Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reversibility of visual field defects through induction of brain plasticity: vision restoration, recovery and rehabilitation using alternating current stimulation

For decades visual field defects were considered irreversible because it was thought that in the visual system the regeneration potential of the neuronal tissues is low. Nevertheless, there is always some potential for partial recovery of the visual field defect that can be achieved through induction of neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity refers to the ability of the brain to change its own functional architecture by modulating synaptic efficacy. It is maintained throughout life and just as neurological rehabilitation can improve motor coordination, visual field defects in glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy or optic neuropathy can be improved by inducing neuroplasticity. In ophthalmology many new treatment paradigms have been tested that can induce neuroplastic changes, including non-invasive alternating current stimulation. Treatment with alternating current stimulation (e.g., 30 minutes, daily for 10 days using transorbital electrodes and ~10 Hz) activates the entire retina and parts of the brain. Electroencephalography and functional magnetic resonance imaging studies revealed local activation of the visual cortex, global reorganization of functional brain networks, and enhanced blood flow, which together activate neurons and their networks. The future of low vision is optimistic because vision loss is indeed, partially reversible.
The perceptions of nurse educators regarding the use of high-fidelity simulation in nursing education at a South African private nursing college

Although nurse educators are aware of the advantages of simulation-based training, some still feel uncomfortable to use technology or lack the motivation to learn how to use the technology. The aging population of nurse educators causes frustration and anxiety. They struggle with how to include these tools particularly in the light of faculty shortages. Nursing education programmes are increasingly adopting simulation in both undergraduate and graduate curricula. The aim of this study was to determine the perceptions of nurse educators regarding the use of high fidelity simulation (HFS) in nursing education at a South African private nursing college. A national survey of nurse educators and clinical training specialists was completed with 118Â participants; however, only 79 completed the survey. The findings indicate that everyone is at the same level as far as technology readiness is concerned, however, it does not play a significant role in the use of HFS. These findings support the educatorsâ€™ need for training to adequately prepare them to use simulation equipment. There is a need for further research to determine what other factors play a role in the use of HFS; and if the benefits of HFS are superior to other teaching strategies warranting the time and financial commitment. The findings of this study can be used as guidelines for other institutions to prepare their teaching staff in the use of HFS.
Interocular Differences in Spatial Frequency Influence the Pulfrich Effect

The Pulfrich effect is a stereo-motion phenomenon. When the two eyes are presented with visual targets moving in fronto-parallel motion at different luminances or contrasts, the perception is of a target moving-in-depth. It is thought that this percept of motion-in-depth occurs because lower luminance or contrast delays the speed of visual processing. Spatial properties of an image such as spatial frequency and size have also been shown to influence the speed of visual processing. In this study, we use a paradigm to measure interocular delay based on the Pulfrich effect where a structure-from-motion defined cylinder, composed of Gabor elements displayed at different interocular phases, rotates in depth. This allows us to measure any relative interocular processing delay while independently manipulating the spatial frequency and size of the micro elements (i.e., Gabor patches). We show that interocular spatial frequency differences, but not interocular size differences of image features, produce interocular processing delays.
Multiple HPV Infections and Viral Load Association in Persistent Cervical Lesions in Mexican Women

Persistent high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) infections play a major role in the development of invasive cervical cancer (CC), and screening for such infections is in many countries the primary method of detecting and preventing CC. HPV typing can be used for triage and risk stratification of women with atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASC-US)/low-grade cervical lesions (LSIL), though the current clinical practice in Mexico is to diagnose CC or its preceding conditions mainly via histology and HR-HPV detection. Additional information regarding these HPV infections, such as viral load and co-infecting agents, might also be useful for diagnosing, predicting, and evaluating the possible consequences of the infection and of its prevention by vaccination. The goal of this follow-up hospital case study was to determine if HPV types, multiple HPV infections, and viral loads were associated with infection persistence and the cervical lesion grade. A total of 294 cervical cytology samples drawn from patients with gynecological alterations were used in this study. HPV types were identified by real-time PCR DNA analysis. A subset of HPV-positive patients was reevaluated to identify persistent infections. We identified HPV types 16, 18, and 39 as the most prevalent. One hundred five of the patients (59%) were infected with more than one type of HPV. The types of HPV associated with multiple HPV infections were 16, 18, and 39. In the follow-up samples, 38% of patients had not cleared the initially detected HPV infection, and these were considered persistent. We found here an association between multiple HPV infections and high viral loads with and infection persistence. Our findings suggest there are benefits in ascertaining viral load and multiple HPV infections status of HR-HPV infections for predicting the risk of persistence, a requirement for developing CC. These findings contribute to our understanding of HPV epidemiology and may allow screening programs to better assess the cancer-developing risks associated with individual HR-HPV infections.
Transcriptomic Profiling in Fins of Atlantic Salmon Parasitized with Sea Lice: Evidence for an Early Imbalance Between Chalimus-Induced Immunomodulation and the Host’s Defense Response

Parasitic sea lice (e.g., Lepeophtheirus salmonis) cause costly outbreaks in salmon farming. Molecular insights into parasite-induced host responses will provide the basis for improved management strategies. We investigated the early transcriptomic responses in pelvic fins of Atlantic salmon parasitized with chalimus I stage sea lice. Fin samples collected from non-infected (i.e., pre-infected) control (PRE) and at chalimus-attachment sites (ATT) and adjacent to chalimus-attachment sites (ADJ) from infected fish were used in profiling global gene expression using 44K microarrays. We identified 6568 differentially expressed probes (DEPs, FDR < 5%) that included 1928 shared DEPs between ATT and ADJ compared to PRE. The ATT versus ADJ comparison revealed 90 DEPs, all of which were upregulated in ATT samples. Gene ontology/pathway term network analyses revealed profound changes in physiological processes, including extracellular matrix (ECM) degradation, tissue repair/remodeling and wound healing, immunity and defense, chemotaxis and signaling, antiviral response, and redox homeostasis in infected fins. The QPCR analysis of 37 microarray-identified transcripts representing these functional themes served to confirm the microarray results with a significant positive correlation (p < 0.0001). Most immune/defense-relevant transcripts were downregulated in both ATT and ADJ sites compared to PRE, suggesting that chalimus exerts immunosuppressive effects in the salmon’s fins. The comparison between ATT and ADJ sites demonstrated the upregulation of a suite of immune-relevant transcripts, evidencing the salmon’s attempt to mount an anti-lice response. We hypothesize that an imbalance between immunomodulation caused by chalimus during the early phase of infection and weak defense response manifested by Atlantic salmon makes it a susceptible host for L. salmonis.
Successful treatment with etanercept in a case of seronegative rheumatoid arthritis with corticosteroid/methotrexate-resistant pemphigus erythematosus

Abstract We report the case of a 65-year-old woman who developed bullous erythema on her face in X-4. The test result for anti-Dsg-1 antibody was positive, and acantholytic blisters were found on skin biopsy. Accordingly, pemphigus erythematosus was diagnosed. As a topical agent showed no effect, an oral corticosteroid was administered. However, new blisters continued to appear, making it difficult to decrease the dose of betamethasone (BMZ) to ≤0.5 mg. In X, polyarthritis and swelling appeared and the patient was referred to our department. We diagnosed rheumatoid arthritis (RA) based on a total score of 7 in the 2010 American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism classification criteria. Despite administration of 8 mg methotrexate (MTX), high disease activity persisted. Thus, treatment with etanercept (ETN) was introduced. After this treatment for RA, remission was achieved and bullous erythema disappeared. BMZ was withdrawn 1 year later, and the disease has been successfully controlled for 5 years. Bullous skin diseases have been reported to develop during treatment with tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) inhibitors in patients with RA. However, acantholysis in autoimmune bullous skin diseases is considered to be associated with TNF-α, and successful cases of treatment with TNF inhibitors in patients with pemphigus have been reported. In this case, the pathological conditions of RA and pemphigus erythematosus were controlled with ETN, which suggests that TNF-α plays an important role in the development of both pathological conditions.
Social Network Analysis on Mapping the Knowledge Structure of Dementia Research

Purpose: The purpose of this descriptive study was to develop a knowledge map through a social network analysis of dementia-related articles. Methods: For 276,548 keywords from 52,225 studies on dementia, co-occurrence keywords were used to analyze the node centrality in terms of degree, closeness, betweenness, and cohesion through social network analysis. Co-occurrence words were presented using word clouds. Results: The keywords Parkinson disease, amyloid, Mild Cognition Impairment (MCI), Apolipoprotein E (ApoE), depression, tau, aged, neuropsychology, memory, and neurodegeneration demonstrated high degree centrality with regard to dementia and Alzheimer disease. When central keywords such as dementia and Alzheimer disease were excluded, aged, depression, tau, memory, cognition, MCI, Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD), cognition impairment, Parkinson disease, and diagnosis showed high degree centrality. Conclusion: The findings from this study help identify research trends and topics. They also provide information regarding various fields of research by analyzing cohesion between keywords that enable research exchange or convergence, and keywords that promote or control interaction with other keywords. This analysis can help establish research topics at the initial stages and guide researchers when identifying and selecting important nursing science topics related to dementia.
The Influence of Anaerobic Digestion on Selected Heavy Metals Fractionation in Sewage Sludge

Rising efficiency of wastewater purification systems causes an increase in the amounts of sewage sludge. Its land application is economically attractive because of low cost and high efficiency. Using sewage sludge in agriculture is one of the most preferred ways of its disposal. Only stabilized sludge and containing permissible concentrations of heavy metals can be used for this purpose. The heavy metals introduction into the environment may cause a potential problem for public health, especially when they percolate from soil to plants or groundwater. Therefore, the concentrations of heavy metals in sludge intended for agriculture are regulated. Determination of total content of heavy metals in digested sludge is not sufficient for the evaluation of a potential risk to the environment. The mobility and toxicity of heavy metals depend strongly on their specific chemical forms. The concentrations of particular heavy metal fractions are the most important parameters, which should be examined in order to estimate the influence of sludge on the environment. The aim of an article was to evaluate the influence of anaerobic digestion on the concentration and variability of chemical forms of selected heavy metals (Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn) in the sewage sludge coming from a municipal wastewater treatment plant in Pulawy (Poland). The content of particular forms of heavy metals in raw and digested sewage sludge was determined by means of the BCR (Community Bureau of Reference) method. The BCR method enables separating four fractions of heavy metals: exchangeable, reducible, oxidizable and residual. The results obtained after analyzing raw sludge showed that the majority of the analyzed heavy metals were predominantly associated with the oxidizable and residual fractions. Only in the case of Zn, the reducible form constituted a greater part. In the case of digested sludge, all studied heavy metals exhibited the most dominant oxidizable and residual fractions; however, the percentages of particular fractions were different than in raw sludge. It was noticed that all heavy metals concentrations were higher in digested sludge in comparison to sludge before anaerobic digestion. The content of heavy metals in the analyzed materials did not exceed the admissible Polish levels for the sludge intended for the agricultural use.
Time-series and moments analysis of atmospheric pressure plasma jet interaction with composite surfaces

A non-invasive off-axis photodiode measurement of an atmospheric pressure plasma jet interaction with aircraft grade composite is reported. The measurement demonstrates a proof-of-concept that the jet nozzle-to-substrate distance can be estimated from the photodiode data, along with the modes of plasma-surface interaction. Namely: Free-space, plasma contact and spreading surface-plasma. A correlation between the photodiode measurements and plasma parameters is found by the use of state-space representation of the modes that employ an embedding delay element that is related to the plasma power supply drive frequency. In addition Pearson r coefficient and third and fourth moment analysis are used to reduce the datasets to a binary code that allows machine control of the plasma process.
Stock Market Reaction to Green Bond Announcements

This thesis contributes to the recent academic literature on green bonds, by providing evidence of positive abnormal returns following green bond announcements in the European stock market from November 2013 to October 2019. By applying an event study methodology on a sample of 54 public European companies, we find a cumulative average abnormal return of 0.37% in the two-day event window surrounding the green bond announcements. The results indicate that green bond announcements have a positive effect on the market valuation of public European firms, albeit less positive than the global average found in previous studies. Further, we find strong evidence of geographical differences within Europe, as green bond announcements lead to higher stock market returns in Northern Europe, with a cumulative average abnormal return of 0.67%. The other regions in Europe exhibit no significant returns, which suggests that Northern Europe is the main driver for the positive stock market reaction in Europe. When applying the event study methodology, we find significant positive returns for first-time green bond announcements and certified bonds, but no significant results for subsequent announcements or non-certified bonds. However, when controlling for bond and firm-specific characteristics using regression, the results indicate that also subsequent green bond announcements contribute positively to shareholder value. This is in contrast to the existing literature, which only find first-time green bond announcements to be significant for firm value. We therefore contribute to the literature by providing evidence for that firms benefit each time they announce a green bond, and not only the first time.
The Impact of Outliers on Computing Conditional Risk Measures for Crude Oil and Natural Gas Commodity Futures Prices

In this study, we employ statistical procedures to identify outliers in the prices for all crude oil and natural gas futures contracts traded on the CME over the period of December 2003 through March 2017. Empirical results for crude oil and natural gas futures contracts show that handling outliers when performing parametric estimation of the data generating process as exogenous indicator functions can have a large impact on the estimation of various risk metrics including value at risk, expected shortfall, and probability of outperforming a benchmark. Our research demonstrates that it is crucial to manage outliers to decrease bias of the data generating process upon which the estimates of risk metrics are based.
Follow up of growth, development and clinical outcome in neonates discharged from the NICU of tertiary care hospital in central India

Background: To assess the growth and neurodevelopmental outcome of all newborn discharged from the NICU of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Medical College, Jabalpur on follow up for 6 months. Methods: Prospective observational cohort study of 200 high risk newborn discharged from NICU. Babies were called for follow up at 1 month, 2 months, 4 month and 6 months of corrected age and detailed information was taken regarding NICU stay and morbidity with the help of data available from discharge card. Anthropometric parameters like weight, length, and head circumference were noted. Suitable screening tests like denver’s developmental screening test for Indian infants (DDSTII) for NDD (neurodevelopmental delay) and Amiel Tison scoring for tone assessment was done. Results: Among the 200 NICU graduates chosen, 40 lost during follow up. The neurodevelopmental delay in this study was 31.3%. Authors also analysed NDD according to gestational age wise groups. NDD in pre-terms was 39.6%. The developmental delay was more in babies with neonatal sepsis, perinatal asphyxia, prematurity, RDS, NEC etc. Conclusions: The morbidities like severe perinatal asphyxia, hypoglycaemia, seizures, shock, hypoxia, hypothermia, low gestational age have direct association with NDD.
The Relationship between Long-Term Incentives and Corporate Performance: A Theoretical Review

The study empirically reviewed literature on the relationship between long-term incentives and corporate performance. More specifically, the study reviewed literature on the relationship between long-term incentives and market performance, and the relationship between long-term incentives and accounting performance. The findings of the study revealed a significant positive relationship between long-term incentives and market performance. For the few studies that focused on the relationship between long-term incentives and accounting performance, the findings were that the adoption of long-term incentive plans isn’t related to contemporaneous accounting performance.
Effect of oral 25% dextrose on pain relief in newborn infants undergoing venepuncture

Background: Aim of this study was to study effect of oral 25% dextrose for pain relief in newborns undergoing venepuncture.Methods: This is a case control study conducted in NICU, Cheluvamba hospital attached to Mysore medical college and research institute during the period between September 2018 to November 2018. Babies with gestational age between 34 to 40 weeks of gestation who had clinical indication for blood sampling were included in the study. Neonates who are critically ill, suffered perinatal asphyxia and having congenital anomalies were excluded from the study. Hundred newborn babies admitted to NICU who had clinical indication for blood sampling were enrolled in the study. Study population were divided into 2 groups, dextrose (cases) and non-dextrose group (controls). The data analysis included gestational age, postnatal age, weight, sex, heart rate, oxygen saturation, crying time and behavioural pain assessment.Results: Mean pain score, crying time and heart rate at 5 minutes of venepuncture were studied in both the groups. Mean pain score in dextrose group was 2.68 and in non-dextrose group was 7.18 with significant p value of 0.0062. Mean crying time in dextrose group was 8.98 minutes and in non-dextrose group was 42 minutes with significant p value of 0.001. Mean heart rate in dextrose group was 142 beats/minute and in non-dextrose group was 146bpm with p value of 0.08. Conclusions: Pain in the newborns should be recognised and adequately treated. Lingual 25% dextrose can be used as safe and effective analgesia in neonates undergoing minor invasive procedures like venepuncture.
Induction of seed coat darkening in common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) and the association with cooking time after storage

Carioca is the most important edible dry bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) grown in Brazil. It represents the largest dry bean market class in the world. The seed coat of carioca beans will darken under adverse harvest conditions and with the increasing of storage time. In general, darkened seeds are associated with older seeds that suffer from prolonged cooking times. A relatively new ‘slow darkening’ trait is available in carioca that delays seed coat darkening under storage. However, its effect on cooking time is unknown. The objective of this work was to evaluate two induction methods of seed coat darkening and to examine the effect of slow darkening trait on cooking time after storage. Lines derived from four segregating populations resulting from crossings between cultivar BRSMG Madrepérola with slow seed coat darkening, and the parents BRS Estilo, BRS Cometa, BRS Notável and BRS Sublime with normal darkening were evaluated. An experiment inlcuding 220 lines, 55 per population and the five parents, in a 15x15 triple lattice was conducted in the winter growing season in Brasilia. Seed coat darkening and cooking time traits were evaluated. Two methods for inducing seed coat darkening were compared: an accelerated aging test using UV light for 72 hours, and an extended storage for 90 days under ambient conditions. The correlation between the induction methods ranged from 0.77 to 0.85 for the different populations indicating either method could be used to discriminate lines with normal versus slow darkening trait. The percentage of light-colored grain lines was identified by both induction methods of seed coat darkening ranged from 75 to 85.7% in the populations. The genetic correlation between seed coat darkening and cooking time varied from -0.06 to -0.48, indicating that in some populations there is no significant genetic correlation between seed coat darkening and cooking time. Thus, light colored grains are not indicative of low cooking time, when they are considered genotypes with genetic variation for the seed coat darkening.