Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The influence of near-work on development of myopia among university students. A three-year longitudinal study among engineering students in Norway.

PURPOSE The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of near-work on development and progression of myopia among adults exposed to high educational demands. METHODS A three-year longitudinal refraction study was performed among 224 Norwegian engineering students (mean age 20.6 years, 117 females and 107 males) measuring their refraction at the beginning and the end of the period. The examinations included automated and clinical refraction in cycloplegia and a questionnaire regarding time spent on different kinds of near-work was filled in by the participants. A total of 192 students (100 females and 92 males) completed the study. RESULTS The mean refractive change of -0.51+/-0.49 D (n=192) during the three-year period was statistically significant (p=0.0001). A significant relationship between refractive change towards myopia and time spent on reading scientific literature (p< or =0.001) and on practical near-work (p< or =0.05), respectively, was found. Also, a significant relationship between refractive change towards myopia and time spent at lectures was revealed (p< or =0.001). No relationship was found between refractive change and time spent at working with video display terminals (VDT) or watching television, respectively. CONCLUSIONS The results indicate that intensive near-work could initiate myopia or lead to its progression in young adults. The time spent on near-work seems to play a significant role in that process.
Location and origin of traps in InGaP-GaAs by GR noise measurement and simulation

A thorough approach to the location and origin of traps generated in InGaP/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBT) by low frequency noise characterization and reliable physics-based simulation is discussed. Physics-based simulation together with the low frequency equivalent short-circuit current noise sources (Sib, Sic) experimental results reveal an electron trap located at the 5-InGaP/GaAs heterointerface and at the InGaP/nitride interface. For the first time, power spectral density (PSD) curves of (Sib, Sic) in the 100 Hz to 1 MHz frequency range for current densities up to 20 kA/cm2 are demonstrated and are in agreement with those obtained from physics-based simulation.
Research on the indexed stock options’ quadratic hedging under jump-diffusion settings

Abstract This paper studied the hedging of European indexed stock options, whose exercise price is a variable varying with the market index. Firstly, using the expectation of the squared error between option’s terminal value and hedging portfolio to measure market risk , and with the constraint of self-financing, a squared hedge decision model was built; Then, by using the Dynamic Programming Principle and backward recursion method, the optimal hedging positions’ analytical expressions were acquired; Lastly, all hedging results with different option maturities and different position rebalancing frequencies show that there is dependent relationship between hedging positions and option’s maturity time limit; hedging positions also rely on the relative variation of the underlying asset price.
Context Matters: Contrasting Ladybird Beetle Responses to Urban Environments across Two US Regions

Urban agroecosystems offer an opportunity to investigate the diversity and distribution of organisms that are conserved in city landscapes. This information is not only important for conservation efforts, but also has important implications for sustainable agricultural practices. Associated biodiversity can provide ecosystem services like pollination and pest control, but because organisms may respond differently to the unique environmental filters of specific urban landscapes, it is valuable to compare regions that have different abiotic conditions and urbanization histories. In this study, we compared the abundance and diversity of ladybird beetles within urban gardens in California and Michigan, USA. We asked what species are shared, and what species are unique to urban regions. Moreover, we asked how beetle diversity is influenced by the amount and rate of urbanization surrounding sampled urban gardens. We found that the abundance and diversity of beetles, particularly of unique species, respond in opposite directions to urbanization: ladybirds increased with urbanization in California, but decreased with urbanization in Michigan. We propose that in California water availability in gardens and the urbanization history of the landscape could explain the divergent pattern. Thus, urban context is likely a key contributor to biodiversity within habitats and an important consideration for sustainable agricultural practices in urban agroecosystems.
Functional role of follicular cells in the generation of osmolarity‐dependent Cl‐ currents in Xenopus follicles.

1. Osmolarity‐dependent (osmo‐dependent) ionic currents from follicle‐enclosed Xenopus oocytes (follicles) were studied using the two‐microelectrode voltage‐clamp technique, combined with intra‐oocyte pressure injection of sucrose or polyethylene glycols (PEGs). 2. Intra‐oocyte injections of sucrose or PEG (3‐25 nmol) generated inward membrane currents (follicles held at ‐60 mV) associated with an increase in membrane conductance. These currents were carried mainly by chloride ions (ICl(osm)), and were strongly attenuated by increasing the tonicity of the external medium, or by external application of La3+ (0.1‐1 mM). 3. The ability to generate ICl(osm) depended on the molecular weight of the injected PEG. Injections of PEG 200 or 300 generated ICl(osm) in 95% of the follicles tested, PEG 600 generated comparable currents in only 20% of the follicles, while similar injections of PEG 1000 did not elicit ICl(osm). 4. Octanol (1‐1.5 mM), a gap junction channel blocker, reversibly inhibited 50‐90% of the ICl(osm) generated by injections of sucrose or PEG 300. Moreover, sucrose or PEG injections did not elicit ICl(osm) in defolliculated oocytes. 5. It is concluded that an increase in the internal osmolarity of the follicular cells activates a mechanism, probably involving cellular swelling, which leads to the opening of ICl(osm) channels most probably located in the follicular cell membrane.
Simulation of cloud infrastructure using CloudSim simulator: A practical approach for researchers

Cloud Computing has evolved greatly in the recent years due to its characteristics of being secure, highly reliable, fault-tolerant, sustainable, and highly scalable; or we can say that it is capable of dynamically delivering IT resources over the Internet. Hence a lot of researchers and experts are working on improvising the cloud technology. To assess the performance of cloud environment, cloud simulators play an important role as it is a challenging task to perform experiments on the real cloud (which would incur huge cost in terms of currency if experiments are repeated). This paper gives a step by step practical approach towards simulating cloud components or cloud environment using the (open source) CloudSim simulator. It shows in-depth analysis and the factors responsible for simulating cloud concepts for your experiments or research or industry specific application.
Review: Current status of therapy in autoimmune liver disease

Therapeutic strategies for autoimmune liver diseases are increasingly established. Although proportionately uncommon, specialist centers have with time refined the best approaches for each disease, based on an improved understanding of the spectrum of presentation. The major treatment aims are to prevent end-stage liver disease and its associated complications. As a result of drugs such as ursodeoxycholic acid, predniso(lo)ne and azathioprine, both primary biliary cirrhosis and autoimmune hepatitis are now less commonly indications for liver transplantation. Unfortunately, the same inroads in treatment efficacy have as yet not been made for primary sclerosing cholangitis, although the recognition that a subset of patients may have a treatable secondary sclerosing cholangitis (IgG4 related) is helping a proportion. With better biological understanding, more specific interventions are expected that will benefit all those with autoimmune liver diseases.
Epidemiology, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Patients With Metastatic Cancer and High-grade Gliomas of the Central Nervous System

Cancer is the hyperactive state of cell growth in which the multiplication and division of cells occur abnormally.Malignant cancer to the brain frequently begins and ends with the loss of self or quality of life. Cancer of the central nervous system can be in the form of a primary or secondary brain tumor commonly known as metastatic cancer. Primary brain tumors can be benign or malignant on the basis of the cell type or location within the brain. Metastatic cancer has a primary source of origin, from which it has traveled to the brain by direct extension (tumors arising from the skull or vertebral column), or most commonly by hematogenous spread (through the blood supply, lymphatic system, or cerebral spinal fluid). As the cancer grows, the individual can experience headache, seizures, or focal neurologic deficits, all impinging on quality of life. Thisarticle addresses malignant central nervous system cancer including metastatic cancer and malignant gliomas (anaplastic astrocytoma, grade III, and glioblastoma multiforme, grade IV). Epidemiology, diagnostic workup, treatment, and outcome also are reviewed.
The utility of ‘country of birth’ for the classification of ethnic groups in health research: the Dutch experience

The relationship between ethnicity and health is attracting increasing attention in international health research. Different measures are used to operationalise the concept of ethnicity. Presently, self-definition of ethnicity seems to gain favour. In contrast, in the Netherlands, the use of country of birth criteria have been widely accepted as a basis for the identification of ethnic groups. In this paper, we will discuss its advantages as well as its limitations and the solutions to these limitations from the Dutch perspective with a special focus on survey studies. The country of birth indicator has the advantage of being objective and stable, allowing for comparisons over time and between studies. Inclusion of parental country of birth provides an additional advantage for identifying the second-generation ethnic groups. The main criticisms of this indicator seem to refer to its validity. The basis for this criticism is, firstly, the argument that people who are born in the same country might have a different ethnic background. In the Dutch context, this limitation can be addressed by the employment of additional indicators such as geographical origin, language, and self-identified ethnic group. Secondly, the country of birth classification has been criticised for not covering all dimensions of ethnicity, such as culture and ethnic identity. We demonstrate in this paper how this criticism can be addressed by the use of additional indicators. In conclusion, in the Dutch context, country of birth can be considered a useful indicator for ethnicity if complemented with additional indicators to, first, compensate for the drawbacks in certain conditions, and second, shed light on the mechanisms underlying the association between ethnicity and health.
All-in-One Bacmids: an Efficient Reverse Genetics Strategy for Influenza A Virus Vaccines

ABSTRACT Vaccination is the first line of defense against influenza virus infection, yet influenza vaccine production methods are slow, antiquated, and expensive as a means to effectively reduce the virus burden during epidemic or pandemic periods. There is a great need for alternative influenza vaccines and vaccination methods with a global scale of impact. We demonstrate here a strategy to generate influenza A virus in vivo by using bacmid DNAs. Compared to the classical reverse genetics system, the “eight-in-one” bacmids (bcmd-RGFlu) showed higher efficiency of virus rescue in various cell types. Using a transfection-based inoculation (TBI) system, intranasal delivery to DBA/2J and BALB/c mice of bcmd-RGFlu plus 293T cells led to the generation of lethal PR8 virus in vivo. A prime-boost intranasal vaccination strategy using TBI in the context of a bcmd-RGFlu carrying a temperature-sensitive H1N1 virus resulted in protection of mice against lethal challenge with the PR8 strain. Taken together, these studies provide proof of principle to highlight the potential of vaccination against influenza virus by using in vivo reverse genetics. IMPORTANCE Vaccination is the first line of defense against influenza virus infections. A major drawback in the preparation of influenza vaccines is that production relies on a heavily time-consuming process of growing the viruses in eggs. We propose a radical change in the way influenza vaccination is approached, in which a recombinant bacmid, a shuttle vector that can be propagated in both Escherichia coli and insect cells, carries an influenza virus infectious clone (bcmd-RGFlu). Using a surrogate cell system, we found that intranasal delivery of bcmd-RGFlu resulted in generation of influenza virus in mice. Furthermore, mice vaccinated with this system were protected against lethal influenza virus challenge. The study serves as a proof of principle of a potentially universal vaccine platform against influenza virus and other pathogens.
Identification of major loci controlling clinical manifestations of ankylosing spondylitis.

OBJECTIVE To identify genomic regions linked with determinants of age at symptom onset, disease activity, and functional impairment in ankylosing spondylitis (AS). METHODS A whole genome linkage scan was performed in 188 affected sibling pair families with 454 affected individuals. Traits assessed were age at symptom onset, disease activity assessed by the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI), and functional impairment assessed by the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index (BASFI). Parametric and nonparametric quantitative linkage analysis was performed using parameters defined in a previous segregation study. RESULTS Heritabilities of the traits studied in this data set were as follows: BASDAI 0.49 (P = 0.0001, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 0.23-0.75), BASFI 0.76 (P = 10(-7), 95% CI 0.49-1.0), and age at symptom onset 0.33 (P = 0.005, 95% CI 0.04-0.62). No linkage was observed between the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) and any of the traits studied (logarithm of odds [LOD] score <1.0). "Significant" linkage (LOD score 4.0) was observed between a region on chromosome 18p and the BASDAI. Age at symptom onset showed "suggestive" linkage to chromosome 11p (LOD score 3.3). Maximum linkage with the BASFI was seen at chromosome 2q (LOD score 2.9). CONCLUSION In contrast to the genetic determinants of susceptibility to AS, clinical manifestations of the disease measured by the BASDAI, BASFI, and age at symptom onset are largely determined by a small number of genes not encoded within the MHC.
Promises and Problems of Functional Foods

“Functional” foods are branded foods, which claim, explicitly or implicitly, to improve health or well being. We review typical functional foods and their ingredients, efficacy, and safety. We also review regulations for health claims for foods worldwide. These regulations often allow manufacturers to imply that a food promotes health without providing proper scientific evidence. At the same time, regulations may ban claims that a food prevents disease, even when it does. We offer a plea for regulations that will permit all health claims that are supported by the totality of scientific evidence, and ban all claims that suggest an unproven benefit.
Age of onset and death in inherited prion disease are heritable

The common polymorphism at codon 129 of the prion protein gene (PRNP) is known to affect prion disease susceptibility, incubation period and phenotype. Mouse quantitative trait locus (QTL) studies demonstrate multiple modifiers of incubation time unlinked to Prnp, suggesting the existence of homologous human prion disease modifiers, but direct evidence of these has been lacking. We investigated the correlation of age at onset and death, expressed as a composite Z score, between parents and offspring in three large UK inherited prion disease kindreds. Our analysis suggests that overall heritability of the composite phenotype is 0.55 (95% CI 0.35–0.75). This measure may be an underestimate of the total genetic contribution to phenotypic heterogeneity as the analysis does not incorporate the effect of PRNP‐linked modifiers. Although the confidence intervals are wide, these data suggest a significant heritable component to phenotypic variability and support attempts to identify human prion disease modifier genes which would be important in understanding the epidemiology of variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (vCJD) in populations with significant exposure to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) prions. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Survival after photodynamic therapy to non-pulmonary metastatic endobronchial tumors.

BACKGROUND For the past 15 years we have used photodynamic therapy (PDT) to treat endobronchial tumors. Unfortunately patients who have non-primary lung cancer metastatic to bronchi and who have failed other treatment regimens may not be offered endobronchial tumor management. Thirteen patients with endobronchial tumors metastatic from non-pulmonary primaries were treated with PDT. We: 1) evaluated the effects of PDT on the tumor, the quality of life, and the length of survival; and 2) compared their survival after PDT to that of 27 patients with stage IV primary endobronchial tumors treated with PDT after they failed all other treatment regimens. MATERIALS AND METHODS Photodynamic therapy was performed using 630-nm light delivered through cylinder diffusing tip quartz fibers passed through the biopsy channel of a flexible bronchoscope after intravenous injection of the photosensitizer dihematoporphyrin ether. One to two days after PDT bronchoscopy was repeated and necrotic tissue was mechanically removed and, if necessary, that site or other new sites were treated. Two days after this another bronchoscopy was performed and the necrotic tissue was mechanically removed. Bronchoscopy was repeated one month after PDT and periodically thereafter as needed to re-treat symptomatic residual tumor. The percent obstruction of the bronchus due to tumor was estimated before and at the end of each bronchoscopy. Clinical effects were evaluated using Wilcoxon signed rank tests for scaled parameters of dyspnea, cough, hemoptysis, and Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) before and one month after PDT. All patients were followed until their death. RESULTS The mean percent obstruction due to metastatic non-pulmonary tumors at 38 different endobronchial treated sites decreased from 85% to 13% at discharge after PDT. The 72% mean decrease of obstruction was statistically significant using the Wilcoxon signed rank test (P < .0001). There was a statistically significant improvement in the level of dyspnea (P = .012), hemoptysis (P = .028), cough (P = .027), and KPS (P = .020). Kaplan-Meier survival curves and Mann-Whitney U rank tests showed the median survival of stage IV primary tumor patients (4 months) vs. metastatic tumor patients (14 months) was statistically significant (P = .008). CONCLUSION PDT of endobronchial metastatic tumors effectively decreased the amount of endobronchial obstruction, and improved the quality of life.
Klippel–Trenaunay syndrome associated with polydactyly

Klippel–Trenaunay syndrome (KTS) manifests cutaneous vascular nevus, superficial venous varicosities, and hypertrophy of the affected limb. KTS may be associated with other developmental anomalies such as polydactyly, syndactyly, and macrocephaly. We present a case with KTS associated with polydactyly. Clin. Anat. 19:78–81, 2006. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A Sub-150- $\mu \text{W}$  BEOL-Embedded CMOS-MEMS Oscillator With a 138-dB $\Omega $  Ultra-Low-Noise TIA

This letter presents the design of a low power, low phase noise monolithic oscillator with a back-end-of-line-embedded CMOS-MEMS resonator. The proposed CMOS-MEMS oscillator consists of a double-ended tuning fork resonator and a high gain (>138 dBQ) ultra-low input-referred current noise (<;25 fA/√Hz) integrator-differentiator transimpedance amplifier (TIA) with sub-150-μW power consumption. The 1.2-MHz CMOS-MEMS oscillator prototype shows the phase noise better than -120 dBc/Hz at 1-kHz offset and -122 dBc/Hz at 10-kHz offset with moderate dc-bias (VP = 22 V). The proposed oscillator can be operated with reduced MEMS dc bias (VP <; 7 V) and TIA power supply (VDD <; 1.3 V, 65 μW) while maintaining satisfactory performance. The frequency-power-normalized oscillator phase noise figure-of-merit (will be defined later) of 190 dB is achieved at 1-kHz offset with a resonator Q of 1900, which is comparable with the state-of-the-art using bulk-mode resonators possessing Q > 100 k.
Socioeconomic inequalities in health in 22 European countries.

BACKGROUND Comparisons among countries can help to identify opportunities for the reduction of inequalities in health. We compared the magnitude of inequalities in mortality and self-assessed health among 22 countries in all parts of Europe. METHODS We obtained data on mortality according to education level and occupational class from census-based mortality studies. Deaths were classified according to cause, including common causes, such as cardiovascular disease and cancer; causes related to smoking; causes related to alcohol use; and causes amenable to medical intervention, such as tuberculosis and hypertension. Data on self-assessed health, smoking, and obesity according to education and income were obtained from health or multipurpose surveys. For each country, the association between socioeconomic status and health outcomes was measured with the use of regression-based inequality indexes. RESULTS In almost all countries, the rates of death and poorer self-assessments of health were substantially higher in groups of lower socioeconomic status, but the magnitude of the inequalities between groups of higher and lower socioeconomic status was much larger in some countries than in others. Inequalities in mortality were small in some southern European countries and very large in most countries in the eastern and Baltic regions. These variations among countries appeared to be attributable in part to causes of death related to smoking or alcohol use or amenable to medical intervention. The magnitude of inequalities in self-assessed health also varied substantially among countries, but in a different pattern. CONCLUSIONS We observed variation across Europe in the magnitude of inequalities in health associated with socioeconomic status. These inequalities might be reduced by improving educational opportunities, income distribution, health-related behavior, or access to health care.