Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Clinical Outcomes of Intravitreal Anti-VEGF Agent Treatment Immediately after Cataract Surgery for Patients with Diabetic Retinopathy

Aims To examine possible benefits of intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) agent treatment immediately after cataract surgery for patients with diabetic retinopathy (DR). Methods A comprehensive literature search was performed using the Cochrane collaboration methodology to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and comparative studies of cataract surgery with or without anti-VEGF agent treatment for any diabetic retinopathy. Meta-analyses were performed for clinical outcome parameters including changes in macular thickness (MT), best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), incidence of diabetic retinopathy and maculopathy progression, laser treatment rate, and other complications. Results Nine RCTs and 3 nonrandomized comparative studies were identified and used for comparing cataract surgery with intravitreal bevacizumab (IVB) or intravitreal ranibizumab (IVR) treatment (338 eyes, intervention group) to cataract surgery alone (329 eyes, control group). Analysis of all data showed that the mean BCVA at 1 week postoperatively had no statistically significant difference in the two groups, but at 1, 3, and 6 months postoperatively, the mean BCVA was statistically significantly better in the anti-VEGF treatment group than that in cataract surgery alone group. Analysis of all data showed that the mean MT was statistically significantly less in the anti-VEGF treatment group at 1 week and 1, 3, and 6 months postoperatively (P=0.05, P=0.006, P=0.0001, and P=0.0001, respectively); but postoperative clinical outcomes were differentiated from the type of anti-VEGF agents, IVB or IVR, and the existing macular edema preoperatively. Intravitreal anti-VEGF agent treatment statistically significantly reduced the incidence of diabetic retinopathy progression and maculopathy progression compared to the control group (P=0.0003, P < 0.00001, respectively). Conclusion IVB or IVR treatment immediately after cataract surgery may represent a safe and effective strategy to prevent postoperative macular thickening or reduce macular edema and result in greater mean improvements in visual acuity for diabetic patients.
An Investigation of Turkish Pre-Service Teachers' Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge

The purpose of this study is to investigate pre-service teachers’ technological, pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK) in Turkey. By using the “Survey of Pre-service Teachers’ Knowledge of Teaching and Technology” developed by Schmidt et al. (2009), the study sought to determine if significant differences could be found in pre-service teachers’ perceptions of TPACK when examined by gender, age, educational program, year of study, kind of instruction (day or night education) and field experience. Regression analysis was also used to examine if technology knowledge (TK), pedagogical knowledge (PK) and content knowledge (CK) significantly contributed to pre-service teachers’ TPACK development. Participants of this study were 491 elementary pre-service teachers who attended the summer semester at Pamukkale University. The analysis of the collected data found a significant difference in pre-service teachers’ perceptions of the TPACK when examined across gender, program, year of study and field experience, but no significant differences were found regarding age and kind of instruction. Finally, our regression model showed that CK and PK contributed significantly to pre-service teachers’ TPACK development, but TK was not a significant predictor.
Features of entrainment of spinal pattern generators for locomotor activity in the lamprey spinal cord

The in vitro lamprey spinal cord contains a “central pattern generator” (CPG) that can generate locomotor activity with excitatory amino acids added to the bath. The motor pattern can be entrained by imposed rhythmic bending of either the caudal or rostral end of the notochord/spinal cord. In the present study, the quantitative and mechanistic features of entrainment were investigated. Increasing the amplitude of the imposed movement increased the range of frequencies over which entrainment occurred. Brief, pulsed, imposed movements could reset the locomotor rhythm. During entrainment at different imposed movement frequencies, the burst duration was a constant proportion of about 35% of the cycle time. The intersegmental phase lag, which is usually constant at about 0.01 during locomotion, decreased significantly with caudal imposed movements. A small increase in the phase lags was observed with rostral imposed movements. In low-calcium Ringer's, briefly bending the notochord/spinal cord activated intraspinal mechanoreceptors and elicited ascending and descending unit activity in lateral spinal fascicles many segments from the point of bending. However, this ascending or descending movement-related activity was insufficient to fully entrain the locomotor rhythm, since blocking the pattern in the region of bending abolished 1:1 entrainment. The mechanoreceptors appear to act locally on the CPG networks, since interrupting the ascending or descending movement- related activity with lesions of the lateral fascicles did not abolish entrainment. In contrast, stripping the very lateral margins of the spinal cord in the region of bending did abolish entrainment, presumably by destroying the transduction region of the mechanoreceptors. The data, taken together, suggest that the mechanoreceptors entrain the local CPG networks, and this timing information is then distributed to the other parts of the spinal motor networks through the coordinating system.
Measuring a spring constant with a magnetic spring-mass oscillator and a telephone pickup

An experimental setup which is made up of a magnetic vertical spring mass oscillator, a telephone pickup, and a computer-based oscilloscope is used to measure a spring constant. The oscillations of the spring-mass oscillator, with a small permanent magnet attached at the bottom of the mass hanger, causes electromagnetic induction to occur when the oscillations are made a little above the telephone pickup. The telephone pickup which is connected to a PC serves as a tiny coil. The induced voltage is recorded as a time series with the help of the soundcard oscilloscope and from this voltage signal the period of oscillations is obtained allowing the determination of the spring constant. The spring constant, of the spring used, obtained is 26.7 ± 0.2 N m−1 which compares well with another experimental data, 26.0 ± 0.3 N m−1, obtained using the static technique.
Kinematics of the young stellar objects associated with the cometary globules in the Gum Nebula

An analysis of the proper motion measurements of the young stellar objects (YSOs) associated with the cometary globules (CGs) in the Gum Nebula is presented. While earlier studies based on the radial-velocity measurements of the CGs suggested expansion of the system of the CGs, the observed proper motion of the YSOs shows no evidence for expansion. In particular, the kinematics of two YSOs embedded in CGs are inconsistent with the supernova explosion of the companion of ζ Pup, about 1.5 Myr ago being the cause of the expansion of the system of the CGs. YSOs associated with the CGs share the average proper motion of the member stars of the Vela OB2 association. A few YSOs that have relatively large proper motions are found to show relatively low infrared excesses.
Fully Spectral Method for Radar-Based Precipitation Nowcasting

Short-term forecasts (nowcasts) of severe rainfall and flooding are of high importance to the society. In the collaborative adaptive sensing of the atmosphere (CASA) project, a high-resolution X-band radar network was deployed in the Dallas–Fort Worth (DFW) urban area. The dynamic and adaptive radar tracking of storms (DARTS) is a key component of the precipitation nowcasting system that was developed in the CASA project. In DARTS, the advection field determination is formulated in the spectral domain using the discrete Fourier transform (DFT). Building on the earlier work, an extension of DARTS is proposed. The novelty of the proposed scale filtering (SF-DARTS) method is the formulation of the extrapolation also in the spectral domain. The extrapolation method is combined with autoregressive AR(2) models applied to Fourier frequency bands together with adaptive truncation of DFT coefficients. This effectively filters small spatial scales having low predictability. It is shown that the proposed approach improves forecast skill and gives improved computational efficiency compared to conventional methods. Another important contribution is that DARTS is being evaluated for the first time beyond the urban scale. DARTS and SF-DARTS are evaluated using data from two different sources, namely the urban-scale CASA DFW network (200 km), and the country-wide radar network operated by the Finnish Meteorological Institute (1000 km).
Autonomic dysfunction and endothelial changes in migraine sufferers.

AIM The aims of this study were: 1) to quantify endothelial function by flow-mediated dilation (FMD) and atherosclerotic vascular lesions by intima-media thickness (IMT) in migraine sufferers without any of the common atherosclerotic risk factors, comparing them with paired controls; 2) to evaluate their potential autonomic function impairment; and 3) to seek any correlations with vascular modifications. METHODS Twenty patients suffering from migraine and 20 matched controls were studied, using echo-color-Doppler imaging to measure IMT in the carotid district and FMD of the brachial artery in the non-dominant arm. Autonomic function was studied using the Tilt, Lying-to-Standing, Valsalva, Hand grip, Deep breath, Stroop and Sweat tests. RESULTS Migraine sufferers had lower FMD and higher IMT values than controls. The former also had autonomic changes revealed by the Tilt, Valsalva, Hand Grip, Deep Breath and Stroop tests, which correlated with their reduced FMD. CONCLUSION Autonomic dysfunctions modify vascular reactivity in migraine sufferers and this type of change can probably determine endothelial dysfunction and intima-media thickening.
A Two-Level Cascade Classification Algorithm for Real-Time Bifurcation Detection in CTA Images of Blood Vessels

We introduce a cascade classification algorithm for bifurcation detection in Computed Tomography Angiography (CTA) scans of blood vessels. The proposed algorithm analyzes the vessel surrounding by a trained classifier first, followed by an accurate segmentation of the vessel outer wall by Morphological Active Contour Without Edges and finally extracts the boundary features of the segmented object and classifies its shape by Approximate K-nearest Neighbour classifier. The algorithm shows encouraging and competitive results for blood vessels from various parts of a human body including head, neck and legs.
Transactions Chasing Scalability and Instruction Locality on Multicores

For several decades, online transaction processing (OLTP) has been one of the main server applications that drives innovations in the data management ecosystem, and in turn the database and computer architecture communities. Recent hardware trends oblige software to overcome two major challenges against systems scalability on modern multicore processors: (1) exploiting the abundant thread-level parallelism across cores and (2) taking advantage of the implicit parallelism within a core. The traditional design of the OLTP systems, however, faces inherent scalability problems due to its tightly coupled components. In addition, OLTP cannot exploit the full capability of the micro-architectural resources of modern processors because of the conventional scheduling decisions that ignore the cache locality for transactions. As a result, today’s commonly used server hardware remains largely underutilized leading to a huge waste of hardware resources and energy. In this thesis, we first identify the unbounded critical sections of traditional OLTP systems as the main enemy of thread-level parallelism. We design an alternative shared-everything system based on physiological partitioning (PLP) to eliminate the unbounded critical sections while providing an infrastructure for low-cost dynamic repartitioning and without introducing high-cost distributed transactions. Then, we demonstrate that L1 instruction cache stalls are the dominant factor leading to underutilization in the commodity servers. However, we also observe that independently of their high-level functionality, transactions running in parallel on a multicore system share significant amount of common instructions. By adaptively spreading the execution of a transaction over multiple cores through thread migration or multiplexing transactions on one core, we enable both an ample L1 instruction cache capacity for a transaction and reuse of common instructions across concurrent transactions. As the hardware demands more from the software to exploit the complexity and parallelism it offers in the multicore era, this work would change the way we traditionally schedule transactions. Instead of viewing a transaction as a single big task, we split it into smaller parts that can exploit data and instruction locality through careful dynamic scheduling decisions. The methods this thesis presents are not only specific to OLTP systems, but they can also benefit other types of applications that have concurrent requests executing a series of actions from a predefined set and face similar scalability problems on emerging hardware.
Social anxiety and cardiovascular responses to active coping conditions

This study assessed the influence of trait social anxiety on cardiovascular, emotional and behavioral responses to active performance situations representing social and cognitive demands. Thirty-six male and thirty-six female students categorized as either high or low in trait social anxiety performed a mental arithmetic task and two interpersonal tasks requiring persuasive behavior: Preparation and Performance of a Speech, Role-played Interpersonal Interactions. The cardiovascular effects of social anxiety varied over experimental stressors and appear to reflect differences in effort or task engagement rather than differential affective experiences. During Role-played Interactions high socially anxious subjects displayed lower increases in systolic blood pressure compared to low anxious participants. This effect was partially mediated by behavioral indicators of social competence and suggests a more inhibited coping approach of socially anxious participants. Findings for Mental Arithmetic were in the opposite direction, high socially anxious subjects displayed greater heart rate effects. In the absence of group differences in state anxiety this effect might result from stronger audience effects on effort or task motivation in socially anxious participants. These findings strengthen the view that active performance situations elicit cardiovascular effects that are largely attributable to differences in task engagement. The data also indicate the importance of considering situational factors in social anxiety research.
Finding the perfect doctor: identifying lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender-competent physicians.

OBJECTIVES We assessed the existence of procedures and policies for identifying lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT)-competent physicians at US academic faculty practices, and sought to identify physician training programs that enhance LGBT competency. METHODS We invited all 138 Liaison Committee on Medical Education-accredited US academic faculty practices to participate in a survey in 2012. We systematically assessed their procedures and policies to identify LGBT-competent physicians and their LGBT-competency training. We also assessed geographic region, funding source, and an LGBT health center in the same state. We performed univariate, bivariate, and multivariate logistic regression analyses. RESULTS The response rate was 50%. Few participants had existing procedures (9%) or policies (4%) to identify LGBT-competent physicians. Procedures included online directories with self-identified LGBT-competent physicians available to the public. Sixteen percent of participants reported having comprehensive LGBT-competency training, and 52% reported having no training. Of note, 80% of participants indicated interest to do more to address these issues. CONCLUSIONS There exist both need and interest for US academic faculty practices to develop procedures, policies, and programs that improve access to LGBT-competent physicians and to train physicians to become LGBT-competent.
Optimizing the texture and retrogradation properties of Niangao (Rice Cake) made with naturally fermented rice flour

Niangao is prepared from polished round-grained or waxy rice flour and it is a popular and traditional steamed rice cake in China, but its preparation is different. On this study, Niangao was produced with naturally fermented rice flour and the effects of fermentation on physical properties and rheological characteristics were investigated. The results suggest that the water-holding capacity, texture, and color of the samples were significantly improved after natural fermentation, while amylose content was decreased. Additionally, fermentation had a marked effect on retarding the retrogradation of Niangao because fermented Niangao exhibited lower degree of retrogradation compared with the control. Control means Niangao which was produced by unfermented rice flour. Fermented Niangao was harder to be digested than the control was.
The Relationship between Agoraphobia, Social Phobia and Blood-Injury Phobia in Phobic and Anxious-Depressed Patients *

This paper reports the results of principal components and stepwise discriminant analyses of anxiety, depression and fear scores for 74 phobic and anxious-depressed psychiatric patients. Factor analysis indicated a coherent agoraphobia factor, with less coherent blood-injury and social phobia factors. Discriminant analysis showed a high degree of correct classification of diagnosed agoraphobic, blood-injury and social phobic patients particularly for agoraphobia. A frequency distribution of the phobia scores indicated an all or nothing quality to agoraphobic fears. The results indicate that agoraphobia is a fairly coherent syndrome, but that more work is needed on the concepts and measurement of blood-injury and social phobias.
Novel rkp Gene Clusters ofSinorhizobium meliloti Involved in Capsular Polysaccharide Production and Invasion of the Symbiotic Nodule: the rkpKGene Encodes a UDP-Glucose Dehydrogenase

ABSTRACT The production of exopolysaccharide (EPS) was shown to be required for the infection process by rhizobia that induce the formation of indeterminate nodules on the roots of leguminous host plants. InSinorhizobium meliloti (also known as Rhizobium meliloti) Rm41, a capsular polysaccharide (KPS) analogous to the group II K antigens of Escherichia coli can replace EPS during symbiotic nodule development and serve as an attachment site for the strain-specific bacteriophage φ16-3. The rkpA to -J genes in the chromosomal rkp-1 region code for proteins that are involved in the synthesis, modification, and transfer of an as-yet-unknown lipophilic molecule which might function as a specific lipid carrier during KPS biosynthesis. Here we report that with a phage φ16-3-resistant population obtained after random Tn5 mutagenesis, we have identified novel mutants impaired in KPS production by genetic complementation and biochemical studies. The mutations represent two novel loci, designated therkp-2 and rkp-3 regions, which are required for the synthesis of rhizobial KPS. The rkp-2 region harbors two open reading frames (ORFs) organized in monocistronic transcription units. Although both genes are required for normal lipopolysaccharide production, only the second one, designated rkpK, is involved in the synthesis of KPS. We have demonstrated that RkpK possesses UDP-glucose dehydrogenase activity, while the protein product of ORF1 might function as a UDP-glucuronic acid epimerase.
Person Perception Aspects of Judgments of Truthfulness in Public Appeals

Although detection of deception accuracy rate has been researched extensively, the person perception components that are the basis for these judgments remain unclear. To explore this, 30 academics' person perceptions, as well as truthfulness judgment, of the individual presenting a televised appeal were measured using a 14-item scale. Twelve appeals (6 genuine and 6 false) for information regarding the whereabouts of a missing relative, or for information to apprehend the person who murdered their relative, were used. The person perception scale consisted of (1) global, abstract judgments (open, deceptive, genuine, trustworthy, and emotional) and (2) behavioural indices (facial pleasantness, facial animation, arousal, tension, involvement, verbal; consistency, plausibility and directness, and vocal certainty). Multiple regression identified person perceptions of openness, (non)deceptiveness, genuineness, trustworthiness, and verbal plausibility as significant predictors of truthfulness judgments. Future research should now explore the relationship of these person perception components of truth judgments to the accuracy.
INFLUENCE OF GAMETE CO-INCUBATION TIME, SIRE AND SPECIAL ADDITIVES ON THE IN VITRO FERTILIZATION OF CUMULUS-ENCLOSED OR DENUDED BUFFALO OOCYTES

The present study was designed to investigate the influence of cumulus removal before the in vitro fertilization step and the impact of co-incubation time, sire, and additives to the fertilization medium on the efficiency of in vitro fertilization of buffalo oocytes. In vitro matured oocytes were fertilized either as cumulus-oocyte complex (COCs) or after removal of cumulus cells (denuded). Cumulus-enclosed or denuded oocytes were co-incubated with sperm cells for 6, 12 or 18 h (experiment 1), fertilized with sperm cells from one of three sires (experiment 2) or fertilized in medium supplemented with 20µg∕ml heparin, 5 mM theophylline or a mixture 20µM penicillamine, 10µM hypotaurine and 1 µM epinephrine (PHE) (experiment 3). In all experiments, a group of oocytes was fixed and stained to evaluate the fertilization pattern (penetration, normal and abnormal fertilization rates) and the rest were cultured up to 8 days to assess the developmental competence (cleavage and blastocyst yield). In all experiments, removal of cumulus cells before fertilization step significantly retarded the fertilization pattern and the developmental competence. Various co-incubation times did not significantly influence the fertilization pattern or the developmental competence of denuded or COCs. However, 6 h tended to decrease the abnormal fertilization (15.74±1.70 vs 28.46±6.06, P=0.069) and to improve the blastocyst/oocyte (11.70±3.41 vs 5.53±1.75) and the blastocyst/cleavage (27.14±6.19 vs 11.98±3.81, P=0.082) when compared with 18 h. Sperm cells from the three sires resulted in similar fertilization pattern and developmental competence in COCs and denuded oocytes. In COCs and denuded oocytes, PHE tended to improve the blastocyst/oocyte (7.44±2.58 vs 14.67±4.29) and blastocyst/cleavage (18.43±6.08 vs 33.13±9.27) in comparison to heparin (P˃0.05). Thus, none of the investigated factors could counteract the adverse effect of cumulus removal otherwise, the addition of PHE showed promising results but it need further investigations. Key words: cumulus; co-incubation time; additives; fertilization pattern; developmental competence