Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Intravitreal bevacizumab combined with intravitreal triamcinolone for therapy-resistant exudative age-related macular degeneration.

PURPOSE To investigate the effect of intravitreal bevacizumab (IVB) combined with intravitreal high-dose triamcinolone acetonide (IVTA) for therapy of exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD) after unsuccessful IVB monotherapy. METHODS The prospective study included 29 White patients (31 eyes) who consecutively received IVB (1.5 mg) plus high-dose IVTA (20-25 mg) for exudative AMD, after they had received multiple IVB mono-injections without functional and anatomical success. Two additional IVB injections were given in intervals of 2 months after the combined injection. The main outcome parameters were best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and data measured by optic coherence tomography (OCT). RESULTS Mean BCVA (LogMAR) improved from 0.70 + or - 0.37 LogMAR at baseline to 0.59 + or - 0.38 LogMAR at 2 months after first follow-up (P = 0.004) and to 0.63 + or - 0.41 LogMAR (P = 0.04) at 4 months after baseline. It deteriorated to 0.68 + or - 0.41 at the end of the follow-up at 7 months after the combined injection, without a significant (P = 0.53) difference to the baseline visual acuity. The maximum macular thickness decreased significantly from 371 + or - 206 microm at baseline to 322 + or - 90 microm (P = 0.04) at the first follow-up and to 316 + or - 90 microm (P = 0.03) at the second follow-up. It slightly increased toward the end of follow-up (333 + or - 133 microm; P = 0.16). Intraocular pressure increased marginally significantly (P = 0.06) from 14.5 + or - 2.8 mm Hg to 15.7 + or - 3.3 mm Hg at the second follow-up. CONCLUSIONS Patients with exudative AMD, in whom monotherapy with IVB was unsuccessful, may experience a temporary improvement in vision and reduction in macular thickness after a combined intravitreal injection of bevacizumab and triamcinolone.
Preparation of a Specific Retrovirus Producer Cell Line

Establishing a cell line that produces high levels of a specific retrovirus construct involves several steps. First, the retroviral construct must be stably introduced into an appropriate packaging cell line. This can be accomplished either directly by transfection or by transfection to produce a transient virus stock followed by cross‐infection of this stock into a separate packaging line; procedures for both approaches are described in this unit. After stable lines are produced, they must be characterized to identify lines that produce high titers of virus with an appropriate structure. A drug selection protocol (the most common method for determining virus titer) is provided along with a sample calculation of BAG virus titer. Sometimes, a short and direct method of estimating virus titer is available when the virus encodes a histochemically detectable gene such as lacZ. For this case, an Xgal staining protocol is described. Similarly, a protocol is provided to estimate the levels of virus being produced by a given cell line by quantitating any specific product of the virus (e.g., RNA) present within the producer line.
Nasopharyngeal carcinoma: molecular pathogenesis and therapeutic developments

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a prevalent tumour in southern China and southeast Asia, particularly in the Cantonese population, where its incidence has remained high for decades. Recent studies have demonstrated that the aetiology of NPC is complex, involving multiple factors including genetic susceptibility, infection with the Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) and exposure to chemical carcinogens. During development of the disease, viral infection and multiple somatic genetic and epigenetic changes synergistically disrupt normal cell function, thus contributing to NPC pathogenesis. NPC is highly radiosensitive and chemosensitive, but treatment of patients with locoregionally advanced disease remains problematic. New biomarkers for NPC, including EBV DNA copy number or methylation of multiple tumour suppressor genes, which can be detected in serum and nasopharyngeal brushings, have been developed for the molecular diagnosis of this tumour. Meanwhile, new therapeutic strategies such as intensity-modulated radiation therapy and immuno- and epigenetic therapies might lead to more specific and effective treatments.
The Map and the Flock: Emergence in Mapping with Swarm Algorithms

Abstract In mapping for computer music and interactive media, flocking algorithms represent a special case, offering dynamic, self-organized domain translations. In this article we attempt a classification of fundamental mapping relationships that can be established with the help of swarm simulations. By regarding flocks as systems of abstract entities, a number of models arise that deal with the reassignment of perceptual and semantic qualities to the simulated entities. These models represent basic mapping processes, but become domain-specific when used for music and interactive art. To illustrate these concepts, we outline a number of strategies that relate to musical practice, fostering an understanding of the role of swarm simulations in mapping. We show two artistic use cases where these concepts are applied in an exemplary manner. In the first artwork, swarms play a central role in the compositions presented in an audiovisual installation, and serve as an intermediate translation space between audience and artwork. In the second realization, swarms interact with dancers and together they control the visual and musical aspects of the piece. Both examples show how the emergent behavior of flocks can be mapped conceptually and can evoke natural phenomena, thus making the mapping relationships less predictable and more organic.
Normative and Descriptive Accounts of the Influence of Power and Contingency on Causal Judgement

Abstract The power PC theory (Cheng, 1997) is a normative account of causal inference, which predicts that causal judgements are based on the power p of a potential cause, where p is the cause-effect contingency normalized by the base rate of the effect. In three experiments we demonstrate that both cause-effect contingency and effect base-rate independently affect estimates in causal learning tasks. In Experiment 1, causal strength judgements were directly related to power p in a task in which the effect base-rate was manipulated across two positive and two negative contingency conditions. In Experiments 2 and 3 contingency manipulations affected causal estimates in several situations in which power p was held constant, contrary to the power PC theory's predic- tions. This latter effect cannot be explained by participants’ conflation of reliability and causal strength, as Experiment 3 demonstrated independence of causal judgements and confidence. From a descriptive point of view, the data are compatible with Pearce's (1987) model, as well as with several other judgement rules, but not with the Rescorla-Wagner (Rescorla & Wagner, 1972) or power PC models.
Correlation between the Occlusion Site and Clinical Outcome after Acute Ischemic Stroke.

OBJECTIVE The significance of early mild clinical improvement after intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (IVtPA) treatment is unclear. Therefore, we examined whether the timing of clinical improvement after IVtPA predicted the clinical outcome at 3 months. METHODS Consecutive patients with acute cerebral infarction in the anterior circulation who received IVtPA treatment within 3 hours of the onset of symptoms were enrolled in the study. Patients were classified according to the timing of clinical improvement [early responder (ER), National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score improved ≥4 points or who had a score of 0 within 2 hours after IVtPA; late responder (LR), a similar improvement between 2 and 24 hours; and non-responder (NR)] and according to the arterial occlusion site (P group, internal carotid artery and proximal middle cerebral artery M1 region; and D group, distal M1 and M2). RESULTS Ninety-three patients [median age, 74 (67-79) years; 54 men (58%); median NIHSS score, 11 (7-16)] were enrolled in the study. The P group consisted of 48 (52%) patients and the D group consisted of 45 (48%) patients. Thirty-eight patients (41%) were classified as ERs, 20 (22%) as LRs, and 35 (38%) as NRs. On a multivariate regression analysis, the P group [odds ratio (OR), 3.24; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.08-10.45; p=0.036] and NR (OR, 4.04; 95% CI, 1.29-14.27; p=0.016) were independent predictors of a poor outcome. ER (47%, p=0.01) and LR (45%, p=0.01) patients showed fewer poor outcomes than NR (77%) patients, but the rate did not differ significantly between the ER and LR patients. CONCLUSION Early mild clinical recovery did not predict a good outcome. The occlusion site was a stronger predictor of clinical improvement after IVtPA administration.
Surface reconstruction by integrating 3D and 2D data of multiple views

Surface representation is needed for almost all modeling and visualization applications, but unfortunately, 3D data from a passive vision system are often insufficient for a traditional surface reconstruction technique that is designed for densely scanned 3D point data. In this paper, we develop a new method for surface reconstruction by combining both 3D data and 2D image information. The silhouette information extracted from 2D images can also be integrated as an option if it is available. The new method is a variational approach with a new functional integrating 3D stereo data with 2D image information. This gives a more robust approach than existing methods using only pure 2D information or 3D stereo data. We also propose a bounded regularization method to implement efficiently the surface evolution by level-set methods. The properties of the algorithms are discussed, proved for some cases, and empirically demonstrated through intensive experiments on real sequences.
A smart coating established with encapsulation of Zinc Molybdate centred nanocontainer for active corrosion protection of mild steel: release kinetics of corrosion inhibitor

Abstract In the current work smart coating of corrosion inhibitive nanocontainer was developed based on the encapsulation of ultrasonically synthesized Zinc Molybdate (ZM) nanoparticles. The ZM nanoparticles were doped ultrasonically with the layers of Myristic acid (MA), Polyaniline layer (PANI), benzotriazole layer and polyacrylic acid layer respectively to prepare layer by layer assembled nanocontainer. Results of XRD, PSD, FTIR, zeta potential and TEM analysis proves the successful formation of the layered structure of ZM nanocontainer particles. The release rate of benzotriazole at various experimental pH values was estimated using UV–vis spectroscopy. Different semi-empirical models were examined to predict the release mechanism of the benzotriazole. The corrosion inhibitive performance of ZM nanocontainers has been evaluated by incorporating 1wt % ZM nanocontainer in the epoxy based coating formulations and assessing by DC polarization measurement and Bode plots. The results from corrosion potential and Bode plots suggest the successful use of ZM nanocontainer in the multifunctional anticorrosion coating formulations.
Monolingual Corpus-based MT Using Chunks

In the present article, a hybrid approach is proposed for implementing a machine translation system using a large monolingual corpus coupled with a bilingual lexicon and basic NLP tools. In the first phase of the METIS system, a source language (SL) sentence, after being tagged, lemmatised and translated by a flat lemma-to-lemma lexicon, was matched against a tagged and lemmatised target language (TL) corpus using a pattern matching algorithm. In the second phase, translations are generated by combining sub-sentential structures. In this paper, the main features of the second phase are discussed while the system architecture and the corresponding translation approach are presented. The proposed methodology is illustrated with examples of the translation process.
Assessing glomerular filtration rate in hospitalized patients: a comparison between CKD-EPI and four cystatin C-based equations.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES A specific method is required for estimating glomerular filtration rate GFR in hospitalized patients. Our objective was to validate the Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-EPI) equation and four cystatin C (CysC)-based equations in this setting. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS This was an epidemiologic, cross-sectional study in a random sample of hospitalized patients (n = 3114). We studied the accuracy of the CKD-EPI and four CysC-based equations--based on (1) CysC alone or (2) adjusted by gender; (3) age, gender, and race; and (4) age, gender, race, and creatinine, respectively--compared with GFR measured by iohexol clearance (mGFR). Clinical, biochemical, and nutritional data were also collected. RESULTS The CysC equation 3 significantly overestimated the GFR (bias of 7.4 ml/min per 1.73 m(2)). Most of the error in creatinine-based equations was attributable to calculated muscle mass, which depended on patient's nutritional status. In patients without malnutrition or reduced body surface area, the CKD-EPI equation adequately estimated GFR. Equations based on CysC gave more precise mGFR estimates when malnutrition, extensive reduction of body surface area, or loss of muscle mass were present (biases of 1 and 1.3 ml/min per 1.73 m(2) for equations 2 and 4, respectively, versus 5.9 ml/min per 1.73 m(2) for CKD-EPI). CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that the use of equations based on CysC and gender, or CysC, age, gender, and race, is more appropriate in hospitalized patients to estimate GFR, since these equations are much less dependent on patient's nutritional status or muscle mass than the CKD-EPI equation.
SIMILARITY IN REPEATEDLY TRANSLATED CORPORA

Preliminary communication The paper analyses the changes in relationship between documents in textual corpus that occur due to the translation into another language. Authors analyzed the similarities between documents in original corpus, in Croatian, and compared them with the corresponding documents in translated corpus, in English. The changes were analyzed using two measures, chi-square test’s P-value and new proposed measure, correction coefficient.
Distinguishing Common and Proper Nouns

We describe a number of techniques for automatically deriving lists of common and proper nouns, and show that the distinction between the two can be made automatically using a vector space model learning algorithm. We present a direct evaluation on the British National Corpus, and application based evaluations on Twitter messages and on automatic speech recognition (where the system could be employed to restore case).
Calcified vascular plaque specimens: assessment with cardiac dual-energy multidetector CT in anthropomorphically moving heart phantom.

PURPOSE To evaluate whether dual-energy multidetector computed tomography (CT) with image postprocessing techniques enhances accuracy of calcified plaque quantification beyond the scope of single-energy multidetector CT, by using optical coherence tomography (OCT) as the reference standard. MATERIALS AND METHODS Four atherosclerotic specimens were examined with 64-section dual-energy multidetector CT by using a novel dual-detector "double-decker" design, with stacked high- and low-energy detector arrays with 32 x 0.625-mm collimation, at 140 kVp and 400 mAs, acquiring simultaneous and isopedic low- and high-energy data sets. Additionally, combined-energy data sets were calculated, and an enhancement algorithm was proposed. Cardiac motion was simulated by an anthropomorphically moving phantom, and OCT was used as a reference standard for plaque quantification. Univariate general linear model (GLM) analysis was used to compare sizes of plaque calcifications determined with OCT with those determined with dual-energy multidetector CT, and the significance of factors such as cardiac motion was assessed. RESULTS GLM analysis revealed that plaque quantification based on low-, high-, and combined-energy data sets differed significantly from that based on OCT (P < .001). Greater data variation occurred in smaller (<8 mm(2)) and larger (>12 mm(2)) calcifications. Comparison of calcified plaque sizes determined with OCT with those determined with the dual-energy multidetector CT enhancement algorithm revealed no significant difference (P = .550). Cardiac activity led to a slight increase in data variation in regard to OCT for corresponding static (mean, 10.2% +/- 3.2 [standard deviation]) and dynamic (13.8% +/- 4.9) dual-energy multidetector CT data sets. CONCLUSION Dual-energy multidetector CT with novel postprocessing techniques enhanced accuracy of calcified plaque quantification by reducing effects of tissue blooming and beam hardening beyond single-energy multidetector CT.
Winter Cardiovascular Diseases Phenomenon

This paper review seasonal patterns across twelve cardiovascular diseases: Deep venous thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, aortic dissection and rupture, stroke, intracerebral hemorrhage, hypertension, heart failure, angina pectoris, myocardial infarction, sudden cardiac death, venricular arrythmia and atrial fibrillation, and discuss a possible cause of the occurrence of these diseases. There is a clear seasonal trend of cardiovascular diseases, with the highest incidence occurring during the colder winter months, which have been described in many countries. This phenomenon likely contributes to the numbers of deaths occurring in winter. The implications of this finding are important for testing the relative importance of the proposed mechanisms. Understanding the influence of season and other factors is essential when seeking to implement effective public health measures.
Lower extremity stress fractures in pediatric and adolescent athletes

Purpose of review To familiarize primary care pediatricians with basic detection and treatment strategies of lower extremity stress fractures, while highlighting new research related to improving diagnosis and management approaches for pediatric and adolescent athletes. Recent findings Young age appears to be a risk factor for the development of stress fracture, but this difference may be secondary to differences in activity levels, for which most studies have not controlled. While use of radiographs and bone scan may be important to rule out other entities, MRI has emerged as the gold standard for definitive diagnosis of stress fractures. Since abnormal lower extremity biomechanics can have an etiological role in stress fracture, gait re-training may be an important feature of treatment of some patients. In addition, athletes with open physes appear to be predisposed to different sites and mechanisms of stress fractures than their skeletally mature counterparts, and may have poorer outcomes than previously reported in tibial shaft fractures. Summary As participation in competitive youth sports continues to increase, prospective studies are needed to enhance our understanding of epidemiological factors and optimal treatment strategies for pediatric and adolescent athletes.
Hyperdiversity of ectomycorrhizal fungus assemblages on oak seedlings in mixed forests in the southern Appalachian Mountains

Diversity of ectotrophic mycobionts on outplanted seedlings of two oak species (Quercus rubra and Quercus prinus) was estimated at two sites in mature mixed forests in the southern Appalachian Mountains by sequencing nuclear 5.8S rRNA genes and the flanking internal transcribed spacer regions I and II (ITS). The seedlings captured a high diversity of mycorrhizal ITS‐types and late‐stage fungi were well represented. Total richness was 75 types, with 42 types having a frequency of only one. The first and second order jackknife estimates were 116 and 143 types, respectively. Among Basidiomycetes, tomentelloid/thelephoroid, russuloid, and cortinarioid groups were the richest. The ascomycete Cenococcum geophilum was ubiquitously present. Dominant fungi included a putative Tuber sp. (Ascomycetes), and Basidiomycetes including a putative Craterellus sp. , and Laccaria cf. laccata. Diversity was lower at a drier high elevation oak forest site compared to a low elevation mesic cove — hardwood forest site. Fungal specificity for red oak vs. white oak seedlings was unresolved. The high degree of rarity in this system imposes limitations on the power of community analyses at finer scales. The high mycobiont diversity highlights the potential for seedlings to acquire carbon from mycelial networks and confirms the utility of using outplanted seedlings to estimate ectomycorrhizal diversity.
Psychosocial factors at work and the development of mobility limitations among adults in Denmark

Aim: Psychosocial factors in the working environment have been shown to be associated with mobility limitations, but this has not yet been confirmed in a Danish population. We aimed to examine how psychosocial factors at work are related to developing mobility limitations in Denmark. Methods: This study is based on data from 2952 middle-aged men and women without mobility limitations in 2000. Results: We found increased risk of incident mobility limitations during 6-year follow up among men who often perceived high work pace (OR 5.45, 95% CI 1.21–24.52) vs. never, who only sometimes or/never perceived the work to be meaningful (OR 6.54, 95% CI 1.55–27.55) vs. always, and who sometimes perceived high emotional demands at work (OR 7.85, 95% CI 1.78–34.65) vs. never. Among women, lower risk of incident mobility limitations was observed among those who in 2000 perceived high work pace sometimes (OR 0.46, 95% CI 0.24–0.87) or often (OR 0.43, 95% CI 0.22–0.85) vs. never in 2000. Also, women who always or often experienced high emotional demands had an increased risk. Conclusions: The most important finding was that high work pace was strongly associated with increased risk of mobility limitations among men, but associated with lower risk of mobility limitations among women. This knowledge may be used to better target interventions among men and women in midlife from physical deterioration later in life.
Pharmacotherapy and family-focused treatment for adolescents with bipolar I and II disorders: a 2-year randomized trial.

OBJECTIVE Previous studies have found that family-focused treatment is an effective adjunct to pharmacotherapy in stabilizing symptoms in adult bipolar disorder. The authors examined whether pharmacotherapy and family-focused treatment for adolescents with bipolar disorder was more effective than pharmacotherapy and brief psychoeducation (enhanced care) in decreasing time to recovery from a mood episode, increasing time to recurrence, and reducing symptom severity over 2 years. METHOD A total of 145 adolescents (mean age, 15.6 years) with bipolar I or II disorder and a DSM-IV-TR manic, hypomanic, depressive, or mixed episode in the previous 3 months were randomly assigned, with family members, either to pharmacotherapy and family-focused treatment, consisting of psychoeducation (i.e., recognition and early intervention with prodromal symptoms), communication enhancement training, and problem-solving skills training, delivered in 21 sessions over 9 months; or to pharmacotherapy and three weekly sessions of enhanced care (family psychoeducation). Independent evaluators assessed participants at baseline, every 3 months during year 1, and every 6 months during year 2, using weekly ratings of mood. RESULTS Twenty-two participants (15.2%) withdrew shortly after randomization. Time to recovery or recurrence and proportion of weeks ill did not differ between the two treatment groups. Secondary analyses revealed that participants in family-focused treatment had less severe manic symptoms during year 2 than did those in enhanced care. CONCLUSIONS After an illness episode, intensive psychotherapy combined with best-practice pharmacotherapy does not appear to confer advantages over brief psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy in hastening recovery or delaying recurrence among adolescents with bipolar disorder.