Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparative Evaluation of Diaton and Goldmann Applanation Tonometers

Aim: To evaluate the agreement between intra-ocular pressure (IOP) measurements with the Diaton and the Goldmann applanation tonometers (GAT). Methods: In this cross-sectional observational study, a total of 196 eyes of 196 participants (66 patients with glaucoma, 130 healthy subjects) were included. IOP measurements were obtained from all patients using the Diaton and GAT. Results: The average age of the patients enrolled in this study was 48.3 ± 14.6 years (range 18–79). The overall mean IOP measured by the Diaton was 17.2 ± 6.4 mm Hg, while that in glaucoma patients was 17.9 ± 6.2 mm Hg and in the control group 15.8 ± 4.9 mm Hg. Pearson’s correlation coefficient showed a moderate correlation in IOP measurements by the two instruments in healthy controls (r = 0.460, p < 0.01); however, the same correlation for the glaucomatous subjects was noted to be poor (r = 0.261, p = 0.57). The limits of agreement (95% confidence intervals) ranged from –9.9 to +11.2 and from –15.3 to +19.7 mm Hg in healthy controls and glaucoma patients, respectively. Conclusion: The Diaton measurements do not correlate well with those provided by applanation tonometry. The two tonometers show very wide limits of agreement so they may not be used interchangeably in clinical practice for the measurement of IOP.
Bioprotective Role of Yeasts

The yeasts constitute a large group of microorganisms characterized by the ability to grow and survive in different and stressful conditions and then to colonize a wide range of environmental and human ecosystems. The competitive traits against other microorganisms have attracted increasing attention from scientists, who proposed their successful application as bioprotective agents in the agricultural, food and medical sectors. These antagonistic activities rely on the competition for nutrients, production and tolerance of high concentrations of ethanol, as well as the synthesis of a large class of antimicrobial compounds, known as killer toxins, which showed clearly a large spectrum of activity against food spoilage microorganisms, but also against plant, animal and human pathogens. This review describes the antimicrobial mechanisms involved in the antagonistic activity, their applications in the processed and unprocessed food sectors, as well as the future perspectives in the development of new bio-drugs, which may overcome the limitations connected to conventional antimicrobial and drug resistance.
Pediatric leprosy in Sarawak, Malaysia.

has been reported, as demonstrated by increased concentrations of tumor necrosis factor, IL-1 , IL-6, and IL-8 in nasal washings of infants during active infection. In contrast to adult cells, in neonatal cells inactivated RSV invoked an innate immune system characterized by reduced levels of IFNand IL-12 and no adaptive cytokines. Live virus induced fewer innate and no adaptive immune cytokines, and RSV-induced proliferation was absent in neonatal but positive in adult mononuclear cells. Thus, exposure to RSV did not appear to occur before birth and adaptive immune deficiency or greater innate responses might account for early life RSV-induced illnesses. Recently, RSV was shown to alter toll-like receptor 4 membrane and cytosolic location in live-virus infected human tracheal epithelial cell lines. Stimulating RSV-infected epithelial cells with toll-like receptor 4 agonist lipopolysaccharide increased synthesis of IL-6, IL-8, and reduced, regulated on activation, normal T cell expressed and secreted (RANTES) production. Different results of studies reporting on systemic IL-6 values might depend on different age-groups (from the neonate to infants and children to adults), on the localization of RSV infection–eg, upper versus lower respiratory tract–and, critically, on the time window of cytokine determination in regard to the course of disease. Results from in vitro studies in different cell lines represented more homologous cytokine profiles with increased IL-6 values that could be responsible for the association of lipopolysaccharide with persistent wheezing, and represent the major mediators correlated with the severity of RSV disease.
Neonatal formulary, 4th edition. Drug use in pregnancy and the first year of life: a pharmacopoeia

Jaundice is the most common medical problem affecting babies in the first week of life. Phototherapy was introduced as a treatment for jaundice in 1958,1 and its widespread use has reduced the need for exchange transfusion. Bilirubin charts or mathematical formulae based on gestation may be used to guide treatment decisions for hyperbilirubinaemia. We were interested in current practices and …
Maternal nutrition in early and late pregnancy in relation to placental and fetal growth

Abstract Objective: To assess how nutrient intakes of mothers in early and late pregnancy influence placental and fetal growth. Design: Prospective observational study. Setting: Princess Anne Maternity Hospital, Southampton. Subjects: 538 mothers who delivered at term. Main outcome measures: Placental and birth weights adjusted for the infant's sex and duration of gestation. Results: Mothers who had high carbohydrate intakes in early pregnancy had babies with lower placental and birth weights. Low maternal intakes of dairy and meat protein in late pregnancy were also associated with lower placental and birth weights. Placental weight fell by 49 g (95% confidence interval 16 g to 81 g; P=0.002) for each log g increase in intake of carbohydrate in early pregnancy and by 1.4 g (0.4 g to 2.4 g; P=0.005) for each g decrease in intake of dairy protein in late pregnancy. Birth weight fell by 165 g (49 g to 282 g; P=0.005) for each log g increase in carbohydrate intake in early pregnancy and by 3.1 g (0.3 g to 6.0 g; P=0.03) for each g decrease in meat protein intake in late pregnancy. These associations were independent of the mother's height and body mass index and of strong relations between the mother's birth weight and the placental and birth weights of her offspring. Conclusion: These findings suggest that a high carbohydrate intake in early pregnancy suppresses placental growth, especially if combined with a low dairy protein intake in late pregnancy. Such an effect could have long term consequences for the offspring's risk of cardiovascular disease.
The global entrepreneurship index ( GEINDEX ) April 2009

This paper constructs a Global Entrepreneurship Index (GEINDEX) that captures the contextual feature of entrepreneurship across countries. We find the relationship between entrepreneurship and economic development to be mildly Sshaped not U-shaped or L-shaped. Our findings suggest moving away from simple measures of entrepreneurship across countries illustrating a U-shaped or L-shaped relationship to more complex measures, which are positively related to economic development. Implications for public policy suggest that institutions need to be strengthened before entrepreneurial resource can be deployed to drive innovation. JEL-classification: L26, O1, O3
Collective Deep Quantization for Efficient Cross-Modal Retrieval

Cross-modal similarity retrieval is a problem about designing a retrieval system that supports querying across content modalities, e.g., using an image to retrieve for texts. This paper presents a compact coding solution for efficient cross-modal retrieval, with a focus on the quantization approach which has already shown the superior performance over the hashing solutions in single-modal similarity retrieval. We propose a collective deep quantization (CDQ) approach, which is the first attempt to introduce quantization in end-to-end deep architecture for cross-modal retrieval. The major contribution lies in jointly learning deep representations and the quantizers for both modalities using carefully-crafted hybrid networks and well-specified loss functions. In addition, our approach simultaneously learns the common quantizer codebook for both modalities through which the cross-modal correlation can be substantially enhanced. CDQ enables efficient and effective cross-modal retrieval using inner product distance computed based on the common codebook with fast distance table lookup. Extensive experiments show that CDQ yields state of the art cross-modal retrieval results on standard benchmarks.
On Ergodic Capacity and Outage Probability for Secondary Users in Point-to-Point and Multiple Access Channels

Abstract—Nowadays, the spectrum is becoming more and more scarce because of not only the demand increase for wireless services and applications but also inflexible and rigid spectrum allocation policies. A promising solution to overcome this challenge is to exploit spectrum holes for secondary users in cognitive radio. Taking advantage of cognitive radio and dynamic spectrum access improves the efficiency of spectrum utilization as it allows secondary users to exploit the available frequency bandwidth. In an opportunistic spectrum access scenario, the secondary users can only utilize the frequency bandwidth when the primary user is inactive. In this paper, we assume that secondary users exploit the available frequency bandwidth using opportunistic spectrum access approach. As a result, one may model the available bandwidth to the secondary users as a random process taking value of 0 or 1. In this paper, we investigate the effects of Rayleigh fading environment on the capacity of AWGN point-to-point channel. Afterwards, we also go beyond point to point channels and analyze Multiple Access Channels. More precisely, we derive the closed form expression of ergodic capacity region of Multiple Access fading Channel with two independent sources. To the best of our knowledge, no prior work has investigated the ergodic capacity region of Multiple Access Channel under Rayleigh fading with the aforementioned approach. Numerical analysis are conducted to validate our theoretical results. Interestingly, numerical results indicate that, against the common sense, capacity of Rayleigh fading environment channels are higher than deterministic ones in Gaussian point-to-point channels.
Role of Safety-Engineered Devices in Preventing Needlestick Injuries in 32 French Hospitals

Objectives. To evaluate safety-engineered devices (SEDs) with respect to their effectiveness in preventing needlestick injuries (NSIs) in healthcare settings and their importance among other preventive measures. Design. Multicenter prospective survey with a 1-year follow-up period during which all incident NSIs and their circumstances were reported. Data were prospectively collected during a 12-month period from April 1999 through March 2000. The procedures for which the risk of NSI was high were also reported 1 week per quarter to estimate procedure-specific NSI rates. Device types were documented. Because SEDs were not in use when a similar survey was conducted in 1990, their impact was also evaluated by comparing findings from the recent and previous surveys. Setting. A total of 102 medical units from 32 hospitals in France. Participants. A total of 1,506 nurses in medical or intensive care units. Results. A total of 110 NSIs occurring during at-risk procedures performed by nurses were documented. According to data from the 2000 survey, use of SEDs during phlebotomy procedures was associated with a 74% lower risk (P < .01 ). The mean NSI rate for all relevant nursing procedures was estimated to be 4.72 cases per 100,000 procedures, for a 75% decrease since 1990 (P < .01); however, the decrease in NSI rates varied considerably according to procedure type. Between 1990 and 2000, decreases in the NSI rates for each procedure were strongly correlated with increases in the frequency of SED use (r = 0.88; P < .02). Conclusion. In this French hospital network, the use of SEDs was associated with a significantly lower NSI rate and was probably the most important preventive factor.
Crude protein equivalence value of a multi-enzyme product for 28- and 42-day-old broilers

In order to estimate the crude protein (CP) equivalence value of Natuzyme-p (NP) enzyme by using regression response equations, two experiments were carried out using Ross (308) broiler chicks. Graded levels of dietary CP (while amino acids levels were kept constant) and NP enzyme were used to derive the regression equation in the first experiment. Four levels of dietary CP and NP enzyme were fed to 160 feather-sexed male broiler chicks during the starter (0-28 d of age) and grower (28-42 d of age) period. Each diet was offered to four replicates of five chicks in a completely randomized design. Results obtained in experiment one failed to fit a regression equation between BW, dietary CP levels and NP enzyme. In experiment two, graded levels of CP changed along with the levels of lysine (Lys), Met+Cys and threonine (Thr). Regression equations between BW and dietary CP and NP enzyme were derived. Nonlinear and linear equations were generated for enzyme and CP. Based on an assessment of r2 and P value, nonlinear equations were used to determine enzyme equivalence. The derived regression equations of body weight for CP were set to be equal with those obtained for NP and were solved; enzyme equivalence value for CP was calculated by subtracting the obtained value from CP content of basal diet. Crude protein equivalence value of NP at 28 and 42 d of age was estimated to be 0.96 and 0.38 %, respectively.
Management and Outcomes in Primary Tumors of the Appendix

Primary tumors of the appendix are rare, comprising 1.1% of all appendectomy specimens. Nevertheless, it often presents in an emergent fashion, creating a need for a well-defined management algorithm that will ensure proper acute management. We performed a retrospective review of medical charts from 1982-2007 on all charts with a diagnosis of appendiceal neoplasm. A cohort of 41 patients was diagnosed with a primary appendiceal neoplasm from a total of 8560 appendectomies over the 25-year period. Several tumors were identified: adenocarcinomas (n = 16), carcinoid tumors (n = 15), mucinous cystadenocarcinoma (n = 7), and a combination of adenocarcinoma and goblet cell carcinoid of the appendix (n = 3). Twenty-one patients presented with an acute abdomen. Tumors were discovered intraoperatively in eighteen patients while performing other procedures. At diagnosis, metastatic disease was found in 41.5% of patients (n = 17); average survival ranged from 6 to 21 months based on tumor type. For patients with non-metastatic disease at diagnosis, all survived longer than 2 years and there were no cases of recurrence or post-operative metastasis. We devised an operative strategy dictated by initial presenting characteristics of the tumor. The presence of carcinoma should be suspected and searched for in patients over 40 presenting with acute appendicitis. Intraoperatively any suspicious mass should undergo frozen sectioning as the finding of a malignancy often necessitates a larger or repeat operation. The propensity of these neoplasms for presentation in the guise of acute appendicitis mandates that the surgeon be familiar with the appropriate management algorithm, both in and out of the operating room.
The Resolved Fraction of the Cosmic X-Ray Background

We present the X-ray source number counts in two energy bands (0.5-2 and 2-10 keV) from a very large source sample: we combine data of six different surveys, both shallow wide-field and deep pencil-beam, performed with three different satellites (ROSAT, Chandra, and XMM-Newton). The sample covers with good statistics the largest possible flux range so far: 2.4 × 10-17 to 10-11 ergs s-1 cm-2 in the soft band and 2.1 × 10-16 to 8 × 10-12 ergs s-1 cm-2 in the hard band. Integrating the flux distributions over this range and taking into account the (small) contribution of the brightest sources, we derive the flux density generated by discrete sources in both bands. After a critical review of the literature values of the total cosmic X-ray background (CXB) we conclude that, with the present data, 94.3 % and 88.8 % of the soft and hard CXB can be ascribed to discrete source emission. If we extrapolate the analytical form of the log N-log S distribution beyond the flux limit of our catalog in the soft band we find that the flux from discrete sources at ~3 × 10-18 ergs s-1 cm-2 is consistent with the entire CXB, whereas in the hard band it accounts for only 93% of the total CXB at most, hinting at a faint and obscured population to arise at even fainter fluxes.
Routing Attacks as a Viable Threat: Can Software Systems Protect Themselves?

In this paper, we show that distributed systems are vul- nerable to routing attacks and propose an architecture to obviate this vulnerability. A somewhat surprising finding is that even a small-scale routing attack can completely dis- rupt the operation of a state-machine replication service. The architecture that we propose is based on the following simple ideas: (1) Circumvent the adversary if possible and (2) if it is not possible, relax the application semantics.
Alternative Economic Spaces

Introduction - Andrew Leyshon and Roger Lee Alternative Economic Geographies The Alterity of the Social Economy - Ash Amin, Angus Cameron and Ray Hudson Alternative Financial Spaces - Duncan Fuller and Andrew E G Jonas Alternative Retail Spaces - Louise Crewe, Nicky Gregson and Kate Brooks Alternative Work Spaces - Andrew Lincoln Alternative Employment Spaces - Colin C Williams and Jan Windebank Alternative Exchange Spaces - Colin C Williams, Theresa Aldridge and Jane Tooke Alternative Lifestyle Spaces - Jeffrey Jacob Conclusions - Roger Lee and Andrew Leyshon Re-Making Geographies and the Construction of 'Spaces of Hope'
The international handbook of stepfamilies : policy and practice in legal, research, and clinical environments

Foreword Paul R. Amato. Preface. Contributors. Introduction. Acknowledgments. Section I: INTERNATIONAL, DEMOGRAPHIC, AND CULTURAL CONTEXTS. 1 The Demography of Stepfamilies in the United States (Jay Teachman and Lucky Tedrow). 2 Stereotypes of Stepfamilies and Stepfamily Members (Stephen Claxton-Oldfield). 3 Stepfamilies in France Since the 1990s (Jean-Francois Mignot). 4 The Social Context of Emerging Stepfamilies in Japan (Shinji Nozawa). 5 Stepfathers in Cultural Context: Mexican American Families in the United States (Scott Coltrane, Erika Gutierrez, and Ross D. Parke). Section II: DYNAMICS WITHIN STEPFAMILY HOUSEHOLDS. 6 Stepfathers in Families (Jeremy Robertson). 7 Resident Mothers in Stepfamilies (Marjorie Smith). 8 Sibling Relationships in Blended Families (Melinda E. Baham, Amy A. Weimer, Sanford L. Braver, and William V. Fabricius). 9 Resident Parent-Child Relationships in Stepfamilies (Claire Cartwright). 10 A Longitudinal Examination of Marital Processes Leading to Instability in Remarriages and Stepfamilies (Brad van Eeden-Moorefield and Kay Pasley). 11 Children's Appraisals of Relationships in Stepfamilies and First Families (Katherine H. Shelton, Sasha L. Walters, and Gordon T. Harold). 12 The Distribution of Household Tasks in First-Marriage Families and Stepfamilies Across Europe (Laurent Snoeckx, Britt Dehertogh, and Dimitri Mortelmans). 13 Communication in Stepfamilies (Tamara D. Afifi). Section III: INFLUENCES AND RELATIONSHIPS BEYOND THE HOUSEHOLD. 14 Kinship in Stepfamilies (Graham Allan, Sheila Hawker, and Graham Crow). 15 Children's Relationships with Nonresident Parents (Jan Pryor). 16 The Diversity of Stepmothers (Marilyn Coleman, Jessica Troilo, and Tyler Jamison). 17 Intergenerational Relationships in Stepfamilies (Lawrence Ganong). Section IV: CLINICAL AND LEGAL ISSUES. 18 A Clinician's View of "Stepfamily Architecture" (Patricia L. Papernow). 19 Research on Interventions for Stepfamily Couples (Sarah W. Whitton, Jan M. Nicholson, and Howard J. Markman). 20 The Prevention and Treatment of Children's Adjustment Problems in Stepfamilies (Jan M. Nicholson, Matthew R. Sanders, W. Kim Halford, Maddy Phillips, and Sarah W. Whitton). 21 Legal Structures and Re-Formed Families (Bill Atkin). 22 How Relevant Are U.S. Family and Probate Laws to Stepfamilies? (Sarah E. C. Malia). 23 Where to from Here? Stepfamilies and the Future (Jan Pryor). Author Index. Subject Index.
Real-world effectiveness of everolimus-based therapy versus endocrine monotherapy and chemotherapy in patients of HR+/HER2- breast cancer with liver metastasis in the USA

Objective: This study investigated the comparative effectiveness of everolimus-based therapy (EVE) versus endocrine monotherapy (ET) and chemotherapy (CT) in the treatment of hormone-receptor-positive human-epidermal-growth-factor-receptor-2-negative (HR+/HER2-) metastatic breast cancer (mBC) patients with liver metastasis. Methods: Medical charts of patients treated by community oncologists were examined. Eligible patients included postmenopausal women with HR+/HER2- mBC with liver metastasis who received EVE, ET or CT between 1 July 2012 and 15 April 2013 after non-steroidal aromatase inhibitor use. Time on treatment (TOT) and progression-free survival (PFS) were compared between EVE and ET or CT using Kaplan–Meier analyses and Cox proportional hazards models. Results: Among the 202 patients in the study, 82 received EVE, 49 ET, and 71 CT. After adjusting for baseline characteristics, EVE was associated with significantly longer TOT than ET (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.49; 95% CI: 0.28 – 0.86) or CT (HR: 0.35; 95% CI: 0.22 – 0.55), and significantly longer PFS than ET (HR: 0.48; 95% CI: 0.27 – 0.87). PFS was not significantly different with EVE versus CT (HR: 0.76; 95% CI: 0.44 – 1.32). Conclusions: EVE had significantly longer TOT and PFS than ET and longer TOT than CT among postmenopausal HR+/HER2- mBC patients with liver metastasis.
Postoperative Plasma Paracetamol Levels following Oral or Intravenous Paracetamol Administration: A Double-Blind Randomised Controlled Trial

In day-case surgery paracetamol is commonly given orally preoperatively, or intravenously intraoperatively. In this double-blind randomised controlled trial we investigated which of these methods of administration achieved therapeutic plasma levels most effectively in the early postoperative period. Thirty patients undergoing day case arthroscopy of the knee were randomised to receive either 1.0 g oral paracetamol 30 to 60 minutes preoperatively (20 patients) or 1.0 g intravenous paracetamol intraoperatively (10 patients). Plasma paracetamol levels were measured 30 minutes after arrival in the recovery room. Secondary outcomes included postoperative pain scores, rescue analgesia requirements and duration of stay in the recovery room. All patients receiving the intravenous preparation had plasma levels above the analgesic level compared to less than half (7/20) in the oral group. Mean plasma paracetamol levels were 88.6 μmol/l for the intravenous group and 53.2 μmol/l for the oral group (P=0.0005). There were trends towards reduced rescue analgesia and duration of stay in the recovery room for the intravenous group although not reaching statistical significance. There was no difference in pain scores between groups. Intraoperative administration of 1.0 g of intravenous paracetamol more reliably achieved effective paracetamol levels in the early postoperative period compared to an equal dose given orally preoperatively. Only a minority of patients receiving the 1.0 g oral dose preoperatively had plasma levels in the therapeutic analgesic range.