Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessment of the retinal posterior pole in dominant optic atrophy by spectral-domain optical coherence tomography and microperimetry

Background To assess posterior pole (PP) retinal structure in patients with genetically confirmed autosomal dominant optic atrophy (ADOA) using new spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) segmentation technology. To analyze retinal PP thickness in relation to retinal sensitivity data from microperimetry (MP) in ADOA patients. Methods and findings This prospective cross-sectional study included 11 patients with ADOA and 11 age-matched healthy subjects. All participants underwent both a “Posterior Pole” and “peripapillary RNFL (pRNFL)” scanning protocol using SD-OCT. Functional mapping of the PP was also performed using MP. A customized program was implemented in order to achieve accurate superimposition of MP sensitivity map onto SD-OCT map. The thickness of the PP different retinal layers and pRNFL was obtained and measured for each eye. Mean retinal sensitivity values and fixation stability were obtained and compared between ADOA patients and healthy subjects. Correlation analysis was performed on a point-to-point basis to evaluate the association between mean thickness and retinal sensitivity of each retinal layer. Total retinal thickness (TRT), Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer (RNFL), Ganglion Cell Layer (GCL), Inner Plexiform Layer (IPL), Inner Nuclear Layer (INL) and Inner Retinal Layers (IRL) at the posterior pole as well as pRNFL were significantly thinner in ADOA patients (P < 0.0001). On the contrary, the Outer Plexiform Layer (OPL) and the Outer Nuclear Layer (ONL) were significantly thicker in the ADOA group (P < 0.001). No significant differences were found in Retinal Pigment Epithelium (RPE) and Outer Retinal Layers (ORL) thickness between ADOA and controls. The average PP retinal sensitivity was significantly reduced in ADOA patients compared with controls (P < 0.001), as measured by microperimeter Nidek MP-1 (MP1). Fixation stability was significantly worse in the ADOA group (P = 0.01). The most severe sensitivity defects in ADOA patients were found at the level of the papillo-macular bundle (PMB). Conclusions Inner retinal layers showed pathological changes in ADOA patients. In addition, the whole retinal PP (not only the PMB) was significantly altered in ADOA, both in terms of retinal thickness and sensitivity.
Sorting out autism spectrum disorders: Evidence-based medicine and the complexities of the clinical encounter

Abstract Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) present particular problems for diagnosis, encompassing as they do communication difficulties, learning difficulties, social awkwardness, and severe disability, as well as some strengths and special skills (such as perfect pitch or artistic abilities). Hence ASDs have proven difficult to standardise, and evidence-based medicine (EBM) advocates deplore the absence of clean randomised control trial data for different approaches. This study explores the extent to which the drive for standardisation and statistical approaches to clinical medicine influence the ways paediatricians diagnose and treat ASDs. To this end, we interviewed nine paediatricians in private practice using a face-to-face, semistructured approach. Three primary themes emerged from the interview data. First the essentially tacit, experiential nature of diagnosing autism, second the necessity of tinkering with and adapting existing diagnostic tools to particular patients and circumstances, and third, the influence of social constraints on the clinical encounter. This study demonstrates that the process of diagnosis and treatment recommendation involves constant negotiation between clinical experience, the evidence, and the family’s social situation. Furthermore, we find that statistical and EBM approaches are used most often at the margins of the clinical encounter to diagnose outlier patients, rather than the typical patient these approaches claim to describe.
Resilience of Patients With Chronic Physical Diseases: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Context Resilience can be seen as an adaption to stress, such as that caused by health problems or disease, that attenuates the negative effects of stress. The present research performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to study resilience scores among adults diagnosed with chronic physical diseases. Evidence Acquisition Electronic databases, including Persian language (scientific information database [SID], IranMedex, Magiran, IranDoc, and Medlib) and English language (Google Scholar, Science Direct, PubMed, Pre-Quest, and Scopus), were searched. Fifteen articles were found using the keywords disease or chronic disease, resilience or resiliency, and illness, either alone or in combination, both in Persian and English languages. Data analysis was carried out through meta-analysis (random-effects model), and heterogeneity was investigated by subgroup and meta-regression analyses. The data were analyzed in STAT software (12.0). Results The mean resilience score of the chronic disease patients (n = 3369) was 74.6 (95% CI: 51.8 - 97.4). In terms of diseases, the mean resilience score of cancer patients was 79.6 (95% CI: 48.3 - 111.1), whereas it was 79.6 for cardiovascular disease patients (95% CI: 45.8 - 113.3) and 64.6 for patients with other diseases (95% CI: 6.6 - 122.7). There was no relationship between the resilience of chronic disease patients and the year of the study (P = 0.711) and the sample size in the studies (P = 0.351). Conclusions The mean resilience score of the patients was less than that of healthy individuals. As resilience can be acquired at any stage of life, irrespective of age and disease status, there is a need for training to improve resilience among patients through educational programs.
Locking of the Rotation of Disk-Accreting Magnetized Stars

We investigate the rotational equilibrium state of disk-accreting magnetized stars using axisymmetric magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations. In this "locked" state, the spin-up torque balances the spin-down torque so that the net average torque on the star is zero. We investigated two types of initial conditions: (I) a relatively weak stellar magnetic field and a high coronal density and (II) a stronger stellar field and a lower coronal density. We observed that for both initial conditions the rotation of the star is locked to the rotation of the disk. In the second case, the radial field lines carry significant angular momentum out of the star. However, this did not appreciably change the condition for locking of the rotation of the star. We find that in the equilibrium state the corotation radius rco is related to the magnetospheric radius rA as rco/rA ≈ 1.2-1.3 for case I and rco/rA ≈ 1.4-1.5 for case II. We estimated periods of rotation in the equilibrium state for classical T Tauri stars, dwarf novae, and X-ray millisecond pulsars.
A wide-field K-band survey — I. Galaxy counts in B, V, I and K

We present bright galaxy number counts measured with linear detectors in the B, V, I, and K bands in two fields covering nearly 10 square degrees. All of our measurements are consistent with passive evolution models, and do not confirm the steep slope measured in other surveys at bright magnitudes. Throughout the range 16 < B < 19, our B-band counts are consistent with the "high normalization" models proposed to reduce the faint blue galaxy problem. Our K-band counts agree with previous measurements, and have reached a fair sample of the universe in the magnitude range where evolution and K-corrections are well understood.
Skewed Distribution of Circulating Activated Natural Killer T (NKT) Cells in Patients with Common Variable Immunodeficiency Disorders (CVID)

Common variable immunodeficiency disorder (CVID) is the commonest cause of primary antibody failure in adults and children, and characterized clinically by recurrent bacterial infections and autoimmune manifestations. Several innate immune defects have been described in CVID, but no study has yet investigated the frequency, phenotype or function of the key regulatory cell population, natural killer T (NKT) cells. We measured the frequencies and subsets of NKT cells in patients with CVID and compared these to healthy controls. Our results show a skewing of NKT cell subsets, with CD4+ NKT cells at higher frequencies, and CD8+ NKT cells at lower frequencies. However, these cells were highly activated and expression CD161. The NKT cells had a higher expression of CCR5 and concomitantly expression of CCR5+CD69+CXCR6 suggesting a compensation of the remaining population of NKT cells for rapid effector action.
High gain, high efficiency, low voltage, medium power Si-bipolar transistor suitable for integration

Medium power transistors in a high performance double polysilicon bipolar process have been fabricated. On-wafer loadpull measurements show high gain (15 dB) and high maximum efficiency (60%) at 1.8 GHz with 27 dBm of output power. These results were obtained with a low supply voltage of 3.5 V. More importantly, these results were obtained with transistors with a buried layer having a collector contact at the top, which makes it possible to integrate power amplifiers on chip.
Effect of Feeding Yeast Culture from Different Sources on the Performance of Lactating Holstein Cows in Saudi Arabia

One hundred-fifty lactating, multiparous cow at post-peak of lactation were used to examine the effect of dietary yeast supplementation on milk production, milk composition and ruminal fermentation. The cows were randomly allocated to three groups of fifty cows each: a control group fed on a basal diet without yeast supplementation and two groups fed on basal diets supplemented with one of two commercial sources of yeast cultures, given at the rates of 15 g/head/d (YC1) and 50 g/head/d (YC2), respectively, as per manufacturers' recommendation. Daily milk production was recorded for all cows, while milk samples were taken randomly from ten cows per group for two consecutive days at two-week intervals for chemical analysis of the milk. Rumen fluids were also analyzed for ammonia nitrogen and volatile fatty acids. The results indicated that cows consuming diets supplemented with yeast culture tended to decrease their dry matter intake and to increase their milk yield. Cows fed YC2 supplemented diet produced more milk and 4% fat corrected milk than those fed either YC1-supplemented diet or the control. The highest milk fat percentage was obtained in cows fed YC2 supplemented diet while the highest percentages of protein, lactose, total solids and solids not fat were recorded in cows fed YC1. Rumen ammonia nitrogen concentration decreased significantly after yeast culture supplementation. Molar proportion of volatile fatty acids did not change significantly with yeast supplementation. (Asian-Aust. J. Anim. Sci. 2002. Vol 15, No. 3 : 352-356)
Women in the Club: Gender and Policy Making in the Senate

In the run-up to the 2012 presidential election, Democrats and Republicans were locked in a fierce battle for the female vote. Democrats charged Republicans with waging a "war on women," while Republicans countered that Democratic policies actually undermined women's rights. The women of the Senate wielded particular power throughout, planning press conferences, appearing on political programs, and taking to the Senate floor over gender-related issues such as workplace equality and reproductive rights. The first book to examine the impact of gender differences in the Senate, "Women in the Club" is an eye-opening exploration of how women are influencing policy and politics in this erstwhile male bastion of power. Gender, Michele L. Swers shows, is a fundamental factor for women in the Senate, interacting with both party affiliation and individual ideology to shape priorities on policy. Women, for example, are more active proponents of social welfare and women's rights. But the effects of gender extend beyond mere policy preferences. Senators also develop their priorities with an eye to managing voter expectations about their expertise and advancing their party's position on a given issue. The election of women in increasing numbers has also coincided with the evolution of the Senate as a highly partisan institution. The stark differences between the parties on issues pertaining to gender have meant that Democratic and Republican senators often assume very different roles as they reconcile their policy views on gender issues with the desire to act as members of partisan teams.
Computing Lexical Chains with Graph Clustering

This paper describes a new method for computing lexical chains. These are sequences of semantically related words that reflect a text's cohesive structure. In contrast to previous methods, we are able to select chains based on their cohesive strength. This is achieved by analyzing the connectivity in graphs representing the lexical chains. We show that the generated chains significantly improve performance of automatic text summarization and keyphrase indexing.
HR practices and affective organisational commitment: (when) does HR differentiation pay off?

We argue that differentiating HR practices across employees leads employees to compare their situation with colleagues to assess the favourability of HR practice outcomes (e.g. money). These perceptions can be negative (i.e. feeling set back), neutral (i.e. feeling treated the same) or positive (i.e. feeling advantaged). Data from 13,639 Belgian employees showed that perceived favourability of HR practice outcomes is positively associated with affective organisational commitment, but the relationship is attenuated at positive levels. Thus, differentiation may be a double-edged sword as the losses among employees feeling set back may temper, neutralise or even outweigh the benefits among those feeling advantaged. The relationships found were especially salient for work practices (e.g. autonomy) compared with economic practices (e.g. bonuses). Developmental practices were found to be least suited for differentiation across employees. No evidence of a moderating role of employees’ preference for equality (vs. differentiation) was found.
To trust or not to trust? Formal contracts and the building of long‐term relationships

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how contracts are used to build and develop long‐term relationships in contexts where trust cannot be expected in advance – i.e. there is a lack of initial trust.Design/methodology/approach – This paper is based on a qualitative approach, while the present study used a documentary study focusing on 21 formal contractual dyads between contractors and fulfillers within the public transport sector.Findings – The analysis of contracts in the public sector reveals the importance of formal contracts in relationship building, as a result of a number of factors that characterize this setting, including: the highly detailed specification of terms, legislation having an effect on the design of the contract, the bidding process, in situations where there is no negotiation process, no scope for further discussion after signing contracts, no learning processes, and contracts being used to conduct day‐to‐day business.Originality/value – This research acknowledges the fa.
Cytokine Pattern is Affected by Training Intensity in Women Futsal Players

To find the relation between exercise and cytokines, we examined the effect of the training intensity on the levels of cytokines, including interferon-gamma (IFN-γ), interlukine-4 (IL-4) and interlukine-4/interferon-gamma ratio (IL-4/IFN-γ ratio) in female Futsal players. Twelve well-trained female college Futsal players aged 19~22 participated in this study. The athletes completed 30-min of running at 60~65% maximal heart rate [moderate-intensity exercise], and 30-min of running at 75~80% maximal heart rate [high-intensity exercise]. peripheral blood samples were collected 24 h before and 24 h and 48 h after each of the exercise bouts. finding showed that The 30-min bout of moderate-intensity exercise induced a significant increase in IFN-γ (p=0.01) and significant decreases in IL-4 (p=0.001) and IL-4/IFN-γ ratio (p=0.003). And also, 30-min of running at 75~80% maximal heart rate induced increase in IFN-γ (p=0.07) and decreased in IL-4 (p=0.01) and IL-4/IFN-γ ratio (p=0.06) that these changes not significantly. In summary, exercise intensity can effect on the magnitude of changes in cytokines. It seems that moderate intensity exercise enhances cytokine pattern in female college Futsal players.
Single and Multi-Criteria Ranking of Mutual Fund Schemes

We evaluate the performance of 21 equity (growth) funds using data envelopment analysis (DEA), Semi-Standard Deviation, Negative Potential Measure, and Morning Star Methodology. The results are compared with those obtained using conventional performance evaluation methods of Sharpe, Treynor, and Jensen. DEA is a multi input-output analytical tool, which includes transaction costs, diversification efficiency, and fund manager's stock selection skills in addition to risk and return. Semi-standard deviation and Negative Potential are modified risk measures which reflect a fund's downside risk only. We use two evaluation windows of 1997 - 2000 and 2001 - 2004 to analyze rank migration, and 5 investment horizons of 1, 3, 6, 12 and 24 months to include preferences of different investors.
Career Academies: Partnerships for Reconstructing American High Schools

Part One: New Directions for High Schools 1. High School: Demand for a New Design 2. The Career Academy Model 3. Evolution of the Academy Movement 4. Evaluating the Academies Part Two: Creating a Career Academy 5. Procedures, Problems, and Principles 6. Forging Partnerships Between Schools and Employers 7. Building on Local Strengths: Examples from Four Districts Part Three: The Future 8. Academies and the Reconstruction of American High Schools
Spontaneous Brain Activity in Type 2 Diabetics Revealed by Amplitude of Low-Frequency Fluctuations and Its Association with Diabetic Vascular Disease: A Resting-State fMRI Study

Purpose To investigate correlations between altered spontaneous brain activity, diabetic vascular disease, and cognitive function for patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). Methods Rs-fMRI was performed for T2DM patients (n = 26) and age-, gender-, and education-matched non-diabetic control subjects (n = 26). Amplitude of low frequency fluctuations (ALFF) were computed from fMRI signals to measure spontaneous neuronal activity. Differences in the ALFF patterns between patients and controls, as well as their correlations with clinical variables, were evaluated. Results Compared with healthy controls, T2DM patients exhibited significantly decreased ALFF values mainly in the frontal and parietal lobes, the bilateral thalumi, the posterior lobe of the cerebellum, and increased ALFF values mainly in the visual cortices. Furthermore, lower ALFF values in the left subcallosal gyrus correlated with lower ankle-brachial index values (r = 0.481, p = 0.020), while lower ALFF values in the bilateral medial prefrontal gyri correlated with higher urinary albumin-creatinine ratio (r = −0.418, p = 0.047). In addition, most of the regions with increased ALFF values in the visual cortices were found to negatively correlate with MoCA scores. Conclusions These results confirm that ALFF are altered in many brain regions in T2DM patients, and this is associated with the presence of diabetic vascular disease and poor cognitive performance. These findings may provide additional insight into the neurophysiological mechanisms that mediate T2DM-related cognitive dysfunction, and may also serve as a reference for future research.
Storage strategies for collections in dynamically typed languages

Dynamically typed language implementations often use more memory and execute slower than their statically typed cousins, in part because operations on collections of elements are unoptimised. This paper describes storage strategies, which dynamically optimise collections whose elements are instances of the same primitive type. We implement storage strategies in the PyPy virtual machine, giving a performance increase of 18% on wide-ranging benchmarks of real Python programs. We show that storage strategies are simple to implement, needing only 1500LoC in PyPy, and have applicability to a wide range of virtual machines.
Accurate Image Noise Level Estimation through DCT Transformation and Approximation by Chi-Square Distribution

Accurate noise level estimation is a very important step for many image denoising and computer vision tasks. So far the key idea of most methods is to separate the noise-free image part from noisy images and then use the noise part to estimate noise level. But the noise part usually still contains some image content, which often causes biased estimation results, especially in the low noise situation. In this paper, we propose a novel noise level estimation method. This method first uses the DCT basis to approximate the noise-free image part, then uses the ? 2 distribution to approximate the local noise variance. Contrary to the conventional idea that the noise residual approximation can not produce accurate estimates, we show that because of the good approximation capability of the DCT basis for natural image content and the ? 2 distribution approximation used in the statistical inference, it is possible to achieve more accurate image noise estimation results than most sophisticated state-of-the-art methods especially at low noise level which is more meaningful. Experiments results confirm the advantages of the proposed approach.
A Short Note for Nonlocal TV Minimization

This is a short note to explain how to efficiently minimize the nonlocal Total Variation (NLTV) energy. The method is based on the Split-Bregman (SB), introduced by Goldstein-Osher in [8], and extended to a nonlocal/graph version by Zhang-Burger-Bresson-Osher in [13]. For the 256 × 256 Barbara picture, the computation of weights takes around 1 second for a patch size 5 × 5 and a search window 11 × 11 and the NLTV minimization takes less 2 seconds. So, the total time for an image 256× 256 for the NLTV minimization is less than 3 seconds. For the 512 × 512 Barbara picture, patch 5×5, window search 13×13, the weight computation takes 7 seconds and the NLTV minimization 8 seconds. We also compare the SB version of NLTV with the dual version of NLTV, the NLH, and the NL-Means. Experiments show that the SB-NLTV provides the best denoising result.
Phase of menstrual cycle affects lysine requirement in healthy women.

The aim of this study was to investigate whether the phases of the menstrual cycle affect lysine requirement in healthy adult females, as determined by the indicator amino acid oxidation (IAAO) method. Five healthy females with regular menstrual cycles were studied at seven graded levels of lysine intake, in random order, with an oral [13C]phenylalanine tracer protocol in both the follicular and luteal phases. A total of 14 studies were conducted for each subject. Breath and plasma samples were collected according to the standard IAAO protocol. Serum 17beta-estradiol and progesterone concentrations were measured on each IAAO study day. The rate of release of 13CO2 from [13C]phenylalanine oxidation (F13CO2) was measured, and a two-phase linear regression crossover model was applied to determine lysine requirement. F13CO2 was higher during the luteal phase (P < 0.001) and was positively associated with serum concentrations of 17beta-estradiol and progesterone. The F13CO2 data were adjusted for subjects and sex hormones and used to define breakpoints for lysine requirements. The lysine requirement of healthy females in the luteal phase was 37.7 mg.kg(-1). day(-1) and higher (P = 0.025) than that of females in the follicular phase (35.0 mg.kg(-1). day(-1)). At all lysine intake levels, plasma amino acids were lower and phenylalanine oxidation was higher in the luteal relative to the follicular phase. Therefore, we reason that the higher lysine requirement observed in the luteal phase is probably due to higher amino acid catabolism.