Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Incidence, Persistence, and Progression of Tinnitus Symptoms in Older Adults: The Blue Mountains Hearing Study

Objective: Temporal population-based data on tinnitus are lacking. We used a representative older population-based cohort to establish 5-yr incidence, persistence, and progression of tinnitus symptoms. Design: Two thousand six participants of the Blue Mountains Hearing Study (1997-1999) had complete tinnitus data, and of these, 1214 participants were followed up at 5-yr examinations in 2002-2004. Presence of prolonged tinnitus was assessed by a positive response to a single question administered by an audiologist. Incident tinnitus was defined in participants who were free of tinnitus symptoms at the baseline study in 1997-1999 but who reported tinnitus symptoms at the 5-yr follow-up in 2002-2004. Progression of tinnitus was defined as the increase in annoyance of tinnitus symptoms from baseline to the 5-yr follow-up study. Persistence of tinnitus symptoms was defined as the presence of tinnitus symptoms at both the baseline and follow-up examinations. Hearing impairment was measured as the pure-tone average (PTA) of audiometric hearing thresholds at 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz (PTA0.5-4 kHz), defining bilateral hearing loss as PTA0.5-4 kHz >25 dB HL. Results: Five-year incidence of tinnitus was 18.0%. A significant age trend was observed for the 5-yr incidence (p = 0.005), with incident tinnitus decreasing with age. Hearing loss increased the risk of developing incident tinnitus, age-sex adjusted odds ratio 2.13 (95% confidence interval, 1.40 to 3.24). Most (55.5%) incident tinnitus cases reported symptoms that were only mildly annoying. Tinnitus at baseline persisted in 81.6% of participants. Of those reporting mildly annoying tinnitus at baseline, 39.6% progressed to moderately annoying and 5.9% to severely annoying tinnitus. At the follow-up, a higher frequency of participants with persistent tinnitus (old cases) reported their symptoms as very/extremely annoying compared with the new (incident) cases of tinnitus (p = 0.01). A high proportion (85.2%) of subjects receiving tinnitus treatment (mainly medications and hearing aid) at baseline still reported tinnitus at 5-yr examinations. Conclusions: Incident tinnitus was frequent, with nearly one in five older adults suffering from this condition after 5 yrs. Tinnitus symptoms persisted in more than three-quarters of the cohort, during the 5 yrs. Longitudinal data are an important contribution to the research evidence base to support timely intervention and effective management of this frequent symptom.
Evaluation of a live attenuated bovine parainfluenza type 3 vaccine in two- to six-month-old infants.

BACKGROUND A safe and effective parainfluenza type 3 (PIV-3) virus vaccine is needed to prevent serious PIV-3-associated illness in infants younger than 6 months of age. In previous studies a live bovine PIV-3 (BPIV-3) vaccine, which was developed to prevent human PIV-3 (HPIV-3) disease, was shown to be safe, infectious, immunogenic and phenotypically stable in 6- to 36-month-old infants and children. METHODS The safety, infectivity and immunogenicity of a single dose of the BPIV-3 vaccine was evaluated in a randomized, placebo-controlled, double blinded trial in 19 infants 2 to 5.9 months of age and in 11 additional 6- to 36-month-old subjects. RESULTS The BPIV-3 vaccine was well-tolerated in both age groups and infected 92% of those younger than 6 months and 89% of those older than 6 months of age. Serum hemagglutination-inhibition (HAI) antibody responses to HPIV-3 and to BPIV-3, respectively, were detected in 42 and 67% of the younger infants, compared with 70 and 85% of the older subjects. In the younger infants we analyzed the rate of antibody response by titer of maternally acquired antibodies; low titer was defined as a preimmunization serum HAI titer < 1:8 and high titer was defined as a preimmunization serum HAI titer > or = 1:8. Young infants with a low titer of maternally acquired antibodies were significantly more likely to respond to the BPIV-3 vaccine that those with a high titer (89% vs. none for serum HAI response to BPIV-3; P = 0.02, Fisher's exact test). CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrated that the BPIV-3 vaccine was safe and infectious in infants younger than 6 months of age and was also immunogenic in the majority of these young infants. Additional studies are needed to determine whether two or more doses will enhance the immunogenicity of the BPIV-3 vaccine in young infants and to assess its safety and immunogenicity when given simultaneously with routine childhood immunizations.
An agent concept for managing electrical distribution networks

A new agent concept for managing technically advanced electrical distribution networks is presented. The essence of the concept consists of three aspects: the secondary substation object, decentralized functionality and an information access model. In this framework, a primary substation area is modeled so that secondary substations are represented as copies of the secondary substation object, local function copies in every substation represent functions and they are executed by a token passing procedure that occurs between neighboring secondary substations. The permission to execute a function is delegated to different power system hierarchy levels according to the information access model. The concept is illustrated by the use of case studies of condition assessment and fault management. In addition, a small-scale implementation is described and results of some test runs are presented.
National Satellite Accounting for Travel and Tourism: A Cold Review of the WTTC/WEFA Group Research

On 10 October 1995, Dr Michael J. Boskin presented the results of his cold review of the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) and WEFA Group (formerly known as Wharton Econometric Forecasting Associates) research. An edited version of his presentation is reproduced below. The article includes a list of recommendations and an edited summary of the question and answer session that followed Dr Boskin's presentation. The World Travel & Tourism Council is based at 181 Chausée de la Hulpe, 1170 Brussels, Belgium. The editor welcomes further contributions to the debate on travel and tourism satellite accounts.
Ineffability of Qualia: A Straightforward Naturalistic Explanation

In this paper I offer an explanation of the ineffability (linguistic inexpressibility) of sensory experiences. My explanation is put in terms of computational functionalism and standard externalist theories of representational content. As I will argue, many or most sensory experiences are representational states without constituent structure. This property determines both the representational function these states can serve and the information that can be extracted from them when they are processed. Sensory experiences can indicate the presence of certain external states of affairs but they cannot convey any more information about them than that. So, format- or code-conversion mechanisms that link different systems of representation (linguistic and perceptual) to each other will fail to extract any relevant information from sensory experiences that could be coded in language. They only way to establish specific roles for sensory experiences in communication and the organization of behavior is to attach to them, by associative links, words, or other behavioral responses. If a sensory experience has no linguistic label associated to it in a particular subject, then no linguistic description can token, or activate, that state in the subject. In other words, no linguistic description can cause a subject to undergo an unlabeled perceptual state. On the contrary, complex, or syntactically structured perceptual states can be built up, on the basis of descriptions, by mechanisms of constructive imagination (conceived here as one sort of format conversion). It is this difference between complex and unstructured representational states that gives us an understanding of the phenomenon we call the ineffability of qualia.
On sample allocation for effective EBLUP estimation of small area totals - "Experimental Allocation"

The demand of regional or small area statistics produced from large-scale surveys has raised needs for developing the tools of optimal sample allocation on area level. The concept of optimality can of course be defined in many different ways. Most commonly used allocation methods aim at producing efficient direct areal estimates. What often happens, however, is that due to sparse sampling resources several areas receive little or none observations, and therefore indirect estimation may be necessary. These methods are often based on nested-error regression type model-based estimators. For this reason should areal sample allocation be implemented in such a way that it would lead to efficient estimation in the case of an indirect estimator. The problem has been tried to solve in this research by developing an analytical allocation method based on the main component of MSE in EBLUP estimation. The performance of this method has been tested by comparing it to various other allocations through sample simulations from real data. The effectiveness of each allocation was measured with MSE, CV and certain quality measures (ARE, ARB and RRMSE). Some results are presented here.
Performance evaluation of TCP congestion control mechanisms using NS-2

This paper investigates the characteristics of Tahoe, Reno, New Reno, Vegas, and Sack, and calculated their throughputs in simulated environment using NS-2 simulator by varying various performances parameters such as bandwidth, simulation time and number of traffic sources in order to figure out which one of them is the best for which scenario. Simulation was performed to study the performance of the protocols in terms of Bandwidth, simulation time and number of traffic sources. The results of the simulation showed that Reno is good when packet losses are small. New Reno is found to be useful when there are more losses of data. Sack is found to robust when multiple losses occur in one congestion window, while Vegas is the best when varying bandwidth owing to the use of time based bandwidth estimation schemes to control its congestion window.
Isolation of myelin basic protein–specific T cells predominantly from the memory T‐cell compartment in multiple sclerosis

Myelin antigen–reactive T cells have been implicated in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis (MS). Myelin‐reactive T cells can be isolated from control subjects as well as individuals who have MS. Experimental models of MS indicate that recently stimulated, myelin‐reactive T cells have greater encephalitogenic potential than resting T cells. Activation induces changes in T‐cell surface antigens that may distinguish previously stimulated, memory T cells from naive T cells. Therefore, we examined 108 myelin basic protein (MBP)‐reactive T‐cell lines from 7 MS and 8 control subjects to determine whether MBP‐reactive T cells originated in the memory T‐cell subset or in the naive subset. Isotypes of CD45 were used that designate memory or naive T cells. In subjects having MS, 84% of the MBP‐reactive T cells resided in the memory T‐cell subset. However, in control subjects, only 13% of MBP‐specific T cells originated from the memory T‐cell subset. This result suggests that a substantial proportion of MBP‐reactive T cells from some individuals with MS have been previously activated in vivo. This difference provides additional support for the hypothesis that myelin antigen–specific T cells are involved in the pathogenesis of MS. Ann Neurol 1999;45:33–39
Implications of population ageing for the Chinese productivity

Abstract Since 2000 when China entered the ‘ageing society’, the pace of ageing has speeded up. At the same time, traditional growth engines of the Chinese economy (i.e. export and investment) are losing momentum. Against this background, to what extent the expected demographic transformation would affect growth trajectory of the Chinese economy is of great interest. Among new growth engines, productivity has been receiving increasing attention among China’s top policy makers. In this paper, we try to identify both micro and macro effects of ageing on China’s productivity. In general, our research supports the hypothesis that more working experience and/or elder contributes to higher wage growth and total factor productivity, although with a reversed U-shaped pattern.
Immunoglobulin G4-Related Periaortitis Complicated by Aortic Rupture and Aortoduodenal Fistula after Endovascular AAA Repair

Purpose: To report a rare and complicated case of immunoglobulin (Ig) G4-related periaortitis involving both the aortic wall and the retroperitoneum without aneurysmal formation. Case Report: A 79-year-old man with IgG4-related periaortitis suffered aortic rupture despite a normal caliber aorta after 6 months of steroid therapy (20 mg/d). Endovascular repair with an aortic cuff sealed the rupture. Steroid therapy was halted 2 weeks later due to infection. Four months later, a biopsy during esophagogastroduodenoscopy to investigate gastrointestinal bleeding suggested a relapse of IgG4-RD in the duodenum. Subsequent aortoduodenal fistula formation proved fatal. Generally, IgG4-related periaortitis does not result in such complications due to the absence of aneurysm formation and a thick aortic wall. Conclusions: Our report highlights a rare case of IgG4-related periaortitis where complications resulted following steroid therapy and surgical intervention, emphasizing the difficulties in dealing with IgG4-related cardiovascular lesions.
The composition of the polyglutamine‐containing proteins influences their co‐aggregation properties

The sequestration of crucial cellular proteins into insoluble aggregates formed by the polypeptides containing expanded polyglutamine tracts has been proposed to be the key mechanism responsible for the abnormal cell functioning in the so‐called polyglutamine diseases. To evaluate to what extent the ability of polyglutamine sequences to recruit other proteins into the intracellular aggregates depends on the composition of the aggregating peptide, we analysed the co‐aggregation properties of the N‐terminal fragment of huntingtin fused with unrelated non‐aggregating and/or self‐aggregating peptides. We show that the ability of the mutated N‐terminal huntingtin fragment to sequester non‐related proteins can be significantly increased by fusion with the non‐aggregating reporter protein [GFP (green fluorescence protein)]. By contrast, fusion with the self‐aggregating C‐terminal fragment of the CFTR (cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator) dramatically reduces the sequestration of related non‐fused huntingtin fragments. We also demonstrate that the co‐aggregation of different non‐fused N‐terminal huntingtin fragments depends on their length, with long fragments of the wild‐type huntingtin not only excluded from the nuclear inclusions, but also very inefficiently sequestered into the cytoplasmic aggregates formed by the short fragments of mutant protein. Additionally, our results suggest that atypical intracellular aggregation patterns, which include unusual distribution and/or morphology of protein aggregates, are associated with altered ability of accumulating proteins to co‐aggregate with other peptides.
Interferon-Induced Cell Membrane Proteins, IFITM3 and Tetherin, Inhibit Vesicular Stomatitis Virus Infection via Distinct Mechanisms

ABSTRACT Tetherin and IFITM3 are recently identified interferon-induced cellular proteins that restrict infections by retroviruses and filoviruses and of influenza virus and flaviviruses, respectively. In our efforts to further explore their antiviral activities against other viruses and determine their antiviral mechanisms, we found that the two antiviral proteins potently inhibit the infection of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), a prototype member of the Rhabdoviridae family. Taking advantage of this well-studied virus infection system, we show that although both tetherin and IFITM3 are plasma membrane proteins, tetherin inhibits virion particle release from infected cells, while IFITM3 disrupts an early event after endocytosis of virion particles but before primary transcription of incoming viral genomes. Furthermore, we demonstrate that both the N-terminal 21 amino acid residues and C-terminal transmembrane region of IFITM3 are required for its antiviral activity. Collectively, our work sheds light on the mechanisms by which tetherin and IFITM3 restrict infection with rhabdoviruses and possibly other pathogenic viruses.
Virtual locomotion system for human-scale virtual environments

This paper presents a new virtual locomotion interface based on step-in-place action and a smart-turntable system. The interface provides a turntable as walking platform, on top of which users will stand at its center, and facing a large screen, to perform life-like walking actions that steer their navigation through the virtual environment. Steering actions are tracked seamlessly without attachment to the body through a set of pressure sensors embedded within the turntable and a computer vision system. For instance, in place stepping is treated as a gesture indicating the intention to move forward. Rotation about the body's vertical axis is treated as a gesture changing the walking direction. However, as large screens are usually limited in size and do not allow a surrounding projection, a large turning action may put users in a visual-less situation, which hamper considerably the effectiveness of the walking experience. To avoid such case and keep users always provided with sufficient visual feedback, the turntable will passively and smoothly rotate in opposite direction of users' turning. Rotation speed and acceleration of the turntable are well optimized to keep users well balanced and easily withstand the passive rotation. The interface is shown to be easy and simple to use in virtual environments equipped with large screen.
The Implications of Sarcopenia and Sarcopenic Obesity on Cardiometabolic Disease

The important changes in body composition associated with aging are a decline in skeletal muscle mass and an increase in body fat. Body fat distribution also changes with age; subcutaneous fat decreases and visceral abdominal fat increase, which contributes to numerous cardiometabolic diseases (CMDs) such as type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia, and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Sarcopenia often accompanied by an increase in body fat and vice versa, a scenario termed sarcopenic obesity (SO), which might lead to the cumulative risk of both sarcopenia and obesity. However, there is still no consensus regarding the definition and consequences of SO. The lack of a unified definition for SO might contribute to inconsistent findings about the association of SO with CMD. Complex etiologies are associated with development of SO. A vicious cycle between the loss of muscle and the accumulation of ectopic fat might be associated with CMD via an intricate interplay of factors including proinflammatory cytokines, oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, insulin resistance, dietary energy, physical activity, mitochondrial dysfunction, and other factors that have yet to be identified. Moreover, recent epidemiological studies suggest that SO is related to CVD and mortality. This review focuses on the current literature with regard to the association between sarcopenia, dynapenia, and obesity, as well as their implications for CMD. The ultimate goal of this Prospects is to encourage conduct of well‐designed future studies that elucidate the relationship among sarcopenia, SO, and CMD. J. Cell. Biochem. 116: 1171–1178, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
A longitudinal examination of patterns in girls' weight concerns and body dissatisfaction from ages 5 to 9 years.

OBJECTIVE To examine the development of girls' weight concerns and body dissatisfaction from ages 5 to 9 years and how change and continuity in these constructs from age 5 to 7 years is associated with girls' eating attitudes, dietary restraint, and dieting status at age 9. METHODS Weight concerns, body dissatisfaction, and weight status were assessed for 182 girls when they were 5, 7, and 9 years old, and their eating attitudes, dietary restraint, and dieting status were assessed when they were 9. RESULTS Girls tended to maintain their rank in weight concerns and body dissatisfaction across ages 5 to 9 years, and associations among girls' weight concerns, body dissatisfaction, and weight status increased with age. In addition, positive associations were found between changes in girls' weight concerns, body dissatisfaction, and weight status across ages 7 to 9. Finally, girls' who reported high weight concerns or high body dissatisfaction across ages 5 to 7 reported higher dietary restraint, more maladaptive eating attitudes, and a greater likelihood of dieting at age 9, independent of their weight status. CONCLUSION Girls' reported weight concerns and body dissatisfaction across middle childhood showed consistency over time, were systematically related to their weight status, and predicted their dietary restraint, eating attitudes, and the likelihood of dieting at age 9. These results reflect patterns identified among adolescent girls and women.
Criterion-based clinical audit to assess quality of obstetrical care in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review.

PURPOSE Low-quality obstetric care in low- and middle-income countries contributes to high in-hospital maternal mortality. Criterion-based clinical audits are increasingly used to measure and improve obstetric care in these settings. This article systematically reviews peer-reviewed literature to determine if these audits are feasible, valid and reliable measurement tools for assessing the quality of obstetric care. DATA SOURCES PUBMED, Google Scholar and Web of Science databases were searched for peer-reviewed articles published between 1995 and 2009 and which used criterion-based clinical audits to measure the quality of obstetric care in low- and middle-income countries. STUDY SELECTION Sixty-nine studies were identified by key terms and subsequently reviewed. Ten were retained based on inclusion/exclusion criteria. DATA EXTRACTION (i) General characteristics of the study; (ii) compliance with expected standards of care and on maternal/child health outcomes; (iii) selection of the study population and sampling methods; and (iv) quality control and reliability. RESULTS OF DATA SYNTHESIS Criterion-based clinical audit is increasingly used in low- and middle-income countries. Most audits were conducted in sub-Saharan Africa. Studies had cross-sectional study or before-and-after designs. Sampling methods were poorly reported and selection bias was a concern. No studies compared audit against other measures of quality of care or against patient outcomes. METHODS for quality control and assurance were generally not documented and reliability was mostly unaddressed. CONCLUSIONS Criterion-based clinical audit appears feasible. No studies have rigorously evaluated its measurement properties in low- and middle-income countries. Without such evaluation, measurement properties of the audit remain under question.