Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Epidemiology of Ocular Trauma Among the Elderly in a Developing Country

Purpose: To study the epidemiology of ocular trauma among the elderly in a developing country. Method: This is a multi-center retrospective clinical study of patients aged 65 years and above managed for ocular trauma between 2001 and 2007 at 4 hospitals in southwestern Nigeria. Age, sex, occupation, residential address, location at time of injury, activity preceding injury, agent of injury, treatment modalities offered and presenting visual acuity were recorded in a predesigned form. Type of injury was classified according to Birmingham Eye Trauma Terminology. Data were recorded and analyzed with descriptive statistics and Chi square using SPSS 11 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL) and statistical significance accepted at P < 0.05. Results: 78 patients with overall mean age of 70.1 ± 5.5 years and male to female ratio of 1.9: 1 (P = 0.007) were studied. Mean age for males was 70.0 ± 5.4 years and 70.1 ± 5.7 years for females. Eye injury occurred most commonly on the farm (37.2%), during farm related activities (35.9%) with sticks/twigs (41.1%) being commonest agent of ocular trauma among the elderly. However, injury occurred most frequently at home (51.9%) and during a fight/dispute (25.9%) with inciting agents being most frequently (33.3%) home related in elderly females. Eye injury was mainly of closed globe variety (85.9%); open globe injury was associated with higher incidence of hospitalization (P < 0.0001) and visual impairment (P = 0.004) at presentation. Conclusion: Although eye injury in elderly occurred more commonly on the farm during farm related activities, gender related differences are present with injury occurring more commonly in the home and during assaults/disputes.
Detection of Noroviruses in Tap Water in Japan by Means of a New Method for Concentrating Enteric Viruses in Large Volumes of Freshwater

ABSTRACT A virus concentration method using a cation-coated filter was developed for large-volume freshwater applications. Poliovirus type 1 (LSc 2ab Sabin strain) inoculated into 40 ml of MilliQ (ultrapure) water was adsorbed effectively to a negatively charged filter (Millipore HA, 0.45-μm pore size) coated with aluminum ions, 99% (range, 81 to 114%) of which were recovered by elution with 1.0 mM NaOH (pH 10.8) following an acid rinse with 0.5 mM H2SO4 (pH 3.0). More than 80% poliovirus recovery yields were obtained from 500-ml, 1,000-ml, and 10-liter MilliQ water samples and from tap water samples. This method, followed by TaqMan PCR detection, was applied to determine the presence of noroviruses in tap water in Tokyo, Japan. In a 14-month survey, 4 (4.1%) and 7 (7.1%) of 98 tap water samples (100 to 532 liters) contained a detectable amount of noroviruses of genotype 1 and genotype 2, respectively. This method was proved to be useful for surveying the occurrence of enteric viruses, including noroviruses, in large volumes of freshwater.
Cost-Effective Mapping between Wireless Body Area Networks and Cloud Service Providers Based on Multi-Stage Bargaining

This paper presents a bargaining-based resource allocation and price agreement in an environment of cloud-assisted Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs). The challenge is to finalize a price agreement between the Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) and the WBANs, followed by a cost-effective mapping among them. Existing solutions primarily focus on profits of the CSPs, while guaranteeing different user satisfaction levels. Such pricing schemes are bias prone, as quantifying user satisfaction is fuzzy in nature and hard to implement. Moreover, such an traditional approach may lead to an unregulated market, where few service providers enjoy the monopoly/oligopoly situation. However, in this work, we try to remove such biasness from the pricing agreements, and envision this challenge from a comparatively fair point of view. In order to do so, we use the concept of bargaining, an interesting approach involving cooperative game theory. We introduce an exposition - multi-stage Nash bargaining solution (MUST-NBS), that unfolds into multiple stages of bargaining, as the name suggests, until we conclude price agreement between the CSPs and the WBANs. In addition, the proposed approach also consummates the final mapping between the CSPs and the WBANs, depending on the cost-effectiveness of the WBANs. Analysis of the proposed algorithms and the inferences of the results validates the usefulness of the proposed mapping technique.
Cosmological constraints from the clustering properties of the X-ray Brightest Abell-type Cluster sample

We present an analysis of the two-point correlation function, ξ (r), of the X-ray Brightest Abell-type Cluster sample (XBACs) of Ebeling et al. and of the cosmological constraints that it provides. If ξ (r) is modelled as a power-law, ξ (r)=(r0/r)γ, we find r0≃ 26.0 ± 4.5 h-1 Mpc and γ≃ 2.0 ± 0.4, with errors corresponding to 2 σ uncertainties for one significant fitting parameter. As a general feature, ξ (r) is found to remain positive up to r ≃ 50–55 h-1 Mpc, after which it declines and crosses zero. Only a marginal increase of the correlation amplitude is found as the flux limit is increased from 5 × 10-12 to 12 × 10-12 erg s-1 cm-2, thus indicating a weak dependence of the correlation amplitude on the cluster X-ray luminosity. Furthermore, we present a method to predict correlation functions for flux-limited X-ray cluster samples from cosmological models. The method is based on the analytical recipe by Mo & White and on an empirical approach to convert cluster fluxes into masses. We use a maximum likelihood method to place constraints on the model parameter space from the XBACs ξ (r). For scale-free primordial spectra, we find that the shape parameter of the power spectrum is determined to lie in the 2 σ range 0.05 ≤Γλ 0.20. As for the amplitude of the power spectrum, we find σ8≃ 0.4–0.8 for Ο0=1 and σ8≃ 0.8–2.0 for Ο0=0.3. The latter result is in complete agreement with, although less constraining than, results based on the local cluster abundance.
Assignment of Calibration Information to Deeper Phylogenetic Nodes is More Effective in Obtaining Precise and Accurate Divergence Time Estimates

Divergence time estimation has become an essential tool for understanding macroevolutionary events. Molecular dating aims to obtain reliable inferences, which, within a statistical framework, means jointly increasing the accuracy and precision of estimates. Bayesian dating methods exhibit the propriety of a linear relationship between uncertainty and estimated divergence dates. This relationship occurs even if the number of sites approaches infinity and places a limit on the maximum precision of node ages. However, how the placement of calibration information may affect the precision of divergence time estimates remains an open question. In this study, relying on simulated and empirical data, we investigated how the location of calibration within a phylogeny affects the accuracy and precision of time estimates. We found that calibration priors set at median and deep phylogenetic nodes were associated with higher precision values compared to analyses involving calibration at the shallowest node. The results were independent of the tree symmetry. An empirical mammalian dataset produced results that were consistent with those generated by the simulated sequences. Assigning time information to the deeper nodes of a tree is crucial to guarantee the accuracy and precision of divergence times. This finding highlights the importance of the appropriate choice of outgroups in molecular dating.
Defect in the Formation of 70S Ribosomes Caused by Lack of Ribosomal Protein L34 Can Be Suppressed by Magnesium

ABSTRACT To elucidate the biological functions of the ribosomal protein L34, which is encoded by the rpmH gene, the rpmH deletion mutant of Bacillus subtilis and two suppressor mutants were characterized. Although the ΔrpmH mutant exhibited a severe slow-growth phenotype, additional mutations in the yhdP or mgtE gene restored the growth rate of the ΔrpmH strain. Either the disruption of yhdP, which is thought to be involved in the efflux of Mg2+, or overexpression of mgtE, which plays a major role in the import of Mg2+, could suppress defects in both the formation of the 70S ribosome and growth caused by the absence of L34. Interestingly, the Mg2+ content was lower in the ΔrpmH cells than in the wild type, and the Mg2+ content in the ΔrpmH cells was restored by either the disruption of yhdP or overexpression of mgtE. In vitro experiments on subunit association demonstrated that 50S subunits that lacked L34 could form 70S ribosomes only at a high concentration of Mg2+. These results showed that L34 is required for efficient 70S ribosome formation and that L34 function can be restored partially by Mg2+. In addition, the Mg2+ content was consistently lower in mutants that contained significantly reduced amounts of the 70S ribosome, such as the ΔrplA (L1) and ΔrplW (L23) strains and mutant strains with a reduced number of copies of the rrn operon. Thus, the results indicated that the cellular Mg2+ content is influenced by the amount of 70S ribosomes.
New high-order filter structures using only single-ended-input OTAs and grounded capacitors

Despite the wealth of literature on operational transconductance amplifier (OTA)-C filters, the synthesis of high-order filter characteristics is still an active topic. In this paper the realization of voltage transfer functions based on canonical current-mode follow-the-leader-feedback (FLF) OTA-C structures are investigated. Two new structures are presented, which use only single-ended-input OTAs and grounded capacitors. The first structure has a single voltage input and multiple voltage outputs taken from different nodes, which enables it to provide simultaneous outputs of different filter functions. The second structure has a single voltage output and single voltage input distributed to different circuit nodes for a universal realization. The authors not only propose such filter structures, but also show how analytical synthesis can be used to produce filter circuits that have less active elements than those recently reported voltage-mode structures which are based on differential-input OTAs. This represents another attractive feature from chip area, and power consumption point of view. Simulation results verifying the theoretical analysis of the proposed filter structure are included.
FUNCTIONAL CHARACTERIZATION AND HAPLOTYPE ANALYSIS OF POLYMORPHISMS IN THE HUMAN EQUILIBRATIVE NUCLEOSIDE TRANSPORTER, ENT2

The equilibrative nucleoside transporter 2 (ENT2; SLC29A2) is a bidirectional transporter that is involved in the disposition of naturally occurring nucleosides as well as a variety of anticancer and antiviral nucleoside analogs. The goal of the current study was to evaluate the function of genetic variants in ENT2 in cellular assays and to determine the haplotype structure of the coding and flanking intronic region of the gene. As part of a large study focused on genetic variation in membrane transporters (Leabman et al., 2003), DNA samples from ethnically diverse populations (100 African-Americans, 100 European-Americans, 30 Asians, 10 Mexicans, and 7 Pacific Islanders) were screened for variants in membrane transporters, including SLC29A2. Fourteen polymorphic sites in SLC29A2 were found, including 11 in the coding region. Five protein-altering variants were identified: three nonsynonymous variants, and two deletions. Each of the protein-altering variants was found at a very low frequency, occurring only once in the sample population. The nonsynonymous variants and the deletions were constructed via site-directed mutagenesis and were subsequently characterized in Xenopus laevis oocytes. All variants were able to take up inosine with the exception of ENT2-Δ845-846, which resulted in a frameshift mutation that prematurely truncated the protein. ENT2 showed very infrequent variation compared with most other transporter proteins studied, and it was found that five haplotypes were sufficient to describe the entire sample set. The low overall genetic diversity in SLC29A2 makes it unlikely that variation in the coding region contributes significantly to clinically observed differences in drug response.
A wireless PDA-based physiological monitoring system for patient transport

This paper proposes a mobile patient monitoring system, which integrates current personal digital assistant (PDA) technology and wireless local area network (WLAN) technology. At the patient's location, a wireless PDA-based monitor is used to acquire continuously the patient's vital signs, including heart rate, three-lead electrocardiography, and SpO/sub 2/. Through the WLAN, the patient's biosignals can be transmitted in real-time to a remote central management unit, and authorized medical staffs can access the data and the case history of the patient, either by the central management unit or the wireless devices. A prototype of this system has been developed and implemented. The system has been evaluated by technical verification, clinical test, and user survey. The evaluation of performance yields a high degree of satisfaction (mean=4.64, standard deviation-SD=0.53 in a five-point Likert scale) of users who used the PDA-based system for intrahospital transport. The results also show that the wireless PDA model is superior to the currently used monitors both in mobility and in usability, and is, therefore, better suited to patient transport.
Transient global cooling at the onset of early Aptian oceanic anoxic event (OAE) 1a

The onset of the early Aptian oceanic anoxic event (OAE) 1a (ca. 120 Ma) coincided with a major perturbation of the carbon cycle, which is reflected in the sedimentary carbon isotope record. Triggering mechanisms, duration, and climatic repercussions of this episode of accelerated organic matter burial remain poorly constrained. Here, we present millennial-scale bulk rock carbon and oxygen isotope data from a marly subtropical intrashelf basin (La Bedoule, southeast France) with unusually high sedimentation rates, which track the onset of OAE1a in unprecedented resolution. Our record reveals that the negative, low-amplitude delta(13)C excursion preceding OAE1a lasted >100 k.y. , implying that enhanced volcanic CO(2) emission and/or pulsed methane dissociation over a prolonged time span were instrumental in triggering OAE1a. The main positive carbon isotope shift at the onset of OAE1a, previously regarded as continuous, occurred stepwise over an extended period of >300 k.y. Transient climate cooling during the initial delta(13)C increase probably reflects ephemeral high-latitude glaciation, triggered by changes in radiative forcing and drawdown of atmospheric CO(2).
Representing Preferences as Ceteris Paribus Comparatives

Decision-theoretic preferences specify the relative desirability of all possible outcomes of alternative plans. In order to express general patterns of preference holding in a domain, we require a language that can refer directly to preferences over classes of outcomes as well as individuals. We present the basic concepts of a theory of meaning for such generic comparatives to facilitate their incremental capture and exploitation in automated reasoning systems. Our semantics lifts comparisons of individuals to comparisons of classes “other things being equal” by means of contextual equivalences, equivalence relations among individuals that vary with the context of application. We discuss implications of the theory for representing preference information.
Low-Threshold Strained Quantum-Well GaSb-Based Lasers Emitting in the 2.5- to 2.7-$\mu$ m Wavelength Range

GaInAsSb-GaSb strained quantum-well (QW) ridge waveguide diode lasers emitting in the wavelength range from 2.51 to 2.72 mum have been grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The devices show ultralow threshold current densities of 44 A/cm2 (L rarr infin) for a single QW device at 2.51 mum, which is the lowest reported value in continuous-wave operation near room temperature (15degC) at this wavelength. The devices have an internal loss of 3 cm-1 and a characteristic temperature of 42 K. By using broader QWs, wavelengths up to 2.72 mum could be achieved.
Global Precipitation Map Using Satellite-Borne Microwave Radiometers by the GSMaP Project: Production and Validation

This paper documents the production and validation of retrieved rainfall data obtained from satellite-borne microwave radiometers by the Global Satellite Mapping of Precipitation (GSMaP) Project. Using various attributes of precipitation derived from Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite data, the GSMaP has implemented hydrometeor profiles derived from Precipitation Radar (PR), statistical rain/no-rain classification, and scattering algorithms using polarization-corrected temperatures (PCTs) at 85.5 and 37 GHz. Combined scattering-based surface rainfalls are computed depending on rainfall intensities. PCT85 is not used for stronger rainfalls, because strong depressions of PCT85 are related to tall precipitation-top heights. Therefore, for stronger rainfalls, PCT37 is used, with PCT85 used for weaker rainfalls. With the suspiciously strong rainfalls retrieved from PCT85 deleted, the combined rainfalls correspond well to the PR rain rates over land. The GSMaP algorithm for the TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) is validated using the TRMM PR, ground radar [Kwajalein (KWAJ) radar and COBRA], and Radar Automated Meteorological Data Acquisition System (AMeDAS) precipitation analysis (RA). Monthly surface rainfalls retrieved from six microwave radiometers (GSMaP_MWR) are compared with the gauge-based dataset. Rain rates retrieved from the TMI (GSMaP_TMI) are in better agreement with the PR estimates over land everywhere except over tropical Africa in the boreal summer. Validation results of the KWAJ radar and COBRA show a good linear relationship for instantaneous rainfall rates, while validation around Japan using the RA shows a good relationship in the warm season. Poor results, connected to weak-precipitation cases, are found in the cold season around Japan.
Hypertensive disorders in primigravid black South African women: A one-year descriptive analysis

ABSTRACT Objective: To describe the incidence and obstetric and perinatal outcomes in primigravid Black South Africans with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP). Method: All primigravidae who booked for antenatal care were followed up until hospital discharge. Relevant clinical and demographic data were collected in structured data forms. Results: A total of 5860 primigravidae delivered during the study period. Of these, 731 had an HDP, giving an incidence of 12.5%. The diagnosis of gestational hypertension was made in 6.7% of all primigravidae but was the commonest HDP subcategory (n = 394/731; 53.9%). On the other hand, mild to moderate preeclampsia or non-severe preeclampsia, severe preeclampsia, and eclampsia occurred in 222, 84, and 31 of the 5860 primigravidae, respectively. Therefore, preeclampsia–eclampsia syndrome occurred in 337/5860 or 5.75% of the study population. Severe preeclampsia occurred in 1.43% (84/5860) of the primigravidae. The rates of caesarean deliveries in women with preeclampsia were approximately 50%. There were no perinatal deaths in the gestational hypertension group, but the overall perinatal mortality rate in all preeclamptics was 5.9%, in comparison to 2.2% in all primigravidae. Conclusion: Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy developed in 12.5% (n = 731/5860) of primigravidae seen over a one-year period. Gestational hypertension comprised the commonest subcategory of the HDP and there were no perinatal deaths in this group.
Petrology of two contrasting Mexican volcanoes, the Chiapanecan (El Chichón) and Central American (Tacaná) volcanic belts: the result of rift- versus subduction-related volcanism

The alkaline El Chichón and calc-alkaline Tacaná volcanoes, located in southern Mexico, form parts of the Chiapanecan Volcanic Belt and Central American Volcanic Arc, respectively. El Chichón has emitted potassium-, sulphur-, and phosphorus-rich trachyandesites and trachybasalts (as mafic enclaves), whereas Tacaná has erupted basalts to dacites with moderate potassium contents, and minor high-Ti magmas (1.5–1.8 wt.% TiO2). The magmatic evolution in the two volcanoes has involved similar fractionating assemblages: Fe-Ti oxides, olivine, plagioclase, pyroxenes, amphibole, and apatite. K2O/P2O5 ratios and isotopic signatures indicate that magmas from both El Chichón and Tacaná have undergone significant crustal contamination. The volcanism at both Tacaná and El Chichón was previously related to northeastward subduction of the Cocos Plate, representing the main arc and the backarc, respectively. Although such an origin is in accord with Tacaná occurring 100 km above the Cocos Benioff Zone, it is inconsistent with: (a) the absence of a calc-alkaline belt between El Chichón and the Middle America Trench; and (b) truncation of the subducted Cocos Plate by the southwesterly dipping Yucatan slab near the Middle America Trench (i.e. the Cocos Plate does not presently underlie El Chichón). On the other hand, El Chichón and the Chiapanecan Volcanic Belt are located on the sinistral Veracruz fault zone that forms the northern boundary of the Southern Mexico block, which has been migrating relatively to the east since ca. 5 Ma. In this context, the anomalous high potassium, sulphur, and phosphorus levels in the El Chichón magmas are explicable in terms of rifting in a pull-apart system with the weak subduction fingerprint inherited from the Yucatan slab.
Increased sensitivity to cisplatin by nm23-transfected tumor cell lines.

We report a functional link between expression of the metastasis suppressor gene nm23 and cancer cell sensitivity to the alkylating agent cisplatin. Cisplatin was 2-15-fold more inhibitory to the growth in vitro of nm23 transfectants of the K-1735 TK murine melanoma, MDA-MB-435 human breast carcinoma, and OVCAR-3 human ovarian carcinoma cell lines as compared to matched control transfectants. Administration of a single dose of cisplatin i.v. after injection of control- or nm23-1-transfected K-1735 TK melanoma cells resulted in a more pronounced inhibition of pulmonary metastatic colonization by the nm23-1 transfectants. The mechanism of nm23-dependent sensitivity to cisplatin is unknown, but was correlated with increased formation of interstrand DNA cross-links in nm23-H1 transfected breast carcinoma cells. These data suggest that elevation of tumor cell nm23 expression may be considered as a potential therapeutic strategy in combination with cisplatin treatment.
Real-time monocular SLAM: Why filter?

While the most accurate solution to off-line structure from motion (SFM) problems is undoubtedly to extract as much correspondence information as possible and perform global optimisation, sequential methods suitable for live video streams must approximate this to fit within fixed computational bounds. Two quite different approaches to real-time SFM — also called monocular SLAM (Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping) — have proven successful, but they sparsify the problem in different ways. Filtering methods marginalise out past poses and summarise the information gained over time with a probability distribution. Keyframe methods retain the optimisation approach of global bundle adjustment, but computationally must select only a small number of past frames to process. In this paper we perform the first rigorous analysis of the relative advantages of filtering and sparse optimisation for sequential monocular SLAM. A series of experiments in simulation as well using a real image SLAM system were performed by means of covariance propagation and Monte Carlo methods, and comparisons made using a combined cost/accuracy measure. With some well-discussed reservations, we conclude that while filtering may have a niche in systems with low processing resources, in most modern applications keyframe optimisation gives the most accuracy per unit of computing time.