Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hypodense regions (holes) in the retinal nerve fiber layer in frequency-domain OCT scans of glaucoma patients and suspects.

PURPOSE To better understand hypodense regions (holes) that appear in the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) of frequency-domain optical coherence tomography (fdOCT) scans of patients with glaucoma and glaucoma suspects. METHODS Peripapillary circle (1.7-mm radius) and cube optic disc fdOCT scans were obtained on 208 eyes from 110 patients (57.4 ± 13.2 years) with glaucomatous optic neuropathy (GON) and 45 eyes of 45 controls (48.0 ± 12.6 years) with normal results of fundus examination. Holes in the RNFL were identified independently by two observers on the circle scans. RESULTS Holes were found in 33 (16%) eyes of 28 (25%) patients; they were not found in any of the control eyes. Twenty-four eyes had more than one hole. Although some holes were relatively large, others were small. In general, the holes were located adjacent to blood vessels; only three eyes had isolated holes that were not adjacent to a vessel. The holes tended to be in the regions that are thickest in healthy controls and were associated with arcuate defects in patients. Holes were not seen in the center of the temporal disc region. They were more common in the superior (25 eyes) than in the inferior (15 eyes) disc. Of the 30 eyes with holes with reliable visual fields, seven were glaucoma suspect eyes with normal visual fields. CONCLUSIONS The holes in the RNFL seen in patients with GON were probably due to a local loss of RNFL fibers and can occur in the eyes of glaucoma suspects with normal visual fields.
Workhours and worklife balance

Objectives The purpose of the present review was to summarize the scientific literature about the consequences of long and nonstandard workhours and employee influence over workhours on different measures of worklife balance. Methods Literature with a focus on the social consequences of the organization of workhours on worklife balance was searched in large databases such as PSYC-info and PubMed; the result was supplemented with other relevant literature. Results An association between larger numbers of workhours and lower levels of worklife balance was strongly supported among women. For men, the results were less conclusive, while, for gender-mixed groups, an association between overtime work and lower levels of worklife balance was strongly supported. There was strong evidence that nonstandard workhours had a negative influence on worklife balance and some evidence that it had a negative influence on children’s well-being and on marital satisfaction. Employee influence over work schedule was associated with a better worklife balance in several studies. However, clear conclusions were difficult to draw due to methodological problems in the studies. Interventions that included reduced hours with wage compensation, rapidly rotating shifts, and increased influence on work schedules all showed positive ef fects on social life indicators. Conclusions The social consequences of worktime arrangements are relatively well documented in the scientific literature. There is a need for intervention studies, longitudinal studies, and studies focusing on the influence on schedule, consequences regarding children’s development and well-being, and marital satisfaction. Key terms children’s well-being; influence on workhours; literature review; long hours; marital quality; over time work; shift work; worktime arrangements.
CHRONIC REGIONAL ENTEROCOLITIS (MB CROHN) IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS

A series of 36 children and adolescents with chronic regional enterocolitis is presented. An apparent increase in the occurrence of the disease is noted. Clinical and roentgenological findings are reported. A high incidence of colonic localization was found and is probably typical of a paediatric series. There were difficulties in establishing an early diagnosis, mainly due to the common occurrence of nonspecific symptoms in the early stages of the disease. The guiding principles for the differentiation between regional enterocolitis and ulcerative colitis are discussed. The results of conservative treatment were poor. The majority of patients (31) were subjected to surgical therapy; the main indication being chronic, progressive disease. The immediate results of surgery were good. In respect of late results, a recurrence rate of about 50% was encountered. Extensive disease, especially when treated with resection and ileorectal anastomosis seemed to have an unfavourable prognosis. The importance of radical resections is stressed.
Geometric effects in the electronic transport of deformed nanotubes

Quasi-two-dimensional systems may exibit curvature, which adds three-dimensional influence to their internal properties. As shown by da Costa (1981 Phys. Rev. A 23 1982–7), charged particles moving on a curved surface experience a curvature-dependent potential which greatly influence their dynamics. In this paper, we study the electronic ballistic transport in deformed nanotubes. The one-electron Schrödinger equation with open boundary conditions is solved numerically with a flexible MAPLE code made available as supplementary data. We find that the curvature of the deformations indeed has strong effects on the electron dynamics, suggesting its use in the design of nanotube-based electronic devices.
Dielectric and Structural Properties of Poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) and Poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) (PVDF-TrFE) Filled with Magnesium Oxide Nanofillers

This study examines the dielectric properties of filled PVDF film and filled PVDF-TrFE film incorporated with 1, 3, 5, and 7 weight percentages of magnesium oxide (MgO) nanofillers. The metal-insulator-metal (MIM) configuration demonstrates PVDF/MgO with 7 weight percent of MgO which produced high dielectric constant (1 kHz) with low dielectric loss. The ATR-FTIR spectra of PVDF/MgO (7%) indicate wide bonding peaks at 840 cm-1 and 880 cm-1, assigned to -CH2 and -CF2 groups, respectively. This implies the presence of high content of β-crystals in the PVDF/MgO (7%) film. A shift in the peak was observed in the same film, from 1170 cm-1 to 1180 cm-1 suggesting possible transformation from γ-crystals to β-crystals. This film showed no apparent defect on its film surface. Thus, it established that PVDF incorporated with 7% MgO can be used to produce nanocomposite thin film for low-frequency electronic devices.
Mechanism of Action of Proteasome Inhibitors and Deacetylase Inhibitors and the Biological Basis of Synergy in Multiple Myeloma

Novel agents, including the proteasome inhibitor bortezomib, have significantly improved the response and survival of patients with multiple myeloma over the last decade. Despite these advances, many patients relapse or do not benefit from the currently available therapies; thus, multiple myeloma remains an incurable disease. Deacetylase inhibitors (DACi), including panobinostat and vorinostat, have recently emerged as novel agents being evaluated in the treatment of multiple myeloma. Deacetylases are a group of enzymes with effects on various intracellular proteins, including histones, transcription factors, and molecular chaperones. Although DACi inhibit cell growth and induce apoptosis in multiple myeloma cells as a single agent, synergistic activity has been observed when they were used in combination with bortezomib. The mechanistic basis of synergy is multifactorial and includes disruption of protein degradation and inhibition of the interaction of multiple myeloma cells with the tumor microenvironment. This review summarizes recent advancements in the understanding of the mechanism of action of proteasome inhibitors and DACi in multiple myeloma and examines the biological basis of their synergistic effects. Data from the studies summarized here have been used as the rationale for the implementation of phase II and III clinical trials of DACi, alone and combined with bortezomib, in relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma. Mol Cancer Ther; 10(11); 2034–42. ©2011 AACR.
Navigational Data: A Graphical Methodology to Support Qualitative Analysis

The growth of medical, academic resources on the World Wide Web has led to much greater incentives and opportunities for nursing and medical students, researchers and practitioners to access Web resources. However, llsersindividual differences and the variety of information-retrieval mechanisms provided by medical web resources may combine to reduce the benefits of this infonnation resource. In a study designed to qualitatively analyse the interaction of such individual­ and system-differences, a reliable method of representing WWW navigational data was found to be important in assisting traditional methodologies of representation and analysis. The methodology of graphically representing such navigational data, and the support such a technique may offer the qualitative analysis of user-system interactions, is thus described in detail and with reference to one specific example drawn from the data collected. Further, some preliminary findings deriving from the use of graphical and more traditional methodologies in this study are also represented.
A Practical Management Framework for Commercial Software Development with Open Sources

Open source software (OSS) has been widely accepted as one of reuse methods to develop software applications in industry. OSS is well known for free software which can be used with freedoms on costs and copyrights. Nonetheless, when it comes to compliances of OSS licenses, different licenses have different duties to which users should conform. Furthermore, if the software using OSS is commercial, the conformance of OSS license compliances gets more critical. However, it is not easy for the commercial software developers to fully comply with compliances of OSSs due to the absence of a support system a management system allowing the developers to satisfy the compliances. In this paper, we present a practical management framework for commercial software development with OSS. In the framework, we define a development process including activities, instructions, and artifacts to use OSS. We also present practices on providing infrastructure and organizational support as well as defining education curriculum. And finally we discuss lessons, issues, and further directions.
PARTY IDENTIFICATION: Unmoved Mover or Sum of Preferences?

▪ Abstract Are party identifications relatively fixed features on the political landscape in the United States and elsewhere? If they are relatively fixed, do identifications move substantive issue preferences, perceptions of candidates, and perceptions of the link between candidates and issues? Early studies in the United States answered these questions in the affirmative. The track record for other systems is spotty, and each question occasioned repeated controversy in the decades since the 1960s. Much of the apparent lability and cross-national variation in party ties can be laid at the feet of measurement error, but not all. The claim that party identification moves other features on the political landscape is remarkably robust.
PHYLOGENETIC CLASSIFICATION OF THE FROG PATHOGEN AMPHIBIOTHECUM (DERMOSPORIDIUM) PENNERI BASED ON SMALL RIBOSOMAL SUBUNIT SEQUENCING

We determined 1,600 base pairs of DNA sequence in the 18S small ribosomal subunit from two geographically distinct isolates of Dermosporidium penneri. Maximum likelihood and parsimony analysis of these sequences place D. penneri in the order Dermocystida of the class Mesomycetozoea. The 18S rRNA sequences from these two isolates only differ within a single region of 16 contiguous nucleotides. Based on the distant phylogenetic relationship of these organisms to Amphibiocystidium ranae and similarity to Sphaerothecum destruens we propose the organism be renamed Amphibiothecum penneri.
Blind channel identification in speech using the Long-Term Average Speech Spectrum

Estimation of the magnitude response of an unknown channel in single-microphone speech signals is considered. It is shown how the Long-Term Average Speech Spectrum (LTASS) can be used to identify the unknown channel and a blind channel identification algorithm is developed based on that. Furthermore, an established approximate formula for LTASS is demonstrated to be a useful tool in the context. The algorithm is evaluated using a weighted spectral distortion measure using simulated, measured and real channels with various distinct spectral characteristics. It is demonstrated that the algorithm can identify accurately the magnitude spectrum of an unknown channel in noise-free conditions. We also show results for three different additive noises where estimation accuracy is reduced but the degradation varies largely, depending on the long-term spectral characteristics of the noise.
The Inner Centromere Protein (INCENP) Coil Is a Single α-Helix (SAH) Domain That Binds Directly to Microtubules and Is Important for Chromosome Passenger Complex (CPC) Localization and Function in Mitosis

Background: INCENP is predicted to have a coiled coil domain. Results: The coil is actually a stable single α-helix (SAH) domain that is highly extendable and directly binds microtubules. Conclusion: This flexible dog leash may allow Aurora B to associate with dynamic targets in the outer kinetochore. Significance: The SAH domain allows CPC flexibility without requiring complex dimerization. The chromosome passenger complex (CPC) is a master regulator of mitosis. Inner centromere protein (INCENP) acts as a scaffold regulating CPC localization and activity. During early mitosis, the N-terminal region of INCENP forms a three-helix bundle with Survivin and Borealin, directing the CPC to the inner centromere where it plays essential roles in chromosome alignment and the spindle assembly checkpoint. The C-terminal IN box region of INCENP is responsible for binding and activating Aurora B kinase. The central region of INCENP has been proposed to comprise a coiled coil domain acting as a spacer between the N- and C-terminal domains that is involved in microtubule binding and regulation of the spindle checkpoint. Here we show that the central region (213 residues) of chicken INCENP is not a coiled coil but a ∼32-nm-long single α-helix (SAH) domain. The N-terminal half of this domain directly binds to microtubules in vitro. By analogy with previous studies of myosin 10, our data suggest that the INCENP SAH might stretch up to ∼80 nm under physiological forces. Thus, the INCENP SAH could act as a flexible “dog leash,” allowing Aurora B to phosphorylate dynamic substrates localized in the outer kinetochore while at the same time being stably anchored to the heterochromatin of the inner centromere. Furthermore, by achieving this flexibility via an SAH domain, the CPC avoids a need for dimerization (required for coiled coil formation), which would greatly complicate regulation of the proximity-induced trans-phosphorylation that is critical for Aurora B activation.
On the Positive Energy Theorem

In an isolated physical system, one would expect (physically) the total energy of that system to be positive. In the general relativity setting, for example, we may näively suspect that the total energy of some space-like hypersuface (a choice of space for a fixed time) to be simply the sum of the energy associated to the matter field(s) and the energy associated to the gravitational field. And surely in the abscence of such fields the total energy should be zero. The situation, however, is complicated by the coupling of the matter fields and gravitational fields as prescribed by Eistein’s field equations in general relativity: the energy associated to the matter field and the energy associated to the gravitational field cannot be defined seperately. Nevertheless, the Positive Energy Theorem, first proved by Schoen and Yau [1], and later by Witten [2], reassures our intuition through mathematics. The result and its proofs are non-trivial, and as we shall see, the non-triviality starts with the mathematical formulation of the intuitively simple problem. In this paper, we study the mathematical formulation of the problem, and some general aspects of Schoen and Yau’s proof as outlined in a paper by J. Kazdan [3]. The four main ingredients required to understand the mathematical formulation of the Positive Energy Theomem are as follows.
Regression and Discriminative Analysis of Effect of Farmer Field School (FFS) approach on the adoption of biological control in Sari Township, Iran

The aim of this study was regression and discrimina tive analysis of effect of Farmer Field School (FFS ) approach for the adoption of biological control of rice pest s in Sari Township, Iran. The research population c onsisted of 72 farmers who participated in FFS and 346 farmers who had not participated in FFS, which were selected u randomized sampling method. The methodological appr oach of this study was descriptive-correlative. Val idity of the instrument was established using a panel of experts consisting of senior faculty members in agricultur al extension and education department. Furthermore, the agricult ural officer of Mazandaran Province validated the questionnaire. Pilot test and reliability analysis was conducted and Cronbach’s alpha was 0.82. The re sults of the multiple regression analysis (stepwise method) reve aled that the variables of knowledge of biological control, comparative advantage of innovations of biological control, mechanization level, rice farming experien ce, social participation, the number of contacts with extensio n agent, the extent to which farmers used mass medi a and information sources described a variation of 75.9% of the adoption of biological control by rice farme rs who had participated in FFS. Also the results of the multip le regression analysis (stepwise method) revealed t hat the variable of knowledge of biological control described a vari ation of 83.1% of the adoption of biological contro l by rice farmers who had not participated in FFS. The result s of discriminative analysis revealed that 95.8% of the responders (rice farmers) were properly classified based on the discriminative functions.
Actin-based movement of Listeria monocytogenes: actin assembly results from the local maintenance of uncapped filament barbed ends at the bacterium surface

The thermodynamic basis for actin-based motility of Listeria monocytogenes has been investigated using cytoplasmic extracts of Xenopus eggs, initially developed by Theriot et al. (Theriot, J. A., J. Rosenblatt, D. A. Portnoy, P. J. Goldschmidt-Clermont, and T. J. Mitchison. 1994. Cell. 76:505-517) as an in vitro cell-free system. A large proportion (75%) of actin was found unpolymerized in the extracts. The amount of unassembled actin (12 microM) is accounted for by the sequestering functions of T beta 4Xen (20 microM) and profilin (5 microM), the barbed ends being capped. Movement of Listeria was not abolished by depletion of over 99% of the endogenous profilin. The proline-rich sequences of ActA are unlikely to be the target of profilin. All data support the view that actin assembly at the rear of Listeria results from a local shift in steady state due to a factor, keeping filaments uncapped, bound to the surface of the bacterium, while barbed ends are capped in the bulk cytoplasm. Movement is controlled by the energetic difference (i.e., the difference in critical concentration) between the two ends of the filaments, hence a constant ATP supply and the presence of barbed end capped F-actin in the medium are required to buffer free G-actin at a high concentration. The role of membrane components is demonstrated by the facts that: (a) Listeria movement can be reconstituted in the resuspended pellets of high speed-centrifuged extracts that are enriched in membranes; (b) Actin-based motility of endogenous vesicles, exhibiting the same rocketing movement as Listeria, can be observed in the extracts.
How do brand personality, identification, and relationship length drive loyalty in sports?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to extend brand identification theory to the sports team context by testing the direct and indirect effects of a sports team’s personality, sports fans’ identification with the team, and the effect of the length of fans’ relationship with a team on their loyalty to it. Design/methodology/approach – The authors conducted a quantitative study among ice hockey fans of one Finnish hockey team before play-off games. Data came from an online questionnaire generating 1,166 responses. Findings – The authors find that: first, identification with a team mediates the effects of brand personality on attitudinal loyalty and behavioral loyalty; second, brand personality is a stronger driver of identification among newer fans; and third, brand personality has a stronger influence on both attitudinal and behavioral loyalty among newer fans. These findings stress the importance of sports brand’s personality in driving fans’ identification with the team and their loyalty to it. Origin.
Cyclic AMP Response Element-binding Protein H (CREBH) Mediates the Inhibitory Actions of Tumor Necrosis Factor α in Osteoblast Differentiation by Stimulating Smad1 Degradation*

Background: Severe inflammatory reactions delay wound healing of bone. Results: Tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) inhibition of osteoblast differentiation is associated with increased cAMP response element-binding protein H (CREBH) and Smurf1 expression. Conclusion: CREBH mediates the inhibitory actions of TNFα in bone regeneration. Significance: CREBH is identified as a new mediator of inflammation-dependent bone degradation and a potential therapeutic target. Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress transducers, such as old astrocyte specifically induced substance (OASIS) and activating transcription factor 6 (ATF6), which are induced by bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP2), regulate bone formation and osteoblast differentiation. Here, we examined the role of cAMP response element-binding protein H (CREBH), a member of the same family of ER membrane-bound basic leucine zipper (bZIP) transcription factors as OASIS and ATF6, in osteoblast differentiation and bone formation. Proinflammatory cytokine TNFα increased CREBH expression by up-regulating the nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) signaling pathway in osteoblasts, increased the level of N-terminal fragment of CREBH in the nucleus, and inhibited BMP2 induction of osteoblast specific gene expression. Overexpression of CREBH suppressed BMP2-induced up-regulation of the osteogenic markers runt-related transcription factor 2 (Runx2), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and osteocalcin (OC) in MC3T3-E1 cells and primary osteoblasts, as well as BMP2-induced ALP activity and OC protein production. In contrast, knockdown of CREBH attenuated the inhibitory effect of TNFα on BMP2-induced osteoblast differentiation. Mechanistic studies revealed that CREBH increased the expression of Smad ubiquitination regulatory factor 1 (Smurf1), leading to ubiquitin-dependent degradation of Smad1, whereas knockdown of CREBH inhibited TNFα-mediated degradation of Smad1 by Smurf1. Consistent with these in vitro findings, administration of Ad-CREBH inhibited BMP2-induced ectopic and orthotopic bone formation in vivo. Taken together, these results suggest that CREBH is a novel negative regulator of osteoblast differentiation and bone formation.