Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Negative refraction power causes underestimation of peripapillary retinal nerve fibre layer thickness in spectral-domain optical coherence tomography

Background/aims Although studies using optical coherence tomography (OCT) reported that the retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL) thickness of myopic eyes was thinner than those of normal controls, it was unclear if this finding indicated the difference in actual structural thickness or that created by sources affecting accuracy of OCT measurement. This study's aim was to evaluate the effect of refraction power on the measurement of the RNFL thickness using spectral-domain OCT. Methods OCT scans to measure RNFL thickness were repeated in 15 cycloplegic eyes of 15 participants, while different refraction powers were induced by wearing soft contact lenses of eight different dioptres (−6 to +8). Results Measured RNFL thicknesses decreased significantly with soft contact lenses of higher plus dioptres and increased with those of more minus dioptres. This finding was consistent with or without controlling factors including the signal strength and test–retest variability of the machine. Measurement of peripapillary RNFL thicknesses was not varied between scans performed with and without plano contact lenses. Conclusions In spectral-domain OCT, RNFL thickness was underestimated in eyes with increasing negative refraction power and overestimated with increasing positive refraction power.
Preoperative CA-125 Levels in 123 Patients With Borderline Ovarian Tumors: A Retrospective Analysis and Review of the Literature

We studied preoperative CA-125 levels of 123 patients with borderline ovarian tumors (BOTs) and performed an analysis with data of earlier published studies. CA-125 levels were compared according to histology and stage of disease. Preoperative serum CA-125 levels were significantly higher for patients with advanced stage (median, 181 U/mL; range, 413 U/mL) compared with patients with stage I (median, 28 U/mL; range, 1123 U/mL) BOTs and for patients with serous (median, 59 U/mL; range, 1119 U/mL) compared with patients with mucinous (median, 25 U/mL; range, 371 U/mL) BOTs (both P < 0.001, Mann-Whitney U test). A pooled analysis of 3 studies and the present study showed positive rates of CA-125 (value >35 U/mL) in 171 (53%) of 325 patients with BOTs. Positive rates were more often found in patients with serous (67%) compared with patients with mucinous BOTs (39%) and in patients with advanced stage (83%) compared with patients with stage I BOTs (47%) (both P < 0.001, Pearson &khgr;2 test). This main effect was also found for each individual study of the pooled analysis. From a clinical perspective, we believe, on base of the results of this study and the literature, that preoperative discrimination using CA-125 level is especially difficult between patients with stage I ovarian cancer and the group of patients with serous and/or advanced-stage BOTs.
Dynastic Management

The most striking difference in corporate‐governance arrangements between rich and poor countries is that the latter rely much more heavily on the dynastic family firm, where ownership and control are passed on from one generation to the other. We argue that if the heir to the family firm has no talent for managerial decision making, dynastic management is a failure of meritocracy that reduces a firm's total factor productivity (TFP). We present a simple model that studies the macroeconomic causes and consequences of dynastic management. In our model, the incidence of dynastic management depends, among other factors, on the imperfections of contractual enforcement. A plausible calibration suggests that, via dynastic management, poor contract enforcement may be a substantial contributor to observed cross‐country differences in aggregate TFP.
Sensitivity Analysis for Averaged Asset Price Dynamics with Gamma Processes

The main purpose of this paper is to derive unbiased Monte Carlo estimators of various sensitivity indices for an averaged asset price dynamics governed by the gamma Lévy process. The key idea is to apply a scaling property of the gamma process with respect to the Esscher density transform parameter. Our framework covers not only the continuous Asian option, but also European, discrete Asian, average strike Asian, weighted average, spread options, and geometric average Asian options. Numerical results are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of our formulas in Monte Carlo simulations, relative to finite difference approximation.
Schwann cell precursors transplanted into the injured spinal cord multiply, integrate and are permissive for axon growth

There is a strong current interest in the use of cell transplantation for the treatment of spinal cord injuries. We report here the novel and potentially useful properties of an early cell in the Schwann cell lineage, the Schwann cell precursor (SCP). The experiments reveal a striking difference between these cells and Schwann cells when transplanted into the CNS. Unlike Schwann cells, SCPs thrive in the CNS where they initially proliferate rapidly but then fall out of division, thus effectively filling up the large cystic cavities formed following crush injury, while avoiding tumor formation. By 8 weeks, SCPs had started to express S100β protein, a marker that differentiates Schwann cells from SCPs and had formed an apparently stable, vascularized cell mass, which created a continuous cellular bridge across the cystic cavities. The formation of the surrounding glial scar was reduced by local spread of the transplanted cells into the surrounding CNS tissue, where the cells integrated intimately with astrocytes and attenuated the physical barrier they normally form. SCP transplantation also altered and reduced the expression of chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans around the injury site. Caudal to the SCP transplants there was a large increase in the number of axons, compared with that seen in nontransplanted control tissue, showing that the implants effectively support axonal growth or sprouting. SCPs have advantageous attributes for CNS repair, despite the fact that sticky tape removal and ladder crossing tests at 8 weeks did not reveal significant functional improvements when compared with control animals. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Quantitative study of fungiform papillae and taste buds on the cat's tongue

The number of fungiform papillae has been counted on the tongues of six adult cats and of kittens both at birth and aged 2 and 4 months. Papillae were sampled from different regions of the tongue, and their size and the number of taste buds they contained were determined using histological sections taken parallel to the tongue surface. There were approximately 250 fungiform papillae on the tongues of the adult cats, the papillae were most numerous at the tip of the tongue, and there was no significant difference between the number of papillae on each side. The size of the papillae increased from a mean maximum diameter of 0.28 mm at the tip of the tongue to 0.48 mm at the back; the mean number of taste buds increased correspondingly from 6.9 to 16.6. The kitten tongues had a number and distribution of fungiform papillae similar to that found in the adults. In the neonate, papillae were smaller and contained fewer taste buds; these parameters increased with the corresponding increase in tongue size in the 2‐ and 4‐month‐old kittens.
Use of Mannequin-Based Simulation to Decrease Student Anxiety Prior to Interacting With Male Teaching Associates

Background: Previous studies have compared the usefulness of teaching associates versus mannequin trainers for learning physical exam skills. Little work has been done to assess the usefulness of mannequin trainers prior to students’ interaction with teaching associates. Purpose: We studied the effects of mannequin-based simulators on student comfort levels toward learning the male genitourinary examination. Methods: First-year medical students (N = 346) were surveyed before and after a mannequin-based curriculum to assess their comfort levels toward learning the male genitourinary examination. Results: The mannequin-based curriculum significantly increased (p < .001) student comfort levels toward the male genitourinary exam. However, the pre–post improvements were small, and on average students only progressed from being “very uncomfortable” to “somewhat comfortable. ” The intimate nature of the examination was the top cause of anxiety toward learning the male genitourinary exam. Students were least comfortable with the digital rectal examination at the beginning of class. Conclusions: We suggest that mannequin-based simulators be used prior to students’ experience with male teaching associates when learning the male genitourinary exam.
Minimizing completion time of a program by checkpointing and rejuvenation

Checkpointing with rollback-recovery is a well known technique to reduce the completion time of a program in the presence of failures. While checkpointing is corrective in nature, rejuvenation refers to preventive maintenance of software aimed to reduce unexpected failures mostly resulting from the "aging" phenomenon. In this paper, we show how both these techniques may be used together to further reduce the expected completion time of a program. The idea of using checkpoints to reduce the amount of rollback upon a failure is taken a step further by combining it with rejuvenation. We derive the equations for expected completion time of a program with finite failure free running time for the following three cases when; (a) neither checkpointing nor rejuvenation is employed, (b) only checkpointing is employed, and finally (c) both checkpointing and rejuvenation are employed.We also present numerical results for Weibull failure time distribution for the above three cases and discuss optimal checkpointing and rejuvenation that minimizes the expected completion time. Using the numerical results, some interesting conclusions are drawn about benefits of these techniques in relation to the nature of failure distribution.
Beyond self-monitoring: understanding non-functional aspects of home-based healthcare technology

Monitoring of health parameters in non-clinical settings is one strategy to address the increasingly aging population and age-related disabilities and diseases. However, challenges exist when introducing self-monitoring activities in people's everyday life. An active lifestyle can challenge the appropriation of healthcare technologies and people with comorbidity may have diverse but co-existing monitoring needs. In this paper, we seek to understand home-based health monitoring practices to better design and integrate them into people's everyday life. We perform an analysis of socio-technical complexities in home-based healthcare technologies through three case studies of self-monitoring: 1) pre-eclampsia (i.e. pregnancy poisoning), 2) heart conditions, and 3) preventive care. Through the analysis seven themes emerged (people, resources, places, routines, knowledge, control and motivation) that can facilitate the understanding of home-based healthcare activities. We present three modes of self-monitoring use and provide a set of design recommendations for future Ubicomp designs of home-based healthcare technology.
Consistent optimization of AMS by logistic loss minimization

In this paper, we theoretically justify an approach popular among participants of the Higgs Boson Machine Learning Challenge to optimize approximate median significance (AMS). The approach is based on the following two-stage procedure. First, a real-valued function is learned by minimizing a surrogate loss for binary classification, such as logistic loss, on the training sample. Then, a threshold is tuned on a separate validation sample, by direct optimization of AMS. We show that the regret of the resulting (thresholded) classifier measured with respect to the squared AMS, is upperbounded by the regret of the underlying real-valued function measured with respect to the logistic loss. Hence, we prove that minimizing logistic surrogate is a consistent method of optimizing AMS.
Effects of Triclocarban on Intact Immature Male Rat

Triclocarban (TCC; 3,4,4′-trichlorocarbanilide) is an antimicrobial agent used widely in various personal hygiene products including soaps. Recently, TCC has been shown to enhance testosterone-induced effects in vitro and to enlarge accessory sex organs in castrated male rats. This study was designed to evaluate the effects of TCC on intact age-matched male rats and on human prostate LNCaP and C4–2B cells. Seven-week-old male Sprague-Dawley rats received either a normal diet or a diet supplemented with TCC (0.25% in diet) for 10 days. Triclocarban induced hyperplasia of accessory sex organs in the absence of significant qualitative histological changes. Serum luteinizing hormone (LH) and testosterone were not significantly altered by TCC treatment. In prostate cancer-derived LNCaP and C4–2B cells, TCC potentiated androgen actions via androgen receptor-dependent actions. In conclusion, TCC significantly affects intact male reproductive organs and potentiates androgen effects in prostate cancer cells.
A Summary on Fuzzy Probability Theory

Fuzzy probability theory is an extension of probability theory to dealing with mixed probabilistic/non-probabilistic uncertainty. It provides a theoretical basis to model uncertainty which is only partly characterized by randomness and defies a pure probabilistic modeling with certainty due to a lack of trustworthiness or precision of the data or a lack of pertinent information. The fuzzy probabilistic model is settled between the probabilistic model and non-probabilistic uncertainty models. The significance of fuzzy probability theory lies in the treatment of the elements of a population not as crisp quantities but as set-valued quantities or granules in an imprecise manner, which largely complies with reality in most everyday situations. Probabilistic and non-probabilistic uncertainty and imprecision can so be transferred adequately and separately to the results of a subsequent analysis. This enables best case and worst case estimates in terms of probability taking account of variations within the inherent non-probabilistic uncertainty. The development of fuzzy probability theory was initiated by H. Kwakernaak with the introduction of fuzzy random variables in [15] in 1978. The usefulness of the theory has been underlined with various applications beyond mathematics and computer science. An increasing interest in fuzzy probabilities and related concepts has been developed, in particular, in engineering. In this summary, a general introduction to fuzzy probability theory is given. Detailed mathematical descriptions and discussions in an engineering context are provided in [1].
Esmolol prevents movement and attenuates the BIS response to orotracheal intubation.

BACKGROUND Beta-adrenergic agonists enhance behavioural and electroencephalographic arousal reactions. We explored whether adding esmolol, a short-acting beta(1)-adrenoceptor antagonist, to propofol anaesthesia modified the bispectral index (BIS) during induction of anaesthesia and orotracheal intubation. METHODS Fifty patients were randomly allocated, in a double-blind fashion, to receive esmolol 1 mg kg(-1) followed by 250 micro g kg(-1) min(-1) or saline (control). Esmolol or saline was started 6 min after a target-controlled infusion (TCI) of propofol (effect-site concentration 4 micro g ml(-1)). After loss of consciousness, and before administration of vecuronium 0.1 mg kg(-1), a tourniquet was applied to one arm and inflated to 150 mm Hg greater than systolic pressure. Eleven minutes after the TCI began, the trachea was intubated; gross movement within the first min after orotracheal intubation was recorded. BIS was recorded at 10-s intervals. Mean arterial pressure (MAP) and heart rate were measured non-invasively every min. RESULTS There were no intergroup differences in BIS, heart rate or MAP before laryngoscopy. BIS increased significantly after orotracheal intubation (compared with the pre-laryngoscopy values) in the control group only, with a maximum increase of 40 (SD 18)% vs 8 (11)% in the esmolol group (P<0.01). Maximum changes in heart rate [45 (19)% vs 23 (14)%] and MAP [62 (24)% vs 45 (23)%] with orotracheal intubation were also significantly greater in the control group than in the esmolol group. More patients in the control than in the esmolol group moved after orotracheal intubation (23 vs 12, P<0.01). CONCLUSION Esmolol not only attenuated haemodynamic and somatic responses to laryngoscopy and orotracheal intubation, but also prevented BIS arousal reactions in patients anaesthetized with propofol.
Exploring the Ecological Validity of Thinking on Demand: Neural Correlates of Elicited vs. Spontaneously Occurring Inner Speech

Psychology and cognitive neuroscience often use standardized tasks to elicit particular experiences. We explore whether elicited experiences are similar to spontaneous experiences. In an MRI scanner, five participants performed tasks designed to elicit inner speech (covertly repeating experimenter-supplied words), inner seeing, inner hearing, feeling, and sensing. Then, in their natural environments, participants were trained in four days of random-beep-triggered Descriptive Experience Sampling (DES). They subsequently returned to the scanner for nine 25-min resting-state sessions; during each they received four DES beeps and described those moments (9 × 4 = 36 moments per participant) of spontaneously occurring experience. Enough of those moments included spontaneous inner speech to allow us to compare brain activation during spontaneous inner speech with what we had found in task-elicited inner speech. ROI analysis was used to compare activation in two relevant areas (Heschl’s gyrus and left inferior frontal gyrus). Task-elicited inner speech was associated with decreased activation in Heschl’s gyrus and increased activation in left inferior frontal gyrus. However, spontaneous inner speech had the opposite effect in Heschl’s gyrus and no significant effect in left inferior frontal gyrus. This study demonstrates how spontaneous phenomena can be investigated in MRI and calls into question the assumption that task-created phenomena are often neurophysiologically and psychologically similar to spontaneously occurring phenomena.
New techniques to speed up voltage collapse computations using tangent vectors

This paper discusses various methods based on power network partitioning and voltage stability indices to accelerate the computation of voltage collapse points using continuation techniques. Partitioning methods derived from right eigenvector and tangent vector information are thoroughly studied, identifying limitations and probable application areas; a mixed partition-reduction technique is then proposed to reduce computational burden. Also, tangent vectors are used to define a clustering method for the identification at any operating condition of the critical area at the collapse point, and a new voltage stability index is defined based on the identification of this critical area. Finally, a predictor-corrector methodology based on this index and the continuation method is proposed for fast computations of voltage collapse points. All the different methods are compared based on the results obtained for the IEEE 300-bus test system, and a methodology is recommended based on its prospective computational savings.
Learning the Phonological Forms of New Words: Effects of Orthographic and Auditory Input

We investigated the relationship between the phonological and orthographic representations of new words for adult learners. Three groups of native English speakers learned a set of auditorily-presented pseudowords along with pictures indicating their “meanings”. They were later tested on their memory of the words via an auditory word—picture matching test. While all three groups of participants heard the same auditory stimuli and saw the same pictures, the groups differed with respect to the written stimuli that accompanied each item during training. Some participants were presented with written forms for the auditory labels that were consistent with English spelling conventions (e.g., spelled form , auditory form [k m d]), while others saw written forms that were not consistent with English spelling conventions (e.g., spelled form , auditory form [k m d]), and a third group of participants was presented with no written forms. Participants who saw written forms that were not consistent with English spelling conventions showed interference from the words’ spelled forms at test. This finding provides evidence for a relationship between orthographic and phonological representations for newly-learned words.
Tetrahymena: An Alternative Model Host for Evaluating Virulence of Aeromonas Strains

An easier assessment model would be helpful for high-throughput screening of Aeromonas virulence. The previous study indicated the potential of Tetrahymena as a permissive model to examine virulence of Aeromonas hydrophila. Here our aim was to assess virulence of Aeromonas spp. using two model hosts, a zebrafish assay and Tetrahymena-Aeromonas co-culture, and to examine whether data from the Tetrahymena thermophila model reflects infections in the well-established animal model. First, virulence of 39 Aeromonas strains was assessed by determining the 50% lethal dose (LD50) in zebrafish. LD50 values ranging from 1.3×102 to 3.0×107 indicated that these strains represent a high to moderate degree of virulence and could be useful to assess virulence in the Tetrahymena model. In Tetrahymena-Aeromonas co-culture, we evaluated the virulence of Aeromonas by detecting relative survival of Aeromonas and Tetrahymena. An Aeromonas isolate was considered virulent when its relative survival was greater than 60%, while the Aeromonas isolate was considered avirulent if its relative survival was below 40%. When relative survival of T. thermophila was lower than 40% after co-culture with an Aeromonas isolate, the bacterial strain was regarded as virulent. In contrast, the strain was classified as avirulent if relative survival of T. thermophila was greater than 50%. Encouragingly, data from the 39 Aeromonas strains showed good correlation in zebrafish and Tetrahymena-Aeromonas co-culture models. The results provide sufficient data to demonstrate that Tetrahymena can be a comparable alternative to zebrafish for determining the virulence of Aeromonas isolates.