Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Clinical Performance of a New Hybrid Contact Lens for Keratoconus

Objectives: To compare the clinical performance of the Clearkone hybrid contact lens for the treatment of keratoconus against the habitual contact lens of the patients. Methods: A total of 33 eyes from 18 patients were fitted with the Clearkone. High- and low-contrast visual acuity (HCVA and LCVA), central corneal thickness (CCT), and contrast sensitivity acuity (CSF) were recorded with habitual lenses (prestudy visit) and after 1 week, 15 days, and 1 month of wear of prescribed Clearkone. Subjective vision and comfort were rated using visual analogue scales (VAS). Results: Three patients discontinued the study, one because of diffuse corneal staining after 1 day of use and the other two because of extreme discomfort. The rest of the patients completed the 1-month study. High contrast visual acuity and LCVA (logMAR) improved significantly from 0.16 ± 0.12 and 0.44 ± 0.22, respectively, with the patient's habitual contact lenses to −0.006 ± 0.058 and 0.23 ± 0.13 after 1 day wearing Clearkone, remaining significant during all follow-up visits (P<0.001; repeated measures analysis of variance [RM-ANOVA]). There were no statistically significant differences in the mean CCT. The improvement of CSF was statistically significant with hybrid contact lenses prescribed compared with the patient's habitual contact lenses (P<0.001; RM-ANOVA test). Improvement in VAS score, with prescribed Clearkone, was statistically significant for comfort (P=0.043; RM-ANOVA test), but not for the subjective vision (P=0.759; RM-ANOVA test). Conclusions: Clearkone provides an improvement in visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, and subjective comfort in patients with keratoconus when compared with other contact lens options. However, clinicians must get specific training to fit the lens and be aware of potential adverse events.
When is a lie acceptable? Work and private life lying acceptance depends on its beneficiary

ABSTRACT In this article we show that when analyzing attitude towards lying in a cross-cultural setting, both the beneficiary of the lie (self vs other) and the context (private life vs. professional domain) should be considered. In a study conducted in Estonia, Ireland, Mexico, The Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and Sweden (N = 1345), in which participants evaluated stories presenting various types of lies, we found usefulness of relying on the dimensions. Results showed that in the joint sample the most acceptable were other-oriented lies concerning private life, then other-oriented lies in the professional domain, followed by egoistic lies in the professional domain; and the least acceptance was shown for egoistic lies regarding one’s private life. We found a negative correlation between acceptance of a behavior and the evaluation of its deceitfulness.
On the relationship between innovation and performance: A sensitivity analysis

We examine sensitivity of the estimated relationship between innovation and firm performance. In doing so, we rely on a knowledge production function approach and carry out comparisons in a number of ways. The sensitivity analysis is based on the comparison of a basic econometric model estimated assuming different error structure and using the same data source, an identical model but different data sources, different classifications of firms performance, different classifications of innovation and the two main different subpopulations of the business sector. The analyses are performed in both level and growth-rate dimensions. New findings are reported and previous results are confirmed as well. The study gives indications of what factors cause variations in the estimated effects of interest and the direction of changes.
Low-cost sensor tape for environmental sensing based on roll-to-roll manufacturing process

We describe the concept of fabricating low-cost sensor tape for fine-grid environmental sensing based on roll-to-roll manufacturing processes. We experiment with constructing sensors and electronic connections with low-cost conductive inkjet printed copper traces. Our first attempt is to fabricate humidity sensors by spin-coating conductive polymer on sensor substrates and integrating the design with an embedded system. The humidity sensor was tested in a two-point probe and exhibits the I-V profile of a diode. We demonstrated a working humidity sensor with an impedance variance of 30 kΩ from 99% to 58% RH within 300 seconds under a 1.4 volt bias.
Human liver transplant perfusate: An abundant source of donor liver–associated leukocytes

In vitro studies designed to examine the mechanisms of immune tolerance after liver transplantation in humans have been hampered by the difficulty in obtaining sufficient numbers of donor liver‐associated leukocytes (LALs). We have investigated whether the ex vivo perfusion of donor livers releases a population of LALs that can be readily retrieved from the waste fluid. The mean number of cells recovered after Ficoll‐Hypaque density‐gradient separation was 2.6 ± 0.5 × 108 cells, with a viability of 94% ± 2%. The perfusate lymphocytes comprised mainly T cells (39% ± 2%) with a very low CD4/CD8 ratio and natural killer (NK) cells (56% ± 6%) with an increase in the proportion of the CD3‐CD56+CD16‐ subset. The activation marker CD69 was present on the majority of the perfusate lymphocytes. These are the phenotypic characteristics that have been previously reported for lymphocytes isolated from hepatic sinusoids. In mixed lymphocyte reactions, the perfusate cells showed a marked increase in the ability to stimulate allogeneic responder cells, resulting in 353% ± 78% (P = .003) greater incorporation of [3H]thymidine in responder cells when compared with stimulation by donor peripheral blood mononuclear cells. The results show that large numbers of viable donor lymphocytes can be readily isolated from the liver perfusate solution. These cells have the characteristics of liver‐associated lymphocytes with a predominance of activated NK and CD8+ T cells. This population can now be used in in vitro assays to elucidate the influence of donor leukocytes on the development of graft acceptance.
MiR‐144‐3p regulates osteogenic differentiation and proliferation of murine mesenchymal stem cells by specifically targeting Smad4

Despite extensive research on osteoblast differentiation and proliferation in mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), the accurate mechanism remains to be further elucidated. MicroRNAs have been reported to be key regulators of osteoblast differentiation and proliferation. Here, we found that miR‐144‐3p is down‐regulated during osteoblast differentiation of C3H10T1/2 cells. Overexpression of miR‐144‐3p inhibited osteogenic differentiation, whereas inhibition of miR‐144‐3p reversed this process. Furthermore, miR‐144‐3p inhibited the proliferation of C3H10T1/2 cells by arresting cells at the G0/G1 phase. Results from bioinformatics analysis, luciferase assay and western blotting demonstrated that miR‐144‐3p directly targeted Smad4. Additionally, Smad4 knockdown blocks the effects of miR‐144‐3p inhibitor. Therefore, we conclude that miR‐144‐3p negatively regulates osteogenic differentiation and proliferation of C3H10T1/2 cells by targeting Smad4.
Neural Action Fields for Optic Flow Based Navigation: A Simulation Study of the Fly Lobula Plate Network

Optic flow based navigation is a fundamental way of visual course control described in many different species including man. In the fly, an essential part of optic flow analysis is performed in the lobula plate, a retinotopic map of motion in the environment. There, the so-called lobula plate tangential cells possess large receptive fields with different preferred directions in different parts of the visual field. Previous studies demonstrated an extensive connectivity between different tangential cells, providing, in principle, the structural basis for their large and complex receptive fields. We present a network simulation of the tangential cells, comprising most of the neurons studied so far (22 on each hemisphere) with all the known connectivity between them. On their dendrite, model neurons receive input from a retinotopic array of Reichardt-type motion detectors. Model neurons exhibit receptive fields much like their natural counterparts, demonstrating that the connectivity between the lobula plate tangential cells indeed can account for their complex receptive field structure. We describe the tuning of a model neuron to particular types of ego-motion (rotation as well as translation around/along a given body axis) by its ‘action field’. As we show for model neurons of the vertical system (VS-cells), each of them displays a different type of action field, i.e., responds maximally when the fly is rotating around a particular body axis. However, the tuning width of the rotational action fields is relatively broad, comparable to the one with dendritic input only. The additional intra-lobula-plate connectivity mainly reduces their translational action field amplitude, i.e., their sensitivity to translational movements along any body axis of the fly.
Plasma free fatty acid turnover rate in obesity.

Free fatty acid turnover rate was measured by constant infusion of 1-14C palmitic acid complexed to human albumin in eight extremely obese patients and in seven controls after a 12-hour fast. In some of these patients these measurements were performed also during work, in a few of the obese patients before and after physical training. The results were expressed in relation to different body compartments. It was found that free fatty acid turnover rate was higher at rest in the obese than in controls. This difference disappeared when free fatty acid turnover rate was calculated per kg body weight or per kg body fat. When calculated per kg lean body mass, however, the obese patients again had higher values of free fatty acid turnover rate than the controls. During a standard work load the obese did not show lower free fatty acid turnover rates during work than the controls, even if the increase in two of the obese patients, who had a high turnover rate at rest, was small during work. The results thus give no evidence of a decreased fatty acid turnover rate in obesity. On the contrary, after fasting for 12 hours it seems to be higher than normal.
Cross‐sensitization patterns in acrylate allergies

Five subjects developed allergic contact dermatitis to one or more acrylate components used in a commercial adhesive tape. Patch testing to acrylic monomers was performed to examine their cross‐reaction patterns. Two subjects with broad cross‐reactions to acrylates did not react to methyl methacrylate or the alkyl methacrylate that corresponded to the acrylate which induced the sensitization. Methyl methacrylate may not be adequate as a screen for many acrylates used commercially.
Relative and absolute reliability of the new “Step-Ex” step-execution test in elderly people with and without balance problems

Purpose: To evaluate the relative and absolute test–re-test reliability of a new step-execution test, “Step-Ex”, for clinical use in elderly with and without balance problems. Method: Test–re-test design to assess intrarater reliability. Thirty-four healthy community-dwelling elderly (65–87 years), 16 with balance problems, were tested twice two weeks apart. Step-Ex consists of two portable force platforms that register vertical ground reaction forces connected to a computer for easy detection of temporal events and phases (reaction-, preparation-, stepping- and step execution phase). Standing with one foot on each platform, the subjects were given a tactile stimulus on the heel to initiate rapid steps forward. Results: Test–re-test agreement was good to very good: ICC2.6 0.83–0.87 (without balance problems) and 0.71–0.83 (with balance problems) with no apparent systematic differences between the tests. The SEM, i.e. the smallest detectable change that may indicate a real clinical improvement for a group of individuals was small, 4.6–8.6%. The smallest real difference, representing the smallest change that reveals clinical improvement for a single individual, was 13–24%. Conclusion: Step-Ex is a highly reliable instrument and can be recommended as an outcome measure evaluating the effects of balance training in elderly people with and without balance deficits. Implications for Rehabilitation Balance deficits are common in the elderly population. To evaluate the effects of treatment or changes over time it is of great importance to have reliable instruments. Step-Ex is a highly reliable instrument and can be recommended as an outcome measure evaluating the effects of treatment or changes over time in elderly people with and without balance deficits.
A Novel Fibronectin Binding Motif in MSCRAMMs Targets F3 Modules

Background BBK32 is a surface expressed lipoprotein and fibronectin (Fn)-binding microbial surface component recognizing adhesive matrix molecule (MSCRAMM) of Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease. Previous studies from our group showed that BBK32 is a virulence factor in experimental Lyme disease and located the Fn-binding region to residues 21–205 of the lipoprotein. Methodology/Principal Findings Studies aimed at identifying interacting sites between BBK32 and Fn revealed an interaction between the MSCRAMM and the Fn F3 modules. Further analysis of this interaction showed that BBK32 can cause the aggregation of human plasma Fn in a similar concentration-dependent manner to that of anastellin, the superfibronectin (sFn) inducing agent. The resulting Fn aggregates are conformationally distinct from plasma Fn as indicated by a change in available thermolysin cleavage sites. Recombinant BBK32 and anastellin affect the structure of Fn matrices formed by cultured fibroblasts and inhibit endothelial cell proliferation similarly. Within BBK32, we have located the sFn-forming activity to a region between residues 160 and 175 which contains two sequence motifs that are also found in anastellin. Synthetic peptides mimicking these motifs induce Fn aggregation, whereas a peptide with a scrambled sequence motif was inactive, suggesting that these motifs represent the sFn-inducing sequence. Conclusions/Significance We conclude that BBK32 induces the formation of Fn aggregates that are indistinguishable from those formed by anastellin. The results of this study provide evidence for how bacteria can target host proteins to manipulate host cell activities.
Acquiring Translation Equivalences of Multiword Expressions by Normalized Correlation Frequencies

In this paper, we present an algorithm for extracting translations of any given multiword expression from parallel corpora. Given a multiword expression to be translated, the method involves extracting a short list of target candidate words from parallel corpora based on scores of normalized frequency, generating possible translations and filtering out common subsequences, and selecting the top-n possible translations using the Dice coefficient. Experiments show that our approach outperforms the word alignment-based and other naive association-based methods. We also demonstrate that adopting the extracted translations can significantly improve the performance of the Moses machine translation system.
eTag: Tag-Comparison in Memory to Achieve Direct Data Access based on eDRAM to Improve Energy Efficiency of DRAM Cache

As 2.5D/3D die stacking technology emerges, stacked dynamic random access memory (DRAM) has been proposed as a cache due to its large capacity in order to bridge the latency gap between off-chip memory and SRAM caches. The main problems in utilizing a DRAM cache are the high tag storage overhead and the high lookup latency. To address these, we propose tags-in-eDRAM (embedded DRAM) due to its higher density and lower latency. This paper presents an eTag DRAM cache architecture that is composed of a novel tag-comparison-in-memory scheme to achieve direct data access. It eliminates access latency and comparison power by pushing tag-comparison into the sense amplifier. Furthermore, we propose a Merged Tag to enhance the eTag DRAM cache by comparing last-level cache tags and DRAM cache tags in parallel. Simulation results show that the eTag DRAM cache improves energy efficiency by 15.4% and 33.9% in 4-core and 8-core workloads, respectively. Additionally, the Merged Tag achieves 32.1% and 48.7% energy efficiency improvements in 4-core and 8-core workloads, respectively.
Prevalence and Predictors of Iron Deficiency Anemia in Children under Five Years of Age in Pakistan, A Secondary Analysis of National Nutrition Survey Data 2011–2012

Background Iron deficiency Anemia (IDA) in children is a recognized public health problem that impacts adversely on child morbidity, mortality and impairs cognitive development. In Pakistan information on the true prevalence and predictors of IDA is limited. This study sought to investigate IDA in children under five years of age using data from a nationally representative stratified cross-sectional survey. Methods Secondary analysis was performed on the National Nutrition Survey in Pakistan 2011–2012. We used a pre-structured instrument to collect socio demographic and nutritional data on mothers and children. We also collected Anthropometric measurements and blood samples for micronutrient deficiencies. IDA was defined as having both haemoglobin levels of <110 g/L and ferritin levels of < 12 μg/L. Data analysis was performed by applying univariate and multivariate techniques using logistic regression through SPSS. Findings A total of 7138 children aged between 6–59 months were included in the analysis. The prevalence of IDA was 33.2%. In multivariate regression analysis adjusted odds ratios (AOR) were calculated. Age < 24 months (AOR 1.40, 95% CI 1.18–1.55 p <0.05), stunting (AOR 1.42 CI 1.23–1.63 p<0.05), presence of clinical anemia (AOR 5.69 CI 4.93–6.56 p<0.05), having a mother with IDA (AOR 1.72 CI 1.47–2.01 p<0.05) and household food insecurity (AOR 1.20 CI 1.10–1.40 P<0.05) were associated with IDA. Living in a rural area (AOR 0.77 CI 0.65–0.90 p<0.05) and being a female child (AOR 0.87 CI 0.76–0.98 p<0.05) were associated with reduced odds of IDA. Conclusion The prevalence of IDA amongst Pakistani children represents a moderate burden that disproportionately affects the youngest, growth retarded children, affected children are more likely to have mothers with IDA and live in areas where food security is lacking. National efforts to alleviate the burden of IDA should involve both short term vertical programs such as iron supplementation and long term horizontal programs including wheat flour fortification.
The Perception of Materials through Oral Sensation

This paper presents the results of a multimodal study of oral perception conducted with a set of material samples made from metals, polymers and woods, in which both the somatosensory and taste factors were examined. A multidimensional scaling analysis coupled with subjective attribute ratings was performed to assess these factors both qualitatively and quantitatively. The perceptual somatosensory factors of warmth, hardness and roughness dominated over the basic taste factors, and roughness was observed to be a less significant sensation compared to touch-only experiments. The perceptual somatosensory ratings were compared directly with physical property data in order to assess the correlation between the perceived properties and measured physical properties. In each case, a strong correlation was observed, suggesting that physical properties may be useful in industrial design for predicting oral perception.
Brain Activation in Motor Sequence Learning Is Related to the Level of Native Cortical Excitability

Cortical excitability may be subject to changes through training and learning. Motor training can increase cortical excitability in motor cortex, and facilitation of motor cortical excitability has been shown to be positively correlated with improvements in performance in simple motor tasks. Thus cortical excitability may tentatively be considered as a marker of learning and use-dependent plasticity. Previous studies focused on changes in cortical excitability brought about by learning processes, however, the relation between native levels of cortical excitability on the one hand and brain activation and behavioral parameters on the other is as yet unknown. In the present study we investigated the role of differential native motor cortical excitability for learning a motor sequencing task with regard to post-training changes in excitability, behavioral performance and involvement of brain regions. Our motor task required our participants to reproduce and improvise over a pre-learned motor sequence. Over both task conditions, participants with low cortical excitability (CElo) showed significantly higher BOLD activation in task-relevant brain regions than participants with high cortical excitability (CEhi). In contrast, CElo and CEhi groups did not exhibit differences in percentage of correct responses and improvisation level. Moreover, cortical excitability did not change significantly after learning and training in either group, with the exception of a significant decrease in facilitatory excitability in the CEhi group. The present data suggest that the native, unmanipulated level of cortical excitability is related to brain activation intensity, but not to performance quality. The higher BOLD mean signal intensity during the motor task might reflect a compensatory mechanism in CElo participants.
Benefits of bilateral cochlear implants and/or hearing aids in children

This study evaluated functional benefits from bilateral stimulation in 20 children ages 4–14, 10 use two CIs and 10 use one CI and one HA. Localization acuity was measured with the minimum audible angle (MAA). Speech intelligibility was measured in quiet, and in the presence of 2-talker competing speech using the CRISP forced-choice test. Results show that both groups perform similarly when speech reception thresholds are evaluated. However, there appears to be benefit (improved MAA and speech thresholds) from wearing two devices compared with a single device that is significantly greater in the group with two CI than in the bimodal group. Individual variability also suggests that some children perform similarly to normal-hearing children, while others clearly do not. Future advances in binaural fitting strategies and improved speech processing schemes that maximize binaural sensitivity will no doubt contribute to increasing the binaurally-driven advantages in persons with bilateral CIs.
A Bayesian approach to estimating hidden variables as well as missing and wrong molecular interactions in ordinary differential equation-based mathematical models

Ordinary differential equations (ODEs) are a popular approach to quantitatively model molecular networks based on biological knowledge. However, such knowledge is typically restricted. Wrongly modelled biological mechanisms as well as relevant external influence factors that are not included into the model are likely to manifest in major discrepancies between model predictions and experimental data. Finding the exact reasons for such observed discrepancies can be quite challenging in practice. In order to address this issue, we suggest a Bayesian approach to estimate hidden influences in ODE-based models. The method can distinguish between exogenous and endogenous hidden influences. Thus, we can detect wrongly specified as well as missed molecular interactions in the model. We demonstrate the performance of our Bayesian dynamic elastic-net with several ordinary differential equation models from the literature, such as human JAK–STAT signalling, information processing at the erythropoietin receptor, isomerization of liquid α-Pinene, G protein cycling in yeast and UV-B triggered signalling in plants. Moreover, we investigate a set of commonly known network motifs and a gene-regulatory network. Altogether our method supports the modeller in an algorithmic manner to identify possible sources of errors in ODE-based models on the basis of experimental data.