LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
A trial-based cost-effectiveness analysis of letrozole followed by tamoxifen versus tamoxifen followed by letrozole for postmenopausal advanced breast cancer.

BACKGROUND
Third-generation aromatase inhibitors are being considered as an alternative to tamoxifen as first-line therapy for advanced breast cancer. These newer therapies are more expensive, and will gain greater acceptance if they can demonstrate cost-effectiveness.


METHODS
Life table analyses are used to compare the costs and benefits [life years gained and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) gained] of treating postmenopausal women with advanced breast cancer with first-line letrozole (with the option of second-line tamoxifen) compared with first-line tamoxifen (with the option of second-line letrozole). Patient-level data from a large clinical trial describes the effectiveness of the therapy options, clinicians estimate resource usage and utility values are obtained from the literature.


RESULTS
The mean cost of providing first- and second-line hormonal therapy is pound 4765 if letrozole is the first-line therapy and pound 3418 if tamoxifen is provided first (a difference of pound 1347). However, patients receiving letrozole as first-line therapy gain an additional 0.228 life years, or 0.158 QALYs. The cost-effectiveness analysis found that first-line hormonal therapy with letrozole gains additional life years at a cost of pound 5917, whilst the cost per additional QALY gained is pound 8514.


CONCLUSION
The strategy of letrozole as first-line hormonal therapy not only provides an opportunity for extending and improving patient's quality of life, but also is highly cost-effective compared with other generally accepted medical treatments.
Two layer scheme for encoding of high dynamic range images

With advent of high dynamic range (HDR) imaging techniques, it has been possible to capture natural scenes in larger details. HDR images are tone-mapped to lower dynamic range (LDR) versions for displaying on paper or a screen. Details lost during tone-mapping are important for certain existing and future applications, and need to be preserved. However, the size of HDR images is very large and that gives rise to need of effective encoding techniques. In this paper, we present an encoding scheme for HDR images, which significantly reduces their storage requirements, with a negligible loss of information. We model an HDR image as a piecewise linear function of its tone-mapped version. The tone-mapped image and the error in modeling are stored as LDR images, and these two along with the created model, approximate the HDR image. Comparison with the existing state of the art technique is given to show the effectiveness of our proposed scheme.
Analysis , Design , and Control of an Omnidirectional Mobile Robot in Rough Terrain

An omnidirectional mobile robot is able, kinematically, to move in any direction regardless of current pose. To date, nearly all designs and analyses of omnidirectional mobile robots have considered the case of motion on flat, smooth terrain. In this paper, an investigation of the design and control of an omnidirectional mobile robot for use in rough terrain is presented. Kinematic and geometric properties of the active split offset caster drive mechanism are investigated along with system and subsystem design guidelines. An optimization method is implemented to explore the design space. The use of this method results in a robot that has higher mobility than a robot designed using engineering judgment. A simple kinematic controller that considers the effects of terrain unevenness via an estimate of the wheel-terrain contact angles is also presented. It is shown in simulation that under the proposed control method, near-omnidirectional tracking performance is possible even in rough, uneven terrain. DOI: 10.1115/1.4000214
Much ado about grit: A meta-analytic synthesis of the grit literature.

Grit has been presented as a higher order personality trait that is highly predictive of both success and performance and distinct from other traits such as conscientiousness. This paper provides a meta-analytic review of the grit literature with a particular focus on the structure of grit and the relation between grit and performance, retention, conscientiousness, cognitive ability, and demographic variables. Our results based on 584 effect sizes from 88 independent samples representing 66,807 individuals indicate that the higher order structure of grit is not confirmed, that grit is only moderately correlated with performance and retention, and that grit is very strongly correlated with conscientiousness. We also find that the perseverance of effort facet has significantly stronger criterion validities than the consistency of interest facet and that perseverance of effort explains variance in academic performance even after controlling for conscientiousness. In aggregate our results suggest that interventions designed to enhance grit may only have weak effects on performance and success, that the construct validity of grit is in question, and that the primary utility of the grit construct may lie in the perseverance facet. (PsycINFO Database Record
Heart failure: tools for nursing and medical treatment.

BACKGROUND
To validate a structured interview designed to evaluate the healthcare and information needs of patients with heart failure (HF), who were also characterized by means of the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ) and the 36-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36).


METHODS
Forty-five in- and outpatients with HF were administered a structured interview concerning their information and healthcare needs (together with the KCCQ and SF-36) with the aim of investigating the effects of healthcare models on their quality of life (QoL). Twenty-one patients were also involved in a one-week test-retest validity study carried out in order to verify reproducibility and stability by means of concordance and K statistics.


RESULTS
The reproducibility of the structured interview was good or very good for all items, with a mean Kw of 0.59; the clarity and acceptability of most of the questions were good. Positive judgements of hospital care inversely related to the patients' New York Heart Association class. The subjects about which the patients sought greater information were diet, sleep, therapies and physical exercise, with cardiologists and general practitioners (GPs) being more involved than nurses. The most frequently discussed subject was diagnostic examinations. The questionnaire scores of our patients were generally lower than those reported in the literature, possibly because of their advanced age. However, it is difficult to believe that the quality of care was extraneous to their generally worse health-related QoL.


CONCLUSIONS
Our HF patients experienced a 'basic' healthcare model (hospitals, GPs, cardiologists) and judged them acceptable. Their ability to think critically about care was increasingly compromised as HF progressed and their health-related QoL decreased.
Evaluation of annual wild Cicer species for drought and heat resistance under field conditions

About 90% of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) in the world is grown under rainfed conditions where it is subjected to drought and heat stress. Unlike the cultivated chickpea, annual wild Cicer species possess sources of resistance to multiple stress; annual wild Cicer species were therefore evaluated for resistance to drought and heat stress. Eight annual wild Cicer species (Cicer bijugum, C. chorassanicum, C. cuneatum, C. echinospermum, C. judaicum, C. pinnatifidum, C. reticulatum, and C. yamashitae) were compared with special checks, the cvs ICC 4958 and FLIP 87-59C (drought resistant) and ICCV 96029 (very early double-podded). ILC 3279 and 8617 as drought susceptible checks were sown after every 10 test lines. Yield losses due to drought and heat stress in some accessions and susceptible checks (ILC 3279 and ILC 8617) reached 100%. Accessions were evaluated for drought and heat resistance on a 1 (free from drought and heat damage)−9 (100% plant killed from drought and heat) visual scale. Four accessions of C. reticulatum and one accession of C. pinnatifidum were found to be as resistant to drought and heat stress (up to 41.8°C) as the best checks. C. reticulatum should be taken account in short term breeding programs since it can be crossed with the cultivated chickpea.
The Florence Nightingale-Mary Stanley controversy: some unpublished letters.

IN HER brief portrait of Mrs. Catherine Gladstone in 1956, Mrs. Georgina Battiscombe wrote that Mrs. Gladstone's efforts 'to be of some use in the [Crimean] war troubles' brought her into 'a most unfortunate collision' with Florence Nightingale when, under the influence of Mrs. Elizabeth Herbert, Mrs. Gladstone 'threw herself heart and soul ... into the good work of providing nurses for the military hospitals in Turkey . . .'. These efforts, declared Mrs. Battiscombe, 'took the form least likely to commend itself to Miss Nightingale...' because, like Mrs. Herbert, Mrs. Gladstone fell for 'the schemes of Mary Stanley' to lead a second party of nurses to the theatre of war. Mrs. Gladstone assisted Mrs. Herbert and Lady Canning in selecting, outfitting, and dispatching Miss Stanley's group to Constantinople and was soon involved in the quarrels and recriminations which followed the descent of the Stanley party on Turkey, and Florence Nightingale's bitter resentment of this intrusion in her preserve.' Mary Stanley, the third child of Edward Stanley, Bishop of Norwich, and sister of Arthur P. Stanley (1815-81), Dean of Westminster, was a close friend of Florence Nightingale and the Secretary of State for War, Sidney Herbert, and his wife, Elizabeth, since the 1840s.2 An ardent Puseyite, who was converted to the Roman Church during her service in Turkey in 1855,3 Mary Stanley shared Florence Nightingale's interest in nursing, but, unlike Florence Nightingale, was an ardent advocate of the Kaiserswerth plan with its emphasis on the instruction of nurses 'in the art of administering religious comfort to patients. . .'.4 She was eight years older than Florence Nightingale, but 'a strange, emotional creature' and an odd blend of religious fervor and jealousy . . .'.5 Intensely devoted to Florence Nightingale, Mary Stanley had assisted her in recruiting the first group of nurses to go to Constantinople. She was stirred by the success of the Nightingale experiment and encouraged by Cardinal Manning to lead a second party of predominately Catholic nurses to minister to the needs of Crimean War casualties.6 Thus, on learning that Mary Stanley was going to Constantinople, a relative of Mary Stanley wrote: 'So Mary has reached the height of her ambition ... Such nonsense ... to say she did not wish to go.'7 Persuaded by his wife, Sidney Herbert authorized (without the approval of Florence Nightingale) the dispatch on 2 December 1855, of Mary Stanley and a mixed lot of forty-six women (fifteen nuns, nine ladies, and twenty-two nurses).8 When Florence Nightingale learned on 14 December of the impending arrival of the Stanley party, she immediately wrote a vehement remonstrance to Sidney Herbert pointing out that the dispatch of the Stanley group contravened their agreement that *Regent's Professor of History, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A.
Do liberalization and globalization increase income inequality

Using the Standardized World Income Inequality Database, we examine if the KOF Index of Globalization and the Economic Freedom Index of the Fraser institute are related to within-country income inequality using panel data covering around 80 countries 1970-2005. Freedom to trade internationally is robustly related to inequality, also when adding several control variables and controlling for potential endogeneity using GMM. Social globalization and deregulation is also linked to inequality. Reforms towards economic freedom seem to increase inequality mainly in rich countries, and social globalization is more important in less developed countries. Monetary reforms, legal reforms and political globalization do not increase inequality.
Development of emotion acceptance behavior therapy for anorexia nervosa: a case series.

This case series describes the development of a novel psychotherapeutic intervention for older adolescents and adults with anorexia nervosa (AN). Emotion acceptance behavior therapy (EABT) is based on a model that emphasizes the role of anorexic symptoms in facilitating avoidance of emotions. EABT combines standard behavioral interventions that are central to the clinical management of AN with psychotherapeutic techniques designed to increase emotion awareness, decrease emotion avoidance, and encourage resumption of valued activities and relationships outside the eating disorder. Five patients with AN aged 17-43 years were offered a 24-session manualized version of EABT. Four patients completed at least 90% of the therapy sessions, and three showed modest weight gains without return to intensive treatment. Improvements in depressive and anxiety symptoms, emotion avoidance, and quality of life also were observed. These results offer preliminary support for the potential utility of EABT in the treatment of older adolescents and adults with AN.
HTLV-1 bZIP Factor Induces Inflammation through Labile Foxp3 Expression

Human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) causes both a neoplastic disease and inflammatory diseases, including HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP). The HTLV-1 basic leucine zipper factor (HBZ) gene is encoded in the minus strand of the proviral DNA and is constitutively expressed in infected cells and ATL cells. HBZ increases the number of regulatory T (Treg) cells by inducing the Foxp3 gene transcription. Recent studies have revealed that some CD4⁺Foxp3⁺ T cells are not terminally differentiated but have a plasticity to convert to other T-cell subsets. Induced Treg (iTreg) cells tend to lose Foxp3 expression, and may acquire an effector phenotype accompanied by the production of inflammatory cytokines, such as interferon-γ (IFN-γ). In this study, we analyzed a pathogenic mechanism of chronic inflammation related with HTLV-1 infection via focusing on HBZ and Foxp3. Infiltration of lymphocytes was observed in the skin, lung and intestine of HBZ-Tg mice. As mechanisms, adhesion and migration of HBZ-expressing CD4⁺ T cells were enhanced in these mice. Foxp3⁻CD4⁺ T cells produced higher amounts of IFN-γ compared to those from non-Tg mice. Expression of Helios was reduced in Treg cells from HBZ-Tg mice and HAM/TSP patients, indicating that iTreg cells are predominant. Consistent with this finding, the conserved non-coding sequence 2 region of the Foxp3 gene was hypermethylated in Treg cells of HBZ-Tg mice, which is a characteristic of iTreg cells. Furthermore, Treg cells in the spleen of HBZ-transgenic mice tended to lose Foxp3 expression and produced an excessive amount of IFN-γ, while Foxp3 expression was stable in natural Treg cells of the thymus. HBZ enhances the generation of iTreg cells, which likely convert to Foxp3⁻T cells producing IFN-γ. The HBZ-mediated proinflammatory phenotype of CD4⁺ T cells is implicated in the pathogenesis of HTLV-1-associated inflammation.
Sexual dysfunction during treatment with serotonergic and noradrenergic antidepressants: Clinical description and the role of the 5-HTTLPR

OBJECTIVES
Sexual dysfunction (SD) is a frequently reported side-effect of antidepressant treatment, particularly of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). In the multicentre clinical and pharmacogenetic GENDEP study (Genome-based Therapeutic Drugs for Depression), the effect of the serotonin transporter gene promoter polymorphism 5-HTTLPR on sexual function was investigated during treatment with escitalopram (SSRI) and nortriptyline (tricyclic antidepressant).


METHODS
A total of 494 subjects with an episode of DSM-IV major depression were randomly assigned to treatment with escitalopram or nortriptyline. Over 12 weeks, depressive symptoms and SD were measured weekly with the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale, the Antidepressant Side-Effect Checklist, the UKU Side Effect Rating Scale, and the Sexual Functioning Questionnaire.


RESULTS
The incidence of reported SD after 12 weeks of treatment was relatively low, and did not differ significantly between antidepressants (14.9% escitalopram, 19.7% nortriptyline). There was no significant interaction between the 5-HTTLPR and antidepressant on SD. Improvement in depressive symptoms and younger age were both associated with lower SD. The effect of age on SD may have been moderated by the 5-HTTLPR.


CONCLUSIONS
In GENDEP, rates of reported SD during treatment were lower than those described in previous reports. There was no apparent effect of the 5-HTTLPR on the observed decline in SD.
Facebook use and adolescents ’ emotional states of depression , anxiety , and stress

Background: Facebook (FB) is becoming an increasingly salient feature in peoples’ lives and has grown into a bastion in our current society with over 1 billion users worldwide –the majority of which are college students. However, recent studies conducted suggest that the use of Facebook may impacts individuals’ well being. Thus, this paper aimed to explore the effects of Facebook usage on adolescents’ emotional states of depression, anxiety, and stress. Method and Material: A cross sectional design was utilized in this investigation. The study population included 76 students enrolled in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program from a government university in Samar, Philippines. Facebook Intensity Scale (FIS) and the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS) were the primary instruments used in this study. Results: Findings indicated correlation coefficients of 0.11 (p=0.336), 0.07 (p=0.536), and 0.10 (p=0.377) between Facebook Intensity Scale (FIS) and Depression, Anxiety, and Stress scales in the DASS. Time spent on FBcorrelated significantly with depression (r=0.233, p=0.041) and anxiety (r=0.259, p=0.023). Similarly, the three emotional states (depression, anxiety, and stress) correlated significantly. Conclusions: Intensity of Facebook use is not directly related to negative emotional states. However, time spent on Facebooking increases depression and anxiety scores. Implications of the findings to the fields of counseling and psychology are discussed.
Nuchal fold thickness, nasal bone absence or hypoplasia, ductus venosus reversed flow and tricuspid valve regurgitation in screening for trisomies 21, 18 and 13 in the early second trimester.

OBJECTIVE
To investigate the performance of nuchal fold thickness, nasal bone hypoplasia, reversed flow in the ductus venosus and tricuspid valve regurgitation in the prediction of fetal aneuploidies in the early second trimester.


METHODS
This was a prospective study of 870 fetuses at 14 + 0 to 17 + 6 weeks of gestation, performed from 2005 to 2007. In all cases we assessed classical structural anomalies, second-trimester markers of aneuploidy including nuchal fold thickness and nasal bone length, as well as ductus venosus blood flow pattern and tricuspid valve regurgitation.


RESULTS
The study group included 37 fetuses with trisomy 21, eight with trisomy 18 and four with trisomy 13. Nasal bone hypoplasia was the single most sensitive parameter to identify fetuses with trisomy 21. Independent from maternal age, screening by assessment of nuchal fold and nasal bone identified 64.9% of cases with trisomy 21 and 66.7% of cases with trisomy 18/13 (false-positive rate (FPR), 5.8%). By including ductus venosus and tricuspid flow evaluation, the detection rate increased to 75.7% for trisomy 21 and 83.3% for trisomy 18/13 (FPR, 10.8%). Identification of fetuses with structural abnormalities combined with assessment of all four markers under investigation raised the detection rate of trisomy 21 to 83.9% and that of trisomy 18/13 to 100%. The sensitivity of classical second-trimester markers was 62.2% for trisomy 21 and 70.6% for other autosomal aneuploidies (FPR, 11.3%).


CONCLUSION
The combination of assessment of nuchal fold thickness, nasal bone hypoplasia, ductus venosus reversed flow and tricuspid regurgitation in the early second trimester is associated with a higher detection rate of autosomal trisomies compared with classical second-trimester marker screening.
Performance of the “if in doubt, cut it out” rule for the management of nodular melanoma

BACKGROUND
The recognition of nodular melanoma is clinically challenging, and the diagnostic accuracy of dermoscopy and confocal microscopy is lower than for superficial spreading melanoma.


OBJECTIVES
To test a management strategy consisting in the excision of any nodular lesion that cannot be confidently and precisely classified as a benign tumor after clinical and dermoscopic examination.


METHODS
Clinical and dermoscopic images of excised nodular lesions were retrospectively collected and evaluated. The evaluators were asked to record the level of diagnostic confidence for each lesion, by declaring if they were confident or doubtful about the given diagnosis. The NNE (number needed to excise) value was used to evaluate the efficacy of the proposed method.


RESULTS
A total of 1,319 excised nodular lesions formed the study set. The NNE for any malignancy was 3.9 (634/164), while the NNE for melanoma was 13.2 (634/48). NNE for hypo and amelanotic melanoma was 27.3 (327/12).


CONCLUSIONS
Excising doubtful nodular lesions seems to be an effective management strategy not to miss nodular melanoma, resulting in an acceptable rate of unnecessary excision of benign lesions.
Comparison of clinical and radiological features of pneumocystis pneumonia between malignancy cases and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome cases: a multicenter study.

BACKGROUND
The clinical features of pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) differ according to the predisposing factors responsible for immunosuppression. Although PCP in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) has been extensively described, its characteristics in non-AIDS patients, such as those with malignancies, are not thoroughly documented.


STUDY OBJECTIVE
To characterize and compare the clinical and imaging features of PCP in patients with malignancies with those in AIDS patients.


DESIGN
A multi-center retrospective study.


PATIENTS AND MEASUREMENTS
We evaluated the clinical and radiological features of PCP in 21 patients with malignancies and in 17 with AIDS. Clinical presentation, serum markers, oxygenation, CT findings, and outcome were examined.


RESULTS
The patients with malignancies showed shorter durations of symptoms before PCP was diagnosed. The levels of serum markers and the oxygenation index did not differ. CT showed diffuse or widespread ground-glass opacity (GGO) in all of the patients evaluated. None of the AIDS patients demonstrated consolidation, whereas half of the patients with malignancy showed consolidation along with GGO. The extent of GGO scored on CT images was significantly greater in the AIDS patients. No correlation was observed between the CT findings and other clinical parameters. All of the AIDS patients recovered from PCP, whereas six patients with malignancies died within a month after the onset of PCP.


CONCLUSION
The characteristics of the CT images differed between the patient groups with different underlying disorders, although it remains to be determined whether CT findings are associated with other clinical features or are predictive of the outcome of PCP.