LLukas22/scidocs huggingface dataset:
Opening the Chrysalis: On the Real Repair Performance of MSR Codes

© 2017 Western Digital Corporation or its affiliates. All rights reserved Emerging fast byte-addressable non-volatile memory (eNVM) technologies such as ReRAM and 3D Xpoint are projected to offer two orders of magnitude higher performance than flash. However, the existing solid-state drive (SSD) architecture optimizes for flash characteristics and is not adequate to exploit the full potential of eNVMs due to architectural and I/O interface (e.g., PCIe, SATA) limitations. To improve the storage performance and reduce the host main memory requirement for KVS, we propose a novel SSD architecture that extends the semantic of SSD with the KVS features and implements indexing capability inside SSD. It has in-storage processing engine that implements key-value operations such as get, put and delete to efficiently operate on KV datasets. The proposed system introduces a compute channel interface to offload key-value operations down to the SSD that significantly reduces the operating system, file system and other software overhead. This SSD achieves 4.96 Mops/sec get and 3.44 Mops/sec put operations and shows better scalability with increasing number of keyvalue pairs as compared to flash-based NVMe (flash-NVMe) and DRAMbased NVMe (DRAM-NVMe) devices. With decreasing DRAM size by 75%, its performance decreases gradually, achieving speedup of 3.23x as compared to DRAM-NVMe. This SSD significantly improves performance and reduces memory by exploiting the fine grain parallelism within a controller and keeping data movement local to effectively utilize eNVM bandwidth and eliminating the superfluous data movement between the host and the SSD. Abstract
A Review of Analytical Models , Approaches and Decision Support Tools in Project Monitoring and Control

This paper reviews the problems, approaches and analytical models on project control systems and discusses the possible research extensions. The discussion could help to identify open problems and research areas with wide practical applications which require further research. Furthermore, the conclusions summarized might serve as a useful base for developing decision support systems (DSS) that will contribute project managers in planning and controlling under uncertain project environments.
Teachers' attitude to and knowledge of metalinguistics in the process of learning to read

The aim of the current research was to examine pre—service, general and special education teachers attitudes to and knowledge of metalinguistics (awareness of language structure) in the process of learning to read. Effective teachers of reading, writing, and spelling need to understand the relationship between speech and print because these basic language processes are often deficient in cases of reading failure. Teachers also need to be knowledgeable in this area to benefit from psychologist and specialist reports. Using a questionnaire adapted front the Teacher attitudes about early reading and spelling survey and the Survey of linguistic knowledge, 93 pre-service teachers; 209 general teachers and 38 special education teachers were surveyed. Results indicate a positive attitude to but poor knowledge of metalinguistics in the process of learning to read. Special education teachers performed significantly higher than both other groups on aspects of attitude and knowledge.
Extended phase I evaluation of vincristine, irinotecan, temozolomide, and antibiotic in children with refractory solid tumors.

BACKGROUND
The combination of irinotecan, temozolomide, and vincristine is appealing because of potentially synergistic mechanisms of action and non-overlapping toxicities. This phase I study was designed to determine the toxicity and maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of escalating daily protracted doses of irinotecan given in this combination. With extended accrual, we more fully explored the toxicity of multiple courses at the MTD.


PROCEDURE
Patients under 22 years with recurrent or refractory solid tumors were eligible. A course of chemotherapy was given every 28 days. Cefpodoxime was given for diarrhea prophylaxis. Vincristine (1.5 mg/m2, max 2 mg) was given intravenously (IV) on days 1 and 8. Temozolomide (100 mg/m2/day) was given orally on days 1-5. Irinotecan was given IV over 1 hr on days 1-5 and 8-12. Dose escalation was done in the standard 3 + 3 cohort design, starting at 15 mg/m2/day.


RESULTS
Twenty-five of 26 eligible patients were evaluable for toxicity and response. They received 111 courses (1-13, median 4). Dose limiting toxicity (DLT-pancreatitis, transaminitis) was seen in two of three patients at dose level 2 (20 mg/m2). No patients at level 1 had DLT during the first two cycles. Thus, the MTD of irinotecan in this combination is 15 mg/m2/day x 10 doses. Hematologic toxicity was mild and not prolonged. Grade 3 diarrhea was seen in five courses. Responses included two complete and two partial with 12 stable disease (SD) (median 6 months).


CONCLUSIONS
This combination is safe and shows activity in pediatric patients with recurrent malignancy.
Ruptured Corpus Luteal Cyst: CT Findings

OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the CT findings of ruptured corpus luteal cysts.


MATERIALS AND METHODS
Six patients with a surgically proven ruptured corpus luteal cyst were included in this series. The prospective CT findings were retrospectively analyzed in terms of the size and shape of the cyst, the thickness and enhancement pattern of its wall, the attenuation of its contents, and peritoneal fluid.


RESULTS
The mean diameter of the cysts was 2.8 (range, 1.5-4.8) cm; three were round and three were oval. The mean thickness of the cyst wall was 4.7 (range, 1-10) mm; in all six cases it showed strong enhancement, and in three was discontinuous. In five of six cases, the cystic contents showed high attenuation. Peritoneal fluid was present in all cases, and its attenuation was higher, especially around the uterus and adnexa, than that of urine present in the bladder.


CONCLUSION
In a woman in whom CT reveals the presence of an ovarian cyst with an enhancing rim and highly attenuated contents, as well as highly attenuated peritoneal fluid, a ruptured corpus luteal cyst should be suspected. Other possible evidence of this is focal interruption of the cyst wall and the presence of peritoneal fluid around the adnexa.
Lire: lucene image retrieval: an extensible java CBIR library

LIRe (Lucene Image Retrieval) is a light weight open source Java library for content based image retrieval. It provides common and state of the art global image features and offers means for indexing and retrieval. Due to the fact that it is based on a light weight embedded text search engine, it can be integrated easily in applications without relying on a database server.
Evaluation of responsive gene expression as a sensitive and specific biomarker in patients with ulcerative colitis.

BACKGROUND
Clinical trials in ulcerative colitis (UC) rely on certain parameters to evaluate responses that are highly subjective or of low sensitivity. Here, using a select group of genes, we tested the accuracy of gene expression analysis as a biomarker of clinical, endoscopic, and histologic improvements.


METHODS
Intestinal biopsies were obtained from UC patients included in two cohorts. Cohort 1 was used to select for genes whose expression was modulated in active (vs. inactive) UC. Cohort 2 included patients recruited in a phase II study receiving placebo, mesalazine, or dersalazine sodium for 4 weeks. The expression of 44 genes identified in Cohort 1 was assessed at weeks 0 and 4, and was then correlated with biomarkers, as well as with clinical, endoscopic, and histologic scores.


RESULTS
Significant changes in the expression of 31 of the 44 genes tested were detected in Cohort 2 at week 4. Gene expression (ΔCt) significantly correlated with the total Mayo score, C-reactive protein (CRP), and fecal calprotectin. The number of genes significantly regulated at week 4 was highly associated with histologic and endoscopic responses. Logistic regression analysis identified four separate genes (IFITM1, ITGB2, IL1R2, IL2RA) whose relative change was independently associated with endoscopic remission with high specificity and sensitivity.


CONCLUSIONS
Change in the expression of a select set of genes can serve as an early biomarker, one with high specificity and sensitivity to clinical, endoscopic, and histologic responses. This could represent a new tool for identifying early response to treatment in mild to moderately active UC patients.
Learning pattern classification tasks with imbalanced data sets

This chapter is concerned with the class imbalance problem, which has been recognised as a crucial problem in machine learning and data mining. The problem occurs when there are significantly fewer training instances of one class compared to another class.
Fighting fibromyalgia: Five key issues

ABSTRACT: Physicians treating patients with fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) should rule out coexisting disorders and establish possible inducing factors. They can work with patients to address their symptoms by providing patient education, instilling a sense of self-worth, advising avoidance of disability and narcotic medications, offering instruction in sleep hygiene, establishing anxiety reduction measures, and recommending an exercise program. Patients who have special needs and refractory cases may benefit from referral to a musculoskeletal specialist. Physicians can best improve patients' prognosis and quality of life by addressing several issues: whether the FMS is primary or secondary, whether there are underlying psychosocial stressors, whether pain is regional or widespread, how to approach exercise for therapy, and determining which medications to use. (J Musculoskel Med. 2008;25:172-184)
DNA typing from skeletal remains: evaluation of multiplex and megaplex STR systems on DNA isolated from bone and teeth samples.

AIM
To evaluate the performance of three multiplex short tandem repeat (STR) systems (AmpflSTR Profiler, AmpflSTR Profiler Plus, and AmpflSTR COfiler), and a megaplex STR system (PowerPlex 16) on DNA extracted from the skeletal remains. By performing a microbial DNA challenge study, we also evaluated the influence of microbial DNA on human DNA typing.


METHODS
A subset of 86 DNA extracts isolated from 8-50 years old bone and teeth samples, corresponding to 20 identification cases from mass graves in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and to 4 paternity cases involving deceased parents in Spain, were analyzed by the above systems.


RESULTS
Bone samples with no detectable human DNA (tested with Quantiblot), as well as teeth samples with detectable human DNA, were successfully amplified. Surprisingly, even in highly degraded samples, PowerPlex 16 offered very robust amplification for the both Penta E and Penta D markers. We observed a few non-specific extra peaks of 202 and 308 base pairs, which appeared to match 16S rRNA of the Pseudomonas halodenitrificans.


CONCLUSION
AmpflSTR Profiler Kit, AmpflSTR Profiler Plus Kit, the AmpflSTR COfiler Kit, and the PowerPlex 16 system are very sensitive multiplex STR amplification systems, which can be successfully used to obtain a multilocus STR profile from old teeth and bone samples with minimal amounts (pg) of human DNA or even with no detectable human DNA.
GUTSS: An Alignment-Free Sequence Comparison Method for Use in Human Intestinal Microbiome and Fecal Microbiota Transplantation Analysis

BACKGROUND
Comparative analysis of gut microbiomes in clinical studies of human diseases typically rely on identification and quantification of species or genes. In addition to exploring specific functional characteristics of the microbiome and potential significance of species diversity or expansion, microbiome similarity is also calculated to study change in response to therapies directed at altering the microbiome. Established ecological measures of similarity can be constructed from species abundances, however methods for calculating these commonly used ecological measures of similarity directly from whole genome shotgun (WGS) metagenomic sequence are lacking.


RESULTS
We present an alignment-free method for calculating similarity of WGS metagenomic sequences that is analogous to the Bray-Curtis index for species, implemented by the General Utility for Testing Sequence Similarity (GUTSS) software application. This method was applied to intestinal microbiomes of healthy young children to measure developmental changes toward an adult microbiome during the first 3 years of life. We also calculate similarity of donor and recipient microbiomes to measure establishment, or engraftment, of donor microbiota in fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) studies focused on mild to moderate Crohn's disease. We show how a relative index of similarity to donor can be calculated as a measure of change in a patient's microbiome toward that of the donor in response to FMT.


CONCLUSION
Because clinical efficacy of the transplant procedure cannot be fully evaluated without analysis methods to quantify actual FMT engraftment, we developed a method for detecting change in the gut microbiome that is independent of species identification and database bias, sensitive to changes in relative abundance of the microbial constituents, and can be formulated as an index for correlating engraftment success with clinical measures of disease. More generally, this method may be applied to clinical evaluation of human microbiomes and provide potential diagnostic determination of individuals who may be candidates for specific therapies directed at alteration of the microbiome.
Social Services in Relation to Income Security: Introductory Notes

This article has been adapted from a paper presented at the Seventeenth Annual Meeting of the Industrial Relations Research Association, held in December, 1964. The author is a member of the faculty of Columbia University School of Social Work.
The success rate of I-131 ablation in differentiated thyroid cancer: comparison of uptake-related and fixed-dose strategies.

INTRODUCTION
The aim of the study was to compare the success rate of an uptake-related ablation protocol in which the dose depends on an I-131 24-h neck uptake measurement and a fixed-dose ablation protocol in which the dose depends on tumour stage.


METHODS
All differentiated thyroid carcinoma patients with M0 disease who had undergone (near-) total thyroidectomy followed by I-131 ablation were included. In the uptake-related ablation protocol, 1100 (uptake >10%), 1850 (uptake 5-10%) and 2800 MBq (uptake <5%) were used. In the fixed-dosage ablation strategy, 3700 (T1-3, N0 stage) and 5550 MBq (N1 and/or T4 stage) were applied. We used I-131 uptake on whole-body scintigraphy and thyroglobulin-off values to evaluate the ablation 6-12 months after treatment.


RESULTS
In the uptake-related ablation protocol, 60 out of 139 (43%) patients were successfully treated versus 111 out of 199 for the fixed-dose ablation protocol (56%) (P=0.022). The differences were not statistically significant for patients with T4 (P=0.581) and/or N1 (P=0.08) disease or for patients with T4N1 tumour stage (P=0.937).


CONCLUSION
The fixed-dose I-131 ablation protocol is more effective in ablation of the thyroid remnant in differentiated thyroid carcinoma patients than an uptake-related ablation protocol. This difference is not observed in patients with a N1 and/or T4 tumour stage.
Repeat abdominal imaging examinations in a tertiary care hospital.

BACKGROUND
Reducing unnecessary repeat imaging may reduce waste and costs, and improve health care quality. We aimed to quantify repeat imaging rates in patients with abdominal imaging examinations, and identify factors associated with repeat imaging.


METHODS
We retrospectively analyzed all diagnostic abdominal computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), ultrasound (US), fluoroscopy, and radiograph reports performed at our institution between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2009. Primary outcome measure was the rate of repeat abdominal imaging (RAI) examinations, defined as any imaging examination of the abdomen on the same patient within 0-90 days of the first (enrollment) examination. We used natural language processing tools to extract recommendations for follow-up imaging from radiology reports. Univariate and multivariate logistic regressions were fitted to determine the effect of patient age, sex, study modality, care setting, follow-up recommendations, and history of neoplasm on the primary outcome over time.


RESULTS
Over 10 years, 245,184 abdominal imaging examinations were performed (43.2% CT, 20.6% US, 16.6% radiograph, 13.9% fluoroscopy, 5.7% MRI). The RAI rate remained unchanged (41.2% to 41.7%); unadjusted RAI volume increased from 6596 to 12,218 (P <.01). Most repeat studies (88.2%) were not preceded by a radiologist's recommendation. Practice setting, study modality, patient age, sex, underlying health condition, and radiologist's recommendations were associated with higher rate of repeat abdominal imaging examinations.


CONCLUSIONS
A large proportion of abdominal imaging examinations result in a repeat study. Many factors contribute to repeat imaging, including patient age, sex, underlying disease, initial study modality, practice setting, and radiologist's recommendation.
Supersensitive Kappa Opioid Receptors Promotes Ethanol Withdrawal-Related Behaviors and Reduce Dopamine Signaling in the Nucleus Accumbens

BACKGROUND
Chronic ethanol exposure reduces dopamine transmission in the nucleus accumbens, which may contribute to the negative affective symptoms associated with ethanol withdrawal. Kappa opioid receptors have been implicated in withdrawal-induced excessive drinking and anxiety-like behaviors and are known to inhibit dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens. The effects of chronic ethanol exposure on kappa opioid receptor-mediated changes in dopamine transmission at the level of the dopamine terminal and withdrawal-related behaviors were examined.


METHODS
Five weeks of chronic intermittent ethanol exposure in male C57BL/6 mice were used to examine the role of kappa opioid receptors in chronic ethanol-induced increases in ethanol intake and marble burying, a measure of anxiety/compulsive-like behavior. Drinking and marble burying were evaluated before and after chronic intermittent ethanol exposure, with and without kappa opioid receptor blockade by nor-binaltorphimine (10mg/kg i.p.). Functional alterations in kappa opioid receptors were assessed using fast scan cyclic voltammetry in brain slices containing the nucleus accumbens.


RESULTS
Chronic intermittent ethanol-exposed mice showed increased ethanol drinking and marble burying compared with controls, which was attenuated with kappa opioid receptor blockade. Chronic intermittent ethanol-induced increases in behavior were replicated with kappa opioid receptor activation in naïve mice. Fast scan cyclic voltammetry revealed that chronic intermittent ethanol reduced accumbal dopamine release and increased uptake rates, promoting a hypodopaminergic state of this region. Kappa opioid receptor activation with U50,488H concentration-dependently decreased dopamine release in both groups; however, this effect was greater in chronic intermittent ethanol-treated mice, indicating kappa opioid receptor supersensitivity in this group.


CONCLUSIONS
These data suggest that the chronic intermittent ethanol-induced increase in ethanol intake and anxiety/compulsive-like behaviors may be driven by greater kappa opioid receptor sensitivity and a hypodopaminergic state of the nucleus accumbens.
A standardized approach to qualitative content analysis of focus group discussions from different countries.

OBJECTIVE
To describe the methodological procedures of a multi-centre focus group research for obtaining content categories also suitable for categorical statistical analyses.


METHODS
Inductive content analyses were performed on a subsample of 27 focus groups conducted in three different countries, the Netherlands (Utrecht), the UK (Liverpool) and Italy (Verona). The analyses of the subsample of focus group discussions were performed in five steps: (1) independent development of content categories in each of the participating centres, (2) obtaining consensus categories, (3) creation of a manual with coding rules and defining criteria for categories and subcategories, (4) assessment of inter-rater reliability to identify unreliable categories to be revised, and (5) repetition of inter-rater reliability assessment.


RESULTS
The resulting coding system considers five areas: non verbal communication, process oriented expression, task oriented or problem focused expressions, affective or emotional expressions, and physician's personal characteristics. It contains 12 categories of acceptable inter-rater reliability and 41 subcategories.


CONCLUSION
The coding procedures show how focus group data, obtained in an international multi-centre study can be analysed in a systematic way combining scientific rigour with the richness of data obtainable from qualitative methodologies.


PRACTICE IMPLICATION
The applied procedures may be helpful for multi-centre focus group research on other topics.
Postpartum urinary incontinence: a comparison of vaginal delivery, elective, and emergent cesarean section

The aim of this study was to assess the impact of delivery on the pelvic floor and whether cesarean section (C/S) can prevent pelvic floor injury. Five hundred thirty nine women were divided into three groups according to the delivery method adopted: elective C/S, emergent C/S, and vaginal delivery. A urinary incontinence questionnaire survey was conducted around 1 year postpartum. Emergent C/S may be a major risk factor for postpartum urinary incontinence and interfere with the benefit of elective C/S for preventing pelvic floor injury. Hence, not all C/S deliveries can reduce the likelihood of postpartum urinary incontinence. The key lies in whether the C/S is performed before labor.
Rhomboid Flap Technique in Breast-conserving Surgery: An Alternative Method for the Reconstruction of Lumpectomy Defects.

OBJECTIVE
We aimed to present our experience with rhomboid flap reconstruction, which is a simple technique, in breast cancer patients who underwent breast-conserving surgery.


METHODS
We reviewed the medical records of 13 patients with breast cancer who underwent rhomboid flap reconstruction. The patients were evaluated for tumor size, safe surgical margin, and other clinical and pathological features.


RESULTS
The mean age of the patients was 43.1 years (range: 28-69 years). The mean tumor diameter was 30.8 mm (range: 15-60 mm). The mean of the safe margin of resection was evaluated to be 17.8 mm (range: 5-30 mm). Re-excision was required for one patient in the same session.


CONCLUSION
Rhomboid flap reconstruction can facilitate the applicability of breast-conserving surgery in early breast cancer patients with large tumor-to-breast-size ratio or tumors close to the skin.
On visual gaze tracking based on a single low cost camera

Gaze tracking technologies provide an unconventional way of human–computer interaction, envisaged to advance practical applications and industrial products in a multitude of fields. The success of such systems depends on selecting the best calibration setup and image features that correspond to a person's line of sight. The purpose of this study is to estimate eye gaze from a single, low cost web-cam, under natural lighting. Facial traits are extracted from the sensory data, fromwhich distance vectors related to gaze are derived. Different experimental setups are studied to evaluate the robustness of the proposed method with respect to various calibration setups, camera position and head movements. The use of new additional features improves the modeling of the subtle eye movements in the vertical direction, while a new calibration setup is proposed that further enhances the performance. The results demonstrate that the proposed framework is able to track gaze with good accuracy, consolidating the use of inexpensive equipment and techniques towards an ever-expanding range of gaze tracking applications. & 2015 Published by Elsevier B.V.