Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Excimer Laser Phototherapeutic Keratectomy for Anterior Corneal Opacification After Descemet Membrane Endothelial Keratoplasty

Purpose: The aim of this study was to assess the long-term outcome of excimer laser phototherapeutic keratectomy (PTK) for treating remaining anterior corneal opacities after Descemet membrane endothelial keratoplasty (DMEK). Methods: This cohort study analyzed 67 eyes of 66 patients undergoing PTK in addition to and after DMEK between 2012 and 2021 at the Department of Ophthalmology, University of Cologne. Patients who were treated by PTK after previous DMEK on the same eye were included. The outcome parameters were best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), changes in refraction, endothelial cell density, corneal densitometry, central corneal thickness, and total corneal higher order aberrations. Patients with visual limitations in addition to anterior opacification were analyzed separately for their visual outcome. Eyes with severe visual limitations that have a very limited visual potential were excluded from the study. In addition, patients with not at least 1 postoperative follow-up examination were excluded from the study. Results: In this study, 67 eyes of 66 patients met all inclusion criteria. The median follow-up period was 13.1 (quartiles: 4.1; 30.7; interquartile range 26.6) months. The mean (±SD) BCVA improved from (logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution) 0.54 (±0.32) to 0.38 (±0.27) at the first postoperative visit (P < 0.001) and remained significantly improved at all follow-up examinations compared with preoperative BCVA. Refraction and endothelial cell density did not change significantly after PTK. There was a significant decrease in corneal backscatter in the anterior corneal layer (P < 0.001), and the total higher order aberration (P = 0.02) and central corneal thickness were significantly reduced at the most recent postoperative visit (P < 0.001). No immune reactions were observed. Conclusions: Excimer laser PTK after DMEK for persisting anterior corneal opacities has the potential to significantly improve patients’ vision without affecting refractive parameters or endothelial cell density.
Palynological investigation of some Euphorbia L. (Euphorbiaceae) taxa from Turkey using light and scanning electron microscopy

Euphorbia L. , one of the largest genera of angiosperms, is represented by the subgenera Esula Pers. and Chamaesyce Raf. in Turkey. Subg. Esula is confined mainly to Eurasia, especially in the Mediterranean region, and has not yet been studied in detail palynologically. In the present study, the pollen morphology of 14 taxa belonging to the sections Helioscopia Dumort. , Myrsiniteae (Boiss.) Lojac. , Pithyusa (Raf.) Lázaro, Patellares (Prokh.) Frajman, Exiguae (Geltman) Riina & Molero, Paralias Dumort. , and Esula (Pers) Dumort. of Euphorbia L. subg. Esula Pers. from European Turkey was examined using light and scanning electron microscopy. The pollen grains were found to be trizonocolporate, isopolar, radially symmetrical, medium in size, and oblate spheroidal and suboblate in shape. Ectoapertures were elongated colpi with distinct margins, widened at the equatorial region, and tapered at the ends; margo was present in all samples as a smooth exine surrounding the colpi. The endoapertures were lolongate pori with distinct costae. The exine was tectate‐perforate. The ornamentation was perforate, microreticulate‐perforate, microreticulate‐perforate with rugulose, or microreticulate‐perforate with a heterobrochate pattern. The sexine was generally thicker than the nexine, with some exceptions where the sexine was almost equal to the nexine. Pollen size, pollen shape, and exine ornamentation have taxonomic importance in distinguishing species; however, these features do not provide strong support for grouping or delimitating the taxa at the sectional level.
Gaza: An Ever Rebellious Demography?

The author shows that Gaza has a very atypical demography which should not only be described, but also explains, in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, since demography is deeply embedded in this conflict. Advancing his argument, the author emphasizes that Gaza is hardly separable from the Palestinian context, as the population of the Strip does not come from elsewhere, but mainly from the south of Palestine, while the refugees in the West Bank came mainly from the north. He adds that having a huge population in this small area is primarily, but not solely, the outcome of the exodus that preceded and followed the war of 1948. He further indicates that Palestinian fertility patterns remained atypical. Ordinarily fertility should be declining in a region such as the Gaza Strip that is almost entirely urban, with high population density, and an economy focused not on agriculture but on secondary and service activities. Between 1999 and 2006, fertility in the West Bank decreased from 5.4 to 4.3 children per woman, that is to say, to a level significantly lower than that of the Israeli settlers in the occupied territory. Rebellious Gaza, as he describes it, experienced an even larger fall in fertility, from 6.8 in 1999 to 5.4 in 2006. He concluded that the optimistic scenario for Gaza’s future is a real Arab-Israeli peace accompanied by the return of Palestinian refugees (or a substantial fraction of them) to their homes.
Ecological succession of blow flies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) in the decomposition of pig carcasses in Cerrado areas of Brazil

This research aims to describe the process of ecological succession by associating the decomposition stages of pig carcasses with flies from the Calliphoridae family (Diptera). For this, 6 pig carcasses were exposed in Maranhão's Cerrado, utilizing metal cages with sawdust trays to catch immature specimens and “suspended traps” to capture adults. Adults of the Hemilucilia benoisti Séguy, and Hemilucilia townsendi Shannon species were only associated with the swelling stage. Chrysomya megacephala (Fabricius) was associated with 2 stages (black putrefaction and fermentation). The species Chloroprocta idioidea (Robineau-Desvoidy), Chrysomya albiceps (Wiedemann), Cochliomyia macellaria (Fabricius), and Lucilia eximia (Wiedemann) were associated with 4 of the 5 stages of decomposition, the latter being the only 1 associated with the initial stage. The larvae abandoned the carcasses to pupate from the second stage of decomposition, with L. eximia being the only 1 leaving the carcasses in the swelling stage, and C. albiceps the only 1 associated with both the fermentation and dry stages. Our findings indicate that calliphorid species can help forensic investigators estimine the postmortem interval of cadavers in situations similar to those detailed in this study. Since there was a link between adult and immature species and certain stages, they can be used as indicators in future forensic investigations.
A two‐dimensional analytic tidal model for a narrow estuary of arbitrary lateral depth variation: The intratidal motion

An innovative method is introduced to solve a two-dimensional, depth-averaged analytic model for narrow estuaries or tidal channels with arbitrary lateral depth variations. The solution is valid if the lateral variation of the amplitude of tidal elevation (|Δa|) is small, i.e., |Δa| ≪ a, where a is the amplitude of the tidal elevation. This assumption is supported by a 60-day observation of elevation in the James River Estuary using pressure sensors at both sides of a cross section of the estuary. The error introduced by the solution is of the order of |Δa|/a, which has a maximum of ∼5% in the James River Estuary. The propagation of the tidal wave (elevation) is therefore essentially one-dimensional (along the estuary), regardless of the depth distribution, whereas tidal velocity has a strong transverse shear and is three-dimensional in general. Dozens of depth functions in six groups of various forms are used to calculate the solution. The tidal velocity is highly correlated with the bathymetry. The largest amplitude of the along-channel velocity is in the deepest water. The phase of the along-channel velocity in the shallow water leads that in deep water, causing a delay in time of flood or ebb in the deep water. The transverse velocity is generally small in the middle of a channel but reaches its maximum over the edges of bottom slopes. The depth function has a significant effect on the ellipticity and the sense of rotation of the tidal ellipses. By fitting the observed phase of semidiurnal tide in the James River Estuary to the phase of the momentum equation, we have obtained optimal values of the drag coefficient: 1.5 × 10−3 and 1.8 × 10−3 for the spring and neap tides, respectively. Then we apply these values of the drag coefficient and the model to the James River Estuary using the real bathymetry. Results show remarkable agreement between the observations and the model along the transects for both spring and neap tides. The cross-channel phase difference of the along-channel velocity between the channel and the shoal is found to be ∼1 hour, a value consistent with that from the model. The model-estimated lateral variation of elevation is 2.5% of the tidal amplitude, which is slightly smaller than the observed value.
Characterization of gelatin-based wound dressing biomaterials containing increasing coconut oil concentrations

Abstract This study determined the influence and ideal ratios of various coconut oil (CO) amounts in gelatin (G) based-films as wound dressings since there are limited comparative studies to evaluate the sole effect of increasing CO on protein-based biomaterials. Homogenous films at G:CO ratio of 4:0,4:2,4:3,4:4 (w:w) corresponding to CO-0, CO-2, CO-3, CO-4, respectively, were obtained using solution casting. SEM showed CO caused rougher surfaces decreasing mechanical strength. However, no pores were observed in CO-4 due to bigger clusters of oil improving stretchability compared to CO-3; and durability since aging of CO-4 was >10% lower than CO-0 in aqueous media. FTIR showed triglycerides’ band only in CO films with increasing amplitude. Moreover, amide-I of CO-2 was involved in more hydrogen bonding, therefore, CO-2 had the highest melt-like transition temperatures (Tmax) at ∼163 °C while others’ were at ∼133 °C; and had more ideal mechanical properties among CO films. XTT showed that increased CO improved 3T3 cell viability as CO-0 significantly decreased viability at 10,50,75,100 μg/mL (p < 0.05), whereas CO-2 and CO-3 within 5-75 μg/mL and CO-4 within 5-100 μg/mL range increased viability ≥100% suggesting proliferation. All CO samples at 25 μg/mL stimulated 3T3 cell migration in Scratch Assay indicating wound healing. CO amounts mainly improved thermal and healing properties of gelatin-based biomaterial. CO-2 was more thermally stable and CO-4 had better influence on cell viability and wound healing than CO-0. Therefore, increased CO ratios, specifically 4:2 and 4:4, G:CO (w:w), in gelatin-based films can be ideal candidates for wound dressing materials.
Quantification of volcanic cloud top heights and thicknesses using A‐train observations for the 2008 Chaitén eruption

New evidence of vertically thin (< 400 m), low‐level (< 10 km) volcanic ash clouds, as well as confirmation of previously reported high‐level (>10 km) ash clouds, from the May 2008 Chaitén eruption in southern Chile is presented. A‐train remote sensors were used to measure high‐resolution volcanic cloud top heights (VCTHs) during the explosive phase (2–10 May 2008) of the eruption. Ash clouds were identified using a reverse absorption technique applied to hyperspectral measurements taken by the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder. Once identified, heights and thicknesses were derived from the Cloud‐Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) instrument. As these two instruments are part of the same constellation of satellites, coincident retrievals are routinely possible. Collocation of the data allowed for detection of volcanic ash within CALIOP profiles. Using a simple thresholding algorithm, VCTH and thickness were derived from the CALIOP profiles. A total of 12 VCTH measurements, ranging from 3.7 to 16.6 km, have been derived. Back trajectories from the Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory dispersion model were used as a check on volcanic origin of the detected ash clouds. Ensemble forward trajectories were generated to demonstrate how the new data could be used to improve Volcanic Ash Advisory Center operations. The findings reported here demonstrate several cases where low‐level ash was not recorded previously and include observations of thin ash clouds at large distances (∼4000 km) from the volcano.
Norway Spruce Shows Contrasting Changes in Below- Versus Above-Ground Carbon Partitioning towards the Alpine Treeline: Evidence from a Central European Case Study

Abstract The marked change in above-ground forest stand structure with elevation towards the alpine treeline has been widely recognized, while studies on altitudinal effects on the root system are still scarce. We studied Norway spruce stands along a 700-m-long elevational transect at Mount Brocken (Harz Mountains, central Germany) to test the hypothesis that fine root dry mass partitioning shows an inverse response to elevation towards the treeline compared to above-ground biomass. Microclimate measurements revealed that thermal conditions at the treeline of Mount Brocken are closely comparable to other treeline sites around the world. Above-ground structure did not differ significantly among stands at lower and mid elevations, but tree height and stem biomass decreased strongly with elevation upslope. Fine root biomass increased with elevation by a factor of nearly two. Annual fine root production was found to be highest at mid elevation but was only 40% lower than this maximum at the treeline. Consequently, the ratio of fine root production to above-ground stem biomass increased by a factor of 2–3 with elevation, indicating a strong shift of below- versus above-ground carbon allocation towards the treeline. We hypothesize that the enlargement of the fine root system at cold sites represents an adaptation to the unfavorable soil conditions, such as impaired nutrient supply.
Heat shock protein family A member 8 is a prognostic marker for bladder cancer: Evidences based on experiments and machine learning

Heat shock protein member 8 (HSPA8) is one of the most abundant chaperones in eukaryotic cells, but its biological roles in bladder cancer (BC) are largely unclear. First, we observed that HSPA8 was abundant in both cell lines and tissues of BC, and the HSPA8‐high group had poorer T stages and overall survival (OS) than the HSPA8‐low group in the TCGA patients. Next, when we knocked down HSPA8 in BC cells, the growth and migration abilities were significantly decreased, the apoptosis rates were significantly increased, and the Ki67 fluorescence intensity was decreased in BC cells. Moreover, caspase 3 was significantly decreased with overexpression of HSPA8 in BC cells. After that, a machine learning prognostic model was created based on the expression of HSPA8 by applying LASSO Cox regression in TCGA and GEO patients. The model indicated that the low‐risk (LR) group with BC had better tumour stages, lymphovascular invasion, and OS than the high‐risk (HR) group. Additionally, the risk score was demonstrated to be an independent risk factor for the prognosis of BC by univariate and multivariate Cox analyses. Moreover, the HR group showed a greater rate of TP53 mutations and was mostly enriched in the ECM‐receptor interaction pathway than the LR group. Importantly, lower CD8+ T‐cell and NK cell infiltration, higher immune exclusion scores, higher expression of PD‐L1 and CTLA4 and poorer immune checkpoint therapy effects were found in the HR group. These findings demonstrated how crucial HSPA8 plays a role in determining the prognosis of bladder cancer.
Seasonality in Prediction Skill and Predictable Pattern of Tropical Indian Ocean SST

AbstractSeasonality of sea surface temperature (SST) predictions in the tropical Indian Ocean (TIO) was investigated using hindcasts (1982–2009) made with the NCEP Climate Forecast System version 2 (CFSv2). CFSv2 produced useful predictions of the TIO SST with lead times up to several months. A substantial component of this skill was attributable to signals other than the Indian Ocean dipole (IOD). The prediction skill of the IOD index, defined as the difference between the SST anomaly (SSTA) averaged over 10°S–0°, 90°–110°E and 10°S–10°N, 50°–70°E, had strong seasonality, with high scores in the boreal autumn. In spite of skill in predicting its two poles with longer leads, CFSv2 did not have skill significantly better than persistence in predicting IOD. This was partly because the seasonal nature of IOD intrinsically limits its predictability.The seasonality of the predictable patterns of the TIO SST was further explored by applying the maximum signal-to-noise (MSN) empirical orthogonal function (EOF) m.
Transplantation of Cryopreserved Olfactory Ensheathing Cells Restores Loss of Functions in an Experimental Model

In the past decades, the properties of olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) have been widely investigated. Studies have shown that transplantation of OECs cultured from the olfactory bulb mediates axonal regeneration, remyelination and restores lost functions in experimental central nervous system (CNS) injury models. Autologously sourcing the cells from the nasal mucosa or the olfactory bulb to treat patients with spinal cord injuries would be ideal, but the cell yield achieved may be inadequate to cover the surface area of the lesions typically encountered in human spinal cord contusion injuries. Therefore, banking allogenic cryopreserved olfactory bulb cells from donors or generating cell lines could provide a marked increase in cell stock available for transplantation. This study is undertaken in two control and two intervention groups. The control groups have lesions alone and lesions with collagen gel but without cells. The intervention groups have either transplantation of primary cultured olfactory bulb OECs (bOECs) encapsulated in collagen gel or cryopreserved bulb OECs (CbOECs) encapsulated in collagen gel. Here, we report that transplantation of cryopreserved rat bOECs encapsulated in collagen restored the loss of function in a vertical climbing test in a unilateral C6-T1 dorsal root injury model. The loss of function returns in 80% of rats with injuries in about 3 weeks comparable to that we observed after transplantation of primary cultured bOECs. The regeneration axons induced by the transplant are identified by neurofilament antibodies and ensheathed by OECs. Our results indicate that cryopreserved OECs retain their properties of inducing axon regeneration and restoring loss of function in the experimental model. This is a step forward to translate the research into future clinical applications.
Patient-reported outcome measures on mental health and psychosocial factors in patients with Brugada syndrome

Abstract Aims Brugada syndrome (BrS) is a hereditary arrhythmic disease, associated with sudden cardiac death. To date, little is known about the psychosocial correlates and impacts associated with this disease. The aim of this study was to assess a set of patient-reported psychosocial outcomes, to better profile these patients, and to propose a tailored psychosocial care. Methods and results Patients were recruited at the European reference Centre for BrS at Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel, Belgium. Recruitment was undertaken in two phases: phase 1 (retrospective), patients with confirmed BrS, and phase 2 (prospective), patients referred for ajmaline testing who had an either positive or negative diagnosis. BrS patients were compared to controls from the general population. Two hundred and nine questionnaires were analysed (144 retrospective and 65 prospective). Collected patient-reported outcomes were on mental health (12 item General Health Questionnaire; GHQ-12), social support (Oslo Social Support Scale), health-related quality of life, presence of Type-D personality (Type-D Scale; DS14), coping styles (Brief-COPE), and personality dimensions (Ten Item Personality Inventory). Results showed higher mental distress (GHQ-12) in BrS patients (2.53 ± 3.03) than in the general population (P < 0.001) and higher prevalence (32.7%) of Type D personality (P < 0.001) in patients with confirmed Brugada syndrome (BrS +). A strong correlation was found in the BrS + group (0.611, P < 0.001) between DS14 negative affectivity subscale and mental distress (GHQ-12). Conclusion Mental distress and type D personality are significantly more common in BrS patients compared to the general population. This clearly illustrates the necessity to include mental health screening and care as standard for BrS.
Variational Autoencoders for Biomedical Signal Morphology Clustering and Noise Detection

Accurate estimation of physiological biomarkers using raw waveform data from non-invasive wearable devices requires extensive data preprocessing. An automatic noise detection method would offer significant utility for various domains. As data labeling is onerous, having a minimally supervised abnormality detection method for input data, as well as an estimation of the severity of the signal corruptness, is essential. We propose a model-free, time-series biomedical waveform noise detection framework using a Variational Autoencoder coupled with Gaussian Mixture Models, which can detect a range of waveform abnormalities without annotation, providing a confidence metric for each segment. Our technique operates on biomedical signals that exhibit periodicity of heart activities. This framework can be applied to any machine learning or deep learning model as an initial signal validator component. Moreover, the confidence score generated by the proposed framework can be incorporated into different models' optimization to construct confidence-aware modeling. The result confirms that our approach removes noisy cardiac cycles and the remaining signals, classified as clean, exhibit a 59.92% reduction in the standard deviation of DTW distances. Using a dataset of bio-impedance data of 97885 cardiac cycles, we further demonstrate a significant improvement in the downstream task of cuffless blood pressure estimation, with an average reduction of 2.67 mmHg root mean square error (RMSE) of Diastolic Blood pressure and 2.13 mmHg RMSE of systolic blood pressure, with increases of average Pearson correlation of 0.28 and 0.08, with a statistically significant improvement of signal-to-noise ratio respectively in the presence of different synthetic noise sources.
JUNGLE ACOUSTICS II: LOCALIZATION OF SOUNDS IN THE JUNGLE.

Abstract : The US Army Tropic Test Center conducted a study of sound localization in the Canal Zone jungle during December, 1966. Localization errors were high in the jungle. Errors were highest for pure tones, next highest for continuous noises, and lowest for impact noises. Low frequencies were easier to localize than higher frequencies. Distance had a significant influence on the size of the localizing error only if reversal errors were included in means. The size of the localization error was highly dependent on the direction angle of the sound. Constant errors in localizing responses were found; their strength and direction depended strongly on direction angle. Background environmental data are also presented.