Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Vision impairment predicts five-year mortality.

PURPOSE To describe predictors of mortality in the 5-year follow-up of the Melbourne Visual Impairment Project (VIP) cohort. METHODS The Melbourne VIP was a population-based study of the distribution and determinants of age-related eye disease in a cluster random sample of Melbourne residents aged 40 years and older. Baseline examinations were conducted between 1992 and 1994. In 1997, 5-year follow-up examinations of the original cohort commenced. Causes of death were obtained from the National Death Index for all reported deaths. RESULTS Of the original 3,271 participants, 231 (7.1%) were reported to have died in the intervening 5 years. Of the remaining 3,040 participants eligible to return for follow-up examinations, 2,594 (85% of eligible) did participate, 51 (2%) had moved interstate or overseas, 83 (3%) could not be traced, and 312 (10%) refused to participate. Best corrected visual acuity < 6/12 and cortical cataract were associated with a significantly increased risk of mortality, as were increasing age, male sex, increased duration of cigarette smoking, increased duration of hypertension, and arthritis. CONCLUSIONS Even mild visual impairment increases the risk of death more than twofold.
Genetic Algorithms in Search Optimization and Machine Learning

From the Publisher: This book brings together - in an informal and tutorial fashion - the computer techniques, mathematical tools, and research results that will enable both students and practitioners to apply genetic algorithms to problems in many fields. Major concepts are illustrated with running examples, and major algorithms are illustrated by Pascal computer programs. No prior knowledge of GAs or genetics is assumed, and only a minimum of computer programming and mathematics background is required.
Ecosystem-based Theoretical Models for Learning in Environments of the 21st Century

Members of our modern society are faced with fast and ever-changing political, social, economical, technological and environmental situations. Consequently, it is expected that members of the society keep pace with these variable situations, and be able to adapt their skills and expertise. Thus, modern ICT-based learning approaches are required and E-Learning 2.0 is a promising and interesting approach in this context. Although there is an increasing interest in the E-learning 2.0 topic, there is a lack of concrete and sufficient models. In this paper we explore how the notion of ecosystems and existing ecosystem-based models for learning are applicable for E-learning 2.0 approaches.
Time-domain analysis for transient electromagnetic scattering by conducting-dielectric objects

Transient electromagnetic (EM) scattering by conducting-dielectric objects is formulated by time-domain electric field integral equations (TDEFIEs). The TDEFIEs are usually solved by combining the method of moments (MoM) in space domain and march-on-in-time (MoT) scheme in time domain. The space-domain MoM requires two basis functions to represent the electric and magnetic current densities on material interfaces, respectively, leading to an inconvenience in implementation. Also, the MoT scheme has a late-time instability problem which will aggravate in the surface integral equations with penetrable media. In this work, the TDEFIEs are solved by a different approach in which the Nyström method is used to discretize the space domain while the Galerkin method with Laguerre basis and testing functions is employed to discretize the time domain. The proposed approach can overcome the defects of conventional approach as demonstrated by a numerical example.
Dynamic Steiner Tree Problem

This paper proposes a new problem called the dynamic Steiner tree problem. Interest in the dynamic Steiner tree problem is motivated by multipoint routing in communication networks, where the set of nodes in the connection changes over time. This problem, which has its basis in the Steiner tree problem on graphs, can be divided into two cases: one in which rearrangement of existing routes is not allowed, and a second in which rearrangement is allowed.For the nonrearrangeable version, it is shown that the worst-case performance for any algorithm is at least $\frac{1}{2}\lg n$ times the cost of an optimum solution with complete rearrangement. Here n is the maximum number of nodes to be connected. In addition, a simple, polynomial time algorithm is present that has worst-case performance within two times this bound. In the rearrangeable case, a polynomial time algorithm is presented with worst-case performance bounded by a constant times optimum.
Confirming the existence of five peaks in 129Xe rat head spectra

A series of experiments were performed to investigate why two peaks (D and E) of the five dissolved phase peaks in hyperpolarized 129Xe rat head spectra appeared inconsistently in previous work. Specifically, spectra were acquired under conditions of various shim states, anaesthetics, and arterial ligation. The shimming experiments showed that slice‐shimming can be used to improve resolution of the dissolved phase peaks, but even so, subtle changes in the shim state that may dramatically alter the shape of peak E remain poorly understood. Also, the inability to shim gas spaces and tissue simultaneously may explain why inconsistent chemical shift values have been reported in the literature. A possible solution for this problem is suggested. The results of pre‐ and postligation spectra from the same animal indicated that two peaks (A and E) originate from brain. Changing the anaesthetic was found to have no effect on the number of dissolved peaks in xenon spectra. Magn Reson Med 57:791–797, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
An independent control approach for three-phase four-wire shunt active filter based on three H-bridge topology under unbalanced load conditions

This paper presents a simple scheme to compensate the load reactive power, current harmonics, load unbalance, and neutral current in a three-phase four- wire (3P4W) system. The shunt active power filter (APF) consists of three H-bridge single-phase voltage source inverters (VSI) supported by a common DC bus voltage. Thus each phase of 3P4W system can be viewed and controlled as independent phase and/or in conjunction with other phases, and hence it improves the overall system controllability. The 3H-bridge topology also results in the reduction of required DC bus voltage by a maximum factor of radic3 , which indeed helps to reduce the inverter rating and thus promises an effective topology for high power applications. In this paper, the single-phase p-q theory based controller is realized to achieve - i) proposed independent phase control approach and ii) load unbalance compensation approach. The 3P4W shunt APF system with both the approaches is first simulated by using MATLAB/ Simulink, and then developed, implemented, and tested in the laboratory using the digital signal processor (DSP) DS1104 of dSPACE. The developed shunt APF system is able to reduce the current total harmonics distortion (THD) up to 2.1%, and the current unbalance factor from 40% to 4.76%.
On the Tolerance of 111-Gb/s POLMUX-RZ-DQPSK to Nonlinear Transmission Effects

In this paper, we experimentally investigate the tolerance of 111-Gb/s polarization multiplexed-return to zero-differential quadrature phase-shift keying (POLMUX-RZ-DQPSK) to the different nonlinear transmission impairments in different links structures. We analyze the effect of dispersion maps for four different fiber types and show that with sufficiently large per-span under-compensation in the double periodic dispersion map, a dispersion managed (DM) link can nearly have a similar performance to a non-DM link. Furthermore, we confirm that the super large effective area fiber family can provide around 3 dB advantage in the tolerance to nonlinear effects compared to standard single-mode fiber. Finally, we demonstrate that interleaving the two polarization tributaries of the 111-Gb/s POLMUX-RZ-DQPSK signal provides only a negligible advantage in terms of tolerance to nonlinear effects.
Protection from Plasmodium berghei infection by priming and boosting T cells to a single class I‐restricted epitope with recombinant carriers suitable for human use

The desirability of inducing cytotoxic T cell responses to defined epitopes in humans has led to the development of a variety of recombinant delivery systems. Recombinant protein particles derived from a yeast retrotransposon (Ty) and the modified Ankara vaccinia (MVA) virus can deliver large epitope strings or even whole proteins. Both have previously been administered safely in humans. Immunization with recombinant Ty and MVA containing a single Plasmodium berghei class I‐binding epitope provided 95 % sterile protection against malaria in mice. The sequence of immunization, Ty followed by MVA, was critical to elicit high levels of IFN‐γ‐producing cells and protection. The reciprocal sequence (MVA/TY) or homologous boosting was not protective. Both constructs (Ty and MVA) contain the H‐2Kd‐restricted pb9 CTL epitope from the circumsporozoite protein of P. berghei among a string of 8 – 15 human P. falciparum‐derived CTL epitopes restricted through 7 common HLA alleles as well as widely recognized CD4 T cell epitopes. Thus, the novel recombinant Ty/MVA prime/boost combination with these constructs provides a safe alternative for evaluation for human vaccination against P. falciparum malaria.
Fluid to soft-glass transition in a quasi-2D system: thermodynamic and rheological evidences for a Langmuir monolayer.

We report an experimental study that points out the existence of a fluid to soft-glass transition in Langmuir polymer monolayers of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), for which the water/air interface behaves as a poor-solvent. The temperature dependence of surface pressure vs. surface area equilibrium isotherms shows a glass-like transition temperature at T(g,2D)≈ 298 K, significantly lower than the value for bulk PMMA (T(g,bulk)≈ 378 K). The plot of the film thickness h vs. temperature shows a sharp change of slope at about the same temperature, 298 K, which is a typical hallmark of a glass transition in thin polymer films [J. L. Keddie, R. A. L. Jones, R. A. Cory, Europhys. Lett. , 1996, 27, 59-64]. Furthermore, slightly above T(g,2D), the temperature dependence of the dilational viscosity does not follow an Arrhenius law, but instead can be described by a Vogel-Fulcher-Tamman equation with parameters that are typical of a fragile glass. Not only the qualitative behavior of three distinct equilibrium and dynamic properties, but also the quantitative agreement of the values of T(g) obtained, are a strong evidence of the existence of a fluid to soft-glass transition in this quasi-2D system.
Optimal digital rational approximation of full band differentiator designed using adaptive gbest-guided gravitational search algorithm

Rational approximations in terms of infinite impulse response filter for the full band digital differentiator (DD) based on a metaheuristic optimization technique called Adaptive G-best Guided Gravitational Search Algorithm (GGSA) is proposed in this paper. The use of adaptive acceleration coefficients in GGSA provides a better balance in the intensification and the diversification of GGSA as compared with the Gravitational Search Algorithm (GSA). Magnitude and phase response comparisons of the GGSA based models are carried out with the GSA based DDs to evaluate the accuracy of the proposed designs. Convergence rate and reliability in solution quality of GSA and GGSA are also evaluated in order to compare the efficiency of the employed metaheuristics. The proposed GGSA based differentiator models also achieve the best magnitude and average group delay responses as compared with the differentiators designed using the classical optimization methods.
Effects of physiotherapy during intermittent positive pressure ventilation

The successful maintenance of intermittent positive pressure ventilation (IPPV) over prolonged periods of time requires adequate removal of bronchial secretions 1’ 2. The technique of hyperinflation with manual chest compression and endotracheal suction 3 is commonly employed, but information on the acute results of this therapy is limited. A number of studies have reported hypoxia following endotracheal suction in apnoeic, anaesthetised patients4-6 and in patients receiving IPPV following cardiac surgery7. A decrease in arterial oxygen tension following pulmonary physiotherapy was reported by Holloway et a/. 8 who studied neonates with tetanus treated with paralysis and IPPV. This paper presents the results of an investigation carried out in adult patients maintained on IPPV. Changes in arterial blood gas tensions were recorded during and after pulmonary physiotherapy which included the technique of hyperinflation, manual chest compression and endotracheal suction.
Gallic acid–induced human pulmonary fibroblast cell death is accompanied by increases in ROS level and GSH depletion

Gallic acid (GA), as a polyhydroxylphenolic compound, has various biological properties, including an anticancer effect. However, little is known about the toxicological effect of GA in primary normal cells. In the present study, we investigated the molecular mechanisms of GA on human pulmonary fibroblast (HPF) cell death in relation to apoptosis. HPF cell growth was dose dependently diminished with an IC50 of approximately 400 μM of GA at 24 hours. GA-induced HPF cell death was accompanied by the loss of mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP; ΔΨm). All the tested caspase inhibitors (e.g., pan-caspase, caspase-3, -8, or -9 inhibitor) did not rescue HPF cells from GA-induced cell death. GA increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels and glutathione (GSH)-depleted cell numbers. Caspase inhibitors partially altered ROS levels, but did not reduce GSH-depleted cell number, in GA-treated HPF cells. In conclusion, we demonstrated that GA induced the growth inhibition and death of HPF cells, which was accompanied by ROS increase and GSH depletion.
University of Birmingham Understanding ’Price’ and the environment: exploring upper secondary students’ conceptual development

• Users may freely distribute the URL that is used to identify this publication. • Users may download and/or print one copy of the publication from the University of Birmingham research portal for the purpose of private study or non-commercial research. • User may use extracts from the document in line with the concept of ‘fair dealing’ under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (? ) • Users may not further distribute the material nor use it for the purposes of commercial gain.
Antigenic map of the rat cerebellar cortex: The distribution of parasagittal bands as revealed by monoclonal anti‐purkinje cell antibody mabQ113

Both anatomical and physiological mapping methods have revealed that the mammalian cerebellar cortex consists of a family of parasagittal bands of cells, each band with its own pattern of afferent and efferent axons. Monoclonal antibody mabQ113 recognizes an unknown polypeptide antigen that is confined to a subset of rat cerebellar Purkinje cells. Immunoreactive cells are arranged into parasagittal bands extending throughout the vermis and hemispheres. Expression of the Q113 epitope by individual Purkinje cells may not be all‐or‐nothing, since the bands tend to be more strongly stained in the vermis than the hemispheres. The band display is symmetrical about the midline and reproducible from individual to individual. Wholemount immunocytochemistry and serial reconstruction reveal a median band of mabQ113+ Purkinje cells adjacent to the midline (P1 + ) and six other positive bands disposed symmetrically at either side (P2+ to P7 + ). Bands are distinct throughout most of the cortex but tend to fuse ventrally and caudally. There are two sources of interindividual differences. Firstly, most animals express supernumerary “satellite” bands in the vermis. Satellite bands are usually only one cell wide, are not bilaterally symmetrical, and differ in position and number from individual to individual. Secondly, the precise position of an individual band can differ, perhaps according to the variable cortical lobulation, for example, the position of P4+ in lobules VIII/IX and P6+ in lobule VII. While a scheme of parasagittal bands is a good description of the vermian organization, the distribution of mabQ113+ and mabQ113‐ Purkinje cells in the hemispheres may be better described as a checkerboard of antigenic patches.
Downregulation of P2X3 receptor‐dependent sensory functions in A/J inbred mouse strain

There is large variability in the various pain responses including those to tissue injury among inbred mouse strains. However, the determinant factors for the strain‐specific differences remain unknown. The P2X3 sensory‐specific ATP‐gated channel has been implicated as a damage‐sensing molecule that evokes a pain sensation by receiving endogenous ATP from injured tissue. In this study, to clarify the contribution of the sensory P2X3 signalling to strain‐specific differences in tissue injury pain, we examined whether the P2X3‐mediated in vivo and in vitro responses in dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons are changed in the A/J inbred mouse strain, which is known to be resistant to tissue injury pain caused by formalin. Here we found that A/J mice exhibited a low magnitude of nocifensive behaviour induced by the P2X agonist α,β‐methylene ATP (αβmeATP) into the hindpaw compared with C57BL/6 J mice. This behaviour was blocked by P2X3 antisense oligodeoxynucleotides. The low magnitude of the in vivo pain sensation could be observed similarly in the in vitro response; the increase in the intracellular Ca2+ increase by αβmeATP in capsaicin‐sensitive DRG neurons from A/J mice was significantly lower than that from C57BL/6 J mice. In A/J DRG neurons the P2X3 protein level was significantly lower compared with C57BL/6 J DRG neurons. The change in P2X3 protein was selective because P2X2 protein was expressed equally in both strains. The present study suggests that the downregulation of sensory P2X3 could be one of the molecular predispositions to low sensitivity to tissue injury pain in the A/J inbred mouse strain.
Potential Protective Effect of Fortified Camel Milk Products with Chromium on Alloxan Induced Hyperglycemia in Rats

Oxidative stress and dyslipidemia enhancement are associated with diabetes mellitus (DM). Camel milk (CM), Yogurt-Camel milk (YCM) and Probiotic–Camel milk (PCM) alone or in supplementation with other drug are gaining increasing recognition due to their beneficial effects in prevention many health problems. This study was designed to investigate the protective effect of CM, YCM and PCM alone or in combination with chromium picolinate (CM-CrPi, YCM-CrPi and PCM-CrPi) on alloxan-induced diabetic rats. Animals were randomly divided into eight groups: Group I served as normal control, while animals of group 2 were rendered to diabetes by alloxan injection (150 mg/kg bw, i.p), meanwhile groups 3-8 fed daily with CM products by oral gavage (2 ml/rat) for 8 weeks then diabetes was induced by alloxan injection. CM, YCM and PCM pre-treatment reduced (p < 0.05) glycaemia, HbA1C with improved lipids profile, lipid peroxidation, total antioxidant capacity and elevated serum insulin in diabetic rats. A histopathological examination of pancreases tissue was observed. Camel's milk products supplemented with CrPi has potential ameliorated effect in diabetic rats and can protect against hyperglycemia with improve lipid pattern, antioxidant activity and healthy status of diabetic rats
Functional properties of subunit interactions in human cytidine deaminase.

An intersubunit interactions study related to the active site has been performed on the wild-type cytidine deaminase (CDA) and on the mutant enzyme F137W/W113F. F137 is the homologous to the Bacillus subtilis CDA F125 involved in the subunit interactions. In the presence of SDS, wild-type human CDA dissociates into enzymatically inactive monomers without intermediate forms via a non-cooperative transition. Extensive dialysis or dilution of the inactivated monomers restores completely the activity. Circular dichroism measurements show that the secondary/tertiary structure organization of each subunit is unaffected by the SDS concentration, while the mutation Phe/Trp causes weakening in quaternary structure. The presence of the strong human CDA competitive inhibitor 5-fluorozebularine disfavours dissociation of the tetramer into subunits in the wild-type CDA, but not in mutant enzyme F137W/W113F. The absence of tyrosine fluorescence and the much higher quantum yield of the double mutant protein spectrum suggest the occurrence of an energy transfer effect between the protein subunits. This assumption is confirmed by the crystallographic studies on B.subtilis in which it is shown that three different subunits concur with the formation of each of the four active sites and that F125, homologous to the human CDA F137, is located at the interface between two different subunits contributing to the formation of active site.
Multispectral fluorescence lifetime imaging by TCSPC

We present a fluorescence lifetime imaging technique with simultaneous spectral and temporal resolution. The technique is fully compatible with the commonly used multiphoton microscopes and nondescanned (direct) detection. An image of the back‐aperture of the microscope lens is projected on the input of a fiber bundle. The input of the fiber bundle is circular, and the output is flattened to match the input slit of a spectrograph. The spectrum at the output of the spectrograph is projected on a 16‐anode PMT module. For each detected photon, the encoding logics of the PMT module deliver a timing pulse and the number of the PMT channel in which the photon was detected. The photons are accumulated by a multidimensional time‐correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) process. The recording process builds up a four‐dimensional photon distribution over the times of the photons in the excitation pulse period, the wavelengths of the photons, and the coordinates of the scan area. The method delivers a near‐ideal counting efficiency and is capable of resolving double‐exponential decay functions. We demonstrate the performance of the technique for autofluorescence imaging of tissue. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Analysis and Design of a Novel Dual-Band Array Antenna With a Low Profile for 2400/5800-MHz WLAN Systems

A novel dual-band array antenna and its associated feed networks for 2400/5800-MHz wireless local area networks (WLAN) is proposed. The nested dual-band array is composed of a 2400-MHz band array formed by 16 (4 × 4) parallel-fed rectangular patches and a 5800-MHz band array formed by 64 (8 × 8) hybrid-fed double-sided printed dipoles. The measured and simulated results are presented and analyzed. The relative impedance bandwidths and the peak gains of the 2400-MHz band and 5800-MHz band arrays reach 8%, 13% (VSWR < 1.5), 24 dBi and 18 dBi respectively. The dual-band array has regular radiation patterns, high polarization purity and antenna efficiency, and it is suitable for integration with other microwave circuits and can be applied in other dual-band system by scaling its size. The design consideration for side lobe level (SLL) suppression by amplitude weighting combining the quarter-wavelength transformer and a small adjustment in the antenna geometry is discussed as well.