Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Familial clustering and myopia progression in Singapore school children

BACKGROUND. Familial factors may be related to the progression of myopia in children. A cohort study was conducted to determine the relationship between familial factors and myopia progression in children. METHODS. From a larger clinical trial (n = 311), 153 Singapore children aged 6–12 years were recruited to participate in a cohort study of the risk factors for myopia progression. An in-person interview was conducted whereby information on the history of myopia in first-degree relatives was obtained. Other information collected included housing type, parental education and income. Cycloplegic refractive error as measured by subjective refraction and autorefraction were ascertained every six months. The average length of follow-up was 28 months. RESULTS. The adjusted mean rate of progression of myopia was -0.60 (95% confidence interval -0.66, -0.55) diopters per year. The average rate of progression of myopia for children with a parental history of myopia was -0.63 (95% confidence interval -0.69, -0.56) diopters per year compared to -0.42 (95% confidence interval -0.57, -0.27) diopters per year for children whose parents were not myopic. The different measures of family history of myopia were related to rate of change in refractive error and refractive error in the final visit. There was no association between close work and myopia progression. CONCLUSIONS. A positive family history is related to the progression of myopia and final refractive error in Singapore children, thus supporting evidence that hereditary factors may play an important role in myopia progression.
Rituximab in Lymphocyte-Predominant Hodgkin Disease

Background: Lymphocyte-predominant Hodgkin disease (LPHD) differs in biology and clinical behaviour from classic Hodgkin disease. Almost 100% of LPHD neoplastic cells express CD20 and thus rituximab could be effective; yet limited data are available. Patients and Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis on patients with LPHD who were treated with rituximab at our institution to determine the magnitude of benefit offered by this drug. Results: Seven patients were identified; 4 received the drug as single agent while the rest received it in combination with chemotherapy. All except 2 received the drug in the salvage setting. Response rate was 100% with 6 of 7 patients achieving complete remission. At a median follow-up of 2 years, 4 patients are still disease free while the rest relapsed at a median time of 27 months. Conclusion: Rituximab is effective in LPHD and should be considered; however, the optimal schedule remains to be determined.
The regulatory VirG protein specifically binds to a cis-acting regulatory sequence involved in transcriptional activation of Agrobacterium tumefaciens virulence genes

Virulence genes of Agrobacterium tumefaciens are induced in parallel in the presence of plant phenolic compounds such as acetosyringone and the two regulatory vir genes virA and virG. In this study we identified a cis-acting regulatory sequence in the 5'-noncoding region of the virE operon that is essential for this activation. To do this, we constructed a series of deletion mutants by using exonuclease Bal 31. Western blot (immunoblot) analysis showed that the 70 base pairs upstream of the transcriptional start site were sufficient for full virE gene induction. A conserved dodecadeoxynucleotide sequence (vir box), which was previously identified in the nontranscribed sequences of all vir genes, was located at 5' end of the minimum required promoter sequence. Deletion of this vir box only completely abolished induction of the virE gene. This demonstrates that the vir box functions as an upstream regulatory sequence. To study the role of the VirG protein in the activation process, we overproduced the native-sized VirG protein in Escherichia coli by fusing the lacZ' start codon ATG with the second virG codon AAA using site-directed mutagenesis. The VirG protein was purified and renatured from E. coli and was shown to bind to a specific sequence in two vir gene promoters. Footprinting analysis of the virE and virB promoters identified the 12-base-pair vir box as the VirG-binding core sequence.
A fast detection method for frame duplication forgery based on correlation

In recent years, fast development of video editing software has made video forgery applicable. One of the most frequently encountered forgery types in video forensics is the frame duplication forgery. Researches have proposed methods to deal with this type of forgery. The two main drawbacks of this methods reported in the literature are execution time and low detection accuracy. In this work a new frame duplication forgery detection method that uses correlation between neighboring frames to extract features from video is proposed. Experimental results show that the proposed method has lower execution time with better detection accuracy compared to similar works reported in the literature.
Clause Internal and Clause Leftmost Verbs in Hittite

The object of the paper is non-canonical, non-final verb position within the clause in genuine Hittite texts. It is demonstrated that, contrary to current standard descriptions, two such positions can be delimited in a Hittite clause: clause internal position and clause leftmost position. Both positions are defined structurally: clause internal position is to the left of the immediately preverbal position and to the right of a direct object. Clause leftmost position is in the left periphery. The difference correlates with two other syntactic features. First, it is the position the verb moves around: when the verb moves into the left periphery, it moves around subject and object; when the verb moves into clause internal position, it moves around the immediately preverbal position. The verb may move into the left periphery around the immediately preverbal position, but only if the subject and object are not fully stressed in the clause. The second difference is in the information structure status: whereas verb fronting into the left periphery is information structure motivated (as contrastive focus etc.), verb movement into clause internal position is not homogeneous: it may be evacuational or unconditioned.
Experimentation of networked vehicle with multihomed mobile router

Keio University, KDDI R&D, and Kyocera have demonstrated networked vehicles with multihoming technology at the 11th World Congress on Intelligent Transport System at Nagoya city in 2004. A Mobile router supporting the Network Mobility (NEMO) protocol with multiple care-of address registration have been developed for the demonstration. IEEE 802.11b and CDMA2000 1xEV-DO (both 800MHz and 2GHz frequency) are the network interfaces for each vehicle. Streaming applications is used for vehicle to vehicle communication and vehicle to the congress exhibition hall. The streaming applications dynamically adapt to the change of the network environment in terms of frame rate and resolution. The experimental demonstration has been a success during the World Congress event. This paper introduces the overview and evaluation of the system. The results indicate that the system is highly effective and operative in providing network services to vehicles.
From Streaming Models to FPGA Implementations ERSA ’ 12 Industrial Regular Paper

Application advances in the signal processing and communications domains are marked by an increasing demand for better performance and faster time to market. This has motivated model-based approaches to design and deploy such applications productively across diverse target platforms. Dataflow models are effective in capturing these applications that are real-time, multi-rate, and streaming in nature. These models facilitate static analysis of key execution properties like buffer sizes and throughput. There are established tools to generate implementations of these models in software for processor targets. However, prototyping and deployment on hardware targets, such as FPGAs, are critical to the development of new applications. FPGAs are increasingly used in computing platforms for high performance streaming applications. Existing tools for hardware implementation from dataflow models are limited in their capabilities. To close this gap, we present DSP Designer, a framework to specify, analyze, and implement streaming applications on hardware targets. DSP Designer encourages a model-based design approach starting from a Parameterized Cyclo-Static Dataflow model. The back-end supports static analysis of execution properties and generates implementations for FPGAs. It also includes an extensive library of hardware actors and eases third-party IP integration. Overall, DSP Designer is an exploration framework that translates high-level algorithmic specifications to efficient hardware. In this paper, we illustrate the modeling, analysis, and implementation capabilities of DSP Designer. Through a detailed case study, we show that DSP Designer is viable for the design of next generation signal processing and communications systems.
Online Intermediary as a Channel for Selling Quality-Differentiated Services

When deciding whether to utilize an online intermediary in addition to their own distribution channels, quality differentiated service providers face the trade-off between the benefit of extended reach and the threat of increased competition. Using an analytical framework, we analyze when and how service providers may utilize an online intermediary to their advantage in the presence of advance selling (i.e., selling a service at an early date for future consumption). In general, when an online intermediary is used, the competition effect dominates the reach effect and leads to a falling price trend. Interestingly, we find that the negative effect of increased competition on profits, due to intermediary usage, can be reversed by committing to self-imposed participation limits (i.e., selling only a predetermined amount of services through the online intermediary). This ensures that the service provider is better off selling through both its own site and the online intermediary, rather than selling exclusively using either channel.
True height description of equatorial F-layer over Parit Raja, Batu Pahat, Malaysia

Digisonde ionograms recorded at Parit Raja, Malaysia (Lat. 1°52'N, Long. 103°48'E, Magnetic dip 14.3°) have been used to study the variations of ionospheric F-layer true height density peak (hmax). Hourly and daily patterns of hmax as deduced from January 2005 ionograms were analysed and studied to determine the actual F-layer peak height over Malaysia. Initial observations revealed that typical height of equatorial F-layer peak was slightly higher compared to other higher latitude regions. The altitude was found to be around 550±50 km during daytime and 300 km from midnight till pre-sunrise hours.
Some observations on factors associated with the development of Trypanosoma brucei brucei infections in Glossina morsitans morsitans.

The susceptibility of Glossina morsitans morsitans to Trypanosoma brucei brucei infection was shown to be age-dependent during the first 12 h: the youngest age group (1-8 h after emergence) being more susceptible than the older ones. The susceptibility was enhanced by cooling the young flies to a temperature of 0-5 degrees C for 30 min. Male flies were found to be more susceptible than females. The number of trypanosomes ingested did not influence the subsequent salivary-gland infection rates observed in G.m. morsitans; however, there was a relationship between the number ingested and subsequent T.b. brucei midgut infections in the flies.
Hypocomplementaemic urticarial vasculitis syndrome: a mimicker of systemic lupus erythematosus

A middle aged female patient presented with generalised palpable purpura associated with intense pruritus along with subconjunctival haemorrhage and orbital inflammation. There was extensive dermographism. Other systemic examinations were within normal limits. Haematological profile was normal except raised D-dimer. Skin biopsy revealed the presence of leucocytoclastic vasculitis. Antinuclear antibody was positive in a titre of 1 : 160, but antidouble-stranded DNA was negative. Urine examination revealed haematuria and proteinuria. Complement C3, C4 and C1q levels were decreased with the presence of anti-C1q antibody. There was a diagnostic dilemma between systemic lupus erythematosus and hypocomplementaemic urticarial vasculitis syndrome. However, as the patient did not fulfil the American College of Rheumatology criteria for systemic lupus erythematosus, but fulfilled all the criteria for hypocomplementaemic urticarial vasculitis syndrome, the case was finally diagnosed as hypocomplementaemic urticarial vasculitis syndrome and treated accordingly with favourable outcome.
Control of murine hair follicle regression (catagen) by TGF‐β1 in vivo

The regression phase of the hair cycle (catagen) is an apoptosis‐driven process accompanied by terminal differentiation, proteolysis, and matrix remodeling. As an inhibitor of keratinocyte proliferation and inductor of keratinocyte apoptosis, transforming growth factor β1 (TGF‐β1) has been proposed to play an important role in catagen regulation. This is suggested, for example, by maximal expression of TGF‐β1 and its receptors during late anagen and the onset of catagen of the hair cycle. We examined the potential involvement of TGF‐β1 in catagen control. We compared the first spontaneous entry of hair follicles into catagen between TGF‐β1 null mice and age‐matched wild‐type littermates, and assessed the effects of TGF‐β1 injection on murine anagen hair follicles in vivo. At day 18 p.p., hair follicles in TGF‐β1 —/— mice were still in early catagen, whereas hair follicles of +/+ littermates had already entered the subsequent resting phase (telogen). TGF‐β1 — /— mice displayed more Ki‐67‐positive cells and fewer apoptotic cells than comparable catagen follicles from +/+ mice. In contrast, injection of TGF‐β1 into the back skin of mice induced premature catagen development. In addition, the number of proliferating follicle keratino‐cytes was reduced and the number of TUNEL + cells was increased in the TGF‐β1‐treated mice compared to controls. Double visualization of TGF‐β type II receptor (TGFRII) and TUNEL reactivity revealed colocalization of apoptotic nuclei and TGFRII in catagen follicles. These data strongly support that TGF‐β1 ranks among the elusive endogenous regulators of catagen induction in vivo, possibly via the inhibition of keratinocyte proliferation and induction of apoptosis. Thus, TGF‐βRII agonists and antagonists may provide useful therapeutic tools for human hair growth disorders based on premature or retarded catagen development (effluvium, alopecia, hirsutism). —Foitzik, K. , Lindner, G. , Mueller‐Roever, S. , Maurer, M. , Botchkareva, N. , Botchkarev, V. , Handjiski, B. , Metz, M. , Hibino, T. , Soma, T. , Dotto, G. P., Paus, R. Control of murine hair follicle regression (catagen) by TGF‐β1 in vivo. FASEB J. 14, 752–760 (2000)
Physiological Role for Phosphatidic Acid in the Translocation of the Novel Protein Kinase C Apl II in Aplysia Neurons

ABSTRACT In Aplysia californica, the serotonin-mediated translocation of protein kinase C (PKC) Apl II to neuronal membranes is important for synaptic plasticity. The orthologue of PKC Apl II, PKCε, has been reported to require phosphatidic acid (PA) in conjunction with diacylglycerol (DAG) for translocation. We find that PKC Apl II can be synergistically translocated to membranes by the combination of DAG and PA. We identify a mutation in the C1b domain (arginine 273 to histidine; PKC Apl II-R273H) that removes the effects of exogenous PA. In Aplysia neurons, the inhibition of endogenous PA production by 1-butanol inhibited the physiological translocation of PKC Apl II by serotonin in the cell body and at the synapse but not the translocation of PKC Apl II-R273H. The translocation of PKC Apl II-R273H in the absence of PA was explained by two additional effects of this mutation: (i) the mutation removed C2 domain-mediated inhibition, and (ii) the mutation decreased the concentration of DAG required for PKC Apl II translocation. We present a model in which, under physiological conditions, PA is important to activate the novel PKC Apl II both by synergizing with DAG and removing C2 domain-mediated inhibition.
Predicting treatment seekers' readiness to change their drinking behavior in the COMBINE Study.

BACKGROUND Initial motivation and readiness to change (RTC) are complex constructs and have been important but inconsistent predictors of treatment attendance and drinking outcomes in studies of alcoholism treatment. Motivation can be described in multiple ways as simply the accumulation of consequences that push change, a shift in intentions, or engagement in various tasks that are part of a larger process of change. METHOD Using baseline data from participants in the COMBINE Study, this study reevaluated the psychometric properties of a 24-item measure of motivation derived from the University of Rhode Island Change Assessment Scale that yielded 4 subscales representing attitudes and experiences related to tasks of stages of Precontemplation, Contemplation, Action, and Maintenance Striving as well as a second-order factor score representing a multidimensional view of RTC drinking. A variety of hypothesized predictors of readiness and the stage subscales were examined using multiple regression analyses to better understand the nature of this measure of motivation. RESULTS Findings supported the basic subscale structure and the overall motivational readiness score derived from this measure. RTC drinking behavior was predicted by baseline measures of perceived stress, drinking severity, psychiatric comorbidity, self-efficacy, craving, and positive treatment outcome expectancies. However, absolute values were small, indicating that readiness for change is not explained simply by demographic, drinking severity, treatment, change process, or contextual variables. CONCLUSION This measure demonstrated good psychometric properties and results supported the independence as well as convergent and divergent validity of the measured constructs. Predictors of overall readiness and subscale scores indicate that a variety of personal and contextual factors contribute to treatment seekers' motivation to change in an understandable but complex manner.
Transient uptake of serotonin by newborn olfactory projection neurons

A life-long turnover of sensory and interneuronal populations has been documented in the olfactory pathways of both vertebrates and invertebrates, creating a situation where the axons of new afferent and interneuronal populations must insert into a highly specialized glomerular neuropil. A dense serotonergic innervation of the primary olfactory processing areas where these neurons synapse also is a consistent feature across species. Prior studies in lobsters have shown that serotonin promotes the branching of olfactory projection neurons. This paper presents evidence that serotonin also regulates the proliferation and survival of projection neurons in lobsters, and that the serotonergic effects are associated with a transient uptake of serotonin into newborn neurons.
The capacity of cellular CDMA in the 63-64 GHz band

We analyze a cellular asynchronous code-division multiple access system operating in the 63-64 GHz band for short-range communications. A simple propagation model for the 63-64 GHz band is first introduced and discussed. The system capacity, expressed as the maximum number of users per cell, is then analytically derived and favorably compared with other CDMA schemes operating in conventional frequency bands (i.e. below 2 GHz). Also, simple expressions for the system bit error rate are analytically derived for different cases and validated through computer simulations. Finally, power requirements are derived and the impact of atmospheric conditions is evaluated. It turns out that the use of 63-64 GHz band significantly increases the capacity of A-CDMA, and proves to be suitable for cellular systems and personal communication networks (PCNs) provided that adequate power margins are considered.
DETERMINANTES DO P/B, SETOR REGULADO E ESTRATÉGIAS DE INVESTIMENTO

Observou-se uma lacuna de estudos em financas que analise os determinantes do Price to Book (P/B) para o periodo mais recente. Por meio de uma analise de painel, para 168 empresas com acoes listadas na BMF&Bovespa e pelos ultimos 40 trimestres, identificou-se os determinantes: (i) retorno (relacao positiva), (ii) crescimento historico (relacao positiva), (iii) custo de capital, medido pelo beta e alavancagem (ambos com relacao negativa) e (iv) tamanho (positiva) alem de um determinante nao usual: (v) pertencer a um setor regulado (negativa), o que contribui com estudos sobre setores regulados. O fato das empresas pertencentes a setores regulados terem menor P/B pode ser um bom ou um mau sinal. Alem disso, observou-se, analisando o Indice de Sharpe, a superioridade da estrategia de investimento em empresas com baixo P/B. Estrategias com outras variaveis tambem foram testadas, entre elas: tamanho, beta e retorno, de forma a contribuir com as pesquisas sobre o tema.
Reflections on Shunt Infection

The placement and revision of ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunts remains a mainstay in the surgical treatment of hydrocephalus. While the North American infection rate averages nearly 8–10%, published infection rates for VP shunt infection below 1% have been reported. We retrospectively reviewed shunt operations by a single surgeon over 62 months to analyze the infection rate. In 62 months, we performed 526 shunt placements or revisions in patients up to 18 years of age. There were 7 shunt infections (1.33%). In 5 cases, the organism was Staphylococcus epidermidis, and a single shunt each was infected with Haemophilus influenzae and Staphylococcus aureus. Each infection was treated with external ventriculostomy drainage and intravenous antibiotics. The new shunt was placed at a new incision site after at least 5 days of sterile spinal fluid cultures. The mean follow-up among these patients after shunt insertion was 25 months. VP shunting remains the most common operation for hydrocephalus. Infections are linked with seizures, higher future risks of shunt infection and malfunction, and reduced IQ and school performance. Our infection rate during 62 months was limited to 1.33%. Uniform surgical technique, limited hardware and skin edge manipulation and double gloving may be important factors in limiting shunt infections.