LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Impotence: A patient's goal-directed approach to treatment

The past decade has seen a better understanding of the physiology of erection and the pathophysiology of impotence as a result of considerable innovative research. These advances also introduce a new era in the diagnosis and treatment of impotence. Many functional tests and effective medical and surgical treatments are now available. With the sudden explosion of these many tests and therapies, clinicians are often confronted by questions such as: What constitues an adequate workup? What is the treatment of choice of arteriogenic impotence? Is nocturnal penile tumescence testing necessary? Is penile arteriography necessary? Over the past several years, the author has been using a patient's goal-directed approach to the diagnosis and treatment of impotence. This approach is based on (1) the most recent advances of diagnostic technique and therapy of impotence and (2) the patient's physical and mental health, motivation, and goal. This article briefly summarizes this practical patient's goal-directed management of impotence.
A Hierarchical Horizon Detection Algorithm

A hierarchical elastic computer-aided detection algorithm is proposed to automatically detect the horizon in an aerial image. A hierarchical strategy, including coarse-level detection and fine-level adjustment, is applied. First, the original image is blurred by a large-scale low-pass filter. Then, a Canny edge detector and Hough transform are successively utilized to find major edges in the image and identify lines associated with those major edges. The desired horizon is modeled by the resulting line that best satisfies certain criteria. By doing so, the general position of the horizon can be quickly detected at the coarse-level step. Since the horizon is often not a straight line, an elastic fine-level adjustment is applied to capture the precise curvature of the horizon. A quantitative performance metric is designed, and preliminary experimental results show the feasibility and reliability of the proposed algorithm.
Work-time-optimal parallel algorithms for string problems

A parallel algorithm is work-optimal if it uses the srrlallest possible work; a work-optimal algorithm is worktirne-optimal if it also uses the smallest possible time. We design worl{-time-optirnal algorithm for a number of string processing problems on the EREW-PRAM and the hypercuhe, They include string matching and two dimensional pattern matching. No such algorithms have been known before for any of these probl~ms.
Preparation of hair for measurement of elements by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS)

The preparation of hair for the determination of elements is a critical component of the analysis procedure. Open-beaker, closedvessel microwave, and flowthrough microwave digestion are methods that have been used for sample preparation and are discussed. A new digestion method for use with inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) has been developed. The method uses 0.2 g of hair and 3 mL of concentrated nitric acid in an atmospheric pressurelow-temperature microwave digestion (APLTMD) system. This preparation method is useful in handling a large numbers of samples per day and may be adapted to hair sample weights ranging from 0.08 to 0.3 g. After digestion, samples are analyzed by ICP-MS to determine the concentration of Li, Be, B, Na, Mg, Al, P, S, K, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ge, As, Se, Rb, Sr, Zr, Mo, Pd, Ag, Cd, Sn, Sb, I, Cs, Ba, Pt, Au, Hg, Tl, Pb, Bi, Th, and U. Benefits of the APLTMD include reduced contamination and sample handling, and increased precision, reliability, and sample throughput.
Light and turgor affect the water permeability (aquaporins) of parenchyma cells in the midrib of leaves of Zea mays.

In response to light, water relation parameters (turgor, half-time of water exchange, T(1/2), and hydraulic conductivity, Lp; T(1/2) proportional 1/Lp) of individual cells of parenchyma sitting in the midrib of leaves of intact corn (Zea mays L.) plants were investigated using a cell pressure probe. Parenchyma cells were used as model cells for the leaf mesophyll, because they are close to photosynthetically active cells at the abaxial surface, and there are stomata at both the adaxial and abaxial sides. Turgor ranged from 0.2 to 1.0 MPa under laboratory light condition (40 micromol m(-2) s(-1) at the tissue level), and individual cells could be measured for up to 6 h avoiding the variability between cells. In accordance with earlier findings, there was a big variability in T(1/2)s measured ranging from 0.5 s to 100 s, but the action of light on T(1/2)s could nevertheless be worked out for cells having T(1/2)s greater than 2 s. Increasing light intensity ranging from 100 micromol m(-2) s(-1) to 650 micromol m(-2) s(-1) decreased T(1/2) by a factor up to five within 10 min and increased Lp (and aquaporin activity) by the same factor. In the presence of light, turgor decreased due to an increase in transpiration, and this tended to compensate or even overcompensated for the effect of light on T(1/2). For example, during prolonged illumination, cell turgor dropped from 0.2 to 1.0 MPa to -0.03 to 0.4 MPa, and this drop caused an increase of T(1/2) and a reduction of cell Lp, i.e. there was an effect of turgor on cell Lp besides that of light. To separate the two effects, cell turgor (water potential) was kept constant while changing light intensity by applying gas pressure to the roots using a pressure chamber. At a light intensity of 160 micromol m(-2) s(-1), there was a reduction of T(1/2) by a factor of 2.5 after 10-30 min, when turgor was constant within +/-0.05 MPa. Overall, the effects of light on T(1/2) (Lp) were overriding those of turgor only when decreases in turgor were less than about 0.2 MPa. Otherwise, turgor became the dominant factor. The results indicate that the hydraulic conductivity increased with increasing light intensity tending to improve the water status of the shoot. However, when transpiration induced by light tends to cause a low turgidity of the tissue, cell Lp was reduced. It is concluded that, when measuring the overall hydraulic conductivity of leaves, both the effects of light and turgor should be considered. Although the mechanism(s) of how light and turgor influence the cell Lp is still missing, it most likely involves the gating of aquaporins by both parameters.
Sodium arsenite and arsenic trioxide differently affect the oxidative stress, genotoxicity and apoptosis in A549 cells: an implication for the paradoxical mechanism.

Although arsenic toxicity greatly depends on its chemical forms, few studies have taken into account the paradoxical phenomenon which is manifested by that sodium arsenite (NaAsO₂) acts as a potent carcinogen but arsenic trioxide (As₂O₃) serves as an effective therapeutic agent. In this study, we compared the in vitro effects of NaAsO₂ and As₂O₃ on cell viability, colony formation, cell cycle progression, apoptosis, genotoxicity and oxidative stress in human lung adenocarcinoma A549 cells. Our results demonstrated that both NaAsO₂ and As₂O₃ caused oxidative stress, genotoxicity, cytotoxicity, cell cycle arrest as well as apoptosis, while As₂O₃ induced higher production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) with a more remarkable decrease in superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities and intracellular levels of glutathione (GSH) than NaAsO₂. Moreover, the degree of DNA damage, chromosomal breakage, cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in As₂O₃-treated cells were more severe than those in NaAsO₂-treated cells. These findings suggest that differential effects and mechanisms of NaAsO₂ and As₂O₃ may responsible for the paradoxical effects of arsenic on the carcinogenesis and anticancer function.
Media Ownership, Concentration and Corruption in Bank Lending

Building on the pioneering study by Beck, Demirguc-Kunt and Levine (2006), we examine the effects of media ownership and concentration on corruption in bank lending. Using the unique World Bank dataset covering more than 5,000 firms across 59 countries, we find strong evidence that that state ownership of media is associated with higher levels of bank corruption. We also find that media concentration increases corruption both directly and indirectly through its interaction with media state ownership. In addition, we find that media state ownership and media concentration both accentuate the positive link between official supervisory power and lending corruption and attenuate the negative link between the regulations that empower private monitoring and corruption in lending. Furthermore, the links between media structure and corruption are more pronounced when the borrowing firm is privately owned.
Speaker Verification Using Adapted Gaussian Mixture Models

In this paper we describe the major elements of MIT Lincoln Laboratory’s Gaussian mixture model (GMM)-based speaker verification system used successfully in several NIST Speaker Recognition Evaluations (SREs). The system is built around the likelihood ratio test for verification, using simple but effective GMMs for likelihood functions, a universal background model (UBM) for alternative speaker representation, and a form of Bayesian adaptation to derive speaker models from the UBM. The development and use of a handset detector and score normalization to greatly improve verification performance is also described and discussed. Finally, representative performance benchmarks and system behavior experiments on NIST SRE corpora are presented.  2000 Academic Press
Late-onset spinal deformities in children treated by laminectomy and radiation therapy for malignant tumours

This is a retrospective study of 76 children who had had malignant tumours treated with laminectomy or laminoplasty and/or radiation therapy affecting the spine. Spinal tumours in children are extremely rare. However, their treatment can result in progressive spinal deformity. Radiation therapy affecting the growing spine can lead to asymmetric vertebral growth, causing kyphosis and/or scoliosis. These spinal deformities pose one of the most challenging problems for the spine surgeon. The aim of this article is to describe late-onset post-laminectomy/post-radiation spinal deformities and to evaluate the results of their treatment. Seventy-six children, with a mean age of 4 years and 7 months (range, 2 months to 16 years), underwent surgical removal of malignant tumours, between 1961 and 1995. Sixty-seven of them developed post-laminectomy/post-radiation spinal deformity. Conservative treatment consisted of bracing and corrective plaster casts. In 46 cases the deformity was treated surgically. A distraction plaster cast was used as preoperative preparation in the more severe and rigid curves, with or without neurological impairment. Surgery consisted of combined anterior and posterior fusion in 39 cases and posterior fusion in seven cases. Posterior instrumentation was used in 38 cases. The mean follow-up period was 6 years and 7 months (range, 9 months to 20 years and 2 months). Nine children did not develop deformity following the primary tumour treatment. One of them underwent laminectomy with posterolateral fusion and eight had laminoplasty combined with external immobilisation. Forty-six children developed iatrogenic kyphosis and underwent surgical correction from a mean of 75° pre-correction to a mean of 32°. The mean scoliotic angle correction was 66° preoperatively to 34° postoperatively. At follow-up, the mean correction loss was 7° in the sagittal plane and 5° in the coronal plane. Preoperative distraction plaster cast treatment resulted in a correction of 39% in kyphosis and of 58% in scoliosis, and in a partial or complete recovery of neurological deficits in all but one patient. In severe and rigid curves that develop following treatment of paediatric spinal tumours, preoperative application of a distraction plaster cast can reduce deformity and facilitate surgical correction. Furthermore, in the case of pure bony compression of the spinal cord due to the apical vertebra of the deformity, treatment with the distraction plaster can result in recovery from the neurological impairment. The prevention of post-laminectomy/post-radiation spine deformities is emphasised. Rigid external immobilisation for a period of 4 months in the cervical spine and of 6 months in the thoracic spine is recommended after both laminoplasty and laminectomy with posterolateral fusion.
Dynamics of nonlinear porous media with applications to soil liquefaction

This paper provides a description of the extension of Biot’s theory for dynamic behavior of saturated porous media into the nonlinear regime that was introduced by the second author in 1980. It also provides a finite element implementation of this extension and two numerical applications involving the seismic behavior of saturated soil deposits. In the first numerical application, the dynamic interaction between liquefying soil and a structure sitting on the ground surface is examined, with emphasis on the interplay between the seismic loading rate and the (evolving) characteristic frequency of the soil–structure system. The attenuation of seismic energy as the seismic waves pass through softened soil is also discussed. The second numerical application involves the seismically induced liquefaction of stochastically spatially variable soils. It is explained why more pore-water pressure is generated in a heterogeneous soil than in a corresponding uniform soil. Comparisons are also provided with experimental centrifuge data. r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Internal Model Control of a Multilink Flexible Manipulator

This paper investigates the use on the internal model control technique in the mitigation of link vibration on a flexible manipulator with load disturbances. Flexible manipulators have gained popularity in the engineering field which require precision at high speed of operation. However, they suffer from link vibrations especially when operated at high speed or when subjected to external disturbances. This limits their application to those where the speed of operation and/or accuracy is not a factor. Researchers have attempted to address this issue using methods such as fixed digital filters, adaptive filters etc. Internal model control technique employs an element of the plant to control it. From the simulation results, we found that IMC is a robust method for the mitigation of link vibration. Keywords-internal model control; flexible manipulator; robust control.
A New Bar Matrix Alphanumeric CRT Display for Arabic

In this paper importance of CRT display for bar matrix alphanumeric Arabic characters has been underlined. Three possible layouts each using 10 segments (alongwith four dots) for Arabic alphanumeric characters are presented. The details of implementation alongwith waveforms for grid control as well as X-and Y-deflection signals have also been given.
Global State Evaluation in StarCraft

State evaluation and opponent modelling are important areas to consider when designing game-playing Artificial Intelligence. This paper presents a model for predicting which player will win in the real-time strategy game StarCraft. Model weights are learned from replays using logistic regression. We also present some metrics for estimating player skill which can be used a features in the predictive model, including using a battle simulation as a baseline to compare player performance against.
Pre-discharge stress echocardiography and exercise ECG for risk stratification after uncomplicated acute myocardial infarction: results of the COSTAMI-II (cost of strategies after myocardial infarction) trial.

OBJECTIVE
To compare in a prospective, randomised, multicentre trial the relative merits of pre-discharge exercise ECG and early pharmacological stress echocardiography concerning risk stratification and costs of treating patients with uncomplicated acute myocardial infarction.


DESIGN
262 patients from six participating centres with a recent uncomplicated myocardial infarction were randomly assigned to early (day 3-5) pharmacological stress echocardiography (n = 132) or conventional pre-discharge (day 7-9) maximum symptom limited exercise ECG (n = 130).


RESULTS
No complication occurred during either stress echocardiography or exercise ECG. At one year follow up there were 26 events (1 death, 5 non-fatal reinfarctions, 20 patients with unstable angina requiring hospitalisation) in patients randomly assigned to early stress echocardiography and 18 events (2 reinfarctions, 16 unstable angina requiring hospitalisation) in the group randomly assigned to exercise ECG (not significant). The negative predictive value was 92% for stress echocardiography and 88% for exercise ECG (not significant). Total costs of the two strategies were similar (not significant).


CONCLUSION
Early pharmacological stress echocardiography and conventional pre-discharge symptom limited exercise ECG have similar clinical outcome and costs after uncomplicated infarction. Early pharmacological stress echocardiography should be considered a valid alternative even for patients with interpretable baseline ECG who can exercise.
Modifying effect of dual antiplatelet therapy on incidence of stent thrombosis according to implanted drug-eluting stent type.

AIM
To investigate the putative modifying effect of dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) use on the incidence of stent thrombosis at 3 years in patients randomized to Endeavor zotarolimus-eluting stent (E-ZES) or Cypher sirolimus-eluting stent (C-SES).


METHODS AND RESULTS
Of 8709 patients in PROTECT, 4357 were randomized to E-ZES and 4352 to C-SES. Aspirin was to be given indefinitely, and clopidogrel/ticlopidine for ≥ 3 months or up to 12 months after implantation. Main outcome measures were definite or probable stent thrombosis at 3 years. Multivariable Cox regression analysis was applied, with stent type, DAPT, and their interaction as the main outcome determinants. Dual antiplatelet therapy adherence remained the same in the E-ZES and C-SES groups (79.6% at 1 year, 32.8% at 2 years, and 21.6% at 3 years). We observed a statistically significant (P = 0.0052) heterogeneity in treatment effect of stent type in relation to DAPT. In the absence of DAPT, stent thrombosis was lower with E-ZES vs. C-SES (adjusted hazard ratio 0.38, 95% confidence interval 0.19, 0.75; P = 0.0056). In the presence of DAPT, no difference was found (1.18; 0.79, 1.77; P = 0.43).


CONCLUSION
A strong interaction was observed between drug-eluting stent type and DAPT use, most likely prompted by the vascular healing response induced by the implanted DES system. These results suggest that the incidence of stent thrombosis in DES trials should not be evaluated independently of DAPT use, and the optimal duration of DAPT will likely depend upon stent type (Clinicaltrials.gov number NCT00476957).
Intra-Industry Foreign Direct Investment

Firm-Level Data: We use data from WorldBase, a database of more than 43 million plantlevel observations in more than 205 countries and territories compiled by Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) from the 2004/2005 file. WorldBase is the core database from which D&B populates its commercial data products including Who Owns WhomTM, Risk Management SolutionsTM, Sales & Marketing SolutionsTM, and Supply Management SolutionsTM. These products provide information about the “activities, decision makers, finances, operations and markets” of potential customers, competitors, and suppliers of D&B clients. Whereas other databases draw primarily from national firm registries, D&B compiles its data from a wide range of sources with a view to providing its clients with contact details and basic operating information about potential customers, competitors, and suppliers. Sources include partner firms in dozens of countries, telephone directory records, websites, and self-registering firms. All information is verified centrally via a variety of manual and automated checks. Information from local insolvency authorities and merger and acquisition records are used to track changes in ownership and operations. The unit of observation in WorldBase is the establishment rather than the firm. Establishments, which we also refer to as plants, like firms have their own addresses, business names, and managers, but might be partly or wholly owned by other firms. We are therefore able to observe new enterprises spawned from existing firms, or, by aggregating to the firm level, examine only independent new firms. We use four categories of data that WorldBase records for each establishment. i. Detailed industry information including the four-digit SIC code of the primary industry in which each establishment operates and, for most countries, the SIC codes of up to five secondary industries, listed in descending order of importance. D&B uses the United States Government Department of Commerce, Office of Management and Budget, Standard Industrial Classification Manual 1987 edition to classify business establishments. In 1963, the firm introduced the Data Universal Numbering System—The
Phanerozoic upper crustal tectono-thermal development of basement rocks from central Madagascar: An integrated fission-track and structural study

Abstract An integrated study of fission-track (FT) dating and structural geology revealed a complex tectono-thermal history preserved in basement rocks of central Madagascar since the amalgamation of Gondwana at the end of the Cambrian. A detailed study of five domains argues for several cooling steps with associated brittle deformations during the separation of Madagascar. Titanite and apatite FT ages range between 483 Ma and 266 Ma and between 460 Ma and 79 Ma, respectively. The titanite FT data indicate that the final cooling after the latest metamorphic overprint was terminated at c. 500 Ma (FC1). A 150 Myr phase of minor cooling (SC2), possibly related to a phase of tectonic quiescence and isostatic compensation, followed episode FC1. Between the Carboniferous and Early Jurassic, when an intracontinental rift developed between East Africa and Madagascar, complex brittle deformation effected the western margin of Madagascar and led to differential cooling of small basement blocks (FC3–FC5). During this period, ductile structural trends were reactivated at the western basement margin and in the centre of the island. A Late Cretaceous thermal event (T1) affected apatite FT data of samples from western–central and the eastern margin of Madagascar. These ages are related to the Madagascar–India/Seychelles break-up, whereby the thermal penetration along the eastern coast was restricted to the west by the Angavo shear zone (AGSZ). The Cretaceous evolution of the eastern margin was associated with minor erosion and was triggered by vertical displacements along brittle structures.
GMM-Based Emotional Voice Conversion Using Spectrum and Prosody Features

We propose Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM)-based emotional voice conversion using spectrum and prosody features. In recent years, speech recognition and synthesis techniques have been developed, and an emotional voice conversion technique is required for synthesizing more expressive voices. The common emotional conversion was based on transformation of neutral prosody to emotional prosody by using huge speech corpus. In this paper, we convert a neutral voice to an emot ional vo ice using GMMs. GMM-based spectrum conversion is widely used to modify non linguistic informat ion such as voice characteristics while keep ing linguistic information unchanged. Because the conventional method converts either prosody or voice quality (spectrum), some emot ions are not converted well. In our method, both prosody and voice quality are used for converting a neutral voice to an emotional voice, and it is able to obtain more expressive voices in comparison with conventional methods, such as prosody or spectrum conversion.