Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Oculomotor function after virtual reality use differentiates symptomatic from asymptomatic individuals.

UNLABELLED Some individuals who use virtual reality (VR) head-mounted displays (HMD) have adverse visual symptoms. PURPOSE We measured oculomotor functions of symptomatic (n = 10) and asymptomatic (n = 10) individuals to determine if there were fundamental oculomotor performance differences. METHOD Before and after 20 min of biocular VR-HMD use, we measured: phorias, fixation disparity, gradient accommodative convergence to accommodation ratio (AC/A), stereopsis, and nearpoint of convergence. RESULTS We observed an exophoric shift in the nearpoint phoria of almost all subjects, whereas the farpoint phoria showed no trend. Interestingly, we observed that the phoric shift at far and near was highly correlated for the asymptomatic subjects but not for the symptomatic subjects. In addition, the (stimulus) AC/A ratio of symptomatic subjects was reduced after a period of VR-HMD use, whereas asymptomatic subjects' AC/A ratio was not reduced. CONCLUSION The oculomotor changes among the symptomatic subjects (increased exophoria at near and reduced AC/A) appears consistent with a reduced accommodative response. In contrast, the asymptomatic subjects show changes (correlated change in phorias) which seem most consistent with adaptation in the tonic component of vergence and/or accommodation.
Rotavirus: to the gut and beyond!

Purpose of review Rotavirus causes severe gastroenteritis in children. A principle of rotavirus pathogenesis has been that the infection remains localized to epithelial cells in the small intestine. This dogma was challenged by recent findings of rotavirus in the serum of experimentally infected animals and children with diarrhea. Repeated associations of rotavirus infections with a wide range of nongastroenteric clinical manifestations in humans were considered spurious because of lack of proof that rotavirus escaped the intestine. New data outlined in this review, however, show that rotavirus routinely infects systemically and highlight controversies and future research questions. Recent findings Rotavirus antigens (antigenemia), RNA, or infectious virus (viremia) has been demonstrated in the serum and many extraintestinal tissues in all experimental animal models. Rotavirus antigens and RNA have been detected in the sera of children with rotavirus diarrhea. The tissues and cell types that support rotavirus replication outside the intestine and the consequences of extraintestinal reservoirs of infection are beginning to be examined. Summary Rotavirus infection is systemic, with an acute active viremia and extraintestinal replication. The impact of systemic rotavirus on disease burden remains to be determined.
Labeling May Be an Important Cause of Reduced Quality of Life in Chronic Hepatitis C

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The effects of managerial ownership, leverage, dividend policy in minimizing agency problem

The research intends to minimize agency conflict through causality effects of managerial ownership, leverage, and dividend policy, where agency conflict is still interesting issue to discuss, as it concerns the principals’ and agents’ interests. The research covers 33 go-public manufacturers in Indonesia Stock Exchange. It involves 198 samples in the period 2010–2015. It applies saturation sampling and balanced panel data. For analysis model, it applies Granger bidirectional/simultaneity analysis, with variables of managerial ownership, leverage and dividend policy.The research shows that: 1) there is no bidirectional causality between managerial ownership and leverage (5%); 2) there is no bidirectional causality between managerial ownership and dividend policy (5%); 3) there is no bidirectional causality between leverage and dividend policy (10%).
Design Thinking and Digital Marketing Skills in Marketing Education: A Module on Building Mobile Applications

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how marketing educators can utilize the design-thinking process to create an engaged, high-impact learning experience for students. The guidelines of the assignment outlined in this article show how marketing students can utilize the design-thinking process in order to create a mobile application that meet the needs of target consumers. This adaptable assignment was tested in two types of marketing courses, and findings indicate that students improved in the areas of empathy, creativity, communication skills, technology skills, critical thinking, and collaboration.
Decomposition by ectomycorrhizal fungi alters soil carbon storage in a simulation model

Carbon cycle models often lack explicit belowground organism activity, yet belowground organisms regulate carbon storage and release in soil. Ectomycorrhizal fungi are important players in the carbon cycle because they are a conduit into soil for carbon assimilated by the plant. It is hypothesized that ectomycorrhizal fungi can also be active decomposers when plant carbon allocation to fungi is low. Here, we reviewed the literature on ectomycorrhizal decomposition and we developed a simulation model of the plant-mycorrhizae interaction where a reduction in plant productivity stimulates ectomycorrhizal fungi to decompose soil organic matter. Our review highlights evidence demonstrating the potential for ectomycorrhizal fungi to decompose soil organic matter. Our model output suggests that ectomycorrhizal activity accounts for a portion of carbon decomposed in soil, but this portion varied with plant productivity and the mycorrhizal carbon uptake strategy simulated. Lower organic matter inputs to soil were .
Imaging of infection in rabbits with radioiodinated interleukin-1 (alpha and beta), its receptor antagonist and a chemotactic peptide: a comparative study.

Previous studies have reported the favourable characteristics of chemotactic peptides and interleukins for imaging of infection and inflammation. In the present study, the potential of two species of interleukin 1 (IL-1), IL-1alpha and IL-1beta, the IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra) and the synthetic chemotactic peptide N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanyl-lysine (fMLFK) were directly compared in a rabbit model of infection. IL-1alpha, IL-1beta, IL-1ra and fMLFK were labelled with iodine-123 according to the Bolton-Hunter method. Twenty-four hours after induction of Escherichia coli abscesses in the left thigh muscle, rabbits were injected intravenously with 0.5 mCi of 123I-labelled agent. Gamma camera images were obtained at 5 min and 1, 4, 8 and 20 h p.i. Biodistribution was determined at 20 h p.i. Although all agents rapidly cleared from the blood, at 20 h p.i. blood levels and the levels in most organs of 123I-fMLFK were significantly lower than those of the other three agents (P<0.05). The abscesses were clearly visualized with all agents from 4 h p.i. onwards. After 1 h p.i. , the abscess uptake of 123I-IL-1beta was significantly higher than that of the other agents (P<0.05), with the highest uptake observed at 8 h p.i. (1.3%+/-0.3%). After 20 h p.i. , the highest abscess-to-contralateral muscle ratios were obtained with 123I-IL-1beta, i.e. 39.0+/-11.5 vs 18.7+/-5.4, 18.1+/-2.3 and 29. 9+/-7.0 for 123I-IL-1alpha, 123I-IL-1ra and 123I-fMLFK, respectively. In conclusion, all agents localized in the infectious focus. The potential of radiolabelled IL-1beta for imaging of infection was better than that of the other agents: higher absolute uptake in the infection and higher abscess-to-contralateral muscle ratios were obtained. The observation of localization of radiolabelled IL-1ra in infection was important since this protein can be administered to humans without any side-effects.
Predictive value of copeptin as a severity marker of community-acquired pneumonia

Background Pneumonia is the leading cause of death in children. Few studies have explored the predictive value of copeptin in pediatric pneumonia. Aim This study aimed to assess the role of copeptin as a marker of severity of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). Methods This prospective case-control study was carried out at Minia University Children’s Hospital in Minia (Egypt) from January to December 2016. Eighty children aged from 2 months to 42 months were enrolled in this study and were classified into group 1 (40 children with clinical, laboratory and radiological evidence of pneumonia) and group 2 (40 apparently healthy control). Serum copeptin level was assayed for all enrolled children. Results Mean serum copeptin level was significantly higher in pneumonic patients (985.7±619) pg/ml compared to controls (519±308.2) pg/ml (p<0.001). Serum copeptin was significantly elevated in survivors of pneumonia more than non-survivors (p=0.001). Also, copeptin was significantly higher in the group of non-survivors (1811.8±327.1) compared to 745.4±472.5 for survivors (p=0.01). There was a significant positive correlation between serum copeptin levels and the degree of respiratory distress (p=0.02). Conclusion Copeptin seems a reliable and available predictor marker for assessing the severity and prognosis of pediatric community acquired pneumonia.
Rheumatoid Arthritis: An Overview of New and Emerging Therapies

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, inflammatory, systemic autoimmune disorder characterized by symmetric inflammation of synovial joints leading to progressive erosion of cartilage and bone. The aim of treatment is to mitigate joint destruction, preserve function, and prevent disability. The American College of Rheumatology guidelines for the treatment of RA recommend that newly diagnosed patients with RA begin treatment with disease‐modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) within 3 months of diagnosis. Methotrexate remains the most commonly prescribed DMARD and is the standard by which recent new and emerging therapies are measured. Increasing knowledge regarding the immunologic basis of RA and advances in biotechnology have resulted in new, targeted biological therapies against proinflammatory cytokines that have dramatically changed the treatment paradigm and outcomes of patients with RA. This article reviews the pharmacological rationale underlying RA therapy, with a focus on currently available biological therapies and new therapies in development.
Object-based attention is mediated by collinearity of targets

Same-object bias occurs when tasks associated with processing a single object are faster than tasks associated with two objects. Over five experiments we assessed whether same-object bias is mediated by the collinearity of the targets. Participants decided whether two targets, presented either within a single object or across two objects, were the same or different. Results showed that same-object bias only occurred when targets appeared on the same straight line within the same object. When targets appeared in the same object but were separated by an angle or corner, within-object facilitation was eliminated or greatly reduced. In a final experiment, response times to two targets that were collinear but on separate objects were responded to faster than were noncollinear targets on the same object. This suggests that collinearity between targets mediates the effect found in this paradigm, at least to a greater extent than colour grouping.
Symmetry-based mitosis detection in time-lapse microscopy

Providing a general framework for mitosis detection is challenging. The variability of the visual traits and temporal features which classify the event of cell division is huge due to the numerous cell types, perturbations, imaging techniques and protocols used in microscopy imaging analysis studies. The commonly used machine learning techniques are based on the extraction of comprehensive sets of discriminative features from labeled examples and therefore do not apply to general cases as they are restricted to trained datasets. We present a robust mitotic event detection algorithm that accommodates the difficulty of the different cell appearances and dynamics. Addressing symmetrical cell divisions, we consider the anaphase stage, immediately after the DNA material divides, at which the two daughter cells are approximately identical. Having detected pairs of candidate daughter cells, based on their association to potential mother cells, we look for the respective symmetry axes. Mitotic event is detected based on the calculated measure of symmetry of each candidate pair of cells. Promising mitosis detection results for four different time-lapse microscopy datasets were obtained.
Improved Immunogenicity and Efficacy of the Recombinant 19-Kilodalton Merozoite Surface Protein 1 by the Addition of Oligodeoxynucleotide and Aluminum Hydroxide Gel in a Murine Malaria Vaccine Model

ABSTRACT Vaccination of mice with yeast-secreted Plasmodium yoelii-derived 19-kilodalton merozoite surface protein 1 (yMSP119) has been shown to afford protection from challenge with a lethal strain of P. yoelii. Sterile immunity can be achieved when MSP119 is emulsified in Freund adjuvant but not when it is adsorbed to aluminum hydroxide gel (alum). Because complete Freund adjuvant is not an acceptable adjuvant for use in humans, alternative adjuvants must be identified for formulating MSP119 as a vaccine for use in humans. To determine whether oligodeoxynucleotides with CpG motifs (ODN), reported to be a powerful new class of adjuvants, could enhance the immunogenicity of yMSP119, C57BL/6 mice were vaccinated either with yMSP119 formulated with Freund adjuvant, with alum, or with ODN plus alum and challenged intravenously with P. yoelii 17XL asexual blood-stage parasites. Adsorption of immunogen and adjuvant to alum was optimized by adjusting buffer (phosphate versus acetate) and pH. We found that the adjuvant combination of ODN plus alum with yMSP119, injected intraperitoneally (i.p.), increased immunoglobulin G (IgG) yMSP119-specific antibody production 12-fold over Freund adjuvant given i.p., 3-fold over Freund adjuvant given subcutaneously (s.c.), 300-fold over alum given i.p., and 48-fold over alum given s.c. The predominant antibody isotype in the group receiving alum-ODN-yMSP119 was IgG1. Increased antibody levels correlated to protection from a challenge with P. yoelii 17XL. Supernatant cytokine levels of gamma interferon in yMSP119-stimulated splenocytes were dramatically elevated in the alum-ODN-yMSP119 group. Interleukin-10 (IL-10) levels were also elevated; however, no IL-5 was detected. The cytokine profile, as well as the predominant IgG1 antibody isotype, suggests the protective immune response was a mixed Th1/Th2 response.
Porphyromonas gingivalis fimbria-stimulated bone resorption in vitro is inhibited by a tyrosine kinase inhibitor

Our previous study (Y. Kawata, S. Hanazawa, S. Amano, Y. Murakami, T. Matsumoto, K. Nishida, and S. Kitano, Infect. Immun. 62:3012-3016, 1994) showed that Porphyromonas gingivalis fimbriae stimulate bone resorption in vitro. Since it has recently been demonstrated that tyrosine kinase encoded by the c-src gene plays an important role in osteoclastic bone resorption, in the present study we examined the effect of a tyrosine kinase inhibitor on the fimbria-stimulated bone resorption. Genistein, a potent inhibitor of tyrosine kinase, markedly inhibited bone resorption stimulated by the fimbriae. Genistein also inhibited induction of several tyrosine-phosphorylated proteins in the fimbria-treated calvarial bone cells from mouse embryos.
Measurements and analysis of end-to-end Internet dynamics

One of the fundamental difficulties with trying to characterize the Internet''s behavior lies in its immense diversity. To date, efforts to characterize end-to-end Internet dynamics such as packet delay and loss have studied at most a handful of traffic traces and Internet paths, making it difficult to assess the generality of the findings. Yet solid assessments of Internet path properties are crucial for engineering transport protocols for high performance. In this work, we attempt to tackle this problem using a distributed framework we developed for conducting end-to-end measurements. In the first part, we report on an end-to-end routing study conducted using the framework, in which 37 sites participated, yielding about 40,000 routing measurements along 1,000 Internet paths. We characterize routing pathologies and failures, stability over time, and symmetry. In the second part of the study, we analyze 20,000 TCP bulk transfers measured using the same framework. We discuss: 1) errors introduced by the packet filters used to make the measurements; 2) dealing with unsynchronized and skewed clocks; 3) separating out TCP behavior from network behavior; 4) the surprisingly large variations between different TCP implementations; 5) pathological network behavior, such as out-of-order delivery, replication, and corruption; 6) a robust algorithm for estimating bottleneck bandwidth; and 7) the resulting characterizations of Internet packet loss and delay, including general assessments of queueing time scales and available bandwidth.
The role of knowledge management for long-term sustainability in Kuwait companies

KM is considered as a strategic component for organisations to gain sustainable competitive advantage in the long run. This research aims to investigate the effects of KM processes on organisational sustainability in Kuwaiti context. In order to test this relationship, a regression analysis was conducted based on data collected from the service sector in Kuwait. Data analysis revealed that there is a direct linear correlation between KM processes and organisations' sustainability. If we look at the comparative analysis of KM processes, knowledge storage appears to be the most significant factor for organisational sustainability followed by knowledge utilisation and sharing. Knowledge generation is also positively correlated with sustainability but it has comparatively less impact.
Migraine as a Cause of Sudden Hearing Loss

Sudden heating loss is common, but unexplained in many cases. Although usually attributed to a viral infection of the inner ear in mort patients, the abrupt onset of the hearing loss in many patients argues against a viral etiology. We present 13 cases of unexplained sudden healing loss who meet the diagnostic criteria for migraine. All had the sudden onset of hearing loss and other neurologic phenomena that could be attributed to vasospasm, including vertigo, amaurosis fugax, hemiplegia, facial pain, chest pain, and visual aura. We suggest that vasospasm of the cochlear vasculature was the cause of the sudden hearing loss in these patients. A personal and family history of migraine should be sought in patient; with sudden heating loss and when found, a trial of antispas modic agents should be considered.
Bioequivalence study of a film-coated tablet of deferiprone in healthy Thai volunteers.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the bioequivalence of a single dose of deferiprone tablet manufactured locally (GPO-L-ONE, GPO, Thailand) with a reference formulation (Ferriprox, ApoPharma, Canada). VOLUNTEERS AND METHODS A randomized, single dose, two-treatment, two-period, two- sequence crossover study was conducted in 24 healthy volunteers. Each subject received a single dose of 3 tablets of 500 mg deferiprone of both formulations with a two-week washout period. Blood samples were collected at 12 points for 480 min. Serum deferiprone levels were analyzed using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method. Pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated from serum concentration-time curve and applying the non-compartment model. Statistical comparisons of Cmax, AUC(0-t), AUC(0-inf) values were evaluated after logarithmic transformation. Other pharmacokinetic parameters were tested non-parametrically. RESULTS The C(max) value (mean +/- SD) for reference and test product was 32.4 +/- 13.2 and 27.8 +/- 12.8 microg/ml, respectively. Mean ratio (test/reference) of C(max) was 0.852 with 90% CI of 0.772 - 0.934. Mean ratio (test/reference) of AUC(0-t) was 0.962 with 90% CI of 0.914 to 1.012, and of AUC(0-inf) was 0.966 with 90% CI of 0.918-1.016. Both formulations were well tolerated and no adverse effects were observed. CONCLUSION The 90% CI of mean ratio of AUC(0-t) and AUC(0-inf) fell within the acceptable range (0.80 - 1.25) for bioequivalent eligibility. Regarding the efficacy of deferiprone, which depends on AUC rather than C(max), 90% CI of mean ratio of C(max) was within the acceptable range of WHO criteria for bioequivalence study (0.75 - 1.33). Therefore the two film-coated formulations of deferiprone tablet were proven bioequivalent in healthy Thai volunteers.
The Benefits and Costs of Adjusting Bank Capitalisation: Evidence From Euro Area Countries

The paper proposes a framework for assessing the impact of system-wide and bank-level capital buffers. The assessment rests on a factor-augmented vector autoregression (FAVAR) model that relates individual bank adjustments to macroeconomic dynamics. We estimate FAVAR models individually for eleven euro area economies and identify structural shocks, which allow us to diagnose key vulnerabilities of national banking systems and estimate short-run economic costs of increasing banks’ capitalisation. On this basis, we run a fullyfledged cost-benefit assessment of an increase in capital buffers. The benefits are related to an increase in bank resilience to adverse shocks. Higher capitalisation allows banks to withstand negative shocks and moderates the reduction of credit to the real economy that ensues in adverse circumstances. The costs relate to transitory credit and output losses that are assessed both on an aggregate and bank level. An increase in capital ratios is shown to have a sharply different impact on credit and economic activity depending on the way banks adjust, i.e. via changes in assets or equity.