Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prevalence of Myopia in Local and International Schools in Hong Kong

Purpose. This study aims to investigate genetic and environmental influences on physiological myopia by studying the difference in myopia prevalence between local schools and international schools in Hong Kong. Methods. Vision screening was carried out in local and international schools for students 13 to 15 years old. Types of refractive error were identified by visual acuity measurement, the presence of spectacles, a simple refraction, and the use of plus and minus ophthalmic lenses. Results. Three local schools and six international schools participated in the study. Two hundred eighty-nine students were from the local schools, and 789 students were from the international schools. Prevalence of myopia at the local schools ranged from 85 to 88%, whereas it ranged from 60 to 66% in the international schools. Students in the international schools were subdivided into Chinese origin, white, mixed Chinese, and Asian. Prevalence of myopia was highest in the Chinese group (82.8%) and lowest in the white group (40.5%). There was no age or gender difference in the prevalence of myopia. Conclusions. Hong Kong Chinese students had a higher prevalence of myopia regardless of whether they studied in local or international schools when compared with other ethnic groups, such as whites. This further supports a genetic input into myopia development.
Airborne traffic monitoring supported by fast calculated digital surface models

Vehicle detection in dense urban areas is often complicated due to car-like objects on rooftops which result in false positive detections. This can be easily avoided by using a digital surface model (DSM) calculated from two consecutive images to exclude those regions. However, in the real-time case traffic information has to be gathered rapidly and the calculation of the DSM for the whole image takes a lot of time. The presented approach suggest a method where the disparity image is only calculated for areas of interest. These areas are selected by projecting the road segments from a road database in the original image using the collinearity equation. The local coordinates of the detected vehicles are then transformed back in the UTM coordinate system using the collinearity equation again. It can be shown that the search area for the detector is significantly reduced and which also leads to improved results of the detection.
Survey of estimation techniques in image restoration

Blurred and noisy images can often be represented as nonstationary 2D stochastic processes that can be modeled by a set of linear space-varying state equations, or by an ARMA input-output equation with space-varying coefficients. Liner difference equation models for characterizing both images and their degraded observations are reviewed. The models are then expressed in state-space form suitable for Kalman filtering and in input-output equation form suitable for maximum likelihood parameter identification and ARMA smoothing. Recent methods for blur identification, image parameter identification, and simultaneous image and blur identification are reviewed. The fundamentals of image restoration are briefly summarized, and three approaches are discussed: iterative deterministic regularized restoration, restoration using optimal filtering, and adaptive restoration. Some representative results are given, and recommendations for future research topics are made. <<ETX>>
Exploring 30 years of malaria case data in KwaZulu‐Natal, South Africa: Part I. The impact of climatic factors

Large parts of Africa are prone to malaria epidemics. Advance epidemic warning would give health services an opportunity to prepare. Because malaria transmission is largely limited by climate, climate‐based epidemic warning systems are a real possibility. To develop and test such a system, good long‐term malaria and climate data are needed. In KwaZulu‐Natal (KZN), South Africa, 30 years of confirmed malaria case data provide a unique opportunity to examine short‐ and long‐term trends. We analysed seasonal case totals and seasonal changes in cases (both log‐transformed) against a range of climatic indicators obtained from three weather stations in the highest malaria incidence districts, using linear regression analysis. Seasonal changes in case numbers (delta log cases, dlc) were significantly associated with several climate variables. The two most significant ones were mean maximum daily temperatures from January to October of the preceding season (n = 30, r2 = 0.364, P = 0.0004) and total rainfall during the current summer months of November–March (n = 30, r2 = 0.282, P = 0.003). These two variables, when entered into the same regression model, together explained 49.7% of the total variation in dlc. We found no evidence of association between case totals and climate. In KZN, where malaria control operations are intense, climate appears to drive the interannual variation of malaria incidence, but not its overall level. The accompanying paper provides evidence that overall levels are associated with non‐climatic factors such as drug resistance and possibly HIV prevalence.
Development of sleep patterns in early adolescence

This study examines the developmental changes of sleep patterns as a function of gender and puberty and assesses the prevalence of sleep habits and sleep disturbances in early adolescence. It also investigates the relationship between sleep patterns, sleep habits and difficulty falling asleep and nocturnal awakenings. The present analyses are based on results available for 588 boys and 558 girls for whom mothers completed questions concerning demographics and sleep at annual intervals when their child was aged 10–13 years. The results indicated that nocturnal sleep times decreased, bedtimes were delayed and differences between weekend and school day sleep schedules progressively increased with age. Gender and puberty were both associated with the timing of sleep on weekends. Girls presented longer weekend time in bed (TIB) and later weekend wake time than boys. Similarly, subjects with higher pubertal status showed longer weekend TIB and later weekend wake time than subjects with lower pubertal status. Difficulty falling asleep was associated with later weekend wake time and with sleeping with a night light. In conclusion, the gender differences commonly reported in adolescents’ sleep patterns are most likely explained by girls’ higher pubertal status. This study emphasizes the link between puberty and a putative physiological need for more sleep, in presence of a general reduction of sleep times during adolescence. From age 10–13 years, the delay and lengthening of the sleep period on weekends in comparison to schooldays is associated with difficulty falling asleep.
Growth factor signaling pathways as targets for prevention of epithelial carcinogenesis

Growth factor receptor (GFR) signaling controls epithelial cell growth by responding to various endogenous or exogenous stimuli and subsequently activating downstream signaling pathways including Stat3, PI3K/Akt/mTOR, MAPK, and c‐Src. Environmental chemical toxicants and UVB irradiation cause enhanced and prolonged activation of GFR signaling and downstream pathways that contributes to epithelial cancer development including skin cancer. Recent studies, especially those with tissue‐specific transgenic mouse models, have demonstrated that GFRs and their downstream signaling pathways contribute to all three stages of epithelial carcinogenesis by regulating a wide variety of biological functions including proliferation, apoptosis, angiogenesis, cell adhesion, and migration. Inhibiting these signaling pathways early in the carcinogenic process results in reduced cell proliferation and survival, leading to decreased tumor formation. Collectively, these studies suggest that GFR signaling and subsequent downstream signaling pathways are potential targets for the prevention of epithelial cancers including skin cancer. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
MucR, a Novel Membrane-Associated Regulator of Alginate Biosynthesis in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

ABSTRACT Alginate biosynthesis by Pseudomonas aeruginosa was shown to be regulated by the intracellular second messenger bis-(3′-5′)-cyclic-dimeric-GMP (c-di-GMP), and binding of c-di-GMP to the membrane protein Alg44 was required for alginate production. In this study, PA1727, a c-di-GMP-synthesizing enzyme was functionally analyzed and identified to be involved in regulation of alginate production. Deletion of the PA1727 gene in the mucoid alginate-overproducing P. aeruginosa strain PDO300 resulted in a nonmucoid phenotype and an about 38-fold decrease in alginate production; thus, this gene is designated mucR. The mucoid alginate-overproducing phenotype was restored by introducing the mucR gene into the isogenic ΔmucR mutant. Moreover, transfer of the MucR-encoding plasmid into strain PDO300 led to an about sevenfold increase in alginate production, wrinkly colony morphology, increased pellicle formation, auto-aggregation, and the formation of highly structured biofilms as well as the inhibition of swarming motility. Outer membrane protein profile analysis showed that overproduction of MucR mediates a strong reduction in the copy number of FliC (flagellin), required for flagellum-mediated motility. Translational reporter enzyme fusions with LacZ and PhoA suggested that MucR is located in the cytoplasmic membrane with a cytosolic C terminus. Deletion of the proposed C-terminal GGDEF domain abolished MucR function. MucR was purified and identified using tryptic peptide fingerprinting and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry. Overall, experimental evidence was provided suggesting that MucR specifically regulates alginate biosynthesis by activation of alginate production through generation of a localized c-di-GMP pool in the vicinity of Alg44.
Plasmodium in the placenta: parasites, parity, protection, prevention and possibly preeclampsia

SUMMARY The epidemiology of pregnancy malaria infection and disease is complex but reflects underlying interactions between the Plasmodium falciparum parasite, the mother, and the foetus. Parasites sequester in the human placenta by binding to chondroitin sulfate A (CSA), a novel receptor that does not commonly support binding of other parasites. Women become resistant to P. falciparum malaria over successive pregnancies as they acquire antibodies against the CSA-binding placental parasite forms. Due to acquired immunity, placental malaria is briefer and less inflammatory in multigravid women than primigravid women, and these parity differences may account for the different outcomes these women and their offspring experience. Commonly recognized sequelae of malaria-like maternal anaemia and low birth weight primarily occur in first and second pregnancies. Hypertension may result from maternal-foetal conflict over the inflammatory response to placental malaria, and occurs in young, first-time mothers. Placental malaria can either increase or decrease parasitaemia risk in the offspring, depending on the mother's parity. The burden of disease due to pregnancy malaria, and the benefits of an effective vaccine, may be much greater than is currently appreciated.
Testing axiomatizations of ambiguity aversion

The study of the normative and positive theory of choice under uncertainty has made major advances through thought experiments often referred to as paradoxes: the St. Petersburg paradox, the Allais paradox, the Ellsberg paradox, and the Rabin paradox. Machina proposes a new thought experiment which posits a choice between two acts that have three outcomes. As in the Ellsberg paradox there are three events, but while the Ellsberg paradox has two (monetary) outcomes in Machina there are three. Machina shows that four prominent theories of ambiguity aversion predict indifference between the acts. Introspection, however, suggests that many people might very well strictly prefer one act over the other. This paper makes four contributions: first, to our knowledge, it is the first to experimentally implement the Machina thought experiment. Second, we employ a novel method to simultaneously elicit the certainty equivalent of an embedded lottery. Third, our results—across three experiments—indicate non-indifference, which rejects earlier theories of ambiguity aversion, but is consistent with a newer one, which we apply to explain our results. Fourth, we show that independence is a sufficient condition for indifference in the Machina paradox, and thereby explains why so many models predict indifference.
Clotrimazole Inhibits Hemoperoxidase of Plasmodium falciparum and Induces Oxidative Stress

The mechanism of antimalarial activity of clotrimazole was studied placing emphasis on its role in inhibiting hemoperoxidase for inducing oxidative stress in Plasmodium falciparum. Clotrimazole, in the presence of H2O2, causes irreversible inactivation of the enzyme, and the inactivation follows pseudo-first order kinetics, consistent with a mechanism-based (suicide) mode. The pseudo-first order kinetic constants are ki= 2.85 μm, kinact = 0.9 min-1, and t½ = 0.77 min. The one-electron oxidation product of clotrimazole has been identified by EPR spectroscopy as the 5,5′-dimethyl-1-pyrroline N-oxide (DMPO) adduct of the nitrogen-centered radical (aN = 15 G), and as DMPO protects against inactivation, this radical is involved in the inactivation process. Binding studies indicate that the clotrimazole oxidation product interacts at the heme moiety, and the heme-clotrimazole adduct has been dissociated from the inactivated enzyme and identified (m/z 1363) by mass analysis. We found that the inhibition of hemoperoxidase increases the accumulation of H2O2 in P. falciparum and causes oxidative stress. Furthermore, the inhibition of hemoperoxidase correlates well with the inhibition of parasite growth. The results described herein indicate that the antimalarial activity of clotrimazole might be due to the inhibition of hemoperoxidase and subsequent development of oxidative stress in P. falciparum.
Role of Environmental Factors in Carcinogenesis

Cancer is one of the most serious diseases that threaten human being today. Most cancer results from the interaction of genetic and the environment. Genetic factors by themselves are thought to explain only about 5%-10% of all cancers and the remainder can be attributed to environmental carcinogens. The involuntary or voluntary exposure to these carcinogens may account for the recent growing incidence of cancer. These agents include; microorganisms (viruses, bacteria and parasites), radiations (radioactivity, UV and pulsed electromagnetic fields), occupational exposures, tobacco smoke, sexual behavior, alcohol, dietary constituents, pollutants (in the workplace, air, water, and food supply), formaldehyde, volatile organic compounds such as benzene and 1,3 butadiene and many xenochemicals, carcinogenic metals and metalloids, pharmaceutical medicines, food additives, additive in cosmetics, etc. The industrial revolution over the second half of the last century and its consequences in domains such as energy, transport, agriculture, food and health led to synthesize, produce and introduce into the environment, millions of man-made chemicals or substances. Although environmental, occupational, and recreational exposures to carcinogens contribute to cancer risk in humans, variation in incidence and progression of cancers among individuals can be attributed to interindividual variation in genetic makeup. The risk fraction attributable to environmental factors is still unclear. One of the hopeful messages from cancer research is that most of the cases of cancer are linked to environmental factors and, in principle, can be prevented by growing awareness about the modulating risks from environmental carcinogens.
The proteolysis of mitotic cyclins in mammalian cells persists from the end of mitosis until the onset of S phase.

We have studied how the cell cycle‐specific oscillations of mitotic B‐type cyclins are generated in mouse fibroblasts. A reporter enzyme comprising the N‐terminus of a B‐type cyclin fused to bacterial chloramphenicol acetyl transferase (CAT) was degraded at the end of mitosis like endogenous cyclins. Point mutations in the destruction box of this construct completely abolished its mitotic instability. When the destructible reporter was driven by the cyclin B2 promoter, CAT activity mimicked the oscillations in the level of the endogenous cyclin B2. These oscillations were largely conserved when the reporter was transcribed constitutively from the SV40 promoter. Pulse‐chase experiments or addition of the proteasome inhibitors lactacystin and ALLN showed that cyclin synthesis continued after the end of mitosis. The destruction box‐specific degradation of cyclins normally ceases at the onset of S phase, and is active in fibroblasts arrested in G0 and in differentiated C2 myoblasts. We were able to reproduce this proteolysis in vitro in extracts of synchronized cells. Extracts of G1 cells degraded cyclin B1 whereas p27Kip1 was stable, in contrast, cyclin B1 remained stable and p27Kip1 was degraded in extracts of S phase cells.
Microstrip bandstop filters using L- and T-shaped resonators

Bandstop filters in microstrip technology are introduced. The filters are based on a T-shaped resonator located between two identical L-shaped resonators; all of them are coupled to a main microstrip line, and separated by sections of transmission lines with appropriate length. According to ABCD matrix analysis, carried out for commensurate resonators, this structure produces two transmission zeros in the stopband as well as three reflection zeros in the passbands. X-band and Ku-band bandstop filters are designed based on the proposed method with bandwidths of 1.06 GHz and 0.97 GHz at mid-band frequencies of 9.72 GHz and 14.77 GHz, respectively. Both filters are prototyped and measured. Good agreement between simulated and measured results demonstrates the reliability and robustness of the design method.
Adaptive forwarding and coding in cooperative spatial multiplexing system

Adaptive forwarding and coding technique is pre- sented for cooperative spatial multiplexing system. The proposed approach is to forward only when the reliability of detection at the relay, measured by the magnitude of log-likelihood ratio, is above a threshold and otherwise stop forwarding its estimate. Those non-forwarded symbols can be treated as erasures at the receiver (destination) and corrected if the number of erasures is within the erasure correction capability bound. Since only local information (reliability of detection) is used in determining whether to forward or not, the adaptation can be implemented in a distributive way without exchanging information among relay nodes.
Forschungsprojekt: Analyse der Verteilung von Einkommen und Vermögen in Deutschland. Projektbericht an das Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Soziales

[Zur Orientierung] Wie der Projekttitel „Analyse der Verteilung von Einkommen und Vermogen in Deutschland“ bereits deutlich macht, gliedert sich der Forschungsauftrag in zwei Themenbereiche: das Einkommen und das Vermogen. Im Rahmen des Projekts wurden zunachst eine Aktualisierung und behutsame Weiterentwicklung fruherer Analysen - hier ist vor allem die entsprechende Vorstudie zum Vierten Armuts- und Reichtumsbericht zu nennen - vorgenommen. Dabei galt es, die Kontinuitat und Anschlussfahigkeit zu den bereits vorliegenden Auswertungen zu wahren. Im Weiteren wurden im Vergleich zur Vorstudie neue Aspekte aufgegriffen, beispielsweise die Erweiterung des Vermogensbegriffs oder die Einbeziehung des Konsums beim Thema Reichtum. Die durchgefuhrten Analysen basieren fast ausschlieslich auf Mikrodaten, d.h. auf durch Befragungen gewonnene Daten zu einzelnen Personen oder Haushalten. Lediglich bei Thema Vermogen wurde an einzelnen Stellen auf Makrodaten in Form fertiger Indexgrosen oder Angaben zu den Vermogensbestanden in der Volkswirtschaftlichen Gesamtrechnung zuruckgegriffen. Als Datenquellen fanden im Wesentlichen das Sozio-oekonomische Panel (SOEP), die Einkommens- und Verbrauchsstichprobe (EVS) und die European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) Verwendung, wobei wir die Ergebnisse der EU-SILC nur aus Grunden der Vollstandigkeit in Tabellenform mitliefern. Alle genannten Datengrundlagen wurden bereits im Vorlauferbericht verwendet. Neu hinzugekommen ist der „Household Finance and Consumption Survey” (HFCS), ein umfragebasierter Datensatz, der Finanz- und Konsumdaten auf Haushaltsebene fur die Lander der Eurozone beinhaltet. Im Kapitel 2 werden die Datenquellen mit Blick auf die fur die Aufgabenstellung relevanten Merkmale vorgestellt. Das Datenkapitel endet mit Ausfuhrungen zur statistischen Signifikanz der dargestellten Ergebnisse. Dieser Abschnitt weist auf eine der wesentlichen Weiterentwicklungen der vorliegenden Arbeit hin: In allen Darstellungen werden Konfidenzbereiche fur die jeweiligen Indikatoren mit ausgewiesen, um den Leserinnen und Lesern eine Einschatzung der statistischen Zuverlassigkeit der Schatzergebnisse zu erlauben. [. ]
Evaluation of the “Let's Talk” Safer Sex Intervention in Nepal

This study is an evaluation of a pilot of the Let's Talk Intervention for Nepali women for effectiveness in increasing sexual health communication between women and the men in their lives. The intervention included 88 women in Kathmandu and spanned three 2-hour group sessions. Baseline, posttest, and follow-up knowledge, attitude, and behavior surveys were completed. Results showed women at posttest and follow-up spoke with more women and men about sex than they had at baseline. Attitudes regarding gender norms about sex improved as a result of the intervention, and shame about sex and sexuality for women decreased after intervention. Women also reported greater comfort discussing sex after the intervention. HIV knowledge scores increased after intervention but dropped again at follow-up, likely because of time constraints in addressing this topic in sufficient detail. This is the first program in Nepal that addresses communication about sexual health while focusing on education and prevention for HIV/STIs for women.
The regulation, localization, and functions of oxygen-sensing prolyl hydroxylase PHD3

Abstract The prolyl 4-hydroxylase domain protein 3 (PHD3) belongs to 2-oxoglutarate and iron-dependent dioxygenases. Together with the two closest paralogues, PHD1 and PHD2, these enzymes have been identified as cellular oxygen sensors that can mark the hypoxia-inducible factor α (HIF-α) for von Hippel-Lindau protein-mediated proteasomal destruction. Although having overlapping functions with PHD1 and PHD2, PHD3 markedly differs from the two isoforms. PHD3 shows a different expression pattern and subcellular localization as well as activity under low oxygen tension. Moreover, it has the widest range of non-HIF targets underlying its diverse functions. The functions of PHD3 differ depending on the cell type and also partially on the microenvironmental conditions it is expressed at. Under normoxia, PHD3 has been shown to be proapoptotic, but under hypoxia, it can have cell survival or proliferation-supporting functions. Here we discuss the regulation, targets, and functions of PHD3.