Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Preservatives in glaucoma medication

Preservatives continue to be in widespread use in ophthalmic medications due to the convenience they provide, regulatory requirements and the higher cost of alternatives. Benzalkonium chloride (BAK) remains the most commonly used preservative but there is a trend towards the use of preservative-free (PF) drops for glaucoma, although at a higher price. An extensive body of literature explores BAK toxicity on ocular structures in animal and laboratory studies (in vitro and in vivo). Non-randomised controlled studies have provided some supporting evidence of its toxicity in patients, especially in those with pre-existing ocular surface disease (OSD) or on multiple medications. However, there have been very few randomised controlled trials that compare the same medication with and without BAK preservative. Several of these trials have never been published in any peer reviewed journals. Notwithstanding, those that have been published, have not demonstrated any clear benefits of the BAK-free formulations. Short duration and exclusion of those with OSD are limitations of these studies. There is a lack of evidence of clinically significant harm from a small number of BAK preserved drops in patients without OSD. This means that generally more expensive PF glaucoma medications should only be recommended for those on poly pharmacy or those with OSD but are not necessarily required for all patients.
IT and the Board of Directors: An Empirical Investigation into the "Governance Questions" Canadian Board Members Ask about IT

ABSTRACT: In modern organizations, information technologies (IT) often help drive organizational strategies. As such, IT require both judicious planning and oversight. While executive oversight over IT is quite common nowadays, several studies indicate that due to the many benefits and risks associated with IT, more/better board-level oversight may be in order. Unfortunately, there is a scarcity of research on the involvement of board members in IT governance. We attempt to partially fill this gap by empirically examining the degree to which the 27 IT governance questions that make up an IT board governance framework recommended by the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants are raised by the board members of 94 Canadian firms. We also investigate the extent to which the questions are considered important. Our findings show that: board members use only some of the IT governance questions and not all the recommended ones; there is a gap between the IT governance questions board members ask and the ones.
Meta‐analysis of the impact of successful chronic total occlusion percutaneous coronary intervention on left ventricular systolic function and reverse remodeling

BACKGROUND We sought to examine the impact of coronary chronic total occlusion (CTO) percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) on left ventricular (LV) function. METHODS We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies published between January 1980 and November 2017 on the impact of successful CTO PCI on LV function. RESULTS A total of 34 observational studies including 2735 patients were included in the meta-analysis. Over a weighted mean follow-up of 7.9 months, successful CTO PCI was associated with an increase in LV ejection fraction by 3.8% (95%CI 3.0-4.7, P < 0.0001, I2 = 45%). In secondary analysis of 15 studies (1248 patients) that defined CTOs as occlusions of at least 3-month duration and reported follow-up of at least 3-months after the procedure, successful CTO PCI was associated with improvement in LV ejection fraction by 4.3% (95%CI [3.1, 5.6], P < 0.0001). In the 10 studies (502 patients) that reported LV end-systolic volume, successful CTO PCI was associated with a decrease in LV end-systolic volume by 4 mL, (95%CI -6.0 to -2.1, P < 0.0001, I2 = 0%). LV end-diastolic volume was reported in 9 studies with 403 patients and did not significantly change after successful CTO PCI (-2.3 mL, 95%CI -5.7 to 1.2 mL, P = 0.19, I2 = 0%). CONCLUSIONS Successful CTO PCI is associated with a statistically significant improvement in LV ejection fraction and decrease in LV end-systolic volume, that may reflect a beneficial effect of CTO recanalization on LV remodeling. The clinical implications of these findings warrant further investigation.
Spillovers from Agglomerations and Inward FDI. A Multilevel Analysis on SSA Domestic Firms

This paper adopts multilevel analysis to analyse the agglomeration-performance nexus for domestic firms in Sub-Saharan Africa. We show that contextual factors such as country, city and industry together explain up to 30% of the variance in firms’ productivity. Our results show also that African firms can take advantage from agglomeration externalities when they locate in cities more densely populated by firms specialized in different sectors (urbanization economies), while their performance worsen when they face direct competition from firms in the same industry. These effects are similar in the services and the manufacturing industries, even if in the latter positive spillovers are found to be conditional to the presence of backward and foreign linkages with nearby firms. Finally, we are also able to show that these effects are magnified when domestic firms locate close to foreign multinationals, especially those coming from the South.
Attentional Modulation of Hierarchical Ensemble Coding for the Identities of Moving Faces

Observers can accurately compute summary statistics from a set of similar objects, which is referred to as ensemble coding. Few studies have investigated whether ensemble coding can be modulated by attention (i.e., whether attention can be selectively deployed to exclude irrelevant items from the ensemble coding of relevant items), and no studies have tested whether this coding represents the average of a relevant subset, the average of an irrelevant subset, or the average of the entire set. The present study employed an adapted paradigm of the multiple object tracking (MOT) task in which participants viewed multiple moving target faces and were asked to indicate whether a subsequent test face was one of the preceding targets. Experiment 1 showed that ensemble coding occurred for moving faces, and Experiments 2, 3, and 4 showed that participants were more likely to judge the individual and the average of tracked target faces than the average of all (target and nontarget) faces in the display and average nontarget faces. These findings suggest that ensemble coding for facial identities is hierarchical and can, at least partially, be modulated by attention.
Dexmedetomidine Preconditioning Ameliorates Inflammation and Blood–Spinal Cord Barrier Damage After Spinal Cord Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury by Down-Regulation High Mobility Group Box 1-Toll-Like Receptor 4-Nuclear Factor &kgr;B Signaling Pathway

Study Design. To evaluate the effect of Dexmedetomidine (Dex) on the inflammatory response and the integrity of blood–spinal cord barrier (BSCB) after spinal cord ischemia-reperfusion injury (SCIRI). Objective. To investigate the role of Dex in spinal cord I/R, particularly in the high mobility group box 1-toll-like receptor 4-nuclear factor &kgr;B (HMGB1-TLR4-NF-&kgr;B) pathway and the integrity of BSCB. Summary of Background Data. High mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) has been identified as a key mediator for the inflammatory response after spinal cord injury. Toll-like receptor 4-nuclear factor &kgr;B (TLR4-NF-&kgr;B) signaling pathway is the downstream of HMGB1. Dex preconditioning could protect the spinal cord from I/R injury by inhibiting HMGB1 and stabilizing the integrity of BSCB. But its underlying mechanism is not fully understood. Methods. Forty-eight male Japanese white rabbits were randomly assigned to three groups (16 rabbits/group): sham, I/R, and Dex + I/R. The hind-limb motor function was assessed at 12 hours intervals for 48 hours after reperfusion using the modified Tarlov scale score. The expression of HMGB1, TLR4, NF-&kgr;B, and tumor necrosis factor &agr; (TNF-&agr;) was evaluated by real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blot. The permeability of BSCB was examined via Evans blue (EB) extravasation. Results. Compared with sham group, spinal cord I/R increased the expression of HMGB1, TLR4, NF-&kgr;B, and TNF-&agr; as well as the permeability of BSCB (P < 0.05). Spinal cord I/R induced the decline of the score of hind-limb motor function (P < 0.01). Preconditioning with Dex attenuated the up-regulation of the express of HMGB1, TLR4, NF-&kgr;B, TNF-&agr;, and stabilized the permeability of BSCB (P < 0.05). Dex preconditioning also improved the hiatopathological outcome and the motor function (P < 0.01). Conclusion. Dex preconditioning may inhibit the inflammatory response and stabilize the integrity of BSCB at least partially by inhibiting the HMGB1-TLR4-NF-&kgr;B signaling pathway to protect spinal cord from ischemia/reperfusion injury. Level of Evidence: 2
The relationships between environmental sensitivity, ecological worldview, personal norms and pro‐environmental behaviors in Chinese children: Testing the value–belief–norm model with environmental sensitivity as an emotional basis

This study addresses the relationships that ecological worldview, environmental sensitivity, and personal norms have with pro-environmental behaviors in a particular child population in urban China. The survey questionnaires were distributed to 410 Grade 6 students from eight Green Schools in Shenzhen, China. The sample included 223 (54.3%) boys and 187 (45.6%) girls with ages ranging from 10 to 13 years. The results from structural equation modelling reveal that environmental sensitivity and personal norms were two critical factors in determining students' pro-environmental behaviors. The influence of ecological worldview was fully mediated by personal norms, whereas the effect of environmental sensitivity was partially mediated by both personal norms and ecological worldview.
Information Technology Capability: Firm Valuation, Earnings Uncertainty, and Forecast Accuracy

Prior literature argues that information technology (IT) capability, an organization's ability to effectively use IT‐based resources in combination with other organizational resources, can create unique and sustainable competitive advantages and thus intangible assets for a company. However, current accounting rules do not allow the capitalization of IT‐enabled intangible assets. We hypothesize that IT‐enabled intangible assets are value‐relevant and provide incremental explanatory power for firm valuation beyond traditional accounting information. IT capability is inherently risky as it is subject to implementation challenges, technological complexity, and innovative integration of IT investments with other organizational resources. Thus, we argue that IT capability is positively associated with future earnings uncertainty and decreased analyst forecast accuracy. Using InformationWeek 500 ranking index as a proxy for IT capability, we find evidence supporting these hypotheses. This study contributes to t.
Reductions in tree performance during hotter droughts are mitigated by shifts in nitrogen cycling.

Climate warming should result in hotter droughts of unprecedented severity in this century. Such droughts have been linked with massive tree mortality, and data suggest that warming interacts with drought to aggravate plant performance. Yet how forests will respond to hotter droughts remains unclear, as does the suite of mechanisms trees use to deal with hot droughts. We used an ecosystem-scale manipulation of precipitation and temperature on piñon pine (Pinus edulis) and juniper (Juniperus monosperma) trees to investigate nitrogen (N) cycling-induced mitigation processes related to hotter droughts. We found that while negative impacts on plant carbon and water balance are manifest after prolonged drought, performance reductions were not amplified by warmer temperatures. Rather, increased temperatures for 5 years stimulated soil N cycling under piñon trees and modified tree N allocation for both species, resulting in mitigation of hotter drought impacts on tree water and carbon functions. These findings suggest that adjustments in N cycling are likely after multi-year warming conditions and that such changes may buffer reductions in tree performance during hotter droughts. The results highlight our incomplete understanding of trees' ability to acclimate to climate change, raising fundamental questions about the resistance potential of forests to long-term, compound climatic stresses.
Frequency Diverse Array Antennas: From Their Origin to Their Application in Wireless Communication Systems

Wireless communication systems have gained considerable growth rate nowadays, with the anticipation that communications will be available everywhere and anywhere in the near future. Phased array antenna whose beam steering is fixed in an angle for all range cells has been utilized for wireless communications. To mitigate this problem, a new array concept, namely, frequency diverse array (FDA), was proposed. This paper presents how FDA technology could be useful in today’s wireless communication technology. FDA is distinct from phased array in a sense that it employs frequency increment across array elements. The use of a frequency increment creates a beam steering that is a function of angle, time, and range which allows the FDA antenna to transmit the energy along the prespecified range and angle direction. In addition, we consider the time-variant beampattern aspect of an FDA, which has normally been ignored in the literature. In this study, we present the mathematical fundamentals of FDA antenna and why it could be exploited for wireless communication systems. Furthermore, FDA using Butler matrix for communication has been discussed. Performance analysis in terms of transmit beampattern, signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINR), and direction of arrival has been presented and compared with that of phased array antenna.
Validation and proposal for cut-off values of an abbreviated version of the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test using the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

Objective Several abbreviated versions of the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) have been developed and are widely used in clinical settings. In this study, we provide evidence supporting the use of abbreviated versions of AUDIT by comparing the utility of various abbreviated versions and determining cut-off values for the population of South Korea. Methods Data were obtained from the 4th to 6th Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys. After calculating the whole AUDIT score, we applied the cut-off value of at-risk drinking proposed by the World Health Organization and divided the study sample into normal and at-risk drinking groups. Receiver operating characteristic curves were drawn for AUDIT-3rd question (Q3) alone, AUDIT-quantity and frequency (QF), AUDIT-consumption (C), AUDIT-4, and AUDIT-primary clinic (PC), and optimal cut-off values were obtained for each group. Results A total of 46,450 subjects were analyzed. The at-risk drinking group comprised 29.2% of all subjects. The area under receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) of the abbreviated versions of AUDIT increased from 0.954 to 0.991 as the number of questions increased from one to four. The differences in AUROC between the abbreviated versions of AUDIT were statistically significant. The most appropriate cut-off values for AUDIT-Q3 alone, AUDIT-QF, AUDIT-C, AUDIT-4, and AUDIT-PC for adults over age 19 were 2, 4, 5, 6, and 4 points, respectively. Conclusion As the number of items analyzed increased from one to four items, the AUROC increased to a statistically significant level. Cut-off values for abbreviated versions of AUDIT are similar in South Korea to other countries.
Early Motor Unit Conduction Velocity Changes to High-Intensity Interval Training versus Continuous Training

Purpose Moderate-intensity continuous training (MICT) and high-intensity interval training (HIIT) are associated with different adjustments in motor output. Changes in motor unit (MU) peripheral properties may contribute to these adjustments, but this is yet to be elucidated. This study evaluated early changes in MU conduction velocity (MUCV) and MU action potential amplitude after 2 wk of either HIIT or MICT. Methods Sixteen men were assigned to either an MICT group or HIIT group (n = 8 each), and participated in six training sessions over 14 d. HIIT: 8 to 12 × 60-s intervals at 100% peak power output. Moderate-intensity continuous training: 90 to 120 min continuous cycling at ~65% V˙O2peak. Preintervention and postintervention, participants performed maximal voluntary contractions (MVC) and submaximal (10%, 30%, 50%, and 70% of MVC) isometric knee extensions while high-density EMG was recorded from the vastus medialis (VM) and vastus lateralis (VL) muscles. The high-density EMG was decomposed into individual MU by convolutive blind-source separation and tracked preintervention and postintervention. Results Both training interventions induced changes in MUCV, but these changes depended on the type of training (P < 0.001). The HIIT group showed higher values of MUCV after training at all torque levels (P < 0.05), MICT only displayed changes in MUCV at low torque levels (10%–30% MVC, P < 0.002). There were no changes in MU action potential amplitude for either group (P = 0.2). Conclusions Two weeks of HIIT or MICT elicit differential changes in MUCV, likely due to the contrasting load and volume used in such training regimes. This new knowledge on the neuromuscular adaptations to training has implications for exercise prescription.
[Perception and distortion of body image in Spanish women dancers based on academic year and age].

INTRODUCTION young dancers are at a higher risk of developing body image distortion. OBJECTIVE to analyze body image perception and distortion in dancer students based on academic year and age. METHODS two hundred and ninety-eight women dancers between 11 and 24 years, who were studying between the 1st and 6th year of Professional Program, were evaluated. Dancers completed the "silhouette scale for adolescents" in order to determine their perception of the female and male figures, their perceived and ideal images, and the distortion, dissatisfaction and real-ideal indexes. RESULTS participants were more severe with male figures than with female ones. Dancers of the lower courses, especially from the 1st year, and youngest showed the highest values in distortion and real-ideal indexes. They thought that they look like thicker than they are, but their ideal figure was thicker than they really were (p < 0.001). In relation to the dissatisfaction index, all dancers desired to be thinner, without differences based on academic year or age (p > 0.05). Ten dancers showed a high risk to develop an eating disorder. CONCLUSIONS dancers of the initial courses and youngest have a tendency to see themselves fatter than they are. They want to look thinner, but they are thinner than they would like to be. This could act as a trigger for developing body dissatisfaction.
Incremental Learning in Word Production: Tracing the Fate of Non-Selected Alternative Picture Names

Picture naming studies have shown that alternative picture names become phonologically coactivated even when they are eventually not produced (e.g., dog when poodle is produced and vice versa). The authors investigated whether this pattern is shaped by recent experience. Specifically, they tested whether the phonological coactivation of an alternative name is attenuated, when speakers consistently only use one particular name in a large number of naming episodes. In 3 picture–word interference experiments, the authors measured the phonological coactivation of basic-level alternative names during subordinate-level naming (Experiments 1 and 3) and of subordinate-level alternative names during basic-level naming (Experiment 2). They measured the coactivation of the alternative name at different points in time with distractor words that were phonologically related or unrelated to that name. If the pattern of lexical activation is shaped by previous naming episodes and the phonological coactivation of the nonproduced alternative name decreases, interference from related distractors should be reduced in the course of the experiment. Contrary to this prediction, the interference effect from distractors phonologically related to the alternative name remained stable. This was also true when participants were not familiarized with the pictures, more naming episodes were implemented, and a consolidation phase was introduced (Experiment 3). Overall, these results indicate some limitation of incremental learning in word production.
Interrelatedness of Distress Among Chinese-Speaking Patients and Family Caregivers.

BACKGROUND Cancer is a family disease, affecting the individual patient and the family. For Chinese patients and their families in Canada, adjusting to cancer may be particularly distressing when culture and language are not congruent with the mainstream model of care delivery. OBJECTIVE In view of the limited research on the cancer experience of Chinese families, this study aims to examine the interrelatedness of patients and family caregivers' distress among a Chinese-speaking cancer population in Canada. METHODS Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 10 Chinese-speaking cancer patients and 6 family caregivers. Qualitative analysis of the interview data was conducted to construct cross-cutting themes regarding the experiences of distress after a cancer diagnosis. RESULTS Four overarching themes emerged from the analysis: (1) misconception about cancer, (2) tensions in disclosure, (3) patient and family caregiver distress, and (4) concealing emotion in patient and family caregiver. Notably, the interrelatedness of patients and family caregivers' distress was highlighted, as patients and family caregivers both sought to regulate their own emotions to protect one another's mental well-being. CONCLUSION The study provides insights into the distress of living with cancer and the impact on family relationships. Understanding the patients and family members' cultural and social contexts also provides the foundation for patient- and family-centered care. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE Healthcare professionals can provide culturally appropriate care by recognizing the needs, values, and beliefs of cancer patients and their families. Furthermore, the patient-family caregiver dyad needs to be considered as the unit of care.