Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Improved Assessment of Middle Ear Recurrent Cholesteatomas Using a Fusion of Conventional CT and Non-EPI-DWI MRI

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Recurrent middle ear cholesteatomas are commonly preoperatively assessed using MR imaging (non-EPI-DWI) and CT. Both modalities are used with the aim of distinguishing scar tissue from cholesteatoma and determining the extent of bone erosions. Inflammation and scar tissue associated with the lesions might hamper a proper delineation of the corresponding extensions on CT images. Using surgical findings as the criterion standard, we assessed the recurrent middle ear cholesteatoma extent using either uncoregistered or fused CT–MR imaging datasets and determined the corresponding accuracy and repeatability. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty consecutive patients with suspected recurrent middle ear cholesteatoma and preoperative CT–MR imaging datasets were prospectively included. A double-blind assessment and coregistration of the recurrent middle ear cholesteatoma extent and manual delineation of 18 presumed recurrent middle ear cholesteatomas were performed by 2 radiologists and compared with the criterion standard. “Reliability score” was defined to qualify radiologists' confidence. For each volume, segmentation repeatability was assessed on the basis of intraclass correlation coefficient and overlap indices. RESULTS: For the whole set of patients, recurrent middle ear cholesteatoma was further supported by surgical results. Two lesions were excluded from the analysis, given that MR imaging did not show a restricted diffusion. Lesions were accurately localized using the fused datasets, whereas significantly fewer lesions (85%) were correctly localized using uncoregistered images. Reliability scores were larger for fused datasets. Segmentation repeatability showed an almost perfect intraclass correlation coefficient regarding volumes, while overlaps were significantly lower in uncoregistered (52%) compared with fused (60%, P < .001) datasets. CONCLUSIONS: The use of coregistered CT–MR images significantly improved the assessment of recurrent middle ear cholesteatoma with a greater accuracy and better reliability and repeatability.
Current Prevalence of Myopia and Association of Myopia With Environmental Factors Among Schoolchildren in Japan.

Importance Given the estimates of increasing prevalence of myopia, especially in Asia, it is important to determine the current prevalence of myopia among populations of schoolchildren in Japan. Objective To investigate the current prevalence rate of myopia and the association between environmental factors and myopia in Japanese schoolchildren. Design, Setting, and Participants This cross-sectional study assessed 1478 participants, including 726 elementary school students and 752 junior high school students, at 2 schools in Tokyo, Japan, who underwent eye examinations from April 1 to May 31, 2017, that included measurement of the refractive errors by autorefractometry with noncycloplegic refraction and ocular biometric factors. After excluding those who had been treated with atropine or orthokeratology (n = 11), had a history of eye disease (n = 2), had no parental consent (n = 41), and were absent (n = 8), 1416 schoolchildren were analyzed. Main Outcomes and Measures The primary outcome was the prevalence of myopia and high myopia. Secondary outcomes were environmental factors that were associated with myopia. Results A total of 1416 schoolchildren (mean [SD] age, 10.8 [2.7] years; 792 [55.9%] male) were studied. The prevalence rates of myopia (spherical equivalent ≤-0.5 diopters [D]) were 76.5% (95% CI, 73.4%-79.7%) among the elementary school students and 94.9% (95% CI, 93.3%-96.5%) among the junior high school students. The prevalence rates of high myopia (spherical equivalent ≤-6.0 D) were 4.0% (95% CI, 2.5%-5.4%) among the elementary school students and 11.3% (95% CI, 8.8%-13.7%) among the junior high school students. The prevalence rates of high myopia classified based on axial length of 26.0 mm or longer were 1.2% (95% CI, 0.4%-2.0%) among elementary school students and 15.2% (95% CI, 12.5%-17.8%) among junior high school students. Multiple regression analysis showed that higher-order aberrations and dry eye disease were associated with refractive error in elementary school students (spherical aberration: β = 6.152; 95% CI, 3.161-9.143; P < .001; dry eye disease: β = -0.626; 95% CI, -1.189 to -0.063; P = .03) and with axial length in junior high school students (spherical-like aberration: β = 26.546; 95% CI, 18.708-34.385; P < .001; dry eye disease: β = 0.354; 95% CI, 0.131-0.578; P < .002). Conclusions and Relevance Although the use of noncycloplegic autorefraction with a cutoff of -0.50 D could lead to overestimation of results, these findings suggest that the current prevalence rates of myopia among elementary and junior high school students in Asia are high, especially if the results from these 2 schools are generalizable to all schoolchildren in Japan and Asia.
Effects of inflammatory responses, apoptosis, and STAT3/NF-κB- and Nrf2-mediated oxidative stress on benign prostatic hyperplasia induced by a high-fat diet

This study determined whether or not benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) induced by a high-fat diet (HFD) is involved in inflammatory responses, apoptosis, and the signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT3)/nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB)- and nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2)-mediated oxidative stress pathways. Forty rats were divided into four groups: control; HFD; testosterone; and HFD+testosterone. Hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining was used to assess histologic changes. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and Western blot analysis were used to detect levels of related proteins. Compared with the control group, the prostate levels of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), malondialdehyde (MDA), transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1), and monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1) were significantly increased, while the levels of glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), glutathione reductase (GR), glutathione (GSH), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were decreased. The TNF-κB, Bcl-2, and caspase-3 levels were increased, while the Bax level was markedly decreased. The cytoplasmic expression of STAT3 and NF-κB was increased, while the nuclear expression of Nrf2 was markedly decreased compared with the control group. In summary, our results demonstrated that a long-term HFD might cause changes in inflammatory responses, apoptosis, and oxidative stress, thus contributing to prostatic hyperplasia. The underlying mechanisms might be related to the STAT3/NF-κB- and Nrf2-mediated oxidative stress pathway.
Microbiology and immunology: An ideal partnership for a tango at the gut surface—A tribute to Philippe Sansonetti

Over the past 20 years, the highly dynamic interactions that take place between hosts and the gut microbiota have emerged as a major determinant in health and disease. The complexity of the gut microbiota represents, however, a considerable challenge, and reductionist approaches are indispensable to define the contribution of individual bacteria to host responses and to dissect molecular mechanisms. In this tribute to Philippe Sansonetti, I would like to show how rewarding collaborations with microbiologists have guided our team of immunologists in the study of host–microbiota interactions and, thanks to the use of controlled colonisation experiments in gnotobiotic mice, toward the demonstration that segmented filamentous bacteria (SFB) are indispensable to drive the post‐natal maturation of the gut immune barrier in mice. The work led with Philippe Sansonetti to set up in vitro culture conditions has been one important milestone that laid the ground for in‐depth characterization of the molecular attributes of this unusual symbiont. Recent suggestions that SFB may be present in the human microbiota encourage further cross‐fertilising interactions between microbiologists and immunologists to define whether results from mice can be translated to humans and, if so, how SFB may be used to promote human intestinal defences against enteropathogens. Nurturing the competences to pursue this inspiring project is one legacy of Philippe Sansonetti.
A Game Approach to Multi-Servers Load Balancing with Load-Dependent Server Availability Consideration

In this paper, we focus on request migration strategies among multi-servers for load balancing. Different from the general load balancing problem, we consider it under a distributed, non-cooperative, and competitive environment. Due to the mentioned characteristics, we view our problem from a game theoretic perspective and formulate it into a non-cooperative game among the multiple servers, in which each server is informed with incomplete information of other servers. For each server, we define its expected response time as a disutility function and try to minimize its value. We also take into account server availability, which impacts the processing capacity of a server and thus its disutility. We solve the problem by employing variational inequality (VI) theory and prove that there exists a Nash equilibrium solution set for the formulated game. Then, we propose an iterative proximal algorithm (IPA) to compute a Nash equilibrium solution. The convergence of the IPA algorithm is also analyzed and we find that it converges to a Nash equilibrium. Finally, we conduct some numerical calculations to verify our theoretical analyses. The experimental results show that our proposed IPA algorithm converges to a Nash equilibrium very quickly and significantly decreases the disutilities of all servers by configuring a proper request migration strategy.
Effects of maternal influenza vaccination on adverse birth outcomes: A systematic review and Bayesian meta-analysis

Background Although pregnant women are a priority group for influenza vaccination, its effect on birth outcomes has long been debated. Numerous observational studies and a few randomized controlled studies have been conducted, with inconsistent results. Objectives To evaluate the association of influenza vaccination in pregnancy with adverse birth outcomes. Data source The Cochrane Library, PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, and Scopus were searched. Study eligibility criteria This analysis included randomized placebo-controlled studies, cohort studies, and case-control studies, in which inactivated influenza vaccination was given during pregnancy and fetal adverse birth outcomes were assessed. Participants & intervention Women who received inactivated influenza vaccine during pregnancy and their offspring. Study appraisal and synthesis Two independent reviewers and a third reviewer collaborated in study selection and data extraction. A Bayesian 3-level random-effects model was utilized to assess the impact of maternal influenza vaccination on birth outcomes, which were presented as odds ratios (ORs) with 95% credible interval (CrIs). Bayesian outcome probabilities (P) of an OR<1 were calculated, and values of at least 90% (0.9) were deemed to indicate a significant result. Results Among the 6,249 identified publications, 48 studies were eligible for the meta-analysis, including 2 randomized controlled trials, 41 cohort studies, and 5 case-control studies. The risk of none of the following adverse birth outcomes decreased significantly: preterm birth (OR = 0.945, 95% CrI: 0.736–1.345, P = 73.3%), low birth weight (OR = 0.928, 95% CrI: 0.432–2.112, P = 76.7%), small for gestational age (OR = 0.971, 95% CrI: 0.249–4.217,P = 63.3%), congenital malformation (OR = 1.026, 95% CrI: 0.687–1.600, P = 38.0%), and fetal death (OR = 0.942, 95% CrI: 0.560–1.954, P = 61.6%). Summary estimates including only cohort studies showed significantly decreased risks for preterm birth, small for gestational age and fetal death. However, after adjusting for season at the time of vaccination and countries’ income level, only fetal death remained significant. Conclusion This Bayesian meta-analysis did not find a protective effect of maternal influenza vaccination against adverse birth outcomes, as reported in previous studies. In fact, our results showed evidence of null associations between maternal influenza vaccination and adverse birth outcomes.
Inhibition of the ubiquitous calpains protects complex I activity and enables improved mitophagy in hearts following ischemia-reperfusion.

Activation of calpain1 (CPN1) and calpain2 (CPN2) contributes to cardiac injury during ischemia (ISC) and reperfusion (REP). Complex I activity is decreased in heart mitochondria following ISC-REP. CPN1 and CPN2 are ubiquitous calpains that exist in both cytosol (cs-CPN1&2) and mitochondria (mit-CPN1&2). Recent work shows that the complex I subunit (NDUFS7) is a potential substrate of the mit-CPN1. We asked if ISC-REP led to decreased complex I activity via proteolysis of the NDUFS7 subunit via activation of mit-CPN1&2. Activation of cs-CPN1&2 decreases mitophagy in hepatocytes following ISC-REP. We asked if activation of cs-CPN1&2 impaired mitophagy in the heart following ISC-REP. Buffer-perfused rat hearts underwent 25 min. global ISC and 30 min. REP. MDL-28170 (MDL, 10 µM) was used to inhibit CPN1&2. Cytosol, subsarcolemmal mitochondria (SSM), and interfibrillar mitochondria (IFM) were isolated at the end of heart perfusion. Cardiac ISC-REP led to decreased complex I activity with a decrease in the content of NDUFS7 in both SSM and IFM. ISC-REP also resulted in a decrease in cytosolic beclin1 content, a key component of the autophagy pathway required to form autophagosomes. MDL treatment protected the contents of cytosolic beclin1 and mitochondrial NDUFS7 in hearts following ISC-REP. These results support that activation of both cytosolic and mitochondrial calpains impairs mitochondria during cardiac ISC-REP. Mitochondria localized calpains impair complex I via cleavage of a key subunit. Activation of cytosolic calpains contributes to mitochondrial dysfunction by impairing removal of the impaired mitochondria through depletion of a key component of the mitophagy process.
A Real-Time Channel Prediction Model Based on Neural Networks for Dedicated Short-Range Communications

Based on a multiple layer perceptron neural networks, this paper presents a real-time channel prediction model, which could predict channel parameters such as path loss (PL) and packet drop (PD), for dedicated short-range communications (DSRC). The dataset used for training, validating, and testing was extracted from experiments under several different road scenarios including highways, local areas, residential areas, state parks, and rural areas. The study shows that the proposed PL prediction model outperforms conventional empirical models. Meanwhile, the proposed PD prediction model achieves higher prediction accuracy than the statistical one. Moreover, the prediction model can operate in real-time, through updating its training set, to predict channel parameters. Such a model can be easily extended to the applications of autonomous driving, the Internet of Things (IoT), 5th generation cellular network technology (5G) and many others.
Suitability of the Cyclic Voltammetry Measurements and DPPH• Spectrophotometric Assay to Determine the Antioxidant Capacity of Food-Grade Oenological Tannins

Twenty commercially available oenological tannins (including hydrolysable and condensed) were assessed for their antiradical/reducing activity, comparing two analytical approaches: The 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH•) radical scavenging spectrophotometric assay and the cyclic voltammetry (CV) electrochemical method. Electrochemical measurements were performed over a −200 mV–500 mV scan range, and integrated anodic currents to 500 mV were used to build a calibration graph with (+)-catechin as a reference standard (linear range: From 0.0078 to 1 mM, R2 = 0.9887). The CV results were compared with the DPPH• assay (expressed as % of radical scavenged in time), showing high correlation due to the similarity of the chemical mechanisms underlying both methods involving polyphenolic compounds as reductants. Improved correlation was observed by increasing the incubation time with DPPH• to 24 h (R2 = 0.925), demonstrating that the spectrophotometric method requires a long-term incubation to complete the scavenging reaction when high-molecular weight tannins are involved; this constraint has been overcome by using instant CV measurements. We concluded that the CV represents a valid alternative to the DPPH• colorimetric assay, taking advantage of fast analysis and control on the experimental conditions and, because of these properties, it can assist the quality control along the supply chain.
Evaporative heat loss insufficient to attain heat balance at rest in individuals with a spinal cord injury at high ambient temperature.

The aim of the study was to determine whether climatic limits for achieving heat balance at rest are affected by spinal cord injury (SCI). Twenty-three males (8 able-bodied (AB), 8 with paraplegia (PP) and 7 with tetraplegia (TP)) rested in 37°C and 20% relative humidity (RH) for 20 mins. With the ambient temperature held constant, RH was increased by 5% every 7 mins, until gastrointestinal temperature (Tgi) showed a clear inflection or increased by >1°C. Tgi, skin temperatures, perceptual responses and metabolic energy expenditure were measured throughout. Metabolic heat production (AB: 123 (21) W, PP: 111 (15) W, TP: 103 (29) W) and required rate of evaporative cooling for heat balance (Ereq, AB: 113 (20) W,PP: 107 (17) W, TP: 106 (29) W) were similar between groups (p = 0.22 and p = 0.79). Compared to AB, greater increases in Tgi were observed in TP (p = 0.01), with notable increases in mean skin temperature (Tsk) for TP and PP (p = 0.01). A Tgi inflection point was demonstrated by 7 AB, only 3 out of 8 PP and none of TP. Despite metabolic heat production (and Ereq) being similar between groups evaporative heat loss was not large enough to obtain heat balance in TP, linked to a shortfall in evaporative cooling potential. Although PP possess a greater sweating capacity, the continual increase in Tgi and Tsk, in most PP, while lower than for TP, implies that latent heat loss for PP is also insufficient to attain heat balance.
Measuring the Knowledge Economy – Intangible Spending and Investment in Germany

Intangible assets are largely ignored by the “traditional” System of National Accounts (SNA), although they play an increasingly important economic role. The reasons for this are the substantial measurement and valuation problems. This article applies a methodology based on Hulten (1979) and Corrado et al. (2005) to provide some indications on the amount of investment in intangible goods in the German economy. I discuss the proposed categorization approach and quantify the different components for the German economy, drawing on a number of different data sources. I show that the amount of investment in intangibles is significant. An inclusion into the SNAwould add around Euro 142.4 bn to total investment in the German economy in 2004. This corresponds to an increase of almost 70%. However, an international comparison shows that Germany falls short in terms of intangible spending relative to the US and UK.
Ethnorelativität und Veränderung von Länderimages auf Weltreisen

Zusammenfassung Im vorliegenden Artikel werden die Hauptergebnisse einer Online Erhebung bei 255 Weltreisenden (STA Travel) bezüglich ihrer Reisemotive, Länderimages sowie zu deren Einstellungen gegenüber kulturellen Unterschieden präsentiert und gegebenenfalls mit bestehenden Theorien diskutiert. Die jungen, gut gebildeten Protagonisten bewegen sich durchschnittlich sechs Monate entlang touristischer Routen. Das gängigste Motiv für eine Weltreise ist die Suche nach dem Fremden in sich sowie um sich herum. Grundsätzlich kommt es über diese lange Reiseform zu einer Entwicklung bzw. Erweiterung ethnorelativer Einstellungen. Imagepräferenzen für bestimmte Reiseländer werden zumeist bestätigt, zumal auf Weltreisen hauptsächlich beliebte Länder bereist werden, und diese nach der Reise noch positiver bewertet werden. Abstract The study under consideration is based on an online survey that reveals individual travel motives and country images as well as attitudes towards cultural differences of 255 selected world travellers (STA Travel). These young protagonists, most of them are moving six months along tourist routes are well educated. They spend little money while travelling and, most importantly, one has observed that they become only loosely acquainted with people. The most common underlying motive is the quest for the foreign itself and the unknown surrounding oneself. Moreover, most world travellers are profoundly influenced by a prevailing attitude towards ethnorelativism. But, image preferences for certain countries rarely change during a trip around the world. However, a traveller’s longer stay in a foreign country definitely improves his image of this particular country and its local people.
Problems with Tests of the Missingness Mechanism in Quantitative Policy Studies

Policy analysts involved in quantitative research have many options for handling missing data. The method chosen will often greatly influence the substantive policy conclusions that will be drawn from the data. The most frequent methods for handling missing data assume that the data are missing at random (MAR). The current paper notes that an omnibus, nonparametric test of the MAR assumption is impossible using the observed data alone. Nonetheless various purported tests of the missingness mechanism (including tests of MAR) appear in the literature. The current paper clarifies that all of these tests rely on some assumption that cannot be tested from the data. The paper notes that tests of the missingness mechanism are frequently misinterpreted and it clarifies the appropriate interpretation of such tests. Policy analysts are encouraged not to develop the false impression that modern procedures for handling missing data in conjunction with tests of the missingness mechanism provide protection against the ill effects of missing data. Any justification for a particular approach to handling missing data must be come from substantive knowledge of the missingness process, not from the data.
Digital aerial images land cover classification based on vegetation indices

Abstract . Knowledge of how land cover has changed over time improve assessments of the changes in the future. Wide availability of remote sensed data and relatively low cost of their acquisition make them very attractive data source for Geographical Information Systems (GIS). The main goal of this paper is to prepare, run and evaluate image classification using a block of raw aerial images obtained from Digital Mapping Camera (DMC). Classification was preceded by preparation of raw images. It contained geometric and radiometric correction of every image in block. Initial images processing lead to compensate their brightness differences. It was obtained by calculating two vegetation indices: Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Green Normalized Vegetation Index (gNDVI). These vegetation indices were the foundation of image classification. PCI Geomatics Geomatica 10.2 and Microimages TNT Mips software platforms were used for this purpose.
Optimal dividend-payout in random discrete time

Abstract Assume that the surplus process of an insurance company is described by a general Lévy process and that possible dividend pay-outs to shareholders are restricted to random discrete times which are determined by an independent renewal process. Under this setting we show that the optimal dividend pay-out policy is a band-policy. If the renewal process is a Poisson process, it is further shown that for Cramér–Lundberg risk processes with exponential claim sizes and its diffusion limit the optimal policy collapses to a barrier-policy. Finally, a numerical example is given for which the optimal bands can be calculated explicitly. The random observation procedure studied in this paper also allows for an interpretation in terms of a random walk model with a certain type of random discounting.