Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Glaucoma and fitness to drive: using binocular visual fields to predict a milestone to blindness.

PURPOSE To use binocular integrated visual field (IVF) measures to predict which patients will lose visual function to a level below the legal standard for driving. METHODS Data from patients attending a glaucoma clinic were collected longitudinally. The time from baseline until failure to meet the criteria of the driver's license test was modeled with Cox regression. Visual field status at baseline and visual field deterioration rate at 2 years from baseline for various monocular and binocular VF indices were investigated as predictor variables. The model that provided the best fit to the data was validated using bootstrap resampling. RESULTS Of the patients, 20% (60/299; 95% confidence interval, 16%-25%) failed to meet the visual field criteria to prevent driver's license loss during an average follow-up of 7 years. The median age of patients was 64 years. The binocular IVF measurements gave a better fit to the observed data than the monocular measurements. Initial average visual field sensitivity and rate of visual field loss of sensitivity were significant predictors of failure to meet driver's license test criteria. CONCLUSIONS The IVF provides a method by which binocular visual fields can be incorporated into patient management and allows, for example, a prediction of future driver's license loss. The rate of binocular IVF sensitivity loss at 2 years of follow-up may help identify patients who could benefit from intensified intervention.
When Are Stocks Less Volatile in the Long Run?

Abstract Pástor and Stambaugh (2012) find that from a forward-looking perspective, stocks are more volatile in the long run than they are in the short run. We demonstrate that when the nonnegative equity premium (NEP) condition is imposed on predictive regressions, stocks are in fact less volatile in the long run, even after taking estimation risk and uncertainties into account. The reason is that the NEP provides an additional parameter identification condition and prior information for future returns. Combined with the mean reversion of stock returns, this condition substantially reduces uncertainty on future returns and leads to lower long-run predictive variance.
The Association of Gastric Cancer Risk with Plasma Folate, Cobalamin, and Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase Polymorphisms in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition

Previous studies have shown inconsistent associations of folate intake and polymorphisms of the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene with gastric cancer risk. Our nested case-control study within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition cohort is the first prospective study of blood folate levels and gastric cancer. Gastric cancer cases (n = 247) and controls (n = 631) were matched for study center, age, sex, and time of blood donation. Two common single nucleotide polymorphisms of the MTHFR gene were determined, as were plasma concentrations of folate, cobalamin (vitamin B12), total homocysteine, and methylmalonic acid (cobalamin deficiency marker) in prediagnostic plasma. Risk measures were calculated with conditional logistic regression. Although no relations were observed between plasma folate or total homocysteine concentrations and gastric cancer, we observed a trend toward lower risk of gastric cancer with increasing cobalamin concentrations (odds ratio, 0.79 per SD increase in cobalamin; P = 0.01). Further analyses showed that the inverse association between cobalamin and gastric cancer was confined to cancer cases with low pepsinogen A levels (marker of severe chronic atrophic gastritis) at the time of blood sampling. The 677 C→T MTHFR polymorphism was not associated with gastric cancer, but we observed an increased risk with the variant genotype of the 1298 A→C polymorphism (odds ratio, 1.47 for CC versus AA; P = 0.04). In conclusion, we found no evidence of a role of folate in gastric cancer etiology. However, we observed increased gastric cancer risk at low cobalamin levels that was most likely due to compromised cobalamin status in atrophic gastritis preceding gastric cancer. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2007;16(11):2416–24)
Reforming Urban Sanitation Under Decentralization: Cross‐Country Learning for Kenya and Beyond

Motivation. Across the Global South, unclear institutional frameworks undermine progress in improving services. Often, ongoing decentralization reforms reduce clarity further. Policy professionals working on institutional reform lack comparative models. Purpose. To identify key challenges for the institutional arrangements for urban sanitation in decentralizing contexts, in Kenya and elsewhere, and to propose possible responses. Approach and methods. We use key informant interviews and literature review in a problem&#8208;driven analysis, drawing from three comparative case studies: South Africa, Indonesia and Tamil Nadu State. The analysis builds upon&#160;research on institutional effectiveness&#8212;co&#8208;operation, collaboration and co&#8208;ordination&#8212;rooted in game theory and elaborated in the 2017 World Development Report. Findings. Three key problems in Kenya are identified: overlaps and competition around sector leadership at national and devolved levels; weak incentives for county governments to commit policy attention and finance, despite devolution; and limited regulatory oversight. Policy implications. We identify a range of options for urban sanitation policy&#8208;makers: (a) to engage non&#8208;sectoral authorities in co&#8208;ordinating multi&#8208;sectoral issues across all levels of government; (b) to encourage political commitment to pro&#8208;poor sanitation services at decentralized levels; and (c) to use incentive&#8208;based and risk&#8208;based approaches to regulate decentralized entities and strengthen local capacity for monitoring and enforcement.
Reliability of EMG time-frequency measures of fatigue during repetitive lifting.

PURPOSE To test the short-term and long-term reliability of time-frequency electromyographic (EMG) measures of fatigue during repetitive dynamic lifting and compare it with the reliability of median frequency (MF) EMG measures of fatigue during static lifting. METHODS Fourteen' healthy male subjects (26 +/- 5 years) repetitively (12 lifts/min) lifted and lowered a box (29 x 25 x 23 cm, 13 kg) for 4.5 min during 3 different tests on 2 different days. EMG data and the biomechanics of motion were recorded. Before and after dynamic lifting, static maximum lifting tests were performed. At the end of each of the two sessions, subjects performed a static lift at 80% of their maximum lifting force for 30 s. RESULTS Significant fatigue-related changes were observed during the lifting exercise via EMG time-frequency analysis at the paravertebral L5, L2, T10, and vastus lateralis (VL) electrode sites. Two parameters for assessing fatigue during dynamic contractions [i.e., the Instantaneous Median Frequency (IMDF) and its time dependent change] were shown to be reproducible both in the short-term (2 h) and long-term (2 wk). The corresponding ICCs reflecting the reproducibility of values between sessions were 96.9% (L5), 98.1% (L2), 90.1% (T10), 96.4% (UT), 98.0% (GM), 89.5% (VL), and 99.0% (BF), respectively. For most EMG recording sites, the reliability of the IMDF measures was not dependent upon the postural strategy that the subject used to accomplish the lifting task or on the subject's strength as measured via the static maximum lifting test. A comparison between the ICC values of the IMDF measures and those of the parameters utilized to assess fatigue during static sustained lifts [i.e., the Median Frequency (MDF) and its change during the test] revealed equally good reproducibility for most EMG recording sites. The respective ICC values that took into account time dependent trends for the IMDF parameter were 87.1% (L5), 62.4% (L2), 90.1% (T10), 0% (UT), 72.7% (GM), 45.4% (VL), and 100% (BF), and for the MDF parameter 94.9% (L5), 73.0% (L2), 80.9% (T10), 100% (UT), 89% (GM), 91.7% (VL), and 90.9% (BF), respectively. CONCLUSIONS The time-frequency approach allows one to derive EMG spectral parameters that can be used to monitor muscle fatigue during dynamic real-world tasks such as lifting.
Sacculo-collic pathway dysfunction accompanying auditory neuropathy

Conclusions. In a patient with bilateral auditory neuropathy (AN), the vestibular-evoked myogenic potential (VEMP) was probably absent because of a neuropathy involving the inferior vestibular nerve and/or its end organ, the saccule. Our result can therefore be interpreted as a concomitant unilateral sacculo-collic neuropathy. We suggest the use of more precise terms to characterize AN patients with involvement of different parts of the inner ear and its innervations. We encourage detailed vestibular assessment in patients with AN in order to assess the co-existence of any symptomatic or asymptomatic vestibular disorder. Information such as that provided in this report will be valuable for clinicians caring for this group of patients. Objective. AN is a disorder characterized by the absence or severe impairment of auditory brainstem responses in the presence of normal cochlear outer hair cell function as revealed by otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) and/or electrocochleography (ECoG). A variety of processes and etiologies are thought to be involved in its pathophysiology. In most literature reports the auditory profile of patients with AN is discussed. However, the extent of vestibular involvement, especially that involving the saccule, is not known. We performed vestibular tests to assess the status of the saccule in a patient with AN. Material and methods. One patient with AN was studied. The patient was a right-handed 21-year-old female with chief complaints of hearing loss and speech perception difficulty. Results. The auditory test results were consistent with the diagnosis of AN, i.e. absent auditory brainstem responses, moderate hearing loss, an inappropriately profound speech discrimination score and the presence of OAEs and measurable cochlear microphonics on ECoG. On neurological examination, gait and balance tests were normal. Ice-water caloric testing induced a sensation of dizziness in both ears. Short tone-burst VEMPs showed no response on left-ear stimulation and a biphasic response with normal latency and amplitude on right-ear stimulation.
Formal voice mechanisms and portfolio career workers’ prosocial voice in Japan and Korea: the mediating role of managers’ issue-related leadership activities

ABSTRACT This study analyses the relationship between formal voice mechanisms and prosocial voice among portfolio career workers (PCWs) in Japan and Korea. We particularly focus on the leadership activities of managers as human resource management agents and issue sellers. Under similar conditions, data on 400 and 409 PCWs in Japan and Korea, respectively, are gathered through web-based longitudinal surveys conducted in 2017 and 2018. The findings are threefold. First, when PCWs perceive that formal voice mechanisms are activated, they also rate the levels of their managers’ issue-related leadership activities more highly. Second, when PCWs evaluate the issue-related leadership activities of managers as being at a high level, they perceive that employment relations are based on a social exchange relationship. Third, when PCWs perceive employment relations based on a social exchange relationship, they provide their prosocial voice more actively. These results are discussed relative to the internal labour market models of Japan and Korea.
Epidermal reinnervation after intracutaneous axotomy in man

Two distinct patterns of reinnervation occur after injury to the cutaneous nerves: regenerative growth of the injured nerve and “collateral sprouting” of neighboring intact nerves. We describe two complementary models of regrowth of transected small sensory fibers in human skin. The “incision” model uses a circular incision that transects the subepidermal plexus, resulting in Wallerian degeneration of the nerve fibers that enter the incised cylinder, leaving a defined zone of denervated dermis and epidermis. The “excision” model utilizes an identical incision, followed by removal of the incised cylinder of skin, leaving a denervated area in which Schwann cells are absent. In the incision model, the earliest reinervation of denervated epidermis occurred by collateral sprouting from the terminals of epidermal axons from just outside the incision line. These axon terminals extended horizontally across the incision line and through the superficial layers of the epidermis, beneath the stratum corneum. By 13 days, numerous regenerating axons appeared in the deeper dermis derived from transected axons. These regenerating axons grew toward and ultimately into the epidermis, so that epidermal axonal density had normalized by 30–75 days. The invasion of these axons was associated with regression of the horizontally growing collateral sprouts. In the excision model, new fibers arose by terminal elongation of the epidermal axons outside the incision line, as in the incision model, and especially by collateral branching of epidermal fibers at the incision margins. These collaterals reached the epidermal surface of the basal lamina at the dermal–epidermal junction and then grew slowly toward the center of the denervated circle. In contrast to the incision model, however, complete reinnervation was not achieved even after 23 months. These models can be used to study reinnervation of denervated skin in man in different injury models and have relevance for exploring the stimuli for axonal growth and remodeling. J. Comp. Neurol. 457:24–36, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Gene expression changes in blood as a putative biomarker for Huntington's disease

Several studies demonstrated alterations of gene expression in blood in various neurological disorders including Huntington's disease (HD). Using microarray technology, a recent study identified a large number of significantly altered mRNAs in HD blood, from which a 12‐gene set was selected as classifier for discriminating controls and HD patients. The aim of our study was to validate expression changes of these 12 genes in an independent cohort of HD patients and evaluate their sensitivity and specificity. Four different subject groups were included—patients with HD, Parkinson's disease (PD), acute ischemic stroke (AS) and healthy controls. Although the previous results were successfully validated, gene expression changes in HD blood partly overlapped with those observed in blood from PD and AS patients. Predictive value of the selected biomarker set for HD group was 78%, with 82% sensitivity and 53% specificity. Further gene expression analyses in longitudinal studies are needed to validate and refine possible transcriptomic blood biomarkers in HD. © 2009 Movement Disorder Society
Introduction, stable integration, and controlled expression of a chimeric adenovirus gene whose product is toxic to the recipient human cell

The DNA-binding protein (DBP) encoded by human adenoviruses is a multifunctional polypeptide which plays a central role in regulating the expression of the viral genes. To gain a better understanding of the relationships between the various functions provided by DBP, an extensive collection of DBP mutants is essential. To this end we have constructed several permissive human cell lines which contain and express the DBP gene at high levels to allow propagation of otherwise lethal, nonrecoverable mutants of DBP. Because DBP is toxic to human cells, cell lines were constructed by using a vector in which the DBP gene is under the control of the dexamethasone-inducible promoter of the mouse mammary tumor virus. The low basal levels of DBP synthesis in the absence of dexamethasone allows isolation and propagation of these cells. Addition of dexamethasone enhances DBP production 50- to 200-fold, and within 8 h its synthesis from the single integrated copy of the chimeric gene is 5 to 15% of that observed during peak DBP synthesis in infected human cells in which hundreds of copies of the DBP gene serve as templates. At the nonpermissive temperature, adenovirus mutants with ts lesions in the DBP gene replicate their DNAs, express their late genes, and form infectious viral particles in these DBP+ cell lines but not in the parental HeLa cells.
Development of the meiotic step in testes of pubertal rats: Comparison between the in vivo situation and under in vitro conditions

The present work aimed to compare some features of the meiotic process which develops in the testis of pubertal rats, in vivo and in vitro, paying special attention to the time‐course of the phenomenon. The differentiation of spermatocytes was assessed in testes of 20‐ to 46‐day‐old rats and in tubule segments of 20‐ or 28‐day‐old rats cultured over a 4‐week period. Very similar results were obtained in vivo and in vitro, during the first week of culture, when considering the changes in the cell populations of different ploidy, the gene expression of germ cells, the kinetics of differentiation of BrdU‐labeled early or middle pachytene spermatocytes and the levels of apoptosis in the different cell populations. However, during the second week of culture, the decrease in the proportion of the 4C cell population which was only slightly more marked than that observed in vivo between 27 and 34 days, was not associated with an increase in the 1C cell population as large as in vivo. This result could be explained partly by a high proportion of apoptotic 1C cells beyond one week of culture. Concomitantly, the rate of in vitro differentiation of BrdU‐labeled spermatocytes slowed down when reaching the stage of middle pachytene spermatocytes and BrdU‐labeled round spermatids were observed 6–11 days later than when BrdU‐labeled spermatocytes differentiated in vivo. Taken together, our results indicate that the bottleneck for the development of the meiotic cells in vitro is at the transition from middle to late pachytene spermatocytes. Hence, comparing the expression of locally produced regulatory molecules in vivo and in vitro at different days of culture should allow to identify key regulators of the meiotic step of spermatogenesis. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 65: 86–95, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Early Onset of Axonal Degeneration in Double (plp−/−mag−/−) and Hypomyelinosis in Triple (plp−/−mbp−/−mag−/−) Mutant Mice

Double (plp−/−mag−/−) and triple (plp−/−mbp−/−mag−/−) null-allelic mouse lines deficient in proteolipid protein (PLP), myelin-associated glycoprotein (MAG), and myelin basic protein (MBP) were generated and characterized genetically, biochemically, and morphologically including their behavioral capacities. Theplp−/−mag−/− mutant develops a rapidly progressing axon degeneration in CNS with severe cognitive and motor coordinative deficits but has a normal longevity. CNS axons of theplp−/−mbp−/−mag−/− mouse are hypomyelinated and ensheathed by “pseudomyelin” with disturbed protein and complex lipid composition. Theshiverer trait in theplp−/−mbp−/−mag−/− similar to the plp−/−mbp−/− mutant is significantly ameliorated, and its lifespan is considerably prolonged. The longevity of these dysmyelinosis mouse mutants recommends them as suitable models for the long-term evaluation of stem cell therapeutic strategies.
Absence of respect : South Sudanese experiences of Australian government and social institutions

This micro empirical research reports on the resettlement experiences of South Sudanese Australians. It develops an argument to explain why the South Sudanese community persistent! y report a strong sense of disrespect from the Australian Government and Australian society more generally. The study demonstrates that the community's call for respect is a summation of their protest against economic and social exclusion in the public domain and interference from care and protection authorities in the private domain of the family. Members of the Sudanese community see education and employment as the main pathways to inclusion in their new society and to regaining their dignity lost in forced migration. But their efforts to obtain employment are often thwarted by structural impediments and discrimination from employers. As a consequence they feel robbed of the opportunity to participate and to attain respect in their new environment. The experience of being prevented from fully realising identities to which they aspire in their new society has heightened the importance of preserving heritage values and structures within Sudanese families. These structures, while giving form and meaning to family members, have also become highly contested in their new cultural environment both from within and outside of the Sudanese community. Care and protection authorities were quick to respond to inter-generational conflict and violence among Sudanese families. Yet lack of cultural knowledge and understanding of the reasons for non-compliance with Australian family law among Sudanese parents has led to inappropriate interventions, undermining Sudanese family structures. Parents at large were left feeling disempowered in their parenting roles and confused about the purpose of government interventions. Rather than engaging with the confusion of Sudanese parents, agencies rebuffed their growing grievance and anger adding to the
Replacement of SFC-DPI with SFC-MDI exhaled through the nose improves eosinophilic chronic rhinosinusitis in patients with bronchial asthma.

OBJECTIVE Eosinophilic chronic rhinosinusitis (ECRS), a subgroup of chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps, is a refractory disease closely associated with bronchial asthma. We recently reported on the efficacy of ultra-fine particle inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) (hydrofluoroalkane-134a-beclomethasone dipropionate: HFA-BDP) exhalation through the nose (ETN) treatment for mild-to-moderate asthmatics with ECRS. However, the effect of HFA-BDP ETN was found to be transient in some cases with severe ECRS and asthma, requiring treatment with higher-dose ICS and long-acting β2-agonists (LABA). Here, we present a case of refractory ECRS with severe asthma treated with a combination of high-dose ICS and LABA ETN, and we discuss the mechanisms for its effectiveness. METHODS A 57-year-old man was treated with the combined regimen of HFA-BDP ETN and salmeterol/fluticasone combination (SFC) dry powder inhaler (DPI) for his refractory ECRS with severe asthma. For better control, we replaced SFC-DPI with SFC metered-dose inhaler (MDI) ETN and evaluated the clinical effect and corticosteroid sensitivity. We also examined the flow and deposition of fine particles released by SFC-MDI ETN. RESULTS After switching to SFC-MDI ETN, the patient's conditions markedly resolved with the restoration of corticosteroid sensitivity and PP2A activity. The fine particles released by SFC-MDI ETN at least partially flowed out through the external nares and seemed to be deposited on the ethmoid sinus. CONCLUSION Fine particle ICS/LABA ETN might be an additional therapeutic option for refractory ECRS with severe asthma and corticosteroid insensitivity.