Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ready-made and custom-made eyeglasses in India: a cost-effectiveness analysis of a randomised controlled trial

Objective Ready-made spectacles have been suggested as a less resource-intensive treatment for the millions of people living with uncorrected refractive error (URE) in low-income environments. In spite of this interest, there have been no published economic evaluations examining the cost-effectiveness of ready-made spectacles. This study aims to determine the relative cost-effectiveness of offering ready-made spectacles (RMS) relative to no intervention as well as the relative cost-effectiveness of custom-made spectacles (CS) relative to RMS to treat URE. Methods and analysis The relative cost-effectiveness of RMS relative to CS and no intervention was tested through a cost-effectiveness analysis from the health service provider perspective conducted alongside a double-masked randomised controlled trial in an urban hospital in Delhi, India. Participants were adults aged 18–45 years with ≥1 dioptre (D) of URE. Results There was no significant difference between the effectiveness of the CS and RMS interventions in improving visual acuity, but the CS was over four times the price of the RMS per patient (204 INR (US$2.42) and 792 INR (US$11.22)). The cost per unit improvement in logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR) relative to baseline with the RMS intervention was 407 INR (US$4.35). Existing estimates of utility resulting from improvements in visual acuity result in incremental cost per quality-adjusted life years gained of between 212 INR and 1137 INR (US$0.44–US$23.74) depending on the source of the utility estimate and assumed expected life of the spectacles. Conclusion RMS represent a significantly cost-effective option for spectacle provision in low-resource settings. The RMS programme was substantially cheaper than an equivalent CS intervention while being effective in improving visual acuity for the majority of adults with refractive error in this setting. These findings provide further support for including RMS in programmes to address URE. Trial registration number NCT00657670 , Results.
Isolation and characterization of an ammonium-oxidizing iron reducer: Acidimicrobiaceae sp. A6

Acidimicrobiaceae sp. A6 (ATCC, PTA-122488), a strain that has been previously reported to play a key role in the oxidation of ammonium (NH4+) under iron reducing conditions, has now been isolated from riparian wetland soils in New Jersey, USA. Incubations of this strain in a medium containing ferrihydrite as the ferric iron [Fe(III)] source, CO2 as the carbon source, under room temperature, and a pH of 4.5, resulted in 52% of NH4+ removal over a 20-day incubation period, while reducing Fe(III) in the expected stoichiometric ratio when NH4+ was oxidized to nitrite with Fe(III) as the electron acceptor. This study demonstrates that this new isolated strain is capable of oxidizing NH4+ while reducing iron under anaerobic conditions.
ESTIMATION OF LIPID PROFILE AND ASSESSMENT OF CARDIOVASCULAR RISK IN SMOKERS BY USING NEW ATHEROGENIC INDICES

Objective: Smoking habit leads to elevated levels of lipid profile thus increasing the cardiovascular disease risk in coronary heart disease. The aim of study is undertaken to evaluate plasma lipid profile, of the male smoker with non-smoker’s healthy matched control and assessing the cardiovascular risk by using new atherogenic indices. Methods: Fasting blood samples were collected form both cases and controls and estimation of lipid profile by using by using autoanalyzer. A detailed physical and anthropometric parameters information was collected form each participant subjects. Results: Plasma total cholesterol (TC) (221.52±8.34), triglyceride (TG) (274.94±28.70) low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c) (129.22±7.76), very LDL-c (VLDL-c) (54.98±5.74) and non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol NonHDL-c (HDL-c) (183.26±7.58) in smokers subjects, which were significantly (p<0.0001) higher compared with non-smokers, while HDL-c significantly (38.25±1.34; p<0.001) decreased in smokers as compared to non-smokers. Further, atherogenic ratios like, Castelli’s risk index (CRI-I)=TC/HDL-c, CRI-II=LDL-c/HDL-c, atherogenic coefficient = (TC–HDL-c)/ HDL-c TG/HDL-c ratio, and atherogenic index of plasma =log (TG/HDL-c) were calculated for individual subjects by using lipid profile. All these lipid ratio are significantly (p<0.0001) in smoker group. Conclusion: Our conclusion, these ratio’s could be used for identifying individual at higher risk of cardiovascular disease in the clinical practices especially, when the absolute values of lipid profile seem normal or higher and not markedly deranged or in centers with insufficient resources.
Measurement of mechanical properties of viscous plastic materials by nanoindentation

Nanoindentation is a widely used method for determining mechanical properties, such as hardness, and elastic modulus. Nevertheless, in the case of viscous materials, the time dependent response of the material generates a bulge on the unloading curve that leads to incorrect values of the contact stiffness and thus of the mechanical properties. This paper presents methods developed on two viscoplastic materials (indium and indium-tin eutectic) to measure the elastic modulus and the creep exponent. To fix the bulge problem, we propose to realise cyclic indentations in order to obtain unloading and reloading curves. Results show that the lower parts of these two curves are similar because creep behaviour becomes negligible. Thus, the values of the modulus calculated from the initial slope of the reloading curve are constant and in good agreement with the values obtained from standard tensile tests. Furthermore, a method has been developed to measure the creep exponent. It consists of measuring the contact pressure as a function of the strain rate during hold load plateaux. Experiments show that the average value of the creep exponent (3.7 for the indium-tin eutectic and 7.6 for indium) does not depend on the loading conditions and are in good agreement with values obtained from tensile and torsion tests (3.7 and 7.6 respectively).
Oral Exposure to Genistin, the Glycosylated Form of Genistein, during Neonatal Life Adversely Affects the Female Reproductive System

Background Developmental exposure to environmental estrogens is associated with adverse consequences later in life. Exposure to genistin (GIN), the glycosylated form of the phytoestrogen genistein (GEN) found in soy products, is of concern because approximately 20% of U.S. infants are fed soy formula. High circulating levels of GEN have been measured in the serum of these infants, indicating that GIN is readily absorbed, hydrolyzed, and circulated. Objectives We investigated whether orally administered GIN is estrogenic in neonatal mice and whether it causes adverse effects on the developing female reproductive tract. Methods Female CD-1 mice were treated on postnatal days 1–5 with oral GIN (6.25, 12.5, 25, or 37.5 mg/kg/day; GEN-equivalent doses), oral GEN (25, 37.5, or 75 mg/kg/day), or subcutaneous GEN (12.5, 20, or 25 mg/kg/day). Estrogenic activity was measured on day 5 by determining uterine wet weight gain and induction of the estrogen-responsive gene lactoferrin. Vaginal opening, estrous cyclicity, fertility, and morphologic alterations in the ovary/reproductive tract were examined. Results Oral GIN elicited an estrogenic response in the neonatal uterus, whereas the response to oral GEN was much weaker. Oral GIN altered ovarian differentiation (i.e., multioocyte follicles), delayed vaginal opening, caused abnormal estrous cycles, decreased fertility, and delayed parturition. Conclusions Our results support the idea that the dose of the physiologically active compound reaching the target tissue, rather than the administered dose or route, is most important in modeling chemical exposures. This is particularly true with young animals in which phase II metabolism capacity is underdeveloped relative to adults.
Notice of RetractionBased on association rules of personalized teaching resources recommendation model

Aimed at the network teaching system to provide recommendation services for learners that there are some shortage. By analyzing the characteristics of personalized teaching, it designed a personalized teaching resources recommendation model which based on association rules. Teaching resources in this paper are organized by the relationship of curriculum knowledge points, the learners are clustered by the similar characteristics, thus to obtain learners - knowledge points two-dimensional table. This paper presents an improved Apriori algorithm. Association rules are obtained through looking up frequent item sets in the two-dimensional table, to recommend the knowledge, thus to achieve the objective of personalized recommendation.
Strengthening primary health care through primary care and public health collaboration: the influence of intrapersonal and interpersonal factors

Aim The aim of this paper is to examine Canadian key informants’ perceptions of intrapersonal (within an individual) and interpersonal (among individuals) factors that influence successful primary care and public health collaboration. Background Primary health care systems can be strengthened by building stronger collaborations between primary care and public health. Although there is literature that explores interpersonal factors that can influence successful inter-organizational collaborations, a few of them have specifically explored primary care and public health collaboration. Furthermore, no papers were found that considered factors at the intrapersonal level. This paper aims to explore these gaps in a Canadian context. Methods This interpretative descriptive study involved key informants (service providers, managers, directors, and policy makers) who participated in one h telephone interviews to explore their perceptions of influences on successful primary care and public health collaboration. Transcripts were analyzed using NVivo 9. Findings A total of 74 participants [from the provinces of British Columbia (n=20); Ontario (n=19); Nova Scotia (n=21), and representatives from other provinces or national organizations (n=14)] participated. Five interpersonal factors were found that influenced public health and primary care collaborations including: (1) trusting and inclusive relationships; (2) shared values, beliefs and attitudes; (3) role clarity; (4) effective communication; and (5) decision processes. There were two influencing factors found at the intrapersonal level: (1) personal qualities, skills and knowledge; and (2) personal values, beliefs, and attitudes. A few differences were found across the three core provinces involved. There were several complex interactions identified among all inter and intra personal influencing factors: One key factor – effective communication – interacted with all of them. Results support and extend our understanding of what influences successful primary care and public health collaboration at these levels and are important considerations in building and sustaining primary care and public health collaborations.
Speech Enhancement in Adverse Environments Based on Non-stationary Noise-driven Spectral Subtraction and SNR-dependent Phase Compensation

A two-step enhancement method based on spectral subtraction and phase spectrum compensation is presented in this paper for noisy speeches in adverse environments involving non-stationary noise and medium to low levels of SNR. The magnitude of the noisy speech spectrum is modified in the first step of the proposed method by a spectral subtraction approach, where a new noise estimation method based on the low frequency information of the noisy speech is introduced. We argue that this method of noise estimation is capable of estimating the non-stationary noise accurately. The phase spectrum of the noisy speech is modified in the second step consisting of phase spectrum compensation, where an SNR-dependent approach is incorporated to determine the amount of compensation to be imposed on the phase spectrum. A modified complex spectrum is obtained by aggregating the magnitude from the spectral subtraction step and modified phase spectrum from the phase compensation step, which is found to be a better representation of enhanced speech spectrum. Speech files available in the NOIZEUS database are used to carry extensive simulations for evaluation of the proposed method.
The SPORES experiment of the EXPOSE-R mission: Bacillus subtilis spores in artificial meteorites

Abstract The experiment SPORES ‘Spores in artificial meteorites’ was part of European Space Agency's EXPOSE-R mission, which exposed chemical and biological samples for nearly 2 years (March 10, 2009 to February 21, 2011) to outer space, when attached to the outside of the Russian Zvezda module of the International Space Station. The overall objective of the SPORES experiment was to address the question whether the meteorite material offers enough protection against the harsh environment of space for spores to survive a long-term journey in space by experimentally mimicking the hypothetical scenario of Lithopanspermia, which assumes interplanetary transfer of life via impact-ejected rocks. For this purpose, spores of Bacillus subtilis 168 were exposed to selected parameters of outer space (solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation at λ>110 or >200 nm, space vacuum, galactic cosmic radiation and temperature fluctuations) either as a pure spore monolayer or mixed with different concentrations of artificial meteorite powder. Total fluence of solar UV radiation (100–400 nm) during the mission was 859 MJ m−2. After retrieval the viability of the samples was analysed. A Mission Ground Reference program was performed in parallel to the flight experiment. The results of SPORES demonstrate the high inactivating potential of extraterrestrial UV radiation as one of the most harmful factors of space, especially UV at λ>110 nm. The UV-induced inactivation is mainly caused by photodamaging of the DNA, as documented by the identification of the spore photoproduct 5,6-dihydro-5(α-thyminyl)thymine. The data disclose the limits of Lithopanspermia for spores located in the upper layers of impact-ejected rocks due to access of harmful extraterrestrial solar UV radiation.
Differential diagnosis between benign and malignant pleural effusion with dual-energy spectral CT

Purpose To investigate the value of spectral CT in the differential diagnosis of benign from malignant pleural effusion. Method and materials 14 patients with benign pleural effusion and 15 patients with malignant pleural effusion underwent non-contrast spectral CT imaging. These patients were later verified by the combination of disease history, clinical signs and other information with the consensus of surgeons and radiologists. Various Spectral CT image parameters measured for the effusion were as follows: CT numbers of the polychromatic 140kVp images, monochromatic images at 40keV and 100keV, the material density contents from the water, fat and blood-based material decomposition images, the effective atomic number and the spectral curve slope. These values were statistically compared with t test and logistic regression analysis between benign and malignant pleural effusion. Results The CT value of benign and malignant pleural effusion in the polychromatic 140kVp images showed no differences (12.61±3.39HU vs. 14.71±5.03HU) (P>0.05), however, they were statistically different on the monochromatic images at 40keV (43.15±3.79 vs. 39.42±2.60, p = 0.005) and 100keV (9.11±1.38 vs. 6.52±2.04, p<0.001). There was difference in the effective atomic number value between the benign (7.87±0.08) and malignant pleural effusion (7.90±0.02) (P = 0.02). Using 6.32HU as the threshold for CT value measurement at 100keV, one could obtain sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 66.7% with area-under-curve of 0.843 for differentiating benign from malignant effusion. In addition, age and disease history were potential confounding factors for differentiating malignant pleural effusion from benign, since the older age (61.13±12.51 year-old vs48.57±12.33 year-old) as well as longer disease history (70.00±49.28 day vs.28.36±21.64 day) were more easily to be found in the malignant pleural effusion group than those in the benign pleural effusion group. By combining above five factors, one could obtain sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 71.4% with area-under-curve of 0.933 for differentiating benign from malignant effusion. Conclusion The CT value measurement at both high and low energy levels and the effective atomic number obtained in a single spectral CT scan can assist the differential diagnosis of benign from malignant pleural effusion.Combining them with patient age and disease history can further improve diagnostic performance. Clinical relevance/Application Clinical findings and Spectral CT imaging can provide significant evidences about the nature of pleural effusion.
Study of metallic nanoshelled structures with rigorous electromagnetic analysis

The main goal of this paper is to present thorough investigations for the metallic nanoshelled structures with rigorous electromagnetic analysis. Two metallic nanoshelled structures are investigated; namely, single nano-shelled cylinder, and nano-shelled photonic crystals. A rigorous Maxwell's equations solver is used to get insights into the optical properties of the structures. Our numerical simulations show that it is difficult to shift the plasmon resonance to long wavelength (e.g. towards ten micrometers) in such a structure. Flat bands are found in the metallic nanoshelled photonic crystals when the lattice constants are much smaller than the operating wavelength. This would become interesting especially for realizing ultra-compact slow wave structures such as plasmonic devices with low group velocity. Several applications using nano-shelled particles as sensors, as substrates for surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy are also discussed in the paper.
Neutralizing Antibody Responses following Long-Term Vaccination with HIV-1 Env gp140 in Guinea Pigs

ABSTRACT A vaccination regimen capable of eliciting potent and broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) remains an unachieved goal of the HIV-1 vaccine field. Here, we report the immunogenicity of longitudinal prime/boost vaccination regimens with a panel of HIV-1 envelope (Env) gp140 protein immunogens over a period of 200 weeks in guinea pigs. We assessed vaccine regimens that included a monovalent clade C gp140 (C97ZA012 [C97]), a tetravalent regimen consisting of four clade C gp140s (C97ZA012, 459C, 405C, and 939C [4C]), and a tetravalent regimen consisting of clade A, B, C, and mosaic gp140s (92UG037, PVO.4, C97ZA012, and Mosaic 3.1, respectively [ABCM]). We found that the 4C and ABCM prime/boost regimens were capable of eliciting greater magnitude and breadth of binding antibody responses targeting variable loop 2 (V2) over time than the monovalent C97-only regimen. The longitudinal boosting regimen conducted over more than 2 years increased the magnitude of certain tier 1 NAb responses but did not increase the magnitude or breadth of heterologous tier 2 NAb responses. These data suggest that additional immunogen design strategies are needed to induce broad, high-titer tier 2 NAb responses. IMPORTANCE The elicitation of potent, broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) remains an elusive goal for the HIV-1 vaccine field. In this study, we explored the use of a long-term vaccination regimen with different immunogens to determine if we could elicit bNAbs in guinea pigs. We found that longitudinal boosting over more than 2 years increased tier 1 NAb responses but did not increase the magnitude and breadth of tier 2 NAb responses. These data suggest that additional immunogen designs and vaccination strategies will be necessary to induce broad tier 2 NAb responses.
Longitudinal Association Between Orthostatic Hypotension at 30 Seconds Post-Standing and Late-Life Depression

There is an established cross-sectional association between orthostatic hypotension (OH) and late-life depression. The aim of this observational study was to clarify the longitudinal association between baseline symptomatic OH (sOH-30) and incident depression in a sample of >3000 older people without baseline depression (mean age: 62 years at baseline). This study was embedded within the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing using data from waves 1 to 3, collected between 2009 and 2014. At 2- and 4-year follow-up, a score ≥9 on the 8-item Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale was used to define incident depression. sOH-30 was defined as a drop in systolic blood pressure ≥20 mm Hg or diastolic blood pressure ≥10 mm Hg at 30 seconds post-standing in conjunction with orthostatic symptoms, such as dizziness, using beat-to-beat measurements. Almost one fifth (proportion, 18%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 16–20) of the study sample had sOH-30. One tenth (proportion, 10%; 95% CI, 9–12) had incident depression. Participants with incident depression were twice as likely to have sOH-30 at baseline compared with those without incident depression (linear regression, 13% [95% CI, 8–19] versus 7% [95% CI, 6–8]). Weighted logistic regression models demonstrated that sOH-30 predicted incident depression with an odds ratio of 1.90 (95% CI, 1.15–3.15) after controlling for covariates, including subthreshold depression, hypotension, cognitive impairment, and antidepressant use. Asymptomatic OH at 30 seconds and initial OH did not predict depression. This study demonstrates that sOH-30 predicts incident depression in a population-representative sample of older people and may, therefore, represent a potentially modifiable risk factor for late-life depression.
Maternal effects impact decision-making in a viviparous lizard

Stressful conditions experienced during early development can have deleterious effects on offspring morphology, physiology and behaviour. However, few studies have examined how developmental stress influences an individual's cognitive phenotype. Using a viviparous lizard, we show that the availability of food resources to a mother during gestation influences a key component of her offspring's cognitive phenotype: their decision-making. Offspring from females who experienced low resource availability during gestation did better in an anti-predatory task that relied on spatial associations to guide their decisions, whereas offspring from females who experienced high resource availability during gestation did better in a foraging task that relied on colour associations to inform their decisions. This shows that the prenatal environment can influence decision-making in animals, a cognitive trait with functional implications later in life.
Silencing of transposable elements may not be a major driver of regulatory evolution in primate iPSCs

Transposable elements (TEs) comprise almost half of primate genomes and their aberrant regulation can result in deleterious effects. In pluripotent stem cells, rapidly evolving KRAB-ZNF genes target TEs for silencing by H3K9me3. To investigate the evolution of TE silencing, we performed H3K9me3 ChIP-seq experiments in induced pluripotent stem cells from 10 human and 7 chimpanzee individuals. We identified four million orthologous TEs and found the SVA and ERV families to be marked most frequently by H3K9me3. We found little evidence of inter-species differences in TE silencing, with as many as 82% of putatively silenced TEs marked at similar levels in humans and chimpanzees. TEs that are preferentially silenced in one species are a similar age to those silenced in both species and are not more likely to be associated with expression divergence of nearby orthologous genes. Our data suggest limited species-specificity of TE silencing across 6 million years of primate evolution.