Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Translational Comparative Study of nJ-and l J-Energy Level Femtosecond Lasers : Evaluation of Flap Adhesion Strength , Stromal Bed Quality , and Tissue Responses

Citation: Riau AK, Liu Y-C, Lwin NC, et al. Comparative study of nJand lJenergy level femtosecond lasers: evaluation of flap adhesion strength, stromal bed quality, and tissue responses. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2014;55:3186–3194. DOI:10.1167/ iovs.14-14434 PURPOSE. To compare flap adhesion strength, stromal bed quality, and tissue responses after flap preparation using nJand lJ-energy level femtosecond lasers. METHODS. All corneal flaps were created by either VisuMax laser (lJ-energy level) or femtoLDV (nJ-energy level). Flap adhesion strength in the rabbits was measured with a tension meter 1 and 2 months postoperatively. To investigate tissue responses to laser delivery, immunofluorescence staining and TUNEL assay were performed 4 and 24 hours postoperatively. To assess flap bed smoothness, human donor corneas were used. Surface irregularities were graded based on scanning electron microscopy results.
Research Progresses in Understanding the Pathophysiology of Moyamoya Disease

Background: The pathogenesis of moyamoya disease (MMD) is still unknown. The detection of inflammatory molecules such as cytokines, chemokines and growth factors in MMD patients' biological fluids supports the hypothesis that an abnormal angiogenesis is implicated in MMD pathogenesis. However, it is unclear whether these anomalies are the consequences of the disease or rather causal factors as well as these mechanisms remain insufficient to explain the pathophysiology of MMD. The presence of a family history in about 9-15% of Asian patients, the highly variable incidence rate between different ethnic and sex groups and the age of onset support the role of genetic factors in MMD pathogenesis. However, although some genetic loci have been associated with MMD, few of them have been replicated in independent series. Recently, RNF213 gene was shown to be strongly associated with MMD occurrence with a founder effect in East Asian patients. However, the mechanisms leading from RNF213 mutations to MMD clinical features are still unknown. Summary: The research on pathogenic mechanism of MMD is in its infancy. MMD is probably a complex and heterogeneous disorder, including different phenotypes and genotypes, in which more than a single factor is implicated. Key Message: Since the diagnosis of MMD is rapidly increasing worldwide, the development of more efficient stratifying risk systems, including both clinical but also biological drivers became imperative to improve our ability of predict prognosis and to develop mechanism-tailored interventions.
Interpreting Arts Audiences and Cultural Preference Through Twitter Data

In this study we work with a multi-arts organisation to assess the appropriateness of natural language processing methods for the analysis of audience behaviours and interests via Twitter. We investigate supervised and unsupervised topic modelling methods to investigate whether they can: i) capture the nuanced diﬀerences between art genres/forms; ii) characterise users according to their cultural interests; and iii) help to surface the more culturally mobile members of the audience. We show promising results: supervised methods showed high accuracy (95%) in ﬁltering data for relevance and pre-deﬁned topics; unsupervised methods provided novel topic discovery, showing sophisticated genre groupings and discovering audience members with wider interests
Beyond the Single-Person, Single-Insight Attribution in Understanding Entrepreneurial Opportunities

This article helps develop the creativity perspective within entrepreneurship in two ways. First, it elaborates on the nature of opportunity as a creative product. Rather than viewing opportunities as single insights, it suggests that they are emerging through the continuous shaping and development of (raw) ideas that are acted upon. Second, rather than attributing them to a particular individual, it highlights the contextual and social influences that affect the generation and shaping of ideas. This helps move entrepreneurship research beyond the single–person, single–insight attribution that currently permeates it.
Medical Laser-Induced Thermotherapy - Models and Applications

Heat has long been utilised as a therapeutic tool in medicine. Laser-induced thermotherapy aims at achieving the local destruction of lesions, relying on the conversion of the light absorbed by the tissue into heat. In interstitial laser-induced thermotherapy, light is focused into thin optical fibres, which are placed deep into the tumour mass. The objective of this work was to increase the understanding of the physical and biological phenomena governing the response to laser-induced thermotherapy, with special reference to treatment of liver tumours and benign prostatic hyperplasia. Mathematical models were used to calculate the distribution of light absorption and the subsequent temperature distribution in laser-irradiated tissues. The models were used to investigate the influence on the temperature distribution of a number of different factors, such as the design of the laser probe, the number of fibres, the optical properties of the tissue, the duration of irradiation, blood perfusion and boundary conditions. New results concerning transurethral microwave thermotherapy were obtained by incorporating the distribution of absorbed microwaves into the model. Prototypes of new laser applicators for anatomically correct treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia were developed and tested ex vivo. Experimental work on liver tumours pointed to the importance of eliminating the blood flow in the liver during treatment to reduce convective heat loss. In addition, it was shown that hepatic inflow occlusion during treatment increased the thermal sensitivity of tumour tissue. The dynamic influence of interstitial laser thermotherapy on liver perfusion was investigated using interstitial laser Doppler flowmetry. Vessel damage after the combined treatment of laser-induced heat treatment and photodynamic therapy was studied. (Less)
Effects of Self-Image on Anxiety, Judgement Bias and Emotion Regulation in Social Anxiety Disorder

Background: Research to date has focused on the detrimental effects of negative self-images for individuals with social anxiety disorder (SAD), but the benefits of positive self-images have been neglected. Aims: The present study examined the effect of holding a positive versus negative self-image in mind on anxiety, judgement bias and emotion regulation (ER) in individuals with SAD. Method: Forty-two individuals who met the diagnostic criteria for SAD were randomly assigned to either a positive or a negative self-image group. Participants were assessed twice with a week's interval in between using the Reactivity and Regulation Situation Task, which measures social anxiety, discomfort, judgement bias and ER, prior to and after the inducement of a positive or negative self-image. Results: Individuals in the positive self-image group reported less social anxiety, discomfort and distress from social cost when compared with their pre-induction state. They also used more adaptive ER strategies and experienced less anxiety and discomfort after using ER. In contrast, individuals in the negative self-image group showed no significant differences in anxiety, judgement bias or ER strategies before and after the induction. Conclusions: This study highlights the beneficial effects of positive self-images on social anxiety and ER.
Indigenous land rights and legal pluralism among Philippine Highlanders : Land and the natural environment. III

Les populations indigenes de la region de Cordillera dans les Philippines conservent un pluralisme juridique en invoquant plusieurs facteurs : le droit coutumier, le droit national, le droit international et les principes des droits de l'homme, pour reclamer des terres ancestrales. Bien que la Cour supreme des Etats-Unis ait statue en 1909 que les terres philippines occupees depuis des temps immemoraux soient presumees n'avoir jamais ete nationalisees, la doctrine royale de la colonie espagnole, qui decoule de la declaration de l'explorateur Magellan, attestant que toutes les terres de l'archipel appartenaient a la couronne espagnole, demeure le socle theorique du droit national philippin. Les terres qui ne sont pas repertoriees dans des documents officiels, comme les hautes terres occupees par les groupes indigenes qui n'ont pas obtenu de titres legaux, sont considerees comme appartenant au domaine public. Recemment, les projets de construction d'un barrage, des concessions d'exploitation forestiere et d'agriculture commerciale dans ces hautes terres, ont renouvele les efforts des groupes indigenes de revendiquer le droit aux terres ancestrales menacees par les inondations, la deforestation et la depossession
GC-ASM: synergistic integration of active shape modeling and graph-cut methods

Image segmentation methods may be classified into two categories: purely image based and model based. Each of these two classes has its own advantages and disadvantages. In this paper, we propose a novel synergistic combination of the image based graph-cut (GC) methods with the model based ASM methods to arrive at the GC-ASM method. GC-ASM effectively combines the rich statistical shape information embodied in ASM with the globally optimal delineation capability of the GC method. We propose a new GC cost function, which effectively integrates the specific image information with the ASM shape information. The ASM results are fully utilized to help GC in several ways: (1) For automatically selecting seeds to do GC segmentation, thus helping GC with object recognition; (2) For refining the parameters of the GC algorithm from the ASM result; (3) For bringing object shape information into the GC cost computation. (4) In turn, for using the cost of GC result to improve the ASM's object recognition process. The proposed methods are implemented to operate on 2D images and tested on a clinical abdominal CT data set. The results show: (1) GC-ASM becomes largely independent of initialization. (2) The number of landmarks can be reduced by a factor of 3 in GC-ASM over that in ASM. (3) The accuracy of segmentation via GC-ASM is considerably better than that of ASM.
DNA Methyltransferase Activity Assays: Advances and Challenges

DNA methyltransferases (MTases), a family of enzymes that catalyse the methylation of DNA, have a profound effect on gene regulation. A large body of evidence has indicated that DNA MTase is potentially a predictive biomarker closely associated with genetic disorders and genetic diseases like cancer. Given the attention bestowed onto DNA MTases in molecular biology and medicine, highly sensitive detection of DNA MTase activity is essential in determining gene regulation, epigenetic modification, clinical diagnosis and therapeutics. Conventional techniques such as isotope labelling are effective, but they often require laborious sample preparation, isotope labelling, sophisticated equipment and large amounts of DNA, rendering them unsuitable for uses at point-of-care. Simple, portable, highly sensitive and low-cost assays are urgently needed for DNA MTase activity screening. In most recent technological advances, many alternative DNA MTase activity assays such as fluorescent, electrochemical, colorimetric and chemiluminescent assays have been proposed. In addition, many of them are coupled with nanomaterials and/or enzymes to significantly enhance their sensitivity. Herein we review the progress in the development of DNA MTase activity assays with an emphasis on assay mechanism and performance with some discussion on challenges and perspectives. It is hoped that this article will provide a broad coverage of DNA MTase activity assays and their latest developments and open new perspectives toward the development of DNA MTase activity assays with much improved performance for uses in molecular biology and clinical practice.
Policies to Enhance Trade Facilitation in South Asia and Southeast Asia

This paper discusses trade facilitation in the context of enhancing trading links between South and Southeast Asia, in a manner understandable to the non-specialist. Presently, these two Asian regions tend to trade preferentially with distant markets. One of the reasons cited for the limited trade between themselves is that trade facilitation with trade partners in developed countries is more user friendly and stable. This suggests that enhancing trade facilitation within the two regions could promote intra- and inter-regional trade. The paper identifies the scope of trade facilitation and profiles the current overall situation in the two regions. It highlights the key issues and constraints, often referred to as non-trade barriers, in terms of both "soft" and "hard" infrastructure, and highlights ongoing initiatives designed to promote change, especially through the application of new approaches and procedures. Lastly, the paper concludes by discussing the key regional trade facilitation issues and proposing recommendations to eliminate these non-trade barriers that are adversely impacting on trade within and between these regions.
Childhood temperament and long-term sickness absence in adult life

Background Little is known as to whether childhood temperament is associated with long-term sickness absence in adult life. Aims To explore the associations between childhood temperament and long-term sickness absence in middle age. Method The Aberdeen Children of the 1950s study is comprised of 12 150 children born in Aberdeen 1950–55. Teachers completed the Aberdeen–London Child Behaviour Scale (Rutter B) for all participants in 1964. Current employment status was ascertained for 7183 (63.7%) in 2001. Results Five and a half per cent of responders classified themselves as ‘permanently sick or disabled’ at follow-up. ‘Often complains of aches and pains’ (OR=6.75, 95% CI 1.28–35.5) and ‘Often appears miserable or unhappy’ (OR=3.81, 95% CI 1.01–14.4) were strongly associated with being permanently sick or disabled following adjustment for year of birth, gender, IQ and father's social class. Conclusions Childhood temperament is strongly associated with sickness absence in middle age.
Changes in Reading Strategies in School-Age Children

Learning to read is one of the most important cognitive milestones in the human social environment. One of the most accepted models explaining such process is the Double-Route Cascaded Model. It suggests the existence of two reading strategies: lexical and sublexical. In the Spanish language there are some contradictions about how these strategies are applied for reading. In addition, there are only a few studies dealing with the analysis of shifts between them, achieving a fluent reading process. In this paper we use a reading task including words and pseudowords for characterizing the cost of shifting between reading strategies in children with developmental dyslexia and normal controls. Our results suggest the presence of both strategies in these two experimental groups. In controls, both strategies become more efficient in correspondence to the increased exposition to written material. However, in children with developmental dyslexia only the lexical strategy exhibits such improvement. Their also point to a low cost for shifting between strategies in controls and a much more significant one in children with developmental dyslexia, differentiating subgroups with distinct shifting patterns. El aprendizaje de la lectura constituye uno de los hitos cognitivos más importantes del entorno social humano. Uno de los modelos de lectura más aceptados ha sido el Modelo de Doble Ruta en Cascada que sugiere la existencia de dos estrategias de lectura: lexical y sublexical. En el idioma español existen datos contradictorios acerca de cómo se aplican estas estrategias y no hay estudios que describan cómo se realizan los cambios de una a otra para lograr una lectura fluida. En este trabajo utilizamos una tarea de lectura de palabras y pseudopalabras para caracterizar el costo de cambio de una a otra estrategia en niños buenos lectores y niños con dislexia del desarrollo. Nuestros resultados sugieren la presencia de ambas estrategias en los dos grupos. En los niños buenos lectores ambas estrategias se hacen más eficientes con el grado de exposición a la lectura. Sin embargo, en los niños disléxicos esto solo ocurre en la estrategia lexical. Además, indican que los niños buenos lectores desarrollan un bajo costo en el cambio de estrategia de lectura mientras que un subgrupo de niños disléxicos presenta un costo mayor, conformándose subgrupos con patrones diferentes de afectación selectiva.
The CLEVER ( Claudication : Exercise Vs . Endoluminal Revascularization ) Study : Rationale and Methods

Intermittent claudication is the primary symptom of peripheral arterial disease (PAD), affecting between 1 and 3 million Americans. Symptomatic improvement can be achieved by endovascular revascularization, but such procedures are invasive, expensive and may be associated with procedural adverse events. Medical treatment options, including claudication medications and supervised exercise training, are also known to be effective, albeit also with associated limitations. The CLEVER Study (Claudication: Exercise Vs. Endoluminal Revascularization), funded by the National Institutes of Health Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, is a prospective, multicenter, randomized, controlled clinical trial evaluating the relative efficacy, safety, and health economic impact of four treatment strategies for people with aortoiliac PAD and claudication. The treatment arms are: 1. optimal medical care (claudication pharmacotherapy); 2. primary stent placement; 3. supervised exercise rehabilitation; and 4. combined stenting with supervised exercise rehabilitation. CLEVER is a fiveyear randomized controlled clinical trial to be conducted at approximately 25 centers in the U.S. that will follow 252 patients and their responses to treatment over an 18 month follow-up period. The primary endpoint is change in maximum walking duration (MWD) on a graded treadmill test. Secondary endpoints include the change in MWD from baseline at 18 months, comparisons of freeliving daily activity levels assessed by pedometer, health-related quality of life, and costeffectiveness. Other analyses include the effect of these treatment strategies on anthropomorphic and physiologic variables (e.g., body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, blood pressure, pulse pressure, and resting pulse), and biochemical markers of cardiovascular health (e.g., fasting lipids, fibrinogen, c-reactive protein, and hemoglobin A1c values).
Platelet-Rich Plasma and Its Uses in Foot and Ankle Surgery

ABSTRACT With advances in basic science, the use of biological adjuncts is currently being explored to supplement orthopedic surgery. Platelet-rich plasma is a clinical concept of autologous intraoperative concentration of serum plateletsto provide high levels of early critical growth factors for implantation into fracture, arthrodesis, or nonunion sites. The theoretical benefit of a biological adjunct like platelet-rich plasma has been to significantly enhance fusion rates. Platelet-rich plasma has been definedas a volume of plasma that has a platelet concentration above physiological levels, typically a 5-fold increase. Application of autologous platelet concentrate is a simple procedure with minimal morbidity, which is also inexpensive. Although an abundance of literature exists pertaining to dental applications, few data exist on orthopedic applications.
Alterations in Enteric Virome Are Associated With Colorectal Cancer and Survival Outcomes.

BACKGROUND & AIMS Patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) have a different gut microbiome signature than individuals without CRC. Little is known about the viral component of CRC-associated microbiome. We aimed to identify and validate viral taxonomic markers of CRC that might be used in detection of the disease or predicting outcome. METHODS We performed shotgun metagenomic analyses of viromes of fecal samples from 74 patients with CRC (cases) and 92 individuals without CRC (controls) in Hong Kong (discovery cohort). Viral sequences were classified by taxonomic alignment against an integrated microbial reference genome database. Viral markers associated with CRC were validated using fecal samples from 3 separate cohorts: 111 patients with CRC and 112 controls in Hong Kong, 46 patients with CRC and 63 controls in Austria, and 91 patients with CRC and 66 controls in France and Germany. Using abundance profiles of CRC-associated virome genera, we constructed random survival forest models to identify those associated with patient survival times. RESULTS The diversity of the gut bacteriophage community was significantly increased in patients with CRC compared with controls. Twenty-two viral taxa discriminated cases from controls with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.802 in the discovery cohort. The viral markers were validated in 3 cohorts, with area under the receiver operating characteristic curves of 0.763, 0.736, and 0.715, respectively. Clinical subgroup analysis showed that dysbiosis of the gut virome was associated with early- and late-stage CRC. A combination of 4 taxonomic markers associated with reduced survival of patients with CRC (log-rank test, P = 8.1 × 10-6) independently of tumor stage, lymph node metastases, or clinical parameters. We found altered interactions between bacteriophages and oral bacterial commensals in fecal samples from patients with CRC compared with controls. CONCLUSIONS In a metagenomic analysis of fecal samples from patients and controls, we identified virome signatures associated with CRC. These data might be used to develop tools to identify individuals with CRC or predict outcomes.
Airborne Laser Scanning Quantification of Disturbances from Hurricanes and Lightning Strikes to Mangrove Forests in Everglades National Park, USA

Airborne light detection and ranging (LIDAR) measurements derived before and after Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma (2005) were used to quantify the impact of hurricanes and lightning strikes on the mangrove forest at two sites in Everglades National Park (ENP). Analysis of LIDAR measurements covering 61 and 68 ha areas of mangrove forest at the Shark River and Broad River sites showed that the proportion of high tree canopy detected by the LIDAR after the 2005 hurricane season decreased significantly due to defoliation and breakage of branches and trunks, while the proportion of low canopy and the ground increased drastically. Tall mangrove forests distant from tidal creeks suffered more damage than lower mangrove forests adjacent to the tidal creeks. The hurricanes created numerous canopy gaps, and the number of gaps per square kilometer increased from about 400∼500 to 4000 after Katrina and Wilma. The total area of gaps in the forest increased from about 1∼2% of the total forest area to 12%. The relative contribution of hurricanes to mangrove forest disturbance in ENP is at least 2 times more than that from lightning strikes. However, hurricanes and lightning strikes disturb the mangrove forest in a related way. Most seedlings in lightning gaps survived the hurricane impact due to the protection of trees surrounding the gaps, and therefore provide an important resource for forest recovery after the hurricane. This research demonstrated that LIDAR is an effective remote sensing tool to quantify the effects of disturbances such as hurricanes and lightning strikes in the mangrove forest.