Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Autofluorescence Patterns as a Predictive Factor for Neovascularization

Purpose To investigate fundus autofluorescence (FAF) patterns in patients with nonexudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and to test if FAF patterns affect the development of choroidal neovascularization (CNV). Methods One hundred one patients with early AMD underwent a detailed ophthalmological examination. Fundus autofluorescence imaging was performed with a confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope following a standard protocol. The classification of the International Fundus Autofluorescence Classification Group was used for the description of the FAF patterns. Results One hundred seventy-eight eyes of 101 patients (59 women, 42 men) with a mean (±SD) age of 66.4 (±6.1) years were included. The mean (±SD) follow-up was 41.3 (±27) months. One hundred seventy-eight eyes presented various types of drusen with or without hyperpigmentation or hypopigmentation at initial examination. During follow-up, a total of 22 (12.3%) eyes developed CNV. The most frequent pattern for CNV development was the patchy pattern in 30.4%, followed by linear in 25%, and reticular pattern in 20.8% of eyes. Conclusions Fundus autofluorescence imaging using a confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope is a useful technique to identify FAF characteristics in patients with nonexudative AMD. Different patterns of FAF abnormalities can be obtained in these eyes. Our results indicate that patchy, linear, and reticular patterns are the specific patterns associated with CNV development in nonexudative AMD.
Rational–Irrational Investor Sentiments and Emerging Stock Market Returns: A Comparison from Turkey

This study investigates the dynamic relationship between rational and irrational consumer-business sentiments and stock returns in an emerging stock market, Turkey. Consumer and business sentiments are divided into two components: rational and irrational sentiments. Then, the dynamic interactions and the impact of the sentiments on stock returns are examined. The fundamental economic variables used in the study consist of business conditions, economic risk premium, country risk, exchange rate risk, country growth rate, inflation rate, and terms of trade. The results show that Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE)-100 index returns are positively and significantly affected by the rational sentiments of both consumers and businesses. JEL Classification: G02, G12, G150
Graphical modeling for item difficulty in medical faculty exams

Background: There are different indexes used in the evaluation of exam results. One important index is the difficulty level of the item that is also used in this study to obtain control charts. This article offers some suggestions for the improvement of multiple-choice tests using item analysis statistics. Materials and Methods: The graphical modeling is important for the rapid and comparative evaluation of test results. The control chart is a tool that can be used to sharpen our teaching and testing skills by inspecting the weaknesses of measurements and producing reliable items. The research data for the application of control charts were obtained using the results of the fourth and fifth-grade student's exams at Ondokuz Mayis University, Faculty of Medicine. I-chart or moving range chart (MR) is preferred for whole variable data. Results: It is seen that all observations are within control limits for I-chart, but three points on MR-chart are settled on the LCL. Using X–-chart with subgroups, it was determined that control measurements were within the upper and lower limits in both charts. The difficulty levels of items were examined by obtaining different variable control charts. The difficulty level of the two items exceeded the upper control limit in R- and S-charts. Conclusion: The control charts have the advantage for classifying items as acceptable or unacceptable based on item difficulty criteria.
Theoretical Evaluation of Stability Improvement Brought by Resonant Current Loop for Paralleled LLC Converters

This paper presents a digitally master-slave controlled parallel system of multiple LLC resonant converters with an inner resonant current control loop in each module. Theoretical analysis of the stability of individual modules and the system with an inner resonant current loop is proposed based on the envelop model, which reveals the principle of the performance improvement brought by the resonant current control loop. Moreover, the inner resonant current loop eliminates the differences in small-signal characteristics among different static operating points, thus facilitating the voltage loop design. The analysis of parallel operation and a complete control loop design guide for paralleled LLC resonant converters is presented based on a small-signal model rather than on software simulation. Finally, the stability analysis and design are elaborated and verified through a 16-kW experimental system of four modularized LLC resonant converters.
Photonic Approach for Generating Randomness-Enhanced Physical Chaos Via Dual-Path Optically Injected VCSELs

The randomness enhancement of physical chaos generated by slave vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (S-VCSEL) subject to dual-path polarization-preserved optical injection (DP-PPOI) from single master VCSEL (M-VCSEL) with variable-polarization optical feedback (VPOF) is investigated numerically. The randomness of chaotic signals is evaluated quantitatively by an information-theory-based quantifier, the permutation entropy. The randomness properties for S-VCSEL with DP-PPOI and S-VCSEL with single-path PPOI are compared, as well as the effects of injection strength, frequency detuning, and VPOF are considered. It is shown that, the PE values for S-VCSELs with two different injection schemes are both much higher than those for M-VCSEL, and increase initially and then decrease until they saturate at a constant level. The region of injection parameter space contributing to randomness-enhanced chaos in S-VCSEL can be greatly broadened by adopting DP-PPOI. The generation of randomness-enhanced chaos via photonic approach is highly desirable for high-speed random number generators based on chaotic VCSELs.
Sp3 Proteins Negatively Regulate β Myosin Heavy Chain Gene Expression during Skeletal Muscle Inactivity

ABSTRACT In adult skeletal muscle, β myosin heavy chain (βMyHC) gene expression is primarily restricted to slow type I fibers; however, its expression is down-regulated in response to muscle inactivity. Little is known about the signaling pathways and transcription factors that mediate this important functional response. This study demonstrates that increased binding of Sp3 to GC-rich elements in theβ MyHC promoter is a critical event in down-regulation ofβ MyHC gene expression under non-weight-bearing conditions. Conversely, binding of Sp3 to these elements decreased while Sp1 binding increased with nuclear extracts from plantaris muscle exposed to mechanical overload, a stimulus that increases βMyHC gene expression. In addition, these experiments revealed the existence of an Sp4-DNA binding complex when using adult skeletal muscle nuclear extract was used but not when nuclear extracts from cultured myotubes were used. Sp3 proteins are competitive inhibitors of Sp1-mediatedβ MyHC reporter gene transactivation in both Drosophila SL-2 and mouse C2C12 myotubes. Sp4 is a weak activator of βMyHC gene expression in SL-2 cells, which lack endogenous Sp1 activity, but does not activate βMyHC gene expression in C2C12 myotubes, which have high levels of Sp1. These results suggest that competitive binding of Sp family proteins regulate βMyHC gene transcription in response to altered neuromuscular activity.
An Accessible Chiral Linker to Enhance Potency and Selectivity of Neuronal Nitric Oxide Synthase Inhibitors.

The three important mammalian isozymes of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) are neuronal NOS (nNOS), endothelial NOS (eNOS), and inducible NOS (iNOS). Inhibitors of nNOS show promise as treatments for neurodegenerative diseases. Eight easily-synthesized compounds containing either one (20a,b) or two (9a-d; 15a,b) 2-amino-4-methylpyridine groups with a chiral pyrrolidine linker were designed as selective nNOS inhibitors. Inhibitor 9c is the best of these compounds, having a potency of 9.7 nM and dual selectivity of 693 and 295 against eNOS and iNOS, respectively. Crystal structures of nNOS complexed with either 9a or 9c show a double-headed binding mode, where each 2-aminopyridine head group interacts with either a nNOS active site Glu residue or a heme propionate. In addition, the pyrrolidine nitrogen of 9c contributes additional hydrogen bonds to the heme propionate, resulting in a unique binding orientation. In contrast, the lack of hydrogen bonds from the pyrrolidine of 9a to the heme propionate allows the inhibitor to adopt two different binding orientations. Both 9a and 9c bind to eNOS in a single-headed mode, which is the structural basis for the isozyme selectivity.
Theory of hexagonal and stripe phases in monolayers.

Epifluorescence microscopy can be used to visualize the shapes of solid lipid domains in two-phase regions of monolayers at the air-water interface. The shapes of certain lipid domains result from a competition between a one-dimensional line tension and long-range intermolecular electrostatic repulsion. Under specified conditions, a finite two-dimensional domain with one shape can undergo a sharp transition to a second shape, as the area of the domain is changed. Two-dimensional infinite arrays of domains can also have transitions involving changes in the shapes and patterns of domains, such as the stripe to hexagonal phase transition [Andelman, D. , Brochard, F. & Joanny, J. F. (1987) J. Chem. Phys. 86, 3673-3681]. The present paper treats the hexagonal and stripe phases with the same approximations and methods of calculation as used previously for the isolated, finite domains. It is shown that one effect of electrostatic repulsion between domains is to cause these domains to increase in size as they approach one another on monolayer compression. It is also shown that there can be two distinct conditions where the hexagonal and stripe phases coexist.
Sodium Channels in Transient Retinal Bipolar Cells Enhance Visual Responses in Ganglion Cells

Retinal bipolar cells are slow potential neurons that respond to photoreceptor inputs with graded potentials and do not fire action potentials. We found that transient ON bipolar cells recorded in retinal slices possess voltage-gated sodium channels located on either their dendrites or somas. The sodium currents in these neurons did not generate spikes but enhanced voltage responses evoked by visual stimulation, which selectively boosted transmission to transient ganglion cells. In contrast, sodium currents were not found in sustained ON bipolar cells, and light responses in sustained bipolar cells and ganglion cells were not affected by TTX. The presence of sodium channels in transient ON bipolar cells contributed to the separation of transient and sustained signals by selectively enhancing the responses of ON transient ganglion cells to light. Our results suggest that bipolar cell sodium channels augment transient signals and contribute to the temporal segregation of visual information.
Effects of Angiogenic Factors, Antagonists, and Podocyte Injury on Development of Proteinuria in Preeclampsia

Proteinuria is universal to all patients with preeclampsia. We examined the urinary podocytes in women with preeclampsia (n = 14), gestational hypertension (n = 14), and normal pregnancy. Maternal serum and urinary concentrations of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), placental growth factor (PlGF), and the antiangiogenic factor soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase 1 (sFlt-1) were detected. These concentrations were used to evaluate the urinary excretion of podocytes and the alteration of angiogenic factors and to assess their relationships to proteinuria in preeclampsia. Our studies suggest that the urinary podocyte number and angiogenic factors are correlated with random urine albumin/creatinine ratio and blood pressure. Receiver–operating characteristic (ROC) curves of serum and urinary PlGF and the PlGF/sFlt-1 ratio as well as the presence of podocyturia confirmed their usefulness in distinguishing preeclamptic and normotensive pregnant women. In addition, combinations of serum or urinary PlGF or podocyturia tests in parallel or in series provided the best clue for identifying patients with preeclampsia. We considered that the dysregulation of angiogenic factors and its subsequent podocyte injury may contribute to the mechanism of proteinuria development in preeclampsia.
Brazil's Emerging Roadmap for Internet Governance

Brazil’s Emerging Roadmap for Internet Governance By Daniel Arnaudo Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Professor Jonathan Warren Jackson School of International Studies This thesis is an examination of the roadmap Brazil is drawing to govern the Internet domestically, and potentially extend to other countries and the international system as a whole. This map includes the development of institutions and regulations to govern the infrastructure and information communications technology (ICT) used collectively and individually by Brazilian citizens. The principal means of depicting this roadmap are an exploration of the Marco Civil da Internet, a Bill of Rights for the Internet, and the Comitê Gestor da Internet, an Internet Steering Committee that governs and administers aspects of the country’s national network. Through this examination of two principal examples and a number of secondary ones, Brazil’s shows how to connect technical codes with political ideals to govern the new realities of the information age. To explain how this coexistence of political and technical ideals translates to policy objectives, this thesis will examine the legal code and history of the Marco Civil, the membership and objectives of the CGI, and the tenets created by the CGI instilled in the bill that now governs Brazil’s Internet today. It also integrates the work of scholars that have developed theories to explain how governments collaborate with citizens through democratic, multistakeholder models that manage these new systems through technical means, such as the coordination and assignment of root level domains or the changeover to IPv6. The Internet is a revolutionary new mechanism to achieve objectives such as to innovate and develop economies, ensure security, network neutrality, freedom of expression, privacy and human rights. By constructing and administering ICT infrastructure through a revolutionary democratic model enabled by the strongest network possible, the Marco Civil contains both technical and political elements to build and maintain a stronger civil society, democratic system and economy simultaneously. This is what makes these new Brazilian regulations and institutions revolutionary, pioneering examples of how to approach our new reality.
Optically-driven actuator using photo-induced phase-transition material

The authors propose a new optically driven actuator which utilizes photo-induced phase-transition (PIPT) material. This actuator is expected to be useful for micromechanical systems, since it provides a wireless energy supply by light. In these PIPT materials the material phase is changed by irradiation of light, as well as by temperature or external fields. In this report, a kind of polydiacetylene (PDA) substituted with alkyl-urethane is investigated. This material is known to exhibit reversible PIPT around 125/spl deg/C between the 'blue' phase and 'red' phase. The authors measured the induced macroscopic elongation of PDA crystal using a displacement meter. The induced strains due to thermal phase transition were measured to be 2%, 0.03%, and 0.9% at 125/spl deg/C for the a-, b-, and c-axes, respectively. These values are larger than that of the piezoelectric or thermal-expansion materials conventionally used for microactuators. Material deformation due to light-pulse irradiation was demonstrated for the first time. The observed bending was explained by bimorph formation induced by phase transition at the irradiated surface.
Immunocytochemical localization of three vesicular glutamate transporters in the cat retina

Vesicular transporters play an essential role in the packaging of glutamate for synaptic release and so are of particular importance in the retina, where glutamate serves as the neurotransmitter for photoreceptors, bipolar cells, and ganglion cells. In the present study, we have examined the distribution of the three known isoforms of vesicular glutamate transporter (VGLUT) in the cat retina. VGLUT1 was localized to all photoreceptor and bipolar cells, whereas VGLUT2 was found in ganglion cells. This basic pattern of complementary distribution for the two transporters among known populations of glutamatergic cells is similar to previous findings in the brain and spinal cord. However, the axon terminals of S‐cone photoreceptors were found to express both VGLUT1 and VGLUT2 and some ganglion cells labeled for both VGLUT2 and VGLUT3. Such colocalizations suggest the existence of dual modes of regulation of vesicular glutamate transport in these neurons. Staining for VGLUT2 was also present in a small number of varicose processes, which were seen to ramify throughout the inner plexiform layer. These fibers may represent axon collaterals of ganglion cells. The most prominent site of VGLUT3 immunoreactivity was in a population of amacrine cells; the axon terminals of B‐type horizontal cells were also labeled at their contacts with rod spherules. The presence of the VGLUT3 transporter at sites not otherwise implicated in glutamate release may indicate novel modes of glutamate signaling or additional roles for the transporter molecule. J. Comp. Neurol. 475:518–530, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
LRRK2 in Parkinson’s disease: genetic and clinical studies from patients

Mutations in leucine‐rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) (PARK8) are associated with both familial and sporadic forms of Parkinson’s disease. Most studies have shown that LRRK2 mutations may explain between 5% and 13% of familial and 1–5% of sporadic Parkinson’s disease. Importantly, a common recurrent mutation (G2019S) located in the kinase domain has been reported across most ethnic populations, with the highest prevalence among Ashkenazi Jews and North African Arabs. A recent worldwide meta‐analysis pooling data from 24 populations reported a higher occurrence of G2019S in southern than in northern European countries and the penetrance is estimated to be ∼ 75% at the age of 79 years. The R1441 ‘hotspot’ amino acid codon residue (G/H/C) in the Ras of complex proteins domain is the second most common site of pathogenic LRRK2 substitutions after G2019S, with most carriers developing symptoms by the age of 75 years. Two polymorphic variants found almost exclusively among Asians (G2385R and R1628P) have been shown to increase the Parkinson’s disease risk by approximately two‐fold. The mutational event associated with R1628P is more recent, occurring ∼ 2500 years ago, compared to estimates of 4000 years for G2385R carriers. LRRK2 mutation carriers generally simulate late onset Parkinson’s disease and present with the usual typical clinical features. Genetic testing for G2019S in sporadic late‐onset Parkinson’s disease can be considered in some situations and may be useful in populations with high carrier status. The identification of asymptomatic mutation and risk variant carriers provides a unique opportunity for recruiting these subjects in potential neuroprotective trials and longitudinal studies to identify biomarkers of neurodegeneration.
Association between CDH1 and MSX1 Gene Polymorphisms and the Risk of Nonsyndromic Cleft Lip and/or Cleft Palate in a Southeast Iranian Population

Objective Orofacial clefts such as cleft palate (CP) and cleft lip (CL) and/or cleft palate (CL/P) are the most common congenital anomalies of the head and neck. The aims of the present study were to evaluate the possible association between CDH1 (rs11642413 and rs16260) and MSX1 (rs12532 and rs3775261) gene polymorphisms and nonsyndromic cleft lip and/or cleft palate (NS-CL/P) in a sample of the Iranian population. Design and Setting This case-control study was performed on 100 subjects with NS-CL/P and 100 healthy unrelated control subjects. Tetra amplification refractory mutation system-polymerase chain reaction and multiplex polymerase chain reaction were used to detect the single-nucleotide polymorphisms. Results There was a significant difference between NS-CL/P subjects and control subjects regarding CDH1 rs16260 C > A polymorphism, and the rs16260 AC as well as the rs16260 AA genotypes were associated with NS-CL/P susceptibility (odds ratio [OR] = 3.02, 95% confidence interval [CI] =1.51 −6.00, P=.001; and OR = 8.05, 95% CI = 1.72–37.75, P=.002, respectively). No significant difference was found between the groups regarding CDH1 rs11642413 polymorphism. Although MSX1 rs3775261 polymorphism was not a risk factor for the disease, the rs12532 AG and rs12532 GG genotypes were associated with NS-CL/P risk (OR = 2.82, 95% CI = 1.55–5.15, P=.001; and OR = 8.42, 95% CI = 2.26–31.29, P=.004, respectively). Conclusion Our data suggest that CDH1 and MSX1 gene polymorphisms are risk factors for susceptibility to NS-CL/P in a sample of the Iranian population. Larger studies are required to validate our findings.
Subacute cardiac perforations associated with active fixation leads.

AIMS Having several recently published reports on increased rate of cardiac perforation with some lead models as background, we assess the relation between cardiac perforations and models of leads used. METHODS AND RESULTS All pacing and defibrillation leads implantations between 1 January 2007 and 31 March 2008 were analysed retrospectively. There were 2247 leads implanted in 1419 patients aged 67.6 +/- 14.1, 1200 (53%) active and 1047 (47%) passive fixation leads. Cardiac perforation occurred in eight patients (0.5%). The number of perforations does not differ significantly between the pacemaker and implantable cardioverter defibrillator implantations (five and three cases, respectively, P = 0.13). All perforations were associated with the active fixation leads implantation (8 vs. 0, P < 0.01). Only four models of leads were associated with perforations, but the risk of their use was not statistically significantly increased, when compared with other active fixation leads placed in the adequate position. CONCLUSIONS The incidence of cardiac perforation related to pacing and defibrillation leads is low. The use of active fixation leads is associated with an increased risk of cardiac perforation. We did not find any correlation between the perforation rate and any particular model of the implanted lead.