Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
VITAL STAINING OF CORNEA AND CONJUNCTIVA

It is a well-known fact that diseases of the cornea and the conjunctiva can be studied after instillation of a dye into the conjunctival sac. For different reasons vital staining in this region is particularly valuable. The stained structures can be studied microscopically in v ivo by means of the slit lamp, the structures are partially transparent, and the lacrimal fluid washes the area, so that the dye employed usually need not be washed away. It has recently been stated that certain forms of virus-provoked conjunctivitis are best diagnosed by vital staining with mercurochrome. This dye discloses punctate staining of the cornea, which is not otherwise demonstrable, more particularly not by staining with fluorescein (van de Velde). On the basis of this statement the question suggests itself whether we ought to use a greater number of the numerous previously published vital stains. Is the use of different vital stains for different diagnostic purposes indicated? The concept of vital staining was introduced by Ehrlich in 1886-87. It can be defined as staining of a living cell by a certain dye, which in a dissolved state comes into contact with the cell. The cell will then be distinguishable from other cells, which do not have this property. Vital staining of the cornea seems first to have been carried through with fluorescein. PfEiiger stained experimentally produced scratches in rabbit corneae. He saw that, in addition to staining the scratch itself, the fluorescein spread into the cornea, especially in the centripetal direction, suggesting that the fluid current in the cornea moves towards the centre of this. Straub and Fromm et al. have introduced fluorescein staining for clinical diagnosis and essessment of corneal abrasion, foreign body in the cornea, scratch from foreign body in the eyelid, corneal corrosions, dendritic keratitis, keratitis bullosa, xerosis corneae, keratitis filamentosa, corneal abscess, lagophthalmos, phlyctenae, etc.
Species-wide whole genome sequencing reveals historical global spread and recent local persistence in Shigella flexneri

Shigella flexneri is the most common cause of bacterial dysentery in low-income countries. Despite this, S. flexneri remains largely unexplored from a genomic standpoint and is still described using a vocabulary based on serotyping reactions developed over half-a-century ago. Here we combine whole genome sequencing with geographical and temporal data to examine the natural history of the species. Our analysis subdivides S. flexneri into seven phylogenetic groups (PGs); each containing two-or-more serotypes and characterised by distinct virulence gene complement and geographic range. Within the S. flexneri PGs we identify geographically restricted sub-lineages that appear to have persistently colonised regions for many decades to over 100 years. Although we found abundant evidence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) determinant acquisition, our dataset shows no evidence of subsequent intercontinental spread of antimicrobial resistant strains. The pattern of colonisation and AMR gene acquisition suggest that S. flexneri has a distinct life-cycle involving local persistence. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.7554/eLife.07335. 001
Dietetically provoked general and alveolar osteopenia in rats and its prevention or cure by calcium and fluoride.

Male rats, 21-100 days old at the start of different experiments, were kept for several weeks on synthetic diets, either adequate, or deficient in calcium (Ca) and at the same time low in protein and high in sucrose. For varying parts of the experimental periods the rats were given either dist. water, or water supplied with 2000 ppm Ca, 40 ppm fluoride (F), or both in a compatible form. Assessment was made of several parameters of the femoral bone density and of two histometric parameters of the alveolar bone density. The bone density in animals on Ca-deficient diet was greatly improved by supplying either Ca or Ca+F with the drinking water. There was a tendency to higher mineral density with Ca+F supply than with Ca alone. Rats that had been on a high F, adequate diet were much more resistant to bone mineral depletion by a subsequent Ca-deficient diet than were control rats that had been on the same diet without F. The alveolar bone generally reacted more strongly than the femoral bone to both deprivation and supplementation, and the tissue between the roots of one molar (M 2) more than the tissue between two molars (M 1–2). The correlations of alveolar bone parameters to femoral weight, ash, Ca and P content were all positive, in most cases statistically significant, and generally stronger for the M 2 than for the M 1–2 tissue. In an experiment where the deficient diet was supplied either as powder or as bread the results seemed to support the concept of an influence of masticatory force, particularly on the interdental bone septa. The connection between generalized osteopenia and alveolar bone loss and the roles of Ca and F are discussed.
The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Sunyaev-Zel'dovich selected galaxy clusters at 148 GHz from three seasons of data

We present a catalog of 68 galaxy clusters, of which 19 are new discoveries, detected via the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect (SZ) at 148 GHz in the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) survey on the celestial equator. With this addition, the ACT collaboration has reported a total of 91 optically confirmed, SZ detected clusters. The 504 square degree survey region includes 270 square degrees of overlap with SDSS Stripe 82, permitting the confirmation of SZ cluster candidates in deep archival optical data. The subsample of 48 clusters within Stripe 82 is estimated to be 90% complete for M500c > 4.5 × 1014M⊙ and redshifts 0.15 < z < 0.8. While a full suite of matched filters is used to detect the clusters, the sample is studied further through a ''Profile Based Amplitude Analysis'' using a statistic derived from a single filter at a fixed θ500 = 5. ′9 angular scale. This new approach incorporates the cluster redshift along with prior information on the cluster pressure profile to fix the relationship between the cluster characteristic size (R500) and the integrated Compton parameter (Y500). We adopt a one-parameter family of ''Universal Pressure Profiles'' (UPP) with associated scaling laws, derived from X-ray measurements of nearby clusters, as a baseline model. Three additional models of cluster physics are used to investigate a range of scaling relations beyond the UPP prescription. Assuming a concordance cosmology, the UPP scalings are found to be nearly identical to an adiabatic model, while a model incorporating non-thermal pressure better matches dynamical mass measurements and masses from the South Pole Telescope. A high signal to noise ratio subsample of 15 ACT clusters with complete optical follow-up is used to obtain cosmological constraints. We demonstrate, using fixed scaling relations, how the constraints depend on the assumed gas model if only SZ measurements are used, and show that constraints from SZ data are limited by uncertainty in the scaling relation parameters rather than sample size or measurement uncertainty. We next add in seven clusters from the ACT Southern survey, including their dynamical mass measurements, which are based on galaxy velocity dispersions and thus are independent of the gas physics. In combination with WMAP7 these data simultaneously constrain the scaling relation and cosmological parameters, yielding 68% confidence ranges described by σ8 = 0.829 ± 0.024 and Ωm = 0.292 ± 0.025. We consider these results in the context of constraints from CMB and other cluster studies. The constraints arise mainly due to the inclusion of the dynamical mass information and do not require strong priors on the SZ scaling relation parameters. The results include marginalization over a 15% bias in dynamical masses relative to the true halo mass. In an extension to ΛCDM that incorporates non-zero neutrino mass density, we combine our data with WMAP7, Baryon Acoustic Oscillation data, and Hubble constant measurements to constrain the sum of the neutrino mass species to be ∑νmν < 0.29 eV (95% confidence limit).
Scrum Requirements Engineering Practices and Challenges in Offshore Software Development

Engineering is one of the hardest tasks in developing a software system. Reports state that incomplete requirements are the third most important factor for project failure. Today more and more companies are embracing agile methods to develop software. As light weight methods, agile methods have their own requirements engineering practices which are in contrast to traditional requirements engineering practices. Scrum is a widely used agile method in Sri Lanka, a country where a lot of offshore software development is beingcarried out. This study investigated the level of scrum requirements engineering practices adopted in Sri Lanka and the challenges introduced by these practices. This research wasconducted using qualitative methods. Respondents who play different job roles from nine organizations were interviewed in order to collect data. Majority of the respondents successfully practices the scrum RE practices, face to face communication, requirements prioritization, iterative requirements engineering and managing requirements change. Some organizations were not comfortable with the test driven development. The main issue with offshore development is achieving continuous customer involvement and interaction throughout the project. As agile methods rely on customer involvement more than any other development methodology, this might have a bad influence on the project.
Ca2+-Dependent and -Independent Abscisic Acid Activation of Plasma Membrane Anion Channels in Guard Cells of Nicotiana tabacum1

Drought induces stomatal closure, a response that is associated with the activation of plasma membrane anion channels in guard cells, by the phytohormone abscisic acid (ABA). In several species, this response is associated with changes in the cytoplasmic free Ca2+ concentration. In Vicia faba, however, guard cell anion channels activate in a Ca2+-independent manner. Because of potential differences between species, Nicotiana tabacum guard cells were studied in intact plants, with simultaneous recordings of the plasma membrane conductance and the cytoplasmic free Ca2+ concentration. ABA triggered transient rises in cytoplasmic Ca2+ in the majority of the guard cells (14 out of 19). In seven out of 14 guard cells, the change in cytoplasmic free Ca2+ closely matched the activation of anion channels, while the Ca2+ rise was delayed in seven other cells. In the remaining five cells, ABA stimulated anion channels without a change in the cytoplasmic Ca2+ level. Even though ABA could activate anion channels in N. tabacum guard cells independent of a rise in the cytoplasmic Ca2+ concentration, patch clamp experiments showed that anion channels in these cells are stimulated by elevated Ca2+ in an ATP-dependent manner. Guard cells thus seem to have evolved both Ca2+-independent and -dependent ABA signaling pathways. Guard cells of N. tabacum apparently utilize both pathways, while ABA signaling in V. faba seems to be restricted to the Ca2+-independent pathway.
Optical Flow and Driver's Kinematics Analysis for State of Alert Sensing

Road accident statistics from different countries show that a significant number of accidents occur due to driver's fatigue and lack of awareness to traffic conditions. In particular, about 60% of the accidents in which long haul truck and bus drivers are involved are attributed to drowsiness and fatigue. It is thus fundamental to improve non-invasive systems for sensing a driver's state of alert. One of the main challenges to correctly resolve the state of alert is measuring the percentage of eyelid closure over time (PERCLOS), despite the driver's head and body movements. In this paper, we propose a technique that involves optical flow and driver's kinematics analysis to improve the robustness of the driver's alert state measurement under pose changes using a single camera with near-infrared illumination. The proposed approach infers and keeps track of the driver's pose in 3D space in order to ensure that eyes can be located correctly, even after periods of partial occlusion, for example, when the driver stares away from the camera. Our experiments show the effectiveness of the approach with a correct eyes detection rate of 99.41%, on average. The results obtained with the proposed approach in an experiment involving fifteen persons under different levels of sleep deprivation also confirm the discriminability of the fatigue levels. In addition to the measurement of fatigue and drowsiness, the pose tracking capability of the proposed approach has potential applications in distraction assessment and alerting of machine operators.
Obesity in childhood

The concern about obesity in children has increased worldwide. The question arises, whether this trend to obesity already starts during the prenatal period and to what extent the increase of weight is related to a secular trend in height. For neonatal data, three studies, performed in The Netherlands, with neonatal data of birth weights were compared. For postnatal data, weight, height and body mass index (BMI) of two nationwide studies, performed in the Netherlands, were analyzed. No differences between birth weights were found between 1970 and 2007. In postnatal data a trend of increasing weight and BMI in both boys and girls starts from five years onwards. The secular trend in height starts from the age of two and a half years onward in both boys and girls. The increase in weight is more pronounced than the increase in height. No prenatal secular trend could be detected in The Netherlands. Postnatal, the secular trend is obvious for weight, height and BMI. The increase in skewness of the weight distribution may be ascribed to a metabolic disturbance of the population.
Connectivity of Large Wireless Networks under A Generic Connection Model

This paper provides a necessary and sufficient condition for a random network with nodes Poissonly distributed on a unit square and a pair of nodes directly connected following a generic random connection model to be asymptotically almost surely connected. The results established in this paper expand recent results obtained for connectivity of random geometric graphs from the unit disk model and the fewer results from the log-normal model to the more generic and more practical random connection model.
Comparison and evaluation of mechanistic rumen models

Mechanistic rumen models of Baldwin (1995), Danfæer (1990) and Dijkstra et al. (1992) were compared on identical inputs that were derived from trials with lactating dairy cows fed on grass herbage. Consistent differences were detected between models and between predicted and observed outputs. None of the models seemed to predict all nutrient flows best. The models particularly differed in the representation of microbial metabolism: degradation of insoluble substrate, fermentation of substrate into volatile fatty acids, and incorporation of substrate into microbial matter. Differences amongst models in the prediction of these processes compensated for each other and consequently all models predicted the duodenal flow of non-NH3 N, microbial N and organic matter reasonably well. Large differences remained in the prediction of individual nutrient flows, however, and it was stressed that in order to enhance prediction of the profile of nutrient flows, the mechanisms of microbial metabolism need to be tested on their ability to describe the intraruminal transactions. However, this requires more-detailed information on individual nutrient flows and on the microbial or non-microbial origin of duodenal contents. Parameter inputs for physical and chemical feed properties were identified that are improperly defined in extant models or susceptible to error. The description of these feed characteristics needs to be developed further and become identifiable for a wide range of dietary conditions.
Rodent models in neuroscience research: is it a rat race?

ABSTRACT Rodents (especially Mus musculus and Rattus norvegicus) have been the most widely used models in biomedical research for many years. A notable shift has taken place over the last two decades, with mice taking a more and more prominent role in biomedical science compared to rats. This shift was primarily instigated by the availability of a much larger genetic toolbox for mice, particularly embryonic-stem-cell-based targeting technology for gene disruption. With the recent emergence of tools for altering the rat genome, notably genome-editing technologies, the technological gap between the two organisms is closing, and it is becoming more important to consider the physiological, anatomical, biochemical and pharmacological differences between rats and mice when choosing the right model system for a specific biological question. The aim of this short review and accompanying poster is to highlight some of the most important differences, and to discuss their impact on studies of human diseases, with a special focus on neuropsychiatric disorders. Summary: In this At a Glance poster review, Ellenbroek and Youn describe important differences between rats and mice that impact on their use as model organisms for brain disorders.
Patient Perspectives on Post-Discharge Surgical Site Infections: Towards a Patient-Centered Mobile Health Solution

Background Post-discharge surgical site infections (SSI) are a major source of morbidity, expense and anxiety for patients. However, patient perceptions about barriers experienced while seeking care for post-discharge SSI have not been assessed in depth. We explored patient experience of SSI and openness to a mobile health (mHealth) wound monitoring “app” as a novel solution to address this problem. Methods Mixed method design with semi-structured interviews and surveys. Participants were patients who had post-discharge surgical wound complications after undergoing operations with high risk of SSI, including open colorectal or ventral hernia repair surgery. The study was conducted at two affiliated teaching hospitals, including an academic medical center and a level 1 trauma center. Results From interviews with 13 patients, we identified 3 major challenges that impact patients' ability to manage post-discharge surgical wound complications, including required knowledge for wound monitoring from discharge teaching, self-efficacy for wound monitoring at home, and accessible communication with their providers about wound concerns. Patients found an mHealth wound monitoring application highly acceptable and articulated its potential to provide more frequent, thorough, and convenient follow-up that could reduce post-discharge anxiety compared to the current practice. Major concerns with mHealth wound monitoring were lack of timely response from providers and inaccessibility due to either lack of an appropriate device or usability challenges. Conclusions Our findings reveal gaps and frustrations with post-discharge care after surgery which could negatively impact clinical outcomes and quality of life. To address these issues, we are developing mPOWEr, a patient-centered mHealth wound monitoring application for patients and providers to collaboratively bridge the care transition between hospital and home.
Microstructural characterisation and microhardness distribution of HVOF sprayed WC–10Co–4Cr coating

The aim of this work was to study the detailed microstructures, thermostability and microhardness distribution of high velocity oxygen fuel sprayed WC–10Co–4Cr coating using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, energy dispersive spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimeter and high resolution transmission electron microscope. The coating has a dense structure and is well bonded to the substrate. The coating is mainly composed of WC phase and W2C phase. Owing to the high cooling rates of molten droplets and the multicomponent system of feedstock powder, amorphous phase is obtained in the coating. The crystallisation temperature of the amorphous phase is 651°C. The Weibull analysis of Vickers microhardness of the coating exhibits a bimodal distribution under indentation load of 300 g and a monomodal distribution under indentation load of 100 g. Such distribution is attributed to the presence of the poorly bonded splats and pores within the coating.
MCMC-based indoor localization with a smart phone and sparse WiFi access points

We present a novel indoor localization approach using a pocket-placed smart phone and sparsely deployed WiFi access points (APs). Position information of a person carrying a smart phone can typically be obtained by two means: dead-reckoning(DR) based on local inertial sensors measurements and WiFi fingerprinting (FP). While a number of methods have been developed to fuse these two types of position information, due to extended training requirements in FP, their approaches suffer from limited practicality in most applications. To overcome some of the limitations of previous approaches, we propose to apply Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling to fuse the local inertial measurements and the received signal strengths from nearby WiFi APs. MCMC technique can provide high accurate probability distribution inference. The performance of our proposed method is benchmarked using previous state-of-the-art through simulations as well as a real experiment in a typical office environment.
Islet dysfunction in insulin resistance involves impaired insulin secretion and increased glucagon secretion in postmenopausal women with impaired glucose tolerance.

OBJECTIVE To characterize in detail the association between insulin sensitivity and islet function in relation to glucose tolerance in nondiabetic subjects. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS The study included 108 postmenopausal women, aged 57-59 years, with normal glucose tolerance (NGT) or impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and measured glucose tolerance (World Health Organization, 75 g glucose), insulin sensitivity (euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamp), and islet function (the 2-5 min insulin responses [AIR] and glucagon [AGR] responses to 5 g intravenous arginine at fasting, 14 and >25 mmol/l glucose levels). The product of insulin sensitivity and secretion was calculated (disposition index [DI]) and used to study the relationship between the two parameters. RESULTS Insulin sensitivity and insulin secretion were highly inversely correlated in a hyperbolic manner (r > 0.64, P < 0.001) in women with NGT (n = 71). Women with IGT (n = 37) had reduced insulin sensitivity compared with women with NGT (P = 0.011). The AIRs were not appropriately increased in relation to the reduced insulin sensitivity in the IGT women, demonstrated as reduced DI in IGT compared with NGT (P < 0.001). Further, women with IGT had an increased AGR (P < 0.001) and a reduced glucose inhibition of glucagon secretion (slopeAGR, P = 0.014) compared with women with NGT. In a multivariate regression model including all of the 108 women, 2-h glucose was independently determined by the DI, the AGR, and the slopeAGR (r = 0.63, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS We have shown that both the individual ability to adapt insulin secretion to the ambient insulin sensitivity and the level of glucagon secretion are important parameters for maintenance of NGT. Therefore, islet dysfunction in IGT involves low insulin and high glucagon secretion, which present potential targets for correcting impaired glycemia.