Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fibroscan Compared to Aspartate Aminotransferase to Platelet Ratio Index (APRI) and Aspartate Aminotransferase to Alanine Aminotransferase Ratio (AST to ALT) in the Assessment of Liver Fibrosis in Patients with Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in a Terti

Objectives: To compare the extent of liver fibrosis using fibroscan and subsequently compare it with AST/ALT ratio and AST to platelet ratio index (APRI). Study Design: Comparative cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Chemical Pathology Department, Military Hospital Rawalpindi in collaboration with Armed forces institute of Radiology & Imaging and Gastroenterology Department, Military Hospital Rawalpindi from Jan to Apr 2021. Methodology: A total of 50 patients in group-1 and 24 healthy subject participants in group-2 as controls were studied. Serum AST, ALT, platelet count, APRI and AST to ALT ratio were assessed along with fibroscan results to determine stages of liver fibrosis and results were compared for the association. Results: There were 49 (66%) males and 25 (34%) females included in the study with the mean age of 49.77 ± 8.3 years. 11 (14.9%) patients had advanced fibrosis. There was a significant negative relationship (p-value <0.001 and r = -0.637) between platelet count and increasing fibroscan score (F1, F2) and a significant positive correlation between fibroscan score and AST (pvalue <0.001 and r=0.623), ALT (p-value <0.001 and r=0.596), fibroscan result and APRI (p-value < 0.001 and r=0.771) and fibroscan scores and AST/ALT ratio (p-value= 0.037 and r=0.243). One third of the study subjects had fibrosis in early and relatively advanced stages (F1, F2 respectively) correlating with serum and blood markers. Conclusion: Early fibro scan testing and serum markers can help in early diagnosis and timely initiation of treatment.
Ineffective Transition of Patients During Shift Handover Process of Nurses in Private Sector Tertiary Care Hospital of Peshawar, Pakistan

Objective: To explore the factors hindering the shift handover process of nurses and the types of training in a private tertiary care hospital of Peshawar, Pakistan. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Northwest General Hospital, Peshawar Pakistan, from Nov 2016 to Aug 2018. Methodology: The sample population comprised 112 registered nurses with at least one year of experience. A structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Results: Of the participants, 6 (54.5%) were males, and 51 (45.5%) were females. The mean age of the participants was 27.86 ± 4.57 years. The most prominent alarming factor was messy record 100 (89.3%). 94 (83.9%) participants described interruption by parents' relatives, 97 (86.6%) participants identified staff shortage, difficulty in recognizing essential information was described by 92 (82.1%) study participants and long-working hours was identified by 89 (79.5%) participants. No significant association was found between gender and the working environmental factors. Conclusion: There are multiple factors that affect the process of shift handover. The health care organizations must ensure proper training of the nursing staff and provide an appropriate environment during shift handover to maintain patient safety.
Vitamin B6 Neonatal Toxicity

Vitamin B6 is a micronutrient required by the body. It acts as a coenzyme in biochemical reactions. Vitamin B6 toxicity is not caused by the intake of food-based sources. The few reported cases of vitamin B6 toxicity are always caused by overdosing of nutritional supplements. Chronic toxicity typically occurs with peripheral neuropathy such as paraesthesia, ataxia, and imbalance, paradoxically mimicking vitamin B6 deficiency. However, the prognosis is favorable, and symptoms usually show improvement once excessive vitamin B6 levels return to the physiological range. We report a newborn presenting with diffuse tremor at birth, interpreted as secondary to the mother's intake of high doses of a supplement containing vitamin B6 during pregnancy and breastfeeding. As expected, the newborn's serum levels of vitamin B6 were high. The tremors disappeared when the maternal supplement was stopped.
Shallow Water Acoustics

shallowand deep-water acoustics. But during the cold war, the research emphasis shifted abruptly to deep water, where the ballistic missile submarine threat lurked (see box 1). After the cold war, the onset of regional conflicts in coastal countries shifted the focus again to shallow water. Those waters encompass about 5% of the world’s oceans on the continental shelves, roughly the region from the beach to the shelf break, where water depths are about 200 meters. To a significant extent, the problems of shallow-water acoustics are the same as those encountered in nondestructive testing, medical ultrasonics, multichannel communications, seismic processing, adaptive optics, and radio astronomy. In these fields, propagating waves carry information, embedded within some sort of noise, to the boundaries of a minimally accessible, poorly known, complex medium, where it is detected.1,2 Although submarine detection has driven much of the acoustics research, other important applications have emerged, such as undersea communications, mapping of the ocean’s structure and topography, locating mines or archaeological artifacts, and the study of ocean biology. Shallow water is usually a noisy environment because shipping lanes exist along coastlines. Submarines typically radiate in the same frequency band as shipping noise, less than 1 kilohertz. The proliferation of quiet submarine technology has restimulated the development of active sonar systems, which send out pulses and examine their echoes, rather than the more stealthy, passive approach of listening and exploiting the relevant physics. However, the ultimate limits of passive acoustics in terms of signal-tonoise ratio (SNR), acoustic aperture (or antenna) size, and the ocean environment are ongoing research issues. The sound speed in water is about 1500 m/s, so wavelengths of interest are on the order of a few meters. In shallow water, with boundaries framed by the surface and bottom, the typical depth-to-wavelength ratio is about 10–100. That ratio makes the propagation of acoustic waves there analogous to electromagnetic propagation in a dielectric waveguide. But the shallow ocean is an exceedingly complicated place. The surface and the ocean’s index of refraction have a spatial and time dependence, and the presence of ocean inhomogeneities and loud ships can frequently scatter, jam, or mask the most interesting sounds. So, whether using active or passive techniques, scientists are ultimately concerned with the physics of extracting a signal that propagates in a lossy, dynamic waveguide from noise influenced by that same waveguide’s complexity. In that light, and considering our still imperfect understanding of coastal oceanography, one can begin to appreciate shallow-water acoustics as an interdisciplinary blend of physics, signal processing, physical oceanography, marine geophysics, and even marine biology.
Tracking long-term stability of Aqua MODIS and AIRS at different scan angles

The near-simultaneous observations from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) sensors on-board the Aqua spacecraft provide a good opportunity to track the relative calibration stability of both sensors over their entire mission. The AIRS is a hyper-spectral sensor with a spectral resolution of around 5 nm that covers the spectral range of most MODIS thermal emissive bands (TEB) except for a few small gaps. The simulated MODIS radiances can be derived by convolving AIRS spectral measurements with MODIS relative spectral response functions. Using spatially collocated pixels, the differences between MODIS observed and AIRS simulated brightness temperatures are computed for most MODIS TEB at various scan angles within ±49.5 degree of the nadir position. Two regions of different scene temperatures are selected: the central Atlantic Ocean and the Dome C at Antarctica. The trending of the MODIS - AIRS brightness temperature differences (BTD) is derived for years 2003- 2008. Results show that the magnitudes of the BTD are spectral band dependent. The values of BTD are generally less than ± 0.5K for most TEB with a few exceptions. For band 27, the BTD are about -1.2 K over the Dome Concordia and about -3.0 K over the northern Atlantic Ocean. Bands 35 and 36 have BTD about +1.0 K over the Atlantic Ocean. The trending results show that the BTD changes over a six-year period are less than 0.3 K for all calculable MODIS bands, and are slightly larger at large scan angles than those near nadir. Our results are consistent with previous studies.
Correlation between Fibroblast Growth Factor 23 and C-reactive Protein in Hemodialysis Patients

12.94±8.82. In multiple linear regression analysis, after controlling the effect of confounding variables (individual variables, blood parameters, and underlying diseases), there was a direct and significant relationship between iFGF23 and CRP (P=0.010, 𝜷 =0.129, CI=0.032-0.226). Discussion & Conclusion: The present study showed that increased FGF23 levels are independently associated with increased CRP levels in patients with ESRD. Future studies should evaluate whether inflammation alters the association between elevated FGF23 levels and adverse clinical outcomes in ESRD.
Friends Interrupted: How Reunions after Social Separation Motivate Physically Transformative Consumer Behavior

The COVID-19 pandemic forced large-scale social separation in a way not previously seen in modern societies. Though painful for many, this experience offers us the opportunity to learn about the way that consumption changes in the face of such social separation. In this article, we report three studies revealing that the greater the length of social separation, the more likely people are to perceive their reunion as an opportunity to refresh the impressions that others hold of them. In turn, the likelihood to engage in physically visible transformative behavior increases. Not only does this research help us to better understand the direct effects of COVID-19-related separation, but it also highlights an undocumented effect of lengthy social separation in general, implying the need to learn more about such experiences. Furthermore, results identify a new trigger for “fresh start” effects, showing their potential to play a role in interpersonal relationships.
Influence of the facet type on the performance of terahertz quantum cascade lasers with double-metal waveguides

We investigate the influence of cleaved and dry chemically etched facets on the performance of terahertz quantum cascade lasers with double-metal waveguides. We theoretically show that the reflectivity and therefore also the mirror losses depend on the facet type. We fabricated devices employing both a cleaved and an etched facet, which show an asymmetric output characteristic. Furthermore, we compare the performance in terms of maximum operation temperature of lasers with each facet configuration. The results suggest that the devices are operated in a mirror loss dominated regime.
Dioptric Fisheye Panoramic Camera Calibration Based on Unifying Spherical Projection Model

In this paper, a calibration method is proposed for fish-eye panoramic camera. We adopt the unifying spherical projection model to represent the optical nature of fisheye camera. Traditional corner detection works unreliably in highly distorted image. Therefore, edge-based corner detection is proposed based on Hough transform. The line segments within corner detection window and their intersection corner points are extracted accurately and reliably due to the robustness of Hough transform. We use the nonlinear optimization technique to estimate the camera parameters. Experimental results demonstrate the performance of our method.
A derivative-free nonlinear Kalman filtering approach to estimation of wave-type dynamics in neurons' membrane

The paper analyzes wave-type partial differential equations that describe the transmission of neural signals and proposes filtering for estimating the spatiotemporal variations of voltage in the neurons' membrane. To compute the dynamics of the membrane PDE model without knowledge of boundary conditions and through the processing of noisy measurements, a new filtering method, under the name Derivative-free nonlinear Kalman Filtering, is proposed. The PDE of the membrane is decomposed into a set of nonlinear ordinary differential equations with respect to time. Next, each one of the local models associated with the ordinary differential equations is transformed into a model of the linear canonical (Brunovsky) form through a change of coordinates (diffeomorphism) which is based on differential flatness theory. This transformation provides an extended model of the nonlinear dynamics of the membrane for which state estimation is possible by applying the standard Kalman Filter recursion.
Effect of particle-induced displacements on the critical temperature of YBa2Cu3O7−δ

The particle‐induced depression of the superconducting critical temperature Tc of YBa2Cu3O7−δ is shown to be directly proportional, over seven orders of magnitude, to the nonionizing energy deposited in the lattice by primary knock‐on atoms displaced by incident electrons, protons, and heavy ions. It is concluded that ΔTc is proportional only to the average number of defects produced and can therefore be predicted for any particle, energy, and fluence from a calculation of the nonionizing energy loss.
Modification of a Teng-Man technique to measure both r33 and r13 electro-optic coefficients

In this paper, we present a modified Teng-Man method to measure both electro-optic coefficients in a single measurement. Using our method, we confirm a linear dependence between the applied poling field and the measured electro-optic coefficients. The ratio between the two electro-optic coefficients is close to three, which is theoretically expected from a weakly oriented polymer film. Since conductive silicon is used as substrate, no auxiliary layers of transparent oxide or metal are required on the substrate, which simplifies both the sample preparation and the evaluation of the results.
Disruption of human serum albumin fibrils by a static electric field

Protein self-association leads to toxic filamentous plaques believed to be the key reason behind several neurodegenerative diseases. Stabilization of the fibrillar architecture is guided by several forces; primarily electrostatic, hydrophobic, and the extent of hydrogen bonding. In this study, we experimentally demonstrate, for the first time, the effect of varying static electric fields on preformed fibrils of human serum albumin (HSA) in an electrowetting on dielectric type setup using spectroscopic and microscopic techniques. We have found appreciable and continuous reduction in the β-sheet content of HSA fibrils up to an applied field of ∼8 × 106 V m−1. The observed disruption of the fibrils has been attributed to the combined effects of electrostatic interactions and electrowetting phenomena. Kinetic studies indicate a prior intermediate formation followed by disruption of HSA fibrils after application of the electric field.
Rank test of trend when data are incomplete

Consider a situation where observations are to be taken at regularly spaced time points, but in fact several of the observations are missing. It is wished to determine whether the data exhibit a trend. When the data set is complete, then a well known rank test is based on Spearman correlation. For the case of missing observations a new test of trend is proposed which is analogous to the Spearman test in the complete case. Comparisons between this new test and the naive Spearman test, which simply deletes all missing observations, indicate that the new test is more sensitive in detecting trends.
Reanalyzing Ultimatum Bargaining—Comparing Nondecreasing Curves Without Shape Constraints

We employ a hierarchical Bayesian method with exchangeable prior distributions to estimate and compare similar nondecreasing response curves. A Dirichlet process distribution is assigned to each of the response curves as a first stage prior. A second stage prior is then used to model the hyperparameters. We define parameters which will be used to compare the response curves. A Markov chain Monte Carlo method is applied to compute the resulting Bayesian estimates. To illustrate the methodology, we re-examine data from an experiment designed to test whether experimenter observation influences the ultimatum game. A major restriction of the original analysis was the shape constraint that the present technique allows us to greatly relax. We also consider independent priors and use Bayes factors to compare various models.
Effects of metal implants and validation of four treatment planning methods used for radiotherapy dose calculation

Background The radiotherapy treatment planning process involves target delineation and dose calculation, both of which directly depend on image quality and Hounsfield unit (HU) accuracy of computed tomography (CT) images. CT images of patients having metal implants undergo image quality deterioration and show inaccurate HU values due to various artifacts. Metal artifact reduction (MAR) is used to improve the image quality. In this study, four treatment planning methods with and without MAR, in combination with actual and assigned HU values, were analyzed for dose calculation accuracy. The aim was to study the effects of metal implants on planning CT and to evaluate the dose calculation accuracy of four treatment planning methods for radiotherapy. Materials and methods Two phantoms with six different metal inserts were scanned in the extended HU mode, with and without MAR. Geometry verification and HU analysis of the metals and the surrounding region were carried out. Water equivalent distance (WED) measurements and dose calculation for each metal insert were done in the treatment planning system (TPS) using the anisotropic analytical algorithm (AAA). Point dose and two-dimensional dose distribution were studied. Percentage variation analysis between calculated and measured doses and gamma evaluation were conducted to determine the most suitable method for treatment planning. Conclusion This study concludes that an MARCT image with an assigned HU similar to that of the metal implant is better for contouring and high dose calculation accuracy. If MAR is not available, the actual HU value from the extended HU CT for the metal should be used for dose calculation.
Multidirectional views of the active nucleus of NGC 1068

Previous spectropolarimetric work has shown that the type 2 Seyfert galaxy NGC 1068 contains a broad-line region hidden from our direct view and visible only in scattered, polarized light. New observations, including imaging polarimetry as well as spectropolarimetry, allow us to confirm and extend the earlier work. Off-nucleus regions of high polarization are identified as places in the body of the galaxy where dust reflects light from the hidden broad-line region. This allows for the first time the ability to obtain spectra of an active nucleus as it would appear from several different viewing directions.
What Good is Organizational Nostalgia in the Time of Pandemic? Unpacking a Pathway from COVID-Related Stress to Authenticity at Work

ABSTRACT We propose that COVID-related stress undermines felt authenticity, but also triggers nostalgia. In turn, nostalgia conduces to felt authenticity, thereby counteracting the deleterious impact of COVID-related stress. We tested this regulatory model of nostalgia in two studies. Study 1 was an online cross-sectional study during the pandemic, in which we assessed COVID-related stress, nostalgia, and authenticity. In Study 2, we followed a group of working adults in a daily diary study across five workdays. We assessed COVID-related stress each morning, organizational nostalgia at midday, and authenticity at the end of the workday. The results of both studies were consistent with the palliative role of nostalgia in support of the regulatory model.
Generalized jackknifing and higher order kernels

One way of improving the performance, at least in theory, of kernel estimators of curves such as probability densities, regression functions and spectral densities is to use “higher order” kernel functions. In this paper, we investigate how one might obtain higher order kernels from lower.order ones, and put forward a wide variety of existing and novel formulae under the unifying concept of generalized jackknifing (Schucany, Gray and Owen, 1971). We thus greatly expand on the approach of Schucany and Sommers (1977). Spinoffs include links with more “direct” bias correction methods, a simplified understanding of how the “optimal” polynomial kernels of, for example, Gasser, Muller and Mammitzsch (1985) relate to one another, connections with the Gaussian-based kernels of Wand and Schucany (1990), and many extensions of Terrell and Scott's (1980) method of enforcing nonnegativity in estimates based on higher order kernel ideas.
Crisis management, new constitutionalism, and depoliticisation: recasting the politics of austerity in the US and UK, 2010–16

ABSTRACT Political economy literature has sought to explain the rapid shift from fiscal stimulus to austerity after the 2008 crisis. Influential contributions highlight the relative explanatory value of ideational or structural factors in contributing to post-crisis austerity. Drawing on Stephen Gill’s (1998) analysis of new constitutionalism and Peter Burnham’s (2001) understanding of depoliticisation, I contend that these frameworks offer a more useful lens to understand how post-2010 austerity in the US and UK was shaped by an enduring consensus on macroeconomic policy governance consolidating during the 1990s. Examining the role of fiscal mechanisms such as PAYGO in the US and the ‘Fiscal Golden Rules’ in the UK, and the operational independence conferred to central banks, I illustrate how Third Way governments institutionalised budgetary reforms and distanced macroeconomic policymaking from popular political contestation. Despite temporary lapses with this logic of fiscal restraint, as well as the rollout of historic monetary policies after 2008, I argue that these practices became deeply embedded within state institutions. Focusing on PAYGO in the US and the OBR in the UK, I show how policymakers redeployed policies and practices from the 1990s amidst the 2008 crisis to externalise responsibility for implementing austerity measures.
THE EFFECT OF THE COMPUTER ASSISTED LEARNING IN CONTROLLED ENVIRONMENT ON SUSTAIN ATTENTION OF CHILDREN WITH ATTENTION DEFICIT / HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER

Attention deficit in attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder can cause significant educational and learning problem for children. The computer is a useful learning tool because provide the themes and concepts in an inviting, fun, flexible manner. The aim of this study was investigation of the effect of the in controlled environment on sustain attention of children with attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder. This clinical trial was conducted without control group. Sampling study was performed in 10 children with regard to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. After recording demographic information, continuous performance test used in pre-test and post-test. Children participated in 10 session computer assisted learning Intervention. In this study, 5 boys and 5 girls with an age range of 7-4 years participated. T-test results indicate the significance of the changes after the intervention (P <0/05). The results suggest that computer assisted learning may have a positive impact on improving children's attention, but despite the lack of information more research is needed in this area.