Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
PRE-NATAL DDE AND ASTHMA IN CHILDREN

ISEE-2 BURDEN OF OCCUPATIONAL DISEASES AMONG SOUTH AFRICAN MINERS Worku Z. School of Health Systems and Public Health, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa. Objectives: To describe basic demographic and health-related characteristics of mine workers included in the South African Mines Occupational Diseases Database (SAMODD), and to estimate prevalence proportions of occupational diseases commonly experienced by mine workers for the years between 2000 and 2003. Design: Cross-sectional prevalence proportions of common occupational diseases experienced by South African mine workers between 2000 and 2003. Settings: Occupational health records of South African miners belonging to the Directorate of Occupational Medicine of the Department of Minerals and Energy were used for data analysis. Subjects and methods: Occupational health records of 37,206 South African miners employed at several mines scattered all over the country between 2000 and 2003 were analyzed. Crude point prevalence proportions of common occupational diseases were estimated. Results: Cardio-respiratory tuberculosis (CRTB) was the most prevalent occupational disease at 40.55%. The second most prevalent occupational disease was noise-induced hearing-loss at 32.36%. The prevalence of pneumoconiosis was 15.37%. The prevalence of silicosis was 14.51%. The prevalence of chronic obstructive airways disease was 1.99%. Heat related diseases were least prevalent at 0.02%. Incidence rate ratios of CRTB were significant in 2000 in gold mines, in 2001 in platinum, asbestos mines, in 2002 in platinum mines, and in 2003 in all mines. Over the 4-year period, 64 of the 37,206 miners (0.17%) died. Conclusion: Based on SAMODD health records, cardio-respiratory tuberculosis, noise-induced hearing-loss and pneumoconiosis are the 3 most prevalent occupational diseases among South African mine workers.
The nosology and neuropathology of human conditions related to unconventional infectious agents or prions

Prions, infectious agents which induce degenerative diseases of the nervous system, constitute both a scientific enigma and a challenge for public health. No simple explanation has been given for the very unusual physical, chemical and biological properties of prions. They induce disorders which are either the consequence of a genetic mutation or develop spontaneously in apparently normal individuals, and can be transmitted from person to person. However, prions can no longer be considered only as fascinating biological enigmas. The changing characteristics of prion-associated diseases have led to a renewing of their clinical and neuropathological diagnostic criteria. A brief survey of the nosology and neuropathology of prions diseases, with emphasis on new data, will be provided.
Ray Differentials and Multiresolution Geometry Caching for Distribution Ray Tracing in Complex Scenes

When rendering only directly visible objects, ray tracing a few levels of specular reflection from large, low‐curvaturesurfaces, and ray tracing shadows from point‐like light sources, the accessed geometry is coherentand a geometry cache performs well. But in many other cases, the accessed geometry is incoherent and a standardgeometry cache performs poorly: ray tracing of specular reflection from highly curved surfaces, tracing rays thatare many reflection levels deep, and distribution ray tracing for wide glossy reflection, global illumination, widesoft shadows, and ambient occlusion. Fortunately, less geometric accuracy is necessary in the incoherent cases.This observation can be formalized by looking at the ray differentials for different types of scattering: coherentrays have small differentials, while incoherent rays have large differentials. We utilize this observation to obtainefficient multiresolution caching of geometry and textures (including displacement maps) for classic and distributionray tracing in complex scenes. We use an existing multiresolution caching scheme (originally developed forscanline rendering) for textures and displacement maps, and introduce a multiresolution geometry caching schemefor tessellated surfaces. The multiresolution geometry caching scheme makes it possible to efficiently render scenesthat, if fully tessellated, would use 100 times more memory than the geometry cache size.
Emotional distress and hope in lung cancer patients, as perceived by patients, relatives, physicians, nurses and interviewers

The present investigation was designed to test whether, and in which manner, the cancer patients judge their emotional state differently to their care providers. Emotional distress and hope are rated by the patients, the physicians concerned, nurses, next of kin and interviewers respectively. Compared with the external observers (as well as the self‐images of the next of kin), the patients rate their distress significantly lower. The ratings that both they and their next of kin give for their hope are significantly higher than those given by professional care givers. The relatives' estimates of the patients' states are more strongly correlated with their own self‐reports than with those of the patients. In addition, the factorial structures differ from one level of perception to the next. The differences revealed by the present study are discussed in the light of social comparison processes and with reference to the patient's specific relations to his professional and natural supporters.
Radiation-grafted membranes for polymer electrolyte fuel cells: current trends and future directions.

Fuel cell technology is one of the key emerging technologies that is currently attracting tremendous effort with the aim to provide alternative environmentally friendly and efficient power sources. The worldwide move away from conventional fossil fuel combustion power generation technologies is driving much of this important research. The replacement of a liquid electrolyte by PEM in such systems has eliminated the corrosion problems and conferred on the system additional advantages such as simplicity of construction, compactness, and quick self-starting at ambient temperatures. The successful performance of these kinds of fuel cell systems depends critically on the role played by the PEM. The second category involves the formation of acid-base complexes that provide a viable alternative for membranes that can maintain high conductivity at elevated temperatures without suffering from dehydration effects.
Enhanced pharmacokinetic properties of a glycoPEGylated recombinant factor IX: a first human dose trial in patients with hemophilia B.

Replacement therapy with factor IX (FIX) concentrates is the recommended treatment for patients with hemophilia B, an X-linked bleeding disorder occurring in 1:25,000 male births. N9-GP is a recombinant FIX molecule with a prolonged half-life which is obtained by site-directed glycoPEGylation where a 40-kDa polyethylene glycol molecule is attached to the activation peptide of FIX. This first human dose trial in patients with hemophilia B investigated the safety and pharmacokinetic properties of a single IV dose of N9-GP. Sixteen previously treated patients received one dose of their previous FIX product followed by one dose of N9-GP at the same dose level (25, 50, or 100 U/kg). None of the patients developed inhibitors. One patient developed transient hypersensitivity symptoms during administration of N9-GP and was excluded from pharmacokinetic analyses. In the remaining 15 patients, N9-GP was well-tolerated. The half-life was 93 hours, which was 5 times higher than the patient's previous product. The incremental recovery of N9-GP was 94% and 20% higher compared with recombinant and plasma-derived products, respectively. These results indicate that N9-GP has the potential to reduce dosing frequency while providing effective treatment of bleeding episodes with a single dose. The trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials. gov as NCT00956345.
Health Research Authority’s great leap forward on UK trial registration

Trial registration is now required as a condition of ethical approval. The recently published report of the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee is the latest of numerous calls for the registration of clinical trials.1 Nearly three decades ago, oncologist John Simes showed how prospective trial registration could help to detect and take account of biased under-reporting of clinical trials.2 Other academics then showed how under-reporting of clinical research can harm patients,3 characterising it as a form of scientific misconduct.4 In the mid-1990s, the publisher Current Controlled Trials offered trial registration in its international randomised controlled trial register (ISRCTN; www.controlled-trials.com). Some research funders in the United Kingdom, such as the Medical Research Council, Wellcome Trust, and NHS Research and Development Programme, required the trials that they were supporting to be registered. In the United States, the FDA (Modernization) Act 1997 required registration of clinical trials of treatments for serious or life threatening diseases, and a US national register (www.clinicaltrials.gov) was established as a result. In some other countries, Spain for example, registration of all clinical trials became required by law. Despite these developments, trial registration remained patchy. It was not …
Holographic sensors: three-dimensional analyte-sensitive nanostructures and their applications.

Nanostructures and Their Applications Ali K. Yetisen,*,† Izabela Naydenova,‡ Fernando da Cruz Vasconcellos,† Jeffrey Blyth,† and Christopher R. Lowe† †Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge CB2 1QT, United Kingdom ‡Centre for Industrial and Engineering Optics, School of Physics, College of Sciences and Health, Dublin Institute of Technology, Dublin 8, Ireland
Wetland vegetation biomass inversion using polarimetric RADARSAT-2 data

Biomass, as an indicator of vegetation productivity, can evaluate the contribution of wetland vegetation to carbon sink and carbon source. Long time and quantitative biomass study can help to acknowledge and understand the global carbon balance and carbon cycle. RADAR, which can work all day/weather and can penetrate vegetation in some extent, can be used to retrieve vegetation structure information, even the biomass. Here, the RADARSAT-2 data was used to retrieve vegetation biomass in Poyang Lake wetland. Based on the canopy scattering model, which is based on radioactive transfer model, the vegetation backscatter characteristics at C band were studied and good relationship between simulation results and backscatter in RADATSAT-2 image were achieved. Using the backscatter model, pairs of training data (backscatter coefficients in HH, VV, HV polarization mode and polarization decomposed components) were built and were used to train the Back Propagation (BP) artificial neural network (ANN). The biomass was inversed using this ANN, and compared to the field survey. It shows that the combination of the canopy scatter model and polarimetric decomposition components can improve the inversion precision efficiently.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging ( MRI ) : From Design of Materials to Clinical Applications

Clinical Applications Ilaria Tirotta,†,‡ Valentina Dichiarante,†,‡ Claudia Pigliacelli,†,‡ Gabriella Cavallo,†,‡ Giancarlo Terraneo,†,‡ Francesca Baldelli Bombelli,*,†,‡,§ Pierangelo Metrangolo,*,†,‡,∥ and Giuseppe Resnati*,†,‡ †Laboratory of Nanostructured Fluorinated Materials (NFMLab), Department of Chemistry, Materials, and Chemical Engineering “Giulio Natta” and ‡Fondazione Centro Europeo Nanomedicina, Politecnico di Milano, Milan 20131, Italy School of Pharmacy, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom VTT-Technical Research Centre of Finland, Espoo FI-02044, Finland
Effectiveness and expectations of intensive training: A comparison between child and youth rehabilitation and conductive education

Objective. To compare the effectiveness of two intensive training-programmes from a professional and parent perspective. To describe and compare the type of expectations of the two intensive training programmes with the self-reported individualized goals. Design. Quasi-experimental with two groups. Setting and intervention. Traditional health care and conductive education. Patients and their parents. Fifty-four children with cerebral palsy, 3–16 years old. Methods. Data included a self-reported individualized goal measure (SRIGM), before and after the ITP. Individualized goals were classified according to the International Classification of Functioning (ICF). Clinical measures (CM) included repeated measures with Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM) and Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory—Functional Skills (PEDI-FS). Results. Twenty-eight parents out of 54 perceived a clinically significant improvement on the SRIGM with no significant difference between the training programmes. Most individualized goals were formulated in the domain of Mobility (115 out of 248) and Neuromusculoskeletal and movement-related functions (64 out of 248 goals) of ICF in both training programmes. There was no difference in the proportion of improvement measured with SRIGM compared to the CM, if an improvement in any dimension in GMFM or domain in PEDI FS was counted. Conclusion. There were no major differences in outcome and expectations between the training programmes. Parents' expectations were mainly directed towards improvement in prerequisites of motor function and mobility skills. The SRIGM confirmed the outcome on the CM.
Automatic registration of high-resolution optical and SAR images based on an integrated intensity- and feature-based approach

Precise image-to-image registration is required to use multi-sensor data implementing a diversity of applications related with remote sensing. The purpose of this paper is to develop an automatic algorithm that co-registers high-resolution optical and SAR images based on an integrated intensity-and feature-based approach. As a pre-registration step, initial differences between the translation of the x and y directions between images were estimated with the Simulated Annealing optimization method using Mutual Information as an objective function. After the pre-registration, the line features were extracted to design a cost function that finds matching features based on the similarities of their locations and gradient orientations. Only one feature at each regular grid region having a minimum value of cost function was selected as a final matching point to extract the large number of well-distributed points. The final points were then used to construct a transformation combining the piecewise linear function with the affine transformation to increase the accuracy of the geometric correction.
Analysis of polarimetric ship signatures with Radarsat-2 quad-pol imagery

Polarimetric information can be used to characterize the target and benefit for ship classification in SAR image. In this paper, three types of features from fine quad-polarization Radarsat-2 SAR image, such as target to clutter ratio, distribution of scatter point, coherent decomposition component, are analyzed of three types of ships such as bulk carrier, container ship and oil tanker. Preliminary results show that target to clutter ratio is not suitable to discriminate the three types of ships. HH polarization is optimal for ship detection to HV,VH and VV polarization under the condition of the incidence angle of about 48 degrees. Distribution of strong backscattering can reflect the geometry structure of ship in SAR image, and it can be a good feature for ship classification. Furthermore, the feature will be more reliable in higher resolution SAR image. Polarimetric coherent decomposition benefits for understanding scatter mechanism of scatters of different ship. However it has some limitations for ship type recognition. More features and more ship chips should be investigated for the further conclusion.
Neural network analysis and the characteristics of market sentiment in the financial markets

The properties of a modular neural network system designed to forecast movements of the long gilt futures contract are examnined. The examination illustrates that diagnostic measures can effectively inform end‐users of the system when appropriately to switch modules given the likelihood of the degradation of forecasts. The modelling is based upon periods of market sentiment, and the inductive data models encapsulated, within the modules of the neural network system, are investigated. The models track, and also provide knowledge of , underlying market characteristics in different periods of market sentiment. The research provides deductions concerning the (dis‐)similarity of underlying characteristics in differing periods of market sentiment.
Formulated meal replacements: A comparison of the nutritional adequacy of available products

Objective: To assess the nutritional compliance of formulated meal replacements available in Australian pharmacies with the Food Standards Australia and New Zealand guidelines; and to assess the nutritional adequacy of formulated meal replacements recommended diets based on meal replacement or total diet replacement (very low energy diets). Design: Products available at major pharmacies as of November 2007 were identified and nutritional information and instructions for use were obtained from the product packaging and/or the manufacturing company. Main Outcome Measures: Individual serves, prepared as directed, were compared to Standards Australia and New Zealand standard 2.9. 3 of the food standards code. Nutritional adequacy was assessed by comparing the nutritional composition to the Nutrient Reference Values for average obese adult males and females, using Foodworks 2007. Results: Results demonstrated that while most products were compliant with the Standards Australia and New Zealand standard for formulated meal replacements composition the majority of the products and/or programs were deficient in one or more nutrients. Of the 17 products from 11 brands, no very low energy diets programs (of seven) were found to be nutritionally complete. Only two meal replacement programs (of 16) were nutritionally complete in comparison to the recommended dietary intakes and AIs for both a representative obese man and woman. Conclusion: The results highlight the important role of clinicians in ensuring programs followed by patients are nutritionally adequate and implemented and supervised as intended, in order to minimise side-effects and risks. There is a need for Standards Australia and New Zealand regulations governing very low energy diets, where formulated meal replacements are recommended for total diet replacement.
Saturation vapor pressures and transition enthalpies of low-volatility organic molecules of atmospheric relevance: from dicarboxylic acids to complex mixtures.

There are a number of techniques that can be used that differ in terms of whether they fundamentally probe the equilibrium and the temperature range over which they can be applied. The series of homologous, straight-chain dicarboxylic acids have received much attention over the past decade given their atmospheric relevance, commercial availability, and low saturation vapor pressures, thus making them ideal test compounds. Uncertainties in the solid-state saturation vapor pressures obtained from individual methodologies are typically on the order of 50-100%, but the differences between saturation vapor pressures obtained with different methods are approximately 1-4 orders of magnitude, with the spread tending to increase as the saturation vapor pressure decreases. Some of the dicarboxylic acids can exist with multiple solid-state structures that have distinct saturation vapor pressures. Furthermore, the samples on which measurements are performed may actually exist as amorphous subcooled liquids rather than solid crystalline compounds, again with consequences for the measured saturation vapor pressures, since the subcooled liquid phase will have a higher saturation vapor pressure than the crystalline solid phase. Compounds with equilibrium vapor pressures in this range will exhibit the greatest sensitivities in terms of their gas to particle partitioning to uncertainties in their saturation vapor pressures, with consequent impacts on the ability of explicit and semiexplicit chemical models to simulate secondary organic aerosol formation.
Graph matching based change detection in satellite images

Change detection from bitemporal satellite images (taken from the same region in different times) may be used in various applications such as forest monitoring, earthquake damage assessment, and unlawful occupation. There are various approaches, based on different principles, to detect changes from satellite images. In this study, we propose a novel change detection method based on structure information. Therefore, our method can be called as structural change detection. To summarize the structure in an image, we benefit from local features and their graph based representation. Extracting the structure from both images, we benefit from graph matching to detect changes. We tested our method on 18 Ikonos image pairs and discuss its strengths and weaknesses.
Capital in the twenty-first century: a critique.

I set out and explain Piketty's model of the dynamics of capitalism based on two equations and the r > g inequality (his central contradiction of capitalism). I then take issue with Piketty's analysis of the rebuilding of inequality from the 1970s to the present on three grounds: First, his model is based on the (neo-classical) assumption that companies are essentially passive actors who invest the amount savers choose to accumulate at equilibrium output - leading to the counterintuitive result that companies respond to the secular fall in growth (and hence their product markets) from the 1970s on by increasing their investment relative to output; this does indeed imply increased inequality on Piketty's β measure, the ratio of capital to output. I suggest a more realistic model in which businesses determine investment growth based on their expectations of output growth, with monetary policy bringing savings into line with business-determined investment; the implication of this model is that β does not change at all. And in fact as other recent empirical work which I reference has noted, β has not changed significantly over these recent decades. Hence Piketty's central analysis of the growth of contemporary inequality requires rethinking. Second, despite many references to the need for political economic analysis, Piketty's analysis of the growth of inequality in the period from the 1970s to the present is almost devoid of it, his explanatory framework being purely mathematical. I sketch what a political economic framework might look like during a period when politics was central to inequality. Third, inequality in fact rose on a variety of dimensions apart from β (including poverty which Piketty virtually makes no reference to in this period), but it is unclear what might explain why inequality rose in these other dimensions.
SAR coherence tomography: A new approach for coherent analysis of urban areas

In this paper a novel procedure for the filtering of interferograms based on the extension of SAR Tomography on multilook data is presented. This algorithm, named “Component extrAction and sElection SAR” (CAESAR) takes advantage of Principal Component Analysis to handle temporal and angular decorrelation effects as well as of SAR Tomography principles to solve the distributed layover at the interferogram generation stage. Results on Cosmo-Skymed real data confirm the effectiveness of the proposed procedure.