Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Chronic Venous Diseases of the Leg

This report is about varicose veins and the range of venous diseases of the legs, including chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) and venous ulcers, that people with varicose veins are prone to develop. It collates information on the prevalence of these conditions, focusing on European populations, and presents estimates of their economic cost in five European countries, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. It reviews the benefits and risks of alternative treatments and highlights the potential for innovations in organising health services for people with venous diseases.
Diurnal production of gaseous mercury in the alpine snowpack before snowmelt

In March 2005, an extensive mercury study was performed just before snowmelt at Col de Porte, an alpine site close to Grenoble, France. Total mercury concentration in the snowpack ranged from 80 +/- 08 to 160 +/- 15 ng l(-1), while reactive mercury was below detection limit (0.2 ng l(-1)). We observed simultaneously a production of gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) in the top layer of the snowpack and an emission flux from the snow surface to the atmosphere. Both phenomena were well correlated with solar irradiation, indicating photo-induced reactions in the snow interstitial air (SIA). The mean daily flux of GEM from the snowpack was estimated at similar to 9 ng m(-2) d(-1). No depletion of GEM concentrations was observed in the SIA, suggesting no occurrence of oxidation processes. The presence of liquid water in the snowpack clearly enhanced GEM production in the SIA. Laboratory flux chamber measurements enabled us to confirm that GEM production from this alpine snowpack was first driven by solar radiation (especially UVA and UVB radiation), and then by liquid water in the snowpack. Finally, a large GEM emission from the snow surface occurred during snowmelt, and we report total mercury concentrations in meltwater of about 72 ng l(-1).
Commentary on the Pinotsis and Friston Neural Fields DCM and the Cadonic and Albensi Oscillations and NMDA Receptors Articles

Department of Psychology, Mississippi State University, MS 39762, USA * Correspondence: Robert A. Moss, Email: rmoss@emotionalrestructuring.com; Tel: +1-202-785-2400. 1. Introduction It is a pleasure to discuss our article in relation to the other two on the topic of gamma oscillations in the last issue. Due to the different approaches of each article, we will focus on only one at a time in relation to how our proposed theoretical model fits with the points made. This paper-specific discussion is followed by suggestions for future research tied to all three articles. 2. Relationship to Pinotsis and Friston paper
The Granular Sea Ice Model in Spherical Coordinates and Its Application to a Global Climate Model

Abstract The granular sea ice model (GRAN) from Tremblay and Mysak is converted from Cartesian to spherical coordinates. In this conversion, the metric terms in the divergence of the deviatoric stress and in the strain rates are included. As an application, the GRAN is coupled to the global Earth System Climate Model from the University of Victoria. The sea ice model is validated against standard datasets. The sea ice volume and area exported through Fram Strait agree well with values obtained from in situ and satellite-derived estimates. The sea ice velocity in the interior Arctic agrees well with buoy drift data. The thermodynamic behavior of the sea ice model over a seasonal cycle at one location in the Beaufort Sea is validated against the Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic Ocean (SHEBA) datasets. The thermodynamic growth rate in the model is almost twice as large as the observed growth rate, and the melt rate is 25% lower than observed. The larger growth rate is due to thinner ice at the beginning of .
Television Newsmagazine Coverage of Child Sexual Abuse: 1990-2005

Objective: There were two aims: first, to analyze trends in television newsmagazine coverage of child sexual assault (CSA) between 1990 and 2005; and second, to offer comparisons between this study and our previous work on print newsmagazine CSA coverage. Method: A database was created to identify all relevant CSA stories appearing in seven primetime television newsmagazines. The study employs systematic analysis of segments by subject, length, and individual anchoring each broadcast. Results: The results affirm established theories of CSA media coverage. Television segments contain an average of three news worthiness factors, which is more than was found of print newsmagazines. Findings also show differences in slant between the top three anchors (Dan Rather, Stone Phillips, and Barbara Walters), indicating significant editorial control in newsmagazine CSA coverage. Finally, this study shows that television news magazines offer more polarized coverage than print newsmagazines, and on different subjects (i.e. focusing on Michael Jackson, whereas print focuses on the Church sex abuse cover-up story). Conclusions: Television news magazines offer skewed coverage of CSA. Like other media, they focus on "newsworthy" stories ("stranger-danger") rather than the most prevalent forms of CSA (intra-familial abuse). Given that this newsmagazine coverage is more polarized than print, however, we suggest that this coverage may have real impacts upon public policy and its implementation.
HISTOPATHOLOGICAL STUDY OF KAPOSI'S SARCOMA IN JOS: A 16-YEAR REVIEW

Background/objective: To study the pathology of Kaposi’s sarcoma and review relevant literature on this condition. Method: A retrospective analysis of histologically confirmed cases of Kaposi’s sarcoma over a period of 16 years was undertaken. Fresh sections of slides were reviewed independently by two pathologists. Results: A total of 65 cases of Kaposi’s sarcoma were documented, accounting for 1.37% of all cancers seen within the period. Forty five were males and 20 females giving a ratio of 1:0.25. Leg and foot lesions accounted for 58.5% of all the lesions. Sixteen (24.16%) cases were HIV positive. The peak age at presentation was 26-45 years (range 12 - 60 years). The predominant histological pattern was spindle cell formation with fibroblastic background and vascular slits lined by plump anaplastic endothelial lining filled red blood cells. Patients with single lesion and multiple lesions confined to restricted areas showed regression after a combination of alpha interferon and cytotoxic drugs administration. Conclusion: The prevalence of Kaposi’s sarcoma seems to be on the increase in our environment. The control measure being put on forward by various agencies may help to slow down the emergence of epidemic Kaposi’s sarcoma.
Intraspecific diversity in Arctic charr, Salvelinus alpinus, in Iceland: II. Which environmental factors influence resource polymorphism in lakes?

Background: The mechanisms causing resource polymorphism are not well understood, but likely include frequency-dependent selection. However, other selection mechanisms could also explain the development of resource polymorphism. Comparative analyses of polymorphic and monomorphic systems are uncommon, making it difficult to distinguish the effects of geography, frequency-dependent selection, niche expansion, and species interactions. Detailing ecological conditions associated with the development of resource polymorphism is necessary to discern demographic and environmental processes that may cause it. Goal: Test for environmental correlations with (a) the presence of resource polymorphism and (b) the degree of differentiation in polymorphic systems, to evaluate the hypotheses that the development of resource polymorphism results from (1) frequency dependence, (2) expansion to include a zooplanktivorous niche, or (3) lower survivorship due to predation on intermediate trait values. Trends in prey consumption, as they related to the presence of polymorphism and limnetic lake characteristics, were also analysed. Organism: Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus) populations from lakes sampled in 1994–2004 across Iceland. Methods: Random forest and multiple regression models assessing the presence and degree of resource polymorphism using environmental variables reflecting physical, chemical, and biological conditions. Prey consumption was fitted to the presence of polymorphism and brown trout abundance in negative binomial generalized linear models. The proportion of individuals consuming zooplankton within monomorphic versus polymorphic populations was also measured to test the idea that more widespread zooplankton consumption reflects niche expansion. Results: In Iceland, polymorphic populations tended to occur in cooler lakes with few brown trout (Salmo trutta), a trophic competitor, and in lakes where Arctic charr consumed more zooplankton. Lakes with greater limnetic habitat, fewer nutrients, and greater potential to consume zooplankton appeared to promote resource polymorphism, thereby supporting the presence of niche expansion. The overall results supported the frequency dependence hypothesis, as well as the niche expansion hypothesis in most cases. However, morphs that Correspondence: P.J. Woods, Hólar University College, Háeyri 1, 551 Sauðárkrókur, Iceland. E-mail: pamelajwoods@gmail.com Consult the copyright statement on the inside front cover for non-commercial copying policies. Evolutionary Ecology Research, 2012, 14: 993–1013 © 2012 Pamela J. Woods differed in consumption of fish or chironomid pupae rather than zooplankton were also evident, indicating that mechanisms other than niche expansion may also be important. Relative resource availability and its link with the environment need to be accounted for when trying to predict the occurrence of polymorphism.
Biological Control of Tomato Wilt Fungi Using Leaf Extracts of Bitter Leaf (Vernonia amygdalina)

 Abstract — The antifungal potential of ethanolic leaf extracts of Vernonia amygdalina in the biological control of some common tomato wilt fungi was investigated. The experiment was set up in Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with eight treatments and three replicates. 5 mm diameter agar discs of 7 days old cultures of Fusarium oxysporum and Sclerotium rolfsii were obtained using a sterile 5 mm diameter cork borer and cultured on Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA) inoculated with 5 ml of various concentrations of V. amygdalina ethanolic leaf extracts in petri dishes, and incubated for 10 days at 28 0 C. The highest radial growth inhibitions of F. oxysporum (34.98%) and S. rolfsii (31.05%) were recorded 48 hours post-inoculation, both at 75% extract concentration. The leaf extracts of V. amygdalina used in the study exhibited significant inhibition of radial growth of the test organisms (P ≤ 0.05) and could be applied in the biological control of fungal wilt pathogens of tomato as a means of enhancing tomato yield and productivity.
Integrating laboratory and field data to quantify the immersion freezing ice nucleation activity of mineral dust particles

Abstract. Data from both laboratory studies and atmospheric measurements are used to develop an empirical parameterization for the immersion freezing activity of natural mineral dust particles. Measurements made with the Colorado State University (CSU) continuous flow diffusion chamber (CFDC) when processing mineral dust aerosols at a nominal 105% relative humidity with respect to water (RHw) are taken as a measure of the immersion freezing nucleation activity of particles. Ice active frozen fractions vs. temperature for dusts representative of Saharan and Asian desert sources were consistent with similar measurements in atmospheric dust plumes for a limited set of comparisons available. The parameterization developed follows the form of one suggested previously for atmospheric particles of non-specific composition in quantifying ice nucleating particle concentrations as functions of temperature and the total number concentration of particles larger than 0.5 μm diameter. Such an approach does not explicitly account for surface area and time dependencies for ice nucleation, but sufficiently encapsulates the activation properties for potential use in regional and global modeling simulations, and possible application in developing remote sensing retrievals for ice nucleating particles. A calibration factor is introduced to account for the apparent underestimate (by approximately 3, on average) of the immersion freezing fraction of mineral dust particles for CSU CFDC data processed at an RHw of 105% vs. maximum fractions active at higher RHw. Instrumental factors that affect activation behavior vs. RHw in CFDC instruments remain to be fully explored in future studies. Nevertheless, the use of this calibration factor is supported by comparison to ice activation data obtained for the same aerosols from Aerosol Interactions and Dynamics of the Atmosphere (AIDA) expansion chamber cloud parcel experiments. Further comparison of the new parameterization, including calibration correction, to predictions of the immersion freezing surface active site density parameterization for mineral dust particles, developed separately from AIDA experimental data alone, shows excellent agreement for data collected in a descent through a Saharan aerosol layer. These studies support the utility of laboratory measurements to obtain atmospherically relevant data on the ice nucleation properties of dust and other particle types, and suggest the suitability of considering all mineral dust as a single type of ice nucleating particle as a useful first-order approximation in numerical modeling investigations.
The economic and humanistic burden of patients in receipt of current available therapies for neovascular age-related macular degeneration

Aim: To determine the economic and humanistic burden of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) in a cohort of patients treated with anti-VEGF in Europe and the US. Patients & methods: Seventynine respondents from the EU and 63 from the US with a self-reported diagnosis of nAMD and in current receipt of treatment, as reported in an international, general population survey, were compared with nonnAMD controls. Results: Anti-VEGF-treated nAMD patients in the EU had a greater utilization of healthcare resources, poorer quality of life and greater overall activity impairment versus non-nAMD controls. In the US cohort, treated nAMD patients had significantly greater resource utilization for ophthalmologist visits only. Conclusion: The burden of care associated with nAMD on EU and US healthcare systems, and on patients who are in receipt of nAMD therapy, is significant and likely to be unsustainable.
The El Farol Problem Revisited

The so-called El Farol problem describes a prototypical situation of interacting agents making binary choices to participate in a non-cooperative environment or to stay by themselves and choosing an outside option. In a much cited paper Arthur (1994) argues that persistent non-converging sequences of rates of participation with permanent forecasting errors occur due to the non-existence of a prediction model for agents to forecast the attendance appropriately to induce stable rational expectations solutions. From this he concludes the need for agents to use boundedly rational rules. This note shows that in a large class of such models the failure of agents to find rational prediction rules which stabilize is not due to a non-existence of perfect rules, but rather to the failure of agents to identify the correct class of predictors from which the perfect ones can be chosen. What appears as a need to search for boundedly rational predictors originates from the non existence of stable confirming self-referential orbits induced by predictors selected from the wrong class. Specifically, it is shown that, within a specified class of the model and due to a structural non-convexity (or discontinuity), symmetric Nash equilibria of the associated static game may fail to exist generically depending on the utility level of the outside option. If they exist, they may induce the least desired outcome while, generically, asymmetric equilibria are uniquely determined by a positive maximal rate of attendance. The sequential setting turns the static game into a dynamic economic law of the Cobweb type for which there always exist nontrivial ǫ−perfect predictors implementing ǫ−perfect steady states as stable outcomes. If zero participation is a Nash equilibrium of the game there exists a unique perfect predictor implementing the trivial equilibrium as a stable steady state. In general, Nash equilibria of the one-shot game are among the ǫ−perfect foresight steady states of the dynamic model. If agents randomize over indifferent decisions the induced random Cobweb law together with recursive predictors becomes an iterated function system (IFS). There exist unbiased predictors with associated stable stationary solutions for appropriate randomizations supporting nonzero asymmetric equilibria which are not mixed Nash equilibria of the one-shot game. However, the least desired outcome remains as the unique stable stationary outcome for ǫ = 0 if it is a Nash equilibrium of the static game.
Low energy fractures: what is the difference? specific features and clinical outcomes by minimally invasive locking plates

Hypothesis: We hypothesized a locking compression plate was in favor of the treatment of high energy related fracture. Low energy fracture can obtain different outcomes by minimally invasive locked plating. We predict the different clinical features and outcomes compared with previous osteoporosis patients group. Methods: 34 patients with low-energy distal femoral fractures (mean age 69.6 years) treated with minimally invasive locked plating were enrolled. Fracture pattern at trauma, clinical and radiological evaluations during the follow-up period were analyzed. All patients were followed for a minimum of 12 months postoperatively. Results: The majority of fractures (76.3%) were extraarticular type and the comminuted fracture configuration was in 19 patients (55.8%), biomechanical fracture pattern was spiral in 10 patients (71.4%) among 14 linear fractures. The mean time to union was 19.1 weeks (range 14-30). Eight patients (23.5%) were shown as delayed union. Four patients (11.7%) developed implant failure. The mean knee range of motion was 116.7 degrees (range 50-140) and the Oxford knee scores averaged 34.4 (range 16-48). Conclusion: Low energy fracture showed extraarticular communited fracture and noncommunited linear fracture was spiral which looks simple. But the minimally invasive locked plating in these group result in significant delayed union and metal failure. The use of low screw density in the proximal fragment, long plates, a proximal uppermost cortical screw can lower the risk of implant failure in the low energy fractures.
Increased dissolved terrestrial input to the coastal ocean during the last deglaciation

Here we present the first downcore results for a new paleoproxy, the Mn/Ca ratio of foraminiferal calcite, applied to sediment accumulated in the extreme Eastern Tropical North Pacific (ETNP) over the last 30,000 years. The Mn/Ca results are compared to oxygen isotopes and sea surface temperature calculated from Mg/Ca. We determined metal ratios using flow‐through time‐resolved analysis to minimize the effects of secondary mineralization. The foraminiferal species used for this study calcify at different depths. Core top ratios of these variant species change in proportion to the concentration of dissolved manganese in the water column at the depth of calcification. Since terrestrial input and oxidation reduction reactions control the levels of dissolved Mn in the oceans today, it therefore should be possible to use the Mn/Ca ratios of foraminifera as a proxy for these processes in the past. Mn/Ca of a mixed‐layer species (G. ruber) suggest that dissolved terrestrial input to the surface waters of the ETNP during the last glacial maximum was lower than today but began to increase with initial sea level rise and reached a maximum at 15 ka B.P. before coming down to present‐day levels at the end of sea level rise in the mid‐Holocene (7–5 ka). Ratios of a deeper calcifying species (N. dutertrei) mimic those of G. ruber over this same time period, consistent with shoaling of the 18°C thermocline. Mn/Ca of a benthic species (U. peregrina) does not show a maximum at 15 ka, suggesting that Mn was efficiently remineralized in the water column during deglaciation. Assuming that the period from the last glacial until the mid‐Holocene was a time of increased productivity, as elevated Mn might imply, the oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) was at least as well developed during deglaciation as it is today. Expansion of the OMZ may have contributed to the Mn/Ca trends we observe through time.
The Rise and Fall of U.S. Infl ation Persistence

This paper estimates the path of inflation persistence in the United States over the last 50 years and draws implications about the evolution of the Federal Reserve’s monetary-policy preferences. Standard models of central bank optimization predict that the central bank’s preference for output stability is a determinant of inflation persistence. Hence, time variation of that preference should be reflected in changes in inflation persistence. We estimate an ARMA(1,q) model with a time-varying autoregressive parameter for monthly U.S. inflation data from 1955 to 2006. The coefficients provide an estimate of the inflation target and the path of inflation persistence. The estimated inflation target over the sample is approximately 2.8 percent and we find that inflation persistence declined substantially during Volcker and Greenspan’s tenures to a level significantly less than one and significantly below that of the 1970s and early 1980s. JEL classifications:E52, E58
Equipartition of energy in the horizon degrees of freedom and the emergence of gravity

It is possible to provide a physical interpretation for the field equations of gravity based on a thermodynamical perspective. The virtual degrees of freedom associated with the horizons, as perceived by the local Rindler observer, play a crucial role in this approach. In this context, the relation S = E/2T between the entropy (S), active gravitational mass (E) and temperature (T) — obtained previously in gr-qc/0308070 [CQG, 21, 4485 (2004)] — can be reinterpreted as the law of equipartition E = (1/2) nkBT where $n=\Delta A/L_{\rm P}^2$ is the number (density) of microscopic horizon degrees of freedom in an area ΔA. Conversely, one can use the equipartition argument to provide a thermodynamic interpretation of gravity, even in the nonrelativistic limit. These results emphasize the intrinsic quantum nature of all gravitational phenomena and diminishes the distinction between thermal phenomena associated with local Rindler horizons and the usual thermodynamics of macroscopic bodies in non-inertial frames. J.