Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Exploratory Study on Visual Acuity and Patient-Perceived Visual Function in Patients with Subretinal Drusenoid Deposits

Purpose: To investigate the value of visual acuity and patient-perceived visual function test when subretinal drusenoid deposits (SDD) are incorporated into the classification of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). A total of 50 participants were recruited into the study in these groups: healthy ageing (n = 11), intermediate AMD (iAMD) with no SDD (n = 17), iAMD with SDD (n = 11) and non-foveal atrophic AMD (n = 11) confirmed by two retinal imaging modalities. Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and low luminance visual acuity (LLVA) were measured and low luminance deficit (LLD) was calculated. Participants were also interviewed with the low luminance questionnaire (LLQ). Linear regression was used to assess function–function relations. Compared with healthy participants, BCVA and LLVA scores were significantly reduced in the atrophic AMD group (p < 0.0001 and p = 0.00016, respectively) and in patients with SDD (p = 0.028 and p = 0.045, respectively). Participants with atrophy also had reduced BCVA (p = 0.001) and LLVA (p = 0.009) compared with the iAMD no SDD group. However, there were no differences in visual function tests between healthy aging and iAMD without SDD and between iAMD with SDD and atrophic AMD groups. The LLD score did not differ between groups. BCVA and LLVA correlated well. The LLQ did not correlate with visual function tests. This study shows that LLD is not a marker of disease severity as assessed clinically. Although LLQ is a good marker for disease severity using the current AMD classification, it does not differentiate between eyes with and without SDD. Eyes with non-macular geographic atrophy and SDD had lower function than eyes with no SDD and healthy controls.
Reflections on the Values of Community-Based Participatory Research in Supporting Mobile Health Technology Use.

Providers and researchers searching for innovative ways to improve patients’ health behaviors and outcomes may find mobile health (mHealth) technologies and wearable devices to offer novel solutions to persistent problems. mHealth can provide situationand location-specific nudges that can offer personalized and timely reminders about behavior modification. It can deliver health promotion messages in a language of patients’ choosing. And it can generate a store of data that can give providers a more detailed understanding of how patients’ health concerns may be shaped by their environment and social ties. Yet although there is great potential to use technology to innovate how we deliver care and facilitate better health outcomes, we must also consider the broader social and political contexts in which these interventions are deployed—the social determinants of health (SDOH)—to appreciate more fully the kind of support mHealth needs to make sustainable improvements to community health. In this editorial, written in response to Liu et al,1 we offer reflections on community-based participatory research (CBPR) in the development and deployment of mHealth. The Liu et al1 study examines how community health workers (CHWs) can help resolve barriers to the adoption of mHealth—in this case, an app that allows users to connect to their electronic health data, sync wearables, and participate in research studies—within low-income communities by providing participants with regular access to CHWs, who help to set up and manage the use of these technologies. Addressing what the authors identify as a gap in scholarship on digital health uptake, the study produces valuable data about how working with community members to document facilitators and barriers to use can promote wider adoption of these tools. We commend the authors for their focus on facilitators and barriers as being central to building sustainable digital health platforms, for being attuned to patient comfort concerning language preference and data privacy, and for sharing their findings with the study’s participants post-participation. Where we part with the authors is in our belief that patients should be involved in the design of mHealth, that mHealth should engage more fully with SDOH, and that the values of CBPR should inform how we think about the sustainability of our interventions. Engaging in CBPR calls on us to promote the following: equitable partnerships with community members in defining problems and seeking solutions; a focus on public health concerns within a local context; the dissemination of knowledge and sustainable support for our interventions; and a focus on how race, ethnicity, racism, and class shape health outcomes.2 Research teams can prioritize communities with high need and work with them to develop interventions tailored to specific concerns. This can be especially useful in communities where significant barCirculation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes
The effectiveness and safety of computed tomographic peritoneography and video-assisted thoracic surgery for hydrothorax in peritoneal dialysis patients: A retrospective cohort study in Japan

Introduction Albeit uncommon, hydrothorax is an important complication of peritoneal dialysis (PD). Due to paucity of evidence for optimal treatment, this study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of computed tomographic (CT) peritoneography and surgical intervention involving video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) for hydrothorax in a retrospective cohort of patients who underwent PD in Japan. Methods Of the 982 patients who underwent PD from six centers in Japan between 2007 and 2019, 25 (2.5%) with diagnosed hydrothorax were enrolled in this study. PD withdrawal rates were compared between patients who underwent VATS for diaphragm repair (surgical group) and those who did not (non-surgical group) using the Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test. Results The surgical and non-surgical groups comprised a total of 11 (44%) and 14 (56%) patients, respectively. Following hydrothorax diagnosis by thoracentesis and detection of penetrated sites on the diaphragm using CT peritoneography, VATS was performed at a median time of 31 days (interquartile range [IQR], 20–96 days). During follow-up (median, 26 months; IQR, 10–51 months), 9 (64.3%) and 2 (18.2%) patients in the non-surgical and surgical groups, respectively, withdrew from PD (P = 0.021). There were no surgery-related complications or hydrothorax relapse in the surgical group. Conclusions This study demonstrated the effectiveness and safety of CT peritoneography and VATS for hydrothorax. This approach may be useful in hydrothorax cases to avoid early drop out of PD and continue PD in the long term. Further studies are warranted to confirm these results.
The new guard: the arrival and impacts of cats and foxes

Even though cats (Felis catus) had occupied mainland Australia and several of its larger islands before the fox (Vulpes vulpes), the evidence that feral cats on mainland Australia were the primary cause of declines of native fauna is indefinite and still subject to dispute. Proponents of a significant impact by feral cats argue that there were two waves of extinction of native fauna: an earlier one focused on the smaller medium-sized mammals (such as many of the larger rodents amid small bandicoots) and confined largely to arid and semi-arid Australia; amid a later one, initialled by the spread of the fox, that engulfed a broader suite of species (including many of the smaller wallabies and rat-kangaroos) and occurred in most ecosystems in southern Australia. Others argue that purported declines of native fauna before colonisation by the fox either did not occur or can be parsimoniously explained by other factors, especially disease. In contrast to the ambiguities and uncertainties regarding the role of the cat, the later role of the fox in the widespread decline and extinction of native species of mammal and bird seems unequivocal. Interpretations of decline have been hindered by sparse historical records, particularly records of occurrence based on vouchered specimens of cats, foxes and native mammals and birds in museums, but have been augmented in recent times by the collation of in formation published in newspapers or held in archives. These have clarified our understanding of when and where declines took place. We present 10 regional case studies and discuss the timing of declines of native species in terms of the establishment of cats and foxes, as well as rabbits (which provide prey for cats and foxes, and compete with native herbivores).
Physical Activity and Physical Competence in Overweight and Obese Children: An Intervention Study

With the current obesity epidemic and the decline of fitness among school-aged children, the importance of obesity interventions to promote physical activity and healthy habits has become indisputable. The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy of a school-based multicomponent intervention in increasing physical activity (PA) levels, actual physical abilities, and perceived physical abilities in clinical and nonclinical samples of overweight/obese boys and girls aged 10–12 years. The clinical intervention group (n = 35) participated in a 7-month after-school program in addition to curricular physical education lessons, while the nonclinical control group (n = 29) received usual curricular lessons. Measures included levels of PA and fitness and individual’s perceptions of physical ability. After treatment, the intervention group showed improved PA levels, perceived physical ability, and throwing and jumping task performances compared to the control group. Results indicate that a multicomponent program can improve levels of PA, fitness, and perceived competence of overweight participants. Findings highlight the importance of a comprehensive healthy lifestyle program that includes physical, psychosocial, and behavioral factors and suggest practical implications for educators, trainers, and teachers in identifying best practices targeting childhood obesity.
Whole blood flow cytometry protocol for the assessment of platelet phenotype, function, and cellular interactions

Abstract Platelets are a key component of the hemostatic system and their roles in inflammation via interactions with leukocytes have also gained attention in recent years. Changes in platelet phenotype and function can cause bleeding and/or thrombosis and, as such, monitoring platelet-specific changes is crucial to assessing hemostasis in the clinical setting. Currently, available platelet function tests such as platelet aggregometry and thromboelastography require a large volume of blood, which is a major limitation for the pediatric population. Whole blood flow cytometric analysis of platelets is increasingly utilized in recent years, primarily due to the sensitivity of this method, but also because it only requires a small amount of blood with minimal sample manipulation. We have developed a whole blood flow cytometry methodological approach that enables the assessment of platelet phenotype, function, and their interactions with monocytes and neutrophils.
Contrast-enhanced ultrasound for the assessment of placental development and function

The use of contrast agents as signal enhancers during ultrasound improves visualization and the diagnostic utility of this technology in medical imaging. Although widely used in many disciplines, contrast ultrasound is not routinely implemented in obstetrics, largely due to safety concerns of administered agents for pregnant women and the limited number of studies that address this issue. Here the microbubble characteristics that make them beneficial for enhancement of the blood pool and the quantification of real-time imaging are reviewed. Literature from pregnant animal model studies and safety assessments are detailed, and the potential for contrast-enhanced ultrasound to provide clinically relevant data and benefit our understanding of early placental development and detection of placental dysfunction is discussed.
Spur survival and return bloom in almond [Prunus dulcis (Mill.) D.A.Webb] varied with spur fruit load, specific leaf weight, and leaf area

Summary Variation in fruit load, leaf area, and light exposure among almond spurs was used to evaluate whether or not spurs were autonomous with regard to Winter survival and return bloom. Fruiting was associated with reduced spur survival over the subsequent Winter and reduced return bloom in the subsequent year.This resulted in a tendency for individual spurs to bloom and bear fruit in alternate years. Survival was high among all non-fruiting spurs, but survival of fruiting spurs was positively related both to leaf area per spur and specific leaf weight (SLW; an indicator of light exposure). SLW was a much stronger correlate for spur survival than leaf area per spur. The likelihood of flowering varied positively with spur leaf area the previous season on both fruiting and non-fruiting spurs, but was not related to spur SLW. Localisation of leaf area and shading effects within individual spurs created spur sub-populations with differing tendencies toward alternate bearing. The likelihood of flowering on spurs was enhanced when branch-wide carbohydrate demand by fruit was eliminated by early fruit removal the previous season, suggesting that almond spurs are not entirely autonomous with regard to carbohydrate supply during floral initiation and development. Nevertheless, our data are consistent with a high degree of spur autonomy regarding Winter survival and return bloom, with each spur apparently being strongly influenced by the ability of its own leaves to meet its carbohydrate demands.
Abstract LB-173: Genome-scale analysis of aberrant DNA methylation in colorectal cancer

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a heterogeneous disease in which unique subtypes are characterized by distinct genetic and epigenetic alterations. Here we performed comprehensive genome-scale DNA methylation profiling of 125 colorectal tumors and 29 adjacent normal tissues. We identified four DNA methylation-based subgroups of CRC using model-based cluster analyses. Each subtype shows characteristic genetic and clinical features, indicating that they represent biologically distinct subgroups. A CIMP-high (CIMP-H) subgroup includes all CIMP-positive tumors characterized by the MethyLight five-marker panel, and is strongly associated with MLH1 DNA hypermethylation and the BRAFV600E mutation. A CIMP-low subgroup is enriched for KRAS mutations and characterized by DNA hypermethylation of a subset of CIMP-associated markers rather than a unique group of CpG islands. Non-CIMP tumors are separated into two distinct clusters. One non-CIMP subgroup is distinguished by a significantly higher frequency of TP53 mutations and frequent occurrence in the distal colon, while the tumors that belong to the fourth group exhibit a low frequency of both cancer-specific DNA hypermethylation and gene mutations and are significantly enriched for rectal tumors. Furthermore, we identified 114 genes that were downregulated more than 2-fold in CIMP-H tumors together with promoter DNA hypermethylation. These represent approximately 7% of genes that acquired promoter DNA methylation in CIMP-H tumors. Intriguingly, 48/114 genes were also transcriptionally silent in non-CIMP subgroups, but this was not attributable to promoter DNA hypermethylation. Together, we identified four distinct DNA methylation subgroups of CRC and provided novel insight regarding the role of CIMP-specific DNA hypermethylation in gene silencing. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-173. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-LB-173
Application of simultaneous selective pressures slows adaptation

Beneficial mutations that arise in an evolving asexual population may compete or interact in ways that alter the overall rate of adaptation through mechanisms such as clonal or functional interference. The application of multiple selective pressures simultaneously may allow for a greater number of adaptive mutations, increasing the opportunities for competition between selectively advantageous alterations, and thereby reducing the rate of adaptation. We evolved a strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae that could not produce its own histidine or uracil for ~500 generations under one or three selective pressures: limitation of the concentration of glucose, histidine, and/or uracil in the media. The rate of adaptation was obtained by measuring evolved relative fitness using competition assays. Populations evolved under a single selective pressure showed a statistically significant increase in fitness on those pressures relative to the ancestral strain, but the populations evolved on all three pressures did not show a statistically significant increase in fitness over the ancestral strain on any single pressure. Simultaneously limiting three essential nutrients for a population of S. cerevisiae effectively slows the rate of evolution on any one of the three selective pressures applied, relative to the single selective pressure cases. We identify possible mechanisms for fitness changes seen between populations evolved on one or three limiting nutrient pressures by high‐throughput sequencing. Adding multiple selective pressures to evolving disease like cancer and infectious diseases could reduce the rate of adaptation and thereby may slow disease progression, prolong drug efficacy and prevent deaths.
Nutritive and Anti-Nutritive Composition of the Wild (Inedible) Species of Dioscorea bulbifera (Potato Yam) and Dioscorea dumentorum (Bitter Yam).

The determination of the nutritive and antinutritive principles in the uncooked and cooked wild species of Dioscorea bulifera and Dioscorea dumentorum showed that the wild yams contain all the food nutrients within the reported and acceptable values for root and tuber crops. The presence of alkaloids, oxalates, and saponins at high concentrations are responsible for the qualification of the yam species as wild (poisonous) and inedible. However, the cooking of these yam species reduced these principles to values that may earn the wild yams consideration as food for consumption.
Evolution of rock cover, surface roughness, and flow velocity on stony soil under simulated rainfall

Erosion pavements occur commonly in many semiarid watersheds due to selective erosion. However, quantitative information regarding the dynamic feedback between soil erosion, surface morphology, and flow hydraulics as erosion pavement develops is limited. In order to quantify the spatiotemporal evolution of rock cover and surface roughness, and measure their effects on flow velocities as erosion pavement develops, a series of rainfall simulations were conducted on a 2 by 6.1 m soil plot under three slope treatments (5%, 12%, and 20%) with surface elevation and rock cover measurements. The total applied rainfall volume for each experimental replication ranging from 1,400 to 2,240 mm caused the development of erosion pavement. The results showed (1) rock cover increased from 15% to 90% as rainfall progressed, and the terminal rock cover was not slope gradient dependent; (2) random roughness was positively correlated with rock cover in the upper and middle plot sections, and increasing surface roughness and rock cover reduced the flow velocity following power functions; (3) surface roughness in the lower sections did not uniformly increase with increasing rock cover due to the formation of rills; (4) the terminal surface roughness values of full plots were 5.3 and 5.1 mm, 4.2 and 4.5 mm, and 2.9 and 3.2 mm for replications of 20%, 12%, and 5% slopes, respectively, indicating that steeper slopes produced greater surface roughness; (5) flow velocities measured at the end of experiments reached a relative constant value that was a function of unit flow rates alone for a given section; (6) hydraulic resistances were correlated with flow discharge, slope gradient, and rock cover, exhibiting no unique hydraulic coefficient for a given surface condition. These results improve our understanding of the evolution of semiarid hillslopes.
Peer-to-Peer Localization for Single-Antenna Devices

Some important indoor localization applications, such as localizing a lost kid in a shopping mall, call for a new peer-to-peer localization technique that can localize an individual's smartphone or wearables by directly using another's on-body devices in unknown indoor environments. However, current localization solutions either require pre-deployed infrastructures or multiple antennas in both transceivers, impending their wide-scale application. In this paper, we present P2PLocate, a peer-to-peer localization system that enables a single-antenna device co-located with a batteryless backscatter tag to localize another single-antenna device with decimeter-level accuracy. P2PLocate leverages the multipath variations intentionally created by an on-body backscatter tag, coupled with spatial information offered by user movements, to accomplish this objective without relying on any pre-deployed infrastructures or pre-training. P2PLocate incorporates novel algorithms to address two major challenges: (i) interference with strong direct-path signal while extracting multipath variations, and (ii) lack of direction information while using single-antenna transceivers. We implement P2PLocate on commercial off-the-shelf Google Nexus 6p, Intel 5300 WiFi card, and Raspberry Pi B4. Real-world experiments reveal that P2PLocate can localize both static and mobile targets with a median accuracy of 0.88 m.
Universal and intuitive? Scientific guidelines for icon design

In this paper, we examine approaches to icon design, and we argue that they are not ideal. For example, they might disadvantage people from distinct cultures, of distinct ages, and with distinct capabilities. However, we suggest that icons have the potential to be universally and intuitively comprehended because they can be similar to the real world. We present an approach that is grounded in visual perception because the process of visual perception is assumed to be universal and intuitive. We derive 34 guidelines from scientific research on visual perception, and we argue that these guidelines might be a basis for more universal and more intuitive icon designs in the future.
Playing in virtual nature: improving mood of elderly people using VR technology

Age-related physical, mental, and social limitations can severely reduce the quality of life of elderly people. Research has shown that virtual reality (VR) can provide stimulating experiences, elicit positive emotions, and provoke relaxation. In this paper, we present an approach that integrates stimulating cognitive tasks, playful elements, and virtual natural environments in one VR app tailored for elderly people. We developed a virtual walk in the forest where the players can solve cognitive tasks in two mini-games. To support a feeling of social presence and to reduce loneliness, we integrated a virtual dog as a companion who accompanies the players. We conducted an evaluation with 14 participants aged 66 to 84 years. The results show a change of positive and negative affect scores after using the VR experience. That supports our assumption, even though the differences were not significant. The participants enjoyed the VR app and were especially impressed by the experience of presence. Despite their inexperience in using VR technology, the participants behaved naturally and were interested in using it again. Our results support the assumption that elderly people can benefit from VR games in their everyday lives.