Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Rat Electroretinogram I. Contrasting effects of adaptation on the amplitude and latency of the b-wave

Characteristics of the electroretinogram (ERG) produced by the essentially all rod eye of the rat are presented as functions of the number of quanta absorbed by each rod per stimulus flash. The ERG's were obtained with 1.5 msec. stimulus flashes and uniform illumination of the entire retina. Under these conditions, distortions in the ERG due to stray light are minimized, and the ERG more accurately reflects the activity of its retinal sources. The effects of background light and two forms of dark adaptation were studied and compared. The results, especially for the b-wave, permit an interpretation in terms of two distinct processes. One process appears to determine the b-wave latency. This process is almost independent of the state of adaptation of the retina. The other process does not affect the latency, but determines the b-wave threshold and amplitude. This process strongly depends upon the state of adaptation. Moreover, the effects of dark adaptation on this amplitude-determining process are almost identical with the effects of background light. I. I N T R O D U C T I O N The experiments reported here are directed at finding out how the adaptat ion mechanisms in the retina affect the processes which precede and underlie the production of the b-wave of the electroretinogram (ERG). Numerous previous studies have been made to determine the effects of adaptation on the E R G (1-4) but most of these studies have concentrated only on a single form of adaptat ion for any given recording condition. I t appeared that an additional and powerful method for analyzing a complex response such as the E R G would be to make quantitative comparisons between ERG's obtained under a wide variety of adaptat ion conditions with all other recording conditions held constant. In such a study, if any feature of the EKG is found to be quantitatively independent of the state of adaptation, it is reasonable to as-
TCRM_A_320422 727..738

Eye Clinic, Policlinico Umberto 1, “Sapienza” University of Rome, Rome, Italy Purpose: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the visual outcome of a new extended depth-of-focus (EDOF) intraocular lens (IOL) after bilateral implantation. A qualitative and quantitative analysis was performed and data were compared with those given by other studies regarding multifocal IOLs, which have the same purpose of giving spectacle independence to the patients. Methods: The study enrolled 40 eyes of 20 patients who underwent cataract surgery with bilateral implantation of an EDOF IOL (Evolve Soleko, Rome, Italy). The mean age was 74.5±9 years (range 59–83ys). Refractive outcomes and contrast sensitivity were evaluated preoperatively and at 6-month follow-up. We also examined reading speed, glare, halos, difficulties in the night driving, the requirement for spectacles, and overall satisfaction with vision. Two questionnaires were administered for this purpose. Results: At 6 months, the percentage of eyes within ±0.50 diopters (D) from emmetropia was 82.5%. Of all patients, 90% were satisfied with their vision. The percentage of spectaclefree for near and distance vision patients was 70% and 95%, respectively. A postoperative binocular uncorrected 60cm intermediate visual acuity (UI60VA) of 0.2 logMAR or better was achieved in 92% of patients. Contrast sensitivity significantly improved postoperatively (p<0.001) and mean reading speed was good. Conclusion: This new EDOF IOL seems to provide an effective alternative to patients who desire a spectacle-free lifestyle postoperatively. These lenses can supply a satisfactory distance, intermediate and near vision, and retain good contrast sensitivity, with most patients reporting excellent satisfaction.
Illness intrusiveness, self-concept restructuring, and psychosocial adjustment in men with prostate cancer

I investigated the relationships among illness intrusiveness, self-concept restructuring, and psychological adjustment in men recently diagnosed with prostate cancer. Fifty-eight married men (40 to 84 years old) who had recently been diagnosed (within 1 year) with prostate cancer completed assessments of their hoped-for and feared possible selves, the extent to which prostate cancer made achieving/avoiding possible selves more difficult (i.e., intrusion by cancer on possible selves), and the extent to which prostate cancer increased or decreased the importance of possible selves (i.e., self-concept restructuring). These men also completed measures of psychological well-being, anxiety, and depression. More than half of the men reported that prostate cancer increased the difficulty of achieving at least one hope (60.3%) or avoiding at least one fear (56.1%). Illness intrusion on feared selves interacted with restructuring to predict adjustment. Specifically, men who reported intrusions on fears had lower well-being and higher depression only if they did not also report restructuring their feared selves. Intrusion on hopes did not interact with restructuring to predict adjustment. Results suggest that self-concept restructuring may buffer associations between illness intrusion and poor psychological adjustment among men with prostate cancer. s lft i t r
NATAL TEETH ASSOCIATED WITH ISOLATED CLEFT LIP: CASE REPORT

Natal and neonatal teeth are those present at birth,or erupted during the first 30 days of life respectively. They have rare occurrence with unknown exact etiology. However, natal and neonatal teeth are reported to be more common among number of developmental abnormalities and congenital anomalies, including cleft lip and palate. This report will present a case of natal maxillary tooth erupted in a 65-days old infant with isolated cleft lip.
Comparing the diagnostic utility of sacroiliac spectral CT and MRI in axial spondyloarthritis

Objective: To compare the clinical value of sacroiliac spectral CT and MRI in diagnosing axial spondyloarthritis (SpA). Methods: 137 patients with low back pain and suspected axial SpA were recruited. 76 patients were diagnosed with axial SpA, and 49 patients were diagnosed with non-specific low back pain (nLBP). Each patient underwent spectral CT and MRI examinations of the sacroiliac joints. Water- and calcium-based material decomposition images were reconstructed for quantitative analysis. The marrow-to-muscle ratios of water and calcium concentrations and short tau inversion recovery (STIR) signal intensity, as well as Hounsfield units in the ilium and sacrum were compared between nLBP and patients with axial SpA. Results: Spectral CT is comparable with MRI for the detection of bone marrow oedema, and it is superior to MRI for detection of osseous sclerosis and erosions. MRI is superior to spectral CT in detecting enthesitis and synovitis. There were statistically significant differences in STIR signal intensity, water concentration and calcium concentration ratios as well as CT values between nLBP and patients with axial SpA ( p , 0.05) in the ilium. There was a statistically significant but weak correlation between ratios of water concentration and STIR signal intensity in both the ilium and sacrum ( p , 0.05). Overall, the iliac water concentration was most sensitive for detection of patients with SpA. The positive likelihood ratio of the STIR signal intensity ratio was the highest. The diagnostic odds ratio of the calcium concentration ratio was the highest, and its negative likelihood ratio was the lowest. Spectral CT chronic sacroiliitis erosion sclerosis), but of oedema in The sensitivity of diagnosis of early synovitis and enthesitis superior. The combination of spectral CT and MRI in diagnosis of SpA.
OCCURANCE OF ENTEROBACTERIACEAE IN SKIMMED MILK SOFT CHEESE

Fifty samples of skimmed milk soft cheese were randomly collected from different dairy shops and supermarkets in Cairo and Giza Governorates, Egypt. Collected samples were examined microbiologically for enumeration, isolation and identification of Enterobacteriaceae. The results showed that the mean value of Total Enterobacteriaceae Count was 7.49×10 7 ± 0.15×10 7 cfu/g. Escherichia coli could be found in 64% of the examined samples with a mean value of 4.56×10 7 ± 0.14×10 7 MPN/g. E.coli serovars O146, O1, O18, O15, O8 and O78 could be detected in a percentage of 2.90, 2.90, 4.34, 1.45, 1.45 and 1.45, respectively. Salmonella could not be detected. It could be concluded that skimmed milk soft cheese may harbor serious health risk in the study areas.
Neonicotinoids override a parasite exposure impact on hibernation success of a key bumblebee pollinator

1. Seasonal adaptations enabling the bridging of periodic challenging abiotic conditions are taxonomically widespread. However, sensitivity to other environmental stresses can be heightened during these periods. 2. Several temperate insects with over-wintering strategies play key ecosystem and economic roles, including wild bee pollinators. For example, hibernation survival in temperate bumblebees is crucial, as only new queens of future social colonies over-winter. These bees are also faced with other abiotic and biotic stressors, some of which have been linked to recent pollinator declines, such as exposure to pesticides and parasites. 3. Using a fully crossed experiment, the influence of dietary exposure to neonicotinoid insecticides (thiamethoxam and clothianidin) and/or the prevalent bumblebee parasite Crithidia bombi on hibernation survival and hibernation weight change of Bombus terrestris bumblebee queens was investigated. 4. Both neonicotinoid and C. bombi exposures reduced hibernation success individually, but no additive or synergistic effects between the stressors were found. Further, effects were asynchronous, with early neonicotinoid effects on hibernation mortality overriding later parasite effects under combined exposures. Neonicotinoid exposure also increased hibernation weight loss of surviving queens. 5. Diapause periods, employed by numerous temperate organisms, are likely to be especially vulnerable to environmental stresses, besides the seasonal challenge for which these periods are an adaptation. Thus, diapause requires inclusion during the consideration of the impacts of such stresses. Accordingly, it is demonstrated here that naturally relevant exposures of pesticides and parasites have important detrimental effects on bumblebees during a critical hibernation period, with potential consequences for populations of these key wild pollinators.
An Efficient e-Learning System Using Web Services

: Nowadays, Web based platforms are quite common in any university, supporting a very diversified set of applications and services. Ranging from personal management to student evaluation processes, Web based platforms are doing a great job providing a very flexible way of working, promote student enrolment, and making access to academic information simple and in an universal way. Students can do their regular tasks anywhere, anytime. Sooner or later, it was expected that organizations, and universities in particular, begin to think and act towards better educational platforms, more user-friendly and effective, where students find easily what they search about a specific topic or subject. Profiling is one of the several techniques that we can use to discover what students use to do, by establishing their user navigation patterns on Web based platforms, and knowing better how they explore and search the sites pages that they visit. With these profiles Web based platforms administrators can personalize sites according with the preferences and behaviour of the students, promoting easy navigation functionalities and better abilities to response to their needs. Web based platform. E-Learning or Learning Management System (LMS) is a web based application which enables its users to learn new subjects, evaluate the user through online tests and assess the overall performance of the user. The system also provides a feedback mechanism for making the system more useful and efficient
EVALUATION OF THE ROBUSTNESS OF DIFFERENT CLASSIFIERS UNDER LOW-AND HIGH-DIMENSIONAL SETTINGS

This thesis compares the performance and robustness of ﬁve diﬀerent varities of discriminant analysis, namely linear (LDA), quadratic (QDA), generalized quadratic (GQDA), diagonal linear (DLDA) and diagonal quadratic (DQDA) discriminant analysis, under elliptical distributions and small sample sizes. By means of simulations, the performance of the classiﬁers are compared against separation of mean vectors, sample size, number of variables, degree of non-normality and covariance structures. Results show that QDA is competitive under most settings, but can be outperformed by other classiﬁers with increasing sample size and when the covariance structures across classes are similar. Other noteworthy results include sensitivity of DQDA to non-normality and dependence of the performance of GQDA on whether sample sizes are balanced or not.
AMEP_A_255483 405..413

Point your SmartPhone at the code above. If you have a QR code reader the video abstract will appear. Or use: https://youtu.be/NggAFXxX9vw Purpose: The single most significant barrier to healthcare for people who identify as transgender is poor access to healthcare providers trained in trans-health. Despite this, transhealth education is far from being a routine component of the undergraduate medical curriculum in developing countries like Pakistan. This study aimed to assess knowledge and attitudes regarding people who identify as transgender, as well as the perceived need for trans-health in the curriculum, amongst medical students in Pakistan. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study using a self-designed questionnaire was carried out amongst undergraduate medical students at the Aga Khan University. Stratified random sampling was used, whereby students were stratified based on their current year of medical education. Results: A total of 249 students were included in this survey. The majority (61%) had poor overall knowledge, with a significantly higher percentage of pre-clinical students (79.6%) having poor knowledge regarding differences in transgender health needs compared to clinical students (60.3%; p = 0.001). Most students acknowledged that individuals who identified as transgender faced a lack of access to healthcare (78.3%), were poorly integrated into society (92.0%) and were treated differently in a clinical setting (58.6%). Many students were unsure of how to address (49.8%) and clinically examine (38.2%) patients identifying as transgender. However, most students demonstrated good (49.4%) or fair (45.0%) attitudes towards individuals who identified as transgender, and the majority reported a high (54.6%) or moderate (42.2%) perceived need for the inclusion of trans-health in the medical curriculum. Conclusion: Despite deficiencies in trans-health education in the medical school curriculum, positive attitudes and a high perceived need among students lay the foundation for developing a medical curriculum that gives due priority to trans-health. In developing countries, this can help bridge disparities in healthcare provision to people who identify as transgender.
AGILE FRAMEWORKS FOR PHYSICAL PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

The Agile approach has for last 25 years revolutionized information technology through its radical alternative to traditional sequential development processes. Agile frameworks are now spreading to improve the development of innovative physical products, and are expected to increase product success rates, speed to market, improved quality based on customer feedback, and boosting the motivation of the product development team. The literature review in this paper identifies the gap between Agile Software Development and Agile Hardware Development, by an analysis of existing literature on Agile Software Development and Agile Product Development for startups. First, this paper proposes definitions and classifications of the Agile approach. Second, it analyses six Agile frameworks for physical product development up against traditional product development and Agile software frameworks. Third, it briefly compares Agile Software Development and Agile Hardware Development through existing literature on Agile Product Development, by highlighting similarities and differences. This paper discovers a lack of literature about Agile frameworks for physical products, that Agile Product Development is a relatively new and an undiscovered field, and that there exist no frameworks only used for physical product development. Regarding literature for startups who want to develop physical products with an Agile approach, the authors have found very few, and almost no holistic approaches. Based on this, the authors have done case studies on four hardware startups, and have found several findings which are relevant for the development of the field. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the Agile approach can be used by startups in the development of physical products. This is investigated by considering if startups use Agile frameworks for physical product development, and by examining how the use of Agile frameworks is different from what is described in literature. Findings from the case studies show that hardware startups mix concepts from different Agile frameworks. The startups only use some of the concepts from the Agile frameworks they claim to use, and customize their own frameworks by borrowing concepts from several other Agile frameworks. This can be loosely connected to the finding which shows that all the interviewees have a diverging understanding of what an iteration, a prototype and an increment is. This partly builds on existing theory, were experts state that managers don't understand the Agile approach even when they are confronted with it. Further the study identifies a fundamental difference between the development of hardware and software products. The length of an iteration seems to vary to a large degree between the case studies, and iterations are much longer than what is presented by existing literature. A consequence of this, shown in other findings, is that the frequency of testing becomes much lower, customer interaction becomes rarer, and taking a product to market takes longer compared to software development.
Effect of balance diet containing formaldehyde treated mustard oilseed cake on performance of lactating buffaloes

The study was planned to see the effect of balance diet containing formaldehyde treated mustard oilseed cake (FT-MOC) on performance of lactating buffaloes. The 12 healthy early lactating Murrha buffalos of 3 lactation were selected and they were randomly divided into 2 groups of 6 buffaloes each. The routine farmer’s practiced was considered as control (T1). In Treatment (T2) group feeding of roughage were similar as T1 and balanced concentrate mixture containing FT-MOC were fed as per nutrient requirement. Significant (P<0.05) difference in milk yield was observed. The fat, protein, lactose and total solid percentage of milk were recorded. The percent change in solid not fat (SNF) during experiment was noticed 0.32% in T1 and 0.96% in T2 groups of buffaloes. The experiment data indicated significantly higher values for haemato-biochemical parameters under study in buffaloes of treatment group than the control group. Balance diet containing formaldehyde treated (@ 1.2% of CP) mustard oilseed cake had significantly improved performance of the buffaloes.
The effect of uncertainty on the information content of term spread and its components

Abstract Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the impact of uncertainty on the predictive power of term spread and its components for future stock market returns and economic activity in Korea and the USA. This paper finds that the stock market’s expected excess return and growth of economic activity are positively related to the risk-neutral expectation, one of the term spread’s components, particularly during high uncertainty periods. These findings are consistent with the importance of the monetary policy by the central bank in a high uncertainty environment created by unexpected shocks. The results are robust to alternate definitions of high uncertainty periods.
M2CIM-DSS: A Model for Measuring Continuance Intention in Decision Support Systems

Currently, the core trend of Higher Education Institutes (HEI) to invest in decision support systems (DSS) to improve their decision-making process. Due to technology emergence, HEI has been experiencing noteworthy changes. Many techniques such as DSS have adopted developed and implemented to support the educational process. Even though DSS has adopted and invested mainly in most sectors, a lack of research in investigating confirmed, the influencing factors on the intention of stakeholders to continue to use them. Consequently, the purpose of the study is to examine post-adoption users' satisfaction and users’ intention to continue using DSS. This study combining two theoretical models, the Technology Acceptance Model, and The Technology Organization Environment Framework, to examine users’ intentions to continue using DSS. The data collection process has conducted using 240 respondents, who belong to HEI institutions (Academia and management staff), who work on DSS. Structural Equation Modeling was utilized to analyze structural relationships among the proposed model’s factors. The authors used several methods such as hierarchical regression, one-way ANOVA, descriptive statistics, as well as t-test have applied to evaluate the model's components relevancy, understanding, and pertinence to each other. The result shows the proposed model fits the data and had a good explanation than the existing models. On the other hand, the results show the importance of equipping DSS with real-time support because they have positive repercussions in the decision-making process The implications as well as the limitations of this study have been extensively discussed.