Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Development and Long-Term Evaluation of Ocular Surface Conditions Using Ovariectomized Cynomolgus Monkey.

OBJECTIVES We aim to use the ovariectomized cynomolgus monkey to observe the effect of long-term changes of sex hormone levels on ocular surface. METHODS Six healthy adolescent cynomolgus monkeys were randomly assigned to control and experimental groups (n=3/group). Bilateral ovariectomy was performed in experimental group, and sham operation was performed on control animals with their ovaries reserved. The concentrations of serum estradiol and testosterone in cynomolgus monkeys' lower-limb venous were detected by radioimmunoassay before surgery, and at 6, 12, 18, and 24 months after the surgery. Phenol red cotton thread test, tear osmolarity, corneal fluorescein staining, and conjunctival impression cytology were performed to evaluate the ocular surface conditions before surgery, and at 6, 12, 18, and 24 months after the surgery. The histological examinations of the bulbar conjunctiva and labial glands tissues were performed at 12 and 24 months after the surgery. RESULTS There were no significant differences in the serum level of estradiol and testosterone between the experimental and control groups before surgery, at 6, and 12 months after surgery (P>0.05). Serum level of estradiol and testosterone were significantly less in experimental versus control group at 18 and 24 months after surgery (P<0.05). There was no significant differences in phenol red cotton between the experimental and control groups before surgery, at 6, 12, 18, and 24 months after surgery (P>0.05). Tear osmolarity had no significant differences between experimental and control group before surgery (P>0.05), and it was significantly higher in experimental versus control group at all four time-points after surgery (P<0.05). The number of conjunctival goblet cells had no significant differences between experimental and control group before surgery, at 6 months after surgery (P>0.05), and it was significantly lower in experimental versus control group at 12, 18, and 24 months after surgery (P<0.05). There were no significant differences in the corneal fluorescein staining score between the experimental and control groups before surgery, at 6, 12, and 18 months after surgery (P>0.05), and it was higher in experimental than control group at 24 months after surgery (P<0.05). In addition, inflammatory cell infiltration in bulbar conjunctiva and labial glands tissues was observed in experimental group and was unobserved in control group at 24 months after surgery. CONCLUSIONS Ovariectomy led to decreased sex hormone levels in cynomolgus monkey. In turn, tear osmolarity was increased, the number of conjunctival goblet cells were decreased, the corneal fluorescence staining was increased, and the pathological examination of the bulbar conjunctiva and labial glands tissues were abnormal, phenol red cotton thread test did not change significantly.
Teacher Candidates' Behaviors towards Environment and Some Factors Affecting Them.

The purpose of this study is to depict the behaviors of teacher candidates with regard to the environment and to determine how gender, grade level, department and the place within they grew affect these behaviors. The study was carried out with the participation of 457 teacher candidates. Only fist and fourth grade teacher candidates were participated in the study. The participants were from departments of social studies education, pre-school education, science education, Turkish education, mathematics education and primary school teaching education in a state university in Southern Turkey. The data were collected in the spring of 2017-2018 with the ‘Environmental Behavior Scale’ developed by Goldman, Yavetz and Pe’er and adapted to Turkish by Timur and Yilmaz (2013). The results indicate that gender is an effective factor on environmental behaviors. The environmental behaviors of female teacher candidates are significantly positive than those of male prospective students. The increase of class level positively affects the environmental behaviors as well. Finally, the teacher candidates from pre-school education department demonstrated significantly positive behaviors in at least one dimension of the scale used in this study. It has also come out that the size of the settlement area does not create significant difference on the environmental behaviors of teacher candidates.
The grammar of money:an analytical account of money as a discursive institution in light of the practice of complementary currencies

Since the global financial crisis in 2008, complementary currencies - from local initiatives like the Brixton Pound to timebanks, business-to-business currencies and, of course, Bitcoin - have received unprecedented attention by academics, policy makers, the media and the general public. However, at close theoretic inspection money itself remains as elusive a phenomenon as water must be to fish. Economic and business disciplines commonly only describe the use and functionality of money rather than its nature. Sociology and philosophy have a more fundamental set of approaches, but remain largely unintegrated in financial policy and common perception. At the same time, new forms of currency challenge predominant definitions of money and their implementation in the law and financial regulation. Unless our understanding of money and currencies is questioned and extended to consistently reflect theory and practice, its current misalignment threatens to impede much needed reform and innovation of the financial systems towards equity, democratic participation and sustainability. After reviewing current monetary theories and their epistemological underpinning, this thesis proposes a new theoretic framework of money as a ‘discursive institution’ that can be applied coherently to all monetary phenomena, conventional and unconventional. It also allows for the empirical analysis of currencies with the methodologies of neo-institutionalism, practice theory and critical discourse analysis. This will here be demonstrated in a transdisciplinary triangulation concerning three sets of data from the diverse field of complementary currencies, the publications of the Bank of England and monetary laws from the United States. The findings do not only demonstrate the heuristic value of the theory of discursive institutionalism in regard to money and complementary currencies, but highlight how regulatory and legal definitions even of conventional money lack the coherence and clarity required to appropriately explicate monetary innovation. Accordingly, this study concludes with recommendations for monetary theory, policy and research that can address the current inconsistencies.
Nanoparticles generated by laser in liquids as contrast medium and radiotherapy intensifiers

The synthesis of Au and Ag nanoparticles (NP) though laser ablation in liquids as a function the laser parameters is presented. Spherical NPs with diameter distribution within 1 and 100 nm were prepared by laser ablation in water. The nanoparticles characterization was performed using optical spectroscopy and electronic microscopy (SEM and TEM) measurements. Studies of the possible use of metallic nanoparticles as intensifier of diagnostics imaging contrast medium and absorbing dose from ionizing radiations in traditional radiotherapy and protontherapy are presented. Examples of in vitro (in tissue equivalent materials) and in vivo (in mice), were conducted thank to simulation programs permitting to evaluate the enhancement of efficiency in imaging and therapy as a function of the NPs concentrations and irradiation conditions.
Increasing greengram production through frontline demonstrations under rainfed conditions of Rajasthan

The study was conducted at farmers’ fields in 5 villages viz., Balara, Bedkallan, Boyal, Kushalpura and Balara of Pali district to demonstrate production potential and economic benefit of improved production technologies comprising sowing method, nutrient management and chemical weed control and adoption of complete package of practices for green gram. After sowing, application of weedicide Pendimethalin @ 1.0 kg/ha in 500 l of water used for effective control of the weeds during kharif season under rainfed condition. The findings of the study revealed that improved technology recorded a mean yield of 982 kg/ha which was 35.5 per cent higher than obtained under farmers’ practice (755 kg/ha). Higher mean net income of Rs. 46030/ha with a Benefit: Cost ratio of 4.3 was obtained with improved technologies in comparison to farmers’ practices (Rs. 38775/ha). Further, it was found that the adoption of improved technologies significantly increased the yield as well as yield attributing traits of green gram crop and also the net returns to the farmers. Hence, there is a need to disseminate the improved technologies among the farmers with effective extension methods like training and demonstrations. The farmers’ should be encouraged to adopt the recommended package of practices for realizing higher returns.
The Role of Playing Video Games on School Achievement

The subject of the present research was the possible effect that playing video games can have on students. The focus is on the role that playing video games can have on school grades and school achievement in general. Problems in the research of effects of video games were outlined in the paper. The paper also presents the results of previous research of the impact of video games and often other media on school achievement. Elementary schools and high schools students participated in the present research. The results are generally as expected considering previous studies, and certain positive effects were observed, such as the fact that students who play video games achieve better overall success when compared to students who do not play games at all.
Psychiatric Impact of Organized and Ritual Child Sexual Abuse: Cross-Sectional Findings from Individuals Who Report Being Victimized

Organized and ritual child sexual abuse (ORA) is often rooted in the child’s own family. Empirical evidence on possible associations between ORA and trauma-related symptoms in those who report this kind of extreme and prolonged violence is rare. The aim of our study was to explore socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of the individuals reporting ORA experiences, and to investigate protective as well as promotive factors in the link between ORA and trauma-related symptom severity. Within the framework of a project of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in Germany, we recruited 165 adults who identified themselves as ORA victims via abuse- and trauma-specific networks and mailing lists, and they completed an anonymous online survey. We used variance analyses to examine correlations between several variables in the ORA context and PTSD symptoms (PCL-5) as well as somatoform dissociation (SDQ-5). Results revealed a high psychic strain combined with an adverse health care situation in individuals who report experiences with ORA. Ideological strategies used by perpetrators as well as Dissociative Identity Disorders experienced by those affected are associated with more severe symptoms (η2p = 0.11; η2p = 0.15), while an exit out of the ORA structures is associated with milder symptoms (η2p = 0.11). Efforts are needed to improve health care services for individuals who experience severe and complex psychiatric disorders due to ORA in their childhood.
Stress adaptation in older adults with and without cognitive impairment: an fMRI pattern-based similarity analysis

Background: The capacity to adapt to environmental stressors is essential for older adults’ health and well-being. It is unclear how cognitive impairment may disrupt the capacity. Here we examined the relationship between self-perceptions of stress and the neurobiological response to a laboratory model of stress adaptation in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), a group at high risk for dementia. Results: aMCI group and cognitively healthy controls did not differ in neurobiological acute stress recovery (indexed by similarity in neural patterns at baseline and after recovery from cognitive challenges). However, compared to controls, aMCI group had significantly lower scores on PSS-PW. Notably, higher PSS-PW was associated with greater acute neural recovery in controls, but not aMCI. Methods: We assessed self-perceptions of stress adaptation with the Perceived Stress Scale subscales, measuring perceived helplessness (i.e., negatively worded items, PSS-NW) and self-efficacy (i.e., positively worded items, PSS-PW) in response to stress. At a subsequent laboratory fMRI visit, we indexed neurobiological stress adaptation by assessing and comparing functional network connectivity at baseline and immediately following, and after recovery from, cognitive challenges. Conclusions: Studying stress adaptation in aMCI may shed light on pathways that contribute to the onset and progress of cognitive deterioration in aging.
Fiktion und Genre. Systematische Überlegungen zu ihrem Verhältnis als Beitrag zur Historisierung und ‚Kulturalisierung‘ von Fiktionalität

Überlegungen zum Verhältnis von narrativer, verbaler Fiktion und Genre beschäftigen sich bislang vor allem mit zwei Schnittstellen der Fiktionalitätstheorie mit anderen Forschungsfeldern: der Schnittstelle von Fiktionalitätstheorie und Literaturbzw. Interpretationstheorie einerseits und der Schnittstelle von Fiktionalitätstheorie und Literaturgeschichte andererseits. So wird seit geraumer Zeit diskutiert, ob es genrespezifische Prinzipien der Generierung sogenannter fiktionaler Wahrheiten (fictional truths) also wahre Beschreibungen der Welt eines fiktionalen Werks gibt, und wenn ja, wie diese lauten.1 So werden literaturtheoretische Thesen über Funktion und Wert fiktionaler Literatur mit Blick auf Subklassen fiktionaler Literatur wie „realist fiction“2 oder „philosophical fiction“3 infrage gestellt bzw. differenziert oder fiktionalitätstheoretische Thesen unter Verweis auf einzelne Genres untermauert oder angegriffen.4 Aber auch in der Diskussion um die historischen Manifestationen bzw. Ausprägungen von Fiktionalität wird immer wieder auf Eigenheiten bestimmter Genres Bezug genommen. Diskutiert wird der (sich historisch verändernde) Fiktionalitätsstatus von Genres wie dem homerischen Epos,5 dem Artusroman, der volkssprachlichen Legende oder Sage.6 Außerdem spielt die Heraus-
Structured Imagination: the Role of Category Structure in Exemplar Generation

Abstract College students imagined animals that might live on a planet somewhere else in the galaxy. In the first experiment, they provided drawings and descriptions of their initial imagined animal, another member of the same species, and a member of a different species. The majority of imagined creatures were structured by properties that are typical of animals on earth: bilateral symmetry, sensory receptors, and appendages. Subjects also allowed shape, appendages and sense receptors to vary often across species but rarely within species. In Experiment 2, subjects′ creations were influenced by correlated attributes; those told that the animal was feathered were more likely to produce creatures with wings and beaks, and those told it lived in water and had scales were more likely to produce creatures with fins and gills relative to subjects who were told the animal was furry or who were given no specific features. Experiments 3 and 4 revealed that many subjects approach the task by retrieving exemplars of known earth animals, but that instructions and task constraints can lead to greater use of broader knowledge frameworks. Experiment 5 revealed that the structuring found in college students′ imagined animals also holds for extraterrestrials developed by science fiction writers. The results are consistent with the idea that similar structures and processes underlie creative and noncreative aspects of cognition, and are discussed in terms of the concept of structured imagination . That is, when subjects create a new member of a known category for an imaginary setting, their imagination is structured by a particular set of properties that are characteristic of that category.
Food preferences of anuran species in horticultural lands, Doulu village, Karo regency, North Sumatera

Anura is an amphibian group of species with potential as natural pest predator. Data on food preferences and potential anuran species as pest control in horticultural lands at Doulu Village, Karo Regency, North Sumatera has not yet been reported. The aims of this study were to determine the type of food through stomach dissection and to evaluate the role of anuran species as a pest control by calculating percentage of insect pests as their preferred food. The results of this study found four species namely Duttaphrynus melanostictus, Phrynoidis juxtaspera, Fejervarya cancrivora and Hylarana erythraea. The results from stomach dissection found that 25 insect species belonging to 14 orders were preyed by the anuran species. Based on the percentage of insect pests as preferred food, species D. melanostictus was the most potential followed by H. erythraea, F. cancrivora and P. juxtaspera. It can be concluded that all anuran species found in this study acted as pest control in the habitat with different proportions.
Geriatric Assessment in Elderly Patients with End-Stage Kidney Disease

Background/Aims: Decision-making in elderly patients considering dialysis is highly complex. With the increasing number of elderly with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD), it may be important to assess geriatric impairments in this population. The aim of the Geriatric assessment in OLder patients starting Dialysis (GOLD) study was to assess the prevalence of geriatric impairments and frailty in the elderly ESKD population by means of a geriatric assessment (GA), which is a comprehensive tool for overall health assessment. Methods: This study included 285 patients ≥65 years: 196 patients at the time of dialysis initiation and 89 patients who chose maximal conservative management (MCM). The GA assessed cognition, mood, nutritional status, (instrumental) activities of daily living (ADL), mobility, comorbidity burden, quality of life and overall frailty. Results: The mean age of the participants was 78 years and 36% were women. Of the incident dialysis patients, 77% started haemodialysis and 23% started peritoneal dialysis. Geriatric impairments were highly prevalent in both dialysis and MCM patients. Most frequently impaired geriatric domains in the dialysis group were functional performance (ADL 29%, instrumental ADL (iADL) 79%), cognition (67%) and comorbidity (41%). According to the GA, 77% in the dialysis group and 88% in the MCM group had 2 or more geriatric impairments. In the MCM group, functional impairment (ADL 45%, iADL 85%) was highly prevalent. Conclusions: Geriatric impairments are highly prevalent in the elderly ESKD population. Since impairments can be missed when not searched for in regular (pre)dialysis care, the first step of improving nephrologic care is awareness of the extensiveness of geriatric impairment.
Effects of the Potassium-Binding Polymer Patiromer on Markers of Mineral Metabolism.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Patiromer is a sodium-free, nonabsorbed, potassium-binding polymer that uses calcium as the counter-exchange ion and is approved for treatment of hyperkalemia. The 4-week TOURMALINE study in patients with hyperkalemia previously demonstrated that patiromer administered once daily reduces serum potassium similarly when given with or without food. We report a prespecified exploratory efficacy analysis as well as a post hoc efficacy and safety analysis of the TOURMALINE study on circulating markers of mineral metabolism. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS Adults with hyperkalemia (potassium >5.0 mEq/L) were randomized to once-daily patiromer 8.4 g without/with food for 4 weeks, with doses adjusted to achieve and maintain serum potassium 3.8-5.0 mEq/L. Baseline and week 4 serum and 24-hour urine markers of mineral metabolism are reported for all patients combined (evaluable for efficacy, n=112; evaluable for safety, n=113). P values were calculated using a paired t test for change from baseline, unless otherwise specified. RESULTS Mean (SD) baseline eGFR was 41±26 ml/min per 1.73 m2. Mean (SD) changes from baseline to week 4 were 0.0±0.5 mg/dl (P=0.78; n=100) for albumin-corrected serum calcium, -0.2±0.2 mg/dl (P<0.001; n=100) for serum magnesium, and -0.1±0.7 mg/dl (P=0.47; n=100) for serum phosphate. Median (quartile 1, quartile 3) changes in 24-hour creatinine-normalized urine calcium and phosphate from baseline to week 4 were 2.5 (-11.5, 23.7) mg/24 h (P=0.10; n=69) and -43.0 (-162.6, 35.7) mg/24 h (P=0.004; n=95), respectively. Median (quartile 1, quartile 3) changes in intact parathyroid hormone and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D from baseline to week 4 were -13 (-31, 4) pg/ml (P<0.001; n=97) and -2 (-9, 3) pg/ml (P=0.05; n=96), respectively. There were no changes in fibroblast growth factor-23 or 25-hydroxyvitamin D. In patients (n=16) with baseline serum phosphate >4.8 mg/dL, the mean (SD) changes in serum and 24-hour creatinine-normalized urine phosphate from baseline to Week 4 were -0.6±0.8 mg/dl (n=13) and -149.1±162.6 mg/24hr (n=9), respectively. CONCLUSIONS Patiromer lowered urine phosphate in all patients, and lowered both serum and urine phosphate in a small subset of patients with hyperphosphatemia. Intact parathyroid hormone and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D decreased, with no change in serum calcium.
Correction of magnetic field inhomogeneity effects for fast quantitative susceptibility mapping

Quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) provides information about tissue composition and organization. However, current acquisition methods can be quite time consuming, limiting the use of QSM in studies and in monitoring dynamic events. In this work, time efficient spiral acquisitions are combined with a model‐based image reconstruction approach. Magnetic field inhomogeneity artifacts are corrected to obtain full brain susceptibility maps.
Üniversite Öğrencilerinde Değerler ve Yaşamın Anlamı Arasındaki İlişki

Bu arastirmanin amaci degerlerin yasamin anlami uzerindeki etkisini belirlemek ve cinsiyete gore degerler ile yasamin anlaminin farlilasip farklilasmadigini belirlemektir. Arastirmanin calisma grubu Konya Il Merkezindeki farkli universitelerde ogrenim gormekte olan ogrenciler arasindan secilmistir. Calisma Grubu 589'u kiz 321'i erkek olmak uzere toplam 910 universite ogrencisinden olusmaktadir. Verilerin toplanmasinda "Dilmac ve Aricak Degerler Olcegi" ve "Yasamda Anlam Olcegi (YAO)" kullanilmistir. Verilerin analizinde pearson korelasyon katsayisi, coklu regresyon analizi ve bagimsiz orneklem t testi kullanilmistir. Elde edilen sonuclara gore; degerler ile yasamin anlami arasinda pozitif ve negatif yonlu farkli duzeylerde iliskiler bulunmaktadir ve degerlerin yasimin anlaminin onemli bir yordayicisi oldugu gorulmustur. Ayrica degerlerin bir kismi cinsiyete gore farklilik gosterirken bir kismi farklilik gostermemektedir. Diger yandan yasamin anlaminin cinsiyete gore farklilasmadigi da anlasilmistir.