Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopy may support early diagnosis of glaucoma

Purpose: To compare image characteristics of retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) between glaucoma patients and healthy controls using adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (AOSLO). Methods: This was a cross-sectional pilot study with two groups: a glaucoma group with patients with moderate or severe glaucoma as per the Hodapp–Parrish–Anderson classification system and a control group with healthy individuals. The optic nerve damage in moderate glaucoma was predominantly located in only one hemisphere; the other hemisphere was un- or minimally affected on optical coherence tomography and automated perimetry and is referred to as early glaucoma. The structure of RNFL bundles and gain (%) in RNFL images with mean pixel values between 15 and 35 were analyzed. Imaging was performed one degree away from the optic disc margin at two and four cardinal clock positions in the glaucoma and control groups, respectively. The field of view was 1.3° at 2.3 m resolution. We studied one eye per participant. Results: There were 11 glaucoma patients and 7 healthy controls. Imaging was successful at 88% of the locations in controls and early glaucoma; the reflectivity differed significantly (0.51 and 0.56, respectively, P < 0.001) but not the structure of RNFL bundles (Cohen’s Kappa 0.11) between them. In patients with moderate and severe glaucoma, imaging was successful only at 46% of the locations; RNFL bundles were not discernible, and RNFL reflectivity did not differ from those with early glaucoma (P < 0.11). Conclusion: The recorded gain (%) of RNFL images obtained using AOSLO could be an objective indicator of early glaucoma.
Utilization of diverse organophosphorus pollutants by marine bacteria

Significance Marine bacteria are exposed to a range of industrial pollutants. Many of these compounds contain phosphorus, a key limiting nutrient in some marine environments. Yet it remains unknown whether bacteria utilize these environmental contaminants, especially because utilization requires a specialized enzyme called phosphotriesterase (PTE). We show that various common marine bacteria can thrive when organophosphorus pollutants are the sole phosphorus source, suggesting the presence of unidentified PTEs. Two new PTEs from marine bacteria were isolated and a strain of Escherichia coli that can thrive on organophosphorus compounds was engineered. We suggest that the ability to metabolize organophosphorus pollutants could be a competitive advantage for bacteria and a prospect for bioremediation.
An Improved Hybrid Approach to Modify Global Best of PSO

 Abstract — In this paper, an improved hybrid approach is developed to find global minima of the problem. The proposed approach consists of population based approaches PSO and DE. In the proposed approach, the global best obtained from PSO is modified with the help of DE. When global best of PSO remains same for large number of iterations. Then a mutant vector corresponding to random particles is generated and diversity is increased so that better results can be obtained. In this paper, difference of more than two vectors is taken to increase more randomness. The proposed approach is tested on standard functions also and results are compared with PSO.
Novel Plant Substances Acting as (cid:1) Subunit Isoform-Selective Positive Allosteric Modulators of GABA A Receptors

GABA A receptors are modulated by a large variety of com- pounds. A common chemical characteristic of most of these modulators is that they contain a cyclic entity. Three linear molecules of a polyacetylene structure were isolated from the East African medicinal plant Cussonia zimmermannii Harms and shown to allosterically stimulate GABA A receptors. Stimulation was not abolished by the absence of the (cid:2) 2 subunit, the benzodiazepine antagonist Ro15-1788 (8-fluoro-5,6-dihydro-5-methyl-6-oxo-4 H -imidazo[1,5- a ][1,4]benzodiazepine-3-car- boxylic acid ethyl ester), or the point mutation (cid:1) 2 N265S that abolishes effects by loreclezole. At a concentration of 30 (cid:3) M, the substances by themselves elicited only tiny currents. Max- imal stimulation at (cid:4) 1 (cid:1) 2 (cid:2) 2 amounted to 110 to 450% for the three substances, and half-maximal stimulation was observed at concentrations of 1 to 2 (cid:3) M. Stimulation was subunit compo-sition-dependent and was for the substance MS-1, (cid:4) 1 (cid:1) 2 (cid:2) 2 (cid:1) (cid:4) 1 (cid:1) 2 (cid:1) (cid:4) 3 (cid:1) 2 (cid:2) 2 (cid:2) (cid:4) 2 (cid:1) 2 (cid:2) 2 (cid:2)
NDS_A_278350 277..288

Point your SmartPhone at the code above. If you have a QR code reader the video abstract will appear. Or use: https://youtu.be/nEMcA5chp_U Purpose: The aim of this study is the evaluation of the effect of Afghan Chehelghoza as a constituent of diet on behavioral parameters, especially learning and memory of male rats. Methods: Rats were divided into six groups: control group, diazepam group as the positive control, and 2, 6, 12 and 25% chehelghoza-treated groups, which received chehelghoza combined with their food for 28 days. After treatment, the rat’s behavior was evaluated by Y-maze, elevated plus maze, Morris water maze and radial arm maze. In addition, their brain was extracted and weighed. The body weight of rats was also measured during the study. Results: The results showed that the time spent in target quadrant and brain weight were increased in 12 and 25% chehelghoza-treated groups significantly (P<0.05). Also, the difference between the percentage of spontaneous alternation and the number of crossing, percentage of time spent in and the number of entries into open arms of only 25% chehelghoza-treated and the control groups was significant. Besides, on day 28, the body weight of all chehelghoza-treated groups was diminished as compared with the control group. Conclusion: We can conclude that chehelghoza combination with food in high doses can improve the spatial working memory and reference memory, increase the brain weight, as well as reduction in anxiety behavior.
Women’s Education, Empowerment, and Contraceptive Use in s ub-Saharan Africa: Findings from Recent Demographic and Health Surveys

Résumé Abstract Fertility remains higher and contraceptive levels are substantially lower in Sub-Saharan Africa than elsewhere in the developing world. In this paper we use information on individuals and couples provided in recent Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS, fifth wave) undertaken in Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, and Zambia. We use bivariate and multivariate techniques to examine the determinants of contraceptive use among married women (aged 15-49), focusing on the impacts of women’s education and empowerment. Our results show that education was an important determinant of contraceptive use, but mattered less in choice of method effectiveness. The impact of education was similar in all the countries studied with the exception of Kenya, where it was non-existent. Empowerment was less important in determining contraceptive use. Efforts to increase contraceptive use in general and the use of modern methods more specifically need to focus on providing basic education for all women and on changing gender roles.
Flight Mechanics/Estimation Theory Symposium

This paper examines filter tuning techniques for a sequential orbit determination (OD) covariance analysis. Recently, there has been a renewed interest in sequential OD, primarily due to the successful flight qualification of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) Onboard Navigation System (TONS) using Doppler data extracted onboard the Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE) spacecraft. TONS computes highly accurate orbit solutions onboard the spacecraft in realtime using a sequential filter. As the result of the successful TONS-EUVE flight qualification experiment, the Earth Observing System (EOS) AM-1 Project has selected TONS as the prime navigation system. In addition, sequential OD methods can be used successfully for ground OD. Whether data are processed onboard or on the ground, a sequential OD procedure is generally favored over a batch technique when a realtime automated OD system is desired. Recently, OD covariance analyses were performed for the TONS-EUVE and TONS-EOS missions using the sequential processing options of the Orbit Determination Error Analysis System (ODEAS). ODEAS is the primary covariance analysis system used by the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Flight Dynamics Division (FDD). The results of these analyses revealed a high sensitivity of the OD solutions to the state process noise filter tuning parameters. The covariance analysis results show that the state estimate error contributions from measurement-related error sources, especially those due to the random noise and satellite-to-satellite ionospheric refraction correction errors, increase rapidly as the state process noise increases. These results prompted an in-depth investigation of the role of the filter tuning parameters in sequential OD covariance analysis. This paper analyzes how the spacecraft state estimate errors due to dynamic and measurement-related error sources are affected by the process noise level used. This information is then used to establish guidelines for determining optimal filter tuning parameters in a given sequential OD scenario for both covariance analysis and actual OD. Comparisons are also made with corresponding definitive OD results available from the TONS-EUVE analysis.
Empathetic Response Generation with State Management

A good empathetic dialogue system should first track and understand a user's emotion and then reply with an appropriate emotion. However, current approaches to this task either focus on improving the understanding of users' emotion or on proposing better responding strategies, and very few works consider both at the same time. Our work attempts to fill this vacancy. Inspired by task-oriented dialogue systems, we propose a novel empathetic response generation model with emotion-aware dialogue management. The emotion-aware dialogue management contains two parts: (1) Emotion state tracking maintains the current emotion state of the user and (2) Empathetic dialogue policy selection predicts a target emotion and a user's intent based on the results of the emotion state tracking. The predicted information is then used to guide the generation of responses. Experimental results show that dynamically managing different information can help the model generate more empathetic responses compared with several baselines under both automatic and human evaluations.
Questions in Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy : Metabolic Implications

MADIT (Multicenter Automatic Defibrillator Implantation Trial) and MUSTT (Multicenter UnSustained Tachycardia Trial) were being digested and accepted by the scientific community. It remains unsettled, however, whether ICDs confer a higher infection risk than PMs (3,4). An indirect effect of expanding ICD indications could be an increased proportion of implantation by low volume operators or facilities, a factor that has been linked to higher rates of mechanical complications and infections (5). However, this probability cannot be tested using the NHDS database. It is also possible that greater physician awareness and improvements in detection and reporting of device-related infections have contributed to the rise over the study period. Regardless of the cause, the disproportionate rise in CRMD-related infections carries significant public health consequences, and further study is warranted to confirm this trend and to elucidate its causes. In addition to its morbidity and associated additional health care resource expenditures, CRMD infection confers high inhospital mortality rates. In the late 1990s, Chua et al. (6) retrospectively studied 117 patients undergoing device extraction for CRMD infection at a large tertiary care center and found low all-cause and zero-operative mortality. The recent expansion of ICD and cardiac resynchronization therapy to patient populations with a heavier burden of cardiovascular disease may explain the higher mortality seen with CRMD infection in this analysis. This study has several important limitations. The NHDS database, though providing broad national representation, lacks detailed clinical information. Thus, determination of the mode of in-hospital death, the specialty of the implanting physicians, and the identification of the offending organisms are not within the scope of the NHDS. The validity of the data hinges upon appropriate coding of ICD-9-CM codes at the time of hospital discharge. We cannot exclude changes in coding patterns over the 8 years of the study period, for example to improve Medicare reimbursement for certain diagnoses. Because the NHDS records hospitalizations, but does not identify individual patients, the true incidence of CRMD infection cannot be determined. In conclusion, our results demonstrate a rapid rise in rates of hospitalization for CRMD-related infection in the U.S. in the years 2001 through 2003, the last year for which data is currently available. This morbid and costly complication of CRMD therapy can be lethal, as evidenced by its associated high rates of inhospital mortality. Further research should be undertaken to confirm these findings, determine the causes of rising rates of CRMD infections, and to improve therapeutic options for these important adverse events.
Contribution à l'optimisation des AMEs et au développement des métrologies spécifiques pour les piles à combustible PEMFC et SAMFC

Cette these vise l'optimisation du processus de fabrication des AMEs par le pressage a chaud pour les PEMFC, l'optimisation des piles de type SAMFC et le developpement de la metrologie specifique pour la gestion de l'eau et de la chaleur dans le cœur des piles. Ces recherches ont ete realisees dans le cadre du projet « CHAMEAU » du programme PAN-H de l'ANR et du projet AMELI-0Pt du programme « Energies » du CNRS. Le premier objectif concerne la recherche des parametres optimaux (temperature, pression, temps de pressage) de fabrication des AMEs par le pressage a chaud. Les resultats obtenus a travers la planification experimentale annoncent la temperature comme le facteur le plus influent sur les performances electriques de la pile. Ces dernieres augmentent avec la temperature sur la plage 100°C-115°C et diminuent brutalement apres cette valeur critique. Deuxiemement, on s'interesse sur le developpement des piles SAMFC a combustible glycerol. Des travaux sur l'optimisation des conditions operatoires ont permis d'identifier les parametres importants pour l'amelioration de performances des piles SAMFC et de mettre en place un protocole de test en pile. Des catalyseurs sans/ou avec peu de platine ont devoile une augmentation visible des performances electriques par rapport aux catalyseurs Pt/C. Des membranes plasma ont permis de tripler les performances electriques des piles SAMFCs. Troisiemement, on cible le developpement d'une metrologie specifique pour la mesure de la temperature a l'interface entre la membrane et la couche active. Des capteurs thermo-resistifs integres dans l’AME ont montre la possibilite et l'utilite de suivre en temps reel la temperature de la couche active
Ca Sparks and Waves in Canine Purkinje Cells A Triple Layered System of Ca 2 (cid:1) Activation Cellular Biology

—We have investigated the subcellular spontaneous Ca 2 (cid:1) events in canine Purkinje cells using laser scanning confocal microscopy. Three types of Ca 2 (cid:1) transient were found: (1) nonpropagating Ca 2 (cid:1) transients that originate directly under the sarcolemma and lead to (2) small Ca 2 (cid:1) wavelets in a region limited to (cid:2) 6- (cid:1) m depth under the sarcolemma causing (3) large Ca 2 (cid:1) waves that travel throughout the cell (CWWs). Immunocytochemical studies revealed 3 layers of Ca 2 (cid:1) channels: (1) channels associated with type 1 IP 3 receptors (IP 3 R 1 ) and type 3 ryanodine receptors (RyR 3 ) are prominent directly under the sarcolemma; (2) type 2 ryanodine receptors (RyR 2 s) are present throughout the cell but virtually absent in a layer between 2 and 4 (cid:1) m below the sarcolemma (Sub-SL); (3) type 3 ryanodine receptors (RyR 3 ) is the dominant Ca 2 (cid:1) release channel in the Sub-SL. Simulations of both nonpropagating and propagating transients show that the generators of Ca 2 (cid:1) wavelets differ from those of the CWWs with the threshold of the former being less than that of the latter. Thus, Purkinje cells contain a functional and structural Ca 2 (cid:1) system responsible for the mechanism that translates Ca 2 (cid:1) release occurring directly under the sarcolemma into rapid Ca 2 (cid:1) release in the Sub-SL, which then initiates large-amplitude long lasting Ca 2 (cid:1) releases underlying CWWs. The sequence of spontaneous diastolic Ca 2 (cid:1) transients that starts directly under the sarcolemma and leads to Ca 2 (cid:1) wavelets and CWWs is important because CWWs have been shown to cause nondriven electrical activity. ( Circ Res . 2005;97:35-43.)
Combination of nonspeciﬁc PDE inhibitors with inhaled prostacyclin in experimental pulmonary hypertension

Combination of nonspeciﬁc PDE inhibitors with inhaled prostacyclin in experimental pulmonary hypertension. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol 281: L1361–L1368, 2001. —Inhalation of aerosolized prostacyclin (PGI 2 ) exerts selective pulmonary vasodilation, but its effect is rapidly lost after termination of nebulization. Ampliﬁcation of the vasodilatory response to inhaled PGI 2 might be achieved by phosphodiesterase (PDE) inhibitors to stabilize its second messenger, cAMP. We established stable pulmonary hypertension in perfused rabbit lungs by continuous infusion of U-46619. Short-term (10-min) aerosolization maneuvers of PGI 2 effected a rapid, moderate decrease in pulmonary arte- rial pressure, with post-PGI 2 vasorelaxation being lost within 10–15 min, accompanied by a marginal reduction in shunt ﬂow. Preceding administration of subthreshold doses of the PDE inhibitors theophylline, dipyridamole, and pentoxifylline via the intravascular or inhalational route, which per se did not inﬂuence pulmonary hemodynamics, caused more than doubling of the immediate pulmonary arterial pressure drop in response to PGI 2 and marked prolongation of the post-PGI 2 vasorelaxation to . 60 min (all PDE inhibitors via both routes of application). This was accompanied by a reduction in shunt ﬂow in the case of aerosolized theophylline (27.5%), pentoxifylline (30.5%), and dipyridamole (33.4%). Coaerosolization of PGI 2 and PDE inhibitors may be considered as a therapeutic strategy in pulmonary hypertension. INHALED VASODILATORS HAVE BEEN SHOWN to
Personality Correlates of Optimism among Couples

This study aimed to examine the relationship between optimism and personality traits (extraversion-introversion, emotional stability-neuroticism and psychoticism) among couples. The study sample consisted of 30 couples, N=60 (30 males and 30 females) with age ranging from 22 to 28 years were selected from the various places of Delhi NCR. For assessing personality traits, Eysenck Personality Inventory-Revised (EPI-R) by Hans Eysenck was employed and for assessing optimism, Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R) developed by Scheier, Carver, and Bridges (1994) was used. Results of the present study were analysed using Pearson-r correlation and t test. Results of study revealed that: there is a significant positive correlation between optimism and extraversion (personality traits), (r=.368) and no significant correlation between any other constructs of personality and optimism. Also, there is no significant difference found between male and female on any of the personality traits (extraversion, (t=.912); neuroticism, (t=-.134); and psychoticism, (t=-.423). ) and optimism, (t=1.548). The study has important implications for intervention programs.
Performance Study on OFDM and FBMC Technology in 5G Mobile Cellular Communication

In mobile cellular communication system, different techniques are used to provide efficient way to improve error also power density and spectrum efficiently. Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is used in 4G and then Frequency Division Multiple access (FBMC) is used in 5G. To determine the best technique performance study is needed. Comparison OFDM and FBMC feature, error calculation efficiency is obtained to choose best technique. The power density and Bit Error Rate (BER) is main elements to determine the technique is suitable low cost and spectrum efficient. As FBMC is give better performance for fulfill the criteria so in 5G communication system going through with FBMC technology.
High Performance Grid Environment for Parallel Multiple Biological Sequence Alignment

— The parallel in silico simulations based on methods and algorithms for analysis of biological data using high-performance distributed computing is essential for accelerating the research and reduce the investment. This paper presents a high-performance Grid environment integrating various services and middleware to facilitate access to distributed resources for carrying out scientific experiments in the area of bioinformatics. This environment enables parallel computer simulations increasing the efficiency of the computations and allowing scientists easy and user friendly access. Web portal provides as services access and execution of parallel program implementation based on an algorithm for comparative analysis of biological data. An innovative algorithm called MSA_BG for multiple sequences alignment based on the concept of Artificial Bee Colony metaheuristics is designed. Experimental simulations on the basis of parallel implementation of MSA_BG algorithm for multiple sequences alignment through the high-performance Grid environment have been carried out for the case study of the influenza virus variability.
Genes, culture and conservatism

The Wilson - Patterson conservatism scale was psychometrically evaluated using homogeneity analysis and item response theory models. Results showed that this scale actually measures two different aspects in people: on the one hand people vary in their agreement with either conservative or liberal catch-phrases and on the other hand people vary in their use of the ‘‘? ’’ response category of the scale. A 9-item subscale was constructed, consisting of items that seemed to measure liberalism, and this subscale was subsequently used in a biometric analysis including genotype–environment interaction, correcting for non-ho-mogeneous measurement error. Biometric results showed signiﬁcant genetic and shared environmental inﬂuences, and signiﬁcant genotype–environment interaction effects, suggesting that individuals with a genetic predisposition for conservatism show more non-shared variance but less shared variance than individuals with a genetic predisposition for liberalism.