Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Evolution of the Plateau, an Optical Coherence Tomography Signature Seen in Geographic Atrophy

Purpose Histologic details of progression routes to geographic atrophy (GA) in AMD are becoming available through optical coherence tomography (OCT). We studied the origins and evolution of an OCT signature called plateau in eyes with GA and suggested a histologic correlate. Methods Serial eye-tracked OCT scans and multimodal imaging were acquired from eight eyes of seven patients with GA and plateau signatures over a mean follow-up of 7.7 years (range, 3.7–11.6). The histology of unrelated donor eyes with AMD was reviewed. Results Drusenoid pigment epithelial detachment (PED) on OCT imaging progressed into wide-based mound-like signatures with flattened apices characterized by a hyporeflective yet heterogeneous interior and an overlying hyperreflective exterior, similar to outer retinal corrugations previously ascribed to persistent basal laminar deposit (BLamD) but larger. These new signatures are described as “plateaus. ” An initial increase of the PED volume and hyporeflectivity of its contents was followed by a decrease in PED volume and thinning of an overlying hyperreflective band attributable to the loss of the overlying RPE leaving persistent BLamD. Both imaging and histology revealed persistent BLamD with defects through which gliotic Müller cell processes pass. Conclusions Plateaus can be traced back to drusenoid PEDs on OCT imaging. We hypothesize that during progressive RPE atrophy, Müller cell extension through focal defects in the residual persistent BLamD may contribute to the heterogeneous internal reflectivity of these entities. The role of Müller cell activation and extension in the pathogenesis of AMD should be explored in future studies.
Environmental constraints upon locomotion and predator–prey interactions in aquatic organisms: an introduction

Environmental constraints in aquatic habitats have become topics of concern to both the scientific community and the public at large. In particular, coastal and freshwater habitats are subject to dramatic variability in various environmental factors, as a result of both natural and anthropogenic processes. The protection and sustainable management of all aquatic habitats requires greater understanding of how environmental constraints influence aquatic organisms. Locomotion and predator–prey interactions are intimately linked and fundamental to the survival of mobile aquatic organisms. This paper summarizes the main points from the review and research articles which comprise the theme issue ‘Environmental constraints upon locomotion and predator–prey interactions in aquatic organisms’. The articles explore how natural and anthropogenic factors can constrain these two fundamental activities in a diverse range of organisms from phytoplankton to marine mammals. Some major environmental constraints derive from the intrinsic properties of the fluid and are mechanical in nature, such as viscosity and flow regime. Other constraints derive from direct effects of factors, such as temperature, oxygen content of the water or turbidity, upon the mechanisms underlying the performance of locomotion and predator–prey interactions. The effect of these factors on performance at the tissue and organ level is reflected in constraints upon performance of the whole organism. All these constraints can influence behaviour. Ultimately, they can have an impact on ecological performance. One issue that requires particular attention is how factors such as temperature and oxygen can exert different constraints on the physiology and behaviour of different taxa and the ecological implications of this. Given the multiplicity of constraints, the complexity of their interactions, and the variety of biological levels at which they can act, there is a clear need for integration between the fields of physiology, biomechanics, behaviour, ecology, biological modelling and evolution in both laboratory and field studies. For studies on animals in their natural environment, further technological advances are required to allow investigation of how the prevailing physico-chemical conditions influence basic physiological processes and behaviour.
Técnicas de Sensoriamento Remoto na Cultura da Macieira.

de diferentes alvos. Na cultura da macieira não existem estudos avaliando a utilização de sensores ativos proximais. Desta forma o objetivo do trabalho foi avaliar a resposta espectral da cultura da macieira em alguns estádios fenológicos e comprimentos de onda. Busca-se com isso verificar a possibilidade de utilização de IV já desenvolvidos ou a criação de IV alternativos para o manejo da cultura. diagnósticos campo; ativos proximais; vegetativos. ABSTRACT : In Brazil horticulture accuracy is still seeking and matching precision farming tools. Remote sensing is a tool that can be used for diagnostics field. His techniques can be worked through orbital passive sensors or proximal active sensors and allow to obtain information quickly and non-destructively. Proximal active sensors have long been used in the management of different cultures by overcoming limitations that orbital passive sensors present mainly in terms of speed of delivery of information to decision-making. These sensors work with different wavelengths and the information generated is typically displayed in the form of vegetative indices (VI). Numerous IV have been developed based on the spectral response of different targets. In apple culture there are no studies evaluating the use of proximal active sensors. Therefore, the objective of the study was to evaluate the spectral response of apple orchards in some growth stages and wavelengths. Search with this check the possibility of using IV already developed or creating IV alternative for crop management.
An improved method of voltage and frequency regulation in a wind turbine-based Microgrid using ELC

Distributed Systems are gaining great momentum everyday due to the rapid strides achieved in the development of power electronic devices. With a vision towards a greener future we need to substitute the centralized power distributed system by the Distributed Generation based Microgrid system. The integration of wind turbines in the form of a sustainable energy source in a power distribution system has been already conceived. But the establishment of an islanded Microgrid system solely based on a wind energy conversion system with additional controllability provided by Electronic Load Controller (ELC) is virtually nonexistent. Integration of wind energy to a small scale power supply network has made great advancements but still the stochastic generation characteristics prevent the power engineering technology from completely relying on wind energy. In this paper we have proposed the use of an ELC to regulate and stabilize the power obtained from a Wind turbine system to supply local loads. We have developed a complete wind energy based microgrid system using MATLAB/Simulink to analyze the voltage and frequency of the network under variable load demand conditions. We have also included the realistic variation of the wind speed on either sides of the nominal value and though this model we have established that it is possible to maintain the frequency and voltage of the ac Microgrid system with the help of a battery and an ELC Controller.
A double-blind comparison of empirical oral and intravenous antibiotic therapy for low-risk febrile patients with neutropenia during cancer chemotherapy.

BACKGROUND Among patients with fever and neutropenia during chemotherapy for cancer who have a low risk of complications, oral administration of empirical broad-spectrum antibiotics may be an acceptable alternative to intravenous treatment. METHODS We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of patients (age, 5 to 74 years) who had fever and neutropenia during chemotherapy for cancer. Neutropenia was expected to be present for no more than 10 days in these patients, and they had to have no other underlying conditions. Patients were assigned to receive either oral ciprofloxacin plus amoxicillin-clavulanate or intravenous ceftazidime. They were hospitalized until fever and neutropenia resolved. RESULTS A total of 116 episodes were included in each group (84 patients in the oral-therapy group and 79 patients in the intravenous-therapy group). The mean neutrophil counts at admission were 81 per cubic millimeter and 84 per cubic millimeter, respectively; the mean duration of neutropenia was 3.4 and 3.8 days, respectively. Treatment was successful without the need for modifications in 71 percent of episodes in the oral-therapy group and 67 percent of episodes in the intravenous-therapy group (difference between groups, 3 percent; 95 percent confidence interval, -8 percent to 15 percent; P=0.48). Treatment was considered to have failed because of the need for modifications in the regimen in 13 percent and 32 percent of episodes, respectively (P<0.001) and because of the patient's inability to tolerate the regimen in 16 percent and 1 percent of episodes, respectively (P<0.001). There were no deaths. The incidence of intolerance of the oral antibiotics was 16 percent, as compared with 8 percent for placebo (P=0.07). CONCLUSIONS In hospitalized low-risk patients who have fever and neutropenia during cancer chemotherapy, empirical therapy with oral ciprofloxacin and amoxicillin-clavulanate is safe and effective.
Inter‐rater reliability of the International Cooperative Ataxia Rating Scale (ICARS)

We assessed the inter‐rater reliability of the 100‐point International Cooperative Ataxia Rating Scale (ICARS). Three neurologists independently rated videotaped ICARS examinations of 22 subjects with genetically determined ataxias (spinocerebellar ataxia [SCA] Type 1 in 11; SCA Type 2 in 1; Friedreich's ataxia in 10) and 4 controls. Scores on live ICARS assessment had ranged from 0 to 7 for controls and 11 to 74 for ataxic subjects (clinically very mildly affected to wheelchair‐bound). Inter‐rater correlation was very high for the total score (Kendall's ω 0.994, 95% confidence interval, 0.988–0.997), and high to very high for each component subscore (0.791 for speech to 0.994 for posture/gait). All correlations were significant at P < 0.00001. The ICARS exhibits very high inter‐rater reliability even without prior observer standardisation and is sensitive to a range of ataxia severities from very mild to severe. © 2003 Movement Disorder Society
Xenbase: a genomic, epigenomic and transcriptomic model organism database

Abstract Xenbase (www.xenbase.org) is an online resource for researchers utilizing Xenopus laevis and Xenopus tropicalis, and for biomedical scientists seeking access to data generated with these model systems. Content is aggregated from a variety of external resources and also generated by in-house curation of scientific literature and bioinformatic analyses. Over the past two years many new types of content have been added along with new tools and functionalities to reflect the impact of high-throughput sequencing. These include new genomes for both supported species (each with chromosome scale assemblies), new genome annotations, genome segmentation, dynamic and interactive visualization for RNA-Seq data, updated ChIP-Seq mapping, GO terms, protein interaction data, ORFeome support, and improved connectivity to other biomedical and bioinformatic resources.
Guidelines on management (diagnosis and treatment) of syncope.

Table of contents Preamble Scope of the document 1256 Method 1257 Part 1. Classification, epidemiology and prognosis Definition 1258 Brief overview of pathophysiology of syncope 1258 Classification 1259 Epidemiological considerations 1259 Prognostic stratification: identification of factors predictive of adverse outcome 1260 Part 2. Diagnosis Strategy of evaluation (flow chart) 1262 Initial evaluation (history, physical examination, baseline electrocardiogram) 1264 Echocardiogram 1266 Carotid sinus massage 1266 Tilt testing 1268 Electrocardiographic monitoring (non-invasive and invasive) 1271 Electrophysiological testing 1273 ATP test 1277 Ventricular signal-averaged electrocardiogram 1278 Exercise testing 1278 Cardiac catheterization and angiography 1279 Neurological and psychiatric evaluation 1279 Diagnostic yield and prevalence of causes of syncope 1282
Perceptual features for a fuzzy speech-song classification

Human speech and song seem disparate, but a range of utterances between speech and song are evident, such as poetry, chant, and rap, which have features of both singing and speaking. This work seeks to identify and characterize the perceptual features relevant for a fuzzy classification of utterances between speech and singing. The speech-ness or song-ness of an utterance depends on the speech or song features evident in that utterance. This paper presents a brief discussion of the collection and annotation of the corpus of sound clips used in this work, followed by a description of the perceptual features expected to be useful, and presentation of preliminary results for two of these features.
Probability prediction of estimations improvement at image parameters stochastic estimation

In the paper we proposed the scalar characteristic to form a prediction of probability of estimations improvement of stochastic gradient estimation of image parameters. The efficiency of the characteristic is explored on the problem of estimating the parameters of interframe geometric deformations of images. Examples of characteristic calculations named as improvement ratio of estimates given when using the similarity model of inter-frame deformations. The mean squared difference and correlation coefficient are used as objective functions. On the iteration of the estimation, in the latter case there is a slight loss in the probability of improving the estimates, but the estimations of the parameters are more resistant to global brightness variation of the images and backlighting. The proposed characteristic can be used for probabilistic mathematical modeling and analysis of the process of stochastic gradient estimation of image parameters.
Petroleum: possibilities in the pipeline.

Understanding the prevalence of sexual reproduction in eukaryotes is a hard problem. At least two aspects still defy a fully satisfactory explanation, the functional significance of genetic recombination and the great variation among taxa in the relative lengths of the haploid and diploid phases in the sexual cycle. We have performed an experimental study to explore the specific advantages of haploidy or diploidy in the fungus Aspergillus nidulans. Comparing the rate of adaptation to a novel environment between haploid and isogenic diploid strains over 3,000 mitotic generations, we demonstrate that diploid strains, which during the experiment have reverted to haploidy following parasexual recombination, reach the highest fitness. This is due to the accumulation of recessive deleterious mutations in diploid nuclei, some of which show their combined beneficial effect in haploid recombinants. Our findings show the adaptive significance of mitotic recombination combined with flexibility in the timing of ploidy level transition if sign epistasis is an important determinant of fitness.
Pharmacology of Vanilloid Transient Receptor Potential Cation Channels

Depending on their primary structure, the 28 mammalian transient receptor potential (TRP) cation channels identified so far can be sorted into 6 subfamilies: TRPC (“Canonical”), TRPV (“Vanilloid”), TRPM (“Melastatin”), TRPP (“Polycystin”), TRPML (“Mucolipin”), and TRPA (“Ankyrin”). The TRPV subfamily (vanilloid receptors) comprises channels critically involved in nociception and thermosensing (TRPV1, TRPV2, TRPV3, and TRPV4), whereas TRPV5 and TRPV6 are involved in renal Ca2+ absorption/reabsorption. Apart from TRPV1, the pharmacology of these channels is still insufficiently known. Furthermore, only few small-molecule ligands for non-TRPV1 vanilloid receptors have been identified, and little is known of their endogenous ligands, resulting in a substantial “orphan” state for these channels. In this review, we summarize the pharmacological properties of members of the TRPV subfamily, highlighting the critical issues and challenges facing their “deorphanization” and clinical exploitation.
The genetic connection

Hazards for Skaters and Swimmers People often retreat to indoor recreational facilities to escape the allergens and pollen of summer, but new evidence shows that the air in such facilities may pose its own threat to respiratory health. Environmental health experts at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts, have found that levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO,) at indoor skating rinks sometimes exceed air quality guidelines set by the World Health Organization (WHO). Another team of researchers monitoring an indoor water park discovered that bioaerosols caused an outbreak of granulomatous lung disease in lifeguards. Both reports appeared in the December 1998 issue of the American Journal of Putiblit Heallth. A Harvard team led by environmental health researcher Jonathan Levy conducted air quality testing at 1 9 ice rinks in the Boston area over three winters. They found that concentrations of NO, in the rink air correlated with the type of machine used to clean and resurface the ice. At rinks using propane-powered machines, daily mean NO, concentrations averaged 206 parts per billion (ppb)twice as high as the one-hour level recommended by the WHO. In contrast, gasoline-fueled machines produced 1 32 ppb NO, and electric-powered machines produced 37 ppb. Numerous earlier reports had documented that exposure to elevated NO, causes chest tightness, shortness of breath, and other asthma-like symptoms in skaters, hockey players, coaches, and rink employees. "We picked up where those studies left off," says Levy, adding that they next asked, "Given that there are these health problems, how can we reduce NO, levels? " The best solution the researchers found was to replace propane-fueled machines with electric ones. During the course of the study, four ice rinks made the switch and median NO2 concentrations fell from 124 ppb to 35 ppb. "If [rinks] can economically buy an electric resurfacer, [they should] by all means do it," recommends Levy. However, the $72,000 price tag for a basic model may be impractical for smaller rinks. Levy found that engineering controls such as increasing ventilation and tuning resurfacers also reduced NO, concentrations by an average of 65%. In another study of an indoor recreational facility, pulmonologist Cecile Rose Water hazard. Frequent users of indoor swimming and ice-skating facilities may be at risk for respiratory illnesses due to air contaminants including bacteria and nitrogen dioxide.
Overexpression of Arabidopsis ECERIFERUM1 Promotes Wax Very-Long-Chain Alkane Biosynthesis and Influences Plant Response to Biotic and Abiotic Stresses1[W]

Land plant aerial organs are covered by a hydrophobic layer called the cuticle that serves as a waterproof barrier protecting plants against desiccation, ultraviolet radiation, and pathogens. Cuticle consists of a cutin matrix as well as cuticular waxes in which very-long-chain (VLC) alkanes are the major components, representing up to 70% of the total wax content in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) leaves. However, despite its major involvement in cuticle formation, the alkane-forming pathway is still largely unknown. To address this deficiency, we report here the characterization of the Arabidopsis ECERIFERUM1 (CER1) gene predicted to encode an enzyme involved in alkane biosynthesis. Analysis of CER1 expression showed that CER1 is specifically expressed in the epidermis of aerial organs and coexpressed with other genes of the alkane-forming pathway. Modification of CER1 expression in transgenic plants specifically affects VLC alkane biosynthesis: waxes of TDNA insertional mutant alleles are devoid of VLC alkanes and derivatives, whereas CER1 overexpression dramatically increases the production of the odd-carbon-numbered alkanes together with a substantial accumulation of iso-branched alkanes. We also showed that CER1 expression is induced by osmotic stresses and regulated by abscisic acid. Furthermore, CER1-overexpressing plants showed reduced cuticle permeability together with reduced soil water deficit susceptibility. However, CER1 overexpression increased susceptibility to bacterial and fungal pathogens. Taken together, these results demonstrate that CER1 controls alkane biosynthesis and is highly linked to responses to biotic and abiotic stresses.
Dual-Vt FPGA design for leakage power reduction (abstract only)

Leakage power has been overshadowed by dynamic power minimization techniques in FPGAs, and is a growing concern in programmable logic. This paper proposes a dual threshold voltage implementation of the FPGA architecture for leakage power reduction. A CAD flow is developed for assigning high threshold voltage to the logic elements within the logic blocks of the FPGA for leakage power reduction. The CAD flow ensures that all the logic blocks remain identical with respect to the number of high and low threshold voltage logic elements that each logic block contains. This CAD flow leads to a dual threshold voltage implementation for the FPGA architecture. Results indicate that over 95% of the logic elements in the FPGA can be assigned high threshold voltage. On an average leakage savings of 60% and up to 70% for some benchmarks can be achieved. The proposed CAD flow forms a basis on which other dual threshold voltage implementations of FPGA can be evaluated. We investigate the design trade-offs between the ratio of the number of high and number of low-Vt logic elements in a cluster and the leakage savings. We also investigate the impact of cluster size on leakage savings for the dual threshold voltage implementation.
Women in Turkey in the Context of Being Deprived of Capabilities and Feasibilities

The concept of poverty, defined as deprivation of capabilities and feasibilities, in the context of Amartya Sen’s “The Capability Approach” is explained through ideas of “what people can or cannot do” and “what they can be or cannot be” rather than through their income or expense tendencies. In this study, conducted to understand the poverty conditions of women living in Turkey, the participants were asked “what are the things they want to do but cannot do? ”, “what do they want to be but cannot be? ”, both from the perspective of being deprived of capabilities. The answers given were evaluated from the perspective of The Capability Approach. In this study, 741 women living in seven different cities selected from seven geographical regions of Turkey were asked to select the things “they want to do but cannot do”, “they want to be but cannot be” among the given statements or write in their own words within “the other” option. In the following section, they were asked to explain why “they cannot do” or “they cannot be”. The answers given are the explanation of on what aspects and why women are deprived; in other words, why they are impoverished. Accordingly, women living in Turkey gave such answers as they cannot travel alone or go on a vacation, cannot drive, cannot live as they wish, and cannot spare time for themselves. When the reasons were asked, they provided mainly such explanations as financial incapability, not being allowed by family elders, social pressure, and lack of selfconfidence. Having education and a profession are also stated as the things that the participants most wanted to have but cannot have. Why they cannot have these are explained with reasons as, again, financial incapability, not being allowed by family elders, or not being able to spare time.