LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Finasteride increases anagen hair in men with androgenetic alopecia.

BACKGROUND
The growth of scalp hair is a cyclical process of successive phases of growth (anagen) and rest (telogen). In previous clinical trials in men with androgenetic alopecia, treatment with finasteride increased scalp hair counts in a defined area (i.e. increased hair density).


OBJECTIVES
The current study used a phototrichogram methodology to assess the effect of finasteride on the phases of the hair growth cycle.


PATIENTS/METHODS
Two hundred and twelve men, age 18-40 years, with androgenetic alopecia were randomized to receive finasteride 1 mg daily or placebo for 48 weeks. At baseline and at 24 and 48 weeks, macrophotographs were taken to measure total and anagen hair count in a 1-cm(2) target area of the scalp.


RESULTS
At baseline, mean total and anagen hair counts in the finasteride group were 200 and 124 hairs, respectively (% anagen = 62%) and the anagen to telogen ratio was 1.74 (geometric mean). In the placebo group, the respective values were 196 and 119 hairs (% anagen = 60%) and 1.57. At week 48, the finasteride group had a net improvement (mean +/- SE) compared with placebo in total and anagen hair counts of 17.3 +/- 2.5 hairs (8.3% +/- 1.4%) and 27.0 +/- 2.9 hairs (26% +/- 3.1%), respectively (P < 0.001). Furthermore, treatment with finasteride resulted in a net improvement in the anagen to telogen ratio of 47% (P < 0.001). In this study, treatment with finasteride 1 mg day(-1) for 48 weeks increased both total and anagen hair counts, and improved the anagen to telogen ratio.


CONCLUSIONS
These data provide direct evidence that finasteride 1 mg daily promotes the conversion of hairs into the anagen phase. These data support that finasteride treatment results in favourable effects on hair quality that contribute to the visible improvements in hair growth observed in treated patients.
Am I normal? A systematic review and construction of nomograms for flaccid and erect penis length and circumference in up to 15,521 men.

OBJECTIVE
To systematically review and create nomograms of flaccid and erect penile size measurements.


METHODS
Study key eligibility criteria: measurement of penis size by a health professional using a standard procedure; a minimum of 50 participants per sample.


EXCLUSION CRITERIA
samples with a congenital or acquired penile abnormality, previous surgery, complaint of small penis size or erectile dysfunction. Synthesis methods: calculation of a weighted mean and pooled standard deviation (SD) and simulation of 20,000 observations from the normal distribution to generate nomograms of penis size.


RESULTS
Nomograms for flaccid pendulous [n = 10,704, mean (SD) 9.16 (1.57) cm] and stretched length [n = 14,160, mean (SD) 13.24 (1.89) cm], erect length [n = 692, mean (SD) 13.12 (1.66) cm], flaccid circumference [n = 9407, mean (SD) 9.31 (0.90) cm], and erect circumference [n = 381, mean (SD) 11.66 (1.10) cm] were constructed. Consistent and strongest significant correlation was between flaccid stretched or erect length and height, which ranged from r = 0.2 to 0.6.


LIMITATIONS
relatively few erect measurements were conducted in a clinical setting and the greatest variability between studies was seen with flaccid stretched length.


CONCLUSIONS
Penis size nomograms may be useful in clinical and therapeutic settings to counsel men and for academic research.
Association of back pain with hypovitaminosis D in postmenopausal women with low bone mass

BACKGROUND
Back pain is a major public health problem due to its high frequency, to the resulting activity constraint, and the need for surgery in many cases. Back pain is more frequent in women than men, mainly in postmenopausal women. High prevalence of hypovitaminosis D has been detected in postmenopausal women, and it is associated with decreased bone mass, sarcopenia, vertebral fractures, and inflammation, which can be related to back pain.


METHODS
The relation between back pain and hypovitaminosis D was evaluated in this study, as well the difference regarding the number of bedridden days, number of days away from work, and daily activities limitation between women with and without hypovitaminosis D. This study reviewed baseline data from an interventional phase III multicenter trial in low bone mass postmenopausal women. The study included demographic data, 25OHD determinations, Newitt/Cummings questionnaire on back pain, and vertebral fracture identified thought X-ray evaluation.


RESULTS
The trial included 9354 participants, but only 9305 underwent all the evaluations. The age median was 67 (60 - 85 years old) and age at menopause was 49 (18 - 72 years). Hypovitaminosis D was found in 22.5% of the subjects, 15.3% of them had vertebral fractures, 67.5% with back pain, and 14.8% reduced their daily activities in the previous six months. Subjects with hypovitaminosis D, compared to those without hypovitaminosis D, reported more back pain (69.5 v 66.9%, p: 0.022), more cases of severe back pain (8.5% v 6.8%, p: 0,004), higher limitation in their daily activities (17.2 v 14.0%, p: 0.001), and more fractures (17.4 v 14.6%, p: 0,002); also, they had more trouble to perform daily activities addressed in the Newwit/Cummings questionnaire.


CONCLUSION
Hypovitaminosis D was related to back pain, to its severity, and to difficulty in perform daily activities.


TRIAL REGISTRATION
ClinicalTrial.gov: NCT00088010.
Invasive recordings from the human brain: clinical insights and beyond

Although non-invasive methods such as functional magnetic resonance imaging, electroencephalograms and magnetoencephalograms provide most of the current data about the human brain, their resolution is insufficient to show physiological processes at the cellular level. Clinical approaches sometimes allow invasive recordings to be taken from the human brain, mainly in patients with epilepsy or with movement disorders, and such recordings can sample neural activity at spatial scales ranging from single cells to distributed cell assemblies. In addition to their clinical relevance, these recordings can provide unique insights into brain functions such as movement control, perception, memory, language and even consciousness.
Medical informatics and the quality of health: new approaches to support patient care - findings from the IMIA Yearbook of Medical Informatics 2003.

OBJECTIVES
The Yearbook of Medical Informatics is published annually by the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) and contains a selection of excellent papers on medical informatics research which have been recently published (http://www. yearbook.uni-hd.de). The 2003 Yearbook of Medical Informatics took as its theme the role of medical informatics for the quality of health care. In this paper, we will discuss challenges for health care, and the lessons learned from editing IMIA Yearbook 2003.


RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS
Modern information processing methodology and information and communication technology have strongly influenced our societies and health care. As a consequence of this, medical informatics as a discipline has taken a leading role in the further development of health care. This involves developing information systems that enhance opportunities for global access to health services and medical knowledge. Informatics methodology and technology will facilitate high quality of care in aging societies, and will decrease the possibilities of health care errors. It will also enable the dissemination of the latest medical and health information on the web to consumers and health care providers alike. The selected papers of the IMIA Yearbook 2003 present clear examples and future challenges, and they highlight how various sub-disciplines of medical informatics can contribute to this.
Mitosis Detection in Breast Cancer Histology Images with Deep Neural Networks

We use deep max-pooling convolutional neural networks to detect mitosis in breast histology images. The networks are trained to classify each pixel in the images, using as context a patch centered on the pixel. Simple postprocessing is then applied to the network output. Our approach won the ICPR 2012 mitosis detection competition, outperforming other contestants by a significant margin.
N-gram: a language independent approach to IR and NLP

With the increasingly widespread use of computers & the Internet in India, large amounts of information in Indian languages are becoming available on the web. Automatic information processing and retrieval is therefore becoming an urgent need in the Indian context. Moreover, since India is a multilingual country, any effective approach to IR in the Indian context needs to be capable of handling a multilingual collection of documents. In this paper, we discuss the N-gram approach to developing some basic tools in the area of IR and NLP. This approach is statistical and language independent in nature, and therefore eminently suited to the multilingual Indian context. We first present a brief survey of some language-processing applications in which N-grams have been successfully used. We also present the results of some preliminary experiments on using N-grams for identifying the language of an Indian language document, based on a method proposed by Cavnar et al [1].
Determinants of relapse after a short (12 weeks) course of antiviral therapy and re-treatment efficacy of a prolonged course in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus genotype 2 or 3 infection.

UNLABELLED
In hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes 2 and 3 patients, the high rate of relapse after 12 to 16 weeks of antiviral therapy is the main concern for shortening treatment duration. This study was undertaken to delineate predictors of relapse after short treatment in patients with undetectable HCV RNA at treatment week 4 (RVR), and to report in RVR patients with relapse the sustained virological response (SVR) after a second 24-week course of therapy. RVR patients received pegylated interferon (Peg-IFN) alfa-2b (1.5 microg/kg) and ribavirin (1000-1200 mg/day) for 12 weeks; those who relapsed were re-treated with the same drug doses but for the extended standard duration of 24 weeks. Logistic regression analysis was applied to delineate predictors of relapse by using age, sex, route of transmission, body mass index (BMI), serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), HCV genotypes, serum HCV RNA levels, and platelet counts as covariates. Of 718 patients with genotypes 2 and 3 who were started on therapy, 496 (69.1%) had undetectable HCV RNA at week 4. Of them, 409 patients (82.5%, CI 79.1-85.8) attained SVR, and 67 (14.1%, CI 10.4-16.5) relapsed. At regression analysis, only platelet count less than 140,000 mm(3) [odds ratio, 2.51; confidence interval (CI), 1.49-4.20] and BMI 30 or higher (odds ratio, 1.7; CI, 1.03-2.70) were independently associated with relapse. Forty-three of 67 patients with relapse agreed to be re-treated, and an SVR was achieved in 30 (70.0%) of them.


CONCLUSION
We recommend 12 weeks course of therapy for patients with undetectable HCV RNA at treatment week 4, providing they present with no advanced fibrosis and low BMI.
A benefit-finding intervention for family caregivers of persons with Alzheimer disease: study protocol of a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND
Caregivers of relatives with Alzheimer's disease are highly stressed and at risk for physical and psychiatric conditions. Interventions are usually focused on providing caregivers with knowledge of dementia, skills, and/or support, to help them cope with the stress. This model, though true to a certain extent, ignores how caregiver stress is construed in the first place. Besides burden, caregivers also report rewards, uplifts, and gains, such as a sense of purpose and personal growth. Finding benefits through positive reappraisal may offset the effect of caregiving on caregiver outcomes.


DESIGN
Two randomized controlled trials are planned. They are essentially the same except that Trial 1 is a cluster trial (that is, randomization based on groups of participants) whereas in Trial 2, randomization is based on individuals. Participants are randomized into three groups - benefit finding, psychoeducation, and simplified psychoeducation. Participants in each group receive a total of approximately 12 hours of training either in group or individually at home. Booster sessions are provided at around 14 months after the initial treatment. The primary outcomes are caregiver stress (subjective burden, role overload, and cortisol), perceived benefits, subjective health, psychological well-being, and depression. The secondary outcomes are caregiver coping, and behavioral problems and functional impairment of the care-recipient. Outcome measures are obtained at baseline, post-treatment (2 months), and 6, 12, 18 and 30 months.


DISCUSSION
The emphasis on benefits, rather than losses and difficulties, provides a new dimension to the way interventions for caregivers can be conceptualized and delivered. By focusing on the positive, caregivers may be empowered to sustain caregiving efforts in the long term despite the day-to-day challenges. The two parallel trials will provide an assessment of whether the effectiveness of the intervention depends on the mode of delivery.


TRIAL REGISTRATION
Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (http://www.chictr.org/en/) identifier number ChiCTR-TRC-10000881.
Effect of platelet-rich plasma and porcine dermal collagen graft augmentation for rotator cuff healing in a rabbit model.

BACKGROUND
The rate of healing failure after surgical repair of chronic rotator cuff tears is considerably high.


PURPOSE
To verify the effect of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) with and without porcine dermal collagen graft augmentation on tendon-to-bone healing, using the rabbit supraspinatus tendon.


STUDY DESIGN
Controlled laboratory study.


METHODS
A total of 80 rabbits were randomly allocated into 4 groups (20 rabbits per group: 12 for histological and 8 for mechanical testing): repair (R), repair + patch augmentation (RPa), repair + PRP (RPr), and repair + patch + PRP (RPaPr). The right shoulder was used for experimental interventions, and the left served as a control. Six weeks after the detachment of the supraspinatus, the torn tendon was repaired in a transosseous manner, simulating double-row repair in all groups. Platelet-rich plasma was prepared and applied onto the repair site in the RPr and RPaPr groups, and the patch was used to augment the repair in the RPa and RPaPr groups. The mechanical tensile strength test was performed at 8 weeks after repair and the histological evaluation at 4 and 8 weeks.


RESULTS
At 4 weeks, the collagen fibers were poorly organized, and fiber continuity was not established in all groups. However, vascularity and cellularity were higher with granulation tissue formation in the PRP-treated groups (RPr and RPaPr) than the nontreated groups (R and RPa). At 8 weeks, tendon-to-bone integration was much improved with more collagen fibers, and longitudinally oriented collagen fibers were visible in all groups. The PRP-treated groups showed better collagen fiber continuity and orientation than the nontreated groups; however, no distinctive difference was found between the patch-augmented groups (RPa and RPaPr) and nonaugmented groups (R and RPr). The mean load-to-failure results were 61.57 ± 29.99 N, 76.84 ± 16.08 N, 105.35 ± 33.82 N, and 117.93 ± 12.60 N for the R, RPa, RPr, and RPaPr groups, respectively, and they were significantly different between the R and RPr (P = .018), R and RPaPr (P = .002), and RPa and RPaPr (P = .029) groups.


CONCLUSION
This animal study showed the enhancement of tendon-to-bone healing after local administration of autologous PRP assessed by histological and biomechanical testing in a rabbit model of chronic rotator cuff tears. However, there was little additive effect of the patch graft.


CLINICAL RELEVANCE
The use of PRP might be a biological supplement to increase the rotator cuff healing rate, which still remains low even after successful cuff repair, but this result should be interpreted with caution regarding clinical applications.
Emergency ultrasound and urinalysis in the evaluation of flank pain.

OBJECTIVES
To determine the sensitivity and specificity of limited emergency ultrasonography of the kidney in diagnosing renal colic.


METHODS
This was a prospective observational trial from December 2001 to December 2003 at a suburban emergency department. Patients who presented with flank pain suspicious for renal colic were enrolled. Exclusion criteria included fever, trauma, known current kidney stone, unstable vital signs, and inability to provide consent. All patients underwent sequential emergency ultrasonography and computed tomography of the kidneys and bladder. Data were analyzed using chi-square analysis. The primary outcome was the sensitivity and specificity of ultrasonography. Results were also stratified for presence of hematuria.


RESULTS
Fifty-eight of the 104 patients enrolled in the study were diagnosed with renal colic. The overall sensitivity and specificity of bedside ultrasonography for the detection of hydronephrosis were 86.8 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 78.8 to 92.3) and 82.4 (95% CI = 74.1 to 88.1), respectively. In patients with hematuria, hydronephrosis by emergency ultrasonography demonstrated a sensitivity and specificity of 87.8 (95% CI = 80.3 to 92.5) and 84.8 (95% CI = 73.7 to 91.9), respectively. In 55 of the cases, the initial computed tomograph was read by a resident and later re-read by an attending physician. Using the reading of the attending physician as the criterion standard resulted in a sensitivity and specificity of 83.3 (95% CI = 73.2 to 88.0) and 92.0 (95% CI = 79.9 to 97.6), respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Emergency ultrasonography of the kidneys shows very good sensitivity and specificity for diagnosing renal colic in patients with flank pain and hematuria.
The Swedish version of the multidimensional scale of perceived social support (MSPSS) - a psychometric evaluation study in women with hirsutism and nursing students

BACKGROUND
The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) is a short instrument, developed to assess perceived social support. The original English version has been widely used. The original scale has demonstrated satisfactory psychometric properties in different settings, but no validated Swedish version has been available. The aim was therefore to translate, adapt and psychometrically evaluate the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support for use in a Swedish context.


METHOD
In total 281 participants accepted to join the study, a main sample of 127 women with hirsutism and a reference sample of 154 nursing students. The MSPSS was translated and culturally adapted according to the rigorous official process approved by WHO. The psychometric evaluation included item analysis, evaluation of factor structure, known-group validity, internal consistency and reproducibility.


RESULTS
The original three-factor structure was reproduced in the main sample of women with hirsutism. An equivalent factor structure was demonstrated in a cross-validation, based on the reference sample of nursing students. Known-group validity was supported and internal consistency was good for all scales (α = 0.91-0.95). The test-retest showed acceptable to very good reproducibility for the items (κw = 0.58-0.85) and the scales (ICC = 0.89-0.92; CCC = 0.89-0.92).


CONCLUSION
The Swedish version of the MSPSS is a multidimensional scale with sound psychometric properties in the present study sample. The simple and short format makes it a useful tool for measuring perceived social support.
Cs246: Mining Massive Data Sets Problem Set 3 General Instructions Questions 1 Latent Features for Recommendations (25 Points)

Only one late period is allowed for this homework (11:59pm 2/23). Submission instructions: These questions require thought but do not require long answers. Please be as concise as possible. You should submit your answers as a writeup in PDF format via GradeScope and code via the Snap submission site. Submitting writeup: Prepare answers to the homework questions into a single PDF file and submit it via http://gradescope.com. Make sure that the answer to each question is on a separate page. On top of each page write the number of the question you are answering. Please find the cover sheet and the recommended templates located here: Not including the cover sheet in your submission will result in a 2-point penalty. It is also important to tag your answers correctly on Gradescope. We will deduct 5/N points for each incorrectly tagged subproblem (where N is the number of subproblems). This means you can lose up to 5 points for incorrect tagging. Put all the code for a single question into a single file and upload it. Warning: This problem requires substantial computing time (it can be a few hours on some systems). Don't start it at the last minute. 7 7 7 The goal of this problem is to implement the Stochastic Gradient Descent algorithm to build a Latent Factor Recommendation system. We can use it to recommend movies to users.
Mechanisms of frequency and pattern control in the neural rhythm generators

The locomotive motion in animals is produced in some central neural units, and basically no sensory signal from peripheral receptors is necessary to induce it. The rhythm generators do not only produce rhythms but also alter their frequencies and patterns. This paper presents some methematical models of the neural rhythm generators and discusses various aspects of the frequency and pattern control in them.
Must shear bands be hot?

Knowing the temperature rise in shear bands with high spatial and temporal resolution is important for the development of materials with improved mechanical properties.
The relation between 21 st-century skills and digital skills : A systematic literature review

Innovation starts with people, making the human capital within the workforce decisive. In a fastchanging knowledge economy, 21st-century digital skills drive organizations' competitiveness and innovation capacity. Although such skills are seen as crucial, the digital aspect integrated with 21stcentury skills is not yet sufficiently defined. The main objectives of this study were to (1) examine the relation between 21st-century skills and digital skills; and (2) provide a framework of 21st-century digital skills with conceptual dimensions and key operational components aimed at the knowledge worker. A systematic literature review was conducted to synthesize the relevant academic literature concerned with 21st-century digital skills. In total, 1592 different articles were screened from which 75 articles met the predefined inclusion criteria. The results show that 21st-century skills are broader than digital skills e the list of mentioned skills is far more extensive. In addition, in contrast to digital skills, 21st-century skills are not necessarily underpinned by ICT. Furthermore, we identified seven core skills: technical, information management, communication, collaboration, creativity, critical thinking and problem solving. Five contextual skills were also identified: ethical awareness, cultural awareness, flexibility, selfdirection and lifelong learning. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.