Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Keratoconus prediction using a finite element model of the cornea with local biomechanical properties.

PURPOSE The ability to predict and understand which biomechanical properties of the cornea are responsible for the stability or progression of keratoconus may be an important clinical and surgical tool for the eye-care professional. We have developed a finite element model of the cornea, that tries to predict keratoconus-like behavior and its evolution based on material properties of the corneal tissue. METHODS Corneal material properties were modeled using bibliographic data and corneal topography was based on literature values from a schematic eye model. Commercial software was used to simulate mechanical and surface properties when the cornea was subject to different local parameters, such as elasticity. RESULTS The simulation has shown that, depending on the corneal initial surface shape, changes in local material properties and also different intraocular pressures values induce a localized protuberance and increase in curvature when compared to the remaining portion of the cornea. CONCLUSIONS This technique provides a quantitative and accurate approach to the problem of understanding the biomechanical nature of keratoconus. The implemented model has shown that changes in local material properties of the cornea and intraocular pressure are intrinsically related to keratoconus pathology and its shape/curvature.
Computed Tomography Estimation of Cochlear Duct Length Can Predict Full Insertion in Cochlear Implantation

Objective: To compare the rates of full insertion of electrodes and hearing outcomes obtained with 28-mm and 31-mm cochlear implant electrode arrays. To assess whether cochlear duct length (CDL) estimated by preoperative computed tomography (CT) predicts whether an electrode is fully inserted. Study Design: A cohort study compared electrodes inserted and hearing outcomes after implantation with 28-mm or 31-mm arrays. CDL estimated from preoperative CT was compared in patients in whom full insertion of the 28-mm array was achieved compared with patients in whom at least one basal electrode was outside the cochlea. Setting: Tertiary referral cochlear implantation center. Patients: One hundred forty-eight patients implanted with 28-mm cochlear implant arrays (175 devices) and 74 patients implanted with 31-mm arrays (88 devices). Intervention: Cochlear implantation with 28-mm or 31-mm array. Main Outcome Measures : Active electrodes at first programming, and at subsequent follow-ups. Bamford–Kowal–Bench sentence and auditory speech sound evaluation test results at 2 to 3 months in adult patients. CDL predicted by preoperative CT. Results: There was no difference in full insertion between the 28-mm and 31-mm array cohorts (p = 0.22). Early hearing outcomes at 2 to 3 months showed no difference in mean auditory speech sound evaluation (p = 0.19) or Bamford–Kowal–Bench results (p = 0.853) between the 28-mm and 31-mm cohorts. CDL was shorter in the 22 patients with less than full insertion of the array with a mean length of 28.7 mm compared with 29.6 mm in the 42 patients in whom full insertion was achieved (p = 0.046). Conclusion: CT estimation of CDL predicts full insertion after cochlear implantation. Insertion depth does not affect early hearing outcome.
Evidence on Wealth-Age Profiles in Canadian Cross-Section Data

This paper reports on one component of a research program in which we are studying household behaviour to establish a set of empirical facts upon which researchers can construct more realistic models. Evidence on whether wealth-age profiles conform to the inverse U-shape predicted by the standard life-cycle model is mixed. Here we show that there are significant differences in accumulation behaviour across major household types; on average, 'blue-collar' households decumulate after retirement but 'white-collar' do not. La relation entre la richesse et l'dge : profils dr en moyenne, les menages de "cols bleus" font l'experience d'une decumulation de richesse apres la retraite, alors que les menages de "cols blancs" ne font pas cette experience.
Isomorphism of quasispecies and percolation models.

Population dynamics of tRNA-like macromolecules and viruses have been interpreted by Eigen (1971, Naturwissenschaften58, 465-526) on the basis of the "quasispecies" model. The present paper contains a qualitative analysis of the similarities between Eigen's quasispecies model and percolation models. In fact, different phenomena characterized by an analogous inner structure can conceivably be described by quite similar mathematical formalisms. The occurrence of a threshold in specific processes predicted by the models is considered first. Secondly, Ising's model of ferromagnetism is taken into account in the last section. An interpretation of the above-mentioned biological theory in terms of percolation, implying a zeroth-order approximation to the real situation, might be a point of departure to a deeper insight obtainable with more refined approaches. A better comprehension of biological phenomena might in any case arise from a percolative approach, even if the description of the systems is simplified. An overview of some quasispecies results and some plausible applications are presented.
Cecal Colonization of Chicks by Bovine-Derived Strains of Campylobacter

Abstract SUMMARY. Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli strains were isolated from feces of dairy cattle at farms with no known problem due to campylobacteria. Farms were located in the northeast, desert southwest, and Pacific west. Twenty isolates were identified by ribotyping with a RiboPrinter. ® The ability of these bovine isolates to colonize the ceca of chicks was determined by challenge inoculation and reisolation of the challenge strain from the ceca at 1 and 2 wk after challenge. Isolates recovered from chick ceca were examined by ribotyping to assure they matched the challenge strain. One hundred percent of the bovine-derived challenge strains were capable of colonizing chicks. These results indicate that dairy cattle may be asymptomatic Campylobacter carriers and potential sources of campylobacteria contamination of poultry facilities.
The cost of public funds in Australia

A model of labor supply is used to calculate Australia's marginal cost of public funds, which is the appropriate cut-off benefit-cost ratio for an additional public project. The labor-supply model incorporates effective average and marginal tax rates faced by the representative household in each gross income decile. These rates are estimated from the Australian Bureau of Statistics' 1988-89 Household Expenditure Survey. A simulation analysis is performed to calculate the effect on labor supply of a 1 percent increase in marginal tax rates. The estimated changes in tax revenues and deadweight loss in each decile are used to estimate the marginal cost of public funds. Copyright 1997 by The Economic Society of Australia.
Decreased plasma concentrations of BDNF and IGF-1 in abstinent patients with alcohol use disorders

The identification of growth factors as potential biomarkers in alcohol addiction may help to understand underlying mechanisms associated with the pathogenesis of alcohol use disorders (AUDs). Previous studies have linked growth factors to neural plasticity in neurocognitive impairment and mental disorders. In order to further clarify the impact of chronic alcohol consumption on circulating growth factors, a cross-sectional study was performed in abstinent AUD patients (alcohol group, N = 91) and healthy control subjects (control group, N = 55) to examine plasma concentrations of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and IGF-1 binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3). The association of these plasma peptides with relevant AUD-related variables and psychiatric comorbidity was explored. The alcohol group was diagnosed with severe AUD and showed an average of 13 years of problematic use and 10 months of abstinence at the moment of participating in the study. Regarding common medical conditions associated with AUD, we observed an elevated incidence of alcohol-induced liver and pancreas diseases (18.7%) and psychiatric comorbidity (76.9%). Thus, AUD patients displayed a high prevalence of dual diagnosis (39.3%) [mainly depression (19.9%)] and comorbid substance use disorders (40.7%). Plasma BDNF and IGF-1 concentrations were significantly lower in the alcohol group than in the control group (p<0.001). Remarkably, there was a negative association between IGF-1 concentrations and age in the control group (r = -0.52, p<0.001) that was not found in the alcohol group. Concerning AUD-related variables, AUD patients with liver and pancreas diseases showed even lower concentrations of BDNF (p<0.05). In contrast, the changes in plasma concentrations of these peptides were not associated with abstinence, problematic use, AUD severity or lifetime psychiatric comorbidity. These results suggest that further research is necessary to elucidate the role of BDNF in alcohol-induced toxicity and the biological significance of the lack of correlation between age and plasma IGF-1 levels in abstinent AUD patients.
Does income matter in the happiness-corruption relationship?

Purpose - – Empirical evidence on the relation between happiness (life satisfaction) and corruption is barely perceptible in the literature. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to closing this gap by presenting some estimates using a large cross-section of countries over the period 1996-2010. Design/methodology/approach - – The empirical model allows both corruption and per capita income to enter as arguments of a happiness “production function”. The correlation between happiness and corruption is presumed to be non-linear. Findings - – While the results do not support the existence of a Kuznets-type trajectory, the study finds that the level of per capita income determines whether happiness and corruption are related and in what way. The authors estimate cutoff income levels at which corruption has a discernible effect on happiness. The results show that corruption reduces happiness, but only for high-income countries – roughly the upper half of the income range in the sample. Practical implications - – Results nullify the oft-asserted statement that happiness is negatively linked to corruption in all countries. The nature of correlation is more complex. Originality/value - – The paper goes beyond simply testing whether happiness is related to corruption. It conjectures that the relationship between the two variables is non-monotonic. Thus, the analysis considers the notion that the association between happiness and probity is income dependent. A novel feature of the empirical model is that the estimated income cutoff levels are endogenously determined. That is, income thresholds are not pre-determined. The authors also test for the robustness of the results by addressing the issue of potential endogeneity of corruption.
XML document summarization: using XQuery for synopsis creation

This work presents a methodology to support approximate queries over massive and heterogeneous XML data sets, based on concise data statistics such as histograms or other statistical techniques. The basic idea for approximate answers is to store precomputed summaries of the XML data, also called synopses, and to query them instead of the original database, thus saving time and computational costs. In particular, We concentrate on a set of XQuery transformation rules for the construction of the synopses collection and for querying the synopsis.
The relationship between migraine and infant colic: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Context Infant colic is a common and distressing disorder of early infancy. Its etiology is unknown, making treatment challenging. Several articles have suggested a link to migraine. Objective The objective of this article was to perform a systematic review and, if appropriate, a meta-analysis of the studies on the relationship between infant colic and migraine. Data sources Studies were identified by searching PubMed and ScienceDirect and by hand-searching references and conference proceedings. Study selection For the primary analysis, studies specifically designed to measure the association between colic and migraine were included. For the secondary analysis, studies that collected data on colic and migraine but were designed for another primary research question were also included. Data extraction Data were abstracted from the original studies, through communication with study authors, or both. Two authors independently abstracted data. Main outcomes and measures The main outcome measure was the association between infant colic and migraine using both a fixed-effects model and a more conservative random-effects model. Results Three studies were included in the primary analysis; the odds ratio for the association between migraine and infant colic was 6.5 (4.6–8.9, p < 0.001) for the fixed-effects model and 5.6 (3.3–9.5, p = 0.004) for the random-effects model. In a sensitivity analysis wherein the study with the largest effect size was removed, the odds ratio was 3.6 (95% CI 1.7–7.6, p = 0.001) for both the fixed-effects model and random-effects model. Conclusions In this meta-analysis, infant colic was associated with increased odds of migraine. If infant colic is a migrainous disorder, this would have important implications for treatment. The main limitation of this meta-analysis was the relatively small number of studies included.
Dominance of Serotype Ia among Group B Streptococci Causing Invasive Infections in Nonpregnant Adults in Portugal

ABSTRACT The population of group B streptococci (GBS) associated with invasive infections in nonpregnant adults from 2001 to 2008 was analyzed in isolates submitted from 24 hospital laboratories in Portugal (n = 225). The isolates were characterized by antimicrobial susceptibility, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), multilocus sequence typing (MLST), and surface protein gene profiling. GBS invasive cases were found more frequently among men in all age groups. In addition, serotype Ia was the most frequent in our collection, whereas serotype V is dominant elsewhere. Serotype Ia was represented mainly by a single PFGE cluster defined by sequence type 23 (ST23) and surface protein gene eps and by ST24 and bca, similarly to neonatal invasive infections in Portugal, indicating that the same genetic lineages can be responsible for both vaginal colonization and invasive disease in all age groups. In contrast, the hypervirulent serotype III/ST17 neonatal lineage was responsible for a minority of infections. Serotype V isolates were distributed into two genetic lineages, one defined by ST1 and surface protein gene alp3 and macrolide resistant, and another presenting with ST2 and eps and fully susceptible to all antimicrobials tested. The erm(TR) gene was the most frequently found among erythromycin-resistant isolates, while the bovine-associated tet(O) gene was found in a minority of tetracycline-resistant isolates. Our data emphasize the importance of local identification of the genetic lineages responsible for GBS invasive infections in nonpregnant adults. The dominance of serotype Ia in invasive disease in Portugal highlights the importance of this serotype in GBS pathogenesis.
Privatizing School Security at Home and Abroad

A century has passed since Otto von Bismarck instituted the first social-security system in Germany. Since then, government provision of retirement income has spread around the globe, alleviating poverty among the elderly, providing life-span insurance via old-age annuities, overcoming the Samaritan's dilemma by forcing everyone to save, and in many countries, extending coverage to include old-age health insurance. But for all the good it has done, social security is severely limiting world saving, investment, and growth. It threatens to bankrupt the young and future generations. of some of the world's leading nations (see Jagadeesh Gokhale et al., 1996). It is the chain-letter, pay-as-you-go method of financing social security that lies at the heart of the problem. Taking income from young savers and giving it to old spenders, while placating the young with promises of repayment, not only reduces national saving, but straddles the next generation with the obligation-the debt-to meet these promises. The size of these debts and the burden on the next generation will be much greater for countries with rapidly aging populations. Would privatization solve Social Security's problems. This paper provides a framework for thinking about this issue.
Detection of Extended-Spectrum Beta-Lactamase (ESBL)-Producing Escherichia coli on Flies at Poultry Farms

ABSTRACT In the Netherlands, extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Escherichia coli bacteria are highly prevalent in poultry, and chicken meat has been implicated as a source of ESBL-producing E. coli present in the human population. The current study describes the isolation of ESBL-producing E. coli from house flies and blow flies caught at two poultry farms, offering a potential alternative route of transmission of ESBL-producing E. coli from poultry to humans. Overall, 87 flies were analyzed in 19 pools. ESBL-producing E. coli bacteria were detected in two fly pools (10.5%): a pool of three blow flies from a broiler farm and a pool of eight house flies from a laying-hen farm. From each positive fly pool, six isolates were characterized and compared with isolates obtained from manure (n = 53) sampled at both farms and rinse water (n = 10) from the broiler farm. Among six fly isolates from the broiler farm, four different types were detected with respect to phylogenetic group, sequence type (ST), and ESBL genotype: A0/ST3519/SHV-12, A1/ST10/SHV-12, A1/ST58/SHV-12, and B1/ST448/CTX-M-1. These types, as well as six additional types, were also present in manure and/or rinse water at the same farm. At the laying-hen farm, all fly and manure isolates were identical, carrying bla TEM-52 in an A1/ST48 genetic background. The data imply that flies acquire ESBL-producing E. coli at poultry farms, warranting further evaluation of the contribution of flies to dissemination of ESBL-producing E. coli in the community.
An Introduction to the Bootstrap

15 Empirical Bayes Method, 2nd edition J.S. Maritz and T. Lwin (1989) Symmetric Multivariate and Related Distributions K. -T. Fang, S. Kotz and K. Ng (1989) Ieneralized Linear Models, 2nd edition P. McCullagh and J.A. Neider (1989) 38 Cyclic Designs J.A. John (1987) 39 Analog Estimation Methods in Econometrics C.F. Manski (1988) 40 Subset Selection in Regression A.J. Miller (1990) 41 Analysis of Repeated Measures M. Crowder and D . J. Hand (1990) 42 Statistical Reasoning with Imprecise Probabilities P. Walley (1990) ~3 Generalized Additive Models T.J. Hastie and R.J. Tibshirani (1990) lnspection Errors for Attributes in Quality Control N.L. Johnson, S. Kotz and x. Wu (1991) ·5 The Analysis of Contingency Tables, 2nd edition B.S. Everitt (1992) 46 The Analysis of Quantal Response Data B.f. T. Morgan (1992) 47 Longitudinal Data with Serial Correlation: A State-Space Approach R.H. Jones (1993) : Differential Geometry and Statistics M.K. Murray and f. W. Rice (1993) 49 Markov Models and Optimization M.H. A. Davies (1993) 50 Chaos and Networks: Statistical and Probabilistic Aspects Edited by O. Barndorff-Nielsen et al. (1993) Number Theoretic Methods in Statistics K. -T. Fang and W. Yuan (1993) 2 Inference and Asymptotics O. Barndorff-Nielsen and D.R. Cox (1993) ;3 Practical Risk Theory for Actuaries C.D. Daykin, T. Pentikainen and M. Pesonen (1993) 54 Statistical Concepts and Applications in Medicine f. Aitchison and I.f. Lauder (1994) 55 Predictive Inference S. Geisser (1993) 56 Model-Free Curve Estimation M. Tarter and M. Lock (1993) 57 An Introduction to the Bootstrap B. Efron and R . Tibshirani (1993) (Full details concerning this series are available from the Publishers.) An Introduction to the Bootstrap
BCL6 Controls Th9 Cell Development by Repressing Il9 Transcription

The transcriptional repressor B cell lymphoma 6 (BCL6) is required for the development of Th follicular cells, and it has been shown to suppress Th2 cell differentiation. We demonstrate that BCL6 is a key regulator of Th9 cell development. BCL6 expression is transiently downregulated in polarized Th9 cells, and forced expression of BCL6 in Th9 cells impairs Th9 cell differentiation. In contrast, BCL6 knockdown upregulated IL-9 production in Th9 cells. The function of BCL6 in Th9 cells is under the control of IL-2/JAK3/STAT5 signaling pathway. Using chromatin immunoprecipitation, we show that, in Th9 cells, BCL6 and STAT5 bind to adjacent motifs in the Il9 promoter. Furthermore, we found that STAT5 binding was associated with the abundance of a permissive histone mark at the Il9 promoter, whereas under conditions in which BCL6 binding was predominant, a repressive histone mark was prevalent. The effects of STAT5 and BCL6 on IL-9 transcription were further demonstrated using an IL-9 luciferase reporter assay in which BCL6 repressed STAT5-mediated Il9 transactivation. In experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, forced expression of BCL6 in myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein35–55-specific Th9 cells resulted in decreased IL-9 production and induction of IFN-γ, causing an exacerbation of the clinical disease. Our findings demonstrate a novel role of BCL6 in the regulation of Th9 cell development and their encephalitogenicity.
Tough-Movement and Nominalized Infinitives in French

It has, at times, been claimed in the literature on Romance causatives that Faire-par embeds not a verbal infinitive but rather, a gerundive, verbal noun (for example by Guasti, 1990; Travis, 1992 and Folli and Harley, 2007). In this paper, we will show that if similar assumptions are made concerning the infinitive embedded under predicates of the Toughclass in French, a number of unexpected restrictions on French Tough-movement constructions (hereafter FTMs) discussed by Legendre (1986) follow naturally. We will also establish that, given their nominal character, FTM infinitives are closely related to retroactive gerunds in English.
Rethinking the importance grid as a research tool for quality managers

The importance grid (IG) is a research tool developed for the purpose of categorising product/service attributes according to the Kano model, thus making it a tempting technique for quality managers. However, this paper argues that the IG lacks a clear theoretical foundation, which is why it is not recommended for its intended purpose. Nevertheless, it is shown that a reinterpretation of the IG can provide valuable information for the purpose of prioritising product/service attributes for improvement. It is further suggested to regard the IG and the penalty-reward contrast analysis (PRCA) not as competing techniques, as it is usually assumed in the literature, but rather as complementary approaches. The managerial value of the rethought IG in combination with a modified PRCA (determinance-asymmetry analysis) is demonstrated in a case study on airline passenger satisfaction with airport services.