Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A two-stream neural network architecture for the detection and analysis of cracks in panel paintings

Museums all over the world store a large variety of digitized paintings and other works of art with significant historical value. Over time, these works of art deteriorate, making them lose their original splendour. For paintings, cracks and paint losses are the most prominent types of deterioration, mainly caused by environmental factors, such as fluctuations in temperature or humidity, improper storage conditions and even physical impacts. We propose a neural network architecture for the detection of crack patterns in paintings, using visual acquisitions from different modalities. The proposed architecture is composed of two neural network streams, one is a fully connected neural network while the other consists of a multiscale convolutional neural network. The convolutional neural network plays a leading role in the crack classification task, while the fully connected neural network plays an auxiliary role. To reduce the overall computational complexity of the proposed method, we use morphological filtering as a pre-processing step to safely exclude areas of the image that do not contain cracks and do not need further processing. We validate the proposed method on a multimodal visual dataset from the Ghent Altarpiece, a world famous polyptych by the Van Eyck brothers. The results show an encouraging performance of the proposed approach compared to traditional machine learning methods and the state-of-the-art Bayesian Conditional Tensor Factorization (BCTF) method for crack detection.
Seroprevalence of hepatitis C virus among patients at a tertiary health care centre in Rajasthan, India

Background: To ascertain the prevalence of Hepatitis C infection among patients visiting a tertiary care center in Jaipur, Rajasthan. Methods: An observation analytic study was done at a tertiary care center affiliated to Medical College with retrospective analysis of the hospital data of two calendar years. During this period HCV infection screening (anti-HCV) was offered to every suspected patient admitted in hospital and every pregnant women visiting antenatal care clinic. Results: The study prevalence of HCV infection was 0.05% (13/25311). The prevalence was more in female (0.03%) than male (0.02%). The study prevalence of anti-HCV among pregnant female was 0.02% (3/16224). Maximum positive cases (4/13, 30.77% positive cases) were in the age group of 21-30 years (sexually active group) and >50 years age group while minimum positivity was found in children (00 case, 0-20 years age). Conclusions: In this study, prevalence of HCV infection was 0.05%. The study prevalence of HCV among pregnant females was 0.02%. Maximum positive cases (4/13, 30.77% positive cases) were in the age group of >50 years and 21-30 years. This study aids in view to strengthen proper screening for HCV infection to reduce HCV related morbidity and mortality
Ultrasound Biomicroscopy Detects Peters' Anomaly and Rieger's Anomaly in Infants

Aim Congenital corneal opacities (CCOs) are the major causes of early visual deprivation in infants. Balloon ultrasound biomicroscopy (UBM) examination is an effective method to diagnose CCO. However, whether it is suitable for children examination is still unknown. Methods 26 Peters' anomaly (PA) or Rieger's anomaly (RA) infants with congenital corneal opacities (CCO) (40 eyes) underwent UBM examinations to study their imaging features. Results Based on the results, they were divided into UBM Dx-Type I: Descemet's membrane (DM) and endothelium have heterogenous or discontinuous echo accompanied with corneal stroma echo-enhanced or shallow anterior chamber. Type II: Type I alteration plus abnormal strand of iris extended to the border of the posterior corneal defect or iridocorneal adhesion. Type III: Type I or II combined with the abnormal hyperechoic lens, lens luxation, or keratolenticular adhesion. Type IV: echoes of the DM and the endothelium are continuous, corneal stroma echo is enhanced, and an abnormal strand of peripheral iris extends to the prominent Schwalbe line, accompanied by iris stroma or pupil heteromorphism and a shallow or flat anterior chamber. Conclusion UBM not only could accurately evaluate the anterior segment abnormalities in CCO infants but also would be a step forward for the management of PA- and RA-associated CCO.
Access to Colorectal Cancer Screening in Canada: Does Immigrant Status Matter

Background: In 2010, immigrants comprised 20% of the Canadian population. Canada has one of the highest incidence and mortality rates of colorectal cancer (CRC) in the world. This study seeks to explore factors that are associated with CRC screening and to determine whether immigrants are less likely to be screened for CRC compared to non-immigrants. Methods: Data were obtained from Statistics Canada Canadian Community Health Survey, 2008. The Behavioral Model of Health Services Use was used as a theoretical framework. Chi-square statistics and multiple logistic regression models were employed. Results: Recent immigrants were less likely to be screened by endoscopy within 5 years (OR: 0.47; 95% CI: 0.29 – 0.77), endoscopy within 10 years (OR: 0.38; 95% CI: 0.24 0.60) and be up-to-date with screening 1 (OR: 0.58; 95% CI: 0.37 0.91) compared to non-immigrants. Conclusions: A formal screening program and patient navigators may address disparities among recent and non-immigrants. 1 Up-to-date screening = FOBT within 2 years and/or endoscopy within 10 years iii Acknowledgements Thesis Supervisor: Dr. Jan Barnsley Thesis Committee: Dr. Jeffrey Hoch
Evaluation of severity of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease using bronchial obstruction, dyspnea, exercise index and global initiative for chronic obstructive lung disease classification and it’s correlation with physical quality of life measured by St. George’s respiratory disease questionnaire

Background: The Global initiative for chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) criteria classified chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) by severity into four stages. Recently, Body mass index (BMI), Bronchial Obstruction, Dyspnea, Exercise (BODE) index, was proposed to provide useful prognostic information of COPD patients. Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is measured by St. George’s Respiratory disease Questionnaire (SGRQ). Study was undertaken to assess correlations between BODE index and GOLD classification with SGRQ score. Methods: Fifty five COPD patients were included. Spirometry was performed in all patients. Modified Medical Research Council (mMRC) scale was used to label severity of dyspnea. Six-minute walking distance (6 MWD) was performed. BODE index was calculated by giving points to BMI, forced expiratory volume in one minute (FEV1), 6 MWD, and mMRC. SGRQ was used to determine HRQOL. Correlation analysis was done using Pearson’s method. Results: Mean symptoms, mean activity, mean impacts and mean total SGRQ score were significantly higher in patients having mMRC scale 0-1, patients who could walk ≤149 meters, and in patients who had GOLD III and IV class. Lesser the FEV1, higher the mMRC grade, and lesser the 6 MWD, worse was the quality of life. BODE index (r = 0.72) and GOLD classification (r =0.59) were significantly and positively correlated with symptoms score, activity score, impacts score and total SGRQ score. Conclusions: BODE index correlated better than the Gold classification with SGRQ score implying that apart from the airflow limitation, functional impairment measured by the 6MWT and mMRC also affect HRQOL.
Tight Disease Control in Rheumatoid Arthritis – What, Why and How?

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is the commonest inflammatory joint disease seen in clinical practice. It is an autoimmune disorder that shortens life expectancy. Passive treatment has now given way to active intervention. Much of this stems from aggressive use of disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs), often in combination, to achieve tight disease control. Also, better understanding of the disease pathobiology has led to the development of several biologic agents. These agents are being employed not only for refractory, difficult to treat disease but also, increasingly, for early RA. The present article focuses on ‘disease control’ in RAwhat is disease activity, how is it measured, the need for tight disease control and the ways to achieve this goal.
Spatio-Temporal Changes in Wildlife Habitat Quality in the Greater Serengeti Ecosystem

Understanding habitat quality and its dynamics is imperative for maintaining healthy wildlife populations and ecosystems. We mapped and evaluated changes in habitat quality (1975–2015) in the Greater Serengeti Ecosystem of northern Tanzania using the Integrated Valuation of Environmental Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) model. This is the first habitat quality assessment of its kind for this ecosystem. We characterized changes in habitat quality in the ecosystem and in a 30 kilometer buffer area. Four habitat quality classes (poor, low, medium and high) were identified and their coverage quantified. Overall (1975–2015), habitat quality declined over time but at rates that were higher for habitats with lower protection level or lower initial quality. As a result, habitat quality deteriorated the most in the unprotected and human-dominated buffer area surrounding the ecosystem, at intermediate rates in the less heavily protected Wildlife Management Areas, Game Controlled Areas, Game Reserves and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and the least in the most heavily protected Serengeti National Park. The deterioration in habitat quality over time was attributed primarily to anthropogenic activities and major land use policy changes. Effective implementation of land use plans, robust and far-sighted institutional arrangements, adaptive legal and policy instruments are essential to sustaining high habitat quality in contexts of rapid human population growth.
The Quality of Financial Reporting and Internal Control System before and after the Implementation of E-budgeting in Indonesia Local Government

This study aims to determine differences in the quality of financial reporting of local governments in Indonesia before and after implementation of the e-budgeting system and government internal control systems in the preparation and management of regional finances that are measured from the achievement of the Unqualified Opinion from the Audit Report of the Supreme Audit Board (LHP BPK) on the Local Government Financial Report (LKPD). The population of this research is all 542 local governments in Indonesia with a sample of research the local government in Indonesia that has implemented e-budgeting from 2017 until 2018. This research method is a quantitative empirical research method using secondary data with data analysis using an Independent sample T-test using SPSS 23 software. The results of testing the hypothesis with a Independent Sample T-test using the SPSS 23 software indicate that there are significant differences between regions that have implemented e-budgeting system to the quality of its financial reporting with t value of 8.287 with 0.000 level of significance. Local governments that have implemented an e-budgeting have been able to obtain Unqualified opinions of 105 local Governments or around 96%, while the remaining 4 local governments have not been able to achieve Unqualified opinions or around 4%. While the average value of the quality of local government financial reporting that has not implemented e-budgeting with a score that is, 1.7354 were able to obtain Unqualified opinions of 284 local Governments or around 66%, while the remaining 149 local governments were only able to obtain Non Unqualified opinions or around 34%. The results of hypothesis testing with different T-test also showed that there was a significant difference between the average value of the quality of financial reporting of local governments that obtained Unqualified opinion with SPIP score of 2.4890, namely 367 local governments or about 92%, while the remaining 34 local governments have not been able to reach the Unqualified opinion or around 8%. While the average quality of the financial reporting of local governments that have an effective SPIP score of 1.7035 or at the SPIP pilot stage is only 22 local governments or around 16% capable of obtaining Unqualified opinion, while the remaining 119 local governments have not been able to achieve Unqualified opinion or around 84% with t value of 14,036 with 0.000 level of significance.
Significant difference between the frequency of glutathione-S-transferase M1, glutathione-S-transferase T1 and glutathione-S-transferase P1 polymorphisms in type 1 diabetes patients and controls

Background and Aim: Oxidative damage can lead cells to apoptosis which is believed to be the main cause of pancreatic β-cell death and eventually end up to the development of type 1 diabetes (T1D). Glutathione S-transferase enzymes (GSTs) play a crucial role in counteracting reactive oxygen species (ROS). In this study, we evaluated the association of three well-known polymorphisms of GSTM1, GSTT1 and GSTP1 in the pathogenesis of T1D which are whole gene deletions in GSTM1 and GSTT1 and a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in GSTP1 known as Ile105Val. Materials and Methods: Samples were collected from 159 patients diagnosed with T1D and 210 control subjects. Genotyping for GSTM1 and GSTT1 was performed by Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and by PCR-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) for GSTP1. Results: The GSTM1 and GSTT1 null genotypes were present at frequencies of 54 % and 59.1 % in T1D cases, whereas in controls the frequencies were 41.4 % and 43.3 %, respectively. Double-null genotype was found to be elevated among T1D patients (Odds Ratio [OR], 2.04; 95 % Confidence Interval [CI], 1.08-3.85; P = 0.027). No effect of any genotype for GSTP1 on T1D susceptibility was detected. Individuals with both the double-null and GSTP1 Ile/Val genotype combined appeared to be at increased risk of T1D (OR, 4.95; 95% CI, 2.11-11.6; P = 0.0002). Conclusion: This is the first study conducted on Iranian children with T1D. The absence of GSTM1 and/or GSTT1 may be important risk factor for T1D. Furthermore, presence of Val allele for GSTP1 could strengthen this risk.
Effect of low dose aspirin on fetal outcome in women at risk for developing pregnancy induced hypertension

Background: Though pregnancy induced hypertension is a worldwide problem, it is more prevalent in developing countries particularly south east Asian and African countries. It contributes to 20% of perinatal death and 40-50% of low birth weight babies in India. Fetal salvage is also an important consideration in providing quality care. Low dose aspirin given between 12 weeks to 28 weeks of gestational age in high-risk women at Developing Pregnancy Induced Hypertension (PIH) is anticipated to prevent the development of PIH and complications that arises especially those regarding maternal and fetal mortality due to PIH. Methods: This prospective randomized controlled trial was conducted in the dept of O and G, SCB MC and Hospital, Cuttack during November 2018 to October 2019. Pregnant women between the gestational age of 13 to 28 week were screened for risk factors and included in this study. Low dose aspirin of 60 mg daily till delivery was given to pregnant women who consented to be a part of study randomly with the other group taking placebo. Results: Incidence of IUGR babies in low dose aspirin treated mothers was as low as 1%. Incidence of LBW babies is lower in low dose aspirin treated mothers than with those who were not treated. Mean birth weight in cases was 2780 gm±352 gm vs control 2592 gm±483 gm. There is increased incidence of still birth in high risk group not treated with aspirin. No significant difference in reducing incidence premature deliveries between case and control. Conclusions: Low dose aspirin has a definite role in the prevention of PIH in high risk pregnancy and its complication like IUGR and low birth weight. Low dose aspirin reduces the incidence of PIH. Low dose aspirin can be considered a safe drug without any deleterious side effect for mother and the fetus. Benefits of prevention of PIH, justifies its administration in women at high risk.
Effects of sea-level rise on tides and sediment dynamics in a Dutch tidal bay

Abstract. Sea-level rise (SLR) not only increases the threat of coastal flooding, but may also change tidal regimes in estuaries and coastal bays. To investigate such nearshore tidal responses to SLR, a hydrodynamic model of the European Shelf is downscaled to a model of a Dutch coastal bay (the Oosterschelde, i.e., Eastern Scheldt) and forced by SLR scenarios ranging from 0 to 2 m. This way, the effect of SLR on tidal dynamics in the adjacent North Sea is taken into account as well. The model setup does not include meteorological forcing, gravitational circulation, and changes in bottom topography. Our results indicate that SLR up to 2 m induces larger increases in tidal amplitude and stronger nonlinear tidal distortion in the bay compared to the adjacent shelf sea. Under SLR up to 2 m, the bay shifts from a mixed flood- and ebb-dominant state to complete ebb dominance. We also find that tidal asymmetry affects an important component of sediment transport. Considering sand bed-load transport only, the changed tidal asymmetry may lead to enhanced export, with potential implications for shoreline management. In this case study, we find that local impacts of SLR can be highly spatially varying and nonlinear. The model coupling approach applied here is suggested as a useful tool for establishing local SLR projections in estuaries and coastal bays elsewhere. Future studies should include how SLR changes the bed morphology as well as the feedback effect on tides.
Evaluation of oxidative stress biomarkers and inflammation in pathogenesis of diabetes and diabetic nephropathy

This study aims to increase understanding of the association of oxidative stress and inﬂammation with type-2 diabetes and diabetic nephropathy to provide a basis for investigating improved diagnostic possibilities, treatment and prevention of disease. Blood samples were collected from 498 West Indian individuals aged 42–72 years. Differences in the level of oxidative stress markers (MDA, GSH, SOD and CAT) and inflammation (TNF-α and IL1-α) was determined in patients (type 2 diabetic and diabetic nephropathy) and control participants. A signiﬁcant decrease of SOD, GSH and signiﬁcant increase of MDA and CAT activity were seen in patients with nephropathy compared to DM patients as well as controls. Significantly higher level of expression of TNF-α and IL1-α (P< 0.05) was observed in DM and DN patients as compared to controls. Oxidative stress and inflammation are triggered in patients of type 2 diabetes and diabetic nephropathy due to hyperglycemia.
CAPITAL STRUCTURE STRATEGIES- POINTERS FOR FURTHER INVESTIGATION RESEARCH

The capital structure is a puzzle which has been attempted to solve by researchers for the past fifty years and still there is much that needs to be explored. There have been studies which developed the theoretical models, some studies that tested these models empirically. Some studies which identified factors affecting capital structure decision and many other studies related to several aspects of capital structure have occupied the academic literature. Present study is an attempt to do an exhaustive literature review of the universe of capital structure and try figure out the contribution of prominent studies. Further, the paper attempts to identify the scope for further research in this field.
Augmenting Sparse Corpora for Enhanced Sign Language Recognition and Generation

The collection of signed utterances for recognition and generation of Sign Language (SL) is a costly and labor-intensive task. As a result, SL corpora are usually considerably smaller than their spoken language or image data counterparts. This is problematic, since the accuracy and applicability of a neural network depends largely on the quality and amount of its underlying training data. Common data augmentation strategies to increase the number of available training data are usually not applicable to the spatially and temporally constrained motion sequences of a SL corpus. In this paper, we therefore discuss possible data manipulation methods on the base of a collection of motion-captured SL sentence expressions. Evaluation of differently trained network architectures shows a signiﬁcant reduction of overﬁtting by inclusion of the augmented data. Simultaneously, the accuracy of both sign recognition and generation was improved, indicating that the proposed data augmentation methods are beneﬁcial for constrained and sparse data sets.
IL28B SNPs rs12979860 and rs8099917 Are Associated with Inflammatory Response in Argentine Chronic HCV Patients

Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major cause of chronic liver disease, including cirrhosis and liver cancer. The aim of our study was to determine whether IL28B single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) rs12979860 and rs8099917 can be considered a prognostic host factor in untreated chronic HCV patients. Methods: We set up a real-time Allele Specific PCR amplification to determine the allele present in each polymorphic site, and statistically grouped and compared this result with clinical data. Results: We determined rs12979860 and rs8099917 genotype and allele frequencies in a single cohort of untreated chronically HCV-infected patients. We found significant associations between higher inflammatory activity, measured as ALT levels or METAVIR scores and rs12979860 CC (P = 0.0013 and P = 0.0033, respectively) and rs8099917 TT (P = 0.0005 and P = 0.0264, respectively) genotypes. Interestingly, considering both genotypes together, we also found association with ALT levels (P = 0.0003; OR = 5.125) or METAVIR scores (P = 0.0038; OR = 5.179), suggesting and additive effect on liver inflammation in these patients. Conclusion: we show association between hepatic inflammatory activity in a single Argentinean untreated chronically HCV cohort and SNPs located in the interferon lambda gene region. The studied polymorphisms, together with further innate and adaptive immune responses, clearly play a role in modulating the HCV infected patients outcome, contributing to hepatic inflammation and possible fibrosis/cirrhosis.
Osteogenic activity of lactoferrin and its application in contemporary dentistry

Abstract Introduction: Lactoferrin (Lf) is a protein in the transfer-rin family with many biological functions. One novel activity of lactoferrin described recently is its regulatory function in bone morphogenesis. Lactoferrin has been shown to promote the growth, development, and differentiation of osteoblasts as well as to decrease osteoclast survival. Lactoferrin receptors (LfRs) mediate the multiple functions of lactoferrin. This review focuses on LfRs associated with bone and the intestines. The best known LfR is small intestine LfR (intelectin), which facilitates iron absorption and iron metabolism in humans. Many data from in vitro and in vivo studies have indicated that lactoferrin promotes bone formation by increasing the proliferation of osteoblasts and the ability of cells to synthesize and mineralize the bone matrix. Lactoferrin additionally inhibits osteoclastogenesis, reducing the number of osteoclasts and thus bone resorption. Lactoferrin, with its numerous antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and also osteogenic properties has found a number of applications in contemporary dentistry, especially in dental surgery, in periodontology, and in pedodontics. Summary: This review presents and in vivo in vitro studies demonstrating the osteogenic and anti-inflammatory activity of Lf and its practical application in oral surgery and dentistry.