Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Compliance of Glaucoma Patients to Ocular Hypotensive Medications Among the Saudi Population.

PURPOSE To evaluate the compliance of glaucoma patients to medical treatment and its impact on the intraocular pressure (IOP) and to verify the associated risk factors for noncompliance. METHODS All recruited patients were examined at the ophthalmology clinics of King Abdulaziz University Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia between May and August 2012. Patients were interviewed and subjected to answer a questionnaire that was developed based on a pilot test. Collected data included age, gender, number of prescribed drugs, and different reasons for noncompliance to the prescribed drugs. RESULTS Noncompliance was detected in 18 (19.4%) of the recruited patients. Factors associated with noncompliance demonstrated a trend toward older patients, males, patients with lower IOP at presentation, higher cup to disc ratio, and drug self-administering patients. However, the only statistically significant characteristic was being under lifelong medications (P = 0.005). CONCLUSION Noncompliance was detected in around one-fifth of our glaucoma patients, particularly, the older group. Awareness programs, maintaining good patient-physician relationship, and personalizing treatment can lead to better adherence to treatment.
Random Filters for Compressive Sampling and Reconstruction

We propose and study a new technique for efficiently acquiring and reconstructing signals based on convolution with a fixed FIR filter having random taps. The method is designed for sparse and compressible signals, i.e., ones that are well approximated by a short linear combination of vectors from an orthonormal basis. Signal reconstruction involves a nonlinear orthogonal matching pursuit algorithm that we implement efficiently by exploiting the nonadaptive, time-invariant structure of the measurement process. While simpler and more efficient than other random acquisition techniques like compressed sensing, random filtering is sufficiently generic to summarize many types of compressible signals and generalizes to streaming and continuous-time signals. Extensive numerical experiments demonstrate its efficacy for acquiring and reconstructing signals sparse in the time, frequency, and wavelet domains, as well as piecewise smooth signals and Poisson processes
Sympathetic Control of the Cerebral Vasculature in Humans

Background and Purpose— The role of the sympathetic nervous system in cerebral autoregulation remains poorly characterized. We examined cerebral blood flow responses to augmented arterial pressure oscillations with and without sympathetic blockade and compared them with responses in the forearm circulation. Methods— An oscillatory lower body negative pressure of 40 mm Hg was used at 6 frequencies from 0.03 to 0.08 Hz in 11 healthy subjects with and without &agr;-adrenergic blockade by phentolamine. Results— Sympathetic blockade resulted in unchanged mean pressure and cerebral flow. The transfer function relationship to arterial pressure at frequencies >0.05 Hz was significantly increased in both the cerebral and brachial circulations, but the coherence of the relation remained weak at the lowest frequencies in the cerebral circulation. Conclusion— Our data demonstrate a strong, frequency-dependent role for sympathetic regulation of blood flow in both cerebral and brachial circulations. However, marked differences in the response to blockade suggest the control of the cerebral circulation at longer time scales is characterized by important nonlinearities and relies on regulatory mechanisms other than the sympathetic system.
Some observations on Huntington's chorea.

A controlled clinical trial of reserpine in four cases of Huntington's Chorea showed significant improvement in two cases. A more extended trial of reserpine in a total of seven cases of Huntington's Chorea showed some degree of reduction in hyperkinesis in five patients. Procaine amide was tried in four patients and was not found to be effective. A series of biochemical investigations on these seven patients have been reported and the possible significance of the findings discussed.
On the Role of Morphosyntactic Features in Hindi Dependency Parsing

This paper analyzes the relative importance of different linguistic features for data-driven dependency parsing of Hindi, using a feature pool derived from two state-of-the-art parsers. The analysis shows that the greatest gain in accuracy comes from the addition of morpho-syntactic features related to case, tense, aspect and modality. Combining features from the two parsers, we achieve a labeled attachment score of 76.5%, which is 2 percentage points better than the previous state of the art. We finally provide a detailed error analysis and suggest possible improvements to the parsing scheme.
Toward a Computational Psycholinguistics of Reference Production

This article introduces the topic ''Production of Referring Expressions: Bridging the Gap between Computational and Empirical Approaches to Reference'' of the journal Topics in Cognitive Science. We argue that computational and psycholinguistic approaches to reference production can benefit from closer interaction, and that this is likely to result in the construction of algorithms that differ markedly from the ones currently known in the computational literature. We focus particularly on determinism, the feature of existing algorithms that is perhaps most clearly at odds with psycholinguistic results, discussing how future algorithms might include non-determinism, and how new psycholinguistic experiments could inform the development of such algorithms.
Soil Environmental Conditions and Microbial Build-Up Mediate the Effect of Plant Diversity on Soil Nitrifying and Denitrifying Enzyme Activities in Temperate Grasslands

Random reductions in plant diversity can affect ecosystem functioning, but it is still unclear which components of plant diversity (species number – namely richness, presence of particular plant functional groups, or particular combinations of these) and associated biotic and abiotic drivers explain the observed relationships, particularly for soil processes. We assembled grassland communities including 1 to 16 plant species with a factorial separation of the effects of richness and functional group composition to analyze how plant diversity components influence soil nitrifying and denitrifying enzyme activities (NEA and DEA, respectively), the abundance of nitrifiers (bacterial and archaeal amoA gene number) and denitrifiers (nirK, nirS and nosZ gene number), and key soil environmental conditions. Plant diversity effects were largely due to differences in functional group composition between communities of identical richness (number of sown species), though richness also had an effect per se. NEA was positively related to the percentage of legumes in terms of sown species number, the additional effect of richness at any given legume percentage being negative. DEA was higher in plots with legumes, decreased with increasing percentage of grasses, and increased with richness. No correlation was observed between DEA and denitrifier abundance. NEA increased with the abundance of ammonia oxidizing bacteria. The effect of richness on NEA was entirely due to the build-up of nitrifying organisms, while legume effect was partly linked to modified ammonium availability and nitrifier abundance. Richness effect on DEA was entirely due to changes in soil moisture, while the effects of legumes and grasses were partly due to modified nitrate availability, which influenced the specific activity of denitrifiers. These results suggest that plant diversity-induced changes in microbial specific activity are important for facultative activities such as denitrification, whereas changes in microbial abundance play a major role for non-facultative activities such as nitrification.
Combined ultrasound and transrectal electrical impedance imaging of the prostate

A novel imaging method to detect prostate cancer and the clinical findings is presented in this study. The dual modal imaging system incorporates a transrectal ultrasound system and an electrical impedance tomography (EIT) system. The reconstructed electrical property image (EPI) is correlated with semi-quantitative pathological findings. An example of reconstructed EPI is also presented in this study. Additionally, at lower frequencies of 0.4 kHz, 3.2 kHz and 25.6 kHz, statistical tests suggest that the conductivity of cancerous regions is significantly greater than that of normal region (p<;0.0304). The preliminary clinical findings point to potential electrical impedance measuring applications for prostate cancer detecting.
An X-Ray Spectral Analysis of the Central Regions of NGC 4593

We present a detailed analysis of XMM-Newton EPIC-pn data for the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 4593. We discuss the X-ray spectral properties of this source, as well as its variations with time. The 0.5-10 keV spectrum shows significant complexity beyond a simple power-law form, with clear evidence existing for a "soft excess," as well as absorption by highly ionized plasma (a warm absorber) within the central engine of this active galactic nucleus. We show that the soft excess is best described as originating from thermal Comptonization by plasma that is appreciably cooler than the primary X-ray-emitting plasma; we find that the form of the soft excess cannot be reproduced adequately by reflection from an ionized accretion disk. The only measurable deviation from the power-law continuum in the hard spectrum comes from the presence of cold and ionized fluorescent iron Kα emission lines at 6.4 and 6.97 keV, respectively. While constraints on the ionized iron line are weak, the cold line is found to be narrow at CCD resolution with a flux that does not track the temporal changes in the underlying continuum, implying an origin in the outer radii of the accretion disk or the putative molecular torus of Seyfert unification schemes. The X-ray continuum itself varies on all accessible timescales. We detect a ~230 s time lag between soft and hard EPIC-pn bands that, if interpreted as scattering timescales within a Comptonizing disk corona, can be used to constrain the physical size of the primary X-ray source to a characteristic length scale of ~2rg. Taken together, the small implied coronal size and the large implied iron-line emitting region indicate a departure from the current picture of a "typical" AGN geometry.
Reassessment of the Enteropathogenicity of Mesophilic Aeromonas Species

Cases of Aeromonas diarrhea have been described all over the world. The genus Aeromonas includes ca. 30 species, of which 10 have been isolated in association with gastroenteritis. The dominating species that account for ca. 96% of the identified strains are Aeromonas caviae, A. veronii, A. dhakensis, and A. hydrophila. However, the role of Aeromonas as a true enteropathogen has been questioned on the basis of the lack of outbreaks, the non-fulfillment of Koch’s postulates and the low numbers of acute illnesses in the only existing human challenge study. In the present study we reassess the enteropathogenicity of Aeromonas using dose response models for microbial infection and acute illness. The analysis uses the data from the human challenge study and additional data from selected outbreak investigations where the numbers exposed and the dose were reported, allowing their inclusion as “natural experiments”. In the challenge study several cases of asymptomatic shedding were found (26.3%, 15/57), however, only 3.5% (2/57) of those challenged with Aeromonas developed acute enteric symptoms (i.e., diarrhea). The “natural experiments” showed a much higher risk of illness associated with exposure to Aeromonas, even at moderate to low doses. The median dose required for 1% illness risk, was ~1.4 × 104 times higher in the challenge study (1.24 × 104 cfu) compared to natural exposure events (0.9 cfu). The dose response assessment presented in this study shows that the combined challenge and outbreak data are consistent with high infectivity of Aeromonas, and a wide range of susceptibility to acute enteric illness. To illustrate the outcomes, we simulate the risk associated with concentrations of Aeromonas found in different water and food matrices, indicating the disease burden potentially associated with these bacteria. In conclusion this study showed that Aeromonas is highly infectious, and that human susceptibility to illness may be high, similar to undisputed enteropathogens like Campylobacter or Salmonella.
Cytotoxic properties of Acorus calamus in MCF -7 breast cancer cells

In this study cytotoxic effect of Acorus calamus extract was evaluated on breast carcinoma (MCF-7) cell lines. MCF-7 cells were cultured in DMEM medium and incubated with different concentrations (18.75, 37.5, 75, 150 and 300 g/ml) of Acorus calamus methanol extract. Cell viability was assessed by MTT assay. Acorus calamus decreased cell viability in malignant cells in a concentration dependent manner. The IC50 values in MCF-7 cells were determined as 52.07 g/ml. It may be concluded that Acorus calamus can cause cell death in MCF-7 cancer cells which can be considered as a promising chemotherapeutic agent in breast cancer treatment.
Ieee Transactions on Wireless Communications Lotus: Location-aware Online Truthful Double Auction for Dynamic Spectrum Access

—In the spectrum auction, if a buyer locates in a " critical " place, interfering with a lot of other buyers, his occupancy of the spectrum may deprive many other transmission opportunities. In this paper, we propose a Location-aware Online Truthful doUble auction Scheme (LOTUS), which incorporates the buyers' location information into auction mechanism design. In the online auction, the biggest challenge is how to allocate the spectrums based on the knowledge in the current time slot, without knowing the spectrum requests that may come afterwards. To solve this problem, we propose to consider the opportunity cost of allocating the spectrum to a buyer based on his local interference conditions. We introduce the " interference discount " to markdown a buyer's bid if he induces a wide range of interference. Furthermore, we take into account the spectrum heterogeneity and design mechanisms that guarantee the economic-robustness of the auction. The simulation results show that LOTUS outperforms both existing online auction and static auction mechanisms, significantly improving buyers' and sellers' utility.
Evaluation of aztreonam in the treatment of severe bacterial infections

We investigated the clinical efficacy and safety of aztreonam in the treatment of 50 episodes of infection in 46 adult patients. The clinical condition of patients at the beginning of treatment was critical or poor in 28 of the episodes of infection. Episodes treated were 39 urinary tract infections (12 of them with concomitant bacteremia), 2 soft tissue infections, 8 patients with osteomyelitis (1 with concomitant bacteremia), and one episode of pneumonia. Significant isolated microorganisms were aerobic or facultative gram-negative rods and were responsible for the following episodes of infection (number of episodes): members of the family Enterobacteriaceae (49), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (5), and Haemophilus influenzae (1). The overall rate of clinical response to aztreonam was 94% of the treated episodes. Colonization or superinfection or both occurred in 29 episodes, but only 8 episodes required antimicrobial therapy. Aztreonam seems to be an effective single agent therapy for many bacterial infections. Colonization and superinfection by Candida sp. , Streptococcus faecalis or Staphylococcus aureus must be monitored.
Non-invasive estimation of pulmonary vascular resistance with cardiac magnetic resonance.

AIM To develop a cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) method for non-invasive estimation of pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR). METHODS AND RESULTS The study comprised 100 consecutive patients with known or suspected pulmonary hypertension (PH; 53 ± 16 years, 73% women) who underwent same-day right heart catheterization (RHC) and CMR. Increased PVR was defined from RHC as >3 WU (n = 66, 66%). From CMR cine and phase-contrast images, right ventricular (RV) volumes and ejection fraction (RVEF), pulmonary artery (PA) flow velocities and areas, and cardiac output were quantified. The best statistical model to estimate PVR was obtained from a derivation cohort (n = 80) based on physiological plausibility and statistical criteria. Validity of the model was assessed in the remaining 20 patients (validation cohort). The CMR-derived model was: estimated PVR (in WU) = 19.38 - [4.62 × Ln PA average velocity (in cm/s)] - [0.08 × RVEF (in %)]. In the validation cohort, the correlation between invasively quantified and CMR-estimated PVR was 0.84 (P < 0.001). The mean bias between the RHC-derived and CMR-estimated PVR was -0.54 (agreement interval -6.02 to 4.94 WU). The CMR model correctly classified 18 (90%) of patients as having normal or increased PVR (area under the receiver operator characteristics curve 0.97; 95% confidence interval: 0.89-1.00). CONCLUSIONS Non-invasive estimation of PVR using CMR is feasible and may be valuable for PH diagnosis and/or follow-up.
Photosynthetic generation of oxygen

The oxygen in the atmosphere is derived from light-driven oxidation of water at a catalytic centre contained within a multi-subunit enzyme known as photosystem II (PSII). PSII is located in the photosynthetic membranes of plants, algae and cyanobacteria and its oxygen-evolving centre (OEC) consists of four manganese ions and a calcium ion surrounded by a highly conserved protein environment. Recently, the structure of PSII was elucidated by X-ray crystallography thus revealing details of the molecular architecture of the OEC. This structural information, coupled with an extensive knowledge base derived from a wide range of biophysical, biochemical and molecular biological studies, has provided a framework for understanding the chemistry of photosynthetic oxygen generation as well as opening up debate about its evolutionary origin.
The Fetal Variant of the Circle of Willis and Its Influence on the Cerebral Collateral Circulation

In a fetal-type posterior circle of Willis (FTP) there is an embryonic derivation of the posterior cerebral artery (PCA) from the internal carotid artery (ICA). Besides the fact that a larger area is thus dependent on the ICA, leptomeningeal vessels cannot develop between the anterior and posterior circulation. The tentorium namely prevents cerebellar vessels from connecting to the PCA territory. Therefore patients with an FTP could be more prone to develop vascular insufficiency. An overview of the literature is given. We propose to define a partial FTP, in which a small P1 segment between the basilar artery and the postcommunicating part of the PCA is present, and a full FTP, in which the P1 segment is absent. Whether a full FTP is a risk factor for stroke should be subject of further investigation.
Effect of Cryopreserved Amniotic Membrane Orientation on the Expression of Limbal Mesenchymal and Epithelial Stem Cell Markers in Prolonged Limbal Explant Cultures

Purpose To evaluate the effect of prolonged limbal explants cultured without any scaffolds or on amniotic membrane (AM) on the viability, proliferation and differentiation potential of putative phenotypically defined cultured limbal mesenchymal (LMSC) and epithelial stem cells (LESC). Methods Limbal explants were cultivated on cryopreserved intact AM or plastic plates using medium supplemented with only human serum. AM was positioned with either the epithelial or stromal side up. The outgrowing cells were immunophenotyped for the co-expression of mesenchymal stem cell markers (CD73/CD90/CD105 positive and CD45 negative), proliferation and putative progenitor markers (CXCR4, CD117), epithelial markers and antigen presenting cell markers (CD80, CD83, CD86) by flow cytometry. Immunohistochemistry on limbal cultures cultivated on AM was carried out with antibodies against pan-cytokeratin, p63, Ki67. Results Morphological and immunostaining analyses revealed two distinct stem cell population types, which could be identified over prolonged culturing time periods. Expression of LMSC markers and CXCR4 was significantly higher (p < 0.05) in cultures cultivated without AM. However, no statistically significant difference was observed in CD117 expression. The cells cultivated on AM retained an epithelial cell structure, which was further confirmed by histology examination. Histology revealed limbal epithelial growth and p63, Ki67 positive cells on both sides of AM. Conclusion Limbal cells cultivated on AM exhibited a lower expression profile of LMSC and CXCR4 markers as limbal cells cultivated on plastic culture plates. However, CD117 expression was similar. Histology confirmed limbal epithelial cell growth on both sides of AM, with no morphological differences, or positivity of cells for p63 and Ki67.
Role of serum protein binding and multiple antibiotic doses in the extravascular distribution of ceftizoxime and cefotaxime

The extravascular penetration of ceftizoxime and cefotaxime was studied in a rabbit subcutaneous Visking chamber model. Four rabbits, implanted with four chambers each, received each drug intramuscularly at a dose of 50 mg/kg every 3 hours for eight doses. Serum drug concentrations were measured after the eighth dose, and extravascular (chamber) concentrations were measured after the first and eighth doses. Cefotaxime (93% bound to rabbit serum proteins) demonstrated a much lower peak chamber-to-peak serum percent penetration after the first dose (20/163 = 13%) than did the less-bound (32%) ceftizoxime (21/52 = 40%, P less than 0.002). Similarly, the ratio of the chamber fluid area under the curve to the serum area under the curve was significantly lower for cefotaxime (15%) than for ceftizoxime (44%, P less than 0.002) after the first dose. Both agents approached equilibrium conditions between the intravascular and extravascular space by the eighth dose, and the ratios of chamber area under the curve to serum area under the curve of cefotaxime (76%) and ceftizoxime (79%) were similar. The peak-to-peak percent penetration of ceftizoxime (54%) was still significantly higher than that of cefotaxime (41%, P less than 0.01), although the chamber concentration of cefotaxime (66.2 micrograms/ml) was considerably higher than that of ceftizoxime (28.2 micrograms/ml). This study illustrates (i) dampened peak-to-trough antibiotic level fluctuation seen at extravascular sites as compared with measured serum concentrations, (ii) the large differences in extravascular penetration between single- and multiple-dose studies, and (iii) the importance of serum protein binding in the delay, but not the prevention, of extravascular drug distribution.