LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Cord blood banking for clinical transplantation

Cord blood (CB) stem and progenitor cells from related donors have been transplanted for past 20 years and from unrelated donors issued by public CB banks for 16 years. This brief look at public CB banking highlights aspects of its current status to suggest that accomplishing the currently required tasks, though no small undertaking, is not enough: much remains to be contributed. CB banking started in the 1930s, collecting blood for transfusion and showed that CB could be effectively collected, stored and administered intravenously without negative consequences. The realization that it contains hematopoietic ‘stem’ cells (actually, colony-forming units) followed discoveries elsewhere in hematopoiesis research, while HLA and unrelated BMT were being investigated. Progress in the exploration of ethnically stratified HLA allele frequencies, together with plausible neonatal (partial) immunological tolerance, seemed to predict initially frequent, unavoidable, but sufficiently tolerable HLA mismatching with CB grafts. Gluckman et al. and Boyse et al. proved that HLA-identical sibling CB grafts led to definitive engraftment. Technical developments in processing and freezing enabled public banks to accumulate large inventories and to supply grafts that could succeed despite major HLA incompatibility and low cell doses and provide hope for universal access to unrelated-donor transplantation. Public CB banking has thrived worldwide. Regulation and accreditation defined Good Tissue Practice in the CB banking environment and provided accepted do's, don't's and how to's. Startling advances continue to be made, not only technical, but including the description of molecular regulation in the function of natural killer and other cells involved in allogeneic recognition that will have dramatic effects and will permit further improvement in CB selection and use.
Phase I trial of recombinant platelet factor 4 (rPF4) in patients with advanced colorectal carcinoma

Background: Recombinant platelet factor 4 (rPF4) is a naturally occurring protein found in platelet alpha granules that can inhibit angiogenesis. Methods: In this Phase I trial, 9 patients with metastatic colorectal cancer who had failed 5-FU treatment received rPF4 at doses ranging from 0.3 to 3.0 mg/kg via 30-minute infusion. Three additional patients were treated with the 3 mg/kg dose over a 6-hour period of infusion. Results: The only toxicity encountered was mild leg twitching in 2/3 patients treated with the 6-hour infusion. One patient with a history of phlebitis developed a lower extremity deep venous thrombosis after the first dose of rPF4. A mild rise in fibrinogen level was noted in several patients. Of the 11 evaluable patients, there were no clinical responses to treatment. Conclusions: rPF4 is well tolerated at the doses and schedules tested. No clinical responses were observed. Prolonged infusion schedules should be investigated.
Recurrent Saliency Transformation Network: Incorporating Multi-stage Visual Cues for Small Organ Segmentation

We aim at segmenting small organs (e.g., the pancreas) from abdominal CT scans. As the target often occupies a relatively small region in the input image, deep neural networks can be easily confused by the complex and variable background. To alleviate this, researchers proposed a coarse-to-fine approach [46], which used prediction from the first (coarse) stage to indicate a smaller input region for the second (fine) stage. Despite its effectiveness, this algorithm dealt with two stages individually, which lacked optimizing a global energy function, and limited its ability to incorporate multi-stage visual cues. Missing contextual information led to unsatisfying convergence in iterations, and that the fine stage sometimes produced even lower segmentation accuracy than the coarse stage. This paper presents a Recurrent Saliency Transformation Network. The key innovation is a saliency transformation module, which repeatedly converts the segmentation probability map from the previous iteration as spatial weights and applies these weights to the current iteration. This brings us two-fold benefits. In training, it allows joint optimization over the deep networks dealing with different input scales. In testing, it propagates multi-stage visual information throughout iterations to improve segmentation accuracy. Experiments in the NIH pancreas segmentation dataset demonstrate the state-of-the-art accuracy, which outperforms the previous best by an average of over 2%. Much higher accuracies are also reported on several small organs in a larger dataset collected by ourselves. In addition, our approach enjoys better convergence properties, making it more efficient and reliable in practice.
Adaptivity and Optimism: An Improved Exponentiated Gradient Algorithm

Extension to matrix setting is important for certain combinatorial approximation algorithms (Tsuda et al. 2005; Arora & Kale, 2007). Now nature plays matrices Z1, . . . ,ZT , −I Zt I. Similarly, learner chooses matrices W1, . . . ,WT , Wt 0, tr(Wt) = 1. If Wt, Zt are diagonal, recover vector setting. If we replace ψ(w) = ∑n i=1 wi log(wi) with the von-Neumann entropy ψ(W ) = tr(W log(W )), then same ideas from before still work. Convex Losses and Unconstrained Optimization
Koba4MS: selling complex products and services using knowledge-based recommender technologies

The increasing complexity of products and services offered by online stores and electronic marketplaces makes the identification of appropriate solutions a challenging task. Customers can differ greatly in their expertise and level of knowledge w.r.t. such product assortments. Consequently, intelligent sales assistance systems are required which support customers with intuitive and personalized dialogs. Knowledge-based recommender systems meet these requirements by allowing a flexible mapping of product, marketing and sales knowledge to the formal representation of a knowledge base. This paper presents the domain-independent knowledge-based recommender system Koba4MS which assists customers and sales representatives by guaranteeing the consistency and appropriateness of proposed solutions, identifying additional selling opportunities and by providing intelligent explanations for identified results. Using examples from the financial services domain we show how constraint satisfaction, model-based diagnosis, personalization and intuitive knowledge acquisition techniques support the effective implementation of customer-oriented sales dialogs. Finally, we present experiences gained from commercial projects.
Promoting innovation and excellence to face the rapid diffusion of novel psychoactive substances in the EU: the outcomes of the ReDNet project.

OBJECTIVES
The recent emergence of new psychoactive compounds (novel psychoactive substances (NPS)) has raised prominent challenges in the fields of drug policy, substance use research, public health and service provision. The Recreational Drugs European Network project, funded by the European Commission, was implemented to improve the information stream to young people and professionals about effects/risks of NPS by identifying online products and disseminating relevant information through technological tools.


METHODS
Regular multilingual qualitative assessments of websites, drugs fora and other online resources were carried out using the Google search engine in eight languages from collaborating countries. These included the following: the UK, Norway, Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Italy and Spain. Products were tested and prevention messages were developed and disseminated via technological tools such as interactive websites, SMS alert, social networking (Facebook, Twitter), Multimedia (You Tube), Smartphone applications (iPhone) and virtual learning environments (Second Life).


RESULTS
The Recreational Drugs European Network project established itself as the first Europe-wide prevention programme designed for NPS based on the efficacy of novel information and communication technology-based forms of intervention. More than 650 NPS products and combinations were identified; relevant information was disseminated to target population and advice was given to both European Union/international agencies and national policy makers.


CONCLUSIONS
Web-monitoring activities are essential for mapping the diffusion of NPS and the use of technological tools can be successfully incorporated in specific prevention programmes. Furthermore, the involvement of multi-disciplinary international partnerships was and continues to be fundamental for responding to such a prominent challenge.
Characterization of Nano Crystalline Lubricating Coatings for Tribological and Nano-Mechanical Properties

This paper presents the techniques used to comprehensively characterize the effect of current density on tribological, mechanical and adhesion properties of nanocrystalline coatings.Copyright © 2009 by ASME
Keyword Spices: A New Method for Building Domain-Specific Web Search Engines

This paper presents a new method for building domain-specific web search engines. Previous methods eliminate irrelevant documents from the pages accessed using heuristics based on human knowledge about the domain in question. Accordingly, they are hard to build and can not be applied to other domains. The keyword spice method, in contrast, improves search performance by adding domain-specific keywords, called keyword spices, to the user’s input query; the modified query is then forwarded to a general-purpose search engine. Keyword spices can be effectively discovered automatically from web documents allowing us to build high quality domain-specific search engines in various domains without requiring the collection of heuristic knowledge. We describe a machine learning algorithm, which is a type of decision-tree learning algorithm, that can extract keyword spices. To demonstrate the value of the proposed approach, we conduct experiments in the domain of cooking. The results confirm the excellent performance of our method in terms of both precision and recall.
Practice management guidelines for management of hemothorax and occult pneumothorax.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Thoracic trauma is a notable cause of morbidity and mortality in American trauma centers, where 25% of traumatic deaths are related to injuries sustained within the thoracic cage.1 Chest injuries occur in 60% of polytrauma cases; therefore, a rough estimate of the occurrence of hemothorax related to trauma in the United States approaches 300,000 cases per year.2 The management of hemothorax and pneumothorax has been a complex problem since it was first described over 200 years ago. Although the majority of chest trauma can be managed nonoperatively, there are several questions surrounding the management of hemothorax and occult pneumothorax that are not as easily answered. The technologic advances have raised the question of what to do with incidentally found hemothorax and pneumothorax discovered during the trauma evaluation. Previously, we were limited by our ability to visualize quantities 500 mL of blood on chest radiograph. Now that smaller volumes of blood can be visualized via chest computed tomography (CT), the management of these findings presents interesting clinical questions. In addition to early identification of these processes, these patients often find themselves with late complications such as retained hemothorax and empyema. The approach to these complex problems continues to evolve. Finally, as minimally invasive surgery grows and finds new applications, there are reproducible benefits to the patients in pursuing these interventions as both a diagnostic and therapeutic interventions. Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) has a growing role in the management of trauma patients.
Experimental investigation of positional accuracy for UHF partial discharge location

UHF methods for locating partial discharges (PD) in power transformers are under development and are increasingly being applied in the field. Due to the complexity and variation of internal structures in power transformers, a useful starting point is to assess the accuracy of PD location in a simple environment. Therefore, tests have been carried out in a metal tank to assess the difference between calculated and actual positions of a PD source when the source is located at various positions within the tank. The tank was fitted with three UHF sensors. A contact discharge test cell was used to generate PD-type current pulses that excite UHF signals. Signals from each sensor were captured and their recorded differences in arrival time at the sensors were compared with expected time differences based on the known coordinates of the PD source and sensors. Two methods for estimating the onset point of the UHF signal at each sensor were evaluated, using experimental data as a basis for determining which technique might be most useful for locating PD.
Adding Liveness Properties to Coupled Finite-State Machines

Informal specifications of protocols are often imprecise and incomplete and are usually not sufficient to ensure the correctness of even very simple protocols. Consequently, formal specification methods, such as finite-state models, are increasingly being used. The selection/resolution (S/R) model is a finite-state model with a powerful communication mechanism that makes it easy to describe complex protocols as a collection of simple finite-state machines. A software environment, called SPANNER, has been developed to specify and analyze protocols specified with the S/R model. SPANNER provides the facility to compute the joint behavior of a number of finite-state machines and to check if the “product” machine has inaccessible states, states corresponding to deadlocks, and loops corresponding to livelocks. So far, however, SPANNER has had no facility to systematically deal with liveness conditions. For example, one might wish to specify that, although a communication channel is unreliable, a message will get through if it is sent infinitely often, and to check that the infinite behavior of the protocol viewed as an infinite sequence will always be in some ω-regular set (possibly specified in terms of a formula in temporal logic or as an ω-automata). In this paper we show that with very minor modifications to the implemented system it is possible to substantially extend the type of properties that can be specified and checked by SPANNER. This is done by extending the S/R model to include acceptance conditions found in automatons on infinite words, which permits the incorporation of arbitrary liveness conditions into the model. We show how these extensions can be easily incorporated into SPANNER (and into essentially any finite-state verification system) and how the resulting system is used to automatically verify the correctness of protocols.
Ping-pong trajectory perception and prediction by a PC based High speed four-camera vision system

A high speed vision system is vital for a robot player to play table tennis successfully. The three dimensional ping-pong trajectory should be perceived in high precision at a high frame rate. What's more, with the beginning parts of the trajectory, the following trajectory should be predicted to save enough time for successful planning and control.
Simulating competing risks data in survival analysis.

Competing risks analysis considers time-to-first-event ('survival time') and the event type ('cause'), possibly subject to right-censoring. The cause-, i.e. event-specific hazards, completely determine the competing risk process, but simulation studies often fall back on the much criticized latent failure time model. Cause-specific hazard-driven simulation appears to be the exception; if done, usually only constant hazards are considered, which will be unrealistic in many medical situations. We explain simulating competing risks data based on possibly time-dependent cause-specific hazards. The simulation design is as easy as any other, relies on identifiable quantities only and adds to our understanding of the competing risks process. In addition, it immediately generalizes to more complex multistate models. We apply the proposed simulation design to computing the least false parameter of a misspecified proportional subdistribution hazard model, which is a research question of independent interest in competing risks. The simulation specifications have been motivated by data on infectious complications in stem-cell transplanted patients, where results from cause-specific hazards analyses were difficult to interpret in terms of cumulative event probabilities. The simulation illustrates that results from a misspecified proportional subdistribution hazard analysis can be interpreted as a time-averaged effect on the cumulative event probability scale.
France-Brazil cooperative actions

This short paper presents the objectives of the meeting to be held during the XI Brazilian Symposium on Integrated Circuit Design (XI SBCCI) on France-Brazil cooperative actions in the field of microelectronics. Any interested researcher can attend the meeting.
Prospective, randomized comparison of gadopentetate and gadobutrol to assess chronic myocardial infarction applying cardiovascular magnetic resonance

BACKGROUND
We hypothesized that the contrast medium gadobutrol is not inferior compared to Gd-DTPA in identifying and quantifying ischemic late gadolinium enhancement (LGE), even by using a lower dose.


METHODS
We prospectively enrolled 30 patients with chronic myocardial infarction as visualized by LGE during clinical routine scan at 1.5 T with 0.20 mmol/kg Gd-DTPA. Participants were randomized to either 0.15 mmol/kg gadobutrol (group A) or 0.10 mmol/kg gadobutrol (group B). CMR protocol was identical in both exams. LGE was quantified using a semiautomatic approach. Signal intensities of scar, remote myocardium, blood and air were measured. Signal to noise (SNR) and contrast to noise ratios (CNR) were calculated.


RESULTS
Signal intensities were not different between Gd-DTPA and gadobutrol in group A, whereas significant differences were detected in group B. SNR of injured myocardium (53.5+/-21.4 vs. 30.1+/-10.4, p = 0.0001) and CNR between injured and remote myocardium (50.3+/-20.3 vs. 27.3+/-9.3, p < 0.0001) were lower in gadobutrol. Infarct size was lower in both gadobutrol groups compared to Gd-DTPA (group A: 16.8+/-10.2 g vs. 12.8+/-6.8 g, p = 0.03; group B: 18.6+/-12.0 g vs. 14.0+/-9.9 g, p = 0.0016).


CONCLUSIONS
Taking application of 0.2 mmol/kg Gd-DTPA as the reference, the delineation of infarct scar was similar with 0.15 mmol/kg gadobutrol, whereas the use 0.10 mmol/kg gadobutrol led to reduced tissue contrast.


TRIAL REGISTRATION
The study had been registered under EudraCT Number: 2010-020775-22. Registration date: 2010.08.10.
Transorbital endoscopic amygdalohippocampectomy: a feasibility investigation.

OBJECT
Resection of the hippocampus is the standard of care for medically intractable epilepsy in patients with mesial temporal sclerosis. Although temporal craniotomy in this setting is highly successful, the procedure carries certain immutable risks and may be associated with cognitive deficits related to cortical and white matter disruption. Alternative surgical approaches may reduce some of these risks by preserving the lateral temporal lobe. This study examined the feasibility of transorbital endoscopic amygdalohippocampectomy (TEA) as an alternative to open craniotomy in cadaveric specimens.


METHODS
TEA dissections were performed in 4 hemispheres from 2 injected cadaveric specimens fixed in alcohol. Quantitative predictions of the limits of exposure based on predissection imaging were compared with intradissection measurements. The extent of resection and angles of exposure during the dissection and on postdissection imaging were recorded. These measurements were validated with MRI studies from 10 epilepsy patients undergoing standard surgical evaluations.


RESULTS
The transorbital approach permitted direct access to the mesial temporal structures through the lateral orbital wall. Up to 97% of the hippocampal formation was resected with no brain retraction and minimal (mean 6.0 ± 1.4 mm) globe displacement. Lateral temporal lobe white matter tracts were preserved.


CONCLUSIONS
TEA permits hippocampectomy comparable to standard surgical approaches without disrupting the lateral temporal cortex or white matter. This novel approach is feasible in cadaveric specimens and warrants clinical investigation in carefully selected cases.
Load balancing algorithms in cloud computing: A survey of modern techniques

Cloud computing has become popular due to its attractive features. The load on the cloud is increasing tremendously with the development of new applications. Load balancing is an important part of cloud computing environment which ensures that all devices or processors perform same amount of work in equal amount of time. Different models and algorithms for load balancing in cloud computing has been developed with the aim to make cloud resources accessible to the end users with ease and convenience. In this paper, we aim to provide a structured and comprehensive overview of the research on load balancing algorithms in cloud computing. This paper surveys the state of the art load balancing tools and techniques over the period of 2004-2015. We group existing approaches aimed at providing load balancing in a fair manner. With this categorization we provide an easy and concise view of the underlying model adopted by each approach.
Advanced Compiler Optimizations for Supercomputers

Compilers for vector or multiprocessor computers must have certain optimization features to successfully generate parallel code.
Impact of Safety-Related Dose Reductions or Discontinuations on Sustained Virologic Response in HCV-Infected Patients: Results from the GUARD-C Cohort

BACKGROUND
Despite the introduction of direct-acting antiviral agents for chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, peginterferon alfa/ribavirin remains relevant in many resource-constrained settings. The non-randomized GUARD-C cohort investigated baseline predictors of safety-related dose reductions or discontinuations (sr-RD) and their impact on sustained virologic response (SVR) in patients receiving peginterferon alfa/ribavirin in routine practice.


METHODS
A total of 3181 HCV-mono-infected treatment-naive patients were assigned to 24 or 48 weeks of peginterferon alfa/ribavirin by their physician. Patients were categorized by time-to-first sr-RD (Week 4/12). Detailed analyses of the impact of sr-RD on SVR24 (HCV RNA <50 IU/mL) were conducted in 951 Caucasian, noncirrhotic genotype (G)1 patients assigned to peginterferon alfa-2a/ribavirin for 48 weeks. The probability of SVR24 was identified by a baseline scoring system (range: 0-9 points) on which scores of 5 to 9 and <5 represent high and low probability of SVR24, respectively.


RESULTS
SVR24 rates were 46.1% (754/1634), 77.1% (279/362), 68.0% (514/756), and 51.3% (203/396), respectively, in G1, 2, 3, and 4 patients. Overall, 16.9% and 21.8% patients experienced ≥1 sr-RD for peginterferon alfa and ribavirin, respectively. Among Caucasian noncirrhotic G1 patients: female sex, lower body mass index, pre-existing cardiovascular/pulmonary disease, and low hematological indices were prognostic factors of sr-RD; SVR24 was lower in patients with ≥1 vs. no sr-RD by Week 4 (37.9% vs. 54.4%; P = 0.0046) and Week 12 (41.7% vs. 55.3%; P = 0.0016); sr-RD by Week 4/12 significantly reduced SVR24 in patients with scores <5 but not ≥5.


CONCLUSIONS
In conclusion, sr-RD to peginterferon alfa-2a/ribavirin significantly impacts on SVR24 rates in treatment-naive G1 noncirrhotic Caucasian patients. Baseline characteristics can help select patients with a high probability of SVR24 and a low probability of sr-RD with peginterferon alfa-2a/ribavirin.