Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Utility values associated with blindness in an adult population

AIM To ascertain utility values associated with varying degrees of legal blindness. METHODS A cross sectional study on three group of patients. There were: (1) 15 patients with complete absence of vision (no light perception) in at least one eye who were asked to assume a scenario of no light perception in the second eye as well, (2) 17 patients with light perception to counting fingers in the better seeing eye, and (3) 33 patients with 20/200–20/400 vision in the better seeing eye. Utility values were measured using the time trade-off and standard gamble methods in each of the three groups. RESULTS The mean time trade-off utility value for the no light perception group with the theoretical scenario of bilateral absence of light perception was 0.26 (95% CI, 0.19–0.33). The mean utility value for the light perception to counting fingers group was 0.47 (95% CI, 0.33–0.61), and the mean utility value for the 20/200–20/400 group was 0.65 (95% CI, 0.58–0.72). Thus, patients with no light perception in one eye, who were presented with the same scenario in the second eye as well, were willing to trade almost 3 out of every 4 years of remaining life in return for perfect vision in each eye. Those with light perception to counting fingers would trade approximately 1 of 2 remaining years and those with 20/200–20/400 would trade approximately 1 of 3 remaining years. CONCLUSIONS There is a wide range of utility values associated with legal blindness. The utility value decreases dramatically with perceived total loss of vision (absence of light perception in each eye), compared with counting fingers to light perception vision, indicating that the preservation of even small amounts of vision in patients with legal blindness is critically important to their wellbeing and functioning in life.
Analysis of labeling and clearance of lung surfactant phospholipids in rabbit. Evidence of bidirectional surfactant flux between lamellar bodies and alveolar lavage.

Turnover and clearance of lung surfactant phospholipids were studied with particular reference to myoinositol-induced perturbation in the acidic phospholipids. Administration of myoinositol decreased [(3)H]palmitate and [(32)P]phosphate incorporation into phosphatidylglycerol by 80-90% in whole lung, and by 94-99% in lamellar bodies and in alveolar lavage. The increased incorporation of radioactive isotopes into phosphatidylinositol following myoinositol, was inverse to the decrease in phosphatidyl-glycerol incorporation. Myoinositol treatment affected neither content nor labeling of phosphatidylcholine or disaturated phosphatidylcholine as studied within 50 h of administration. Phosphatidylglycerol was pulse labeled by intravenous [(32)P]phosphate and [(3)H]palmitate, followed by myoinositol. The biological half-lives of phosphatidylglycerol in the microsomal fraction, lamellar bodies, and alveolar lavage were 1.6, 4.6, 5.4 h (with (3)H), and 2.8, 6.5, 7.0 h (with (32)P), respectively. (32)P-labeled lung surfactant tracer was applied to the airways in saline suspension and the clearance of phospholipid radioactivity was measured in alveolar lavage, alveolar macrophages, lamellar bodies and lung homogenates. The clearance rates of phosphatidylcholine, disaturated phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylglycerol, and phosphatidylinositol as studied in whole lung over 6 h were 3.4-5.8% h. Only a small amount of phospholipid radioactivity was recovered in the alveolar macrophage fraction (including bis-[monoacylglycerol]phosphate). Phospholipid radioactivity in alveolar lavage fell to 40-70% of the maximum during the 1st h, and to 5-18% over the next 6 h. During 2 h after the application of phospholipids, the radioactivity in the lamellar body fraction increased, and the specific radioactivities approached those in alveolar lavage. The association of phosphatidylglycerol with lamellar bodies was unaffected by myoinositol. Phosphatidylinositol entered more slowly than did phosphatidylglycerol from microsomes to the alveolar lavage fraction, and from alveolar lavage to lamellar bodies. These differences may be of importance regarding the poor performance of phosphatidylinositol-containing surfactant at birth. Further investigations are needed to clarify the possible role for the postulated bidirectional surfactant flux between the lamellar body and alveolar lavage fractions in maintaining the activity of surfactant.
Bombesin stimulates distinct time-dependent changes in the sn-1,2-diradylglycerol molecular species profile from Swiss 3T3 fibroblasts as analysed by 3,5-dinitrobenzoyl derivatization and h.p.l.c. separation.

We have developed procedures for the analysis of endogenous diradylglycerol (DRG) molecular species using derivatization with 3,5-dinitrobenzoyl chloride. The introduction of this strong chromatophore enabled us to separate less than 1 nmol of DRG into its three classes (diacylglycerol, alkylacylglycerol and alkenylacylglycerol) using a combination of h.p.l.c. and t.l.c. followed by reversed-phase h.p.l.c. to resolve these classes into their component molecular species. When applied to Swiss 3T3 mouse fibroblasts stimulated with bombesin for 25 s, 5 min or 30 min, subtle time-dependent changes in the DRG patterns were observed, with only certain polyunsaturated 1,2-diacyglycerol species [18:0/20:3(n-9), 18:0/20:4(n-6), 18:0/20:4(n-3), 18:0/20:5(n-3), 18:1(n-9)/20:3(n-9), 18:1(n-9)/20:4(n-6), 16:0/22:6(n-3), 18:0/20:3(n-6) and 16:0/20:5(n-3)] showing significant agonist-stimulated increases. The amounts of the first six species were all raised at 25 s, whereas all except the latter two were elevated at 5 min. By 30 min these last species were also increased but 18:0/20:3(n-9) had returned to basal levels. Overall DRG levels, as measured by total molecular-species peak area, remained effectively constant. No changes in the amount or species profile of 1-alkyl-2-acylglycerol were observed. Comparison of these species with the acyl-chain structure of phospholipids supports the idea that inositol lipids could be the source of DRG at early stimulation times, but phosphatidylcholine appears to be a phospholipase substrate at all times. These results indicate sequential activation of several phospholipases with different substrate specificities and/or access to different phospholipid pools. They also suggest that only polyunsaturated DRGs act as second messengers and that changes in the relative amounts of these species may trigger activation of different proteins and/or isoforms (e.g. the different isoforms of protein kinase C).
A Novel Configuration for Superconducting Space Radiation Shields

Long-time exposure to galactic cosmic rays is one of the most problematic threats for a manned mission in the deep space. In the last decades, several studies of active superconducting magnetic shields were performed leading to the proposals of apparently promising magnetic configurations. However, as the interaction of energetic particles with the materials composing the magnets was not taken into account, the contribution of secondary particles to the astronauts’ radiation dose was neglected, and, consequently, the actual effectiveness of the shields was overestimated. In the frame of the EU-FP7-SR2S project, a study of superconducting space radiation shield was performed associating the optimization of the magnetic configuration with Monte–Carlo simulation of the dose reduction. It was found that most of the magnetic shields proposed in previous works are not adequate, and a novel configuration, transparent to radiation, was proposed based on toroids arranged with their axes perpendicular to the spacecraft axis. Compared to other shields with the same shielding power, such a configuration results in lower magnetic field at the superconductor and very light design.
Academic attainments of children with Down's syndrome: a longitudinal study.

BACKGROUND Studies of the academic progress of schoolchildren with Down's syndrome have given only limited indication of attainments at different ages. Such normative data, it is argued, could guide professionals and parents in respect to reasonable expectations and typical achievement. AIMS The aim of the paper is to provide a descriptive account of levels and range of academic attainments reached by a representative sample of children with Down's syndrome over time. SAMPLE Data relate to 106 children from three studies with the same cohort of families. Mean age was 9.1 years at the first study (1986), 13.7 at the second (1991), and 21.1 at the third (2000). Mean IQ was 40.29. METHODS The Academic Attainments Index (AAI) covers reading, writing and numeracy, and was designed for teacher completion. In order to compare attainments to wider norms, scores were compiled by age group, and related to age-specific National Curriculum attainment levels, which are similar to US school grades. RESULTS AAI scores were obtained for 102 individuals in 1986, 101 in 1991 and 79 in 2000. Comparisons across age groups indicate that higher scores were achieved by each successive age group up to age 20, and that this pattern held for both more and less able children. Once adjusted for differences in IQ scores between age groups, however, there was some evidence of a levelling off towards the end of the school career. By school-leaving age, the more able children reached at least some National Curriculum Key Stage 2 targets in reading and writing, and some Key Stage 3 targets in number work. CONCLUSION Results provide a detailed picture of attainments across ability and age
Sovereign Wealth Funds and Macroeconomic Stability in Oil‐Exporting African Countries

This paper investigates the effectiveness of sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) in reducing macroeconomic volatility occasioned by oil price shocks in oil&#8208;exporting African countries. The oil price boom&#8208;bust cycles complicate fiscal operations, distort budget implementation and trigger macroeconomic instability in oil exporting African countries. We formulate and simulate a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model that features SWFs and the fiscal sector. We compare a baseline model without the SWFs to a model with the SWFs. The simulation analysis suggests that the establishment of SWFs can mitigate the vulnerability of oil&#8208;exporting African countries to oil price shocks. In particular, SWFs can reduce fiscal expenditure and real exchange rate volatility. Furthermore, SWFs can stabilise the level of external debt and reduce the level of money supply thereby sterilising the oil revenue. Since oil price shock is one of the important external shocks inducing economic instability in oil&#8208;exporting African countries, the creation of SWFs can insulate these economies from external shocks.
Role of TAR RNA splicing in translational regulation of simian immunodeficiency virus from rhesus macaques

The untranslated leader sequences of rhesus macaque simian immunodeficiency virus mRNAs form a stable secondary structure, TAR. This structure can be modified by RNA splicing. In this study, the role of TAR splicing in virus replication was investigated. The proportion of viral RNAs containing a spliced TAR structure is high early after infection and decreases at later times. Moreover, proviruses containing mutations which prevent TAR splicing are significantly delayed in replication. These mutant viruses require approximately 20 days to achieve half-maximal virus production, in contrast to wild-type viruses, which require approximately 8 days. We attribute this delay to the inefficient translation of unspliced-TAR-containing mRNAs. The molecular basis for this translational effect was examined in in vitro assays. We found that spliced-TAR-containing mRNAs were translated up to 8.5 times more efficiently than were similar mRNAs containing an unspliced TAR leader. Furthermore, these spliced-TAR-containing mRNAs were more efficiently associated with ribosomes. We postulate that the level of TAR splicing provides a balance for the optimal expression of both viral proteins and genomic RNA and therefore ultimately controls the production of infectious virions.
An assessment of the inflation targeting experience

An effective inflation targeting (IT) regime assumes both a change in the stationarity properties of inflation and a lower variability. Within a framework that does not make a priori assumptions about the order of integration, we examine whether there is a change in the inflation persistence in forty-five, developed and developing, countries and in three groups of countries, the G7, the OECD, and OECD Europe. For the inflation targeters, we find that the endogenously identified break dates are not consistent with the formal adoption of the IT regime. We employ a test for the variability of inflation that tracks how frequently inflation variability is in control. Logit analysis reveals that inflation targeters do not experience a greater probability than non-inflation targeters of inflation persistence changing, and they are not more in control of their inflation variability. The quality of institutions emerges as being more significant for taming inflation
Environmental Innovation and Employment: Drivers and Synergies

Numerous empirical studies focus on the drivers of environmental innovation or their potential employment effects. Nevertheless, we have scarce knowledge about whether factors that influence eco-innovation and employment generation are related. The main purpose is to analyze the synergies between eco-innovation and employment using a sample of more than 6000 innovative Spanish manufacturing and service firms. Using different econometric procedures, the main findings show that size, R&D and export influence eco-innovation and employment in the same direction, while age, belonging to a group, public subsidies and internal and external knowledge sources exert a different effect. Thus, older firms create less employment but have a high probability of being environmental innovators compared with younger firms. Furthermore, the size of the company moderates the positive role of eco-innovation on employment growth, while young firms not belonging to a group (eco-entrepreneurs) contribute more to employment growth than old firms belonging to a parent firm. Implications for scholars, managers and policy makers in terms of sustainable and economic growth are made.
An Effective Acoustic Feedback Cancellation Algorithm Based on the Normalized Sub-Band Adaptive Filter

In this letter, an effective acoustic feedback cancellation algorithm is proposed based on the normalized sub-band adaptive filter (NSAF). To improve the confliction between fast convergence rate and low misalignment in the NSAF algorithm, a variable step size is designed to automatically vary according to the update state of the filter. The update state of the filter is adaptively detected via the normalized distance between the long term average and the short term average of the tap-weight vector. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm has superior performance in terms of convergence rate and misalignment. key words: sub-band adaptive filters, acoustic feedback cancellation, hearing aids, variable step size
Ciprofloxacin Affects Pregnancy Loss in CBA/JxDBA/2J Mice Possibly via Elevation of Interleukin‐3 and Granulocyte Macrophage‐Colony Stimulating Factor Production

PROBLEM: The mechanisms mediating pregnancy loss are far from being understood, but it is believed that modulation of the maternal immune system, that is known to support pregnancy, might serve as a means for the treatment of habitual abortions. Thus, we examined the effect of the anti bacterial agent ciprofloxacin, which was shown to affect maternal immunoreactivity, on pregnancy loss in the resorption‐prone CBA/JxDBA/2J mouse combination as well as associated changes in Interleukin (IL)‐3 and Granulocyte macrophage‐colony stimulating factor (GM‐CSF) production. METHOD OF STUDY: CBA/J females mated to DBA/2J males were treated with ciprofloxacin for 5 consecutive days. On day 15 of pregnancy, the number of resorbed embryos was recorded and IL‐3 mRNA expression as well as IL‐3 and GM‐CSF protein production by splenocytes were assayed by northern blotting and ELISA, respectively. RESULTS: Ciprofloxacin treatment resulted in a significant reduction in the resorption rate as compared to the effect of the control antibiotic ceftazidime or PBS only, while not affecting the number of implantation sites/mouse. Also, splenocytes from ciprofloxacin‐treated CBA/J mice exhibited an increased level of IL‐3 mRNA transcripts as well as an elevation in IL‐3 and GM‐CSF protein production. CONCLUSIONS: Our data demonstrate the ability of ciprofloxacin to reduce pregnancy loss in the CBA/JxDBA/2J mouse model, possibly via elevation of IL‐3 and GM‐CSF production.
Long-Term Rhinoflowmetry: A New Method for Functional Rhinologic Diagnostics

Background With current functional diagnostic tools in rhinology (rhinomanometry, rhinoresistometry, and acoustic rhinometry) long-term assessment of nasal function is difficult to acquire. Usually, only the situation at the time of examination is evaluated. Therefore, temporary nasal complaints of the nasal cycle are difficult to assess. It was the aim of this work to create a diagnostic tool to measure nasal flow over a long time period under physiological and everyday life conditions. We term the method long-term rhinoflowmetry (LRFM). Methods A portable device recording nasal airflow over a time period up to 72 hours was developed. Kinetic pressure fluctuations during respiration as a measure for the flow were registered over time and relative airflow was calculated. A summary of diagnostic results is given in six exemplary patients. Results Classic nasal cycles could be recorded in detail with durations ranging from 90 minutes to 10 hours. The manifestation of nighttime nasal obstruction as well as a case of paradoxical nasal obstruction were objectified. LRFM enables the assessment of time, duration, and extent of temporary nasal obstruction. Conclusion LRFM enables an assessment of temporary nasal obstruction as well as physiological and pathological fluctuations in the nasal cycle. Especially in cases in which traditional rhinological diagnostic tools are unsatisfying, the enhanced diagnostic quality of LRFM appears to be a promising supplement to the currently available rhinological monitoring methods.
The temporal dynamics of target selection in real-world scenes.

In daily life, humans are constantly required to select behaviorally relevant targets from cluttered and complex environments. In previous neuroimaging studies, the remarkable efficiency of such selection processes has been linked to a selective enhancement of the representation of behaviorally relevant stimulus categories in visual cortex. Although these studies have revealed important insights about the neural basis of real-world search, the temporal unfolding of these effects is still unclear. Here, we recorded MEG activity while participants searched for categorical targets (persons or cars) in real-world scenes. We then tried to recover the presence and location of these two categories within a scene from MEG sensor patterns using multivariate decoding. We found that classifiers trained on patterns evoked by persons and cars in isolation could reliably distinguish between scenes containing persons or cars. Additionally, we were able to decode the location of the behaviorally relevant target category: Classifiers trained on an independent attentional orienting task were able to distinguish whether the target category appeared on the right or on the left side of a scene. Both category and location information could be retrieved already shortly after scene onset, indicating that processing of visual categories in complex scenes is composed of an early boost of category information, accompanied by an attentional orienting towards the relevant target. More generally, our results demonstrate the viability of using MEG to compare representations across different sets of stimuli and tasks to gain insights in the temporal dynamics of visual processing. Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2015.
SPAS-1 (stimulator of prostatic adenocarcinoma-specific T cells)/SH3GLB2: A prostate tumor antigen identified by CTLA-4 blockade

Discovery of immunologically relevant antigens in prostate cancer forms the basis for developing more potent active immunotherapy. We report here a strategy using the transgenic adenocarcinoma of mouse prostate (TRAMP) model, which allows for the functional identification of immunogenic prostate tumor antigens with relevance for human immunotherapy. Using a combination of active tumor vaccination in the presence of CTL-associated antigen 4 (CTLA-4) in vivo blockade, we elicited tumor-specific T cells used to expression clone the first T cell-defined TRAMP tumor antigen, called Spas-1 (stimulator of prostatic adenocarcinoma specific T cells-1). Spas-1 expression was increased in advanced primary TRAMP tumors. We show that the immunodominant SPAS-1 epitope SNC9-H8 arose from a point mutation in one allele of the gene in TRAMP tumor cells, and that immunization with dendritic cells pulsed with SNC9-H8 peptide resulted in protection against TRAMP-C2 tumor challenge. In humans, the Spas-1 ortholog SH3GLB2 has been reported to be overexpressed in prostate cancer metastases. Additionally, we identified a nonmutated HLA-A2-binding epitope in the human ortholog SH3GLB2, which primed T cells from healthy HLA-A2+ individuals in vitro. Importantly, in vitro-primed T cells also recognized naturally processed and presented SH3GLB2. Our findings demonstrate that our in vivo CTLA-4 blockade-based T cell expression cloning can identify immunogenic cancer antigens with potential relevance for human immunotherapy.
Discourse Analysis of References in the Speech of Amir of Qatar Sheik Tamim Bin Hamad Al -Thani in the 72 Session of the United Nations General Assembly

Discourse as a connected speech which extends beyond the borders of a single sentence. Therefore, this study analyse references in the speech of Amir of Qatar Sheik Tamim Bin Hamad Al -Thani in the 72 session of the United Nations General Assembly on 19- September 2017. The researcher will present personal, demonstratives and comparative references by analysing their frequency of occurrence as an analytical study. Basically, this study reveals that personal references are most frequently used by Sheik Tamim, followed by demonstrative references. The comparative references happen to be the least occurring type.