Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reliability of Ocular Aberration Measurements in Children with Moderate and Low Myopia under Scotopic Conditions

Purpose To investigate the reliability of ocular aberration measurement in myopic children under scotopic conditions and to validate the mathematical Zernike pupil scaling-down technique. Methods Ocular aberrations of 45 myopic children were examined under scotopic conditions via iTrace aberrometer. The intra- and intersession repeatability was evaluated for both the measured values with the true pupil sizes and the estimated ones that were determined by scaling down the pupil sizes to the largest integer value across all measurements. Results The intra- and intersession difference of clinically measured aberration was generally insignificant, and the ICCs for each aberration component exhibited good to excellent reliability (ICCs > 0.4). Similar results were found for the estimated aberration using the scaling-down technique. Although the majority of the estimated Zernike components were comparable with the corresponding measured one, the estimated values of defocus, coma, and the corresponding total aberrations were found significantly smaller than the measured values (all P < 0.01). Conclusions The ocular aberration measurements in myopic children under the circumstances described are reliable. The scaling-down technique is a useful option for comparing the results obtained from different pupil sizes, but the estimated Zernike coefficients were not always comparable with the corresponding measured values.
A Comparison of Care Delivered in Hospital‐based and Freestanding Emergency Departments

OBJECTIVE We compare case mix, hospitalization rates, length of stay (LOS), and resource use in independent freestanding emergency departments (FSEDs) and hospital-based emergency departments (H-EDs). METHODS Data from 74 FSEDs (2013-2015) in Texas and Colorado were compared to H-ED data from the 2013-2014 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey. In the unrestricted sample, large differences in visit characteristics (e.g., payer and case mix) were found between patients that use FSEDs compared to H-EDs. Therefore, we restricted our analysis to patients commonly treated in both settings (<65 years, privately insured, nonambulance) and used inverse propensity score weighting (IPW) to balance the two settings on observable patient characteristics. We then compared ED LOS and as well as hospital admission rates and resource utilization rates in the IPW-weighted samples. RESULTS Before balancing, FSEDs saw more young adults (age 25-44) and fewer older adults (age 45-64) than H-EDs. FSED patients had fewer comorbidities, more injuries and respiratory infections, and fewer diagnoses of chest or abdominal pain. In balanced samples, LOS for FSED visits was 46% shorter (60 minutes) than H-ED patients. Hospital admission rates were 37% lower overall (95% confidence interval = -51% to -23%) in FSEDs and varied considerably by primary discharge diagnosis. X-ray and electrocardiogram use was significantly lower at FSEDs while others measures of resource utilization were similar (ultrasound, computed tomography scans, and laboratory tests). CONCLUSION In this sample of FSEDs, a greater proportion of younger patients with fewer comorbidities and more injuries and respiratory system diseases were evaluated, and almost all patients had private health insurance. When restricted to < 65 years, privately insured, and nonambulance patients in both samples, LOS was considerably shorter and hospital admission rates lower at FSEDs, as well as the use of some diagnostic testing. This study is limited as diagnoses codes may not fully capture severity and patients who perceived greater need of hospital admission may have chosen a H-ED over FSEDs.
MID-INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY OF CANDIDATE ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI-DOMINATED SUBMILLIMETER GALAXIES

Spitzer spectroscopy has revealed that ≃80% of submm galaxies (SMGs) are starburst (SB)-dominated in the mid-infrared. Here we focus on the remaining ≃20% that show signs of harboring powerful active galactic nuclei (AGNs). We have obtained Spitzer-InfraRed Spectrograph spectroscopy of a sample of eight SMGs that are candidates for harboring powerful AGNs on the basis of IRAC color selection (S8 μm/S4.5 μm>2, i.e., likely power-law mid-infrared spectral energy distributions). SMGs with an AGN dominating (≳50%) their mid-infrared emission could represent the “missing link” sources in an evolutionary sequence involving a major merger. First of all, we detect polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) features in all of the SMGs, indicating redshifts from 2.5 to 3.4, demonstrating the power of the mid-infrared to determine redshifts for these optically faint dusty galaxies. Second, we see signs of both star formation (from the PAH features) and AGN activity (from continuum emission) in our sample: 62% of the sample are AGN-dominated in the mid-infrared with a median AGN content of 56%, compared with <30% on average for typical SMGs, revealing that our IRAC color selection has successfully singled out sources with proportionately more AGN emission than typical SB-dominated SMGs. However, we find that only about 10% of these AGNs dominate the bolometric emission of the SMG when the results are extrapolated to longer infrared wavelengths, implying that AGNs are not a significant power source to the SMG population overall, even when there is evidence in the mid-infrared for substantial AGN activity. When existing samples of mid-infrared AGN-dominated SMGs are considered, we find that S8 μm/S4.5 μm>1.65 works well at selecting mid-infrared energetically dominant AGNs in SMGs, implying a duty cycle of ∼15% if all SMGs go through a subsequent mid-infrared AGN-dominated phase in the proposed evolutionary sequence.
Prospective comparison of return of bowel function after left versus right colectomy

Passage of flatus and stool represents a key milestone in recovery after colonic resections. Colorectal surgeons may hold varied expectations regarding recovery rates after left‐ versus right‐sided colectomies, but there is currently little evidence to inform post‐operative care. This study prospectively compared gut function recovery after left‐ versus right‐sided resections.
A Three-Dimensional Pattern-Space Representation for Volumetric Arrays

A three-dimensional pattern-space representation is presented for volumetric arrays. In this representation, the radiation pattern of an array is formed by the evaluation of the three-dimensional pattern-space on a spherical surface. The scan angle of the array determines the position of this surface within the pattern-space. This pattern-space representation is used in conjunction with a genetic algorithm to minimize the sidelobe levels exhibited by a thinned volumetric array during scanning.
Diffuse Selection on Resistance to Deer Herbivory in the Ivyleaf Morning Glory, Ipomoea hederacea

Recent work defines coevolution between plants and herbivores as pairwise when the pattern of selection on resistance traits and the response to selection are both independent of the presence or absence of other herbivores. In addition, for a pairwise response to selection, resistance to a focal herbivore must have the same genetic basis in the presence and absence of other herbivores. None of these conditions were satisfied for the ivyleaf morning glory, Ipomoea hederacea, and its insect, fungal, and mammalian natural enemies with a quantitative genetics field experiment. A significant negative genetic correlation exists between resistance to deer and generalist insect herbivory that would preclude an independent response to selection. In addition, resistance loci under selection differ depending on the composition of the natural enemy community as indicated by genetic correlations between deer resistances in the presence and absence of other natural enemies that differ substantially from 1. Finally, selection on deer resistance depends on the presence or absence of insects; in the presence of insects, greater deer resistance is favored, but in the absence of insects, deer resistance is effectively neutral. These results indicate that the composition of the natural enemy community can alter both the pattern of selection and the likely response to selection of resistance traits.
Grounding after moderate eccentric contractions reduces muscle damage

Grounding a human to the earth has resulted in changes in the physiology of the body. A pilot study on grounding and eccentric contractions demonstrated shortened duration of pain, reduced creatine kinase (CK), and differences in blood parameters. This follow-up study was conducted to investigate the effects of grounding after moderate eccentric contractions on pain, CK, and complete blood counts. Thirty-two healthy young men were randomly divided into grounded (n=16) and sham-grounded (n=16) groups. On days 1 through 4, visual analog scale for pain evaluations and blood draws were accomplished. On day 1, the participants performed eccentric contractions of 200 half-knee bends. They were then grounded or sham-grounded to the earth for 4 hours on days 1 and 2. Both groups experienced pain on all posttest days. On day 2, the sham-grounded group experienced significant CK increase (P<0.01) while the CK of the grounded group did not increase significantly; the between-group difference was significant (P=0.04). There was also an increase in the neutrophils of the grounded group on day 3 (P=0.05) compared to the sham-grounded group. There was a significant increase in platelets in the grounded group on days 2 through 4. Grounding produced changes in CK and complete blood counts that were not shared by the sham-grounded group. Grounding significantly reduced the loss of CK from the injured muscles indicating reduced muscle damage. These results warrant further study on the effects of earthing on delayed onset muscle damage.
Learning from Synthetic Data: Addressing Domain Shift for Semantic Segmentation

Visual Domain Adaptation is a problem of immense importance in computer vision. Previous approaches showcase the inability of even deep neural networks to learn informative representations across domain shift. This problem is more severe for tasks where acquiring hand labeled data is extremely hard and tedious. In this work, we focus on adapting the representations learned by segmentation networks across synthetic and real domains. Contrary to previous approaches that use a simple adversarial objective or superpixel information to aid the process, we propose an approach based on Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) that brings the embeddings closer in the learned feature space. To showcase the generality and scalability of our approach, we show that we can achieve state of the art results on two challenging scenarios of synthetic to real domain adaptation. Additional exploratory experiments show that our approach: (1) generalizes to unseen domains and (2) results in improved alignment of source and target distributions.
Olive-oil effectiveness in the prevention of pressure ulcers caused in immobilized patients within the scope of primary health care: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

Pressure ulcers (PU) are considered as an important issue affecting mainly to immobilized elderly patients, thus, increasing the care burden to the professional staff of the healthcare service as well as the pharmaceutical expenditure. There are a number of studies on effectiveness of different products used for the prevention of UP, however, most of these studies were carried out within the hospital scope using basically hyperoxygenated fatty acids (HOFA). There are no studies focused specifically in the use of olive oil-made products and therefore the research group is intended to seek the most cost-effective treatment and achieving an alternative treatment.
Comparative analysis of alternative polyadenylation in S. cerevisiae and S. pombe

Alternative polyadenylation (APA) is a widespread mechanism that generates mRNA isoforms with distinct properties. Here we have systematically mapped and compared cleavage and polyadenylation sites (PASs) in two yeast species, S. cerevisiae and S. pombe. Although >80% of the mRNA genes in each species were found to display APA, S. pombe showed greater 3′ UTR size differences among APA isoforms than did S. cerevisiae. PASs in different locations of gene are surrounded with distinct sequences in both species and are often associated with motifs involved in the Nrd1-Nab3-Sen1 termination pathway. In S. pombe, strong motifs surrounding distal PASs lead to higher abundances of long 3′ UTR isoforms than short ones, a feature that is opposite in S. cerevisiae. Differences in PAS placement between convergent genes lead to starkly different antisense transcript landscapes between budding and fission yeasts. In both species, short 3′ UTR isoforms are more likely to be expressed when cells are growing in nutrient-rich media, although different gene groups are affected in each species. Significantly, 3′ UTR shortening in S. pombe coordinates with up-regulation of expression for genes involved in translation during cell proliferation. Using S. pombe strains deficient for Pcf11 or Pab2, we show that reduced expression of 3′-end processing factors lengthens 3′ UTR, with Pcf11 having a more potent effect than Pab2. Taken together, our data indicate that APA mechanisms in S. pombe and S. cerevisiae are largely different: S. pombe has many of the APA features of higher species, and Pab2 in S. pombe has a different role in APA regulation than its mammalian homolog, PABPN1.
Evaluating Sativex® in Neuropathic Pain Management: A Clinical and Neurophysiological Assessment in Multiple Sclerosis.

OBJECTIVE The aim of our study was to better investigate the role of Sativex(®) in improving pain in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients by means of either clinical or neurophysiological assessment. SETTING Pain is a common symptom of MS, affecting up to 70% of patients. Pain treatment is often unsatisfactory, although emerging drugs (including cannabinoids) are giving encouraging results. Clinical pain assessment in MS is very difficult, and more objective tools are necessary to better quantify this symptom and its potential response to the treatments. SUBJECTS AND METHODS We enrolled 20 MS patients (10 with and 10 without neuropathic pain), who underwent a specific clinical (such as visual analog scale) and neurophysiological assessment (by means of laser-evoked potentials and transcranial magnetic stimulation), before and after 4 weeks of Sativex administration. RESULTS One month of drug administration in MS patients with neuropathic pain successfully reduced pain rating and improved quality of life. Interestingly, such effects were paralleled by an increase of fronto-central γ-band oscillation and of pain-motor integration strength. CONCLUSIONS Our data suggest that Sativex may be effective in improving MS-related neuropathic pain, maybe through its action on specific cortical pathways.
The androgen receptor malignancy shift in prostate cancer

Androgens and the androgen receptor (AR) are necessary for the development, function, and homeostatic growth regulation of the prostate gland. However, once prostate cells are transformed, the AR is necessary for the proliferation and survival of the malignant cells. This change in AR function appears to occur in nearly every prostate cancer. We have termed this the AR malignancy shift.
Measuring Intraocular Pressure: How Important is the Central Corneal Thickness?

Measurement of intraocular pressure (IOP) is fundamental to the management of glaucoma since it remains the only modifiable risk factor. Recent studies, especially on ocular hypertensives (OHT),1-3 have stressed upon the influence of central corneal thickness (CCT) on IOP measurement. It is now quite well recognized that abnormally thick or thin corneas give rise to fallacious IOP measurement. Recent evidence suggests that it is not the central corneal thickness alone, but that other factors of corneal biomechanics also matter in influencing the IOP measurement. This review will look at the importance of central corneal thickness in the management of glaucoma and glaucoma suspects. We will also discuss other corneal factors such as elasticity and corneal hysteresis, and how new technology promises to measure IOP taking these factors into consideration.
Provisional in-silico biopharmaceutics classification (BCS) to guide oral drug product development

The main objective of this work was to investigate in-silico predictions of physicochemical properties, in order to guide oral drug development by provisional biopharmaceutics classification system (BCS). Four in-silico methods were used to estimate LogP: group contribution (CLogP) using two different software programs, atom contribution (ALogP), and element contribution (KLogP). The correlations (r2) of CLogP, ALogP and KLogP versus measured LogP data were 0.97, 0.82, and 0.71, respectively. The classification of drugs with reported intestinal permeability in humans was correct for 64.3%–72.4% of the 29 drugs on the dataset, and for 81.82%–90.91% of the 22 drugs that are passively absorbed using the different in-silico algorithms. Similar permeability classification was obtained with the various in-silico methods. The in-silico calculations, along with experimental melting points, were then incorporated into a thermodynamic equation for solubility estimations that largely matched the reference solubility values. It was revealed that the effect of melting point on the solubility is minor compared to the partition coefficient, and an average melting point (162.7°C) could replace the experimental values, with similar results. The in-silico methods classified 20.76% (±3.07%) as Class 1, 41.51% (±3.32%) as Class 2, 30.49% (±4.47%) as Class 3, and 6.27% (±4.39%) as Class 4. In conclusion, in-silico methods can be used for BCS classification of drugs in early development, from merely their molecular formula and without foreknowledge of their chemical structure, which will allow for the improved selection, engineering, and developability of candidates. These in-silico methods could enhance success rates, reduce costs, and accelerate oral drug products development.
Lifeguard: Local Health Awareness for More Accurate Failure Detection

SWIM is a peer-to-peer group membership protocol, with attractive scaling and robustness properties. However, our experience supporting an implementation of SWIM shows that a high rate of false positive failure detections (healthy members being marked as failed) is possible in certain real world scenarios, and that this is due to SWIM's sensitivity to slow message processing. To address this we propose a set of extensions to SWIM (together called Lifeguard), which employ heuristic measures of a failure detector's local health. In controlled tests, Lifeguard is able to reduce the false positive rate by more than 50x. Real world deployment of the extensions has significantly reduced support requests and observed instability. The need for this work points to the fail-stop failure model being overly simplistic for large datacenters, where the likelihood of some nodes experiencing transient CPU starvation, IO flakiness, random packet loss, or other non-crash problems becomes high. With increasing attention being given to these gray failures, we believe the local health abstraction may be applicable in a broad range of settings, including other kinds of distributed failure detectors.
Anti-Inflammatory and Antinociceptive Properties of Flavonoids from the Fruits of Black Mulberry (Morus nigra L.)

We analyzed the anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive activities of total flavonoids (TF) found in black mulberry fruits. The TF content was 20.9 mg/g (dry weight). Two anthocyanins, cyanidin-3-O-glucoside (8.3 mg/g) and cyanidin-3-O-rutinoside (2.9 mg/g), were identified in the fruits by UPLC. The TF of black mulberry fruits had significant reducing power and radical (OH-, O2.−, DPPH and ABTS) scavenging activities that was demonstrated in a dose-response curve. The TF had inhibitory activities on xylene-induced ear edema and carrageenan-induced paw edema in mice. In addition, TF had antinociceptive activities in the two nociceptive phases of formalin test. We used ELISA to detect the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β, TNF-α, IFN-γ, and NO in the serum of mice. These cytokines were significantly inhibited or scavenged by TF (50 and 100 mg/kg). The results demonstrated that TF of black mulberry possess anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects that might correlate to its antioxidant activities and inhibition of pro-inflammatory cytokines.
Planting date affects total glucosinolate concentrations in six commercial cabbage cultivars

Glucosinolates are secondary plant metabolites derived from amino acids and they influence human health, pest populations and crop flavor. Our primary objective was to determine the independent and interactive effects of planting date (PD) and cultivar (C) on total glucosinolate concentrations in cabbage, in part to help develop management systems that optimize them. A second objective was to explore the reported link between total glucosinolate concentrations and pungency in fresh cabbage. Six commercial fresh market cabbage cultivars were planted in May and June 2001 and 2002 at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) Vegetable Crops Research Branch in Fremont, Ohio. Total glucosinolate concentrations in horticulturally mature heads were determined using a glucose evolution procedure. In 2001, 12 to 14 experienced panelists also scored sample pungency. Total glucosinolate concentrations were significantly affected by PD and C, but the PD x C interaction was not significant. Mean glucosinolate concentrations were greater in May- than June-planted cabbage in both years. Cultivar ranking with regard to glucosinolate concentrations was similar between planting dates in both years. 'Cheers' had the highest mean glucosinolate concentrations (23.1 and 29.5 mmol.kg -1 dry weight in 2001 and 2002, respectively) and 'Solid Blue 790' the lowest (17.1 and 19.7 mmol.kg -1 dry weight in 2001 and 2002, respectively). In 2001, panelists generally scored cultivars highest in glucosinolates as more pungent than cultivars lowest in glucosinolates. These data suggest that planting date and cultivar effects on total glucosinolate concentrations in cabbage are largely independent. Climatic data suggest that higher air temperatures during head development of May- compared to June-planted cabbage induced plant stress and resulted in higher glucosinolate concentrations in May-planted cabbage.