Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Pilot Quantitative Study of Topographic Correlation between Reticular Pseudodrusen and the Choroidal Vasculature Using En Face Optical Coherence Tomography

Purpose To analyze the topographic correlation between reticular pseudodrusen (RPD) visualized on infrared reflectance (IR) and choroidal vasculature using en-face volumetric spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). Methods A masked observer marked individual RPD on IR images using ImageJ (NIH, Bethesda, MD). Using the macular volume scan (Cirrus, Carl Zeiss Meditec Inc, Dublin, CA), the RPE slab function was used to generate a C-scan of the most superficial choroidal vasculature. An independent masked grader created a topographic binary map of the choroidal vasculature by thresholding the en-face image, which was overlaid onto the IR map of RPD. For each IR image, ImageJ was used to generate a random set of dots as “control lesions”. Results 17 eyes of 11 patients (78±13.7 years) with RPD were analyzed. The average number of RPD lesions identified on IR images was 414±71.5, of which 49.6±4.3% were located overlying the choroidal vasculature, compared to 45.4±4.0% in controls (p = 0.014). 50.4±4.3% of lesions overlay the choroidal stroma, of which 76.5±3.1% were ≤3 pixels from the choroidal vessels. The percentage of RPD lesions located within ≤3 pixels from the choroidal vasculature was significantly greater than the percentage located ≥7 pixels away. (p<0.0001). Compared to controls (71.6±3.8%), RPD were more likely to be located ≤3 pixels away from choroidal vessels (p = 0.014). In contrast, control lesions were more likely to be ≥7 pixels away from choroidal vessels than RPD (9.1±1.9% vs. 4.8±1.2%, respectively, p = 0.002). Conclusions Our analysis shows that RPD lesions follow the underlying choroidal vasculature. Approximately half the RPD directly overlay the choroidal vessels and the majority of the remaining lesions were ≤3 pixels (≤30microns) from the vessel edge, supporting the hypothesis that RPD maybe related to pathologic changes at the choroidal level.
Probabilistic Diagnosis Using a Reformulation of the INTERNIST-1/QMR Knowledge Base

Abstract: In Part I of this two-part series, we report the design of a probabilistic reformulation of the Quick Medical Reference (QMR) diagnostic decision-support tool. We describe a two-level multiply connected belief-network representation of the QMR knowledge base of internal medicine. In the belief-network representation of the QMR knowledge base, we use probabilities derived from the QMR disease profiles, from QMR imports of findings, and from National Center for Health Statistics hospital-discharge statistics. We use a stochastic simulation algorithm for inference on the belief network. This algorithm computes estimates of the posterior marginal probabilities of diseases given a set of findings. In Part II of the series, we compare the performance of QMR to that of our probabilistic system on cases abstracted from continuing medical education materials from Scientific American Medicine. In addition, we analyze empirically several components of the probabilistic model and simulation algorithm.
Triazole Cross-Resistance among Candida spp.: Case Report, Occurrence among Bloodstream Isolates, and Implications for Antifungal Therapy

ABSTRACT Candida spp. are common causes of bloodstream infections among hospitalized patients. Fluconazole (FLC) remains a first-line therapy for candidemia; and voriconazole (VRC), an expanded-spectrum triazole, was recently approved for the treatment of candidemia in nonneutropenic patients. In vitro studies have suggested that VRC has potent activity against Candida spp. with reduced susceptibilities to FLC. We present a case report of invasive candidiasis and candidemia due to a Candida glabrata isolate that developed resistance to all currently available triazole antifungals after a course of FLC treatment. This case prompted us to determine the frequency of cross-resistance among bloodstream Candida isolates collected during a recent 12-month period at a large, academic medical center. FLC MICs were determined for 125 of 153 isolates (81.7%). Thirty of 125 isolates (24%) were resistant or showed reduced susceptibilites to FLC (MICs ≥ 16 μg/ml). When 28 of these 30 isolates were tested for their VRC susceptibilities, 9 (32%) had MICs that were ≥2 μg/ml. Five of these nine isolates were C. glabrata, two isolates were Candida tropicalis, one isolate was Candida albicans, and one isolate was Candida parapsilosis. All five Candida krusei isolates tested had VRC MICs ≤0.5 μg/ml. These data have prompted the introduction of reflexive FLC susceptibility testing of first bloodstream Candida isolates at our institution. The case report and our data also suggest that VRC should be avoided as initial therapy in unstable patients with invasive candidiasis, particularly in the setting of prior azole exposure. Studies are needed to define the clinical significance of in vitro resistance to the newer antifungal agents.
Conditions for learning from animations

Animated diagrams representing dynamic systems hold great potential for improving the way people learn. However, so far the literature failed to find clear benefits of animated diagrams. Consequently it is worthwhile to investigate conditions under which enhancement of learning occurs. In the present study interactivity of the display and spatial ability of learners were examined. Three modes of presentation were compared: static diagrams, animation with interactivity, and animation with focus, also combined with interactivity. The interactive animation condition with focus acquired more knowledge than the other two conditions while the interactive animation condition scored worst. High-spatial ability subjects performed better on the knowledge acquisition measures than low-ability subjects. The interactive animation condition with focus is particularly beneficial for lowspatial ability subjects. These results indicate that combining the conditions of interactivity and focus does lead to improvement in learning from animations, particularly for low-spatial ability subjects.
Stem Cell-Like Properties of the Endometrial Side Population: Implication in Endometrial Regeneration

Background The human endometrium undergoes cyclical regeneration throughout a woman's reproductive life. Ectopic implantation of endometrial cells through retrograde menstruation gives rise to endometriotic lesions which affect approximately 10% of reproductive-aged women. The high regenerative capacity of the human endometrium at eutopic and ectopic sites suggests the existence of stem/progenitor cells and a unique angiogenic system. The objective of this study was to isolate and characterize putative endometrial stem/progenitor cells and to address how they might be involved in the physiology of endometrium. Methodology/Principal Findings We found that approximately 2% of the total cells obtained from human endometrium displayed a side population (SP) phenotype, as determined by flow cytometric analysis of Hoechst-stained cells. The endometrial SP (ESP) cells exhibited preferential expression of several endothelial cell markers compared to endometrial main population (EMP) cells. A medium specific for endothelial cell culture enabled ESP cells to proliferate and differentiate into various types of endometrial cells, including glandular epithelial, stromal and endothelial cells in vitro, whereas in the same medium, EMP cells differentiated only into stromal cells. Furthermore, ESP cells, but not EMP cells, reconstituted organized endometrial tissue with well-delineated glandular structures when transplanted under the kidney capsule of severely immunodeficient mice. Notably, ESP cells generated endothelial cells that migrated into the mouse kidney parenchyma and formed mature blood vessels. This potential for in vivo angiogenesis and endometrial cell regeneration was more prominent in the ESP fraction than in the EMP fraction, as the latter mainly gave rise to stromal cells in vivo. Conclusions/Significance These results indicate that putative endometrial stem cells are highly enriched in the ESP cells. These unique characteristics suggest that ESP cells might drive physiological endometrial regeneration and be involved in the pathogenesis of endometriosis.
Efeito do tempo pós-prensagem na dureza de superfície e resistência ao impacto de resinas acrílicas

The influence of the post- pressing time on the hardness, impact strenght variables in Clas- sico, QC-20 and Onda-Cryl acrylic resins was verified in six experi- mental groups (n= 10): I - Classi- co: immediate polymerization at 74°C for 9 hours and cooling at curing water. II - Classico: polyme- rization after 24 hours and cooling at curing water. lIr - QC-20: immediate polymerization in termostatic pan with boiling water for 20 minutes and cooling at room temperature. IV- QC-20: polyme- rization after 24 hours and cooling at room temperature. V - Onda- Cryl: immediate polymerization by microwave energy with 1l00W for 10 minutes and cooling at room temperature. VI - Onda-Cryl: poly- merization in microwave after 24 hours and cooling at room tempe- rature. The specimens were remo- ved after flasks cooling at room temperature and submittedto po- lishing by conventional procedure. Subsequently, they were sub- mitted to: a) hardness trials with Shimadzu microdurometer with a 25-gram load for 10 seconds; b) im- pact strength test with Charpy sys- tem in a Wolpert machine. The re- sults, submitted to ANOVA and Tukey's test, showed that: 1 - in the immediate post-pressing the best hardness was showed by the Onda-Cryl and the worst by QC-20 both with statistical significant difference. In the 24-hour post- pressing time, Onda-Cryl showed great hardness values with statis- tical significant difference when compared to QC-20. Classico resin showed statistical similarity with both. When the post-pressing time was compared, only Onda-Cryl did not present statistical significative difference. No statistical signifi- cant difference was observed among resins in immediate post- pressing time. In the 24-hour post- pressing time, Classico and Onda- Cryl resins did not show statistical significant difference, however both were statistically different from the QC-20 resin, with the smaller value. When the post- pressing time was compared, only the QC-20 resin showed a value with statistical significant differen- ce.The authors concluded that the post-pressing time influences only in the hardness on the Onda-Cryl acrylic resin. Similar results were showed in the impact strength of the QC-20 acrylic resin, in the 24- hour post-pressing time.
Identification and Typing of Malassezia Species by Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism and Sequence Analyses of the Internal Transcribed Spacer and Large-Subunit Regions of Ribosomal DNA

ABSTRACT Malassezia yeasts are associated with several dermatological disorders. The conventional identification of Malassezia species by phenotypic methods is complicated and time-consuming, and the results based on culture methods are difficult to interpret. A comparative molecular approach based on the use of three molecular techniques, namely, amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analysis, sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer, and sequencing of the D1 and D2 domains of the large-subunit ribosomal DNA region, was applied for the identification of Malassezia species. All species could be correctly identified by means of these methods. The results of AFLP analysis and sequencing were in complete agreement with each other. However, some discrepancies were noted when the molecular methods were compared with the phenotypic method of identification. Specific genotypes were distinguished within a collection of Malassezia furfur isolates from Canadian sources. AFLP analysis revealed significant geographical differences between the North American and European M. furfur strains.
The SaeRS Two-Component System of Staphylococcus aureus

In the Gram-positive pathogenic bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, the SaeRS two-component system (TCS) plays a major role in controlling the production of over 20 virulence factors including hemolysins, leukocidins, superantigens, surface proteins, and proteases. The SaeRS TCS is composed of the sensor histidine kinase SaeS, response regulator SaeR, and two auxiliary proteins SaeP and SaeQ. Since its discovery in 1994, the sae locus has been studied extensively, and its contributions to staphylococcal virulence and pathogenesis have been well documented and understood; however, the molecular mechanism by which the SaeRS TCS receives and processes cognate signals is not. In this article, therefore, we review the literature focusing on the signaling mechanism and its interaction with other global regulators.
Application of Hybrid Quantum Tabu Search with Support Vector Regression (SVR) for Load Forecasting

Hybridizing chaotic evolutionary algorithms with support vector regression (SVR) to improve forecasting accuracy is a hot topic in electricity load forecasting. Trapping at local optima and premature convergence are critical shortcomings of the tabu search (TS) algorithm. This paper investigates potential improvements of the TS algorithm by applying quantum computing mechanics to enhance the search information sharing mechanism (tabu memory) to improve the forecasting accuracy. This article presents an SVR-based load forecasting model that integrates quantum behaviors and the TS algorithm with the support vector regression model (namely SVRQTS) to obtain a more satisfactory forecasting accuracy. Numerical examples demonstrate that the proposed model outperforms the alternatives.
Sign and area in nodal geometry of Laplace eigenfunctions

The paper deals with asymptotic nodal geometry for the Laplace-Beltrami operator on closed surfaces. Given an eigenfunction f corresponding to a large eigenvalue, we study local asymmetry of the distribution of sign( f ) with respect to the surface area. It is measured as follows: take any disc centered at the nodal line { f = 0}, and pick at random a point in this disc. What is the probability that the function assumes a positive value at the chosen point? We show that this quantity may decay logarithmically as the eigenvalue goes to infinity, but never faster than that. In other words, only a mild local asymmetry may appear. The proof combines methods due to Donnelly-Fefferman and Nadirashvili with a new result on harmonic functions in the unit disc.
The posterior medial cortex in urologic chronic pelvic pain syndrome: detachment from default mode network—a resting-state study from the MAPP Research Network

Abstract Altered resting-state (RS) brain activity, as a measure of functional connectivity (FC), is commonly observed in chronic pain. Identifying a reliable signature pattern of altered RS activity for chronic pain could provide strong mechanistic insights and serve as a highly beneficial neuroimaging-based diagnostic tool. We collected and analyzed RS functional magnetic resonance imaging data from female patients with urologic chronic pelvic pain syndrome (N = 45) and matched healthy participants (N = 45) as part of an NIDDK-funded multicenter project (www.mappnetwork.org). Using dual regression and seed-based analyses, we observed significantly decreased FC of the default mode network to 2 regions in the posterior medial cortex (PMC): the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and the left precuneus (threshold-free cluster enhancement, family-wise error corrected P < 0.05). Further investigation revealed that patients demonstrated increased FC between the PCC and several brain regions implicated in pain, sensory, motor, and emotion regulation processes (eg, insular cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, thalamus, globus pallidus, putamen, amygdala, hippocampus). The left precuneus demonstrated decreased FC to several regions of pain processing, reward, and higher executive functioning within the prefrontal (orbitofrontal, anterior cingulate, ventromedial prefrontal) and parietal cortices (angular gyrus, superior and inferior parietal lobules). The altered PMC connectivity was associated with several phenotype measures, including pain and urologic symptom intensity, depression, anxiety, quality of relationships, and self-esteem levels in patients. Collectively, these findings indicate that in patients with urologic chronic pelvic pain syndrome, regions of the PMC are detached from the default mode network, whereas neurological processes of self-referential thought and introspection may be joined to pain and emotion regulatory processes.
Precision of Exocentric Distance Judgments in Desktop and Cube Presentation

Accuracy of space perception and distance estimation in virtual environments is an important precondition for the reliable use of virtual techniques in the design of products, workplaces, architecture, and production systems. The present study compares the accuracy of exocentric 1 distance estimations that a static perceiver achieves with two virtual presentation techniques: a desktop and an immersive cube presentation. Estimation accuracy in a physical mock-up is used as a point of reference. Subjects estimated exocentric distances in detailed models of a workplace previously unknown to them. All distances to be judged were located in the subjects' personal space (less than 1.5 m from the subject). Major differences between the two virtual presentation modes are that stereo information is available in the cube but not in desktop environment, and that, in the cube, changes in perspective are achieved by actually moving inside the cube instead of using a mouse. Furthermore, the cube provides a wider absolute field of view than the desktop environment. The experiment showed advantages of the cube over desktop presentation when estimating exocentric distances in personal space from a static position. The magnitude of distance estimation errors was significantly higher in the desktop than in the cube environment. However, estimation errors tended to be overestimations in the cube presentation, whereas over- and underestimation occurred with equal frequency in the desktop environment. In the discussion it is argued that the higher estimation accuracy in the cube environment may mainly be due to the availability of stereoscopic depth cues. According to Cutting (1997), these cues are especially relevant for spatial perception in personal space. The term exocentric distance is used for distances between two points external to the perceiver indicating (for example) interobject distances or distances colinear with the side length of an object. These distances are to be distinguished from egocentric distances, those distances between the perceiver and one point in the environment (Waller, 1999).
Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience Aging Neuroscience Review Article What Inflammatory Changes Have Been Identified in the Aged Brain? Evidence of Glial Activation

the microenvironment. Two major factors enable microglia to be maintained in the resting state. The fi rst is the global absence of positive soluble stimulatory factors like interferon-γ (IFNγ) which is present in signifi cant concentrations only in times of stress or injury (Neumann, 2001). The second is the maintenance of cell-cell interactions via ligand-receptor expression and binding, for example interaction between CD200 which is expressed on neu-rons and CD200 receptor, which is expressed on microglia (Hoek et al., 2000). When stimulated, microglia undergo a morphological and functional transformation. There is a growing recognition that several subtypes of activated microglia exist (Perry et al., 2007; Lynch, 2009) but it is probably reasonable to broadly categorize activated microglia functionally into cells involved in antigen presentation, cells which variously release neurotrophins, chemokines, cytokines and reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, and cells which perform phagocytic functions. At this point, it is not possible to determine precisely how many intermediate states exist, nor to be confi dent that any or all of these states can co-exist. However what has become clear is that features of activated microglia have been identifi ed in the brain of aged individuals while they are also characteristic of several neurodegenerative diseases and evident in brains of both Microarray analysis of brain tissue prepared from young and aged rodents has demonstrated that of the genes which are upregulated with age, about half are associated with infl ammation and oxidative
Strength estimation for FRP wrapped reinforced concrete columns

Fiber-Reinforced Plastics (FRP) have received significant attention for use in civil infrastructure due to their unique properties, such as the high strength-to-weight ratio and stiffness-to-weight ratio, corrosion and fatigue resistance, and tailorability. It is well known that FRP wraps increase the load-carrying capacity and the ductility of reinforced concrete columns. A number of researchers have explored their use for seismic components. The application of concern in the present research is on the use of FRP for corrosion protection of reinforced concrete columns, which is very important in cold-weather and coastal regions. More specifically, this work is intended to give practicing engineers with a more practical procedure for estimating the strength of a deficient column rehabilitated using FRP wrapped columns than those currently available. To achieve this goal, a stress-strain model for FRP wrapped concrete is proposed, which is subsequently used in the development of the moment-curvature relations for FRP wrapped reinforced concrete column sections. A comparison of the proposed stress-strain model to the test results shows good agreement. It has also been found that based on the moment-curvature relations, the balanced moment is no longer a critical moment in the interaction diagram. Besides, the enhancement in the loading capacity in terms of the interaction diagram due to the confinement provided by FRP wraps is also confirmed in this work.
Combining Symbolic and Distributional Models of Meaning

The are two main approaches to the representation of meaning in Computational Linguistics: a symbolic approach and a distributional approach. This paper considers the fundamental question of how these approaches might be combined. The proposal is to adapt a method from the Cognitive Science literature, in which symbolic and connectionist representations are combined using tensor products. Possible applications of this method for language processing are described. Finally, a potentially fruitful link between Quantum Mechanics, Computational Linguistics, and other related areas such as Information Retrieval and Machine Learning, is proposed.