Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Childhood Eye Diseases in Southwestern Nigeria: A Tertiary Hospital Study

BACKGROUND Eye diseases are important cause of medical consultation in children, with the spectrum varying in different localities. This study aimed to determine the spectrum of childhood eye diseases in a tertiary hospital serving rural and semi-rural communities. METHODS We conducted a retrospective review of all patients less than 15 years old who presented to the eye clinic of Wesley Guild Hospital Ilesa, Nigeria between January 2001 and December 2006. Data on age at presentation, age at onset of disease, sex and diagnosis were collected and analyzed using SPSS. A p value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS We evaluated the reports of 286 children, with a male:female ratio of 1:1.1. Children aged 11–15 years made up the largest group (p=0.013). Ocular trauma (21.7%), allergic conjunctivitis (17.8%), infections of the eye and its adnexa (15.4%) and refractive errors (14.3%) were the most common conditions. Ocular injury was more common in males (p=0.002) and children aged 6–10 years, and 87.1% of these cases were a closed globe injury. Infections were seen more commonly among females and children aged 0–5 years, with keratitis representing 40.9% of these cases. Congenital eye disease represented 13.3% of childhood eye diseases. CONCLUSION The prevalent childhood eye diseases recorded here can lead to absenteeism from school and are potentially blinding. Health education aimed at the prevention of ocular trauma and prompt presentation for the management of other eye diseases should be encouraged.
Women Entrepreneurs and Financial Capital

This work examines gender differences among Canadian small and medium enterprise (SME) owners seeking external financing, including commercial debt, leasing, supplier financing, and equity capital after controlling for size and industry sector. The work also examines potential gender differences in owners’ strategic choices (application rates) and financiers’ evaluative responses (turndown rates). Contrary to previous work that did not control for size and sector of firm, women business owners were equally likely as men to seek all types of external financing, except for external equity capital. Business in which women held majority ownership were significantly less likely to seek equity capital even after controlling for systemic factors. Male and female business owners that do apply for financing were equally likely to obtain capital. When asked the reasons for not seeking financing, the majority of respondents, male and female, specified that financing was not needed. Recommendations about future research are advanced.
The Effect of Risk and Tax Differences on Corporate and Limited Partnership Capital Structure

This paper extends our understanding of capital structure differences across organizational form. We build on existing capital structure literature concerning partnership debt use and suggest that high business risk, in combination with general partner (GP) unlimited liability, explains cross-sectional differences in corporate and limited partnership (LP) debt levels. We find that when considered concomitantly with the tax explanation, the risk explanation is a significant factor explaining capital structure differences between LPs and corporations. Our contribution to the literature is demonstrating the combined effect of business risk and GP unlimited liability on an LP's capital structure across multiple industry groups.
Neural networks: What non-linearity to choose

Neural networks are now one of the most successful learning formalisms. Neurons transform inputs (x(sub 1),. ,x(sub n)) into an output f(w(sub 1)x(sub 1) + . + w(sub n)x(sub n)), where f is a non-linear function and w, are adjustable weights. What f to choose? Usually the logistic function is chosen, but sometimes the use of different functions improves the practical efficiency of the network. The problem of choosing f as a mathematical optimization problem is formulated and solved under different optimality criteria. As a result, a list of functions f that are optimal under these criteria are determined. This list includes both the functions that were empirically proved to be the best for some problems, and some new functions that may be worth trying.
The Fate of Patients with Solitary Pulmonary Nodules: Clinical Management and Radiation Exposure Associated

Background The appropriate management of the large number of lung nodules detected during the course of routine medical care presents a challenge. We aimed to evaluate the usual clinical practice in solitary pulmonary nodule (SPN) management and associated radiation exposure. Methods We examined 893 radiology reports of consecutive patients undergoing chest computed tomography (CT) and radiography at two public hospitals in Spain. Information on diagnostic procedures from SPN detection and lung cancer diagnosis was collected prospectively for 18 months. Results More than 20% of patients with SPN detected on either chest radiograph (19.8%) or CT (26.1%) underwent no additional interventions and none developed lung cancer (100% negative predictive value). 346 (72.0%) patients with SPN detected on chest radiograph and 254 (61.5%) patients with SPN detected on CT had additional diagnostic tests and were not diagnosed with lung cancer. In patients undergoing follow-up imaging for SPNs detected on CT median number of additional imaging tests was 3.5 and the mean cumulative effective dose was 24.4 mSv; for those detected on chest radiograph the median number of additional imaging tests was 2.8 and the mean cumulative effective dose was 10.3 mSv. Conclusions Patients who did not have additional interventions were not diagnosed of lung cancer. There was an excessive amount of interventions in a high percentage of patients presenting SPN, which was associated with an excess of radiation exposure.
The development of spatial behaviour and the hippocampal neural representation of space

The role of the hippocampal formation in spatial cognition is thought to be supported by distinct classes of neurons whose firing is tuned to an organism's position and orientation in space. In this article, we review recent research focused on how and when this neural representation of space emerges during development: each class of spatially tuned neurons appears at a different age, and matures at a different rate, but all the main spatial responses tested so far are present by three weeks of age in the rat. We also summarize the development of spatial behaviour in the rat, describing how active exploration of space emerges during the third week of life, the first evidence of learning in formal tests of hippocampus-dependent spatial cognition is observed in the fourth week, whereas fully adult-like spatial cognitive abilities require another few weeks to be achieved. We argue that the development of spatially tuned neurons needs to be considered within the context of the development of spatial behaviour in order to achieve an integrated understanding of the emergence of hippocampal function and spatial cognition.
Human primary visual cortex and lateral geniculate nucleus activation during visual imagery

THE functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) technique can be robustly used to map functional activation of the visual pathway including the primary visual cortex (V1), the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN), and other nuclei of humans during visual perception stimulation. One of the major controversies in visual neuroscience is whether lower-order visual areas involve the visual imagery process. This issue was examined using fMRI at high magnetic field. It was demonstrated for the first time that the LGN was activated during visual imagery process in the human brain together with V1 and other activation. There was a tight coupling of the activation between V1 and the LGN during visual imagery.
The Making of Modern Female Workers in Reemployment Programs in Post-Socialist China

Using the case of the Good-Heart Elder Home in Hangzhou, this study investigates the cultural meaning of reemployment programs for middle-aged, low-skilled women in contemporary China. The official discourse of the reemployment programs encourages disciplined and competitive workers and requires the women to abandon their habitus as familial home caregivers and formerly uncompetitive laborers under state socialism. The workers, however, embrace their role as skillful home caregivers to defend their autonomy and social values. This conflict is partially reconciled through informal relationships between the manager and the workers even though personal ties in the workplace are a feature of the socialist habitus that both the management and the workers regard as undesirable. Consideration of the mechanisms of habitus change and the ways in which female employees at the elder home resisted them raises questions about how well these reemployment programs fulfill their stated goals.
Role of Adenosine A1 Receptor in Angiotensin II- and Norepinephrine-Induced Renal Vasoconstriction

We investigated the contributions of adenosine A1 receptors to angiotensin II- and norepinephrine-induced renal vasoconstriction. Intrarenal administrations of angiotensin II (3, 10, and 30 ng) or norepinephrine (100 and 500 ng) produced dose-dependent renal vasoconstriction in anesthetized dogs. Under resting conditions, angiotensin II (30 ng) and norepinephrine (500 ng) significantly decreased renal blood flow by −43 ± 3 and −19 ± 2%, respectively (n = 21). Intra-arterial infusion of adenosine (5 μg/kg/min) significantly augmented renal blood flow responses to both angiotensin II and norepinephrine (−64 ± 4 and −45 ± 14%, n = 7). Renal blood flow responses to angiotensin II and norepinephrine were also augmented by inhibition of cellular uptake of adenosine with dipyridamole (10 μg/kg/min, n = 6). Blockade of adenosine A1 receptors with 8-(noradamantan-3-yl)-1,3-dipropylxanthine (KW-3902; 10 μg/kg/min) did not alter basal renal blood flow but significantly attenuated angiotensin II- and norepinephrine-induced renal vasoconstriction (−34 ± 6 and −9 ± 3%, n = 7). Furthermore, KW-3902 completely prevented augmentation of renal blood flow responses to angiotensin II and norepinephrine produced by adenosine or dipyridamole (n = 7 and 6, respectively). Administrations of angiotensin II (30 ng) or norepinephrine (500 ng) into the common carotid artery significantly decreased carotid blood flow by −20 ± 5 and −41 ± 10%, respectively; however, neither adenosine (5 μg/kg/min) nor KW-3902 (10 μg/kg/min) affected the carotid blood flow responses to angiotensin II and norepinephrine (n = 5, respectively). Adenosine concentrations in dialysates were not significantly changed by administrations of angiotensin II (from 19 ± 3 to 24 ± 4 nM, n = 6) or norepinephrine (from 16 ± 3 to 19 ± 3 nM,n = 6). These results suggest that basal interstitial adenosine levels influence both angiotensin II and norepinephrine-induced vasoconstriction via A1 receptors in the kidney but not in the area drained by the common carotid artery. The responses of adenosine to angiotensin II- and norepinephrine-induced renal vasoconstriction may not be mediated through de novo intrarenal adenosine accumulation due to angiotensin II- and norepinephrine-induced renal vasoconstriction.
Earth matter effects in supernova neutrinos: optimal detector locations

A model-independent experimental signature for flavour oscillations in the neutrino signal from the next Galactic supernova (SN) would be the observation of Earth matter effects. We calculate the probability for observing a Galactic SN shadowed by the Earth as a function of the detector’s geographic latitude. This probability depends only mildly on details of the Galactic SN distribution. A location at the North Pole would be optimal with a shadowing probability of about 60%, but a far-northern location such as Pyhäsalmi in Finland, the proposed site for a large-volume scintillator detector, is almost equivalent (58%). We also consider several pairs of detector locations and calculate the probability that only one of them is shadowed, allowing a comparison between a shadowed and a direct signal. For the South Pole combined with Kamioka, this probability is almost 75%; for the South Pole combined with Pyhäsalmi, it is almost 90%. One particular scenario consists of a large-volume scintillator detector located in Pyhäsalmi to measure the geo-neutrino flux in a continental location and another such detector in Hawaii to measure it in an oceanic location. The probability that only one of them is shadowed exceeds 50%, whereas the probability that at least one is shadowed is about 80%. We provide an online tool to calculate different shadowing probabilities for the one- and two-detector cases.
A Visualizable Evidence-Driven Approach for Authorship Attribution

The Internet provides an ideal anonymous channel for concealing computer-mediated malicious activities, as the network-based origins of critical electronic textual evidence (e.g., emails, blogs, forum posts, chat logs, etc.) can be easily repudiated. Authorship attribution is the study of identifying the actual author of the given anonymous documents based on the text itself, and for decades, many linguistic stylometry and computational techniques have been extensively studied for this purpose. However, most of the previous research emphasizes promoting the authorship attribution accuracy, and few works have been done for the purpose of constructing and visualizing the evidential traits. In addition, these sophisticated techniques are difficult for cyber investigators or linguistic experts to interpret. In this article, based on the End-to-End Digital Investigation (EEDI) framework, we propose a visualizable evidence-driven approach, namely VEA, which aims at facilitating the work of cyber investigation. Our comprehensive controlled experiment and the stratified experiment on the real-life Enron email dataset demonstrate that our approach can achieve even higher accuracy than traditional methods; meanwhile, its output can be easily visualized and interpreted as evidential traits. In addition to identifying the most plausible author of a given text, our approach also estimates the confidence for the predicted result based on a given identification context and presents visualizable linguistic evidence for each candidate.
Board composition, ownership structure and dividend policies in an emerging market: Further evidence from CASE 50

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to examine dividend policies in an emerging capital market, in a country undergoing a transitional period. Design/methodology/approach - Using pooled cross-sectional observations from the top 50 listed Egyptian firms between 2003 and 2005, this study examines the effect of board of directors' composition and ownership structure on dividend policies in Egypt. Findings - It is found that there is a significant positive association between institutional ownership and firm performance, and both dividend decision and payout ratio. The results confirm that firms with a higher return on equity and a higher institutional ownership distribute higher levels of dividend. No significant association was found between board composition and dividend decisions or ratios. Originality/value - This study provides additional evidence of the applicability of the signalling model in the emerging market of Egypt. It was found that despite the high institutional ownership and the closely held nature of the firms, which imply lower agency costs, the payment of higher dividend was considered necessary to attract capital during this transitional period.
Bidirectional Branch and Bound for Controlled Variable Selection Part III: Local Average Loss Minimization

The selection of controlled variables (CVs) from available measurements through exhaustive search is computationally forbidding for large-scale processes. We have recently proposed novel bidirectional branch and bound (B3) approaches for CV selection using the minimum singular value (MSV) rule and the local worst-case loss criterion in the framework of self-optimizing control. However, the MSV rule is approximate and worst-case scenario may not occur frequently in practice. Thus, CV selection by minimizing local average loss can be deemed as most reliable. In this work, the B3 approach is extended to CV selection based on local average loss metric. Lower bounds on local average loss and, fast pruning and branching algorithms are derived for the efficient B3 algorithm. Random matrices and binary distillation column case study are used to demonstrate the computational efficiency of the proposed method.
Choice of Partners in Multiple Two-Person Prisoner's Dilemma Games: An Experimental Study

We examine the effect of unilateral and mutual partner selection in the context of prisoner's dilemmas experimentally. Subjects play simultaneously several finitely repeated two-person prisoner's dilemma games. We find that unilateral choice is the best system. It leads to low defection and fewer singles than with mutual choice. Furthermore, with the unilateral choice setup we are able to show that intending defectors are more likely to try to avoid a match than intending cooperators. We compare our results of multiple games with single game PD-experiments and find no difference in aggregate behavior. Hence the multiple game technique is robust and might therefore be an important tool in the future for testing the use of mixed strategies.
Temporal trends in the use of antithrombotics at admission

Background and purpose — Currently, no clear evidence exists on the pattern of use of antithrombotics at admission in hip fracture patients and how this has changed over time. We investigated temporal trends in—and factors associated with—the use of antithrombotics in patients admitted with a fractured hip. Patients and methods — This was a population-based cohort study including all patients aged 18 years or above who were admitted with a hip fracture in Denmark from 1996 to 2012. The Danish national registries were used to collect information on medication use, vital status, and comorbidity. Results — From 1996 to 2012, the proportion of patients using antithrombotics in general increased by a factor of 2.3 from 19% to 43% (p < 0.001). More specifically, the use of anticoagulants increased by a factor of 6.8 and the use of antiplatelets increased by a factor of 2.1. When we adjusted for possible confounders, the use of antithrombotics still increased for every calendar year (relative risk (RR) = 1.03, CI: 1.03–1.04; p < 0.001). Age, sex, and Charlson comorbidity index were all associated with the use of antithrombotics (all p < 0.001). Interpretation — The proportion of hip fracture patients using antithrombotics at admission has increased substantially in Denmark over the last 2 decades. This highlights the need for evidence-based guidelines on how to handle patients using antithrombotics to ensure safe surgery and to avoid surgical delay.
ART-Ada: An Ada-based expert system tool

The Department of Defense mandate to standardize on Ada as the language for software systems development has resulted in an increased interest in making expert systems technology readily available in Ada environments. NASA's Space Station Freedom is an example of the large Ada software development projects that will require expert systems in the 1990's. Another large scale application that can benefit from Ada based expert system tool technology is the Pilot's Associate (PA) expert system project for military combat aircraft. The Automated Reasoning Tool-Ada (ART-Ada), an Ada expert system tool, is explained. ART-Ada allows applications of a C-based expert system tool called ART-IM to be deployed in various Ada environments. ART-Ada is being used to implement several prototype expert systems for NASA's Space Station Freedom program and the U.S. Air Force.
Is This the Time to Introduce Minimal Residual Disease in Multiple Myeloma Clinical Practice?

Increasing therapeutic options and prolonged survival in multiple myeloma have raised interest in the concept of depth of response and its importance to predict patients' outcomes. Although the efficacy of current treatment approaches has greatly improved in the past decade, the definition of complete response (CR) remains unaltered and continues to use conventional serological and morphologic techniques. That notwithstanding, there is growing interest in minimal residual disease (MRD) monitoring, which has emerged in recent years as one of the most relevant prognostic factors in multiple myeloma. MRD can be assessed both inside (e.g., immunophenotypic and molecular techniques) and outside the bone marrow (e.g., PET/CT). Here, we focus on flow- and molecular-based assays by which different cooperative groups have demonstrated the efficacy of MRD assessment to predict outcomes even among patients in CR, and irrespectively of disease risk. Although further standardization is still required, the time has come to implement MRD monitoring in prospective clinical trials as a sensitive tool to evaluate treatment efficacy and for risk-adapted treatment, particularly in the consolidation and maintenance settings. Here, we present a comprehensive and critical review on the methodologic aspects, specific characteristics, and clinical significance of MRD monitoring by flow cytometry, PCR, and next-generation sequencing. Clin Cancer Res; 21(9); 2001–8. ©2015 AACR.
Let’s Intervene! But Only If They’re Like Us: The Effects of Group Dynamics and Emotion on the Willingness to Support Humanitarian Intervention

ABSTRACT International relations (IR) studies on humanitarian intervention have debated both the nature and strength of intervention norms. This article contributes to this debate by exploring under what conditions individuals are willing to support military humanitarian intervention (MHI) and the psychological factors that influence whether, and the degree to which individuals support MHI. Taking a psychological approach, we hypothesized that individuals’ decision to support MHI is influenced by in-group favoritism and emotional responses to in-group suffering. We tested our theory with two experiments, each of which recruited roughly 200 American participants. Both experiments centered on the ongoing Syrian civil war and assessed Americans’ willingness to support intervention to protect different civilian groups. The results suggested that support for intervention was widespread, but not a majority view in most cases. The findings also suggested that participants exhibited slightly higher rates of support for intervention when those suffering were Christian, as opposed to Muslim. Furthermore, we found that the dynamics of support for intervention changed when chemical weapons were introduced into the scenario, which reframed the the crisis as a national security issue. Overall, our results suggest that individuals’ decisions to act upon norms can be influenced by the context of a crisis and individual level psychological factors, which have been under explored in IR scholarship on norms.