Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Safety of Intracameral Injection of Moxifloxacin Using Total Replacement Technique ( Bag and Chamber Flushing )

Purpose: To assess the safety of intracameral injection of moxifloxacin (MFLX) using the total replacement technique [bag and chamber (BC) flushing]. Methods: The anterior chamber including the area behind the intraocular lens was irrigated and replaced using BC flushing. In Group A, 36 patients received balanced salt solution irrigation in the right eye and intracameral MFLX (150mg/mL: 33-fold dilution of 0.5% eye drops) in the left eye. In Group B, 33 patients received intracameral MFLX in the right (500mg/mL: 10-fold dilution) and left eyes (150mg/mL: 33-fold dilution). Visual acuity, intraocular pressure, corneal endothelial cell density, corneal thickness, and foveal thickness were recorded before and up to 3 months after surgery. Results: In either group, there were no statistically significant differences between the right and left eyes with respect to visual acuity, intraocular pressure, corneal endothelial cell count, and foveal thickness before and at 3 months after surgery. There was no difference in corneal thickness before and at 3 months after surgery. In patients who received 500mg/mL MFLX during surgery, central corneal thickness at 1 week after surgery was significantly reduced. Conclusions: In the present study, there was no adverse effect associated with intracameral injection of 150– 500mg/mL MFLX. Moreover, our results supported the safety of BC flushing. Thus, BC flushing, which can irrigate the inside of the capsular bag and attain stable antibiotic concentrations, appears to be a favorable technique for intracameral injection of MFLX.
Disturbed right ventricular diastolic function in patients with systemic sclerosis: a Doppler tissue imaging study.

BACKGROUND Cardiopulmonary involvement in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) carries a poor prognosis, mainly due to pulmonary hypertension and right-heart failure. To date, right ventricular (RV) involvement has not been studied in detail. We therefore assessed RV function in patients with SSc and related the findings to the clinical features of the disease. METHOD Twenty-six consecutive patients (21 women) with SSc (mean age, 56 +/- 15 years [+/- SD]) and 25 healthy, age-matched control subjects (21 women) were studied. Doppler echocardiography including Doppler tissue imaging was used to evaluate cardiac function. Pulmonary function was also studied. RESULTS Compared with control subjects, RV free wall thickness (5.8 +/- 1.7 mm vs 3.7 +/- 1.1 mm, p < 0.001) and right atrial (RA) systolic area (15.9 +/- 3.7 cm2 vs 13.0 +/- 2.3 cm2, p < 0.01) were increased in patients with SSc, while the global early diastolic/atrial component velocity ratio was reduced (1.2 +/- 0.4 vs 1.7 +/- 0.6, p < 0.01). The global isovolumic relaxation time (IVRT) [64 +/- 23 ms vs 39 +/- 13 ms, p < 0.001] and regional IVRT (83 +/- 40 ms vs 46 +/- 24 ms, p < 0.001) were prolonged in patients vs control subjects, whereas the RV global filling time was reduced (454 +/- 122 ms vs 548 +/- 104 ms, p < 0.01). RV systolic function and pulmonary pressures at rest were similar in the two groups, but the pulmonary artery acceleration time was reduced (119 +/- 34 ms vs 141 +/- 29 ms, p < 0.05) in patients compared to control subjects. Left ventricular function did not differ between the two groups. CONCLUSION Patients with SSc exhibit altered RV diastolic function together with an increase in RV wall thickness and RA area. These findings appear to be early markers of RV disturbance, probably in response to intermittent pulmonary arterial hypertension.
Predictive coding in auditory perception: challenges and unresolved questions

Predictive coding is arguably the currently dominant theoretical framework for the study of perception. It has been employed to explain important auditory perceptual phenomena, and it has inspired theoretical, experimental and computational modelling efforts aimed at describing how the auditory system parses the complex sound input into meaningful units (auditory scene analysis). These efforts have uncovered some vital questions, addressing which could help to further specify predictive coding and clarify some of its basic assumptions. The goal of the current review is to motivate these questions and show how unresolved issues in explaining some auditory phenomena lead to general questions of the theoretical framework. We focus on experimental and computational modelling issues related to sequential grouping in auditory scene analysis (auditory pattern detection and bistable perception), as we believe that this is the research topic where predictive coding has the highest potential for advancing our understanding. In addition to specific questions, our analysis led us to identify three more general questions that require further clarification: (1) What exactly is meant by prediction in predictive coding? (2) What governs which generative models make the predictions? and (3) What (if it exists) is the correlate of perceptual experience within the predictive coding framework?
Environmental Variables That Influence Patient Satisfaction

Patient’s perception of care—referred to as patient satisfaction—is of great interest in the healthcare industry, as it becomes more directly tied to the revenue of the health system providers. The perception of care has now become important in addition to the actual health outcome of the patient. The known influencers for the patient perception of care are the patient’s own characteristics as well as the quality of service received. In patient surveys, the physical environment is noted as important for being clean and quiet but is not considered a critical part of patient satisfaction or other health outcomes. Patient perception of care is currently measured as patient satisfaction, a systematic collection of perceptions of social interactions from an individual person as well as their interaction with the environment. This exploration of the literature intends to explore the rigorous, statistically tested research conducted that has a spatial predictor variable and a health or behavior outcome, with the intent to begin to further test the relationships of these variables in the future studies. This literature review uses the patient satisfaction framework of components of influence and identifies at least 10 known spatial environmental variables that have been shown to have a direct connection to the health and behavior outcome of a patient. The results show that there are certain features of the spatial layout and environmental design in hospital or work settings that influence outcomes and should be noted in the future research.
The evaluation of the clinical effect of topical St Johns wort (Hypericum perforatum L.) in plaque type psoriasis vulgaris: A pilot study

In this case series, ten patients with plaque‐type psoriasis were treated with Hypericum perforatum ointment. The hypericum ointment was applied to one side of each patient's body and the vehicle to the opposite side twice daily for 4 weeks in a single blinded manner. Modified psoriasis area severity index (PASI) scores were significantly lowered where the formulated ointment had been applied. In determining PASI scores, three factors, erythema, scaling and thickness, were evaluated; all were significantly lower where the formulated ointment had been applied (P = 0.01, P = 0.004, P = 0.04). Hypericum perforatum ointment applied twice daily may be effective in reducing PASI scores in mild plaque‐type psoriasis, however, further larger studies need be conducted to achieve a more conclusive result.
An annotated catalogue of the types of Chrysididae (Hymenoptera) at the Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, with brief historical notes

Abstract A critical and annotated catalogue of 72 types of Chrysididae (Hymenoptera) belonging to 53 species and subspecies housed in the Swedish Museum of Natural History is given. The lectotypes of Chrysis diversa Dahlbom, 1845, Chrysis soror Dahlbom, 1854, Chrysura sulcata Dahlbom, 1845 and Holopyga amoenula Dahlbom, 1845 are designated. The previous lectotype of Chrysis diversa Dahlbom, 1845 is set aside. Five new synonymies are proposed: Chrysis elegans var. smaragdula Trautmann, 1926 (currently Chrysis elegans ssp. interrogata Linsenmaier, 1959 repl. name for smaragdula Trautmann, nec Fabricius, 1775), syn. n. of Chrysis confluens (Dahlbom, 1845); Chrysis eximia Mocsáry, 1889, syn. n. of Chrysis poecila Mocsáry, 1889; Chrysis pyrrhina Dahlbom, 1845, syn. n. of Chrysis erythromelas Dahlbom, 1845; Chrysis separata Trautmann, 1926, syn. n. of Chrysis lateralis Dahlbom, 1845; Chrysis sicula Abeille de Perrin, 1877, syn. n. of Chrysis erythromelas Dahlbom, 1845. Chrysis serena Radoszkowski, 1891 is the first available name for Chrysis pyrrhina sensu auctorum. Chrysis erythromelas Dahlbom, 1845 is revaluated as valid species. The neotype of Chrysis inaequalis Dahlbom, 1845 is designated in the Linsenmaier collection (NMLS). Illustrations of 34 types are given.
An evaluation of the additional benefit of population screening for dementia beyond a passive case‐finding approach

General practitioners (GPs) fail to identify more than 50% of dementia cases using the existing passive case‐finding approach. Using data from the “Ageing in General Practice” study, we sought to establish the additional benefit of screening all patients over the age of 75 for dementia beyond those patients already identified by passive case‐finding.
Blind estimation of channel and modulation scheme in adaptive modulation schemes for OFDM-CDMA based 4G systems

Adaptive modulation is proposed by many researchers for future generation wireless networks based on multi-carrier transmission technologies. In this paper, we propose and investigate some blind mechanisms at the receiver of the adaptive modulation based coded OFDM-CDMA systems in Rayleigh fading channels for the enhancement of the systems in terms of both the practical implementation and data throughput capacity. In this respect, blind techniques to estimate the channel impulse response and modulation scheme are proposed and investigated and their effect on the BER performance of the systems are also analyzed. A subspace based algorithm is proposed to estimate the channel impulse response blindly. This estimate is then used to coherently demodulate the OFDM-CDMA signals and adaptively switches the modulation schemes for varying channel conditions. Furthermore, an algorithm to estimate the modulation scheme at the receiver is also proposed. Results show error free estimation of modulation scheme for a maximum of 7 active users in the system at a channel condition of 20 dB. Simulation results show that in some situations, the systems based on blind channel estimation show little degradation in terms of the BER performance compared to the pilot based scheme. However, the advantages of blind estimation schemes far outweigh this degradation.
Dynamic Bayesian Networks for Student Modeling

Intelligent tutoring systems adapt the curriculum to the needs of the individual student. Therefore, an accurate representation and prediction of student knowledge is essential. Bayesian Knowledge Tracing (BKT) is a popular approach for student modeling. The structure of BKT models, however, makes it impossible to represent the hierarchy and relationships between the different skills of a learning domain. Dynamic Bayesian networks (DBN) on the other hand are able to represent multiple skills jointly within one model. In this work, we suggest the use of DBNs for student modeling. We introduce a constrained optimization algorithm for parameter learning of such models. We extensively evaluate and interpret the prediction accuracy of our approach on five large-scale data sets of different learning domains such as mathematics, spelling learning, and physics. We furthermore provide comparisons to previous student modeling approaches and analyze the influence of the different student modeling techniques on instructional policies. We demonstrate that our approach outperforms previous techniques in prediction accuracy on unseen data across all learning domains and yields meaningful instructional policies.
ANÁLISE DE CONFLITO ENTRE LEGISLAÇÃO E USO DA TERRA: AVALIAÇÃO DAS ÁREAS DE PRESERVAÇÃO PERMANENTE NO MUNICÍPIO DE ITABIRA, MG

Este estudo teve por objetivos mapear e quantificar as áreas de Preservação Permanente (APPs), previstas na Lei Federal 4771/65, no município de Itabira, Minas Gerais, através do uso de ferramentas de geoprocessamento, e identificar usos conflituosos frente à legislação. Os dados revelaram que 42% do território itabirano é legalmente definido como APP. Destas áreas, 59% se encontram em uso conflituoso, onde predomina a pastagem, presente em 46% das APPs do município. Em média, a taxa de ocupação conflituosa em APP por tipo de uso do solo é superior a 36%, sendo 53% e 4% os valores extremos, referentes à mineração e ao uso industrial, respectivamente.
Are microscopic ageing techniques more accurate than macroscopic ageing techniques

The purpose of this analysis is to test the accuracy of microscopically and macroscopically derived ages on an excavated sample of human skeletons of known age at death from Christ Church, Spitalfields, London (18th and 19th century). Microscopic ages were derived on the basis of histology of the cross-section of the femur using techniques proposed by Kerley (American Journal of Physical Anthropology23, 149-164, 1965; Kerley & Ubelaker, American Journal of Physical Anthropology49, 545-546, 1978) and by Samson & Branigan (in A. Boddington, A. N. Garland & R. C. Janaway, Eds, Death, Decay and Reconstruction Approaches to Archaeology and Forensic Science, Manchester University Press, pp. 101-108, 1987). Macroscopic ages were determined on the basis of pubic symphysis morphology using the methods proposed by McKern, Stewart & Gilbert (McKern & Stewart, Technical Report EP-45, Massachusetts Quartermaster Research and Development Command, Natick, MA, U.S.A., 1957; Gilbert & McKern, American Journal of Physical Anthropology38, 31-38, 1973), by Todd (American Journal of Physical Anthropology3, 285-334, 1920; 4, 1-70, 1921) and Brooks (American Journal of Physical Anthropology13, 567-597, 1955) and by Acsadi & Nemeskeri (History of Human Life Span and Mortality, Budapest: Akademiai Kiado, 1970). Results show that the Kerley technique is the most accurate microscopic age estimator for the Spitalfields sample, however it is not appreciably more accurate than the Acsadi and Nemeskeri pubic symphysis technique. The analyses also demonstrate that the three techniques for determining age from pubic symphysis morphology are each at least partially dependent on the age structure of the population upon which they were developed. The Todd/Brooks and McKern/Stewart/Gilbert techniques that were developed on populations with a young mean age are most accurate in the younger ages ranges, while the Acsadi & Nemeskeri technique which was developed on a population of older mean age is most accurate in the older age ranges. Correspondence between microscopically and macroscopically determined ages does not necessarily confirm the accuracy of either. It is also suggested that a combination of histological ageing and pubic symphysis ageing has the potential of producing more accurate results than either by itself.
Biosystems Study of the Molecular Networks Underlying Hippocampal Aging Progression and Anti-aging Treatment in Mice

Aging progression is a process that an individual encounters as they become older, and usually results from a series of normal physiological changes over time. The hippocampus, which contributes to the loss of spatial and episodic memory and learning in older people, is closely related to the detrimental effects of aging at the morphological and molecular levels. However, age-related genetic changes in hippocampal molecular mechanisms are not yet well-established. To provide additional insight into the aging process, differentially-expressed genes of 3- versus 24- and 29-month old mice were re-analyzed. The results revealed that a large number of immune and inflammatory response-related genes were up-regulated in the aged hippocampus, and membrane receptor-associated genes were down-regulated. The down-regulation of transmembrane receptors may indicate the weaker perception of environmental exposure in older people, since many transmembrane proteins participate in signal transduction. In addition, molecular interaction analysis of the up-regulated immune genes indicated that the hub gene, Ywhae, may play essential roles in immune and inflammatory responses during aging progression, as well as during hippocampal development. Our biological experiments confirmed the conserved roles of Ywhae and its partners between human and mouse. Furthermore, comparison of microarray data between advanced-age mice treated with human umbilical cord blood plasma protein and the phosphate-buffered saline control showed that the genes that contribute to the revitalization of advanced-age mice are different from the genes induced by aging. These results implied that the revitalization of advanced-age mice is not a simple reverse process of normal aging progression. Our data assigned novel roles of genes during aging progression and provided further theoretic evidence for future studies exploring the underlying mechanisms of aging and anti-aging-related disease therapy.
Stemming Malay Text and Its Application in Automatic Text Categorization

In Malay language, there are no conjugations and declensions and affixes have important grammatical functions. In Malay, the same word may function as a noun, an adjective, an adverb, or, a verb, depending on its position in the sentence. Although extensively simple root words are used in informal conversations, it is essential to use the precise words in formal speech or written texts. In Malay, to make sentences clear, derivative words are used. Derivation is achieved mainly by the use of affixes. There are approximately a hundred possible derivative forms of a root word in written language of the educated Malay. Therefore, the composition of Malay words may be complicated. Although there are several types of stemming algorithms available for text processing in English and some other languages, they cannot be used to overcome the difficulties in Malay word stemming. Stemming is the process of reducing various words to their root forms in order to improve the effectiveness of text processing in information systems. It is essential to avoid both over-stemming and under-stemming errors. We have developed a new Malay stemmer (stemming algorithm) for removing inflectional and derivational affixes. Our stemmer uses a set of affix rules and two types of dictionaries: a root-word dictionary and a derivative-word dictionary. The use of set of rules is aimed at reducing the occurrence of under-stemming errors, while that of the dictionaries is believed to reduce the occurrence of over-stemming errors. We performed an experiment to evaluate the application of our stemmer in text mining software. For the experiment, text data used were actual web pages collected from the World Wide Web to demonstrate the effectiveness of our Malay stemming algorithm. The experimental results showed that our stemmer can effectively increase the precision of the extracted Boolean expressions for text categorization.
Computational approaches to study oncolytic virus therapy : insights and challenges

The paper reviews computational models for analyzing the use of replicating oncolytic viruses as therapeutic agents against cancers. The paper highlights viral and host paramters which are crucial for success, and discusses how virus strains can be optimized in order to achieve maximial remission of cancers. The models consider three mechansisms by which oncolytic virus therapy could work: (i) virus-mediated killing of tumor cells. (ii) Induction of immune responses against the virus which can kill infected tumor cells. (iii) Induction of tumor specific immune responses following the release of stimulatory signals as a result of the virus infection. The models further give rise to insights into how virus variants should be tested in vitro in order to determine their therapeutic potential.
The Appropriate Omalizumab Patient Management of the uncontrolled asthma patient and case examples

Allergy is a significant component in many asthma patients. Omalizumab is a monoclonal anti‐immunoglobulin E antibody for the treatment of allergic asthma. Clinical trials have shown that omalizumab treatment is associated with improved symptom control and reduced inhaled corticosteroid doses, resulting in fewer exacerbations and reduced utilization of resources. Omalizumab therapy may benefit patients who remain uncontrolled or who cannot tolerate standard therapy.
Conducting accelerometer-based activity assessments in field-based research.

PURPOSE The purpose of this review is to address important methodological issues related to conducting accelerometer-based assessments of physical activity in free-living individuals. METHODS We review the extant scientific literature for empirical information related to the following issues: product selection, number of accelerometers needed, placement of accelerometers, epoch length, and days of monitoring required to estimate habitual physical activity. We also discuss the various options related to distributing and collecting monitors and strategies to enhance compliance with the monitoring protocol. RESULTS No definitive evidence exists currently to indicate that one make and model of accelerometer is more valid and reliable than another. Selection of accelerometer therefore remains primarily an issue of practicality, technical support, and comparability with other studies. Studies employing multiple accelerometers to estimate energy expenditure report only marginal improvements in explanatory power. Accelerometers are best placed on hip or the lower back. Although the issue of epoch length has not been studied in adults, the use of count cut points based on 1-min time intervals maybe inappropriate in children and may result in underestimation of physical activity. Among adults, 3-5 d of monitoring is required to reliably estimate habitual physical activity. Among children and adolescents, the number of monitoring days required ranges from 4 to 9 d, making it difficult to draw a definitive conclusion for this population. Face-to-face distribution and collection of accelerometers is probably the best option in field-based research, but delivery and return by express carrier or registered mail is a viable option. CONCLUSION Accelerometer-based activity assessments requires careful planning and the use of appropriate strategies to increase compliance.