Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cataract surgical coverage remains lower in women

Background: Cataract remains the leading cause of global blindness. Evidence from population-based surveys, carried out up to 2000, and the launch of the VISION 2020 initiative to address avoidable blindness showed that women in low- and middle-income countries had a lower cataract surgical coverage (CSC) than men. Methods: A systematic review identified population-based surveys reporting CSC in low- and middle-income countries published since 2000. Researchers extracted data on sex-specific CSC rates and estimated the overall CSC differences using meta-analyses. Results: Among the 23 surveys selected for this review, 21 showed higher CSC among men. The Peto odds ratio revealed that men were 1.71 times (95% CI 1.48 to 1.97) more likely to have cataract surgery than women. The risk difference in the rates of surgery varied from −0.025 to 0.276, and the combined average was 0.116 (95% CI 0.082 to 0.149). Discussion: Gender inequity in use of cataract surgical services persists in the low- and middle-income countries. It is estimated in this study that blindness and severe visual impairment from cataract could be reduced by around 11% in the low- and middle-income countries if women were to receive cataract surgery at the same rate as men. Additional effort globally is needed to ensure that women receive the benefits of cataract surgery at the same rate as men.
Parental Confirmation and Affection as Mediators of Family Communication Patterns and Children's Mental Well-Being

Abstract This study examined the extent to which parental confirmation and affection mediate the associations among family communication patterns (i.e., conversation and conformity) and young adult children's mental well-being (i.e., self-esteem, perceived stress, and mental health). Participants included 567 young adult children from both first-marriage and postdivorce families. Results supported most of the hypothesized relationships among family conversation and conformity orientations, parental confirmation and affection, and young adult children's mental health and well-being. No significant differences emerged in the associations among mothers' and fathers' communication behaviors and children's well-being. Finally, hierarchical regression analyses revealed that parental confirmation and affection partially mediates the effects of conversation orientations, and fully mediates the effects of conformity orientations, on young adult children's self-esteem and perceived stress. For mental health symptoms, however, parental confirmation fully mediated the effects of conversation and conformity orientations.
Coadministration of Pioglitazone or Glyburide and Alogliptin: Pharmacokinetic Drug Interaction Assessment in Healthy Participants

Alogliptin is a dipeptidyl peptidase‐4 inhibitor under investigation for treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Potential pharmacokinetic (PK) drug‐drug interactions of alogliptin with pioglitazone or glyburide were evaluated in healthy adults. In a randomized, 6‐sequence, 3‐period crossover study (study I), participants (n = 30 enrolled; n = 27 completed) received monotherapy with pioglitazone 45 mg once daily (qd), alogliptin 25 mg qd, or coadministration of the 2 agents. The 12‐day treatment periods were separated by a = 10‐day washout interval. In a nonrandomized, single‐sequence study (study II), participants (n = 24 completed) received a single 5‐mg dose of the sulfonylurea glyburide, alone and after 8 days of dosing with alogliptin 25 mg qd. Sequential samples of blood (both studies) and urine (first study) were obtained for determination of PK parameters for alogliptin, pioglitazone, their metabolites, and glyburide. Minor changes in PK parameters between combination therapy and monotherapy were obtained but not judged to be clinically relevant. The combination treatments were well tolerated, although glyburide frequently caused hypoglycemia. Most adverse events were of mild intensity and occurred with a frequency similar to that with monotherapy. It is concluded that pioglitazone or glyburide can be administered with alogliptin without dose adjustment to any component of the combination therapy.
[Estimation of the normal range of blood glucose in rats].

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the distribution and affecting factors of blood glucose in normal rats for the criterion of hyperglycemia in animal model. METHODS The data of fast blood glucose (FBG) and 120 min postprandial blood glucose (PBG) of nearly 500 Wistar and SD rats from different experiment in our laboratory were collected and analyzed by multi-variable analysis and optimal scaling regression for the distribution and key affecting factors of blood glucose. Comparing the blood glucose determined by different method (glucose oxidase method or glucose monitor with strips), different duration (fasting for 5 h or 11 h), different blood source (from abdominal aorta or tail), and different time for separating serum after sampling (at once or till 120 min) was conducted in another 40-100 Wistar rats. A mathematical model for the contribution of different components was evaluated and combined by parameters of half width and range. RESULTS The average FBG and PBG of normal Wistar rats was (3.95 +/- 1.31) mmol/L and (5.65 +/- 1.63) mmol/L, and the 95% upper limit was 6.2 mmol/L and 7.9 mmol/L respectively. The differences of fasting duration, sample source, time before separating serum and testing methods, excepting for rat species, were significant (P < 0.05). The results showed that the blood glucose tested by glucose monitor method was not comparable with GOD method while the range of blood glucose was out of 7-11 mmol/L. The difference of blood glucose between fasting for 5h and 11 h was 0.8 mmol/L. Blood glucose from abdominal aorta was 40% higher than that from tail. The reduction of blood glucose was 8% in 60 min and over 50% in 120 min after blood being sampled. After the test requirement being regulated, the upper limit for FBG and PBG was expanded to 7.5 mmol/L and 10.4 mmol/L, respectively. CONCLUSION The onset of diabetics in rat is judged as blood glucose being higher than the expanded normal upper level. The criteria for rats are close to that for human.
Investigation on applying modular ontology to statistical language model for information retrieval

The objective of this research is to provide a novel approach to improving retrieval performance by exploiting Ontology with the statistical language model (SLM). The proposed methods consist of two major processes, namely ontology-based query expansion (OQE) and ontology-based document classification (ODC). Research experiments have required development of an independent search tool that can combine the OQE and ODC in a traditional SLM-based information retrieval (IR) process using a Web document collection. This research considers the ongoing challenges of modular ontology enhanced SLM-based search and addresses three contribution aspects. The first concerns how to apply modular ontology to query expansion, in a bespoke language model search tool (LMST). The second considers how to incorporate OQE with the language model to improve the search performance. The third examines how to manipulate such semantic-based document classification to improve the smoothing accuracy. The role of ontology in the research is to provide formally described domains of interest that serve as context, to enhance system query effectiveness.
Evaluating sleepiness using force platform posturography

We have investigated the feasibility to use posturography as a method to estimate sleep deprivation. This manuscript presents a proof-of-concept of this idea. Twenty-one healthy subjects aged 20-37 years participated in the study. The subjects were deprived of sleep for up to 36 h. Their postural stability was measured as a function of sleep deprivation time. As a reference the critical fusion frequency method for measuring sleepiness was used. The 163 posturographic parameters used for analyzing the posturographic data were found from the literature. Of these parameters, the fractal dimension of the sway path, the most common frequency of the sway, the time-interval for open-loop control of stance, and the most common amplitude of the sway showed the highest linear correlations with sleep deprivation time. Using these four parameters we were able to estimate the sleep deprivation time with an accuracy better than 5 h for 80% of the subjects
Experts’ understanding of the public: knowledge control in a risk controversy

This paper reverses the common emphasis in the literature on public understanding of science by examining “experts’ understanding of the public. ” This research uses the case of aquaculture in Canada, a highly contested mode of production that has divided the scientific community and public opinion. Using a survey of 300 aquaculture experts in Canada, we examine three dimensions of experts’ understanding of public “contributions” to this controversy. These are (1) stakeholder participation in aquaculture regulation and policy, (2) the media as an interpreter and communicator of expert claims, and (3) the knowledge and values basis of general public opinion. We find that experts’ views on lay knowledge and participation in the debate swing from strongly positive to strongly negative. Using quantitative and qualitative data from the survey, we argue that these swings in experts’ views of the public coincide with issues of control over knowledge. Experts on all sides of the aquaculture controversy are markedly open to incorporating lay knowledge into scientific practices (a situation where expert control over knowledge is retained), but are highly critical of lay “consumption” of expert claims (a situation where expert control over knowledge is lost).
Achieving Better Channel Orthogonality for Improved User Scaling of Multi-user MIMO Technical Report 2014-0628 , Rice University

In an 802.11ac cell1, an access point (AP) can employ zeroforcing beamforming to simultaneously transmit to multiple clients. However, as the number of clients approaches that of antennas on the AP, the cell capacity often flattens and even drops, exhibiting a scalability problem. In this work, we tackle this problem by optimizing the use of multiple antennas available on modern mobile clients for post-combining. Our key insight is that post-combining allows a client to use its antennas to create a virtual channel from the AP, with much improved orthogonality to the virtual channels of other clients. Better channel orthogonality between clients can significantly improve the user scaling of zero-forcing beamforming. To realize this idea, we present an 802.11ac-based solution called MACCO. MACCO leverages the channel sounding in 802.11ac in two ways to optimize the client post-combining in a distributed fashion. First, when a client reports its channel to the AP, MACCO allows it to report the virtual channel based on its locally optimized post-combining. Second, when a client optimizes its post-combining, MACCO allows it to overhear the virtual channels reported by other clients in an overhead-free manner, and use them to improve the channel orthogonality. Using an WARP-based implementation, we demonstrate that on average MACCO can increase the capacity of a MU-MIMO cell with eight AP antennas and eight clients by 35%, compared to existing solutions that use client antennas differently.
Use of stable isotope-labelled cells to identify active grazers of picocyanobacteria in ocean surface waters

Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus are the two most abundant marine cyanobacteria. They represent a significant fraction of the total primary production of the world oceans and comprise a major fraction of the prey biomass available to phagotrophic protists. Despite relatively rapid growth rates, picocyanobacterial cell densities in open-ocean surface waters remain fairly constant, implying steady mortality due to viral infection and consumption by predators. There have been several studies on grazing by specific protists on Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus in culture, and of cell loss rates due to overall grazing in the field. However, the specific sources of mortality of these primary producers in the wild remain unknown. Here, we use a modification of the RNA stable isotope probing technique (RNA-SIP), which involves adding labelled cells to natural seawater, to identify active predators that are specifically consuming Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus in the surface waters of the Pacific Ocean. Four major groups were identified as having their 18S rRNA highly labelled: Prymnesiophyceae (Haptophyta), Dictyochophyceae (Stramenopiles), Bolidomonas (Stramenopiles) and Dinoflagellata (Alveolata). For the first three of these, the closest relative of the sequences identified was a photosynthetic organism, indicating the presence of mixotrophs among picocyanobacterial predators. We conclude that the use of RNA-SIP is a useful method to identity specific predators for picocyanobacteria in situ, and that the method could possibly be used to identify other bacterial predators important in the microbial food-web.
Chronic persistent pain after severe burns: a survey of 358 burn survivors.

OBJECTIVE To determine the prevalence, characteristics, and effects of chronic persistent pain on burn survivors. DESIGN Mail survey. SETTING Respondents' homes. PATIENTS All members of the Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors. INTERVENTIONS None. OUTCOME MEASURES Twenty-three questions on the prevalence of pain and its characteristics, including the short form of the McGill-Melzack Pain Questionnaire. RESULTS Of 1,500 members who received the survey, 358 (24%) responded. Respondents had burns covering an average of 59% of their bodies. Time between the injury and the survey averaged 12 years. On the survey, 52% of respondents reported ongoing burn-related pain, and 46% were able to characterize their pain with one or more of 15 characteristics. Two-thirds (66%) reported that pain interfered with their rehabilitation, and 55% reported that pain interfered with their daily lives. Asked "what makes the pain worse now? ," the most frequent reply (15%) was "the weather" (including "hot" or "cold"). Various physical activities (e.g., walking, bicycling) were also mentioned, along with nerve regrowth, contractures, remembering the accident, and depression. "Things that make your pain better now" included "nothing," a variety of over-the-counter analgesics, "rest,""exercise,""yoga,""acupuncture,""family and friends," and "God. " In coping with their pain, most respondents found family the most helpful, although nurse(s) received almost as high a rating. CONCLUSIONS Pain associated with burn trauma continues to be of considerable significance in the lives of burn victims long after the initial injury and hospitalization. Little research has been done on this population.
Remodeling of intermediate metabolism in the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum under nitrogen stress

Significance When starved for nutrients, diatoms redirect carbon toward biosynthesis of storage lipids, triacylglycerols (TAGs). We examined how this modification is achieved in the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum. Under nitrogen stress, the cells cannibalized their photosynthetic apparatus while recycling intracellular nitrogen and redirecting it to synthesize nitrogen assimilation enzymes. Simultaneously, they allocated newly fixed carbon toward lipids. In contrast, a nitrate reductase knocked-down strain shunted ∼40% more carbon toward TAGs than the wild type without losing photosynthetic capacity. Our results show that diatoms can remodel their intermediate metabolism on environmental cues and reveal that a key signal in this remodeling is associated with nitrogen assimilation. This insight informs a strategy of developing a much more efficient pathway to produce algal-based biofuels. Diatoms are unicellular algae that accumulate significant amounts of triacylglycerols as storage lipids when their growth is limited by nutrients. Using biochemical, physiological, bioinformatics, and reverse genetic approaches, we analyzed how the flux of carbon into lipids is influenced by nitrogen stress in a model diatom, Phaeodactylum tricornutum. Our results reveal that the accumulation of lipids is a consequence of remodeling of intermediate metabolism, especially reactions in the tricarboxylic acid and the urea cycles. Specifically, approximately one-half of the cellular proteins are cannibalized; whereas the nitrogen is scavenged by the urea and glutamine synthetase/glutamine 2-oxoglutarate aminotransferase pathways and redirected to the de novo synthesis of nitrogen assimilation machinery, simultaneously, the photobiological flux of carbon and reductants is used to synthesize lipids. To further examine how nitrogen stress triggers the remodeling process, we knocked down the gene encoding for nitrate reductase, a key enzyme required for the assimilation of nitrate. The strain exhibits 40–50% of the mRNA copy numbers, protein content, and enzymatic activity of the wild type, concomitant with a 43% increase in cellular lipid content. We suggest a negative feedback sensor that couples photosynthetic carbon fixation to lipid biosynthesis and is regulated by the nitrogen assimilation pathway. This metabolic feedback enables diatoms to rapidly respond to fluctuations in environmental nitrogen availability.
Ultraviolet-C irradiation to titanium implants increases peri-implant bone formation without impeding mineralization in a rabbit femur model

Abstract Objectives. Volume and bone quality of peri-implant supporting bone, in particular, at implant neck region, as well as bone–implant contact ratio, is important for long-term stability of implants. Ultraviolet-C (UVC) irradiation is known to enhance the osseointegration capability of titanium implants. However, the histological determination was performed only on a rat model, but not pre-clinical animal model such as a rabbit model. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of UVC irradiation on titanium implants on the volume and mineral density of peri-implant supporting bone formation in a rabbit femur model. Materials and methods. Acid-etched pure titanium screw implants with or without 3 mW/cm2 UVC irradiation for 48 h were placed in rabbit femur diaphyses. Peri-implant bone tissue formation was analyzed at 3 and 8 weeks post-operatively by histology and micro-CT-based bone morphometry after calibration with hydroxyl apatite phantoms. Results. UVC pre-irradiated implants accumulated a higher density of cells and thicker and longer bone tissue attachments that continued into the inner basic lamellae of the surface of existing cortical bone at 3 and 8 weeks than the implants without irradiation. Although the bone mineral density around both implants was equivalent to that of the existing cortical bone, bone volume was greater with UVC pre-irradiation in two-thirds or more of the apical region throughout the observation period. Conclusions. These results indicate that UVC treatment increased the volume of cortical-like bone tissue in the coronal region of titanium implants without deterioration of bone mineral density.
The Dilemmas of Peer Relationships Confronting Mathematically Gifted Female Adolescents: Nine Cases in Taiwan

There has been a scarcity of research studies addressing the dilemmas of peer relationships confronting gifted adolescent females. In this study, the peer relationships of nine mathematically gifted adolescent females living in Taiwan are explored using a qualitative multicase study. Data analysis revealed six compelling themes: a proclivity for aloneness, indifference to popularity, better rapport with gifted peers, preference for self-contained gifted classes, preference for gifted classes with a majority of boys, and more attachment to family than to friends. Inconsistencies with extant literature offer an opportunity to contemplate the socioemotional issues of mathematically gifted adolescent females from new angles. Putting the Research to Use The results of this study provide some insights into serving the needs of gifted girls. It is important for gifted girls to interact well with peers. However, they also need opportunities to learn to work and play alone, which are beneficial for their development of intrapersonal intelligence. Besides, schools should meet their need to meet and work with other gifted students with similar interests and values. When decisions are made about grouping options, the decisions should be based on the results of empirical studies and also on gifted girls’ voice. In addition, some gifted girls may feel torn between their indignation at the gender inequality still existing in the current society and their greater willingness to work with their male peers. They should be assured that it is all right to have this kind of inner conflict and that inner conflict can provide impetus for growth.
Islamic work ethic – A moderator between organizational commitment and job satisfaction in a cross‐cultural context

This study investigates the moderating impacts of the Islamic work ethic on the relationships between organizational commitment and job satisfaction. It uses a sample of 425 Muslim employees in several organizations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The empirical results indicate that the Islamic work ethic directly affects both organizational commitment and job satisfaction, and that it moderates the relationship between these two constructs. Results further reveal that national culture does not moderate the relationship between the Islamic work ethic and both organizational commitment and job satisfaction. Results also point out that support of the Islamic work ethic differs across age, education level, work experience, national culture, organization type (manufacturing or service), and ownership (private or public). Furthermore, empirical results suggest that there is a positive and significant relationship between job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Implications, limitations and lines of future research are discussed.
Use of a synthetic oligonucleotide probe to detect strains of non-serovar O1 Vibrio cholerae carrying the gene for heat-stable enterotoxin (NAG-ST)

A synthetic oligonucleotide probe was developed to identify the gene for the heat-stable enterotoxin (NAG-ST) of non-serovar O1 Vibrio cholerae. Of 103 non-O1 V. cholerae isolates from Thailand, 31 isolates from Mexico, and 47 isolates from patients in the United States, only 7 (all from Thailand) hybridized with the probe. Probe-positive strains produced significantly higher fluid accumulations in infant mice than probe-negative strains.
Improving AODV Performance using Dynamic Density Driven Route Request Forwarding

Ad-hoc routing protocols use a number of algorithms for route discovery. Some use flooding in which a route request packet (RREQ) is broadcasted from a source node to other nodes in the network. This often leads to unnecessary retransmissions, causing congestion and packet collisions in the network, a phenomenon called a broadcast storm. This paper presents a RREQ message forwarding scheme for AODV that reduces routing overheads. This has been called AODV_EXT. Its performance is compared to that of AODV, DSDV, DSR and OLSR protocols. Simulation results show that AODV_EXT achieves 3% energy efficiency, 19.5% improvement in data throughput and 69.5% reduction in the number of dropped packets for a network of 50 nodes. Greater efficiency is achieved in high density network and marginal improvement in networks with a small number of nodes.