Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Trust for E-Business Management

How do we develop and sustain trust? What is the process for building trust between business partners in virtual environments? Is there a significant difference between the development and sustainability of trust online or offline? In this paper, we first introduce the concept of e-business and discuss the importance of trust for ensuring effective collaboration. Secondly, we discuss the relationships between e-collaboration and trust for managing e-business. Thirdly, we suggest a framework, which may help facilitate the development and sustainability of trust in an online environment. Finally, implications for the development and sustainability of trust online, which can be used to understand the interplay among technologies, e-business and collaboration is provided. We suggest that the implications of this study are three-fold: trustworthy relationships among business partners, effective sustainable collaboration, and optimal use of ICT for supporting e-business activities.
Endothelial Keratoplasty in a Newborn Baby With CHED

Purpose: Congenital hereditary endothelial dystrophy (CHED) may be present at birth in the form of whitish cloudy corneas. Descemet stripping endothelial keratoplasty has been attempted to solve the problem but never in babies. We report a case of successful bilateral surgery in a 3-month-old baby. Methods: CHED was detected at birth in a newborn female, but surgery was deferred to increase the chance of success. At 3 months, endothelial keratoplasty was performed in the left eye without any attempt to remove the existing endothelium. As the cornea cleared up soon after the surgery, the right eye was operated 4 weeks later. Results: Both corneas were clear 10 and 9 months after the surgery, respectively. Central thickness was 580 μm in the right eye and 530 μm in the left eye. The baby followed the light and started smiling at the lactating mother. There were no signs of graft rejection. Steroid eye drops are currently employed. Conclusions: Endothelial keratoplasty without endothelium removal has been successfully employed in a newborn with CHED for the first time. This procedure may be the best option for newborns with cloudy corneas.
Maternal pre-pregnancy BMI and offspring body composition in young adulthood: the modifying role of offspring sex and birth order

Abstract Objective To investigate if the association between maternal pre-pregnancy BMI and offspring’s body composition in late adolescence and young adulthood varies by offspring birth order and sex. Design Family cohort study, with data from registers, questionnaires and physical examinations. The main outcome under study was offspring body composition (percentage fat mass (%FM), percentage lean mass (%LM)) measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Setting Uppsala, Sweden. Subjects Two hundred and twenty-six siblings (first-born v. second-born; average age 19 and 21 years) and their mothers. Results In multivariable linear regression models, maternal pre-pregnancy BMI was positively associated with daughter’s %FM, with stronger estimates for first-born (β=0·97, 95 % CI 0·14, 1·80) v. second-born daughters (β=0·64, 95 % CI 0·08, 1·20). Mother’s BMI before her first pregnancy was associated with her second-born daughter’s body composition (β=1·05, 95 % CI 0·31, 1·79 (%FM)) Similar results albeit in the opposite direction were observed for %LM. No significant associations were found between pre-pregnancy BMI and %FM (β=0·59, 95 % CI−0·27, 1·44 first-born; β=−0·13, 95 % CI−0·77, 0·52 second-born) or %LM (β=−0·54, 95 % CI−1·37, 0·28 first-born; β=0·11, 95 % CI−0·52, 0·74 second-born) for sons. Conclusions A higher pre-pregnancy BMI was associated with higher offspring %FM and lower offspring %LM in late adolescence and young adulthood, with stronger associations for first-born daughters. Preventing obesity at the start of women’s reproductive life might reduce the risk of obesity in her offspring, particularly for daughters.
Systemic Thrombolysis in Clinical Practice: What Have We Learned after the Safe Implementation of Thrombolysis in Stroke Monitoring Study?

The Safe Implementation of Thrombolysis in Stroke Monitoring Study (SITS-MOST) of 6,483 patients treated with intravenous alteplase within 3 h after stroke onset showed that this treatment was as safe and as effective in clinical practice as in randomized controlled trials. SITS-MOST was based on the SITS registry, available over a secure Internet connection. The SITS registry today includes over 22,000 treatment files on intravenous thrombolysis with an inclusion rate of 1,200–1,300 new files every 4 months. SITS now opens for other interventions than intravenous thrombolysis and will soon be available as an optional general stroke register. After SITS-MOST, the registry is generating new information on outcome predictors, treatments in patients in later time windows, patients with hyperdense middle cerebral artery signs, and several publications are in preparation. Important information is currently collected on the effect on door-to-needle time and safety of a broad implementation of thrombolysis in a later time window.
The cognitive effects of listening to background music on older adults: processing speed improves with upbeat music, while memory seems to benefit from both upbeat and downbeat music

Background music refers to any music played while the listener is performing another activity. Most studies on this effect have been conducted on young adults, while little attention has been paid to the presence of this effect in older adults. Hence, this study aimed to address this imbalance by assessing the impact of different types of background music on cognitive tasks tapping declarative memory and processing speed in older adults. Overall, background music tended to improve performance over no music and white noise, but not always in the same manner. The theoretical and practical implications of the empirical findings are discussed.
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for carers of patients with Parkinson’s disease: a preliminary randomised controlled trial

Objective: Most individuals with Parkinson’s disease live in their own homes cared for by a family member. Providing such long term care can be a source of significant stress, with many carers experiencing sleep difficulty, depression, anxiety, loneliness, and other symptoms of psychological strain. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is one of the most widely used psychological treatments in clinical use today, with applications across the full range of clinical conditions. It has been previously used in the management of other carer groups. The present study sought to evaluate the efficacy of CBT in treating psychological distress in a group of Parkinson’s disease carers. Method: A total of 30 carers scoring at caseness level on the 28 item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) were randomised to receive either a course of 12–14 sessions of CBT or to a no-treatment control group. Results: Although some change was observed in both groups, significantly greater improvement on the GHQ-28 was observed after three months in the CBT treated group. Similar findings were observed in measures of caregiver strain and subjective burden, with the benefits being maintained over a subsequent three month follow up period. Conclusions: These results offer preliminary support to the value of a CBT approach in the management of psychological morbidity in Parkinson’s disease carers. Further larger scale research is needed in the future to examine the generalisability of the findings to a broader range of carers, assess the longer term impact on outcome in carers and those with Parkinson’s disease, and explore how CBT can be best delivered in the most cost effective manner.
Müller glial cells induce stem cell properties in retinal progenitors in vitro and promote their further differentiation into photoreceptors

Using stem cells to replace lost neurons is a promising strategy for treating retinal neurodegenerative diseases. Among their multiple functions, Müller glial cells are retina stem cells, with a robust regenerative potential in lower vertebrates, which is much more restricted in mammals. In rodents, most retina progenitors exit the cell cycle immediately after birth, differentiate as neurons, and then cannot reenter the cell cycle. Here we demonstrate that, in mixed cultures with Müller glial cells, rat retina progenitor cells expressed stem cell properties, maintained their proliferative potential, and were able to preserve these properties and remain mitotically active after several consecutive passages. Notably, these progenitors retained the capacity to differentiate as photoreceptors, even after successive reseedings. Müller glial cells markedly stimulated differentiation of retina progenitors; these cells initially expressed Crx and then developed as mature photoreceptors that expressed characteristic markers, such as opsin and peripherin. Moreover, they were light responsive, insofar as they decreased their cGMP levels when exposed to light, and they also showed high‐affinity glutamate uptake, a characteristic of mature photoreceptors. Our present findings indicate that, in addition to giving rise to new photoreceptors, Müller glial cells might instruct a pool of undifferentiated cells to develop and preserve stem cell characteristics, even after successive reseedings, and then stimulate their differentiation as functional photoreceptors. This complementary mechanism might contribute to enlarge the limited regenerative capacity of mammalian Müller cells. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
A Very Fast Learning Method for Neural Networks Based on Sensitivity Analysis

This paper introduces a learning method for two-layer feedforward neural networks based on sensitivity analysis, which uses a linear training algorithm for each of the two layers. First, random values are assigned to the outputs of the first layer; later, these initial values are updated based on sensitivity formulas, which use the weights in each of the layers; the process is repeated until convergence. Since these weights are learnt solving a linear system of equations, there is an important saving in computational time. The method also gives the local sensitivities of the least square errors with respect to input and output data, with no extra computational cost, because the necessary information becomes available without extra calculations. This method, called the Sensitivity-Based Linear Learning Method, can also be used to provide an initial set of weights, which significantly improves the behavior of other learning algorithms. The theoretical basis for the method is given and its performance is illustrated by its application to several examples in which it is compared with several learning algorithms and well known data sets. The results have shown a learning speed generally faster than other existing methods. In addition, it can be used as an initialization tool for other well known methods with significant improvements.
A meta-analysis on progressive atrophy in intractable temporal lobe epilepsy

Objective: It remains unclear whether drug-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is associated with cumulative brain damage, with no expert consensus and no quantitative syntheses of the available evidence. Methods: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of MRI studies on progressive atrophy, searching PubMed and Ovid MEDLINE databases for cross-sectional and longitudinal quantitative MRI studies on drug-resistant TLE. Results: We screened 2,976 records and assessed eligibility of 248 full-text articles. Forty-two articles met the inclusion criteria for quantitative evaluation. We observed a predominance of cross-sectional studies, use of different clinical indices of progression, and high heterogeneity in age-control procedures. Meta-analysis of 18/1 cross-sectional/longitudinal studies on hippocampal atrophy (n = 979 patients) yielded a pooled effect size of r = −0.42 for ipsilateral atrophy related to epilepsy duration (95% confidence interval [CI] −0.51 to −0.32; p < 0.0001; I2 = 65.22%) and r = −0.35 related to seizure frequency (95% CI −0.47 to −0.22; p < 0.0001; I2 = 61.97%). Sensitivity analyses did not change the results. Narrative synthesis of 25/3 cross-sectional/longitudinal studies on whole brain atrophy (n = 1,504 patients) indicated that >80% of articles reported duration-related progression in extratemporal cortical and subcortical regions. Detailed analysis of study design features yielded low to moderate levels of evidence for progressive atrophy across studies, mainly due to dominance of cross-sectional over longitudinal investigations, use of diverse measures of seizure estimates, and absence of consistent age control procedures. Conclusions: While the neuroimaging literature is overall suggestive of progressive atrophy in drug-resistant TLE, published studies have employed rather weak designs to directly demonstrate it. Longitudinal multicohort studies are needed to unequivocally differentiate aging from disease progression.
Receiver-based multicast scoping: a new cost-conscious join/leave paradigm

In Internet multicast, the set of receivers can be dynamic with receivers joining and leaving a group asynchronously and without the knowledge of the source(s). The Internet today uses source-based scoping by which the source determines how far its multicast transmissions will propagate. This mechanism, however, does not allow a receiver to bound the number of hops added to a multicast routing tree as a result of its join request or its continued membership. In this paper we explore the use of receiver-based scoping, in which a receiver's join request is augmented with one or more scope values. By use of these values, the receiver specifies its wish to join and remain in the multicast group as long as the number of additional hops its membership incurs is within its declared scope. In environments where a multicast receiver incurs a cost in relation to its incremental resource usage, this scoping technique can be used to give the receiver direct control over this cost. The paper is concerned with discussion of the design of the receiver-based scoping mechanism and its possible use within multicast applications. We also consider the implementation of the mechanism as an extension to the existing Internet multicast infrastructure in a manner that is independent of the multicast routing protocol in use.
Immune evasion of microsatellite unstable colorectal cancers

Colorectal cancers (CRC) develop through 2 major pathways of genetic instability. In contrast to the majority of CRCs, which are characterized by chromosomal instability, high‐level microsatellite unstable (MSI‐H) CRCs arise as a consequence of the loss of DNA mismatch repair (MMR) functions and show accumulation of insertion and deletion mutations particularly in microsatellite sequences. MSI‐H occurs in about 15% of CRCs, and virtually all CRCs occurring in the context of the hereditary cancer‐predisposing Lynch syndrome. These tumors are characterized by a comparably good prognosis and a low frequency of distant metastases. Because of the expression of a defined set of tumor‐specific antigens, MSI‐H CRCs elicit a strong local and systemic antitumoral immune response of the host and therefore use different strategies to evade the control of the immune system. In this review, we will summarize novel molecular mechanisms that at the same time drive pathogenesis, immunogenicity and immune evasion during the development and progression of MSI‐H CRCs. We will focus on the current knowledge about alterations in human leukocyte antigen (HLA) antigen presentation and discuss how immune evasion—while offering protection against local antitumoral immune responses—paradoxically might interfere with the ability of the tumor to form distant organ metastases.
Effects of wood rays on the shrinkage of wood during the drying process

To elucidate the origin of shrinkage anisotropy of wood during the drying process, wood from three tree species, Quercus sp. , Juglans nigra, and Pometia pinnata, was analyzed using thin cryomicrotome sections and sequential drying on a micro-scale. The data on shrinkage, based on the transverse direction, were calculated using Image Pro Plus software to measure the thickness of the cell wall of fibers. The results showed that: (1) In the tangential direction, the shrinkage of wood fibers were all in the “smallest-bigger-smaller (-bigger-smaller)” pattern from A to C (A: The cells closest to the wood rays; C: The cells in the middle between the wood rays) and fibers next to the rays always have the minimum shrinkage at different moisture contents; (2) the width of the rays has no negative correlation with the shrinkage of wood fibers; and (3) the rays have the same effect on the shrinkage of wood fiber cells in both latewood and earlywood. In addition, the shrinkage of latewood is more severe than that of earlywood, which leads to tangential shrinkage.
Automatic speech-to-background ratio selection to maintain speech intelligibility in broadcasts using an objective intelligibility metric

While mixing, sound producers and audio professionals empirically set the speech-to-background ratio (SBR) based on rules of thumb and their own perception of sounds. There is no guarantee that the speech content will be intelligible for the general population consuming content over a wide variety of devices, however. In this study, an approach to automatically determine the appropriate SBR for a scene using an objective intelligibility metric is introduced. The model-estimated SBR needed for a preset minimum intelligibility level was compared to the listener-preferred SBR for a range of background sounds. It was found that an extra gain added to the model estimation is needed even for listeners with normal hearing. This gain is needed so an audio scene can be auditioned with comfort and without compromising the sound effects contributed by the background. When the background introduces little informational masking, the extra gain holds almost constant across the various background sounds. However, a larger gain is required for a background that induces informational masking, such as competing speech. The results from a final subjective rating study show that the model-estimated SBR with the additional gain, yields the same listening experience as the SBR preferred by listeners.
Photometric Observations of Southern Abell Cluster Redshifts Survey Clusters: Structure of Galaxies in the Inner Region of Clusters of Galaxies

We analyze photometric properties of 1384 cluster galaxies as a function of normalized distance to the cluster center. These galaxies were selected in the central region (r/r200 ≤ 0.8) of 14 southern Abell clusters chosen from the Southern Abell Redshift Survey. For 507 of these galaxies we also obtained luminosity profiles. We have studied the morphology-clustercentric distance relation on the basis of the shape parameter n of the Sérsic law. We have also analyzed the presence of a possible segregation in magnitude for both the galaxy total luminosity and the luminosity of its components (i.e., the bulge and the disk). Results show a marginal (2 σ level) decrease of the total luminosity as a function of normalized radius. However, when bulges are analyzed separately, a significant luminosity segregation is found (3 σ and 2 σ for galaxies in projection and member galaxies, respectively). The fraction of bulges brighter than MB ≤ -22 is 3 times larger in the core of clusters than in the outer region. Our analysis of the disk component suggests that disks are, on average, less luminous in the cluster core than at r/r200 ∼ 0.8. In addition, we find that the magnitude-size relation as a function of r/r200 indicates (at the 2 σ level) that disks are smaller and centrally brighter in the cores of clusters. However, the Kormendy relation (the bulge magnitude-size relation) appears to be independent of environment.
A Feedback Compression Star Formation Model and the Black Hole-Bulge Relations

We present a feedback compression model to describe galactic spheroid formation and its relation with the central nuclear activity. We suggest that the star formation itself can serve as the positive feedback in some extremely dense region to trigger the starburst. The star formation rate, as well as the related stellar feedback-induced turbulence, will be maximized under the regulation of the background dark halo's gravity. There is also stellar feedback acting inward to confine and obscure the central black hole (BH) until the BH grows sufficiently large to satisfy a balance condition between the accretion disk wind and the inward stellar feedback. The extremely vigorous star formation activity, the BH-bulge relations, the maximum velocity dispersion, and the maximum BH mass are investigated on the basis of such a scenario and are found to be consistent with observations.
Collaborative Receptive Field Learning

The challenge of object categorization in images is largely due to arbitrary translations and scales of the foreground objects. To attack this difficulty, we propose a new approach called collaborative receptive field learning to extract specific receptive fields (RF's) or regions from multiple images, and the selected RF's are supposed to focus on the foreground objects of a common category. To this end, we solve the problem by maximizing a submodular function over a similarity graph constructed by a pool of RF candidates. However, measuring pairwise distance of RF's for building the similarity graph is a nontrivial problem. Hence, we introduce a similarity metric called pyramid-error distance (PED) to measure their pairwise distances through summing up pyramid-like matching errors over a set of low-level features. Besides, in consistent with the proposed PED, we construct a simple nonparametric classifier for classification. Experimental results show that our method effectively discovers the foreground objects in images, and improves classification performance.
Isolation and identification of pathogenic Naegleria from Florida lakes

Five cases of primary amoebic meningoencephalitis associated with swimming in freshwater lakes have been recorded in Florida over the past 14 years. The present study demonstrated that pathogenic Naegleria, the causative agent, is relatively widespread. Twelve of 26 lakes sampled only once yielded the amoeba. Populations in three of five lakes sampled routinely reached levels of one amoeba per 25 ml of water tested during the hot summer months. Overwintering in freshwater lake bottom sediments was demonstrated, showing that thermal-discharge pollution of waters plays a miniscule, if any, role in the maintenance of pathogenic Naegleria in nature in this semitropical area.
Comparative Study of Biofilm Formation in Pseudomonas aeruginosa Isolates from Patients of Lower Respiratory Tract Infection.

BACKGROUND This study assessed biofilm formations of P.aeruginosa which was isolated from patients with Lower Respiratory Tract Infections (LRTIs). OBJECTIVE This study was conducted to compare different methods of biofilm formations seen in P. aeruginosa which was obtained from LRTI patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS In this cross-sectional study, we investigated a total of 80 P. aeruginosa isolates obtained from LRTI patients by different methods. Tube method (TM), tissue culture plate (TCP) method and modified tissue culture plate (MTCP) method. They were subjected to biofilm detection methods. RESULTS The MTCP method produced a higher accuracy ratio than TCP method. In terms of sensitivity and specificity, the MTCP method was considered to be superior to TM. We observed a higher antibiotic resistance in biofilm producing bacteria than in non-biofilm producers. CONCLUSION In our study, MTCP was found to be more sensitive and specific method for biofilm detection than TCP and TM.