Immunochemical studies on one well-characterized protein, namely the tobacco mosaic virus protein (TMVP), which were conducted during the past several years, resulted in the isolation, characterization, and synthesis of a major antigenic determinant of the protein, and in the understanding of several of the principles underlying the binding of the determinant with antibodies. An eicosapeptide, representing residues 93-112 of the protein and having the amino acid sequence Ileu-Ileu-Glu-Val-GluAspNH2-GluNH2-Ala-AspNH2-Pro-Thr-Thr-AlaGlu-Thr-Leu-Asp-Ala-Thr-Arg, was found to bind specifically with antibodies produced by rabbits in response to immunization with TMVP (5, 6). Subsequent work demonstrated that anti-TMVP antibodies also bound with the C-terminal decapeptide portion of the eicosapeptide (7). Although antibodies capable of binding with the C-terminal di-, tri-, or tetrapeptide could not be demonstrated, some rabbits produced antibodies which bound with the C-terminal pentapeptide, while others produced antibodies which required the C-terminal hexaor heptapeptide for demonstrable binding (8, 9). However, antibodies produced by all
Postictal generalized EEG suppression

Objective: To determine the consistency and facilitating cofactors of postictal generalized EEG suppression (PGES) of >20 seconds after convulsive seizures (CS), a suggested predictor of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy risk. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed video-EEG data of people with ≥2 recorded CS. Presence and duration of PGES were assessed by 2 independent observers blinded to patient status. Intraindividual consistency of PGES >20 seconds was determined and correlations with clinical characteristics were analyzed after correction for individual effects and the varying number of seizures. Results: One hundred fifty-four seizures in 59 people were analyzed. PGES >20 seconds was found in 37 individuals (63%) and 57 (37%) of CS. The proportion of persons in whom PGES occurred consistently (presence or absence of PGES >20 seconds in all CS) was lower in those with more CS. PGES of >20 seconds was more frequent in seizures arising from sleep (odds ratio 3.29, 95% confidence interval 1.21–8.96) and when antiepileptic medication was tapered (odds ratio 4.80, 95% confidence interval 1.27–18.14). Conclusion: Apparent PGES consistency was less frequent in people with more CS recorded, suggesting that PGES is an inconsistent finding in any one individual. Thus, we believe that PGES >20 seconds is not a reliable predictor of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy. Sleep and antiepileptic drug reduction appear to facilitate the occurrence of PGES.
SIGNAL FRACTION ANALYSIS AND ARTIFACT REMOVAL IN EEG

A radiant energy display system incorporating a reflecting surface mounted for rotation about scan and interlace axes, said scan and interlace axes positioned less than 90 DEG from one another. Incoming radiant energy is scanned by the reflecting surface and reflected to a detector which is responsive to that energy. Video processing circuitry interconnecting the detector with a light source array modulates the light source array which thereby emits a modulated visible beam. This beam causes modulation of a visible light source that in turn impinges upon the back portion of the reflecting surface. The back portion of the reflecting surface provides a scan identical to the front portion and by the above process produces a visible display.
A Path Analysis of Reading Comprehension for Adults With Low Literacy

Adult literacy interventions often rely on models of reading validated with children or adult populations with a broad range of reading abilities. Such models do not fully satisfy the need for intervention research and development for adults with low literacy. Thus, the authors hypothesized that a model representing the relationship between reading component skills would be predictive of reading comprehension for an adult population with low literacy and beneficial to adult literacy researchers. Using data from 174 adults participating in adult basic education and secondary education programs, the authors performed a path analysis of component skills’ contribution to reading comprehension. The findings are clear that existing reading models do not describe this population. The implications are discussed in terms of instructional and curricular interventions.
A Study On job satisfaction related to attitude towards teaching Of Pre University Teachers.

The present reports relationship between job satisfaction and teacher attitude among pre university teachers. A total of 350 pre university teachers working in government and private colleges selected ran-domly from Mysore district. They were administered Job satisfaction scale developed by Mudgil, Mubar and Bhatia (2012) and Teacher attitude scale developed by Ahluwalia (2006). The data were collected in one setting by directly contacting the teachers in and around Mysore district. To find out the relationship between job satisfaction and teach-er attitude, Pearson’s product moment correlations were applied, and later stepwise multiple regression was applied to see which of the components of teacher attitude best predict the job satisfaction of teachers. Results revealed that all the components of teacher attitude- teaching profession, classroom teaching, child centered practices, educational process, pupils, teachers and total attitude were significantly and positively correlated with job satisfaction. Further, stepwise multiple regression revealed that only 4 components of teacher attitude best predicted the job satisfaction of teachers and they were classroom teaching, attitude towards teachers, child centered practices and attitude towards teaching profession. Strategies to improve job satisfaction of teachers for effective performance have been delineated
A high-capacity model for one shot association learning in the brain

We present a high-capacity model for one-shot association learning (hetero-associative memory) in sparse networks. We assume that basic patterns are pre-learned in networks and associations between two patterns are presented only once and have to be learned immediately. The model is a combination of an Amit-Fusi like network sparsely connected to a Willshaw type network. The learning procedure is palimpsest and comes from earlier work on one-shot pattern learning. However, in our setup we can enhance the capacity of the network by iterative retrieval. This yields a model for sparse brain-like networks in which populations of a few thousand neurons are capable of learning hundreds of associations even if they are presented only once. The analysis of the model is based on a novel result by Janson et al. on bootstrap percolation in random graphs.
In vitro and in vivo evaluation of a hydrogel-based prototype transdermal patch system of alfuzosin hydrochloride

The first-line therapy for moderate to severe benign prostatic hyperplasia is the oral therapy by alfuzosin hydrochloride. Unfortunately, the oral therapy of alfuzosin is associated with several route-specific systemic side-effects. The current study was aimed to develop a prototype transdermal patch system for alfuzosin using a hydrogel polymer and optimize the drug delivery through the skin for systemic therapy. The prospective of different chemical enhancers (polyethylene glycol (PEG 400), isopropyl myristate, propylene glycol, menthol and L-methionine; 5% w/v) and iontophoresis (0.3 mA/cm2) in the alfuzosin delivery across the full thickness rat skin was assessed in vitro. In vivo iontophoretic studies were carried out using selected patch system (PEG 400) for a period of 6 h in Sprague-Dawley rats. Passive permeation studies indicated that the incorporation of chemical agents have moderate effect (~ 4- to 7-fold) on the alfuzosin skin permeability and reduced the lag time. Combined approach of iontophoresis with chemical enhancers significantly augmented the drug transport (~ 43- to 72-fold). In vivo pharmacokinetic parameters revealed that the iontophoresis (transdermal patch with PEG 400) significantly enhanced the Cmax (~ 3-fold) and AUC0-α (~ 4-fold), when compared to control. The current study concludes that the application of iontophoresis (0.3 mA/cm2) using the newly developed agaorse-based prototype patch with PEG 400 could be utilized for the successful delivery of alfuzosin by transdermal route.
Lesions of the lacrimal drainage system: a clinicopathological study of 643 biopsy specimens of the lacrimal drainage system in Denmark 1910-1999.

PURPOSE To determine the frequency of histologically verified lesions of the lacrimal drainage system in Denmark between the years 1910 and 1999. Furthermore, to correlate the clinical diagnosis with the pathology diagnosis. METHODS Retrospective review of all pathology reports from 1910 to 1999 in the files of the Eye Pathology Institute, University of Copenhagen, describing a lesion of the lacrimal drainage system. In addition, a retrospective review of all reports describing a lesion of the lacrimal drainage system from the Danish Pathology Database. All specimens were re-evaluated, except in cases with a primary diagnosis of dacryocystitis. In these cases a sample of 25% was re-evaluated. RESULTS A total of 643 lesions were collected. Dacryocystitis was the most frequent lesion, constituting 508 cases (79%). The remaining cases were diagnosed as dacryolithiasis (62 cases; 7.9%), tumour (29 cases; 4.5%), trauma (19 cases; 3.0%), congenital malformation (nine cases; 1.4%), canaliculitis (eight cases; 1.2%) and granulomatous inflammation (eight cases; 1.2%). Seventeen tumours were malignant, of which B-cell lymphoma was the most common (six cases). In 0.6% of cases with a clinical diagnosis of dacryocystitis/lithiasis a non-suspected malignant tumour was diagnosed. Micro-organisms were uncommon in dacryocystitis (9%) but frequent in cases of dacryolithiasis (87%). CONCLUSION Dacryocystitis was by far the most frequent lesion of the lacrimal drainage system referred for histopathological evaluation. Dacryolithiasis was often associated with micro-organisms, especially Gram positive rods. Histopathology is necessary to confirm suspected tumours, more than half of which were inflammatory lesions, and to detect tumours that sometimes masquerade as inflammation.
The effect of level of processing on perceptual and conceptual priming: Control versus closed-head-injured patients

Twenty-four closed-head-injured (CHI) and 24 control participants studied two word lists under shallow (i.e., nonsemantic) and deep (i.e., semantic) encoding conditions. They were then tested on free recall, perceptual priming (i.e., perceptual partial word identification) and conceptual priming (i.e., category production) tasks. Previous findings have demonstrated that memory in CHI is characterized by inefficient conceptual processing of information. It was thus hypothesized that the CHI participants would perform more poorly than the control participants on the explicit and on the conceptual priming tasks. On these tasks the CHI group was expected to benefit to a lesser degree from prior deep encoding, as compared to controls. The groups were not expected to significantly differ from each other on the perceptual priming task. Prior deep encoding was not expected to improve the perceptual priming performance of either group. All findings were as predicted, with the exception that a significant effect was not found between groups for deep encoding in the conceptual priming task. The results are discussed (1) in terms of their theoretical contribution in further validating the dissociation between perceptual and conceptual priming; and (2) in terms of the contribution in differentiating between amnesic and CHI patients. Conceptual priming is preserved in amnesics but not in CHI patients. (JINS, 1997, 3, 327–336.)
Systemic and vascular inflammation is elevated in early IgA and type 1 diabetic nephropathies and relates to vascular disease risk factors and renal function.

BACKGROUND Inflammation is implicated in cardiovascular disease (CVD) and mortality in end-stage renal failure (ESRF). Its importance in early renal disease is yet to be defined. METHODS Serum levels of systemic and vascular inflammatory markers in early IgA nephropathy (IgAN) and control subjects were measured and related to renal function and vascular risk factors. A parallel study in type 1 diabetes mellitus subjects with (T1DM Nx) and without nephropathy (T1DM No Nx) was performed. RESULTS Fifty-one IgAN patients aged 46+/-2 years (mean+/-SEM), calculated creatinine clearance (CrCl) 88+/-5 ml/min, were compared with 51 matched control subjects. Forty-six T1DM Nx patients aged 40+/-2 years, CrCl 84+/-5 ml/min, and 73 T1DM No Nx patients aged 38+/-2 years were also compared. High sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) was elevated in IgAN, T1DM Nx and T1DM No Nx patients compared with controls [4.2+/-0.6 (P < 0.001), 4.1+/-0.6 (P < 0.001), 2.6+/-0.4 (P < 0.05) vs 1.6+/-0.3 mg/l]. Levels in T1DM Nx patients were higher than in T1DM No Nx patients (P < 0.05). Inflammation and vascular dysfunction as measured by pulse pressure (PP) were related. HsCRP correlated with PP in IgAN and T1DM Nx (r = 0.47, P = 0.001; r = 0.40, P < 0.05). PP was the strongest independent predictor of hsCRP in IgAN (T = 2.45, P < 0.001), while body mass index (T = 7.83, P < 0.001) was the strongest predictor in T1DM Nx. Endothelial cell adhesion molecules were increased in T1DM Nx > IgAN > T1DM No Nx vs controls: soluble vascular adhesion molecule-1 (sVCAM-1) 760+/-30 (P < 0.001) > 663+/-34 (P = 0.001) > 601+/-21 (P < 0.05) vs 536+/-15 ng/ml; soluble intracellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1) 320+/-8 (P < 0.001) > 313+/-13 (P < 0.001) > 307+/-8 (P < 0.001) vs 244+/-6 ng/ml. sVCAM-1 levels were higher in T1DM Nx than in T1DM No Nx, P < 0.001. In IgAN and T1DM Nx, hsCRP correlated with sICAM-1 (r = 0.33, P = 0.017; r = 0.37; P = 0.017). sVCAM-1 was related to renal function in IgAN and T1DM Nx: serum cystatin C (r = 0.63, P < 0.001: r = 0.425, P = 0.002), and urine protein:creatinine ratio in IgAN (r = 0.48; P = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS Systemic and vascular markers of inflammation are increased in early renal disease and relate to renal dysfunction and cardiovascular risk factors. Inflammation may be a common process in various renal diseases and may link and accelerate renal dysfunction and CVD.