Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Saccade Sequence Prediction: Beyond Static Saliency Maps

Visual attention is a field with a considerable history, with eye movement control and prediction forming an important subfield. Fixation modeling in the past decades has been largely dominated computationally by a number of highly influential bottom-up saliency models, such as the Itti-Koch-Niebur model. The accuracy of such models has dramatically increased recently due to deep learning. However, on static images the emphasis of these models has largely been based on non-ordered prediction of fixations through a saliency map. Very few implemented models can generate temporally ordered human-like sequences of saccades beyond an initial fixation point. Towards addressing these shortcomings we present STAR-FC, a novel multi-saccade generator based on a central/peripheral integration of deep learning-based saliency and lower-level feature-based saliency. We have evaluated our model using the CAT2000 database, successfully predicting human patterns of fixation with equivalent accuracy and quality compared to what can be achieved by using one human sequence to predict another. This is a significant improvement over fixation sequences predicted by state-of-the-art saliency algorithms.
Unusual occipital condyles of the skull : an osteological study with clinical implications

Unusual occipital condyles of the skull: an osteological study with clinical implications Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi, India Introduction The occipital condyles of the skull articulate with the superior articular facets of the atlas vertebra, thus forming the atlanto-occipital joint. Past research reports have described partition in the facets of the inferior surface of the occipital condyles. The presence of partition or double facets may interfere with the movement between the occipital condyles and the atlas vertebra. The present case describes an interesting osteological fi nding on the facets of the inferior surface of the occipital condyles. An incomplete longitudinal groove and a transverse groove were observed on the facets of the occipital condyles on the left and right sides respectively. Understanding the anatomical basis of craniovertebral anomalies is important when carrying out surgery in the region. A lateral approach during craniovertebral surgery requires resection of the occipital condyles. Hence, the morphology of the occipital condyles and their facets is important clinically.
A Population-Based Case-Control Study of Drinking-Water Nitrate and Congenital Anomalies Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to Develop Individual-Level Exposure Estimates

Animal studies and epidemiological evidence suggest an association between prenatal exposure to drinking water with elevated nitrate (NO3-N) concentrations and incidence of congenital anomalies. This study used Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to derive individual-level prenatal drinking-water nitrate exposure estimates from measured nitrate concentrations from 140 temporally monitored private wells and 6 municipal water supplies. Cases of major congenital anomalies in Kings County, Nova Scotia, Canada, between 1988 and 2006 were selected from province-wide population-based perinatal surveillance databases and matched to controls from the same databases. Unconditional multivariable logistic regression was performed to test for an association between drinking-water nitrate exposure and congenital anomalies after adjusting for clinically relevant risk factors. Employing all nitrate data there was a trend toward increased risk of congenital anomalies for increased nitrate exposure levels though this was not statistically significant. After stratification of the data by conception before or after folic acid supplementation, an increased risk of congenital anomalies for nitrate exposure of 1.5–5.56 mg/L (2.44; 1.05–5.66) and a trend toward increased risk for >5.56 mg/L (2.25; 0.92–5.52) was found. Though the study is likely underpowered, these results suggest that drinking-water nitrate exposure may contribute to increased risk of congenital anomalies at levels below the current Canadian maximum allowable concentration.
Memory Scanning Performance in Healthy Young Adults, Healthy Older Adults, and Individuals with Dementia of the Alzheimer Type

A memory scanning (Sternberg, 1966, 1975) task was administered to healthy young adults, older adults, and two groups of individuals with dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT) to determine age- and disease-related changes in the retrieval of information from short-term memory. Healthy older adults, in comparison to healthy young adults, displayed increases in both slopes and intercepts in memory scanning. Individuals at various stages of DAT (very mild, mild, moderate) displayed increases in both slopes and intercepts compared to nondemented age-matched control individuals. There was also some evidence that DAT individuals are more likely to engage in a self-terminating search instead of an exhaustive search of short-term memory.
Implementation of inpatient models of pharmacogenetics programs.

PURPOSE The operational elements essential for establishing an inpatient pharmacogenetic service are reviewed, and the role of the pharmacist in the provision of genotype-guided drug therapy in pharmacogenetics programs at three institutions is highlighted. SUMMARY Pharmacists are well positioned to assume important roles in facilitating the clinical use of genetic information to optimize drug therapy given their expertise in clinical pharmacology and therapeutics. Pharmacists have assumed important roles in implementing inpatient pharmacogenetics programs. This includes programs designed to incorporate genetic test results to optimize antiplatelet drug selection after percutaneous coronary intervention and personalize warfarin dosing. Pharmacist involvement occurs on many levels, including championing and leading pharmacogenetics implementation efforts, establishing clinical processes to support genotype-guided therapy, assisting the clinical staff with interpreting genetic test results and applying them to prescribing decisions, and educating other healthcare providers and patients on genomic medicine. The three inpatient pharmacogenetics programs described use reactive versus preemptive genotyping, the most feasible approach under the current third-party payment structure. All three sites also follow Clinical Pharmacogenetics Implementation Consortium guidelines for drug therapy recommendations based on genetic test results. CONCLUSION With the clinical emergence of pharmacogenetics into the inpatient setting, it is important that pharmacists caring for hospitalized patients are well prepared to serve as experts in interpreting and applying genetic test results to guide drug therapy decisions. Since genetic test results may not be available until after patient discharge, pharmacists practicing in the ambulatory care setting should also be prepared to assist with genotype-guided drug therapy as part of transitions in care.
Effect of task difficulty on cerebral blood flow during perceptual matching of faces

To aid our understanding of age‐related changes in brain activation during visuoperceptual processing, we designed an experiment to test the effect of task difficulty on regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) as measured by positron emission tomography (PET). We report here the results from 10 young subjects engaged in match‐to‐sample tasks of progressively degraded faces. The tasks consisted of a control task, a face matching task with no stimulus degradation, and five levels of degradation: 20%, 40%, 50%, 60%, and 70%. Both performance accuracy and reaction times deteriorated significantly with increasing face degradation. There was a significant increase of rCBF in bilateral fusiform gyri during all face‐matching conditions compared to the control task, and bilateral prefrontal activation during the 70% degradation condition. Linear regression analyses revealed a significant increase of rCBF in the right prefrontal cortex, and linear decreases of rCBF in the striate and fusiform cortex as face degradation increased. Performance on the 70% task was correlated positively with rCBF in right prefrontal and bilateral fusiform gyri, and negatively with left prefrontal and striate rCBF. These results show that the right prefrontal, striate, and ventral extrastriate cortex are the principal brain regions that modulate their activity as this visual discrimination task becomes more difficult. The right prefrontal increase probably represents an increasing demand on working memory or attention, whereas decreased rCBF in the striate cortex may be due to changes in the characteristics of the stimuli, or to suppression of low‐level processing by one of a number of mechanisms. This experiment has implications both for the design of neuroimaging experiments, and for interpreting differences in rCBF activation between groups. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc. This article is a US Government work and, as such, is in the public domain in the United States of America.
Mitochondrial Complex I Deficiency in Parkinson's Disease

Abstract: The structure and function of mitochondrial respiratory‐chain enzyme proteins were studied postmortem in the substantia nigra of nine patients with Parkinson's disease and nine matched controls. Total protein and mitochondrial mass were similar in the two groups. NADH‐ubiquinone reductase (Complex I) and NADH cytochrome c reductase activities were significantly reduced, whereas succinate cytochrome c reductase activity was normal. These results indicated a specific defect of Complex I activity in the substantia nigra of patients with Parkinson's disease. This biochemical defect is the same as that produced in animal models of parkinsonism by 1‐methyl‐4‐phenyl‐1,2,3,6‐tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) and adds further support to the proposition that Parkinson's disease may be due to an environmental toxin with action(s) similar to those of MPTP.
Labour in Transition: Women and Men in Taganrog, Russia

The paper discusses the effect of economic reforms on gender differences in participation rates and earnings in Russia in the early 1990s. Besides national statistics it uses survey data from the city Taganrog, 1989 and 1993/9. Although local, these repeated cross sections provide unique comparable data from Soviet and post-Soviet Russia. Results agree with national statistics in that participation has decreased and unemployment increased for both men and women. The female/male earnings ratio fell from 66% in 1989, to 61% in 1993, at a moment when real wages for the men too have decreased dramatically. Oaxaca-decompostions of the gender gap indicate that, in both years, the greater part is due to differential rewards but that gender differences in hours worked contribute more to the wage gap 1993 than in Soviet times.
Managing Expectations in Refractive Surgery

Success in refractive surgery requires equal parts clinical insight and setting and managing appropriate patient expectations. Preoperative expectations predict satisfaction following refractive surgical procedures, and managing these expectations is essential to achieving a successful refractive surgical experience for both the surgeon and the patient. In this review, we describe our approach to managing expectations for laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK), photorefractive keratectomy (PRK), and phakic intraocular lenses (PIOLs). We provide an overview of patient selection, preoperative patient counseling, postoperative visual acuity and refractive results, and refractive stability. We discuss the large published reviews comparing outcomes of surgical procedures pitted against one another as well as postoperative issues, including night vision complaints, contrast sensitivity, and surgical complications. Finally, we comment on overall patient satisfaction following these life-altering surgical procedures.
Response to letter regarding article, “percutaneous left-ventricular support with the impella-2.5-assist device in acute cardiogenic shock results of the Impella-EUROSHOCK registry”.

In their article, Lauten et al1 describe very eloquently the continued dismal prognosis of patients presenting with cardiogenic shock,2 despite tremendous strides that have been made in the field of cardiovascular medicine. The patients included in the registry met the diagnosis of cardiogenic shock as per the standard definitions from the SHOCK trial and underwent standard of care treatment, including high-dose vasopressors and intra-aortic balloon pump support if considered necessary, and the decision to institute Impella LP 2.5 …
Randomized Controlled Trial of the Safety and Efficacy of Daptomycin versus Standard-of-Care Therapy for Management of Patients with Osteomyelitis Associated with Prosthetic Devices Undergoing Two-Stage Revision Arthroplasty

ABSTRACT The prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus causing prosthetic joint infection (PJI) supports investigation of higher doses of daptomycin in the management of PJI. This was a prospective, randomized controlled trial studying safety and efficacy of daptomycin (6 and 8 mg/kg of body weight) compared with standard-of-care therapy for PJI. This open-label study randomized 75 patients undergoing 2-stage revision arthroplasty to daptomycin at 6 or 8 mg/kg or a comparator (vancomycin, teicoplanin, or semisynthetic penicillin). After prosthesis removal, patients received 6 weeks of antibiotic treatment and a 2- to 6-week antibiotic-free period before implantation of a new prosthesis. Test of cure (TOC) was within 1 to 2 weeks after reimplantation. The primary objective was evaluation of creatine phosphokinase (CPK) levels. Secondary objectives were clinical efficacy and microbiological assessments. Of 73 CPK safety population patients, CPK elevation of >500 U/liter occurred in 4 of 25 (16.0%) (daptomycin, 6 mg/kg) and 5 of 23 (21.7%) (daptomycin, 8 mg/kg) daptomycin-treated patients and 2 of 25 (8.0%) comparator patients. Adverse-event rates were similar among daptomycin and comparator groups. Among modified intent-to-treat patients at TOC, clinical success rates were 14 of 24 (58.3%) for 6 mg/kg daptomycin, 14 of 23 (60.9%) for 8 mg/kg daptomycin, and 8 of 21 (38.1%) for the comparator. Overall microbiological success at TOC was 12 of 24 (50.0%) for 6 mg/kg daptomycin, 12 of 23 (52.2%) for 8 mg/kg daptomycin, and 8 of 21 (38.1%) for comparator patients. In conclusion, daptomycin at 6 and 8 mg/kg given for up to 6 weeks was safe and appeared to be effective in managing staphylococcal PJI using a 2-stage revision arthroplasty technique in a total of 49 patients.
An investigation of perceptions of two therapeutic responses for persons with a terminal illness experiencing death anxiety

Recommended Citation Schoulte, Joleen Carol. "An investigation of perceptions of two therapeutic responses for persons with a terminal illness experiencing death anxiety. 1 ABSTRACT This paper reviews literature on the topic of death anxiety and therapy. The author conducted a study examining potential clients' perceptions of two different therapeutic approaches for working with terminally ill clients with death anxiety. A review of literature relevant to this topic indicates that death anxiety is correlated with many psychological problems; however, there are no clinical studies focused primarily on the treatment of death anxiety among clients with a terminal illness. In this study, potential clients were randomly assigned to watched either a short video of a cognitive behavioral therapy session or a short video of an acceptance and commitment therapy session focused on treating a terminal ill person's death anxiety. After watching the video, potential clients rated the session impact of the therapy approach using the Session Evaluation Questionnaire. In addition, participant's views of seeking psychotherapy were assessed with the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychology Help measure. No differences in ratings of session impact were found between participants who viewed the cognitive behavioral therapy session and the acceptance and commitment therapy session. However, participants' attitudes toward seeking therapy were positively associated with their views of the therapist and session depth. Consistent with past literature, women reported more death anxiety than men. In regards to potential clients' views of session impact variables, their view of postsession positivity was positively related to their view of session smoothness. Additionally, a positive correlation was found between potential clients' views of the therapist and session depth. Implications and conclusions are discussed. has been approved by the Examining Committee for the thesis requirement for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Psychological and Quantitative Foundations (Counseling Psychology) at the December 2012 graduation. ii To my loving husband, Zach, and loyal friends who have supported me with kindness and understanding as I dedicated much time and energy to my pursuit of a career in counseling psychology. To my family members, including my late Grandma R. , who inspired to me to pursue a career in death and dying. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Killing Activity of Micafungin against Aspergillus fumigatus Hyphae Assessed by Specific Fluorescent Staining for Cell Viability

ABSTRACT We studied the anti-Aspergillus activity of micafungin by using two fluorescent dyes to detect cell viability. Micafungin induced flattened hyphae, caused by the bursting of cells, which had lost their viability. Micafungin has killing activity against actively growing hyphae, even though it is not fungicidal against the whole burden of Aspergillus fumigatus.
Plasma homocysteine levels and prevalence of hyperhomocysteinemia in the Taiwanese elderly , by age

To investigate the relationship between homocysteine (Hcy) and B vitamins status in the Taiwanese elderly population, an analysis was made of the plasma Hcy levels in elderly persons. The study sample was taken from the Elderly Nutrition and Health Survey in Taiwan (1999-2000) (Elderly NAHSIT) and included 1094 males and 1135 females aged 65-90 years. The results showed that average plasma Hcy was 13.3 ± 0.6 μmol/L for males and 10.6 ± 0.7 μmol/L for females. The average plasma Hcy levels of males from all age groups were significantly higher than those of females, and significantly increased with age (P trend <0.0001). The overall prevalence of hyperhomocysteinemia (Hcy >15 μmol/L) was 23.4% for elderly males and 11.2% for elderly females, and this also increased with age (P trend <0.0001). In subjects with normal renal function, folate, vitamin B2, B6, and B12 status were significantly lower in males with hyperhomocysteinemia, while only folate and vitamin B12 were significantly lower in females with hyperhomocysteinemia. Further analysis suggested that folate, vitamin B6 or B12 insufficiency were associated with hyperhomocysteinemia in both sexes, while vitamin B2 insufficiency was significantly associated only in males. In elderly persons with adequate folate, vitamin B6, and B12 status, there was no significant association between vitamin B2 and hyperhomocysteinemia. This association occurred only in those who had concurrent poor folate, vitamin B6, or B12 status. The strength of the association between vitamin B12 insufficiency and hyperhomocysteinemia was not affected by simultaneous vitamin B2 or B6 insufficiency, but increased about 3-fold when combined with folate. This suggests that poor folate and vitamin B12 status has a synergistic effect on the risk of hyperhomocysteinema in the elderly, as did a poor folate and vitamin B6 status. Therefore, maintaining adequate vitamin B12 status and avoiding multiple B vitamin insufficiency, especially that of folate and vitamin B12 or B6, should be emphasized as an important measure for reducing plasma Hcy levels among elderly Taiwanese.
Monacolin K, a new hypocholesterolemic agent produced by a Monascus species.

Sir: In previous papers from our laboratory, ML236B, a metabolite of Penicillium citrinum that was isolated as an inhibitor of cholesterol synthesis1), was shown to have hypocholesterolemic activity in several animal species2,3). Further work in this laboratory to search for microbial metabolites having cholesterol-lowering activity led to the isolation of a new active compound (designated as monacolin K) produced by a Monascus species. The present paper describes isolation, physical and chemical properties and hypocholesterolemic effects of monacolin K. The strain of Monascus employed in the production of monacolin K, which was isolated from a food sample collected in Thailand, was classified as Monascus ruber and designated as Monascus ruber No. 1005. M. ruber No. 1005 was grown aerobically at 28°C in a medium containing 6% glucose, 2.5 % peptone, 0.5 % corn steep liquor (Corn Products Co., U.S.A.) and 0.5% ammonium chloride for 10 days. From the culture filtrate (5 liters), monacolin K was extracted with 5 liters of ethyl acetate at pH 3 and the extract was concentrated in vacuo to dryness. The resultant pellet was dissolved in 100 ml of benzene and the insoluble materials were removed by filtration. The filtrate was washed twice with 100 ml of 5 % NaCO3 and then mixed with 100 ml of 0.2 N NaOH with stirring at room temperature for 2 hours. The aqueous layers were pooled, adjusted to pH 3 with 6 N HCl and extracted twice with 100 ml of ethyl acetate. The solvent layer was collected and evaporated to dryness, giving 260 mg of an oily substance. This material was dissolved in a small volume of benzene, from which monacolin K was obtained as crystals. The compound was recrystallized from aqueous acetone, giving 87 mg of monacolin K as colorless crystals. Monacolin K melted at 157 159°C (dec.) and had a [a]2; value of +307.6° (c 1, methanol). The molecular formula, C24H3605 (Mw 404), was obtained by elemental analysis (Calcd.: C 71.31, H 8.91, O 19.78 %; Found C 71.56, H 8.85, 0 19.59%) and high resolution mass spectroscopy. The UV spectrum (methanol) showed maxima at 229, 237 and 246 nm (E,,., 550, 650 and 430, respectively) (Fig. 1). The IR spectrum (KBr) showed absorption bands at 3550, 2970, 1696 and 1220 cm -1 (Fig. 2). The 13C-NMR spectrum (CD3OD) indicated the presence of 2 ester carbonyl carbons (8 173.29 and 178.16), 4 methyl carbons (8 12.18, 14.13, 16.62 and 23.39) and methylene and methine carbons (Fig. 3). In addition to peaks at (m/e) 404 (M+), 302 (M102), 284 (M-120) and 224 (M-180), prominent peaks in the mass spectrum of monacolin K were observed at 198 (M-206), 172 (M-232), 159