Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Age‐dependent changes in the regulation mechanisms for intracellular calcium ions in ganglion cells of the mouse retina

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of intracellular calcium buffering in retinal ganglion cells. We performed a quantitative analysis of calcium homeostasis in ganglion cells of early postnatal and adult mice by simultaneous patch‐clamp recordings in sliced tissue and microfluorometric calcium measurements with Fura‐2. Endogenous calcium homeostasis was quantified by using the ‘added buffer’ approach which uses amplitudes and decay time constants of calcium transients to give a standard for intracellular calcium buffering. The recovery phase of depolarization‐induced calcium transients was well approximated by a mono‐exponential function with a decay time constant that showed a linear dependence on dye concentration. Endogenous calcium binding ratios were found to be 575 (n = 18 cells) in early postnatal and 121 (n = 18 cells) in adult retinal ganglion cells. With respect to ganglion cell degeneration at early postnatal stages, our measurements suggest that neuroprotection of a majority of developing ganglion cells partially results from a specialized calcium homeostasis based on high buffering capacities. Furthermore, the dramatic decrease of the intracellular calcium buffering capacity during ganglion cell development may enhance their vulnerability to neurodegeneration.
Bilateral hearing aids: A review of self-reports of benefit in comparison with unilateral fitting

The literature on self-assessed outcomes from bilateral and unilateral hearing aid fitting is reviewed. The nature, aims, and design of different studies are quite varied, and limitations attend many of them. Nonetheless, certain indications can be extracted from the pattern of reported results. Thus, greater measured impairment, greater self-rated disability, and/or more critical contexts of listening emerge as candidate predictors of preference for, or persistence with, a bilateral fitting profile. Two matters are briefly critiqued regarding one vs two hearing aids: 1) the analogue with binocular optical correction; 2) the unaided ear (“deprivation”) effect. Questions are raised about the adequacy of the range of hearing functions addressed by previous investigations of bilateral vs. unilateral fitting—and a broadened range of functions is outlined. A recent self-report-based comparison of one versus two hearing aids (Noble & Gatehouse, International Journal of Audiology, 2006) reveals that the benefit of two lies in contexts of more demanding and dynamic listening and in reduced listening effort.
Interactive 3D Visualization of Optical Phenomena

Each year at colleges and universities nationwide, some 10,000 students take a course on optics, typically through a physics department. The method of instruction has changed very little in the past 40 years, and many of the textbook illustrations have remained essentially the same during this time. In particular, the illustrations rely heavily on line drawings and 2D graphs. Certain key concepts in optics possess fundamentally 3D aspects, which instructors typically demonstrate in a classroom laboratory. Currently, several computer-assisted instructional modules support teaching optics by visualizing optical phenomena. We created interactive 3D graphical modules for visualizing optical phenomena by applying 3D visualization techniques to instructional courseware.
Measuring beliefs about orthodontic treatment: a questionnaire approach.

OBJECTIVES Few studies have examined what parents and orthodontists expect from and value about orthodontic treatment. In this study, we designed and tested a questionnaire to outline what drives consumer demand for children's orthodontic care. Further, we present data from the questionnaire to illustrate how expectations and values pertaining to orthodontic treatment relate to sociodemographic variables. METHODS Subjects were 220 Pennsylvania orthodontists and 220 parents at a university orthodontic clinic who were administered a questionnaire designed to assess what parents and orthodontists value about and expect from orthodontic treatment. Items for the questionnaire were developed via a qualitative, telephone interview process. Data were analyzed using factor analysis and reliability analysis for scale development, and analysis of variance for preliminary validity assessment. RESULTS Through factor analysis, the questionnaire was reduced from 84 to 52 items, and eight scales were examined: expected treatment benefits, expected treatment risks (short- and long-term), expected treatment inconveniences, value of treatment benefits, value of risks (short- and long-term), and value of treatment inconveniences. For parents, the reliability for all scales was in the acceptable range. For orthodontists, only the "short-term risks" scale failed to attain an acceptable reliability. Preliminary validity was assessed through examining relationships between demographic variables and subscale scores. For parents, income, father's education level, and sex of respondent were related to treatment expectations and values. For orthodontists, age, sex, and patient volume were related to treatment values. CONCLUSIONS The questionnaire developed in the present study was found to be practical and reliable for use with providers and consumers of orthodontic care and can be used to explore factors affecting the demand for orthodontic care. Implications of possible unrealistic treatment expectations on the part of orthodontists and parents also are discussed.
Improving cord blood transplantation in children

Umbilical cord blood transplantation (UCBT) is widely used to treat children affected by many disorders. In comparison to bone marrow transplantation, the advantages of UCBT are represented by lower incidence and severity of graft‐versus‐host disease, easier procurement and prompter availability of cord blood cells, and by the possibility of using donors showing human leucocyte antigen disparities with the recipient. Despite these advantages, the large experience gained over the last decade has clearly demonstrated that UCBT patients may be exposed to an increased risk of early fatal complications, due to the lower engraftment rate of donor haematopoiesis, delayed kinetics of neutrophil recovery and lack of adoptive transfer of pathogen‐specific memory T‐cells. An inverse correlation between the number of nucleated cord blood cells infused per kilogramme recipient body weight and the risk of dying from transplantation‐related causes exists. Thus, it is not surprising that strategies aimed at increasing the number of cord blood progenitors, favouring stem cell homing, and transferring pathogen‐specific lymphocytes, have been recently investigated. In particular, selection of the richest cord blood units, infusion of 2 units in the same recipient, intrabone injection of cord blood cells, and transplantation of ex‐vivo expanded progenitors can contribute to improve the results of UCBT.
Pilot study of the Korean parent training program using a partial group-randomized experimental study.

PROBLEM Korean American (KA) parents need a culturally tailored parent training that helps them bridge the Korean and American cultures and divergent parenting practices. METHODS The Korean Parent Training Program (KPTP) was pilot tested with 48 KA mothers of children between 3 and 8 years old using a partial group-randomized controlled experimental study design. Researchers gathered self-report survey and observation data. FINDINGS Analyses, which used generalized estimating equations, indicated the intervention group mothers increased use of effective parenting practices and their children decreased behavioral problems and reported less acculturation conflict with their mothers. CONCLUSION The KPTP is a promising way to promote effective parenting and increase positive child mental health in KA families.
Cognition and Cooperation in Interfered Multiple Access Channels

In this work, we investigate a three-user cognitive communication network where a primary two-user multiple access channel suffers interference from a secondary point-to-point channel, sharing the same medium. While the point-to-point channel transmitter—transmitter 3—causes an interference at the primary multiple access channel receiver, we assume that the primary channel transmitters—transmitters 1 and 2—do not cause any interference at the point-to-point receiver. It is assumed that one of the multiple access channel transmitters has cognitive capabilities and cribs causally from the other multiple access channel transmitter. Furthermore, we assume that the cognitive transmitter knows the message of transmitter 3 in a non-causal manner, thus introducing the three-user multiple access cognitive Z-interference channel. We obtain inner and outer bounds on the capacity region of the this channel for both causal and strictly causal cribbing cognitive encoders. We further investigate different variations and aspects of the channel, referring to some previously studied cases. Attempting to better characterize the capacity region we look at the vertex points of the capacity region where each one of the transmitters tries to achieve its maximal rate. Moreover, we find the capacity region of a special case of a certain kind of more-capable multiple access cognitive Z-interference channels. In addition, we study the case of full unidirectional cooperation between the 2 multiple access channel encoders. Finally, since direct cribbing allows us full cognition in the case of continuous input alphabets, we study the case of partial cribbing, i.e., when the cribbing is performed via a deterministic function.
About the asymptotic performance of MMSE MIMO DFE for filter-bank based multicarrier transmission

We investigate the asymptotic performance of a multi-input multi-output decision-feedback (DF) equalizer used to detect a multicarrier (MC) signal based on a filter-bank and transmitted over a linear dispersive channel. We derive the optimum DF structure for a minimum-mean square-error criterion. We basically show that with infinite length forward and feedback filters and at high signal-to-noise ratio, the geometrical mean of prediction errors does not depend on the paraunitary filter-bank used in the transmitter. Hence, it appears that uncoded filter-bank based MC transmission and single carrier transmission, both used over the same channel and with optimum DF, lead to the same achievable bit rate.
High-throughput genomic sequencing of cassava bacterial blight strains identifies conserved effectors to target for durable resistance

Cassava bacterial blight (CBB), incited by Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. manihotis (Xam), is the most important bacterial disease of cassava, a staple food source for millions of people in developing countries. Here we present a widely applicable strategy for elucidating the virulence components of a pathogen population. We report Illumina-based draft genomes for 65 Xam strains and deduce the phylogenetic relatedness of Xam across the areas where cassava is grown. Using an extensive database of effector proteins from animal and plant pathogens, we identify the effector repertoire for each sequenced strain and use a comparative sequence analysis to deduce the least polymorphic of the conserved effectors. These highly conserved effectors have been maintained over 11 countries, three continents, and 70 y of evolution and as such represent ideal targets for developing resistance strategies.
A control system of human-computer interaction based on kinect somatosensory equipment

The requirement of human-robot interaction has become increasingly high with the improvement of the robot technology. This paper presents a robot control system which is based on the Kinect. The system through the body movements and gestures to control the robot. This system is divided into two parts: information collection system and action execution system. The human action information is collected by Kinect somatosensory equipment' after the PC analysis parse out the appropriate action' the information is transmitted to the actions performed robot through the bluetooth wireless module. Information will be received by the robot and the robot controller will control the robot to make the corresponding action' this enables it to achieve real-time human imitation.
Noncapsulated Toxinogenic Bacillus anthracis Presents a Specific Growth and Dissemination Pattern in Naive and Protective Antigen-Immune Mice

ABSTRACT Bacillus anthracis is a spore-forming bacterium that causes anthrax. B. anthracis has three major virulence factors, namely, lethal toxin, edema toxin, and a poly-γ-d-glutamic acid capsule. The toxins modulate host immune responses, and the capsule inhibits phagocytosis. With the goal of increasing safety, decreasing security concerns, and taking advantage of mammalian genetic tools and reagents, mouse models of B. anthracis infection have been developed using attenuated bacteria that produce toxins but no capsule. While these models have been useful in studying both toxinogenic infections and antitoxin vaccine efficacy, we questioned whether eliminating the capsule changed bacterial growth and dissemination characteristics. Thus, the progression of infection by toxinogenic noncapsulated B. anthracis was analyzed and compared to that by previously reported nontoxinogenic capsulated bacteria, using in vivo bioluminescence imaging. The influence of immunization with the toxin component protective antigen (PA) on the development of infection was also examined. The toxinogenic noncapsulated bacteria were initially confined to the cutaneous site of infection. Bacteria then progressed to the draining lymph nodes and, finally, late in the infection, to the lungs, kidneys, and frequently the gastrointestinal tract. There was minimal colonization of the spleen. PA immunization reduced bacterial growth from the outset and limited infection to the site of inoculation. These in vivo observations show that dissemination by toxinogenic noncapsulated strains differs markedly from that by nontoxinogenic capsulated strains. Additionally, PA immunization counters bacterial growth and dissemination in vivo from the onset of infection.
Genetic differentiation of blood polymorphic systems among three isolated human populations in central Japan.

An isolate population, which more or less genetically deviates from neighboring populations, sometimes comprises subpopulations with different gene frequency distributions within it. It is not always easy to, however, assess the degree of genetic diversity among subpopulations. Choosing small isolated population, on which biological, demographic, historical, and marital data are relatively easy to accumulate, may have various advantages in solving this problem. There are already some reports on genetic differentiation among small isolated populations, for example, from Amerindian tribes (Neel & Ward, 1970), Italian alpine villages (Cavalli-Sforza, 1969), Bougainville islanders (Friedlaender, 1975), etc. In Japan, however, relatively undisturbed populations whose mode of life reflects the circumstances under which the genetic diversity has been developed and whose population sizes are still kept considerably large are rapidly decreasing in number. With respect to the local genetic differentiation in Japan, the reports by Nei & Imaizumi (1966abc) are the only series of extensive studies so far made, although these deal with the ABO system alone. During the past five years, we have been engaged in an intensive genetic study of the three villages in Mie Prefecture in central Japan. These are small isolated populations which seem to meet the above qualification. 1 This paper is an attempt to assess the degree of genetic differentiation by the coefficient of gene diversity (Nei, 1973) in the small area where the three populations exist and to specify the factors responsible for their differentiation. A series of studies have already been made on blood polymorphism distribution in Kamishima Island (Toyomasu et al., 1977) and in Toshi-jima Island (Toyomasu & Katayama, 1979), on the demographic and breeding structure in Kamishima Island (Katayama et al., 1978), and on the genetic relations among the three populations (Katayama & Toyomasu, 1979). The information sources of this paper are mostly these. Fig. 1 shows the location of the study populations. (1975). They belong to Toba City of Mie Prefecture and are also adjacent to Aichi Prefecture. These villages have been inhabited since the Kofun period (about the 4-7th c.) and were occupied in 1889 respectively by 860, 2556, and 978 people (Nakaoka ed., 1970). The inhabitants live by fishery in Kamishima and Toshi, and by semi-fishery and 2 semi-agriculture in Momotori. Traditionally there have been few facilities of communication between them except via Toba, and at least during last 100 years only a few intervillage migrations have been recorded even between Toshi …
Recent developments in developing screening tools for older drivers

Despite the increasing risks associated with driving in later life, driving remains essential to independence and mobility. Driving cessation has been linked with isolation, depression and mortality. It is therefore imperative that the small proportion of older drivers who are truly unsafe are identified, whilst ensuring that safe older drivers maintain their mobility for as long as possible. We describe methodological and practical considerations for evaluating screening measures for older drivers. We then describe and report available validation data for three measures currently being evaluated in Australia by multidisciplinary research teams in the ACT and QLD. They include the Useful Field of View which is the most widely used research tool and was developed in the U.S., the POPI battery that was developed in Australia and has been shown to have 91 per cent sensitivity and 70 per cent specificity for classifying older drivers who failed a research-based on road test, and the ACT Hazard Perception Test, which has been developed in Australia and is currently being evaluated against an on-road test.
Relevance and bio-catalytic strategies for the kinetic resolution of ketoprofen towards dexketoprofen

Abstract This review presents the most relevant investigations concerning the biocatalytic kinetic resolution of racemic ketoprofen to dexketoprofen for the last 22 years. The advantages related to the administration of the dex-enantiomer in terms of human health, the so called “chiral switch” in the pharmaceutical industry and the sustainability of biotransformations have been the driving forces to develop innovative technology to obtain dexketoprofen. In particular, the kinetic resolution of racemic ketoprofen through enantiomeric esterification and hydrolysis using lipases as biocatalysts are thoroughly revised and commented upon. In this context, the biocatalysts, acyl-acceptors (alcohols), reaction conditions, conversion, enantiomeric excess, and enantiomeric ratio among others are discussed. Moreover, the investigations concerning scaling up processes in order to obtain an optically pure enantiomer of the profen are presented. Finally, some guidelines about perspectives of the technology and research opportunities are given.
Cost analysis of an integrated care model in the management of acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Home treatment models for acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) proved to be a safe alternative to hospitalization. These models have the potential to free up resources; however, in the United Kingdom, it remains unclear to whether they provide cost savings compared with hospital treatment. Over a 12-month period from August 2003, 130 patients were selected for the integrated care group (total admissions with AECOPD = 546). These patients were compared with 95 retrospective controls in the hospital treatment group. Controls were selected from admissions during the previous 12 months (total of 662 admissions) to match the integrated care group in age, sex, and postal code. Resource use data were collected for both groups and compared using National Health Service (NHS) perspective for cost minimization analysis. In the integrated care group (130 patients), 107 (82%) patients received home support with average length of stay 3.3 (SD 3.9) days compared with 10.4 (SD 7.7) in the hospital group (95 patients). Average number of visits per patients in the integrated care group was 3.08 (SD = 0.95; 95% CI = 2.9—3.2). Cost per patient in the integrated care group was £1653 (95% CI, £1521—1802) compared with £2256 (95% CI, £2126— 2407) in the hospital group. The integrated care group resulted in cost saving of approximately £600 (P < 0.001) per patient. This integrated care model for the management of patients with AECOPD offered cost savings of £600 per patient over the conventional hospital treatment model using the new NHS tariff from an acute trust provider perspective.
A Feldkamp-Type Approach to Limited-Angle On-Board Three-Dimensional Imaging for External Beam Radiotherapy Target Localization

Accurate three-dimensional tumor localization in radiotherapy is critical to the treatment outcome, particularly when high dose gradients are present. Digital tomosynthesis (DTS) is a method to reconstruct three-dimensional (3D) images from two-dimensional (2D) x-ray projections acquired over limited scan angles. In this study, we have used a Feldkamp-type approach to reconstruct DTS images. The accuracy of the reconstruction was evaluated by computing the pixel signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) and the mutual information (MI) shared between DTS images and 3D cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) images. The results indicate the DTS slices appeared similar to coincident CBCT planes and yielded substantially more anatomic information than conventional kilovoltage (kV) verification radiographs, but required a lower imaging dose, faster acquisition, and more geometric flexibility than CBCT.
Comparative study on humic substances isolated in thermal groundwaters from deep aquifers below 700 m

Copyright © 2012 by The Geochemical Society of Japan. as spectroscopic characteristics was discussed in some studies (Wassenaar et al., 1990; Gron et al., 1996; Artinger et al., 2000). Thurman (1985) studied several properties of HS isolated from Ca(HCO3)2 and CaSO4-rich groundwater originating from different depths in sandy, dolomitic or limy aquifers. He found that groundwater containing organic carbon concentration greater than 1 mg/L either may originate from aquifers receiving recharge from organic-rich waters or may be in contact with sediments rich in kerogen. However, the investigation of HS from deep groundwater or geothermal water has received relatively little attention compared with other environments (Thurman, 1985). The isolation of humic acid (HA) and fulvic acid (FA) fractions from thermal waters circulating in deep aquifers of the Pannonian Basin has been carried out recently (Kovacs et al., 2010). Based on our knowledge, our group was the first who isolated HS from deep thermal waters. However, thermal waters from Pannonian Basin were studied earlier by Sajgo et al. (1998), Karpati et al. (1999) and Fekete et al. (2009) that found several aromatic families in hot waters with outflow temperature over 70–80°C. They suggested that the appearance and abundance of aromatic hydrocarbons, alkyphenols and fatty acids in thermal waters is controlComparative study on humic substances isolated in thermal groundwaters from deep aquifers below 700 m