LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Risperidone Versus Risperidone Plus Sodium Valproate for Treatment of Bipolar Disorders: A Randomized, Double-Blind Clinical-Trial

OBJECTIVE
This study compared the efficacy of risperidone monotherapy with risperidone plus valproate in bipolar I disorder, manic phase. Some studies showed the efficacy of risperidone monotherapy in the treatment of bipolar disorder, so we examined this effectiveness in this clinical-trial study.


METHOD
This 7-week, randomized, single-blind study included 48 bipolar I inpatients manic phase without psychotic features divided in risperidone group (n = 23) and risperidone plus sodium valproate group (n = 25). According to clinical symptoms, 3 categories: complete remission, partial remission and no remission were mentioned in weekly follow-up. Remission rate compared with survival analysis.


RESULTS
The results showed a significant difference in remission rate between risperidone monotherapy and risperidone plus sodium valproate at the 1st, 2nd and the 3rd week (p = 0.012, 0.023, 0.027 respectively), It means the remission rate in risperidone plus valproate group was higher in the first three weeks, but at the end of the seventh week, the difference was not statistically significant. There was no significant difference between the two groups in the development of adverse effects.


CONCLUSIONS
Risperidone can be effective and well tolerated in both acute manic episodes of bipolar mood disorders.
Replisom: Disciplined Tiny Memory Replication for Massive IoT Devices in LTE Edge Cloud

Augmenting the long-term evolution (LTE)-evolved NodeB (eNB) with cloud resources offers a low-latency, resilient, and LTE-aware environment for offloading the Internet of Things (IoT) services and applications. By means of devices memory replication, the IoT applications deployed at an LTE-integrated edge cloud can scale its computing and storage requirements to support different resource-intensive service offerings. Despite this potential, the massive number of IoT devices limits the LTE edge cloud responsiveness as the LTE radio interface becomes the major bottleneck given the unscalability of its uplink access and data transfer procedures to support a large number of devices that simultaneously replicate their memory objects with the LTE edge cloud. We propose Replisom; an LTE-aware edge cloud architecture and an LTE-optimized memory replication protocol which relaxes the LTE bottlenecks by a delay and radio resource-efficient memory replication protocol based on the device-to-device communication technology and the sparse recovery in the theory of compressed sampling. Replisom effectively schedules the memory replication occasions to resolve contentions for the radio resources as a large number of devices simultaneously transmit their memory replicas. Our analysis and numerical evaluation suggest that this system has significant potential in reducing the delay, energy consumption, and cost for cloud offloading of IoT applications given the massive number of devices with tiny memory sizes.
Rupture of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm in Patients with and without Antecedent Endovascular Repair.

BACKGROUND
Reported results of ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (rAAA) in patients with antecedent endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) to those presenting with de novo rupture show a similar or slightly improved outcome. The aim of this study was to compare differences in the presentation and outcomes of rAAA with and without prior EVAR.


METHODS
A retrospective review of 121 patients with rAAA, ruptured identified 2 groups. Group A included 17 patients (rAAA n = 17) with antecedent EVAR and group B consisted of 104 patients (rAAA n = 104) with de novo ruptures, from January 2001 to March 2015 in 3 teaching hospitals. Patient characteristics and perioperative variables were compared; Fisher's exact test was used for categorical variables. For continuous variables, Student's t-test and Mann-Whitney U test were used.


RESULTS
Both groups were similar in age, gender, the incidence of hypertension, coronary artery disease, diabetes mellitus, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and nicotine abuse. Mean time of presentation from EVAR to rupture in group A was 42 ± 22 months. Mean preoperative transverse or anteroposterior diameter of AAA was 6.6 cm in group A and 7.1 cm in group B. Three patients of 17 (17.6%) in group A were hemodynamically unstable as compared to 47 of 104 patients (45.1%) in group B (P = 0.03). Mean red blood cells, fresh frozen plasma, and platelet transfusion were similar in both groups. Thirty-day mortality was 8 of 17 (44.7%) in group A and 44 of 104 (42.3%) in group B (P = 1.0). Postoperative complications were also similar in both groups except the incidence of postoperative respiratory failure was higher in group B (38%) as compared with 11.1% in group A (P = 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
Patients presenting with rAAA with antecedent EVAR are hemodynamically more stable as compared with patients with de novo rupture of AAA. Postoperative respiratory failure is more common in patients with de novo rupture. rAAA carry high mortality with and without prior EVAR.
Constructive mathematics and unbounded operators — A reply to Hellman

It is argued that Hellman's arguments purporting to demonstrate that constructive mathematics cannot cope with unbounded operators on a Hilbert space are seriously flawed, and that there is no evidence that his thesis is correct.
Age at Referral of Children for Initial Diagnosis of Cerebral Palsy and Rehabilitation: Current Practices.

OBJECTIVES
This study describes current practices in the age at referral for diagnosis of cerebral palsy and factors that influence earlier referral.


STUDY DESIGN
Retrospective chart review (2002-2012).


RESULTS
Of 103 children referred for diagnosis, 81 were referred to a neurologist by other medical specialists at a mean of 13.6 ± 15.7 months, whereas primary care providers referred much later (mean = 28.8 ± 27.1 months). Children admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit were referred earlier (mean = 9.3 ± 10.2 months) than those not (28.1 ± 24.9 months). Referral to rehabilitation was similarly delayed.


CONCLUSIONS
Primary care providers generated a minority of referrals, of concern given their role in developmental surveillance. Remarkably high variability suggests knowledge of cerebral palsy attributes varies widely among service providers. Half of children with cerebral palsy do not have a complicated birth history; subsequently, referrals for diagnosis and management are often delayed. New strategies are needed to optimize prompt referral by primary care providers.
Conservatism in Accounting Part I : Explanations and Implications

SYNOPSIS: This paper is the first in a two-part series on conservatism in accounting. Part I examines alternative explanations for conservatism in accounting and their implications for accounting regulators. Part II summarizes the empirical evidence on conservatism, its consistency with alternative explanations, and opportunities for future research. The evidence is consistent with conservatism's existence and, in varying degrees, the various explanations. Conservatism is defined as the differential verifiability required for recognition of profits versus losses. Its extreme form is the traditional conservatism adage: "anticipate no profit, but anticipate all losses." Despite criticism, conservatism has survived in accounting for many centuries and appears to have increased in the last 30 years. The alternative explanations for conservatism are contracting, shareholder litigation, taxation, and accounting regulation. The evidence in Part II suggests the contracting and shareholder litigation explanations are most important. Evidence on the effects of taxation and regulation is weaker, but consistent with those explanations playing a role. Earnings management could produce some ofthe evidence on conservatism, but cannot be the prime explanation. The explanations and evidence have important implications for accounting regulators. FASB attempts to ban conservatism in order to achieve "neutrality of information" without understanding the reasons conservatism existed and prospered for so long are likely to fail and produce unintended consequences. Successful elimination of conservatism will change managerial behavior and impose significant costs on investors and the economy in general. Similarly, researchers and regulators who propose the inclusion of capitalized unverifiable future cash flows in financial reports should consider the costs generated by their proposal's effect on managerial behavior.
A statistical framework for fair predictive algorithms

Statistical and machine learning algorithms are increasingly used to inform decisions that have large impacts on individuals’ lives. Examples include hiring [8], predictive policing [13], pre-trial risk assessment of recidivism[6, 2], and risk of violence while incarcerated [5]. In many of these cases, the outcome variable to which the predictive models are trained is observed with bias with respect to some legally protected classes. For example, police records do not constitute a representative sample of all crimes [12]. In particular, black drug users are arrested at a rate that is several times that of white drug users despite the fact that black and white populations are estimated by public health officials to use drugs at roughly the same rate [11]. Algorithms trained on such data will produce predictions that are biased against groups that are disproportionately represented in the training data. Several approaches have been proposed to correct unfair predictive models. The simplest approach is to exclude the protected variable(s) from the analysis, under the belief that doing so will result in “race-neutral” predictions [14]. Of course, simply excluding a protected variable is insufficient to avoid discriminatory predictions, as any included variables that are correlated with the protected variables still contain information about the protected characteristic. In the case of linear models, this phenomenon is well-known, and is referred to as omitted variable bias [4]. Another approach that has been proposed in the computer science literature is to remove information about the protected variables from the set of covariates to be used in predictive models [7, 3]. A third alternative is to modify the outcome variable. For example, [9] use a naive Bayes classifier to rank each observation and perturb the outcome such that predictions produced by the algorithm are independent of the protected variable. A discussion of several more algorithms for binary protected and outcome variables can be found in [10]. The approach we propose is most similar to [7], though we approach the problem from a statistical modeling perspective. We define a procedure consisting of a chain of conditional models. Within this framework, both protecting and adjusting variables of arbitrary type becomes natural. Whereas previous work has been limited to protecting only binary or categorical variables and adjusting a limited number of covariates, our proposed framework allows for an arbitrary number of variables
Effect of heat treatment intensity on some conferred properties of different European softwood and hardwood species

Effect of heat treatment intensity on some conferred properties like elemental composition, durability, anti-swelling efficiency (ASE) and equilibrium moisture content (EMC) of different European softwood and hardwood species subjected to mild pyrolysis at 230 °C under nitrogen for different durations has been investigated. Independently of the wood species studied, elemental composition is strongly correlated with the mass losses due to thermal degradations which are directly connected to treatment intensity (duration). In all cases, an important increase in the carbon content associated with a decrease in the oxygen content was observed. Heat-treated specimens were exposed to several brown rot fungi, and the weight losses due to fungal degradation were determined after 16 weeks, while effect of wood extractives before and after thermal treatment was investigated on mycelium growth. ASE and EMC were also evaluated. Results indicated important correlations between treatment intensity and all of the wood conferred properties like its elemental composition, durability, ASE or EMC. These results clearly indicated that chemical modifications of wood cell wall polymers are directly responsible for wood decay durability improvement, but also for its improved dimensional stability as well as its reduced capability for water adsorption. All these modifications of wood properties appeared simultaneously and progressively with the increase in treatment intensity depending on treatment duration. At the same time, effect of extractives generated during thermal treatment on Poria placenta growth indicated that these latter ones have no beneficial effect on wood durability.
Food reserves of scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.)

Starch, soluble sugars, triacylglycerols, diacylglycerols and free fatty acids were measured in 30-year-old Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) trees during an annual cycle in the sapwood (youngest ten xylem rings). The radial distribution of carbohydrates and lipids was studied in the trunkwood of 90 -to 150-year-old Scots pine trees collected at the end of the growing season. Determination of the compounds was performed using specific enzymatic assays, capillary gas chromatography and thin layer chromatography. The amounts of glucose, fructose, sucrose, and galactose/arabinose in the sapwood were slightly higher in winter than in summer. Raffinose/stachyose increased up to 5-fold during the cold period. At the beginning of the growing season starch amounts rose, and then decreased in summer and autumn. No concentration changes were observed in the total amounts of diacylglycerols and fatty acids throughout the year. Triacylglycerol levels were slightly higher in February than in summer and autumn. Relative frequencies of individual fatty acids were similar in all lipid fractions. Glucose, fructose, sucrose, starch and triacylglycerols disappeared almost entirely at the transition zone from sapwood to heartwood. In contrast, free fatty acids and galactose/arabinose rose in centripetal direction, and diacylglycerols remained constant across trunk cross-sections. The relative amounts of individual fatty acids changed markedly in the free fatty acid fraction and in the triacylglycerols when crossing the sapwood-heartwood boundary. Concentration changes of reserve materials are discussed in relation to season, mobilization and translocation processes, dormancy, frost resistance, and heartwood formation. The results are compared to those found in needles.
Lung Cancer Detection and Classification with 3D Convolutional Neural Network (3D-CNN)

This paper demonstrates a computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) system for lung cancer classification of CT scans with unmarked nodules, a dataset from the Kaggle Data Science Bowl 2017. Thresholding was used as an initial segmentation approach to segment out lung tissue from the rest of the CT scan. Thresholding produced the next best lung segmentation. The initial approach was to directly feed the segmented CT scans into 3D CNNs for classification, but this proved to be inadequate. Instead, a modified U-Net trained on LUNA16 data (CT scans with labeled nodules) was used to first detect nodule candidates in the Kaggle CT scans. The U-Net nodule detection produced many false positives, so regions of CTs with segmented lungs where the most likely nodule candidates were located as determined by the U-Net output were fed into 3D Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) to ultimately classify the CT scan as positive or negative for lung cancer. The 3D CNNs produced a test set Accuracy of 86.6%. The performance of our CAD system outperforms the current CAD systems in literature which have several training and testing phases that each requires a lot of labeled data, while our CAD system has only three major phases (segmentation, nodule candidate detection, and malignancy classification), allowing more efficient training and detection and more generalizability to other cancers. Keywords—Lung Cancer; Computed Tomography; Deep Learning; Convolutional Neural Networks; Segmentation.
Model Compression and Acceleration for Deep Neural Networks: The Principles, Progress, and Challenges

In recent years, deep neural networks (DNNs) have received increased attention, have been applied to different applications, and achieved dramatic accuracy improvements in many tasks. These works rely on deep networks with millions or even billions of parameters, and the availability of graphics processing units (GPUs) with very high computation capability plays a key role in their success. For example, Krizhevsky et al. [1] achieved breakthrough results in the 2012 ImageNet Challenge using a network containing 60 million parameters with five convolutional layers and three fully connected layers. Usually, it takes two to three days to train the whole model on the ImagetNet data set with an NVIDIA K40 machine. In another example, the top face-verification results from the Labeled Faces in the Wild (LFW) data set were obtained with networks containing hundreds of millions of parameters, using a mix of convolutional, locally connected, and fully connected layers [2], [3]. It is also very time-consuming to train such a model to obtain a reasonable performance. In architectures that only rely on fully connected layers, the number of parameters can grow to billions [4].
Diffuse Decreased Gray Matter in Patients with Idiopathic Craniocervical Dystonia: A Voxel-Based Morphometry Study

BACKGROUND
Recent studies have addressed the role of structures other than the basal ganglia in the pathophysiology of craniocervical dystonia (CCD). Neuroimaging studies have attempted to identify structural abnormalities in CCD but a clear pattern of alteration has not been established. We performed whole-brain evaluation using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to identify patterns of gray matter (GM) changes in CCD.


METHODS
We compared 27 patients with CCD matched in age and gender to 54 healthy controls. VBM was used to compare GM volumes. We created a two-sample t-test corrected for subjects' age, and we tested with a level of significance of p < 0.001 and false discovery rate (FDR) correction (p < 0.05).


RESULTS
Voxel-based morphometry demonstrated significant reductions of GM using p < 0.001 in the cerebellar vermis IV/V, bilaterally in the superior frontal gyrus, precuneus, anterior cingulate and paracingulate, insular cortex, lingual gyrus, and calcarine fissure; in the left hemisphere in the supplementary motor area, inferior frontal gyrus, inferior parietal gyrus, temporal pole, supramarginal gyrus, rolandic operculum, hippocampus, middle occipital gyrus, cerebellar lobules IV/V, superior, and middle temporal gyri; in the right hemisphere, the middle cingulate and precentral gyrus. Our study did not report any significant result using the FDR correction. We also detected correlations between GM volume and age, disease duration, duration of botulinum toxin treatment, and the Marsden-Fahn dystonia scale scores.


CONCLUSION
We detected large clusters of GM changes chiefly in structures primarily involved in sensorimotor integration, motor planning, visuospatial function, and emotional processing.
Umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell transplantation in active and refractory systemic lupus erythematosus: a multicenter clinical study

INTRODUCTION
In our present single-center pilot study, umbilical cord (UC)-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) had a good safety profile and therapeutic effect in severe and refractory systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The present multicenter clinical trial was undertaken to assess the safety and efficacy of allogeneic UC MSC transplantation (MSCT) in patients with active and refractory SLE.


METHODS
Forty patients with active SLE were recruited from four clinical centers in China. Allogeneic UC MSCs were infused intravenously on days 0 and 7. The primary endpoints were safety profiles. The secondary endpoints included major clinical response (MCR), partial clinical response (PCR) and relapse. Clinical indices, including Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index (SLEDAI) score, British Isles Lupus Assessment Group (BILAG) score and renal functional indices, were also taken into account.


RESULTS
The overall survival rate was 92.5% (37 of 40 patients). UC-MSCT was well tolerated, and no transplantation-related adverse events were observed. Thirteen and eleven patients achieved MCR (13 of 40, 32.5%) and PCR (11 of 40, 27.5%), respectively, during 12 months of follow up. Three and four patients experienced disease relapse at 9 months (12.5%) and 12 months (16.7%) of follow-up, respectively, after a prior clinical response. SLEDAI scores significantly decreased at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months follow-up. Total BILAG scores markedly decreased at 3 months and continued to decrease at subsequent follow-up visits. BILAG scores for renal, hematopoietic and cutaneous systems significantly improved. Among those patients with lupus nephritis, 24-hour proteinuria declined after transplantation, with statistically differences at 9 and 12 months. Serum creatinine and urea nitrogen decreased to the lowest level at 6 months, but these values slightly increased at 9 and 12 months in seven relapse cases. In addition, serum levels of albumin and complement 3 increased after MSCT, peaked at 6 months and then slightly declined by the 9- and 12-month follow-up examinations. Serum antinuclear antibody and anti-double-stranded DNA antibody decreased after MSCT, with statistically significant differences at 3-month follow-up examinations.


CONCLUSION
UC-MSCT results in satisfactory clinical response in SLE patients. However, in our present study, several patients experienced disease relapse after 6 months, indicating the necessity to repeat MSCT after 6 months.


TRIAL REGISTRY
ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01741857. Registered 26 September 2012.
Liquid formulation of pentoxifylline is a poorly tolerated treatment for duchenne dystrophy.

INTRODUCTION
In this study we performed an open-label, pilot study of an orally administered liquid formulation of immediate-release pentoxifylline (PTX) on patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Treatment efficacy, safety, and tolerability were assessed.


METHODS
The tolerability and safety of PTX and measures of muscle strength and function were evaluated during 12 months of treatment.


RESULTS
Seventeen boys with DMD, between 4 and 8 years of age, were enrolled at one of five Cooperative International Neuromuscular Research Group (CINRG) centers. Only 9 were able to complete the 12-month PTX treatment phase; the primary reason for discontinuation was adverse events. Intolerable gastrointestinal side effects were experienced by 65% of participants. Two participants had severe leukopenia that resolved with medication withdrawal.


CONCLUSIONS
Open-label treatment with a liquid formulation of immediate-release PTX resulted in a high incidence of adverse events in boys with DMD. Poor tolerability of this PTX formulation precluded adequate assessment of efficacy.