Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Six-Year Incidence and Causes of Low Vision and Blindness in a Rural Chinese Adult Population: The Handan Eye Study

ABSTRACT Purpose To determine the six-year incidence, risk factors, and causes of visual impairment in a Chinese population. Methods This was a population-based study of eye disease in Chinese adults in a rural district of Handan in China. 6,830 individuals were invited to participate in 2006 and 5,394 returned for follow-up in 2012. All participants underwent standardized eye examinations. Visual impairment was defined according to WHO criteria. The incidence of visual impairment was age- and gender-standardized to the 2010 China Census. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to determine risk factors for visual impairment. Results The leading causes of visual impairment were cataract and refractive error. Based on presenting visual acuity (PVA), the six-year incidence rates of low vision and blindness were 5.2% and 0.5%, respectively. Incidence of low vision was associated with older age (p < .001), less education (p < .001), diabetes (p < .05), and lower BMI (p < .001). The incidence of blindness was associated with diabetes (p < .05). Based on best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), the six-year incidence rates of low vision and blindness were 0.8% and 0.1%, respectively. Incidence of low vision was associated with older age (p < .001) and lower BMI (p < .05). None of these factors were associated with the incidence of blindness. Conclusion In Handan, the incidence of visual impairment was high and associated with older age, less education, diabetes, and lower BMI. The majority of cases were due to unoperated cataract and uncorrected refractive error, reflecting the need for improved eye care in this region.
The impact of COVID-19 on doctors' well-being: results of a web survey during the lockdown in Italy.

OBJECTIVE On March 12, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of a new Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), to be a pandemic. From the beginning, Italy (in particular the Northern regions) was the first large European country to be hit and one of the most affected countries worldwide. This had a significant impact on the workload and psychological health of health workers. The aim of this web-based cross-sectional study is to assess the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on Italian doctors' well-being and psychological distress, in respect of demographic and occupational characteristics, lifestyle and habits during the lockdown period. PATIENTS AND METHODS We conducted a web-based cross-sectional survey based on Google® Forms to collect data. The participation was available during the lockdown period that started in Italy on March 9, 2020 and it was voluntary and anonymous. The questionnaire explored demographic and occupational variables, lifestyle and habits during the lockdown, perceived well-being and psychological distress. Multivariate logistic regression models were fitted. RESULTS Our study reported the very alarming psychological conditions of Italian doctors, especially among those who worked in the most affected regions, where a level of psychological distress of 93.8% and poor well-being of 58.9% were registered. These percentages were even higher in the case of female hospital workers with low job seniority, and those caring for COVID-19 patients. CONCLUSIONS Our findings reported a significant psychosocial impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on Italian doctors, particularly among those working in the most affected regions of the country. Further studies are necessary to better understand the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on doctors' well-being and mental health over time, in order to implement effective prevention measures.
Pregnancy outcomes among women born in Somalia and Sweden giving birth in the Stockholm area – a population-based study

ABSTRACT Background Studies report that women born in some African countries, after migrating to the Nordic countries, have worse pregnancy outcomes than women born in the receiving countries. With the aim of identifying unmet needs among Somali-born women, we here study this subgroup. Objective We compared pregnancy outcomes among women born in Somalia to women born in Sweden. Further, we investigated whether the proactive maternal observation of fetal movements has effects on birth outcomes among women born in Somalia. Methods In Stockholm, half of the maternity clinics were randomized to intervention, in which midwives were instructed to be proactive towards women by promoting daily self-monitoring of fetal movements. Data for 623 women born in Somalia and 26 485 born in Sweden were collected from a population-based register. Results An Apgar score below 7 (with stillbirth counting as 0) at 5 minutes was more frequent in babies of women born in Somalia as compared to babies of women born in Sweden (RR 2.17, 95% CI 1.25–3.77). Babies born small for gestational age were more common among women born in Somalia (RR 2.22, CI 1.88–2.61), as were babies born after 41 + 6 gestational weeks (RR 1.65, CI 1.29–2.12). Somali-born women less often contacted obstetric care for decreased fetal movements than did Swedish-born women (RR 0.19, CI 0.08–0.36). The differences between women born in Somalia and women born in Sweden were somewhat lower (not statistically significant) among women allocated to proactivity as compared to the Routine-care group. Conclusions A higher risk of a negative outcome for mother and baby is seen among women born in Somalia compared to women born in Sweden. We suggest it may be worthwhile to investigate whether a Somali-adapted intervention with proactivity concerning self-monitoring of fetal movements may improve pregnancy outcomes in this migrant population.
Single to multiple target, multiple type visual tracking

Visual tracking is a key task in applications such as intelligent surveillance, humancomputer interaction (HCI), human-robot interaction (HRI), augmented reality (AR), driver assistance systems, and medical applications. In this thesis, we make three main novel contributions for target tracking in video sequences. First, we develop a long-term model-free single target tracking by learning discriminative correlation filters and an online classifier that can track a target of interest in both sparse and crowded scenes. In this case, we learn two different correlation filters, translation and scale correlation filters, using different visual features. We also include a re-detection module that can re-initialize the tracker in case of tracking failures due to long-term occlusions. Second, a multiple target, multiple type filtering algorithm is developed using Random Finite Set (RFS) theory. In particular, we extend the standard Probability Hypothesis Density (PHD) filter for multiple type of targets, each with distinct detection properties, to develop multiple target, multiple type filtering, N-type PHD filter, where N ≥ 2, for handling confusions that can occur among target types at the measurements level. This method takes into account not only background false positives (clutter), but also confusions between target detections, which are in general different in character from background clutter. Then, under the assumptions of Gaussianity and linearity, we extend Gaussian mixture (GM) implementation of the standard PHD filter for the proposed N-type PHD filter termed as N-type GM-PHD filter. Third, we apply this N-type GM-PHD filter to real video sequences by integrating object detectors’ information into this filter for two scenarios. In the first scenario, a tri-GM-PHD filter is applied to real video sequences containing three types of multiple targets in the same scene, two football teams and a referee, using separate but confused detections. In the second scenario, we use a dual GM-PHD filter for tracking pedestrians and vehicles in the same scene handling their detectors’ confusions. For both cases, Munkres’s variant of the Hungarian assignment algorithm is used to associate tracked target identities between frames. We make extensive evaluations of these developed algorithms and find out that our methods outperform their corresponding state-of-the-art approaches by a large margin.
Physical distancing due to COVID-19 disrupts sexual behaviours among gay and bisexual men in Australia: Implications for trends in HIV and other sexually transmissible infections.

INTRODUCTION In March 2020, Australian state and federal governments introduced physical distancing measures alongside widespread testing to combat COVID-19. These measures may decrease people's sexual contacts and thus reduce the transmission of HIV and other sexually transmissible infections (STIs). We investigated the impact of physical distancing measures due to COVID-19 on the sexual behaviour of gay and bisexual men (GBM) in Australia. METHODS Between April 4 and April 29 2020, 940 participants in an ongoing cohort study responded to questions to measure changes in sexual behaviours during the COVID-19 pandemic. Men reported the date they become concerned about COVID-19, and whether they engaged in sexual behaviour with regular or casual partners or 'fuckbuddies' in the six months prior to becoming concerned about COVID-19 (hereafter referred to as 'before COVID-19'), and following the date they become concerned about COVID-19 (hereafter referred to as 'since COVID-19'). Before and since COVID-19 was based on individual participants' own perceived date of becoming concerned about COVID-19. RESULTS Mean age of was 39.9 years (SD: 13.4). Most participants (88.3%) reported sex with other men during the six months before COVID-19. Of the 587 men (62.4%) who reported sex with casual partners before COVID-19, 93 (15.8%) continued to do so in the period since COVID-19, representing a relative reduction of 84.2%. CONCLUSION GBM in Australia have dramatically reduced their sexual contacts with other men since COVID-19. These behavioural changes will likely result in short-term reductions in new HIV and STI diagnoses. If sexual health screenings are undertaken prior to resuming sexual activity, this could present a novel opportunity to interrupt chains of HIV and STI transmission.
Movement patterns of river crabs (Decapoda, Potamoidea) in the field: predictable and unpredicatable components

Radio-telemetry was used to investigate locomotor activity rhythms in a field population of the freshwater crab Potamon fluviatile. Fourteen adult specimens were radio-tracked almost continuously over a 13-day period along a hill stream in Tuscany, Italy. A rough nychthemeral movement pattern was found in some animals of both sexes. None of the crabs showed a constant activity on different days, nor did they follow any periodical pattern. Although average displacement amounted to about 5m/d, activity was concentrated over several days at a time, followed randomly by periods of almost total inactivity. On average, only about 3/4 of radio-tagged crabs were active every day and only a small fraction active at the same time. The crabs spent about 60% (females) or 70% (males) of their time out of the water, but there was no regular pattern in land-water preference. The random high variation in locomotor activity on different days seems to be a constant pattern in all decapods that have been studied so far, using individual marking techniques.
Structure of cyclin-dependent kinase 2 (CDK2) in complex with the specific and potent inhibitor CVT-313.

CVT-313 is a potent CDK2 inhibitor that was identified by screening a purine-analogue library and is currently in preclinical studies. Since this molecule has the potential to be developed as a CDK2 inhibitor for cancer therapy, the potency of CVT-313 to bind and stabilize CDK2 was evaluated, together with its ability to inhibit aberrant cell proliferation. CVT-313 increased the melting temperature of CDK2 by 7°C in thermal stabilization studies, thus indicating its protein-stabilizing effect. CVT-313 inhibited the growth of human lung carcinoma cell line A549 in a dose-dependent manner, with an IC50 of 1.2 µM, which is in line with the reported biochemical potency of 0.5 µM. To support the further chemical modification of CVT-313 and to improve its biochemical and cellular potency, a crystal structure was elucidated in order to understand the molecular interaction of CVT-313 and CDK2. The crystal structure of CDK2 bound to CVT-313 was determined to a resolution of 1.74 Å and clearly demonstrated that CVT-313 binds in the ATP-binding pocket, interacting with Leu83, Asp86 and Asp145 directly, and the binding was further stabilized by a water-mediated interaction with Asn132. Based on the crystal structure, further modifications of CVT-313 are proposed to provide additional interactions with CDK2 in the active site, which may significantly increase the biochemical and cellular potency of CVT-313.
Aflatoxin and Food Safety: Recent South American Perspectives

South America (SA) is predominantly a tropical and subtropical continent and provides environmental conditions favorable for fungus growth on food crops, especially the species Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus. Depending on the grain and weather conditions in certain regions of SA, high levels of aflatoxins (AFLs) can be produced during harvesting or storage. That is a real problem in most of the continent. South American economies rely upon government policies to address issues of food safety. As expected, the exporting countries must comply with the standards and regulations that are implemented by the importing country. Thus, the highest quality and safest commodity food products are sold internationally. Conversely, food for internal consumption does not meet the same high quality standards compared with exports. Some SA governments have established food safety guidelines and regulations for AFL control in national food supplies. Research is currently being conducted to determine the levels of naturally occurring AFLs in a range of locally processed foods. These countries include: Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela, and Uruguay, the main grain exporting countries in SA. Most contaminated food commodities in SA include peanut and peanut products, followed by corn. The regions most affected by AFL contamination in SA include mainly the peanut‐producing countries of northern SA as well as Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay. Aflatoxin contamination of feeds and foodstuffs seems greater in Colombia and Ecuador. On the other hand, AFLs in corn is high in Venezuela. This review summarizes work published on AFLs throughout the previous decade. While most of the research has been performed in Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay, other SA countries including Colombia and Venezuela also have played an important role in AFL research. Conversely, few studies on AFLs have been performed in Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, and Peru, and no studies have been done in French Guyana, Guyana, Paraguay, and Suriname. There is a lack of data on the SA population exposure to AFLs, either using biomarkers or by evaluating the incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and its relation to AFLs in SA diets.
Emotion Dysregulation as a Moderator of the Association Between Relationship Dependency and Female-Perpetrated Dating Aggression

The dependency-possessiveness model proposes that individuals who are highly dependent on their intimate partner and fear partner abandonment, particularly among those with emotion dysregulation problems, may be at heightened risk for intimate partner aggression (IPA) perpetration. Despite prior research establishing a link between relationship dependency and male IPA perpetration, it is unknown whether this association extends to female-perpetrated aggression, occurs in dating relationships, and is moderated by emotion dysregulation. Thus, the purpose of the current study was to investigate the association between relationship dependency and female-perpetrated dating aggression and determine if emotion dysregulation moderated this hypothesized relationship. Female undergraduate students (N = 119) completed measures assessing relationship dependency, emotion dysregulation, and female-perpetrated physical and psychological dating aggression as part of a larger study investigating the context of dating aggression episodes. Anxious attachment was significantly correlated with female-perpetrated psychological and physical dating aggression. Regression analyses indicated a significant interaction between the Spouse-Specific Dependency Scale [SSDS] Anxious Attachment subscale and emotion dysregulation predicting female-perpetrated physical dating aggression, suggesting moderation. There was a positive association between anxious attachment relationship dependency and female-perpetrated physical dating aggression at high levels of emotion dysregulation. A significant interaction was also found between the SSDS Emotional Dependency subscale and emotion dysregulation predicting female-perpetrated physical dating aggression, such that among those with low scores in emotion dysregulation, there was a positive relationship between emotional dependency and female-perpetrated physical dating aggression. Findings suggest that the ability to regulate emotions may play an important role in the association between relationship dependency and female-perpetrated dating aggression.
Cadmium Tolerance in Mustard Cultivars: Dependence on Proline Accumulation and Nitrogen Assimilation

Cadmium [Cd] is a heavy metal, which reduces crop productivity even at low doses and reduces overall performance of the crop plants. Four mustard [Brassica juncea L. Czern and Coss. ] cultivars, Alankar, Pusa Bold, Rohini and SS2 differing in Cd tolerance were treated with different doses 0, 50 and 100 mg Cd kg -1 soil. Cultivar SS2 [Cd sensitive] accumulated greater Cd in roots and leaves than Alankar [Cd tolerant]. Furthermore, SS2 also exhibited higher contents of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances [TBARS], hydrogen peroxide [H2O2] and electrolyte leakage. Photosynthesis and growth were adversely and maximally decreased by 100 mg Cd kg -1 soil treatment in all four of the cultivars, but SS2 exhibited greater reductions. Increasing concentrations of Cd in the soil result in decreased net photosynthesis [Pn], stomatal conductance [gs] and intercellular CO2 [Ci], but increase in proline content. Cultivars Alankar with higher proline content and greater nitrogen and nitrate reductase activity are efficient in controlling the Cd-induced oxidative stress as compared to least tolerant SS2, whereas tolerance capacity of Pusa Bold and Rohini lie in between the two. The tolerance index of Alankar was found to be higher among all the studied mustard cultivars, which indicate its higher tolerance to Cd toxicity. Tolerance index has been used as a good criterion to select the tolerant genotypes under high Cd stress. Leaf area and dry mass also decrease maximally at 100 mg Cd kg -1 soil with highest reduction in SS2. Maximum reduction of water potential and osmotic potential occur in SS2 and least in Alankar.
Global warming

There is no doubt that the single most important event of the last 12 months for bringing together the science and politics of global climate change was the Third Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC). Alternatively reported as the World Climate Summit or the Kyoto Climate Conference, this 10-day negotiating meeting was held between 1 and 10 December 1997 in the Japanese city of Kyoto. The conference commenced the week after it had been announced that 1997 was going to be the warmest year yet recorded for global-mean surface air temperature, providing a convenient additional impetus for the climate negotiaters to agree a protocol. The outcome of Kyoto, however, had little to do with the realities of climate science, but everything to do with the realities of international diplomacy. This progress report on global warming will focus on these two (related) aspects of the debate: the outcome of the Kyoto conference and its significance for future global climate change, and the current state of the global climate system, in particular the surface air temperature record and its interpretation. I will also consider recent work that has a bearing on just how significant current and future global climate warming may be for the planet and for the life which inhabits it.
The effect of paternal exposure to immunosuppressive drugs on sexual function, reproductive hormones, fertility, pregnancy and offspring outcomes: a systematic review

Abstract BACKGROUND Information regarding the possible influence of immunosuppressive drugs on male sexual function and reproductive outcomes is scarce. Men diagnosed with immune-mediated diseases and a wish to become a father represent an important neglected population since they lack vital information to make balanced decisions about their treatment. OBJECTIVE AND RATIONALE The aim of this research was to systematically review the literature for the influence of paternal immunosuppressive drug use on many aspects of male sexual health, such as sexual function, fertility, pregnancy outcomes and offspring health outcomes. SEARCH METHODS A systematic literature search was performed in the bibliographic databases: Embase (via Elsevier embase.com), MEDLINE ALL via Ovid, Cochrane Central Register of Trials (via Wiley) and Web of Science Core Collection. Additionally, Google Scholar and the Clinical trial registries of Europe and the USA were searched. The databases were searched from inception until 31 August 2019. The searches combined keywords regarding male sexual function and fertility, pregnancy outcomes and offspring health with a list of immunosuppressive drugs. Studies were included if they were published in English and if they included original data on male human exposure to immunosuppressive drugs. A meta-analysis was not possible to perform due to the heterogeneity of the data. OUTCOMES A total of 5867 references were identified, amongst which we identified 161 articles fulfilling the eligibility criteria. Amongst these articles, 50 included pregnancy and offspring outcomes and 130 included sexual health outcomes. Except for large Scandinavian cohorts, most of the identified articles included a small number of participants. While a clear negative effect on sperm quality was evident for sulfasalazine and cyclophosphamide, a dubious effect was identified for colchicine, methotrexate and sirolimus. In three articles, exposure to tumour necrosis factor-α inhibitors in patients diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis resulted in improved sperm quality. The information regarding pregnancy and offspring outcomes was scant but no large negative effect associated with paternal immunosuppressive drug exposure was reported. WIDER IMPLICATIONS Evidence regarding the safety of immunosuppressive drugs in men with a wish to become a father is inconclusive. The lack of standardisation on how to evaluate and report male sexual function, fertility and reproduction as study outcomes in men exposed to immunosuppressive drugs is an important contributor to this result. Future research on this topic is needed and should be preferably done using standardised methods.