Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sox2 regulates astrocytic and vascular development in the retina

Sox2 is a transcriptional regulator that is highly expressed in retinal astrocytes, yet its function in these cells has not previously been examined. To understand its role, we conditionally deleted Sox2 from the population of astrocytes and examined the consequences on retinal development. We found that Sox2 deletion does not alter the migration of astrocytes, but it impairs their maturation, evidenced by the delayed upregulation of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) across the retina. The centro‐peripheral gradient of angiogenesis is also delayed in Sox2‐CKO retinas. In the mature retina, we observed lasting abnormalities in the astrocytic population evidenced by the sporadic loss of GFAP immunoreactivity in the peripheral retina as well as by the aberrant extension of processes into the inner retina. Blood vessels in the adult retina are also under‐developed and show a decrease in the frequency of branch points and in total vessel length. The developmental relationship between maturing astrocytes and angiogenesis suggests a causal relationship between the astrocytic loss of Sox2 and the vascular architecture in maturity. We suggest that the delay in astrocytic maturation and vascular invasion may render the retina hypoxic, thereby causing the abnormalities we observe in adulthood. These studies uncover a novel role for Sox2 in the development of retinal astrocytes and indicate that its removal can lead to lasting changes to retinal homeostasis.
Blindness associated with nasal/paranasal lymphoma in a stallion

A 29-year-old stallion presented with bilateral blindness following the chronic purulent nasal drainage. The mass occupied the right caudal nasal cavity and right paranasal sinuses including maxillary, palatine and sphenoidal sinuses, and the right-side turbinal and paranasal septal bones, and cribriform plate of ethmoid bone were destructively replaced by the mass growth. The right optic nerve was invaded and involved by the mass, and the left optic nerve and optic chiasm were compressed by the mass which was extended and invaded the skull base. Histologically, the optic nerves and optic chiasm were degenerated, and the mass was diagnosed as lymphoma which was morphologically and immunohistochemically classified as a diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Based on these findings, the cause of the blindness in the stallion was concluded to be due to the degeneration of the optic nerves and chiasm associated with lymphoma occurring in the nasal and paranasal cavities. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of the equine blindness with optic nerve degeneration accompanied by lymphoma.
Efficacy of Moxidectin Versus Ivermectin Against Strongyloides stercoralis Infections: A Randomized, Controlled Noninferiority Trial

Background Infections with Strongyloides stercoralis are of considerable public health relevance. Moxidectin, a well-established drug in veterinary medicine under consideration for regulatory submission for the treatment of onchocerciasis, might serve as an alternative to the widely used ivermectin. Methods We conducted an exploratory, randomized, single-blind trial to evaluate the efficacy and safety of moxidectin (8 mg) vs ivermectin (200 μg/kg) against S. stercoralis infections. Cure rate (CR) against S. stercoralis was the primary outcome. Safety and efficacy against coinfections with soil-transmitted helminths and Opisthorchis viverrini were secondary outcomes. Noninferiority required the lower limit of the 95% confidence interval (CI) of the differences in CRs not exceed 7 percentage points. Results A total of 127 participants were enrolled and randomly assigned to the 2 treatments whereby 1 participant per arm was lost to follow-up. We observed a CR of 93.7% (59/63) for moxidectin compared to 95.2% (59/62) for ivermectin. Differences between CRs were estimated as -1.5% percentage points (95% CI, -9.6 to 6.5), thus the lower limit of the CI exceeds the noninferiority margin of 7 percentage points. No side effects were observed. CRs against hookworm infection were 57% (moxidectin) and 56% (ivermectin). Low efficacy for both drugs against O. viverrini was observed. Conclusions Moxidectin might be a safe and efficacious alternative to ivermectin for the treatment of S. stercoralis infection, given that only slight differences in CRs were observed. However, noninferiority could not be demonstrated. Larger clinical trials should be conducted once the drug is marketed. Clinical Trials Registration Current Controlled Trials: ISRCTN11983645.
Development of Ecologically Acceptable Chlorpyrifos Formulation for Effective and Safe Application

Application of the commercial formulation of chlorpyrifos has resulted in considerable environmental contamination. This study was designed to develop environmentally acceptable chlorpyrifos formulation for safe and effective application. This involved the modification of clay surfaces from hydrophilic to hydrophobic via ion-exchange reaction with organic cations. The resulting organo-clay complexes were tested for adsorption and release of chlorpyrifos. HPLC and FTIR measurements showed considerable adsorption and strong interaction between chlorpyrifos molecules and the organo-clay complexes. Basal spacing results emphasized the formation of suitable micro-pores for chlorpyrifos molecules. HPLC and bioassay techniques confirmed the slow release of chlorpyrifos. Leaching potential showed retention of chlorpyrifos in the top soil. Therefore application of organoclay formulation of chlorpyrifos may reduce their potential environmental contamination and produce safe applications.
Neuro-Behçet’s Disease: A Review of Neurological Manifestations and Its Treatment

Behcet’s disease (BD) is an inflammatory disorder characterized by recurrent oral and genital ulcers, ocular inflammation, arthritis and skin lesions. Neuro-Behcet’s disease (NBD) is found in 5–30% of patients and is classified into parenchymal and non-parenchymal manifestations. Most common parenchymal NBD manifestation is brainstem meningoencephalitis and patients may also have cranial nerve palsies, myelitis, epilepsy and peripheral neuropathy. Non-parenchymal NBD manifestations are cerebral venous thrombosis and aseptic meningitis. NBD usually develop abruptly and generally clear completely within weeks, however a third of patients evolve with progressive course. Moreover, patients with BD without overt neurological manifestations may present silent neurological involvement, with abnormal findings on neuropsychological, neurophysiological and neuroimaging studies. NBD is an adverse prognostic factor. Herein we review NBD manifestations and its treatment.
PPC: Popularity Prediction Caching in ICN

Thriving future network conceives embedding the ubiquitous in-network caching. The fine-grained cache behavior reveals an intimate relationship among contents in the same stream—sequenced contents have similar cache behavior. This letter presents a novel cache replacement method named popularity prediction caching (PPC) for chunk-level cache by discovering the relevance among video chunks in information centric network from the perspective of user watching behavior. PPC predicts and caches the future most popular chunks and evicts those with least future popularity in a linear complexity. Simulations in a GEANT model show that PPC outperforms cache policy based on content popularity, least recently used, least frequently used, and first in first out.
Self-Localization of a Deforming Swarm of Underwater Vehicles Using Impulsive Sound Sources of Opportunity

There is increasing interest in deploying swarms of underwater vehicles for marine surveys. One of the main challenges when designing these systems is coming up with an appropriate way to localize each vehicle in relation to one another. This paper considers the self-localization of a deforming swarm of subsurface floating vehicles using impulsive sources of opportunity, such as the sounds of snapping shrimp that are present in warm coastal waters. Impulsive sound sources provide high intensity, broadband signals that facilitate accurate arrival time detections across each vehicle. This makes them useful references for a self-localization solution. However, the similarity between different signals presents a significant correspondence problem, which must be solved to provide accurate estimates of the changing geometry of the swarm. A geometric solution to this correspondence problem is shown and an optimization procedure is proposed to track the geometry of a swarm as it changes. The method is verified using a swarm of 17 self-ballasting subsurface floats that independently drifted with currents off of the coast of San Diego, California. The changing geometry of the floats was estimated using both an acoustic localization system and the proposed approach. The two estimates show good agreement, validating our method. We believe that this new localization strategy is useful for high endurance, low power, and multi-vehicle surveys.
Efficient Spectrum Sensing for Aeronautical LDACS Using Low-Power Correlators

Air traffic has seen tremendous growth over the past decade pushing the need for enhanced air traffic management schemes. The $L$ -band digital aeronautical communication system (LDACS) is gaining traction as a scheme of choice, and aims to exploit the capabilities of modern digital communication techniques and computing architectures. Cognitive radio-based approaches have also been proposed for LDACS to improve spectrum efficiency and communication capacity; however, these require intelligent compute capability in aircrafts that enforce limited space and power budgets. This paper proposes the use of multiplierless correlation to enable spectrum sensing in LDACS air-to-ground links, and its integration into the on-board LDACS system. The proposed architecture offers improved performance over traditional energy detection (ED) even at low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) with lower energy consumption than a multiplier-based correlator, while also assisting in receiver synchronization. We evaluate the proposed architecture on a Xilinx Zynq field-programmable gate array and show that our approach results in 28.3% reduction in energy consumption over the multiplier-based approach. Our results also show that the proposed architecture offers 100% accuracy in detection even at −12-dB SNR without requiring additional circuitry for noise estimation, which are an integral part of ED-based approaches.
Expression and Putative Function of Innate Immunity Genes under in situ Conditions in the Symbiotic Hydrothermal Vent Tubeworm Ridgeia piscesae

The relationships between hydrothermal vent tubeworms and sulfide-oxidizing bacteria have served as model associations for understanding chemoautotrophy and endosymbiosis. Numerous studies have focused on the physiological and biochemical adaptations that enable these symbioses to sustain some of the highest recorded carbon fixation rates ever measured. However, far fewer studies have explored the molecular mechanisms underlying the regulation of host and symbiont interactions, specifically those mediated by the innate immune system of the host. To that end, we conducted a series of studies where we maintained the tubeworm, Ridgeia piscesae, in high-pressure aquaria and examined global and quantitative changes in gene expression via high-throughput transcriptomics and quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR). We analyzed over 32,000 full-length expressed sequence tags as well as 26 Mb of transcript sequences from the trophosome (the organ that houses the endosymbiotic bacteria) and the plume (the gas exchange organ in contact with the free-living microbial community). R. piscesae maintained under conditions that promote chemoautotrophy expressed a number of putative cell signaling and innate immunity genes, including pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), often associated with recognizing microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs). Eighteen genes involved with innate immunity, cell signaling, cell stress and metabolite exchange were further analyzed using qPCR. PRRs, including five peptidoglycan recognition proteins and a Toll-like receptor, were expressed significantly higher in the trophosome compared to the plume. Although PRRs are often associated with mediating host responses to infection by pathogens, the differences in expression between the plume and trophosome also implicate similar mechanisms of microbial recognition in interactions between the host and symbiont. We posit that regulation of this association involves a molecular “dialogue” between the partners that includes interactions between the host’s innate immune system and the symbiont.
Risk of Motor Vehicle Accidents Related to Sleepiness at the Wheel: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Study Objectives Sleepiness at the wheel is widely believed to be a cause of motor vehicle accidents. Nevertheless, a systematic review of studies investigating this relationship has not yet been published. The objective of this study was to quantify the relationship between sleepiness at the wheel and motor vehicle accidents. Methods A systematic review was performed using Medline, Scopus, and ISI Web of Science. The outcome measure of interest was motor vehicle accident defined as involving four- or two-wheeled vehicles in road traffic, professional and nonprofessional drivers, with or without objective consequences. The exposure was sleepiness at the wheel defined as self-reported sleepiness at the wheel. Studies were included if they provided adjusted risk estimates of motor vehicle accidents related to sleepiness at the wheel. Risk estimates and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were extracted and pooled as odds ratios (ORs) using a random-effect model. Heterogeneity was quantified using Q statistics and the I2 index. The potential causes of heterogeneity were investigated using meta-regressions. Results Ten cross-sectional studies (51,520 participants), six case-control studies (4904 participants), and one cohort study (13,674 participants) were included. Sleepiness at the wheel was associated with an increased risk of motor vehicle accidents (pooled OR 2.51 [95% CI 1.87; 3.39]). A significant heterogeneity was found between the individual risk estimates (Q = 93.21; I2 = 83%). Conclusions Sleepiness at the wheel increases the risk of motor vehicle accidents and should be considered when investigating fitness to drive. Further studies are required to explore the nature of this relationship. Systematic review registration number PROSPERO 2015 CRD42015024805.
Moderate Dose of Trolox Preventing the Deleterious Effects of Wi-Fi Radiation on Spermatozoa In vitro through Reduction of Oxidative Stress Damage

Background: The worsening of semen quality, due to the application of Wi-Fi, can be ameliorated by Vitamin E. This study aimed to demonstrate whether a moderate dose of trolox, a new Vitamin E, inhibits oxidative damage on sperms in vitro after exposure to Wi-Fi radiation. Methods: Each of the twenty qualified semen, gathered from June to October 2014 in eugenics clinic, was separated into four aliquots, including sham, Wi-Fi-exposed, Wi-Fi plus 5 mmol/L trolox, and Wi-Fi plus 10 mmol/L trolox groups. At 0 min, all baseline parameters of the 20 samples were measured in sequence. Reactive oxygen species, glutathione, and superoxide dismutase were evaluated in the four aliquots at 45 and 90 min, as were sperm DNA fragments, sperm mitochondrial potential, relative amplification of sperm mitochondrial DNA, sperm vitality, and progressive and immotility sperm. The parameters were analyzed by one-way analysis of variance and Tukey's posttest. Results: Among Wi-Fi plus 5 mmol/L trolox, Wi-Fi-exposed and Wi-Fi plus 10 mmol/L trolox groups, reactive oxygen species levels (45 min: 3.80 ± 0.41 RLU·10−6·ml−1 vs. 7.50 ± 0.35 RLU·10−6·ml−1 vs. 6.70 ± 0.47 RLU·10−6·ml−1, P < 0.001; 90 min: 5.40 ± 0.21 RLU·10−6·ml−1 vs. 10.10 ± 0.31 RLU·10−6·ml−1 vs. 7.00 ± 0.42 RLU·10−6·ml−1, P < 0.001, respectively), percentages of tail DNA (45 min: 16.8 ± 2.0% vs. 31.9 ± 2.5% vs. 61.3 ± 1.6%, P < 0.001; 90 min: 19.7 ± 1.5% vs. 73.7 ± 1.3% vs. 73.1 ± 1.1%, P < 0.001, respectively), 8-hydroxy-2’-deoxyguanosine (45 min: 51.89 ± 1.46 pg/ml vs. 104.89 ± 2.19 pg/ml vs. 106.11 ± 1.81 pg/ml, P = 0.012; 90 min: 79.96 ± 1.73 pg/ml vs. 141.73 ± 2.90 pg/ml vs. 139.06 ± 2.79 pg/ml; P < 0.001), and percentages of immotility sperm (45 min: 27.7 ± 2.7% vs. 41.7 ± 2.2% vs. 41.7 ± 2.5%; 90 min: 29.9 ± 3.3% vs. 58.9 ± 4.0% vs. 63.1 ± 4.0%; all P < 0.001) were lowest, and glutathione peroxidase (45 min: 60.50 ± 1.54 U/ml vs. 37.09 ± 1.77 U/ml vs. 28.18 ± 1.06 U/ml; 90 min: 44.61 ± 1.23 U/ml vs. 16.86 ± 0.93 U/ml vs. 29.94 ± 1.56 U/ml; all P < 0.001), percentages of head DNA (45 min: 83.2 ± 2.0% vs. 68.2 ± 2.5% vs. 38.8 ± 1.6%; 90 min: 80.3 ± 1.5% vs. 26.3 ± 1.3% vs. 26.9 ± 1.1%; all P < 0.001), percentages of sperm vitality (45 min: 89.5 ± 1.6% vs. 70.7 ± 3.1% vs. 57.7 ± 2.4%; 90 min: 80.8 ± 2.2% vs. 40.4 ± 4.0% vs. 34.7 ± 3.9%; all P < 0.001), and progressive sperm (45 min: 69.3 ± 2.7% vs. 55.8 ± 2.2% vs. 55.4 ± 2.5%; 90 min: 67.2 ± 3.3% vs. 38.2 ± 4.0% vs. 33.9 ± 4.0%; all P < 0.001) were highest in Wi-Fi plus 5 mmol/L trolox group at 45 and 90 min, respectively. Other parameters were not affected, while the sham group maintained the baseline. Conclusion: This study found that 5 mmol/L trolox protected the Wi-Fi-exposed semen in vitro from the damage of electromagnetic radiation-induced oxidative stress.
The lived experiences of dementia in married couple relationships

Background and purpose There are a growing number of couples who become affected by dementia as one partner develops the condition while the other becomes a carer. However, our knowledge about the experiences of couples affected by dementia is limited. Very little knowledge about the impact of dementia on couples has been gained in previous research. The aim of this study was to explore the dyadic perspective of dementia within a couple relationship. Methodology: Six couples were interviewed about their experience of living with dementia. Interview transcripts were subjected to interpretive phenomenological analysis to identify themes across participants’ accounts. Results and conclusion: The analysis revealed three themes: (i) maintaining a bond, (ii) change and adjustment, and (iii) the challenge of coping. The results highlight the importance of studying the dyadic perspective and including people with dementia in research. Couples experienced an enduring commitment to one another as they adjusted to life with dementia.
An Evaluation Of Flexural Strength Of Different Provisional Restorative Materials- An In-Vitro Study

A provisional restorative material must be strong enough to resist fracture during function. In this study four different provisional restorative materials were tested. Fifteen specimens of each test material were fabricated using a standardized brass mould measuring 26×10× 2mm and checked by Vernier caliper. All specimens were immersed in normal saline for 24 hours before testing. Universal testing machine with a cross head speed of 1.25 mm/min speed was used for flexural strength test. Result showed that the highest mean flexural strength was displayed by heat cured acrylic resin group (0.1355) which showed F value of 29.969 which was highly significant (p<0.001) while light cured composite resin group exhibited the lowest mean flexural strength i.e. 0.0704. In intergroup comparisons student's t test was performed. Within the limitations of this study, it may be concluded that the highest mean flexural strength was Heat cured acrylic resin followed by auto polymerized composite resin, auto polymerized cold cured acrylic resin and light cured composite resin.
Impact of Total Mesorectal Excision on Bladder and Sexual Function inRectal Cancer

Background: In this prospective study we evaluated bladder, sexual function and frequency of identification of pelvic autonomic nerve preservation (PANP) after open total mesorectal excision in males with operable carcinoma rectum below 12 cm. Patients and Methods: prospective study of 47 male patients of carcinoma rectum 4-12 centimetres from anal verge. The preoperative status was used for comparison with the post-operative and follow up status of same patient. Sexual function was assessed by international index of erectile function questionnaires (IIEF) and bladder function was assessed by uroflowmetry, transcutaneous ultrasound and international prostate symptom score (IPSS). Results: IIEF score decreased at 1month post operation with significant change in p-value and at 3 month with an insignificant change in P-value. After 3 months sexual dysfunction was reported in 30% patients. Erectile function was also significantly decreased at 1 month and at 3 months it was seen in 37% of patients. Change in IPSS was significant at 1month and resultant bladder function was present in 90% of patients and at 3 months present in 28% of patients. Resultant bladder dysfunction with USG was 82% and 30% after 1 and 3 months of surgery respectively. With urodynamics resultant bladder dysfunction was present in 77% and 29% of patients respectively after 1 and 3 months of surgery. Pelvic autonomic nerves were identified in 96% patients and complete preservation of nerves was achieved in 89% patients and partial preservation was achieved 6% and in 4% pelvic autonomic nerves could not be identified. Conclusion: Bladder and sexual dysfunction can be decreased after an meticulous nerve sparing total mesorectal excision. IIEF and IPSS are all well suited to evaluate bladder and sexual dysfunction after rectal surgery.
An effect of crystal tilt on the determination of ions displacements in perovskite oxides under BF/HAADF-STEM imaging mode

Effects of crystal tilt on the determination of the relative positions of different ion columns in compounds such as ferroelectric PbTiO_3 are of critical importance, because the displacements of Ti and O relative to Pb correlate directly to the spontaneous polarization and ferroelectric properties. Here a study about the effects of small-angle crystal tilt on the relative image spots positions of different ions in PbTiO_3 was carried out under high angle angular dark-field (HAADF) and bright-field imaging for aberration corrected Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope. The results indicate that crystal tilt affects the relative positions of Pb, Ti, and O greatly, and the effects are proved to depend highly on crystal tilt angle and PTO thickness. HAADF image simulations on PbTiO_3, SrTiO_3, and SrRuO_3 indicate that the difference in atomic number is a main contributor to the relative image spot position change of different ion columns when crystal tilts.
A linear time algorithm for a variant of the max cut problem in series parallel graphs

Given a graph $G=(V, E)$, a connected sides cut $(U, V\backslash U)$ or $\delta (U)$ is the set of edges of E linking all vertices of U to all vertices of $V\backslash U$ such that the induced subgraphs $G[U]$ and $G[V\backslash U]$ are connected. Given a positive weight function $w$ defined on $E$, the maximum connected sides cut problem (MAX CS CUT) is to find a connected sides cut $\Omega$ such that $w(\Omega)$ is maximum. MAX CS CUT is NP-hard. In this paper, we give a linear time algorithm to solve MAX CS CUT for series parallel graphs. We deduce a linear time algorithm for the minimum cut problem in the same class of graphs without computing the maximum flow.
On gradients of functions definable in o-minimal structures

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