Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Patient selection for corneal collagen cross-linking: an updated review

Corneal cross-linking (CXL) is an option that in the last decade has demonstrated its efficacy and safety in halting the progression of keratoconus (KCN) and other corneal ectasias. Its indication has been extended beyond the classic definition that required evidence of KCN progression, especially in the presence of some risk factors for a possible progression (particularly the younger age). However, the results can be still somewhat variable today. There are several protocols, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. Some predictors of CXL outcome have been identified. We will review the current knowledge on patient selection for CXL, its indications, and options in special cases (such as thin corneas).
Antioxidant Activity in the Newborn Brain: A Luciferase Mouse Model

Introduction: Oxidative stress in the newborn period may cause cell injury and inflammation if the antioxidant capacity is insufficient. To monitor antioxidant and inflammatory activity we examined by in vivo imaging various strains of luciferase reporter mice whose light-emitting properties were regulated by response elements or complete promoters related to oxidative stress and/or inflammation. The aim of this study is to present a model that can monitor genetic activity in vivo during pregnancy and the first 10 days of life. Methods: One mouse strain reports the activity of nuclear factor-ĸB (NF-ĸB) activity, a transcription factor essential for modulating inflammation, apoptosis, differentiation and cell growth. A second mouse strain reports on superoxide dismutase 1-promoter activity. A third strain reports the promoter activity of γ-glutamylcysteine synthetase, the rate limiting enzyme in glutathione production, and the last strain reports on antioxidant responsive element (ARE)/electrophil responsive element. Wild-type female mice mated with NF-ĸB mice were imaged through pregnancy to monitor intrauterine NF-ĸB activation. Results: Intrauterine NF-ĸB activity increased dramatically from day 17 towards labor. During the first 4 days of life luminescence measured was intense in all mice with distinct strain differences. All strains had high luminescence levels at day 1 and a considerably lower level at day 10. Conclusion: This model allows investigation of the transcriptional regulation of key proteins related to oxidative stress and inflammation in pregnancy and the first days of life. With very little stress to the newborn animals genetic activity can be monitored day by day.
Knowledge Management ’ s Strategy Taxonomy

Based on the C 3 EEP framework we propose a taxonomy of Knowledge Management (KM) strategies companies can use. The article will present the current stage of the taxonomy. We currently have six frameworks of two*by*two KM strategies. Based on our early studies, a framework for KM strategy will also be proposed. In addition, we will present early findings connecting the taxonomies and the framework to outcomes. Future research opportunities will be identified.
Molecular cloning of the complete genome of strain GDVII of Theiler's virus and production of infectious transcripts

We constructed a complete cDNA clone of strain GDVII of Theiler's virus in Bluescript plasmid. This recombinant plasmid, called pTMGDVII, was used to synthesize full-length RNA transcripts of the viral insert. This RNA was infectious for BHK cells. Virus R1-GDVII, obtained from transfected BHK cells, caused rapidly fatal encephalomyelitis in BALB/c mice. High amounts of viral antigens were present in neurons. No antigens were found in white matter. Therefore, the phenotype of R1-GDVII was indistinguishable from that of genuine GDVII Theiler's virus.
Helminth fauna of Nicaragua. 3. Some acanthocephala of birds, including three new species of Centrorhynchus.

Acanthocephala collected from birds of El Recreo, Zelaya, Nicaragua are reported. Descriptions of new species include Centrorhynchus kuntzi sp. n. from Buteo magnirostris, C. nicaraguensis sp. n. from Dromococcyx phasianellus, and C. crotophagicola sp. n. from Crotophaga sulcirostris and Piaya cayana. Centrorhynchus albidus Nleyer, 1932 is redescribed from one male specimen found in Ictinia plumbea, and C. sp. is reported from Tyto alba. Ltueheia inscripta (Westrumb, 1821) Travassos 1919 is reported for the first time from Turdus grayi. One hundred and sixty-seven birds representing 84 genera and 35 families were examined for helminth parasites by the junior author in June and July 1954. These birds were collected at the agricultural experiment station at El Recreo, Zelaya, Nicaragua on the Rio Escondido. The present paper presents a report of the Acanthocephala recovered from these birds. Drawings were made with the aid of a camera lucida and microprojector. All measurements are in microns unless otherwise
Communication-Efficient Distributed Stochastic Gradient Descent with Butterfly Mixing

Stochastic gradient descent is a widely used method to find locally-optimal models in machine learning and data mining. However, it is naturally a sequential algorithm, and parallelization involves severe compromises because the cost of synchronizing across a cluster is much larger than the time required to compute an optimal-sized gradient step. Here we explore butterfly mixing, where gradient steps are interleaved with the k stages of a butterfly network on 2k nodes. Udp based butterfly mix steps should be extremely fast and failure-tolerant, and convergence is almost as fast as a full mix (AllReduce) on every step.
Target definition for shipwreck hunting

The research described in the present article was implemented to define the locations of two World War II shipwrecks, the German raider Kormoran, and the Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney. The paper describes the long and complex trail that led through inefficient oceanographic prediction to ambiguous historical prediction involving a single report and on to precise cognitive prediction based on nine reports from more than 70 survivors, a process that yielded a single target position or “mean” just 2.7 NM (nautical miles) from the wreck of Kormoran. Prediction for the position of the wreck of Sydney opened with wishful thinking that she had somehow reached the coast more than 100 NM away when cognitive analysis of the survivor's reports actually provided the basis for accurate prediction in a position near to the wreck of Kormoran. In the account provided below, the focus on cognitive procedures emerged from, first, a review of a sample of the shipwreck hunts, and, second, growing awareness of the extraordinarily rich database available for this search, and the extent to which it was open to cognitive analysis. This review touches on both the trans-disciplinary and the cognitive or intra-disciplinary issues that so challenged the political entities responsible for supervising of the search for the wrecks of Kormoran and Sydney. One of the theoretical questions that emerged from these debate concerns the model of expertise advanced by Collins (2013). The decomposability of alleged forms of expertise is revealed as a fundamental problem for research projects that might or might not benefit from trans-disciplinary research. Where expertise can be decomposed for operational purposes, the traditional dividing lines between experts and novices, and fools for that matter, are much harder to discern, and require advanced and scientifically informed review.
Lung protective strategies in anaesthesia

Summary Patients are at risk for several types of lung injury in the perioperative period including atelectasis, pneumonia, pneumothorax, acute lung injury, and acute respiratory distress syndrome. Anaesthetic management can cause, exacerbate, or ameliorate these injuries. This review examines the effects of perioperative mechanical ventilation and its role in ventilator-induced lung injury. Lung protective ventilatory strategies to specific clinical situations such as cardiopulmonary bypass and one-lung ventilation along with newer novel lung protective strategies are discussed.
Power spectrum ranked independent component analysis of a periodic fMRI complex motor paradigm

Independent component analysis (ICA) has been demonstrated to be an effective data‐driven method for analyzing fMRI data. However, a method for objective differentiation of task‐related components from those that are artifactually non‐relevant is needed. We propose a method of constant‐cycle (periodic) fMRI task paradigm combined with ranking of spatial ICA components by the magnitude contribution of their temporal aspects to the fundamental task frequency. Power spectrum ranking shares some similarity to correlation with an a priori hemodynamic response, but without a need to presume an exact timing or duration of the fMRI response. When applied to a complex motor task paradigm with auditory cues, multiple task‐related activations are successfully identified and separated from artifactual components. These activations include sensorimotor, auditory, and superior parietal areas. Comparisons of task‐related component time courses indicate the temporal relationship of fMRI responses in functionally involved regions. Results indicate the sensitivity of ICA to short‐duration hemodynamics, and the efficacy of a power spectrum ranking method for identification of task‐related components. Hum. Brain Mapping 18:111–122, 2003. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Botulinum toxin for foot dystonia in patients with Parkinson's disease having deep brain stimulation: A case series and a pilot study.

BACKGROUND Six patients with Parkinson's disease with deep brain stimulation who were experiencing disabling foot dystonia were referred to the spasticity clinic for a trial of botulinum toxin. The foot and ankle muscles were injected with onabotulinum toxin (Botox) to determine the effects on foot dystonia, pain and lower limb functional outcomes. DESIGN Case series. SUBJECTS/PATIENTS Six patients with Parkinson's disease with deep brain stimulation experiencing disabling foot dystonia. METHODS Dystonic foot and ankle muscles were identified and injected with 250-400 units botulinum toxin and re-coded pre- and 3 weeks post-injection with the Burke Fahn Marsden Dystonia score, visual analogue score of pain, Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) - lower limb score, Timed up and Go test (TUG), 6-Minute Walk Test (6MWT), gait velocity, cadence in an instrumented walkway, and Goal Attainment Scale (GAS). RESULTS Three weeks after botulinum toxin injection, significant improvements were noted in dystonia, pain, UPDRS, 6MWT, gait velocity, and cadence. Five out of 6 patients improved on the TUG test. Patients also reported improvements in their GAS goals. CONCLUSION Botox injection significantly improved foot dystonia, pain and lower limb functional outcomes in patients with Parkinson's disease with deep brain stimulation.
Analysis of Innovative HVDC Control

HVDC control has much faster inherent capability of the response than the dynamic response of the AC system. The valve firing angle control has a transient response time of only few milliseconds with the accuracy of a fraction of an electrical degree for firing the converter valves. Consequently, the control can have a significant influence on the improvements of system stability e.g. fast power recovery after faults and quick response against the disturbances around the operating points. This paper introduces a new practical control concept to increase the performance of HVDC transmission. The studies are performed by the use of a back-to-back HVDC to compare the benefits of the new control concept with the conventional one during fault recovery. Furthermore, the comparisons of AC voltage transients between the use of the new and conventional control concept are investigated when fixed capacitor (FC) and fixed reactor (FR) are switched.
Phytostabilization of moderate copper contaminated soils using co‐inoculation of Vicia faba with plant growth promoting bacteria

There is a need to conduct research on the selection of microbial isolates from rhizosphere of plants growing on heavy metal contaminated soils for specific restoration programs. This article suggest a consortium of bacteria combining Rhizobium sp. CCNWSX0481, Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. viciae, Enterobacter cloacae and Pseudomonas sp. 2(2010) that was examined for the ability to promote Vicia faba.L. growth when cultivated on the vineyard of soil moderately contaminated with copper. Data showed that inoculation was significant in nodulation; it increases the number and the weight of nodules of 50%. Co‐inoculation was also found to positively influence growth and seed yield, through increasing fresh shoot and fresh root weights by 33 and 26%, respectively, and through rising numbers of seed per pod and pods per plant. In contrast, co‐inoculation produced a significant reduction of accumulated copper in roots attending 35%, however, the treatment revealed no significant effects on the copper contents in pods and seeds. The tested inoculum could be an option to promote V. faba growth and to enhance soil fertilization in moderate copper contaminated soils. Further studies on the influence of co‐inoculation practices on copper migration in soil‐plant systems are recommended to acquire more information for evaluation of this legume safety.
Parameter optimization for passive spinal exoskeletons based on experimental data and optimal control

Designing an exoskeleton to reduce the risk of low-back injury and to alleviate low-back pain is challenging. Individualizing the support provided to each user is an additional challenge. Subject-specific models of the human body and the exoskeleton combined with movement analysis can support the design process. Here, we utilize experimental data of lifting motions of several subjects to optimize spring characteristics of a spinal exoskeleton. We create subject-specific models of the human body and kinematically couple them with models of spinal exoskeletons. An optimal control approach is used to fit the motion of this combined model to that recorded from experiments, with the exoskeleton spring characteristics as free parameters to be optimized. Our results indicate that the combined human-exoskeleton model is able to track the recorded motions well. Based on the individual lifting styles, the support provided by the exoskeleton as well as the optimal spring stiffness vary across subjects. The computed interaction forces and moments between the human and the exoskeleton, are high on the exoskeleton pelvis module, as well as in the normal direction on the thigh module. The exoskeleton with the optimized spring characteristics could also provide a reduction of the lumbar and hip moments. This framework can be taken as a basis for virtual design and testing of exoskeletons before prototyping, and may be applied to various robotic-assisted human motions.
Pituitary Adenylate Cyclase Activating Polypeptide (PACAP) Pathway Is Induced by Mechanical Load and Reduces the Activity of Hedgehog Signaling in Chondrogenic Micromass Cell Cultures

Pituitary adenylate cyclase activating polypeptide (PACAP) is a neurohormone exerting protective function during various stress conditions either in mature or developing tissues. Previously we proved the presence of PACAP signaling elements in chicken limb bud-derived chondrogenic cells in micromass cell cultures. Since no data can be found if PACAP signaling is playing any role during mechanical stress in any tissues, we aimed to investigate its contribution in mechanotransduction during chondrogenesis. Expressions of the mRNAs of PACAP and its major receptor, PAC1 increased, while that of other receptors, VPAC1, VPAC2 decreased upon mechanical stimulus. Mechanical load enhanced the expression of collagen type X, a marker of hypertrophic differentiation of chondrocytes and PACAP addition attenuated this elevation. Moreover, exogenous PACAP also prevented the mechanical load evoked activation of hedgehog signaling: protein levels of Sonic and Indian Hedgehogs and Gli1 transcription factor were lowered while expressions of Gli2 and Gli3 were elevated by PACAP application during mechanical load. Our results suggest that mechanical load activates PACAP signaling and exogenous PACAP acts against the hypertrophy inducing effect of mechanical load.
Safe Update of Hybrid SDN Networks

The support for safe network updates, i.e., live modification of device behavior without service disruption, is a critical primitive for current and future networks. Several techniques have been proposed by previous works to implement such a primitive. Unfortunately, existing techniques are not generally applicable to any network architecture, and typically require high overhead (e.g., additional memory) to guarantee strong consistency (i.e., traversal of either initial or final paths, but never a mix of them) during the update. In this paper, we deeply study the problem of computing operational sequences to safely and quickly update arbitrary networks. We characterize cases, for which this computation is easy, and revisit previous algorithmic contributions in the new light of our theoretical findings. We also propose and thoroughly evaluate a generic sequence-computation approach, based on two new algorithms that we combine to overcome limitations of prior proposals. Our approach always finds an operational sequence that provably guarantees strong consistency throughout the update, with very limited overhead. Moreover, it can be applied to update networks running any combination of centralized and distributed control-planes, including different families of IGPs, OpenFlow or other SDN protocols, and hybrid SDN networks. Our approach therefore supports a large set of use cases, ranging from traffic engineering in IGP-only or SDN-only networks to incremental SDN roll-out and advanced requirements (e.g., per-flow path selection or dynamic network function virtualization) in partial SDN deployments.
Fatigue Resistance Assessed in Five Tasks for a Single Session of Sleep Deprivation

Abstract : To assess whether individuals (n=89) could be put on a trait dimension of fatigue resistance (c.f., Von Dongen, Maislin, & Dinges, 2004), we observed performance on cognitive tasks in a single 48-hour sustained-wake protocol. Individual differences in task performance were largest late in the protocol. Next we developed methods for classifying a participant as fatigue resistant or susceptible, as part of a larger project investigating genetic factors in fatigue-resistance. We considered a rule based on percent-change decrement with fatigue and another rule based on residuals of task performance predicted by (presumably non-genetic) sleep behaviors, which were shown to bias raw percent-change classifications. Classifications based on ranking residuals were less confounded by sleep behaviors than similar classifications based on percent change. Finally, we assessed the SAFTE fatigue model (Hursh, Redmond, Johnson, Thorne, Belenky, Balkin, Storm, Miller, Eddy, 2004) on sustained performance across the different tasks. While this model is a simulation theory of physiological fatigue, and as such task-independent, we discuss relatively simple ways to put theory and task performances on the same quantitative scale to assess model adequacy.
You just don't understand: women and men in conversation. morrow

Women and men live in different worlds.made of different words.Spending nearly four years on the New York Times bestseller list, including eight months at number one, You Just Don't Understand is a true cultural and intellectual phenomenon. This is the book that brought gender differences in ways of speaking to the forefront of public awareness. With a rare combination of scientific insight and delightful, humorous writing, Tannen shows why women and men can walk away from the same conversation with completely different impressions of what was said.Studded with lively and entertaining examples of real conversations, this book gives you the tools to understand what went wrong -- and to find a common language in which to strengthen relationships at work and at home. A classic in the field of interpersonal relations, this book will change forever the way you approach conversations.
Effects of feedback of information on clinical practice: a review.

OBJECTIVE--To establish what is known about the role of feedback of statistical information in changing clinical practice. DESIGN--Review of 36 studies of interventions entailing the use of statistical information for audit or practice review, which used a formal research design. SUBJECTS--Papers identified from computer searches of medical and health service management publications, of which 36 describing studies of interventions designed to influence clinical care and including information feedback from clinical or administrative data systems were reviewed. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES--Evidence for effect of information feedback on change in clinical practice. RESULTS--Information feedback was most likely to influence clinical practice if it was part of strategy to target decision makers who had already agreed to review their practice. A more direct effect was discernable if the information was presented close to the time of decision making. The questions of the optimum layout and quantity of information were not addressed; the 36 papers were insufficient for defining good formats for information to be used for audit or quality assurance. CONCLUSIONS--Given the cost of information processing and the current emphasis on closing the audit loop in the health services, it is important that the use of information in the audit process should be critically evaluated.
Daily variations of endolymph composition: relationship with the otolith calcification process in trout

SUMMARY Ionic and organic parameters of the otolith calcification process in the trout Oncorhynchus mykiss were analysed in plasma and endolymph over the day:night cycle. Plasma pH remained constant and total CO2 concentration was significantly lower (by 21%) during the day than at night. Calcifying parameters (total CO2, total calcium concentration) were measured in the proximal and distal endolymphs and were unchanged in the latter during the day:night cycle, but fluctuated in the former. Non-collagenous protein and collagen concentrations in endolymph were higher (1.5- and 10-fold, respectively) during the day than at night. As there was no change in total calcium concentration, we propose that Ca2+ increases during the dark period and was maximal by the end of the night when the total CO2 concentration has also increased (by 14%). Measurements of endolymph pH in situ revealed significant differences between samples from proximal and distal endolymph (7.38 and 7.87, respectively), but no variation between values obtained during the day and at night. Thus, the saturation state of aragonite (Sa) in the proximal endolymph should fluctuate around unity during the day:night cycle, and CaCO3 precipitation should occur when supersaturation is reached. The electrophoretic pattern of proximal endolymph showed variations in both major and minor components. Immunoblotting of endolymph, using a rabbit antiserum raised against the otolith soluble organic matrix revealed an increase in the expression of two proteins (65 kDa and 75 kDa) during the day period. We propose that organic matrix and calcium carbonate deposition on the otolith vary antiphasically: organic matrix deposition begins by the end of the day period, when the concentration of organic precursors is maximal in the endolymph, whereas CaCO3 precipitation starts once the solubility of CaCO3 is exceeded.